📘 Part 3: Rivers and lakes

This episode's vocabulary

Shallow (adj.) - having only a short distance from the top to the bottom.

To paddle (verb) - to walk with no shoes or socks on through water that is not very deep, often at the edge of a beach, etc.

Stock (noun) - a supply of something for use or sale.

To facilitate (verb) -to make something possible or easier

Ultimately (adverb) - used to emphasize the most important fact in a situation.

Dam (noun) - a wall built across a river that stops the river's flow and collects the water, especially to make a reservoir (= an artificial lake) that provides water for an area.

To dam (verb) - to build a dam across a river in order to store water.

Reservoir (noun) - a place for storing liquid, especially a natural or artificial lake providing water for a city or other area

Bend (noun) - a curved part of something.

Rapids (plural noun) - a dangerous part of a river that flows very fast because it is steep and sometimes narrow.

Canal (noun) - a long, thin stretch of water that is artificially made either for boats to travel along or for taking water from one area to another.

En masse (adverb) - if a group of people do something en masse, they do it together and at the same time.

To sabotage (verb) - to intentionally prevent the success of a plan or action.

To survey (verb) - to look at or examine all of something, especially carefully.

Inflation (noun) - a continuous increase in the level or amount of something.

Cruise ship (noun) - a large ship like a hotel, that people travel on for pleasure.

Hold your own - to maintain your position or condition despite difficulties.

Instantaneous (adj.) - happening immediately, without any delay.

Watered-down (adj.) - a watered-down idea or opinion has been made less extreme than it originally was, usually so that people are more likely to accept it.

-

Questions and Answers

M: So Rory, are you ready to get your hands wet?

R: Let's get the vocabulary flowing.

M: Oh, did you get the joke? Things wet. Vocabulary flowing, flowing like a river? Okay, Rory, do you think rivers and lakes attract tourists?

R: On their own? Probably not. But with development or added infrastructure, then they could do a lot of good for the tourist industry. For example, no one would go to Loch Ness without the stories or mystery around it. And the services which cater to the people who visit there.

M: And what activities do people usually do when they spend some leisure time at a beach or by a river?

R: Well, I suppose the most obvious ones are anything involving boats, because that's how you gain access to deeper waters. But if we talk about the shallower side of things, then it can go paddling or even swimming, I suppose.

M: How can rivers and lakes benefit local people?

R: Well, there's so many ways. They could be food source via the fishing industry. Well, assuming the stocks don't collapse. And you can transport goods on them or develop a variety of services to facilitate that. Ultimately, you could dam them and create reservoirs and power sources as well.

M: Are rivers and lakes suitable for transport?

R: Well, assuming they're relatively straight and stable, then yes. If you have too many bends, or even some rapids in a river, or they're too shallow, then that might prevent them from being used in this way. That's why there are so many canals in England since the rivers were unsuitable due to these reasons.

M: What are the advantages and disadvantages of transporting goods by water?

R: Well, you can do it en masse. So that means that just moving huge amounts of goods places is relatively easy. In addition to carrying things en masse, so you have an economy of scale, it's probably more environmentally friendly than transporting it by air. And if not, then certainly more economical. On the other hand, it might be damaging to the local ecology. And certainly, it makes it easy to sabotage in this way. Because if you just blow up or disable lake or not a lake, a canal, then it's really difficult to transport anything across it until it's repaired.

M: How do rivers and lakes affect local tourism?

R: Well, if they burst their banks and flood the place, then they will definitely drive people away from the area. Alternatively, if they contribute to the natural beauty of an area or play host to some species of animals and plants that are particularly fascinating, or even an industry like rafting or fishing, then it could draw people in. They can have different effects really.

M: Is traveling by water as popular now as it was in the past?

R: I don't even know how you would begin to measure that because, of course, the population's increased. So more people are doing things with water. But on the other hand, how do you measure some thing's popularity? You would have to survey people's attitudes over time. And I don't know what the point would be in doing that. I mean, it's just a fact that you need to use water transport.

M: And do you think that cruise ships will be popular or more popular in the future?

R: Well, I think more people will use them. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they've increased in popularity, like I said, the population of human beings is increasing all the time. So there might just be this natural inflation in numbers. And I don't really know how you would measure the idea of them being popular in the first place, because I'm not really sure that we have any established source of the like for the popularity of cruise ships. Anyway, sorry about that.

M: Are places near water more suitable for children are for old people?

R: Well, older people are more likely to be able to swim. And younger people, especially children are not, so it's probably less dangerous for older people who can hold their own in the water. But that's just based on their ability to swim. I suppose there are other factors in play, but water and swimming are the most easily associated, aren't they?

M: And is there much water transportation in your country?

R: Well, I would say so certainly, because it It's part of an island. And so the only way we can get things delivered from other countries is via the water.

M: And will it be even more popular in the future?

R: I don't think it's a case of popularity, because popularity means people like doing something whereas it's necessary. Like it's not something that country can survive, or at least prosper without. So as the economy expands, so too will the demand. It's not about what people like, it's about what people have to do, unless some sort of new method of instantaneous transportation on mass was invented. But that seems unlikely.

M: And do you think that human activity is posing a threat to the oceans of the world?

R: That will depend entirely on the kind of activity. So people going swimming probably doesn't pose that great of a danger to local species, assuming that they aren't destroying coral reefs and things like that. However, as the number of ships on the sea increases, probably the amount of garbage in the water will also increase. And that could damage well, wildlife and the habitats that support the local wildlife in those areas.

M: Thank you very for your watery answers!

R: I hope there was a flood of information to draw on.

M: Oh, dear listener, did you get that? A flood of information, like flood, when there is too much water. So a flood of information. Do you say watery answers? Not informative, but you just like bla, bla, bla, bla, bla.

R: What, you mean, watered-down?

M: Watered down? Yeah?

R: I certainly hope my answers haven't been watered down!

-

Discussion

M: So, rivers and lakes can attract tourists, right? Because first of all, we have infrastructure for tourists. And it's good for the tourist industry. Yeah? And then you can go with an example. For example, if you go to Loch Ness, you see the Loch Ness Monster. Nah, nah, you may not see it.

R: You probably won't. It's not real. I'm sorry to ruin the magic of Scotland, but it's not real.

M: Yeah, the monster is not real. Yeah, unfortunately. So we can say that rivers and lakes attract tourists, because there are different services which cater to the people who visit these places. So different services, which cater to the people's needs. And then you can talk about different activities like water sports, water activities, which are connected to boats, yachts, and you can kind of talk about paddling. What is paddling? You have a boat and a pedal and you just paddle?

R: No, it's just when you walk around up to the ankles in water.

M: Oh, really? That's called paddling?

R: Yes.

M: Oh, I thought it's..

R: Were you thinking of paddle boarding?

M: Is it something to do with a pedal and a boat? Yeah, paddle boarding.

R: That's paddle boarding. That's a bit a different. Paddle boarding takes place in deeper waters. Paddling is just something you do with your feet. It's common for small children, you have paddling pools.

M: Okay. Paddling is the act of manually propelling a boat using a paddle.

R: It can be. Paddling is also being up to your ankles and moving around.

M: Ah, okay. Oh, wow. Interesting. So, yes, like kayaking, canoeing, paddling, or just walking...

R: In the water.

M: Walking in water.

R: Yeah.

M: In the water. Okay. Okay, cool. Then we can say that local people benefit from lakes and rivers. So Rory, you told us that rivers and lakes are a food source, yeah? Because of this fishing industry?

R: Yes. And they subsist on or they depend on food or fish stocks. But fish stock is just, well, it's the number of fish in the water that can reproduce over time? So if your fish stocks collapse, it means that you don't have enough fish to reproduce the same number of fish in the water and you can't get as much food out of it because you've harvested too many fish.

M: Right Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah.

R: There's a great horror movie called "The bay" that's about, well, it's about small creatures borrowing into people, but they contribute to the collapse of fish stocks in the area.

M: Then you can talk about transportation. So water transportation, you can transport goods on rivers, right? So transport goods on reverse. We also can say about cargo transportation. Yeah? Is it the same? Water transportation, cargo transportation?

R: Well, cargo transportation could be anything. It could be planes taking cargo into the air, or it could be trains transporting cargo by land. So that's the general term, but water transport or cargo hauling on the water is very specific.

M: And then Rory told us about dams and reservoirs. Right? So dam is not a curse word. Like oh, damn. No. It's not this. Like dams on rivers or lakes. A dam. Dam. And reservoirs of water, as, I don't know, reservoirs of freshwater, or they're used for power sources. Yeah?

R: Yeah. Well, if you dam a river, that's the verb. But that just means that you put a dam, the noun on the river, and you're running water through it to create hydroelectric power. I think. That's how that works, right?

M: Yeah. Hydro. Yeah, hydro electric power station, or plant, hydro electric plant. So we call it like hydro electric energy, yeah? The energy from water, like solar energy. When the question is about what is most suitable for children or old people, we can say that water and places near water are suitable for everybody. If, for example, children can hold their own in the water. That's a nice expression, to hold your own in the water.

R: Yeah, but that just means you survive. I can hold my own in a Russian conversation.

M: Ah, okay. Okay, so I can just survive, yeah?

R: Well, it's not really about surviving. It's like doing okay.

M: Yeah. So it's okay for children if they can hold their own in the water. So pretty much like be okay. And don't drown. Yeah? So people drown in water. Then transportation, right? If there are many bends, bends - it means turns. Or some rapids in the river. Rapids means what?

R: It's just fast moving water.

M: So rivers are okay for transportation, if there aren't many bends, or rapids in the river, or if they're too shallow, so shallow rivers, not deep. So a boat can't go there. And also, Rory talked about canals. So canal. Canal, like, what do you have? The famous canal, the British canal.

R: There are lot's of canals in Endland. I'm pretty sure. It's also they're well known in Amsterdam as well. And Venice.

M: Canals. Yes. Oh, Venice. Yes. Yeah.

R: I was just thinking about this, actually, because the other important thing about rivers being suitable for transport is that they run from east to west. And there was, oh, there was a really interesting economic argument about economic development in Russia and comparing it to the United States, because there's lots of rivers, apparently, in America that run from east to west like so from site to site, which makes it really easy to transport goods across the country. However, by contrast, most Russian rivers run from north to south. So that means that it's not really possible to transport across such a wide area as it is in America. So that limits the economic development that you have. How cool is that? Well, I mean, from an economic and historical perspective.

M: Wow, interesting.

R: I mean, clearly, that's not the only thing that limits economic development in the country, but it's an interesting facet of it.

M: Interesting, yeah. So you see you can have, you can say, like rivers do have an important influence on the economy of a country. Interesting.

R: And the culture.

M: And the culture too. Oh, yeah, definitely. Fish culture, tourism. When you talk about transport, you can say that on mass, something you said like, carry goods en masse. So water transportation helps us to carry goods en masse.

R: Yes, it's important to point out that when I say en masse, that's got a different spelling to what you think it does. But it just means like in bulk.

M: In bulk, yep. So we can transport like ton, 1000s of tons of goods...

R: En masse.

M: Which could be damaging to ecology. So some drawbacks. On the flip side, it could be damaging to ecology. It could pose a threat to wildlife because of this cargo ships. Cargo ships. With they're, I don't know, oil and noise pollution.

R: That's a good point. I was thinking about noise pollution in the water because that affects whales. They can't navigate, because there's just so much noise. Think of the whales.

M: Wooooo. This was a whale noise, dear listener. Okay? This is exactly how whales...

R: Are we having a whale of a time?

M: No, no, we don't have a whale of time.

R: No.

M: Yeah. And Rory talked about negative effects of rivers and lakes, for example, they burst their banks and flood the place, usually about rivers. So there could be floods in the area. But they contribute to the natural beauty of the area. And also Rory said that lakes and rivers host some species, species or species of animals and plants that are fascinating. Rafting, yeah? Fishing? So rafting like this activity in a boat with fast rapids in a river. Beautiful. Right. Yeah, dear listener, here, you might like ideas. So it's a good kind of idea to read about the importance of rivers and lakes in your country, right? Or just in general. And also you can use our ideas. And also, topic specific vocabulary. Rory, anything you want to add?

R: Only that it might be a good idea to distinguish between when your examiner says something might become more common, or if something might become more popular. Because if something is common, it just means there's more of it. But if something is popular, it means people like it, or more people like it. And you can get away with a lot just by saying like, what do you mean popular? How do you measure popularity? It could be about water transport, or it could be about sports. And you'd be like, well, I don't know how you measure popularity. Do you go around asking people if they like it just because more people are playing with it? And then you talk about correlation and causation. And that's good, because those are quite high level words. There you go.

M: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, these are really nice strategies. And these are typical IELTS speaking part three questions. Will it be more popular? Will it be more popular? Will it be common in the future? Is it common? Yeah. Yeah. Totally. So popular, popularity. And how do you measure popularity? You know... Yeah, interesting. Thank you very much for listening! Hugs and kisses. So it's summer, so let's swim in rivers and lakes normally didn't tell us these stories. When people swim dangerously in lakes.

R: Do they?

M: Remember, Rory, in one of the episodes? Yeah, in one of the episodes, you told us, like in Scotland, people who can't swim they go to the lakes. Especially men.

R: Oh, yeah. In last summer, there were a whole lot of people who went into lochs, even though they couldn't swim. And I was just thinking like, why would you do that?

M: Like children?

R: I mean, yeah, the sad thing is, well, no, it's not the children's fault. Their parents are totally irresponsible. But if you're a parent, and why would you not supervise your children appropriately?

M: Oh, boy. So dear listener, please make sure that you can hold yourself in the river or lake and have fun. Enjoy life.

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

-

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff:

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi

Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi