In 2013, the United Kingdom announced plans to spend more than $90 million developing the Skylon, a super-fast plane that could travel at five times the speed of sound and break out of the Earth's orbit to travel in outer space. It would be able to take off from any runway in the world, and could bring 300 passengers from London to Sydney in four hours. Or it could be used to drop off a load of up to 15,000 kilograms in outer space - at the International Space Station, for example.

Development has only just begun, and there are some big problems to overcome. John Hansman, the head of MIT's International Center for Air Transportation, says, "It looks great from a science fiction standpoint, but it’s really, really tough to do." Additionally, the $90-million figure is just the beginning - final costs could amount to more than a billion dollars.   -

However, many scientists and science journalists are optimistic about the project. And if everything goes according to plan, a prototype (the first design of the Skylon) will be ready by 2017, with the real deal following just a couple of years later. After that? "Access to space, access to anywhere in the world within four hours is on the cards,” says Alan Bond, the founder of Reaction Engines, the company behind the Skylon's propulsion system.

a. 2013:               the year when the K announced plans to develop the Skylon

b. 2017                               ______________________________________________________________

c. 90,000,000:                  _______________________________________________________________

d. 300:                              _______________________________________________________________               

e. 1,000,000,000             _______________________________________________________________

f. 15 tons:              _______________________________________________________________

g. 4 hours:                        _______________________________________________________________

Read the passage again and complete the following sentences.

1. A ______________________is the plane that can travel extremely fast.

2. The Skylon could take off _________________________.

3. John Hansman is  ______________________________.

4. Many scientists feel _________________________ the project.

5. The Skylon could travel at ______________________________.

6. Alan Bond founded ___________________________________.

7. The plans to develop the Skylon was announced by ___________________in ____________.

8. There are _________________ problems ___________________.

III. Read the passage and explain the meanings of the following numbers.

In 2013, the United Kingdom announced plans to spend more than $90 million developing the Skylon, a super-fast plane that could travel at five times the speed of sound and break out of the Earth's orbit to travel in outer space. It would be able to take off from any runway in the world, and could bring 300 passengers from London to Sydney in four hours. Or it could be used to drop off a load of up to 15,000 kilograms in outer space - at the International Space Station, for example.

Development has only just begun, and there are some big problems to overcome. John Hansman, the head of MIT's International Center for Air Transportation, says, "It looks great from a science fiction standpoint, but it’s really, really tough to do." Additionally, the $90-million figure is just the beginning - final costs could amount to more than a billion dollars.   -

However, many scientists and science journalists are optimistic about the project. And if everything goes according to plan, a prototype (the first design of the Skylon) will be ready by 2017, with the real deal following just a couple of years later. After that? "Access to space, access to anywhere in the world within four hours is on the cards,” says Alan Bond, the founder of Reaction Engines, the company behind the Skylon's propulsion system.

a. 2013:               the year when the K announced plans to develop the Skylon

b. 2017                               ______________________________________________________________

c. 90,000,000:                  _______________________________________________________________

d. 300:                              _______________________________________________________________               

e. 1,000,000,000             _______________________________________________________________

f. 15 tons:              _______________________________________________________________

g. 4 hours:                        _______________________________________________________________

Read the passage again and complete the following sentences.

1. A ______________________is the plane that can travel extremely fast.

2. The Skylon could take off _________________________.

3. John Hansman is  ______________________________.

4. Many scientists feel _________________________ the project.

5. The Skylon could travel at ______________________________.

6. Alan Bond founded ___________________________________.

7. The plans to develop the Skylon was announced by ___________________in ____________.

8. There are _________________ problems ___________________.

Choose the best answer.

Tom is from America. He is 13 years old. He has a new pen pal in Vietnam. Her first name is Trang and her family name is Tran. Trang is from Hue. But her parents work in Hanoi, so now she lives there with them. She is studying English at an International School. She told Tom many things about her new school and new life.

Hanoi is a big and busy city. It seems to be bustling with activity at all times of the day and night. She told that the difference in the atmosphere was quite shocking to her. In the first week, she thought her new school was very boring and that most of the teachers and students seemed to be too serious. She missed the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of her old school so much and sometimes she felt lonely. But now, having been in this school for two months, she gets used to it.

Her new school is huge. It is bigger and prettier than her old school in Hue. The school hours are longer and there isn't as much homework. Instead, the pupils here do many projects. She is in class 7A and her classroom is on the fourth floor. There are twenty-five students in her class and they are very friendly. It’s only about 500 meters from her house to her school. So she walks to school every day. She is very interested in English and Math. Tom hopes that one day he can go to Vietnam to meet Trang and travel around Vietnam with her.

How far is it from her house to her school?

II. Read the following passage carefully, then do as directed : (5 marks)
Thinking about how we will be travelling in 10 or 20 years is very interesting. Will we still be using planes or will we be flying our cars from Paris to London? Here are some suggestions.
- SkyTrain: Currently being developed at NASA, SkyTrain looks like the monorail at Disney World. Moving at 240km/h and using small amount of energy, it could be the future of city transportation. SkyTrain has the passenger capacity of a 6-lane highway.
- Flying cars: Zhu Wenxi and Lai Zexin, Chinese students, have designed a solar-powered flying car that doesn’t need a runway to take off. If you have about 200 hundred thousand dollars, you will own this vehicle soon.
- An electric mininus: The minibus Cameo, designed by Martin Pes, can carry 32 passengers but it is small enough to get its way out of a traffic jam. Its electric motor and low weight mean that it can be recharged in seconds while stopping and it has zero emission.
- An eco-taxi: Taxis are bad for the environment and traffic jams. We enter eco-taxi, and individual taxis form a train powered by solar panels.
1. Decide whether the statements below are True (T) or False (F) : (2,5 marks)
a. SkyTrain is fast but cannot be used as a means of transport in the city. …………
b. Flying cars designed by Zhu Wenxi and Lai Zexin run on solar energy. …………
c. A long runway is necessary for flying cars to take off. …………
d. Because it is small, an electric minibus can avoid traffic jams. …………
e. Several eco-taxis can form a line moving together, using solar energy. …………
2. Answer the following sentences: (2,5 marks)
a. How fast can SkyTrain travel?
………………………………….............................................................................................
b. Where are the designers of flying cars from?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
c. How much money does a flying car cost?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
d. Why should we take eco-taxi instead of other taxis?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
e. Are you interested in these means of transport? Why?
………………………………………………………………………………………………

Choose the best answer.

Tom is from America. He is 13 years old. He has a new pen pal in Vietnam. Her first name is Trang and her family name is Tran. Trang is from Hue. But her parents work in Hanoi, so now she lives there with them. She is studying English at an International School. She told Tom many things about her new school and new life.

Hanoi is a big and busy city. It seems to be bustling with activity at all times of the day and night. She told that the difference in the atmosphere was quite shocking to her. In the first week, she thought her new school was very boring and that most of the teachers and students seemed to be too serious. She missed the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of her old school so much and sometimes she felt lonely. But now, having been in this school for two months, she gets used to it.

Her new school is huge. It is bigger and prettier than her old school in Hue. The school hours are longer and there isn't as much homework. Instead, the pupils here do many projects. She is in class 7A and her classroom is on the fourth floor. There are twenty-five students in her class and they are very friendly. It’s only about 500 meters from her house to her school. So she walks to school every day. She is very interested in English and Math. Tom hopes that one day he can go to Vietnam to meet Trang and travel around Vietnam with her.

The word “bustling” in the second paragraph has the similar meaning with ….

Choose the best answer.

Tom is from America. He is 13 years old. He has a new pen pal in Vietnam. Her first name is Trang and her family name is Tran. Trang is from Hue. But her parents work in Hanoi, so now she lives there with them. She is studying English at an International School. She told Tom many things about her new school and new life.

Hanoi is a big and busy city. It seems to be bustling with activity at all times of the day and night. She told that the difference in the atmosphere was quite shocking to her. In the first week, she thought her new school was very boring and that most of the teachers and students seemed to be too serious. She missed the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of her old school so much and sometimes she felt lonely. But now, having been in this school for two months, she gets used to it.

Her new school is huge. It is bigger and prettier than her old school in Hue. The school hours are longer and there isn't as much homework. Instead, the pupils here do many projects. She is in class 7A and her classroom is on the fourth floor. There are twenty-five students in her class and they are very friendly. It’s only about 500 meters from her house to her school. So she walks to school every day. She is very interested in English and Math. Tom hopes that one day he can go to Vietnam to meet Trang and travel around Vietnam with her.

Trang’s new school is smaller and prettier than her old school.

Choose the best answer.

Tom is from America. He is 13 years old. He has a new pen pal in Vietnam. Her first name is Trang and her family name is Tran. Trang is from Hue. But her parents work in Hanoi, so now she lives there with them. She is studying English at an International School. She told Tom many things about her new school and new life.

Hanoi is a big and busy city. It seems to be bustling with activity at all times of the day and night. She told that the difference in the atmosphere was quite shocking to her. In the first week, she thought her new school was very boring and that most of the teachers and students seemed to be too serious. She missed the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of her old school so much and sometimes she felt lonely. But now, having been in this school for two months, she gets used to it.

Her new school is huge. It is bigger and prettier than her old school in Hue. The school hours are longer and there isn't as much homework. Instead, the pupils here do many projects. She is in class 7A and her classroom is on the fourth floor. There are twenty-five students in her class and they are very friendly. It’s only about 500 meters from her house to her school. So she walks to school every day. She is very interested in English and Math. Tom hopes that one day he can go to Vietnam to meet Trang and travel around Vietnam with her.

What is the main topic of this passage?

Choose the best answer.

Tom is from America. He is 13 years old. He has a new pen pal in Vietnam. Her first name is Trang and her family name is Tran. Trang is from Hue. But her parents work in Hanoi, so now she lives there with them. She is studying English at an International School. She told Tom many things about her new school and new life.

Hanoi is a big and busy city. It seems to be bustling with activity at all times of the day and night. She told that the difference in the atmosphere was quite shocking to her. In the first week, she thought her new school was very boring and that most of the teachers and students seemed to be too serious. She missed the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of her old school so much and sometimes she felt lonely. But now, having been in this school for two months, she gets used to it.

Her new school is huge. It is bigger and prettier than her old school in Hue. The school hours are longer and there isn't as much homework. Instead, the pupils here do many projects. She is in class 7A and her classroom is on the fourth floor. There are twenty-five students in her class and they are very friendly. It’s only about 500 meters from her house to her school. So she walks to school every day. She is very interested in English and Math. Tom hopes that one day he can go to Vietnam to meet Trang and travel around Vietnam with her.

At first, Trang thought her new school was dull.

Choose the best answer.

Tom is from America. He is 13 years old. He has a new pen pal in Vietnam. Her first name is Trang and her family name is Tran. Trang is from Hue. But her parents work in Hanoi, so now she lives there with them. She is studying English at an International School. She told Tom many things about her new school and new life.

Hanoi is a big and busy city. It seems to be bustling with activity at all times of the day and night. She told that the difference in the atmosphere was quite shocking to her. In the first week, she thought her new school was very boring and that most of the teachers and students seemed to be too serious. She missed the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of her old school so much and sometimes she felt lonely. But now, having been in this school for two months, she gets used to it.

Her new school is huge. It is bigger and prettier than her old school in Hue. The school hours are longer and there isn't as much homework. Instead, the pupils here do many projects. She is in class 7A and her classroom is on the fourth floor. There are twenty-five students in her class and they are very friendly. It’s only about 500 meters from her house to her school. So she walks to school every day. She is very interested in English and Math. Tom hopes that one day he can go to Vietnam to meet Trang and travel around Vietnam with her.

The word “happy-go-lucky” in the second paragraph means ……