Directions: You are expected to study this section in class. Don’t preview.

1. Word Pretest

For each italicized word, choose the best meaning below.

1. There is an unidentified object in the sky. No one knows what it is.
A. different B. unknown C. irregular
2. She offered me tea in her best cup and saucer.
A. plate B. bottle C. glass
3. We will take your sensible suggestion into consideration
A. sensitive B. best C. reasonable
4. The pollution from the chemical factory is a source of worry in the neighborhood.
A. cause B. result C. river
5. Whales are enormous animals. You cannot imagine how big some whales are.
A. huge B. funny C. strong
6. The book gives us a detailed account of the poet’s life.
A. value B. report C. analysis
7. The crew sailed their ship at 7 o’clock sharp, as their captain had ordered.
A. soldiers on the ship B. sailors on the ship C. passengers on the ship
8. Those motorcyclists started their race after putting on their helmets and gloves.
A. beautiful hats B. expensive hats C. hard hats

Key

Text　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Have You Ever Seen a UFO?

1. In 1973, Jimmy Carter, ex-president of the United States, saw a UFO — an Unidentified Flying Object. There were about 20 other people with him at the time, and they all watched the strange object for several minutes.
2. Does this surprise you? It’s not unusual. About 15 million people all over the world think that they have seen a UFO, a recent report says.
3. UFOs have become very popular. There are books and films about UFOs, we can watch imaginary flying saucers and visitors from space on television, and there are stories in the newspapers about strange objects. Some of the stories are very silly. Clearly, some of these “UFOs” were aircraft, birds, the moon, lights on the clouds, and so on. But some people believe that spaceships come from other planets, and some of the reports aren’t easy to explain.
4. In 1947 an American businessman was flying his own plane during the day. Mr. Arnold was a sensible man and a pilot with many years’ experience. That day, he saw a row of strange flying objects. He could see them clearly, and he watched them for some time. Later he said that they moved “like saucers over water”. The name “flying saucer” was invented. The newspapers loved the story, of course, and they all wrote long reports about it.
5. After this, there was a flood of reports about flying saucers. Many people had also seen strange things in the past, and now they wrote to the newspapers about it. Mr. Arnold’s experience was not new. But for the first time people were talking and writing about the mysterious objects in the sky. Mr. Arnold’s story became famous. Now other people wanted to tell theirs.
6. During World WarⅡ, pilots had reported strange round flying objects. Sometimes these objects flew beside their planes and followed them. At first the pilots were afraid: they thought these objects were a new weapon. But the “weapon” didn’t harm them. The officers said the pilots were imaging things. The pilots got used to the strange objects.
7. After the newspaper reports about Mr. Arnold, reports came in from all over  Europe, the Soviet Union and many other places. Many of the reports had similar details, and a picture slowly became clear. Most of the UFOs were in the shape of a disc, flat in the bottom and round on top. They were of different sizes, and some were enormously large. But everybody agreed about one thing. These objects could go faster and higher than any known aircraft. They could also turn and move about in a way that nobody had ever seen before.
8. “Being inside that thing would kill an ordinary man!” said one pilot after he had  seen a UFO.
9. In 1948 a flying object was seen over Kentucky in the USA. It was about 80 meters across. Two planes immediately went up to follow it and photograph it. One of the pilots tried to pass the thing. His message came over the radio, “Good God, it’s enormous. It’s got windows…” That was his last message. The next day the parts of  his plane were found on the ground below. Nobody knows what he saw, or what happened.
10. There had been many earlier reports, too. In Sweden in the 1930s there were  many accounts of mysterious objects in the sky. In 1896, before the first aircraft was made, a whole crowd of people watched an enormous “ship in the sky” over their  town. And in recent years, all the passengers of a jet watched two UFOs from the windows of the plane!
11. The UFOs have been seen on the ground as well. People say that they have seen them land. They also say that they have seen and talked to the crew of UFOs — some even say that they have been taken on board. Once again, the reports are all very similar. The space beings, they say, are human-like. They are smaller than us, and they have very large heads. They wear silver or green shining clothes and large clear helmets.
12. These space beings have been seen in Australia…in Brazil…in Portugal…in a forest…in a farmyard…beside a road…
13. Perhaps the most interesting reports come from our own spaceships. In 1963 a Russian astronaut in Vostok Ⅵ saw a flying object in the shape of an egg; the, American astronauts in Gemini Ⅳ took photographs of a silver object in 1965; on September 14 1969 the Apollo Ⅶ crew reported that their spaceship was being followed by two UFOs…
14. Do you believe all this? Or are you like the old Irishwoman in the story? Some people asked this Irishwoman if she believed in fairies.
15. “I don’t believe in them,” she replied, “but they’re there.”
Total words: 800
Total reading time:        minutes        seconds         
The text is from Reading for Adults, by R. D. Lewis. Hong Kong: Longman, 1987.

Read each of the selected paragraphs in Text A carefully. Write down its topic in words or phrases, and its main idea in a full setence.
1. Paragraph 4
Topic:
Main idea:
2. Paragraph 6
Topic:
Main idea:

3. Paragraph 9
Topic:

Main idea:

4. Paragraph 11
Topic:

Main idea:

5. Paragraph 13
Topic:

Main idea:

Decide whether each of the following statements is true or false.

        1. Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States, once saw a UFO.
       2. Some of these “UFOs” were aircraft, birds, and lights on the clouds.
       3. Mr. Arnold was a businessman with many fanciful ideas.
       4. Before Mr. Arnold’s story, people had already talked and written about the flying saucers in the sky.
       5. During World WarⅡ, pilots had been injured by strange round objects following their planes.
       6. According to many reports, most of the UFOs were round in the bottom and flat on the top.
       7. A UFO could turn and move about in a way that no plane could do.
       8. In 1896, an huge “ship in the sky” which a whole crowd of people  watched was actually an aircraft.
       9. The space beings are not human-like because they are smaller than us and they have much larger heads.
       10. Astronauts in spaceships saw UFOs during their flights.

① Word Match
Match the following words with their definitions within each group of five words.

former            unkind laughter
persecution        carry; make known
convince          cause (someone) to believe; persuade
ridicule           occurring earlier in time
convey           cruel or unfair treatment because of religious or political beliefs
faithful           charm powerfully
survivor           logically connected
fascinate          true to somebody
coherent          a device for carrying passengers or goods
vehicle           a person who has continued to live after coming close to death

media            against reason or common sense; clearly false or foolish
riddle             an popular old story
absurd            a puzzle requiring thought to answer and understand
persistent         the newspapers, television, and radio
legend            continuing firmly in spite of opposition or warning

Complete the sentences with the words above. Change the forms if necessary.

1. It took us hours to        Mary of her mistakes.
2. The only        of the accident told us what he felt in the disaster.
3. Mr. Smith thought that what his little son said was        and laughed at him.
4. Nowadays people can easily get information from different kinds of         such as newspapers and television.
5. You must learn to write a        composition in which all the ideas should be logically connected.
6. Why he did it is still a        to me.
7. You can trust Joan, for she is a        friend.
8. The students were        by his ideas.

② Prefixes
Some words in this unit begins with prefixes such as ex- and astro-. Consider the following examples:

prefix  meaning                 example
ex-    former and still living       ex-president = former president
ex-girlfriend = former girlfriend
astro-  related to the stars and space  astronaut = a person who travels in space
astrology = study of the influence of
stars on events and people

What other words can you think of that begin with these prefixes? Find some in this unit. You may use your dictionary if you like. Add more to the list if you can.

ex-   1.          2.          3.          4.          5.          
astro- 1.          2.          3.          4.          5.          

Read the sentence and guess the meaning of the italicized word. Then write the meaning of the italicized word in the space provided.

1. Her ex-husband and she are still good friends though they divorced a year ago.
ex-husband

2. She decided to major in astronomy before she entered the university.
astronomy

3. The king asked an astrologer to predict how long he could stay alive.
astrologer

4. The ex-minister is writing his memoir now.
ex-minister

5. They decided to send two astronauts into space in the near future.
Astronauts

6. The ex-member of this student club gave it much help after his graduation.
ex-member

7. This professor is a well-known astronomer.
astronomer

8. Astrophotography is very important in the study of the stars and space.
astrophotography

Fill in each of the blanks with a word given below.
mystery       remains     cargo       strange-looking      explode
approaching   investigate    suggested   pale               violence

　　The American ship Mary Celeste, found abandoned in the mid-Atlantic in 1872, is one of the best known of the         ships. On December 4 of that year, about 400 miles off the coast of Portugal, a sailor on the English ship Dei Gratia saw another ship          her from the east. The sails on the approaching ship were not fully set; there was a threatening look about her.
　　It was the Mary Celeste, which had left New York Harbor with a         of alcohol on November 7, eight days ahead of the Dei Gratia. The captain of the Dei Gratia waved at the         ship, but there was no answer. He had a boat lowered and sent out men to         .
　　An hour later they returned,         and shaken. Not a soul, living or dead, had been found aboard the Mary Celeste, nor was there any clue to what might have happened. There was plenty of food and water, and there was no sign of         .
　　Numerous theories have been suggested to explain the crew’s disappearance. It has been         that the captain of Mary Celeste, fearing his cargo of alcohol might         , ordered everyone into the longboat. The fate of the passengers aboard the Mary Celeste         one of the most mysterious in the history of the sea.

Key