Vocabulary

Video

Transcript

 
In the city of Tromso, the Northern Lights can be admired by night, and in Norway’s largest planetarium, by day. The spectacular images are part of a thirty-minute digital show called Experience The Aurora.

Karina Weinschenk also takes her van out every evening in search of the aurora borealis, but there’s no guarantee of success.

Karina Weinschenk, Tour Guide: “But I will try my best.”

The tourists heads outside the city where there are no artificial lights to interfere with the view. Another crucial factor, of course, is a cloudless sky.

Karina Weinschenk, Tour Guide: “What you have to do when you want to take a picture is just focus on the mountain. And the mountain is far away; if you don’t have the setting on infinity, just focus on the mountain. If the mountain is clear on the picture you can take Northern Light pictures afterwards.”

Weinschenk’s photos of the Northern Lights inspire the tourists to take out their cameras too. But most of them need a few tips first.

And then it’s time to be patient, and hoep they will make an appearance: the Northern Lights.

Karina Weinschenk, Tour Guide: “With a clear sky, you can sometimes see the Northern Ligths, but not always. The shortest Northern Lights I ever saw was five minutes. But it can also be the entire night.”

For adventurous types, there is also an Aurora Borealis safari two-hundred kilometers away, complete with reindeer-drawn sleighs. Most of the tours are offered by indigenous Sami people, but tonight it’s overcast.

Roar Nyheim, Tour Guide: “It’s snowing, so you never know. But you can also always cross all your fingers and toes and everything. Feets and legs and everything. Because last night, when we were traveling by reindeer here, it was snowing like this . . . but suddenly it was breaking up, and we saw the Northern Lights a little bit.

So you never know when you are traveling outside. The most important thing is being outside, stay outside, not sitting inside.”

Tonight, the Aurora Borealis failed to make an appearance, a disappointment. But many tourists, like this family from Australia, will give it another try.

Howard Bowland, Tourist from Australia: “We came to Norway to see the Northern Lights, so we’ve spent about a week here in Tromso. We’ve been on three different tours to see the light.

Each night it’s been different. It’s been very spectacular; we’ve enjoyed a lot: dog sledding and tonight we did some reindeer sledding.”
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Karina Weinschenk is also having her patience tested tonight: she and her group have already driven nearly three-hundred and sixty kilometers, and finally they’re rewarded, at least a little bit.

Karina Weinschenk, Northern Lights Photographer: “I always take photos myself too. Many people only use a digital camera, so they can’t take such good pictures of the Northern Lights. That’s why I always take a few, and then I email them to people who only had a digital camera or who weren’t able to take pictures for one reason or another.”

The intrepid tour group drove almost as far as the Finnish border in search of the Northern Lights.

After eight hours on the road, at three in the morning, they finally return to Tromso.
 

Questions

 
Norway. At night, all locals and tourists in Tromso, Norway go to discos and nightclubs. True or false?

Finland. Do the guests prefer seeing the Northern Lights from the city plaza? What do they do? Why do they do this? Describe the ideal conditions to view them.

Sweden. Is it very easy to take great pictures of the Aurora Borealis, just aim and click with a smartphone?

Russia. There is only one Northern Lights tour. Is this right or wrong?

Canada. What advice did the Sami tour guide give?

Greenland. Do only Europeans come to view the Aurora Borealis?

Iceland. The appearance of the Northern Lights is predictable and always the same. Is this correct or incorrect?

Alaska. I have seen the Aurora Borealis. Yes or no? Would you like to see them?

Estonia. What are some natural phenomena in your country?

Lithuania. Would you like it to become a popular tourist attraction?

Latvia. What might happen in the future?

Denmark. People should visit places like Lapland, the arctic and Himalayas, instead of only beaches. What do you think?