Unit Five: Astronomy and The Solar
Unit Five: Astronomy and The Solar
Unit Five: Astronomy and The Solar
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LISTEN AND CONSIDER …LISTEN AND CONSIDER …
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Listen and do
Jumbled sentences A B C D E F
Order
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2- Listen to the second part of the text and choose the right answer
to each of the following questions about the Hubble Space
Telescope. Circle the letter corresponding to it.
A. How far is the Hubble Telescope from the Earth? It is …. .
a.106 km b. 610 km c.160 km
B. What is its shape? It is ….. in shape
a. circular b. rectangular c. cylindrical C.
C. How long is it? It is …. long
a. 13 m b. 30 m c.31 m
D. How much does it weigh? It weighs …. tons
a. 110 b. 11 c. 101
LANGUAGE IN CONTEXT
A/ Grammar
Consider sentences 1-3 below and answer questions A-C that follow.
1. What are satellites used for?
2. They are used for sending computer data.
3. They are used to survey the earth and make weather
forecasts.
A. Which preposition follows the verb used in the interrogative?
B. What do you notice about the forms of the verbs which follow
used for and used to ?
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C. Match used for and used to with the form of the verbs that
come after.
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Task 3 : Use the answer to task 2 above to write a description of the
telescope and its functions.
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8.far
Task. Look at sentences A-G. Use the words in the table above to
complete the questions. The questions are asked to get the
information in bold type.
A- Question : how ………. is the Moon from the Earth?
Answer: The average distance to the Moon from the Earth is
384,400 km.
B- Question: How …………….. does a Shuttle travel?
Answer: Like any other object in low-Earth orbit, a Space
Shuttle must reach speeds of about 17,500 miles per hour
( 28,000 kilometers per hour) to remain in orbit.
C- Question : How …………does it take the Hubble telescope to
make one revolution round our planet?
Answer: It only takes the Hubble telescope 97 minutes to
make 1 revolution around our planet.
d- Question : What is ……………….. of the Hubble telescope?
Answer: The Hubble telescope has a weight of 11,110 kg,
but is as light as a feather in space.
B/ Vocabulary
Task. Match the words on the left with their associated words on the
right.
1. Temperature A.miles,kilometers, knots (nautical
miles)
2. Distance B.hot, heat, high, low, cold, warm,
Celsius scale, Fahrenheit scale
3. Area C. square foot, square metre , square
kilometre, acre
4.Volume D. feet, inches, metres, centimeters, tall,
short
5.Measurements/size E.Litres, centiliters, milliliters, cubic
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(humans) litres, cubic metres
C/ Pronunciation
- Pick out the words ending in “s” in the previous task and classify
them in the table below according to the pronunciation of their final”s”
.
/S/ /Z/ / IZ/
WRITING
Fact File
- Earth satellite
Diameter: 3,476 km
Mass: 0.012 (approximately) one-eightieth that of the Earth
Surface gravity: only 0.16 ( one-sixth) that of Earth
Average distance from Earth:384,402 km
Orbit: - west-to-east direction but orbits in a west-to east every
27.32 days
- No atmosphere and no water
Temperature: sunlit side:+110°C
Lunar nights: -170°C
Composition: Rocky
Age: about 4,6 billion years.
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2. Read your draft version and correct your mistakes.
to use the comparatives with short and long adjectives and with
adverbs
express contrast with whereas, while…….
make hypotheses/ suppositions using if- conditional type 2
read figures
use stative verbs : think , suppose … and action verbs : listen, play,
write …;
form plural nouns : galaxy- galaxies
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Answer the questions below
1. What do you think are the similarities and the differences between
astronomy and astrology?
2. How many planets are there in our solar system? Name them.
3. What do you think is the difference between a moon and a planet?
Now, read the text and check your answer to questions 2 and 3.
Read and do
The Solar System
If you were out in space, billions of miles away from our planet,
you would see the Earth as a tiny ball moving in a wide path around a
star that you might recognize as our sun. You would also see, at
various distances from the Sun, seven other spherical bodies of
different sizes- the other planets-all travelling in the same direction in
almost circular paths around the Sun. Moving around some of the
planets are smaller balls- the satellites or moons of the planets. (§1)
Now suppose you were still in space and that you were looking at
the space between the orbits of planets Mars and Jupiter, what would
you see? There would be thousands of little planets, or asteroids, also
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revolving around the Sun. Cutting in this way and that, across the paths
of the planets, you would see comets- starry-headed objects,
sometimes with long tails streaming after them as they draw near the
Sun. You might also catch a glimpse of swarms of even smaller particles
– the meteors- swirling through space. (§2)
All these heavenly bodies make up our vast solar system. If you
continued to view them for months or for years, you would see that
they were moving together through space as a unit, at the speed of
some twelve miles a second, in the general direction of the blue star
Vega. (§3)
The Sun is the very heart of our solar system. It is a typical star- one
of the several thousand millions of stars in our galaxy; like the rest, it is
an incandescent body made up of highly compressed gases. Compared
with the other stars, the Sun is of average size, but it is a giant in
comparison with even the largest planets. Its diameter of 865,600
miles is 109 times that of the Earth; even though it is gaseous, it
weighs more than 300,000 times as much as the Earth. Its surface
temperature is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit; at its centre the
temperature may be as high as 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The
heat energy and light energy radiating from the Sun make it possible
for life to exist upon Earth. Without the reflection of the Sun’s light, we
could not see the other members of the solar system except for the
comets and meteors. (§4)
The Sun is just one of the stars in our universe. When the skies are
clear, we can see the twinkling of these other stars at night. Their light
is less intense than that of the Sun because they are far more remote
from us than any other heavenly bodies. (§5)
We know that the planets of the solar system are different from
the distant stars in some very important ways. Unlike stars, which
shine with their own light, the planets give off no light of their own. All
we can see is the light from the Sun that they reflect back to us as if
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they were huge mirrors in the sky. In addition, each one of the eight
planets travels in its own special path or orbit around the Sun held in
place by the powerful force of the Sun’s gravity, very much as if it were
a ball speeding around the Sun in a matter of a few months. More
distant planets have larger orbits and travel far more slowly. Jupiter,
for example, takes more than eleven Earth years to make one
complete turn around the Sun while Earth makes its path around the
Sun in just 365 1/4 days- in other words, once a year.(§6)
LANGUAGE IN CONTEXT
A/ Grammar
1. Read the text again and pick out the sentences which contain
comparatives of adjectives and adverbs and write them in the
table below.
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Comparatives Adjectives/Adverbs
Short adj /adv +…..+than
superiority
Long ….+ adj/adv+ ……
Task. Study the figures in the table below. Then complete the
sentences with the right comparative form of the adjectives and
adverbs in the yellow box.
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C. Neptune rotates on its axis ……… Earth does.
D. Mercury and Venus complete one revolution around the Sun
………. Earth.
1.Read the text again. Pick out one sentence expressing similarity and
one sentence expressing difference , and write them in the table
below. Leave out the sentences which contain comparatives and
superlatives.
Comparison/contrast Sentences
Similarities
Differences
2. a. Consider the sentences you have written in the table above and
underline the link words used to express similarity and difference.
b. What do the following link words express : similarity or
difference? Put a cross (x) in the appropriate column.
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Task. Join the following pairs of sentences, using a link word from the
table above, to get a meaningful sentence . Make any necessary
change.
1. It takes Uranus 84 years to complete one revolution around
the sun. It takes Neptune 164.8 years to complete one revolution
around the sun.
2. Mercury has no moon or natural satellite. Venus has no moon or
natural satellite.
3. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are mostly composed of rock
and metal. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are formed by
mostly gaseous material.
4 . The time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis equals one day or 24
hours. The time it takes Marsto rotate on its axis equals one
day or 24 hours.
Go back to the text and pick out the sentences which contain if and
suppose? Then consider them and answer these questions.
Condition Result
…………………………………… ……………………………..
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See grammar reference p. 39/40
Task. Give the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
A. If the earth ( stop) orbiting the sun, the northern hemisphere
(keep) getting hotter and hooter while the southern hemisphere (be)
colder and colder.
B. If earth (cease) rotating about its axis but (continue) revolving
around the sun , the length of a year (remain) the same, but a day
(last) as long as a year
C. What (happen) to us if a large asteroid (smash) into the
Earth?
D. If the sun (stop) shining , we (need) heavy coats and flashlights.
We (see) the stars 24 hours a day, but we (never know) when
one day became the next day. And we (never) see the moon
again.
1. We know that the planets of the solar system are different from the
distant stars.
2. All we can see is the light from the sun.
3. Each of the 8 planets travels in its own special path or obit.
4. Unlike stars, which shine with their own light, the planets give off no
light of their own.
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C. Which verbs describe a state?
D. What do we call the verbs that refer to a state?
B/ Vocabulary
1. Find in the text the words and phrases that match the definitions
below.
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C. moving continuously and smoothly in one direction (§2)
D. have a quick imperfect view of ( sb or sth) (§2)
E. giving out light when heated (§4)
F. shining with a light that gleams unsteadily (§5)
G.send, emit (§6)
H. very big (§6)
I. moving very quickly (§6)
2. Add suffix –ist or –er to the words in brackets to get a meaningful
text.
An (astrology) is completely different from an (astronomy) and an
(astrophysics). All three are constant (observe) of the skies, but only
the latter two really deserve the title of ( science). The difference
between them is similar to the one between a fortuneteller and a
(psychology).
C/ Spelling
1. Look at the tip box below. Give some more examples from the text
to illustrate the rules for forming the plural of nouns.
TIPS
1. We add –s to form the plural of most nouns.
E.g. …………………..
2. We add –es after some nouns ending in –o, and nouns ending in
-s, -x, -ch, and –sh.
E.g. …………………..
3. We change the vowels of some nouns to form the plural.
E.g. man /men, crisis / crises , emphasis /emphases,
………………… / …………………….
4. We change the consonant f for the consonant v of some nouns in the
/ plural.
E.g. Life / lives , leaf/ leaves , loaf /loaves
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………… / ………
5. But we don’t change the f ending of some other nouns
E.g. chief chiefs
2. Put the nouns in brackets in the text below into the plural. Pay
attention to the spelling form.
The (theory) about the creation of the world can be divided into two
(category) : religious and scientific. The first category is constituted of
divine (thesis) elaborated by (man) and (woman) with strong religious
(belief). These (man) and (woman) are more interested in divine
(mystery) than in producing tangible (fact) about the (origin) of the
world and its evolution. The second category is composed of a number
of (hypothesis) put forward by astrophysicists and astronomers ……
WRITING
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1. List any other ideas to expand on the notes below.
Expanding notes
Impact on the Earth surface – cause crater- volcanic
eruption- climate change- flooding- Tsunami- earthquake-
alteration of the Earth orbit- great freeze- extinction of
human kind….
Chain of events :
Collision with a comet
Event 1
Event 3 Event 2
Final outcome:extinction
Event4
of human kind
3. Select the most pertinent ideas and write your first draft. Make use
of the useful language box below.
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Useful language
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LISTENING … LISTENING … LISTENING … LISTENING …
make inferences
respond to an oral text
agree and disagree ( verb+ so or not)
make suppositions and hypotheses
and you will:
make a speech in defense of an opinion
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E.T. (1982) by Steven Spielberg
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2. Suppose you saw a UFO (an unidentified flying object) landing in
front of you. How would you react?
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3. Do you think that if Martians existed, they would be intelligent?
Listen and do
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1.Listen to the radio programme about ETs and compare your answers
to the questions above to those of Mr. Henshaw.
WRITING
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1. Read the following notes to expand. These are arguments you can
include in your speech. Add facts or details to support them.
Notes
Predicting catastrophe
Solving the mysteries of the universe
Improving telecommunications
Making celestial and nautical navigation safer
Making weather forecast
Editing checklist
Are the paragraphs of the speech well marked off?
Are the linked words used appropriately?
Is there a pertinent conclusion?
Are there any mistakes in grammar and spelling?
Is the punctuation right?
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4. Write your final version of your speech.
‘DEEP IMPACT’
(by David Grinspoon)
On Sunday night, NASA fired a 3-foot
wide, 820-pound explosive barrel directly
into the path of a 9-mile long, potato- 1. What kind of
shaped comet called Tempel 1. The two source is it taken
successfully collided at 23,000 mph while a
spaceship photographed the collision and
sent the pictures home to us. Why?29
from? Circle the letter corresponding to the right answer and say
why.
A. a science-fiction book B. a scientific report
C. a newspaper article D. a letter of complaint
Read and do
Read the text below to check the guesses and predictions you have
made in answering questions 1-3 on the previous page.
TEXT
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Well, no. This explosion is not going to hurt anyone or anything.
Here is an analogy. You would be justifiably angry if, in order to learn
about shorelines, some scientist decided to dig up your favourite
beach. But you wouldn’t object if the scientist took a few grains of
sand to study. There are approximately one trillion comets larger than
1 mile in diameter, in this solar system alone, and many more in the
wider universe. So even if we destroyed the comet Tempel 1 entirely
we would not be doing any harm to the cometary system. (§3)
In addition, this mission will not demolish the comet, alter its
course, or affect the cosmos in any way. Comets collide with other
celestial objects all the time. The only thing extraordinary about this
particular impact is that we provoked it. ‘Deep Impact’ will simply
make one more small hole in an object that, like all planets large and
small, has been repeatedly hit by colliding debris since our solar
system’s origin, 4.6 billion years ago. (§4)
It is the beginnings of the universe that this experiment can
illuminate. Beneath the dirty ice crust of a comet like Tempel 1 is the
material that has been frozen since the birth of our solar system. Inside
this timeless frozen rock are organic molecules like those that made
life possible on Earth. The study of that ice crust may help us explain
the story of our origin. (§5)
As H.G. Wells once wrote, “ There is no way back into the past. The
choice is the universe- or nothing.” It has been said that the dinosaurs
disappeared because they couldn’t go to another planet. Sooner or
later a killer comet will again cross Earth’s path, threatening all life.
Fortunately, because we have knowledge about comets and space
science, we will be able to survive. (§6)
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1. Read the whole text again and answer the following questions.
A. Why did the NASA fire an explosive barrel in the path of
Tempel 1? Give one reason only.
B. Did people approve of throwing rockets at comets?
C. The author believes that the origin of life on Earth can be
explained through a better knowledge of space. What paragraph
indicates that?
D. Why is space science vital for humanity according to the author?
Explain by analogy with the fate of dinosaurs.
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After reading
Read the coping box below and do the task that follows.
Coping
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WRITING
Statement
Introduction
…………………………………………………………………………………….
Body
Arguments against space exploration
- Space exploration is a wild dream
- Huge amounts of money are gone into smoke
- This money is needed to relieve poverty in the Third World
- Medical research should be encouraged instead
Arguments in favour of space exploration
- Predicting earthquakes
- Satellite communication
- Weather forecasting
- Solving environmental problems
- Blood analysis
Conclusion
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- The benefits of space exploration
Useful language
Expressions for making claims:
some people claim/assert/believe/state that ………
Adverbs, phrases and link words expressing concession:
Admittedly, certainly, though , although, in spite of the
fact that, despite the fact that, it is true that, but …..
Link words for making deductions:
and so , thus, as a result, hence, then ……………..
Expressions for putting forward a point of view:
I would argue that, I believe ……..
2.Correct your mistakes. Then write the final version of your article.
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GRAMMAR
REFERENCE
SECTION
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* When we describe the purpose of something, we use one of the
following structures:
* It’s used for + verb + ing
E.g. It’s used for cutting wood.
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Verbs in English can be divided into two main categories:
Action verbs
Stative verbs
Note
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* Some of the verbs above can be in the progressive when
describing an action or a process.
Example: I see (= understand) what you mean. (Not I am seeing ...)
But you can say, ‘I am seeing (= meeting) the headmaster
tomorrow.
Whether you speak or write, you need to help people make sense of
what you say by signaling to them how one idea leads on to another.
The words and phrases which have this connecting function are called
link words or discourse connectors. They generally come at the
beginning of a sentence. Among their functions are :
Comparing:
In comparison with, like, likewise, similarly, compared with,
both...and... , neither... nor... etc.
Example: The doctor advised him to stop smoking. Similarly, he
recommended him to eat much less and to take plenty of exercise.
Contrasting:
But, however, and yet, while, whereas, conversely, on the one
hand, on the other hand express contrast.
Example: Living in the country is quite healthy; and yet it can be
rather boring at times.
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I- Comparatives of equality
A. Comparative of positive equality:
as+ short or long adjective/adverb + as
- My house is as big as yours.
- This exercise is as difficult as the one we did yesterday.
B. Comparative of negative equality
not as + short or long adjective /adverb+ as
- The Thames is not as long as the Nile.
- Travelling by train is not as expensive as travelling by plane.
cases:
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Note:
a. In adjectives with one syllable ending with a vowel+
consonant ( big, hot) we double the consonant ( bigger ,
hotter )
b. We add –er to adjectives ending in w and y, even if they
have more than one syllable.
c. In adjectives ending in - y , we transform -y into -i
d. With adjectives ending in –le we can use either more +
adjective+ than or adjective+er + than
Form
If + ……… past simple ……. , ……….+ would ( or ‘d )
a. If I were you, I would apologize
b. If the Martians invaded our planet one day , they’d kill us all.
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Meaning:
We use the second conditional to talk about the present, and to
imagine something totally
different from the real situation now or in the future.
In sentence a , the speaker is just imagining himself/herself that he
is me. But he can’t really be
me.
In sentence b, the speaking is just imagining that one day the
Martians will invade our planet. But
we know well that Martians do not exist.
Note:
You can use were for all forms of be in the if -clause of the second
conditional.
Example: If Karim was/were rich , he would travel to Australia.
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LISTENING SCRIPTS
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diameter. It is very heavy.It weighs more than 11 tons. By having a
large telescope above Earth’s atmosphere, astronomers are able to
look at the universe with more clarity than ever before.
( From Modern English International p.32)
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Radio host: Does the idea of an extra-terrestrial message make you
think of space invaders, flying saucers and little green men?
Mr Henshaw: Not at all. The S.E.T.I’s scientists are determines to
distance themselves from science fiction and fantasy. Ours is a serious
and sophisticated project, in what we believe is a legitimate field of
research. So should a signal come from some intelligent species, we
would want o be ready to respond adequately.
Radio host: Supposing extra-terrestrials came into contact with us,
would that change anything for us here on earth?
Mr Henshaw: Oh, the implications would be tremendous. That
would shed light on the origin, the nature and the future of the
universe as a whole.
(Adapted from The Good News)
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