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New Inspiration Students Book Reading Texts Level 3 Unit 3

Reading comprehension level 3

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49 views2 pages

New Inspiration Students Book Reading Texts Level 3 Unit 3

Reading comprehension level 3

Uploaded by

eya ferjani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIT

3 OPINIONS

1 There could be tens of billions of planets

2 READING
Read We are not alone on page 36 of the Student’s Book and answer the question in exercise 2. Then
read The World’s Biggest Eye On The Sky below and match five of these topics with paragraphs 1–5.

History

Future

Accuracy

Value

Ideal location

Definite evidence

Accommodation

The World’s Biggest Eye On The Sky


1 At Paranal in the Atacama Desert, north of Santiago in Chile, This proved the presence of a black hole at the centre of
at a height of 2,635 metres, there are four VLTs (Very Large our galaxy. Black holes are formed when a huge star dies.
Telescopes). These are the world’s most advanced optical What is left of the star is held in by gravity, and nothing
telescopes. Each VLT is 8.2 metres across, and weighs 200 can escape. That is why we can see nothing there, and why
tonnes. The telescopes work together to look into space in they are called black holes. Previously scientists thought
such detail that they could distinguish between the two they might exist, but now there is proof.
headlights of a car at the distance of the Moon. This is the
4 More than a hundred astronomers and scientists work at
same as seeing objects that are four billion times fainter
Paranal, and live in a most surprising place. When you
than the human eye can see.
enter their ‘Residencia’ from the dry desert you get a great
2 The VLTs are operated by the European Southern shock – you might be in a tropical rainforest! The air is hot
Observatory (ESO), an organisation of 15 European states, and wet, and there are tropical plants everywhere, and
including Switzerland and the United Kingdom. But why are a swimming pool. The idea is to help the staff live in the
the telescopes in Chile and not in Europe? You could search desert conditions of the Atacama. There is also another
the world, but nowhere has drier air than the Atacama unusual thing – at 7pm every night all the windows
desert. This is important because water in the air obscures are shuttered, so the light does not interfere with the
a telescope’s vision – in the same way that fog prevents you telescopes. The building featured in the 2008 James Bond
seeing clearly. The Atacama must be the most perfect place movie Quantum of Solace!
for astronomy.
5 Now the ESO are building the European Extremely Large
3 Over the last ten years the Paranal VLTs have made amazing Telescope (E-ELT) twenty kilometres away. This will be
discoveries. One is about what might be at the centre of 39.3 metres in size and start working in 2025. One of its aims
Milky Way, the galaxy that contains our solar system. The is to investigate exoplanets like Gliese 581 g. ‘People may
VLTs were able to track the stars at the centre of the Milky think ESO are crazy to spend so much money,’ a scientist
Way, and watch them go round and round … nothing. said. ‘But science doesn’t stand still. It must go forward.’

This page has been downloaded from www.macmillanenglish.com/inspiration


Text © Judy Garton-Sprenger and Philip Prowse 2014
Design and illustration © Macmillan Publishers 2014 2
There could be tens of billions of planets UNIT 3

3 AFTER READING
Do exercise 3 in the Student’s Book. Then read the sentences below about The World’s Biggest Eye On
The Sky and decide: true, false, or no information? Correct the false statements.
1 The VLTs can see car headlights on the Moon.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

2 The atmosphere of the Atacama Desert is just right for VLTs.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

3 The VLTs looked at stars orbiting the centre of the Milky Way.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

4 Astronomers have seen a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

5 There could be a billion black holes in the Milky Way.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

6 There is recent proof that there is a black hole at the centre of our galaxy.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

7 It’s hotter inside the Residencia than in the desert outside.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

8 The evening blackout stops light coming into the Residencia.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Now look at Your response on page 36 of the Student’s Book.

This page has been downloaded from www.macmillanenglish.com/inspiration


Text © Judy Garton-Sprenger and Philip Prowse 2014
Design and illustration © Macmillan Publishers 2014 2

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