Task 2. Reading. Read the text and complete the task
In 2010, the planetary defence team at NASA had identified and logged 90 per cent of the asteroids near Earth measuring 1km wide. These ‘near-Earth objects’, or NEOs, are the size of mountains and include anything within 50 million kilometres of Earth’s orbit. With an estimated 50 left to log, NASA says none of the 887 it knows about are a significant danger to the planet.
Now NASA is working towards logging some of the smaller asteroids, those measuring 140 metres wide or more. Of the 25,000 estimated asteroids of this size, so far about 8,000 have been logged, leaving 17,000 unaccounted for. Considering that a 19-metre asteroid that exploded above the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 injured 1,200 people, these middle-sized asteroids would be a serious danger if they enter Earth’s orbit.
Whether NASA can find the remaining middle-sized NEOs depends on getting the money to build NEOCam, a 0.5-metre space telescope which would use infrared light to locate asteroids. If it did get the money, it could probably achieve its goal in ten years. Once logged, the planetary defence team would still need to work out how to defend the planet against being hit by the truly worrying asteroids – the PHAs.
‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroids’ are rocks close enough to pass within 7.5 million kilometres of Earth’s orbit. NASA has created a map of 1,400 PHAs, none of which are expected to be a threat in the next one hundred years. With technology already available, NASA can track these objects and make predictions about possible impact, at which point two defence solutions could be launched.
The first is DART – the Double Asteroid Redirection Test. Plans are scheduled to test DART on the moon of an asteroid called Didymos. ‘Didymoon’ is 150 metres wide, orbiting its 800-metre mother, and hopefully the impact of DART will knock it out of its orbit enough for Earth-based telescopes to pick up.
A B C D E
……… Information about a plan that needs finance before it can happen
……… Information about asteroids that are the biggest danger to Earth
……… Information about the numbers of unidentified asteroids near Earth
……… Information about NASA’s most successful project to record asteroids near Earth
……… A solution planned for testing
She said that she really liked that furniture. She said that her parents were arriving the following day.
Exercise 1.
Open the brackets using Present Simple or Present Continuous.
I'm not drinking coffee now. I'm writing an English exercise.
I don't drink coffee in the evening. I drink coffee in the morning.
Your friend is doing his homework now?
Your friend is going to school in the morning?
Look! The baby is sleeping. The baby always sleeps after dinner.
My grandmother don't work. She is on pension.
Where is your cousin work? - He works at a hospital.
Exercise 2.
Choose the correct answer.
Story about a person's life written by someone else
d) biography
Facts and statistics about people, places and things
b) encyclopedia
Long story, usually in chapters
b) novel
Has rhythm, may rhyme, may have stanzas (sections)
a) poetry
Exercise 3.
Open the brackets using the first verb with used to, and the second one in Past Simple.
e.g.: He (live) in New York before he (enter) Oxford University. – He used to live in New York before he entered Oxford University.
I used to earn enough money, but then I lost my job.
Bob not used to like football, but then he changed his mind.
My mum used to drive a lot before she had that accident.
This telephone used to work well before my son dropped it.
Mary used to work in a hotel, but then she got married.
He used to play basketball before he broke his leg.
Exercise 4.
Choose the correct answer.
He was cooking his wife came into the room.
c) when
She stayed at school the lessons were over.
b) until
He was reading the book his children were doing homework.
c) while
Call me you remember some new information.
a) as soon as