Plant Life

​Plant Life 🌱

​1 Look at the photo. What else kills plants or trees?

2 How can plants or trees cause problems?

3 Why might you give or receive flowers or a plant?
4 What food can you get for free near where you live?
5 What are some different uses of herbs?

​Listen to five conversations related to plants and find out what answers are given to these questions.

Match

Listen again and match one of the statements with each conversation:

• a speaker gives a probable explanation

• a speaker complains about the plant

• a speaker talks about a misunderstanding

• a speaker expresses concern about dying

• a speaker offers a cure

Conv. 1

Conv. 2

Conv. 3

Conv. 4

Conv. 5

• Conv. 1

• Conv. 2

• Conv. 3

• Conv. 4

• Conv. 5

​The different meanings of words

Most words have more than one meaning. Sometimes the word has connected meanings:
Let me drink some water.
I've been watering them every day.

Sometimes it's less clear, and you need to look at the words around it to work out the meaning in the context:
The snow's beginning to settle.
It'll really settle your stomach.

Match

Match the words related to nature with the pictures:

blossom

flood

root

seed

• blossom

• flood

• root

• seed

Match

Match the words related to nature with the pictures:

plant

stem

stormy

• plant

• stem

• stormy

​Listen to seven pairs of sentences. Decide if the words in each sentence have literal (L) or different (D) meaning.

​1a There’s an insect that attacks the roots of the tree, causing it to die.

1b There are many problems affecting the country, but the root cause is the poor education system.

2a  I have several tomato plants on my balcony, but they’re not doing very well.

2b  The film is basically about the police trying to find out where the bad guy has planted a bomb.

3a  She worked as an actress for years without much success, but since winning the Oscar her career is blossoming.

3b  The best time to go is in spring because of all the blossom on the trees.

4a  Most people agree that the economic crisis stemmed from mistakes made by the banks and the high level of private debt.

4b  If you cut the stems of the flowers under water, apparently the flowers last a lot longer.

5a  We’ve had quite a lot of stormy weather recently, which has kept us indoors most of the time.

5b  I’m not surprised they’re breaking up. They had a very stormy relationship – always fighting.

6a  They had floods of complaints when it was first sold because it didn’t work properly.

6b  With all this rain, there’ve been quite a lot of floods.

7a  I bought some seeds to grow some herbs in my kitchen, but I haven’t planted them yet.

7b  It’s just the seed of an idea at the moment. I haven’t really got very far developing it.

1b There are many problems affecting the country, but the root cause is the poor education system.

2b  The film is basically about the police trying to find out where the bad guy has planted a bomb.

3a  She worked as an actress for years without much success, but since winning the Oscar her career is blossoming.

4a  Most people agree that the economic crisis stemmed from mistakes made by the banks and the high level of private debt.

5b  I’m not surprised they’re breaking up. They had a very stormy relationship – always fighting.

6a  They had floods of complaints when it was first sold because it didn’t work properly.

7b  It’s just the seed of an idea at the moment. I haven’t really got very far developing it.

1 Do you know anyone who has / used to have a stormy relationship? In what was is / was it stormy?

2 Public and private debt has increased in many countries. What do you think the root cause is?

3 Can you think of anything that has prompted floods of complaints?

4 Can you think of anyone whose career is blossoming?

5 What problem in your city or country most annoys you? What do you think it stems from?