The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet
Reading
1. Work in pairs. Try to match the items on the left with the fastest speeds on the right.
a) manned plane (Lockheed Blackbird)
68 mph
b) car (the Bloodhound)
268 mph
c) train (Shanghai Maglev)
1,050 mph
d) human (Usain Bolt)
242 mph
e) animal (cheetah)
2,193 mph
f) bird (peregrine falcon)
27 mph
g) fish (sailfish)
70 mph
2. You are going to read about ‘the Bloodhound’, a car which is designed to become the fastest
car in the world. What kinds of problems do you think the designers of the car face?
3. Work in pairs. Your teacher will give you nine sections which make up the complete news
story. Put them in the correct order.
4. Check your answers with your teacher.
5. Read the story again and check your answers to task 2.
Grammar
1. Complete the rules a) to g) about the use of articles on worksheet B by writing the
indefinite article (a, an), the definite article (the) or the zero article (no article) in each
space.
2. Now look at the news story from the reading section with the definite and indefinite articles
removed. Do not look at your answer from tasks 3 and 4 above! Put a / an or the in each
space as appropriate. Note: in two cases, no article is needed.
Speaking
1. Imagine the Bloodhound has just broken the world land-speed record. Work in two groups.
Group A: You are the driver of the Bloodhound. You are going to be interviewed by a
journalist for a magazine article about you. Work in pairs and imagine what questions the
journalist might ask you, and how you would answer each question.
Group B: You are a journalist. You are going to interview the driver of the Bloodhound for a
magazine article about him / her. Work in pairs and prepare a list of questions that you would
like to ask the driver.
2. Work with a student from the other group. Role-play the interview between the journalist
and the driver.
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The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet
Writing
1. Work with the same partner as in speaking task 2. Write the magazine article about the
driver of the Bloodhound and his / her experience when breaking the record.
2. Read the articles written by other pairs. Which article is the most interesting, and why?
Speaking: extra activity
Hold a class debate on the motion, ‘This house believes that as the most intelligent race on Earth
we have a responsibility to push science to the limits, whatever the cost.’
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The car that’s faster than a bullet
Worksheet A
b)
A car that can travel faster than a bullet from a gun?
e)
It sounds unlikely, but a team of British engineers is hoping to build exactly that:
a)
in 1999, the team made history when RAF pilot Andy Green drove its Thrust
SSC jet-powered vehicle at 763 mph (1,228 km/h);
h)
now they are planning to put him behind the wheel of a car that is capable of
reaching 1,050 mph.
f)
The team has been working on the Bloodhound for 18 months, and reckons the
vehicle, which is powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter Typhoon jet
engine, will be ready to make a new land-speed record attempt in 2011.
i)
The wheels of the 12.8m-long, 6.4 tonne supersonic vehicle will spin so fast they
will have to be made from titanium to stop them falling apart, while the
bodywork will have to withstand pressure exceeding 12 tonnes per square
metre.
d)
Wing Commander Green has admitted it will not be a comfortable ride.
g)
‘The critical thing for a car going that fast is to keep it on the ground and keep it
going in the right direction,’ he told The Independent.
c)
‘There is not much time to think of anything else.’
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The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet
Worksheet B
Complete the rules for the use of articles in English. Write the definite article, the
indefinite article, or the zero article in each space.
a) ___________________________________ is used before singular nouns that introduce
something or someone we have not mentioned before.
e.g. ‘I met ____ really interesting girl yesterday.’
b) We use ____________________________________ when we know that the other
person knows or can work out what particular person / thing we are referring to.
e.g. ‘Where’s ______ cat?’
c) We only use _______________________________________ before singular nouns.
d) We use ____________________________________ when we have already mentioned
the person / thing we are talking about.
e.g. ‘_______ girl I met yesterday is an engineer.’
e) We also use _______________________________________ before certain nouns when
we know there is only one of them.
e.g. ‘_______ President of Russia’
f) __________________________________ is used when we are referring to plural or
uncountable nouns in a general way.
e.g. ‘I love _______ music.’
g) __________________________________ is used to refer to any one of a particular type
or person / thing.
e.g. ‘I like ____ student who always tries hard.’
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The car that’s faster than a bullet
Now complete the news story with the correct articles.
______ car that can travel faster than ______ bullet from ______ gun? It sounds
unlikely, but ______ team of ______ British engineers is hoping to build exactly
that: in 1999, ______ team made history when RAF pilot Andy Green drove its
Thrust SSC jet-powered vehicle at 763 mph (1,228 km/h); now they are planning to
put him behind ______ wheel of ______ car that is capable of reaching 1,050 mph.
______ team has been working on ______ Bloodhound for 18 months, and
reckons ______ vehicle, which is powered by ______ rocket bolted to ______
Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine, will be ready to make ______ new land-speed
record attempt in 2011. ______ wheels of ______ 12.8m-long, 6.4 tonne
supersonic vehicle will spin so fast they will have to be made from ______ titanium
to stop them falling apart, while ______ bodywork will have to withstand pressure
exceeding 12 tonnes per square metre. Wing Commander Green has admitted it
will not be ______ comfortable ride. ‘______ critical thing for ______ car going
that fast is to keep it on ______ ground and to keep it going in ______ right
direction,’ he told ______ Independent. ‘There is not much time to think of
anything else.’
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The car that’s faster than a bullet
Teacher’s notes and key
Level:
Lower-intermediate to lower-advanced. The grammar section is suitable for stronger students
only.
Aims:
• to provide opportunities for contextualised free speaking and writing practice
• to encourage learners to engage with and respond to a text by through role-play
• to develop higher-level thinking skills by encouraging learners to consider the wider
implications of the information contained in a text
• to revise the rules governing the use of definite, indefinite and zero articles in English.
Preparation:
Make one copy of the question sheet, the original article, and worksheet B for each student. Make
one copy of worksheet A for every two students, and cut each copy into its nine sections.
Timing:
Whole lesson:
Grammar section:
Extra activity:
1½-2 hours depending on the time taken for the writing section
20-30 minutes
up to an hour, depending on the preparation time allowed
Reading B1, B2, C1
1.
Students are not expected to get all these right – the aim is to generate interest in the topic.
Note that the Bloodhound may be faster than the average bullet, but not than the fastest bullet,
which can travel at 2700 mph!
Note also that 27 mph is the top speed (as opposed to his average speed in the race as a whole)
achieved by Usain Bolt during the 2008 Olympic 100 metres final in Beijing, when he broke the
world record.
The following sources were used for the information:
http://www.articles-heaven.com/articles/?World's-Fastest-Things&articleid=488
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/MariaPereyra.shtml
http://newfoundlandnews.blogspot.com/2008/09/monkey-faster-than-usain-bolt-patas.html
Answers:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
plane
car
human
animal
bird
fish
train
2,193 mph
1,050 mph
27 mph
70 mph
242 mph
68 mph
268 mph
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The car that’s faster than a bullet
3. and 4.
Note that some variations are conceivable here (for instance, the order of segments f) and i) could
arguably be reversed without affecting the cohesion of the text).
Answers:
b), e), a), h), f), i), d), g) c)
5.
After students have checked their answers, collect in the text segments.
Answers:
The wheels will turn so quickly they will fall apart unless they are made from titanium.
The bodywork will have to withstand very high pressure.
It will be difficult to prevent the car from taking off.
It will be difficult to steer it.
Grammar C1
2.
Answers:
a) indefinite article
b) definite article
c) indefinite article
d) definite article
e) definite article
f) zero article
g) indefinite article
Speaking B1, B2, C2
Students should be given sufficient time in stage 1 (at least 10 minutes and up to 20) to generate
ideas for the role-play, in order to enable them to get ‘in character’.
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