Listening and Reading Exercises

The Birth of a Star

June 5th 2006
Henry _____ carefully into the telescope which lets ____ see far, far away,
as far away as the distant nebulae on the far edges of the Milky Way.
Henry is an_________. He looks at the sky, and at _____ in particular. Even
though he spends much of his time ________ at detailed computer
reports, which ___ just lists and lists of numbers, ____favourite thing
about ___ job is looking through the telescope. And ____ he is very
excited. He _____ sure yet, but he ______ he has seen a dense cloud
which might be the beginning of a ______.
July 5th 2006
Henry is still looking for a tiny point of light in the sky. He checks the
lists and lists of _________ that his computer produces, and tries to make
sense of them. He tries to turn the basic data into an image, a _______ of
the star he hopes to ____, but it is not yet possible.
He arrives _____ feeling tired. His ____ Anna sits down next to him. “I’ve
got some news…” she says.
August 5th 2006
Henry is so excited about being a _____ that he has forgotten about ___
star. Anna is ______ sick and tired. Henry is no longer thinking about
nebulae and clouds and gases. He is _______ about pushchairs and
nappies.
September 5th 2006
Anna and Henry go to the ______. Anna has an ultrasound scan. Henry is
used to seeing distant images of _______ and stars and clouds, and now
he _____ at this image. It almost looks like a cloud, but it is much clearer.
He ____ see the outline of a head, the features of a face. And he realises
that this means much more to ____ than the distant stars he is used to
looking at.
October 5th 2006
Anna finally starts to get fatter. Henry is feeling terrified. For the _____
time now, he realises exactly what it means. In a few ______time, he will
__ a father.
November 5th 2006
Anna looks at her tummy and now starts to feel that ______ is another
living person inside ___. She ______ about Henry’s job, and remembers
how excited Henry ___ a few months ago when he thought that he could
___ a new star.
December 5th 2006
Henry thinks that Anna looks a bit like a whale, but that she is very
________ anyway. He thinks that next Christmas everything will be very,
____ _________.
January 5th 2007
Anna _____ like she wants to _____ all the time. She feels like the baby
already wants to _____ out. The baby is kicking her from inside. She feels
_____ a football. She can’t wait to become a _______. Henry calls her ___
times a day on her mobile phone.
February 5th 2007
It can take as long as _________ years for a star to form, but Henry
_______ care about seeing his star any more. He ________ that although
he may be the first person to see a new star, it is _________ for him to see
the birth of a star, from its beginning to its appearance. But he _______
care because a new star has just entered his ____.
“But we haven’t thought of a name!” says Anna, holding the tiny baby in
her arms.
“I have” says Henry. “I’ve got a beautiful name for her.”
“What is it?”
“Stella. Let’s call her Stella.”
THE END

Possessive Nouns. Order the words in the boxes to make phrases.

si h
M
Car st 's childr ' o
y tree The
er en s us
e
___________________________
1
_ __________________________________
6 _

frien ' M secre dark '

house Natalia
d sy t est s

___________________________ __________________________________
2
_ 7 _

A b
Th Presi 's Pepe
men l 's ar
e dent
l
__________________________________
___________________________ 8 _
3
_

ar T
's Napoleon hous do o
my h the
e or f
e
___________________________
4
_ __________________________________
9 _

paren pl M s' cupboar t o t The

t ac y d h f o
 e e p

___________________________ 1 _________________________________
5
_ 0 _

Simple Past / Past Continuous

Using the words in parentheses, complete the text below with the
appropriate tenses, then click the "Check" button to check your answers.
Principio del formulario

Last night, while I was doing my homework, Angela (call) . She

said she (call) me on her cell phone from her biology

classroom at UCLA. I asked her if she (wait) for class, but she
said that the professor was at the front of the hall lecturing while she

(talk) to me. I couldn't believe she (make) a phone

call during the lecture. I asked what was going on.

She said her biology professor was so boring that several of the students

(sleep, actually) in class. Some of the students (talk)

about their plans for the weekend and the student next to her

(draw) a picture of a horse. When Angela (tell) me

she was not satisfied with the class, I (mention) that my

biology professor was quite good and (suggest) that she

switch to my class.

While we were talking, I (hear) her professor yell, "Miss, are

you making a phone call?" Suddenly, the line went dead. I (hang)

up the phone and went to the kitchen to make dinner. As I

(cut) vegetables for a salad, the phone rang once again. It

(be) Angela, but this time she wasn't sitting in class.

 Fill in the missing words into the gaps.
Test On Irregular Verbs

Principio del formulario

3

PastParticiple
Simple 1 0 0
Infinitive
Past
0 0

66 0

0 0 0
flew
1

9 2

0 0
sink
0

84 1

heard
0 0 0

32 0

0 0 0
fought
1

51 2

0 0 0
know
1
 43 2

sent
0 0 0

38 1

cost
0 0 0

96 1

0 0 0
fell
0

17 2

0 0 0
bled
3

thought
Final del formulario
Final del formulario