Amazing facts

Listen to the conversation about the human body and do the exercises to practise and improve your listening skills.

Instructions

Do the preparation exercise before you listen. Then do the other exercises to check your understanding.

Preparation

Do this exercise before you listen.

Remote audio URL

Transcript

A: Hey, I'm reading this really interesting article about the human body.

B: Yeah? Well, we know all about that from biology lessons.

A: No, we didn't learn much at all at school! They're discovering loads more things all the time. Really amazing things! Did you know that only about one tenth of the cells in your body are really you? The rest are bacteria.

B: What? I'm not really me?

A: No, of course you are you, but you also have millions, or trillions, of bacteria in you.

B: Eeeeuuugh!

A: No, they're mostly really helpful. Someone did an experiment to see if animals can live without bacteria, and he found that a lot of them died or had to have a special diet. Animals need bacteria to digest food, you see. So we're better off with bacteria.

B: Unless the bacteria are bad.

A: Unless they are bad, but they're nearly all good. Oh yeah, and going back to cells, do you know how many cells you have in your body?

B: Quite a lot, I'd say. A good few.

A: Yeah, but how many?

B: I don't know. I'm not mathematical.

A: 7 octillion! That's 7 plus 27 noughts.

B: I knew it was a lot.

A: OK, that's an amazingly huge number, almost impossible to imagine. But the really weird thing is that most of the atoms are empty space, just air or nothingness. And if you took out the empty space, you could fit your body inside a tiny cube which measures one 500th of a centimetre on either side. That's a box measuring 0.002 of a centimetre on each side. You'd be much too small to see.

B: Mmm, I can imagine that. It sounds like something that would happen in a really bad Hollywood movie. You know, a mad scientist goes: (funny voice) 'I'm going to extract all the air from your body'. OK, enough facts for one day.

A: Don't go! One last thing, did you know …

B: No.

A: Did you know that you probably have mites in your eyelashes?

B: Mites in my eyelashes? What are mites exactly anyway?

A: Yeah, they're very small creatures, like insects, only not insects. They're about a third of a millimetre long, so you can't really see them. These particular mites live in eyelashes and eyebrows.

B: But in mine?

A: Well, maybe not. Only about 50% of people have them, and more older people. So you might not have any. Anyway, they're completely harmless, they just eat dead skin.

B: Yeah, right, harmless. I really would have preferred not to know that.

A: Sorry.

B: I mean, really!

Discussion

Do you know any amazing facts about the human body?

Language level
Average: 4 (21 votes)
Personal online tutoring
EnglishScore Tutors is the British Council’s one-to-one tutoring platform for 13- to 17-year-olds.

Comments

Submitted by Winnie0900 on Thu, 02/22/2024 - 18:10

I can't remember any amazing facts right now :(

Submitted by Teddygoldinou75015 on Mon, 11/20/2023 - 18:01

Why do capital letters aren't accepted? All my answers were false!

Submitted by eilen-eilen on Sun, 09/10/2023 - 09:45

Here are some amazing facts that i know!
_Our mouth produces about one liter saliva each day.
_Bodies give off a tiny amount of light that is too weak for the eyes to see.
_Every seconds our body produces 25 million new cells.

Profile picture for user Princessagentforever1221

Submitted by Princessagentf… on Tue, 05/16/2023 - 09:08

here are some fun facts:
Your brain doesn't feel pain!
Your heart beats around 115,000 times a day.
The lungs take the oxygen and put it into your bloodstream!
The stomach breaks down food using chemicals.
An adult bladder can hold up to 400ml of liquid

Profile picture for user Princessagentforever1221

Submitted by Princessagentf… on Tue, 05/16/2023 - 09:06

yes i know some there they are:
Your eyes blink around 20 times a minute.
Earwax is actually a type of sweat
The tongue is covered in about 8,000 taste-buds, each containing up to 100 cells helping you taste your food!
You produce about 40,000 litres of spit in your lifetime
Every second, your body produces 25 million new cells

Submitted by thatskyling_ on Mon, 05/01/2023 - 02:38

Nope :(

Submitted by pomelo on Mon, 02/27/2023 - 15:00

I don't know any amazing facts about the human body:))

Submitted by lithSly on Sun, 11/13/2022 - 02:22

Yes, I knew that but some things I don't know.
Profile picture for user anyaaa

Submitted by anyaaa on Tue, 06/28/2022 - 10:39

I know that the tongue is covered in about 8.000 taste-buds, each containing up to 100 cells helping you taste your food. Every 7 years your cells are dying and being replaced all the time.

Submitted by Edaa on Wed, 06/08/2022 - 05:42

There are a lot of things I don't know about my own body I was surprised.
Profile picture for user Void

Submitted by Void on Fri, 05/06/2022 - 08:00

Did you know that if you were to uncoil all your DNA it would be able to stretch from Earth to the Sun and back 61 times!

Submitted by DanOrtiz on Sat, 10/09/2021 - 00:15

Many of the data that were mentioned I didn’t know, everything that is inside our body is impressive
Profile picture for user Valeria_

Submitted by Valeria_ on Wed, 09/29/2021 - 15:39

I do not know many curious facts about the human body but some of the ones I know are: - the largest bone in the body is the femur - most of the bones are in the feet - the skin is the largest external organ of the body - About 32 million bacteria live in every centimeter of skin
Profile picture for user Pico

Submitted by Pico on Sat, 05/08/2021 - 11:42

I don't know I wanna comment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Submitted by Santiagol300 on Sat, 03/20/2021 - 03:25

I found all the conversation very interesting, specially de cells part, because I had never thought about all the things that compose my body, and how small they are.
Profile picture for user ScelCrafter

Submitted by ScelCrafter on Tue, 03/09/2021 - 14:20

Before that I didn´t knowed much interesting facts about the body.
Profile picture for user Andrii

Submitted by Andrii on Thu, 02/25/2021 - 19:12

I know that a newborn baby has about 300 bones, but an adult human has 206 bones because some bones grow together.

Submitted by mariap_09 on Tue, 02/23/2021 - 14:34

I didn't know that it's amazing

Submitted by Bacu03 on Mon, 02/01/2021 - 21:28

Interesting lesson... My fun fact: Your body produces 25 milion cells every second. And thats a lot.

Submitted by Kindless9 on Mon, 02/01/2021 - 06:16

It’s really interesting but when I heard about mites I was like: ,,Ewww” I know that it’s a normal thing but know that something lives in your eyelashes and eyebrows is just... weird? I don’t know but I rather won’t think about that too much.
Profile picture for user VencaFaradenza

Submitted by VencaFaradenza on Mon, 01/25/2021 - 17:10

I know that bone is stronger than steel.
Profile picture for user Kostantinus

Submitted by Kostantinus on Sat, 01/16/2021 - 10:18

I knew about mites in human's body from one TV programm. I was really surprised when I knew it, but that fact didn't make me beeing scared.

Submitted by Isabellabuzzetti on Tue, 01/05/2021 - 10:56

I didn't know any of these things but I know that infants are born with approximately 300 bones, but as they grow some of these bones fuse together and by the time they reach adulthood, they only have 206 bones.
Profile picture for user rafaelyeshua

Submitted by rafaelyeshua on Mon, 12/28/2020 - 18:25

i knew about the mites in the eyeslashes, and that bacterias are useful for digest food
Profile picture for user Kalenkhoe

Submitted by Kalenkhoe on Fri, 10/30/2020 - 14:43

I am really like,“ I really would have preferred not to know that." Amazing fact learning.

Submitted by sosi on Sat, 10/03/2020 - 11:06

very interesting lesson :)

Submitted by cookiepg on Sun, 08/30/2020 - 04:55

I didn't khow the amazing fact too
Profile picture for user Xuka

Submitted by Xuka on Mon, 08/24/2020 - 10:10

Honestly, the human body is one seriously complex and mysterious mechanism that sometimes confuses even the most qualified specialists. I knew an interesting fact about our body that deeply impressed me. You have two kidneys, but you can live without one of your kidneys. Some people are born with only one because the other one did not grow properly, or was damaged, and they can live long happy lives. This is an amazing thing.
Profile picture for user Caspiterin89

Submitted by Caspiterin89 on Mon, 08/03/2020 - 14:56

The facts were really curious! Another shocking fact about our body is that with all the iron that we have in our body we could make a nail long 7 cm!

Submitted by helenblack on Sun, 08/02/2020 - 10:29

Amazing Facts About Our Body 1.Smile 17, frown 43 running muscle, so smile is much easier! 2.The energy produced by our brain can burn a 10 watt bulb. 3.The total length of the veins in our body is 96.500 kilometers!

Submitted by Mamou1 on Tue, 07/07/2020 - 09:15

I really like biology so listening this courses helps me know another things. then thanks to British council to share with us this audio. I know another fact like, there is bacteria in the human body that can help also human digest food they called them enzymes without them we can't digest the food.

Submitted by dead_deal_115 on Mon, 07/06/2020 - 14:50

People sometimes think that they don't use most of their brain cells but it's not true. We use 100 percent of our brain cells. But everybody can't grasp or process everything. Thus the difference between fools and intelligents.

Submitted by bloomybloom on Wed, 05/13/2020 - 21:47

Unfortunately, I'm not interested in Biology but I start loving it by listening to these beautiful facts about our body
Profile picture for user Raf_05

Submitted by Raf_05 on Mon, 05/11/2020 - 10:18

Interesting! How many things we learn practising our English skills!

Submitted by englishdealer on Thu, 04/30/2020 - 00:00

one incredible fact is that our heart strat to work when we are 2 monts old

Submitted by Hephaestus00 on Tue, 04/21/2020 - 19:15

I don't know if someone commented this, but the fact is: if you stretch all DNA of your cells and put it together as one string, that length would be twice the diameter of the solar system

Submitted by peachygirl on Sun, 04/05/2020 - 11:06

These are really interesting facts about human body. Unfortunately, I do not know any facts.

Submitted by dguezmont on Thu, 03/26/2020 - 20:40

I found it interesting where an experiment was done and he says that animals do not survive without bacteria unless they are subjected to a special diet. I think it is impossible to try to identify them with the naked eye.

Submitted by user on Tue, 03/24/2020 - 17:04

Interesting facts about micro size of human body. And I can add this, the vaccine is injecting some bacteria to our body to gain immunity against bacteria. So in a possible infection, body can identify the bacteria and beats them.

Submitted by LeonardoArmijos on Mon, 01/27/2020 - 13:19

This video is very interesting for the students who need to know new facts about the human body.

Submitted by Athony on Sat, 09/07/2019 - 15:46

According to a website, people have the sixth sense.It is used to reconized a person who stand behind you. People can have a vision of more than 1.5 km

Submitted by nadia0 on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 21:05

Did you know your body is 75 percent water, and also, your brain is 80 percent water. Thats why if you don't drink anything in 3 days, you may die.

Submitted by nadia0 on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 20:46

Do you know any amazing facts about the human body? Yes I do. For example, did you know that you can may die if you do not drink water for 3 days, buy you'll survive if you do not eat for 3 days. It happens because our body is 75 percent of water, so, we need water to survive before food.

Submitted by Thu on Mon, 07/15/2019 - 07:45

I don't know anything about the human body because I haven't studied biology yet. :

Submitted by Rohan26 on Thu, 07/11/2019 - 00:37

human body have total 206 bones,our heart beats 72 times in a minute.
Profile picture for user macaron

Submitted by macaron on Mon, 05/13/2019 - 16:48

this is kind of similar to biology class honestly it has more facts

Submitted by FatimaH on Thu, 02/21/2019 - 17:42

One interesting fact about human body is that our brain generates electricity that can easily light a small light bulb . When we are awake our brain generates electricity in the amount of 15-25 watts.

Submitted by theodore69 on Mon, 01/21/2019 - 12:39

I'm a biology student but the amazing facts about human body is our artery can round the world.
English courses near you