Listening audioscript

THE MAN GIVES HIS OPINION OF THE CHANGE IN THE GRADING POLICY.
STATE HIS OPINION AND THE REASONS HE GIVES FOR HOLDING IT. 
 
Page 386
[ mp3 164-165]
 
Question 3. 
Listen to the passage. Then respond to the question. 
(Professor)
OK today, I’ll be talking about glaciers and, in particular, how glaciers are 
formed. So first of all, do you know what a glacier is? Well, a glacier is a 
mass of ice, but there’s more to it than that. A glacier is a mass of ice 
that’s moving. 
Now glaciers form where snow accumulates, um, where more snow falls 
than melts, so it piles up. If all the snow melts every year in a particular 
place, a glacier can’t form there. Or even if all of the snow doesn’t melt, 
as long as the average amount of snow that accumulates is less than or 
equal to the average amount that melts then there will be no glacier. And 
there needs to be considerable accumulation. If there’s only a small 
amount of accumulation, then a glacier can’t form because there has to 
be considerable weight. 
So, when the amount of snow that falls year after year exceeds the 
amount that melts every year, eventually all of the snow accumulates to 
an extent that there’s pressure on the snow underneath, enough 
pressure to transform the loose snowflakes into ice crystals. The weight 
of the accumulated snow causes the snow to compress into ice crystals, 
and with more and more pressure, the smaller ice crystals pack together 
to create even larger crystals. 
Now, this ice is a solid substance, or more or less solid. There are air 
bubbles trapped in the ice, but mostly it is solid ice. Nevertheless, as 

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LPREP IBT 3 E AudioScript 
104
tons and tons of snow continue to accumulate and to be compacted into 
ice, the solid ice begins to flow slowly because of the enormous 
pressure. In other words, even though it’s solid ice, under high pressure, 
it can flow like toothpaste. As the ice begins to flow away from the 
increasing pressure of the accumulating snow and ice above, it begins to 
move downhill or away from a central place. At this point in time, when 
the ice begins to move, a glacier is born.