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Mixer 89 | Intermediate B1

Space Travel

Various people discuss if the goverment should invest in space exploration.

Matthew / England
speakerWell, space travel is very exciting. A very wonderful thing. It's pretty hard to argue that we need space travel if you have people living in poverty in your country. Perhaps we need to have our priorities set first.

Lindsay / United States
speakerI don't think the government should pay for space travel. I think there are too many problems here on earth that the government needs to deal first and not look and spend their money on space travel. There's so much disease and and war and education problems and health care problems that the government really needs to focus more on the people that are on earth.

Thomas / United States
speakerSpace travel is really important. There's two reasons for that. One: we're not being very nice to our world and pretty soon it's gonna reject us, but more importantly, space travel is fun. Why wouldn't we do it?

Lori / Canada
speakerWell, I think space travel is really exciting and will be important in the future but I think most important is too look to the problems that we have on our own planet right now so we should resolve things such as environmental issues that we need to deal with before we look beyond our own home.

Chris / England
speakerNo, I don't think government should invest money in space travel. I think the best way to do it is to show that space travel can be commercially viable and that the people that are actually leading the way now, in terms of like space travel and space hotels and commercializing space are private industry, so I think that that government should provide support for that and allow them to get some kind of commercial protection on that but I think commercial businesses are the people that are gonna do the best job in that in that sense.

Shalini / Canada
speakerYes, to some extent. I don't think it should be be a priority, but I do think it's worthwhile knowing what surrounds us either under water or above the sky. I think they should probably focus on more important matters first, but, yeah, perhaps a little bit of the budget should go towards that.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson!

living in poverty

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It's pretty hard to argue that we need space travel if you have people living in poverty in your country.

'Living in poverty' means having a lifestyle with very little money or completely poor. Here are two more examples:

  1. Students who are living in poverty have a good chance of getting a university scholarship if they get good grades in high school.
  2. In some places the people living in poverty seem happier than the rich people.

disease

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There are so many diseases, war, and education problems.

'Disease' means sickness. Notice the following examples below:

  1. His disease eventually caused him to lose his eyesight and he became completely blind.
  2. Children should get vaccinations when they are young to avoid common diseases.

resolve

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We should resolve things such as environmental issues before we look beyond our own home.

When a problem is 'resolved' it means that it is fixed. Here are some additional uses:

  1. They finally found a resolution to the problem.
  2. I’m wondering if you could help me resolve a little conflict?

priority

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I don't think it should be a priority, but I do think it's worthwhile.

A 'priority' is something that is more important than other things. Here are some more examples:

  1. Health should always be your first priority.
  2. I’d love to go swimming today, but I guess it’s not my first priority.

budget

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Perhaps a little bit of the budget should go towards that.

A 'budget' is the amount of money that is available to be spent. See additional examples below:

  1. Sorry, I can’t go with you. I’m on a tight budget and I don’t have enough money.
  2. We bought everything we wanted and we still have money in our budget.

Vocabulary Quiz

in poverty • disease • resolve
priority • budget
  1. We have to a few issues with this product before we try to sell it.
  2. Before we make a plan I need to know which your biggest is; money or fame.
  3. A vacation isn't really in my right now.
  4. I can't wait to graduate from school and get a real job. I'm tired of living .
  5. He has a very rare that causes his teeth to fall out.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

One Minute English Video

Speakers
Mixer Video #89
Should countries invest in space travel?

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