📙 Part 2: Describe an important river or lake in your country

This episode's vocabulary

Estuary (noun) - the wide part of a river at the place where it joins the sea.

Bank (noun) - sloping raised land, especially along the sides of a river.

Mouth (noun) - the opening of a narrow container, the opening of a hole or cave, or the place where a river flows into the sea.

Steep (adj.) - (of a slope) rising or falling at a sharp angle.

Narrow (adj.) - having a small distance from one side to the other, especially in comparison with the length.

Decommission (noun) - the act of officially taking a factory or other industrial building out of use.

Rig (noun) - a large structure that is used for removing oil or gas from the ground or the bottom of the sea.

Dock (noun) - an area of water in a port that can be closed off and that is used for putting goods onto and taking them off ships or repairing ships.

Dock (verb) - if a ship docks, it arrives at a dock and if someone docks a ship, they bring it into a dock.

Rafting (noun) - the use of a rubber raft to travel with the current of a river, especially as a sport.

Waterway (noun) - a narrow area of water, such as a river or canal, that ships or boats can sail along.

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Questions and Answers

M: Hello our premium listener and welcome into the world of IELTS speaking part two. Rory now is going to describe an important river or lake in his country. I know it's a dreadful topic. Well, it might be dreadful, but it is a new IELTS speaking topic part 2. "Describe an important river or lake in your country". Rory is going to say where it's located, how big or long it is, what it looks like, and he's going to explain why it's important. Rory, the scene is yours. Off you go.

R: I suppose as a Scottish person, I'm expected to talk about Loch Ness and the myths around that particular place. But actually, I thought I'd pick somewhere more local and less well known. The river Tay runs from Loch Tay down to the estuary, which is actually near my home. It's called a river, which makes it sound quite small or short. But actually, it's quite long. And it runs past quite a few times in different counties in the northeast of Scotland. Because it covers such a large area, it varies in appearance based on where you are looking at it. Where I live, it meets the sea. So there are quite sandy banks, and it's got a wide mouth. So it's actually hard to distinguish between the two at some times. Especially if the tide is high, because it just looks like one large body of water. Further up towards Loch Tay, and that's our word for lake by the way, it's probably closer to a traditional conception of a river with steep banks and more trees, and it's narrower. It's used for lots of different things. For a start, it gives my hometown access to the sea, which is important as we service in decommission a lot of old oil rigs in the ports which we have in the city. Cruise ships can also dock via the river. So that gives the local economy a helpful boost from time to time, which we definitely need since we're in the post pandemic era. And we've got to make that recovery as fast as we possibly can. If you're in the water sports, like parasailing or even just plain old sailing, then you can use it for that in relatively calmer waters. Further up towards Loch Tay, it's used by several businesses, which specialize in rafting and other extreme sports like that. So without the river, none of these things would really exist. We're quite lucky to live so close to a major waterway. And I struggled to imagine what my town would be like if we didn't have this. I think we'd probably be a lot more exposed to the ups and downs of the economy. And nobody really wants that.

M: And will it be as important as it is now in the future?

R: I would imagine so.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: No problem. Hopefully there was a reservoir of language. Sorry.

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