Listening · Academic Talk
The Water Cycle Explained
Listening · Academic Talk
Listening Test
Today's lecture: earth science
This task is designed to measure your ability to understand a short academic lecture on a topic taught in a university class.
In this exercise, you'll listen to a short academic talk and then answer multiple-choice questions about what you heard.
- Each question is worth 1 point. There are 4 questions about this talk.
- The talk plays only once — listen carefully.
- After the talk, you'll have 30 seconds per question. The exercise auto-advances when the timer hits zero.
- You can replay the audio and review the transcript only on the result screen.
The Water Cycle Explained
Listen to the talk and answer the questions
Listen to a talk in a earth science class
Show transcript
Let's trace a single drop of water through what we call the water cycle. Our drop begins in the ocean, where the sun's heat turns it into vapour and lifts it into the air, a step called evaporation. As the vapour rises, the air gets colder, and the vapour condenses into tiny droplets that gather as clouds. When enough droplets join, they grow heavy and fall as precipitation, which we know as rain or snow. Some of that water soaks into the ground, feeding plants and refilling underground stores, while the rest flows across the land into rivers. Those rivers eventually carry the water back to the sea, where our drop's journey can start all over again. The important idea is that water is never created or destroyed here; it simply moves and changes form, endlessly recycled.
Question 1
What does the sun's heat do at the start of the cycle?
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Answer: It turns water into vapour
Question 2
What causes vapour to condense into clouds?
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Answer: Colder air higher up
Question 3
Where does some rainwater go after it falls?
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Answer: It soaks into the ground and feeds plants
Question 4
What is the main idea the professor stresses?
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Answer: Water is recycled, never created or destroyed
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