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7. In addition to the many manned space (lights, since 1966 both the United States and the Soviet Union
have sent many unmanned space ships to explore distant planets. Some of them landed on Venus and
Mars, while others passed very close to Jupiter and Saturn. These space probes, as they are called, have
made many fascinating discoveries. For example, Venus has an average temperature of 800" Fahrenheit,
lo, which is one of Jupiter's moons, has active volcanoes. Saturn's rings, which are mostly made of ice. are
only a few miles thick. Scientists are hoping to learn even more from Pioneer 10. a space probe which left
our solar system in 1983. It carries a plaque that shows a man, a woman, and a map of our solar system
and some nearby stars. In addition, it carries a coded message in the hope that it may find intelligent life.
Perhaps someday someone from another planet will find this reminder of our early space age.
8. Our exploration of space has just started and many exciting projects are planned for the future. Some
scientists believe that by 2020 we will have permanent space stations on the moon and perhaps even on
Mars. Most experts agree that space travel will become a reality for many of us in the near future. Private
businesses may soon begin mining operations in space that will bring valuable minerals and metals back to
earth. Such operations will create a need for space miners Gerard O'Neill, a Princeton University physicist,
predicts: "Tens of thousands of people will go to and from space early in the next century . .." Although we
have learned much about our solar system and our universe in the past fifty-five years, there is a lot left to
learn. In many ways our adventures in space have just begun.
2.
a.
b.
c.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
MAKING INFERENCES
1.
2.
3.
The weightlessness of space helps scientists, but it also creates problems. What kinds of problems
must astronauts overcome?
FOR DISCUSSION
1.
2.
Space Flights will be available to private citizens. Would you like to travel in space? Why or why not?
3.
SECOND READING
BEFORE READING
1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the articles headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false
(F):
a.
T/F
b.
T/F
c.
T/F
d.
e.
A broken fuel sensor stopped the original lift-off two weeks ago. T / F
f.
NASA bent the rules a little and ignored the fuel sensor problem. T / F
g.
T/F
h.
T/F
blasted
1. thumbs-up
b.
mission
2. go into
c.
explore
3. guess
d.
disaster
4. worry
e.
hurdles
5. quest
f.
concern
6. detect
g.
go-ahead
7. lifted
h.
spot
8. catastrophe
i.
speculate
9. examined
j.
studied
10. obstacles
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one
combination is possible):
a.
blasted
mission since
b.
c.
a major concern
d.
back on track
e.
It has overcome
f.
off
g.
to speculate on this
h.
many hurdles
i.
of all Americans
j.
NASA refuses
WHILE READING
4. WORD ORDER: Put the underlined words back into the correct order.
Shuttle Discovery launches successfully
The 114th Space Shuttle flight from blasted has off the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Americas mission
to explore space track back is on now. The shuttle Discovery is 25 years old but carries the hopes of all
Americans seven of the lives and astronauts. It is America's first manned space mission since the 2003
Columbia disaster. NASA has spent two years sure safe everything is making for this launch. It has
overcome many hurdles but engineers are confident of a safe return to Earth.
Safety has concern with a major been this launch. A broken fuel gauge sensor stopped the original lift-off
attempt two weeks ago. NASA technicians decided it was not a go-ahead gave the danger and for todays
mission. Hundreds of hi-tech cameras are photographing the launch to angle from every possible spot
problems. There has already been one worry. Something fell off of the shuttle soon after the fuel tanks
dropped off. NASA on to speculate this refuses until it has studied the videos.
5. LOOK AT THE WORDS BELOW. RECALL EXACTLY HOW THESE WERE USED IN THE TEXT:
blasted
track
carries
manned
sure
return concern
attempt
go-ahead
angle
worry
speculate