Luyện theo cấu trúc Cambridge IELTS 20 · Speaking Part 1–3: Looking at the Night Sky

1. Not as often as I'd like. I live in the city centre, so the sky at night is usually a sort of orange-grey. But when I'm back in my hometown, I do find myself looking up a lot more.

2. Hardly any, to be honest. On a really clear night I can pick out maybe three or four bright ones, but that's about it, because of all the street lights and advertising screens.

3. A little. We learnt the names of the planets and why we have seasons, but it was mostly memorising facts. I think I learnt far more later from documentaries than I ever did in class.

4. Definitely. I've seen photos of deserts and mountain areas where you can see the Milky Way with your own eyes, and I'd love to experience that at least once. I imagine it would make you feel very small, in a good way.

I'd like to talk about the night I saw a meteor shower, which is when lots of shooting stars appear over a few hours. It happened about three years ago, when I was on a camping trip in the mountains in the north of my country.

I was with four friends from university. One of them was really into astronomy, and he'd read that the shower would be at its peak that weekend, so he persuaded us to stay up until about two in the morning. To be honest, the rest of us were quite sceptical, and it was freezing, so we were all wrapped in blankets and complaining.

For the first half hour, nothing much happened. Then suddenly someone shouted, and we saw a bright streak of light shoot across the sky. After that, they kept coming, sometimes one every minute or so. Some were quite faint, but a couple were so bright that they left a trail behind them for a second or two.

I think it was memorable for a few reasons. Partly it was just how beautiful it was; I'd never seen so many stars in my life, let alone shooting ones. But it was also the atmosphere. Everyone went completely quiet, which almost never happens with that group. And I think it changed how I see the night sky. Since then, I've downloaded an app that tells me what I'm looking at, and I try to get out of the city whenever there's something worth seeing.

1. I think it's partly a way of escaping from screens and stress. Looking at the sky forces you to slow down and be patient. There's also a sense of wonder; people like feeling connected to something much bigger than their daily problems.

2. It's more serious than most people realise. Apart from the fact that city children may never see a proper night sky, there's evidence that artificial light disturbs sleep and confuses animals and insects. Fortunately, it's one of the easier problems to fix, for example with better-designed street lights.

3. I'd say yes, within limits. Space research has given us things we use every day, like satellite navigation and weather forecasting. But when there are urgent problems on Earth, such as poverty and healthcare, I think governments need to justify each project carefully rather than spending simply for national prestige.

4. Mainly by making it practical. Children remember far more when they actually do experiments, build things or go outside to observe nature, rather than copying definitions from a board. Inviting real scientists to talk about their work could also show children that science is a career they could have.

5. Absolutely. In astronomy, for instance, there are so many objects to watch that professionals can't cover them all, and amateurs with decent telescopes have discovered things like new comets. Projects where volunteers help sort through data online are another good example.