Will the first person on Mars be a woman? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute

English. I'm Neil.

Rob: And hello. I'm Rob.

Neil: So Rob, you are a man who enjoys

travel. What’s the furthest journey you’ve

ever made?

Rob: Well, I have been to the other side of the

world. I've been to Australia, New Zealand

so from London that's a very long way.

Neil: And how was it?

Rob: Well, it was pretty boring really and quite

cramped on

the aeroplane – but I loved it when I got

there.

Neil: So how would you feel about a journey

of 56 million kilometres that took around

nine months?

Rob: Right. I'd have to travel Business

Class, I think - lots of movies and

a very comfortable seat!

Neil: Well, that’s how long it would take to get

to the planet Mars and this programme is all

about the women who want to be the first to

set foot on the red planet. First, though,

today’s question, which is about the size

of Mars. Is it …

a) Bigger than Earth

b) About the same size as Earth, or

c) Smaller than Earth

Rob: I’m pretty sure I know this. It’s bigger

than Earth, much bigger I think.

Neil: OK, well, we’ll find out if you’re right at

the end of the programme. It’s been 40

years since NASA first recruited women

to be astronauts.

Today, a third of the people who work at

NASA are women.

Rob: Yes, and 2016 was the first year that

there were an equal number of women

and men joining as astronaut trainees.

Neil: Equality is slowly coming but only

men have had the opportunity to walk on

the moon, although that was over 45

years ago. Karen Nyberg is one of NASA’s

current astronauts. In a recent BBC News

feature she talked about her hopes.

When did she join the astronaut

programme?

Karen Nyberg: When I was selected as an astronaut in

the year 2000 I thought that that might be

a realistic possibility, that we would be

the ones, the next to go to the Moon. So

it's unfortunate that we weren't.

Neil: When did she become an astronaut?

Rob: She said that she was selected in

2000. 'Selected' means chosen.

Neil: At that time, when she was selected,

she thought going to the moon would be

a realistic possibility. So she thought that

it wasn’t just a dream, but something that

could happen. There was a good chance

it would happen.

Rob: However, she was disappointed

because that opportunity didn’t arrive at

that time. She describes that as being

unfortunate. In this sense 'unfortunate'

means unlucky. If you use this adjective it

means you are disappointed about

something, but you do perhaps

understand the reason for it.

Neil: So far, a woman hasn’t had the

opportunity to step on the moon. These

days Mars is the big target for space

travel. There are many problems to

overcome, but could it, should

it be a woman who is the first person to

take that step?

Rob: Absolutely, why not? On a mission to

Mars there would be need for many

different kinds of specialists. We tend to

think of astronauts as spaceship pilots,

but really I think they are much more like

scientists, carrying out different

experiments.

Neil: If we are going to set up a base on Mars,

one thing that would be very important is

to try to find a way of growing food. For

that you need people with skills in those

areas. One person with those skills is

Gioia Massa, a Life Science project

manager for NASA. Now you would think

that being a top scientist she would be

brilliant at all areas or aspects of the job,

but she told BBC News that it wasn’t

always the case. What two

aspects does she mention she wasn’t

good at?

Gioia Massa: There certainly were aspects

where I was

challenged, you know. I wasn't as great in math

as some of my colleagues, my handwriting

is terrible. So there are things that are not

my strength. But then I fell in love with

plants and plants were my strength,

I really learned and focused on that.

Neil: So Rob, what did she have problems

with?

Rob: Well, she said that she wasn’t good

at math. 'Math' is a North American

English word for what in British English,

we call maths. Both words mean

mathematics, so 'math' in American

English, 'maths' in British English.

Neil: She also said that her handwriting is

terrible!

Rob: Mind you, if her handwriting was

really terrible, maybe nobody would be

able to read her bad maths!

Neil: Good point! So handwriting and

maths aren’t or weren’t her strengths.

They are not what she is good at. What

are her strengths?

Rob: Well, the thing she is good at, her real

strengths are working with plants, so

that’s what she concentrated on.

Neil: Right. Well, let’s see if one of your

strengths is the knowledge of the planets.

Today’s quiz question was: Is Mars…

a) Bigger than Earth

b) About the same size as Earth, or

c) Smaller than Earth

What did you say Rob?

Rob: I said that it was bigger, much bigger.

Neil: And the answer, I'm afraid to say, is that

Mars is smaller than Earth, much smaller

in fact.

Rob: Oh, well, I guess I won’t be selected to

be an astronaut any time soon!

Neil: Before we blast off out of here, let’s

review the vocabulary we covered today.

The first word was the one you just

mentioned, 'selected', meaning chosen.

Rob: Then we had the phrase, 'a realistic

possibility' to describe something that

has a good chance of happening, unlike

my astronaut application!

Neil: Well, if you did become an astronaut,

that would be unfortunate, our next word,

for me at least.

Rob: Unfortunate, you mean disappointing

for you?

Neil: Well, if you were up in space I

wouldn’t have the pleasure of your

company.

Rob: Hashtag blushing. Our next word

was 'aspects' meaning parts of

something and then the Americanisation,

'math'.

Neil: Which we call maths, or

mathematics in British English.

And finally we had

'strengths'. And maths certainly isn’t

one of my strengths – it’s not something

I’m good at.

Rob: But one of your strengths is saying

nice things about people.

Neil: Hashtag double blush. Well, time for

us to go – not to Mars, but to lunch! Just

time to say you can also find us on

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and

You Tube, and of course on our website

bbclearningenglish.com! Thank you

for joining us and goodbye!

Rob: Bye bye!