1 . Drums

When we think of a drum we usually think of a musical instrument. The drum has also been used for years as an important tool for communication. The human voice is very good for communication, but it cannot be heard very far. As early humans began to live in groups, runners were sent from village to village with important messages, but that took a lot of time. It was discovered that beating on hollow logs could be heard for greater distances, and so a new form of communication called “talking drums” was born.

In many early communities, a large drum was set in the middle of the village to help send messages to nearby tribes. The drums could be hit with hands and sticks. Some of the larger drums could be heard up to sixteen miles away!

A group in West Africa made an amazing talking drum system. Their drums were made of round pieces of wood that were four to five feet long. A skin (often an elephant ear) was stretched over one end of the wood and was held in place by a rope. The skin was tightened or loosened to make higher and lower sounds. They had learned to use the drums so well that they could actually copy the language that they spoke! The drums sounded like a person speaking in a voice loud enough to be heard far away.

Most systems of drum communication used a series of beats that meant something. The messages usually told of danger, death, war, or other news of great importance. The message could be sent very far by a relay system. That is, one village would send a message and a nearby village would hear it. They would then repeat the message on their drums, sending it to their neighbors. Some relay systems worked so well that they could send a message about 200 miles very quickly.

Although “talking drums” became a good system of communicating over distances, it had one very big problem. Their enemies could understand the drum messages, so they would know what was being said or planned. Communication by drums certainly wasn’t perfect!

Question 1-4
True or False. Decide the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. The main idea of the passage is that drums can be heard over great distances.
2. Drums are only used as a musical instrument.
3. People in West Africa tightened the skin over the drum to make a lower sound.
4. Drums made by people in West Africa could speak.
Question 5-7
Select the meaning which most closely matches the word, as it is used in the text. Circle the correct letter.
5. communication

A．traffic

B．speech

C．intercourse

6. stretch

A．extend

B．bounce

C．run

7. relay

A．delay

B．pass

C．beat

Question 8-10
Passive and active verb forms
These sentences are in the passive form and are adapted from the text. Rewrite the sentences below using the active form.
8. It was discovered that beating on hollow logs could be heard for greater distances, and so a new form of communication called “talking drums” was born.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9. A skin (often an elephant ear) was stretched over one end of the wood and was held in place by a rope.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10. The message could be sent very far by a relay system.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2 . Fiery Visitors from Outer Space

1. On the next clear summer night, look up into the sky. If you are lucky, you may see a “shooting star”. They look just like stars falling down from the sky.

2. But shooting stars are not stars at all. The real name for a shooting star is “meteor”. There are millions of meteors out in space. They are pieces of rock and metal. When they are in space, meteors do not glow. In fact, we can’t see them at all. But when a meteor comes close to the earth, it starts to fall toward the earth. As it passes through the air, it gets very hot. It starts to glow, and finally it begins to burn. We see the burning meteor as a shooting star.

3. Sometimes meteors travel by themselves in space. But many meteors travel in groups called swarms. The swarms have orbits like planets have. They pass close to the earth every year. A famous swarm is the Perseid swarm. It passes close to the earth in summer, usually in August. Each year a few meteors from the Perseid swarm fall to the earth, so August is a good month to watch for shooting stars.

4. Most meteors are small, so they burn up before they crash into the earth and are buried in the ground. Once a meteor reaches the earth, we call it a meteorite. The biggest meteorite, which weighs seventy tons, landed in Africa.

Question 19
1. Circle the main idea of paragraph 3.

A．Sometimes meteors travel by themselves in space.

B．Sometimes meteors travel in swarms.

C．A famous swarm is the Perseid swarm.

D．August is a good month to watch for shooting stars.

Question 20-23
Match the word on the left with the phrase on the right that fits best by writing letters.
2. ______ meteor
3. ______ swarm
4. ______ Perseid
5. ______ meteorite
a. a famous swarm of meteors
b. a meteor that has reached the earth
c. the real name for a shooting star
d. a group of meteors
Question 24-25
Answer questions in complete sentences and in your own words.
6. Why is August a good month to watch shooting stars?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. There is an old saying that if you make a wish when you see a shooting star, your wish will come true. So when you see a shooting star, what wish will you make? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________