lunes, 26 de noviembre de 2012

Big bear diary

Self-study activity:
Watch this short excerpt from a BBC Earth documentary on bears and complete the gaps in the transcript with the missing words.

It is not hard to understand the voice-over, but the missing vocabulary is a bit tricky.



May, the little bears are growing fast. Their mother can take them out a bit (1) ... every day. These (2) ... are a vital part of their education. Luke’s losing his baby hair and his new (3) ... is blackening up. Adults aren’t always black: Black bears can be chocolate, (4) ... or even white. Their expanded diet gives the (5) ... just what they need, more energy. And the old saying is true, bears do (6) ... themselves in the woods.
Nothing goes to waste here, these azure butterflies are gathering for a most unusual meal. Their long (7)...-like tongues probe the (8) ... for amino acids from the bears' urine. Acting like vitamins they help the females make more eggs and even live longer.
A great grey (9) ... is hunting the glen. Her (10) ... is another hungry mouth to feed.
Like all (9)...s the great grey has wings fashioned for silent flight. (11) ... makes for successful hunting.
The more they play, the more they learn. Black bears are extremely intelligent. Scientific tests reveal that if food’s the (12) ... , they learn even quicker than (13) ... .
Climbing trees is in their blood and their sharp (14) ... are perfect for the job. And these aren’t any old trees, they’ve been specially selected by their mother for their easy-to-grip (15) ... . Archie, of course, is always pushing the limit. Now only the biggest trees will do, which fits in nicely with mother's plans. Once her (5) ... can scoot up the tallest trees, they’ll be far safer.

Key:
further 2 outings 3 fur 4 cinnamon 5 cubs 6 relieve 7 thread 8 soil 9 owl 10 chick 11 Stealth 12 reward 13 chimps 14 claws 15 bark