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Vocabulary:

  1. entire – полный, целый, весь

  2. topostulate– теоретически допускать, принимать без доказательства

  3. Northern Hemisphere – северное полушарие

  4. faint– слабый, тусклый

  5. swath – полоса

  6. pale– бледный

  7. ancient– древний

  8. to liken – уподоблять, сравнивать

  9. band - лента, дорожка, полоса

  10. unaided (naked) eye — невооружённый (глаз) взгляд

  11. to discern– разглядеть

  12. sprinkled– разбрызганный, разбросанный

  13. to dawn– брать начало, исток

  14. to speculate - размышлять, полагать

  15. speculative - умозрительный, созерцательный

  16. fascination- очарование, обаяние, прелесть, привлекательность, притягательность

  17. quest – поиск

  18. intrinsically- по сути, по существу, в сущности; в действительности

  19. irregular- неправильный, не отвечающий нормам

  20. tocompile- выбирать информацию, собирать материал

  21. aggregation – скопление, масса, конгломерат

  22. neighbouring- пограничный, смежный, сопредельный, соседний, прилегающий

  23. loose – свободный

  24. cluster - скопление, концентрация

  25. favoured- находящийся под покровительством

I. Answer the following questions:

  1. Do you often look up on the sky? What do you see there?

  2. How did the ancient Egyptians call the God who ruled the land of the dead?

  3. Does the issue of the origin of the solar system continue into the present day?

  4. At what speed is it possible to circle the Earth seven times in a single second?

  5. What can be visible to the naked eye in the Southern Hemisphere?

II. Find the English equivalents of the following phrases in the text:

  • бледная полоса на чёрном фоне

  • древние Греки

  • священный Нил

  • бесчисленное множество звёзд

  • разбросанные в глубоком космосе

  • происхождение солнечной системы

  • измерить расстояние

  • соседствующие галактики

  • на обратной стороне

  • намного дальше

  • скорость света

  • содержать приблизительное количество

  • округлой формы

  • ближайшая галактика

  • за определённое количество времени

  • прочная научная основа

III. Match the words with their definitions:

  1. astronomy a) an optical instrument for making distant objects larger and brighter;

  2. ancient b) an ordinary or standard;

  3. galaxy c) an interval between two points or things;

  4. conventional d) the world or universe considered as an ordered system;

  5. telescope e) dating from very long ago;

  6. to compare f) the scientific study of the celestial bodies and of the universe;

  7. distance g) to regard or represent as analogous or similar;

  8. cosmos h) a vast number of star systems;

IV. Find the odd word:

  1. a) stars b) Sun c) astronomy d) Galaxy

  2. a) cosmonaut b) rocket c) missile d) shuttle

  3. a) telescope b) TV-set c) computer d) hardware

  4. a) observer b) investigator c) technician d) explorer

  5. a) research b) to explore c) to discover d) to search

  6. a) Pluto b) Apollo c) Venus d) Mercury

  7. a) sky b) nebula c) observer d) clouds

  8. a) to land b) to fly c) to launch d) touchdown

Ufo (Visiting the aliens)

A lot of people say that they have seen UFOs. Other people say they have been inside them. Not all of these stories are true; some of them are probably dreams, some stories of meetings with aliens sound true – although we can never be sure.

UFOs sell newspapers, and many newspapermen want to use UFOs in their stories. Because of this, some people have taken hoax photographs of UFOs to sell. Many scientists think that all UFOs are hoaxes. Certainly there have been some very clever hoaxes in the last fifty years.

It’s easy to make a photograph of a UFO. You need a small model of a spaceship. You photograph this one, and then take another photograph of the place where you want people to see the UFO. There are many photographs of UFOs taken by a man called George Adamski. Many people now believe that these are hoaxes.

There are also photographs of aliens. Many of these are probably hoaxes as well. Sometimes people see strange things in the sky, and they think that they are UFOs. When experts look carefully at them they sometimes discover that they are airplanes, balloons or even meteors.

Other photographs of UFOs look like flying sauces, but are probably just birds. Sometimes people have taken a photograph of a building or of something in the sky. When they look at the photograph later, they see a UFO. Often, this is a reflection of light in the lens of the camera. There are even photographs taken on the moon which show UFOs. These are probably just reflections, although some people think that they are aliens watching the spacemen.

Most experts think that most UFO stories are not real; but there are still a few stories which are very difficult to explain.