Technical
English :
Holidays in Space...
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It's a long time since
men last went
to the Moon; but there are now people living all the time in
the International Space Station . Today, space is just for
astronauts: but
soon ordinary people ( well.. ordinary millionnaires) will be able to
enjoy the experience.... if they
can afford it.
When you're 50, what sort of holiday will you want to take?
A Japanese company, Shimizu, plans to open the first hotel in space within 15 years.
They want to offer 3-day holidays in a space station, which will be bigger than the International Space Station. However, holidays in space will be very expensive! About 90,000 dollars for three days! Shimizu believe that there are enough people who will be ready to pay the price.
Other firms, in Japan and the USA, want to open hotels on the moon! Trips to the moon will be even more expensive!
The Japanese firm is quite serious; but they cannot yet start building their orbiting hotel.
First they will have to buy a commercial re-usable shuttle. Today there are no shuttles. The old American shuttles, such as Atlantis and Columbia, were very expensive to launch. They had to be launched into orbit with a big rocket which cannot be re-used. Tomorrow's shuttles will take off and land on their own,probably like aeroplanes. They will therefore be much more economical.
Such shuttles do not yet exist; and although Elon Musk, Virgin and Boeing are working on them, they will not be ready to act as re-usable space taxis for several years.
However, there are other big difficulties too. How will ordinary people react to life in space? Today's astronauts spend months training before going into space. They have to be in top form too.
Holidays in space will not be for tomorrow, that is certain; but they will come. That is virtually certain too!
..
within: in no more than - firms: companies - trip: voyage - shuttle: a vehicle that goes into space then comes back again - launch: send into space - take off: leave the earth - land: return to earth - on their own: without any assistance, by themselves - such shuttles: shuttles like this - react to: respond to - .
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Student Worksheet
Holidays in Space
Article or no article?
Put back the articles (the, a
or an) into this extract from the
article when they are necessary. Be careful; sometimes no
article is possible, but when? If no article is
needed, use -
They want to offer 3-day holidays in
space station, which will
be bigger
than
International Space Station. However,
holidays in
space will be very expensive! About 90,000 dollars for three
days! Shimizu believe that there are enough people who will be ready to
pay
price.
Other firms, in Japan and USA, want to open hotels on moon! Trips to moon will be even more expensive!
Japanese firm is quite serious; but they cannot yet start building their orbiting hotel.
First they will have to buy commercial re-usable shuttle. Today there are no shuttles. old American shuttles, such as Atlantis and Columbia, were very expensive to launch. They had to be launched into orbit with big rocket which cannot be re-used. Tomorrow's shuttles will take off and land on their own, probably like aeroplanes.
Other firms, in Japan and USA, want to open hotels on moon! Trips to moon will be even more expensive!
Japanese firm is quite serious; but they cannot yet start building their orbiting hotel.
First they will have to buy commercial re-usable shuttle. Today there are no shuttles. old American shuttles, such as Atlantis and Columbia, were very expensive to launch. They had to be launched into orbit with big rocket which cannot be re-used. Tomorrow's shuttles will take off and land on their own, probably like aeroplanes.
Ideas for teachers
Student worksheet exercise: articles.It may be useful to remind students first when articles are required in English, and when they should not be used. Check usage in the Linguapress Descriptive Grammar of English
Expression: Have pupils write a couple of sentences on the subject; Why I would/would not like to take a holiday in Space.
Then write up on the board all the advantages and all the disadvantages of taking a holiday in Space.
Other ideas?
EFL teachers: Help develop this resource by contributing extra teaching materials or exercises.
To contribute click here for further details
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Revised 2020 . Originally published in Freeway, the intermediate level English newsmagazine.
Republication on other websites or in print is not authorised
