Wider World 4 Reading, Term II

Read the text opposite about travelling into space as a tourist. Choose the correct answers, A, B, C or D.

Space tourism

Guy Laliberté, the Canadian founder of Cirque du Soleil, went into space in 2009. He did it because he wanted to make people aware of the drinking water problems facing all humans on planet Earth. He was able to spend a few days with scientists on the International Space Station and he did a webcast from the station with himself and other artists who were working in different cities around the world.

He had to travel to the station on a spacecraft and he paid around $40 million for this flight. Although he is a very fit man, he found some of the training very difficult. For example, he had to sit on chair and go round and round for ten minutes and it can make you feel really sick. But when he finally got into space, he understood why all the training had been necessary. He would have found it even more difficult if he hadn’t had training at all.

The take-off was absolutely fantastic and it only took 8.5 minutes to get from Earth to space, which was amazing. The hardest thing for him was dealing with zero gravity, but that’s why the training had been so important and they also gave him medicine which the astronauts take to deal with that problem.

The landing was really exciting and very hot and when the parachutes opened, everything was shaking and going round, a bit like being in a car accident. The final landing wasn’t soft, but if he had the opportunity, he would do it all over again.

He took lots of photos looking back at Earth while he was on the space station and, after he returned, he published them in a book and gave all the money to the One Drop Foundation. Being in space made him see much more clearly why we need to look after the environment and he thinks that in the future anyone will be able to buy a ticket to travel into space.

1 Guy Laliberté went into space to .......................

Read the text opposite about travelling into space as a tourist. Choose the correct answers, A, B, C or D.

Space tourism

Guy Laliberté, the Canadian founder of Cirque du Soleil, went into space in 2009. He did it because he wanted to make people aware of the drinking water problems facing all humans on planet Earth. He was able to spend a few days with scientists on the International Space Station and he did a webcast from the station with himself and other artists who were working in different cities around the world.

He had to travel to the station on a spacecraft and he paid around $40 million for this flight. Although he is a very fit man, he found some of the training very difficult. For example, he had to sit on chair and go round and round for ten minutes and it can make you feel really sick. But when he finally got into space, he understood why all the training had been necessary. He would have found it even more difficult if he hadn’t had training at all.

The take-off was absolutely fantastic and it only took 8.5 minutes to get from Earth to space, which was amazing. The hardest thing for him was dealing with zero gravity, but that’s why the training had been so important and they also gave him medicine which the astronauts take to deal with that problem.

The landing was really exciting and very hot and when the parachutes opened, everything was shaking and going round, a bit like being in a car accident. The final landing wasn’t soft, but if he had the opportunity, he would do it all over again.

He took lots of photos looking back at Earth while he was on the space station and, after he returned, he published them in a book and gave all the money to the One Drop Foundation. Being in space made him see much more clearly why we need to look after the environment and he thinks that in the future anyone will be able to buy a ticket to travel into space.

2 What does he say about the training?

Read the text opposite about travelling into space as a tourist. Choose the correct answers, A, B, C or D.

Space tourism

Guy Laliberté, the Canadian founder of Cirque du Soleil, went into space in 2009. He did it because he wanted to make people aware of the drinking water problems facing all humans on planet Earth. He was able to spend a few days with scientists on the International Space Station and he did a webcast from the station with himself and other artists who were working in different cities around the world.

He had to travel to the station on a spacecraft and he paid around $40 million for this flight. Although he is a very fit man, he found some of the training very difficult. For example, he had to sit on chair and go round and round for ten minutes and it can make you feel really sick. But when he finally got into space, he understood why all the training had been necessary. He would have found it even more difficult if he hadn’t had training at all.

The take-off was absolutely fantastic and it only took 8.5 minutes to get from Earth to space, which was amazing. The hardest thing for him was dealing with zero gravity, but that’s why the training had been so important and they also gave him medicine which the astronauts take to deal with that problem.

The landing was really exciting and very hot and when the parachutes opened, everything was shaking and going round, a bit like being in a car accident. The final landing wasn’t soft, but if he had the opportunity, he would do it all over again.

He took lots of photos looking back at Earth while he was on the space station and, after he returned, he published them in a book and gave all the money to the One Drop Foundation. Being in space made him see much more clearly why we need to look after the environment and he thinks that in the future anyone will be able to buy a ticket to travel into space.

3 Guy believes that ...................................