Task 1. APOPHIS
How old will you be in 2029? That is how old you will be when a large asteroid, called Apophis, comes very, very close to our planet. Asteroids are rocks that circle in space and sometimes come closer to the Earth and even hit it. Most asteroids are very small and, if you are lucky, you can sometimes see them in the night sky as “falling stars”. Most scientists believe that one large asteroid, about six to twelve kilometers across, hit the Earth and killed all the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. Apophis is also very big. Scientists discovered it in 2004. They say it is about 300 meters across. That’s about the size of a large sports stadium. According to the scientists’ results, it is not huge enough to destroy our world, but it is large enough to destroy several cities. It will probably miss the Earth, they say, but it will be much closer than the Moon for a few minutes. If you don’t find that scary, the same asteroid will visit our planet a few years later in 2036. Again, it will miss our planet, but again by a very small distance…probably. The only thing we are sure is that all the eyes and telescopes in every country in the world will be watching the sky during such important days.
Choose True or False:
1. Most asteroids are huge enough to destroy the world. True / False
2. One big asteroid hit the Earth and killed some dinosaurs sixteen million years ago. True / False
3. Scientists discovered the asteroid called Apophis in 2004. True / False
4. Apophis is big enough to destruct many countries and continents. True / False
Answer the questions:
5. What are asteroids?
6. How can you see asteroids in the night sky?
TitanicТитаникThere isn’t a person in the world who hasn’t heard of Titanic. It was a huge passenger liner that sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912. This tragedy happened due to the liner’s collision with an iceberg. It was one of the largest and most memorable disasters that the twentieth century brought to mankind. Titanic was one of the biggest liners built at the beginning of the century by the British company “White Star Line”. The Titanic went on his first and last voyage to America and never made it. The ship departed from Southampton in the UK to New York City. At those times Titanic was the largest ship afloat. It carried more than 2000 passengers plus the crew. Some of the wealthiest people of the world were also on board along with hundreds of British and Irish emigrants. In fact, the ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury. It contained opulent cabins, high-class restaurants, libraries, a swimming-pool, on-board gymnasium and many other facilities. The only disadvantage of the ship was its lack of lifeboats. Unfortunately one-third of the passengers and crew tragically drowned. Only about 1500 people were saved in lifeboats. The majority of saved people were women and children. According to data the ship left Southampton on April the 10th 1912 and collided with an iceberg in the late evening of on April the 15th. Thus, the voyage lasted only 5 days. As the time passed the Titanic has become one of the most famous ships in history. It is commemorated in numerous books, songs, exhibitions, films and memorials. One of the best films about the tragedy of Titanic was released in 1997 by a famous Canadian film director James Cameron. The film made an instant success and is still very popular. It was nominated for “Oscar” in 14 nominations and won 11 of them.