Unit-1,Lesson-3
1. Read the passage and answer question A.
On 16 January 2003, Kalpana Chawla finally started her new mission with six other space crew on the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia. She was one of the mission specialists. Chawla’s responsibilities included the microgravity experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety. After a 16 days scientific mission in space, on 1 February 2003, Columbia disintegrated over Texas during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. All the crew in Columbia including Chawla died only 16 minutes prior to their scheduled landing. Investigation shows that this fatal accident happened due to a damage in one of Columbia’s wings caused by a piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank peeling off during the launch. During the intense heat of re-entry, hot gases penetrated the interior of the wing, destroying the support structure and causing the rest of the shuttle to break down.
A. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives.
(a) Hot gases penetrated the interior of the wing and --- the support structure.
i. strengthened ii. wasted
iii. damaged iv. weakened
Ans: damaged.
(b) There were --- mission specialists in Columbia.
i. a hundred ii. fifty iii. several iv. few
Ans: several.
(c) Microgravity refers to --- gravity.
i. high ii. medium iii. strong iv. low
Ans: low.
(d) The word ‘studying’ in line 4 means ---.
i. examining ii. watching
iii. feeling iv. tasting
Ans: examining.
(e) The word ‘disintegrated’ means ---.
i. united ii. coagulated iii. broke iv. fell
Ans: broke.
(f) The antonym of ‘prior’ is ---.
i. after ii. before iii. during iv. frequent
Ans: after.
(g) The accident of Columbia proves that the atmosphere of the earth is --- than the space.
i. drier ii. lighter iii. cooler iv. hotter
Ans: hotter.
(h) The synonym of the word ‘penetrate’ is ---.
i. leave ii. enter iii. cross iv. touch
Ans: enter.
(i) The insulating foam began to peel off at the time of ---.
i. landing ii. coming back
iii. orbiting iv. taking off
Ans: taking off.
(j) The term ‘ill-fated’ may be replaced best by---.
i. poor ii. star-crossed iii. forlorn iv. rejected
Ans: star-crossed.
লেখক : সহযোগী অধ্যাপক ও চেয়ারম্যান, ইংরেজি বিভাগ, ঢাকা কমার্স কলেজ, ঢাকা
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