In July 20, 1969, man landed on the moon for the first time. The American astronaut Neil Armstrong descended the ladder from the Eagle, the lunar module of Apollo 11. It was a very special moment. Armstrong extended his left foot, cautiously, tentatively, as if testing water in a swimming-pool. He was, in fact, testing a wholly new environment for humans. Neil Armstrong finally placed his foot firmly on the fine-grained surface of the moon. Those images remain indelible in the minds of millions who watched it on TV, a symbol of man’s determination to step toward the unknown. The time was exactly 10.56 PM. Armstrong had thought about what he would say on this momentous occasion. In fact, in the previous months, he had been offered hundreds of sayings, from Shakespeare to the Bible. Once there, and after a brief pause, the first man on the moon spoke the first words on lunar soil: “That’s one small step for a man but one giant leap for mankind”. Armstrong began moving about. “The surface is fine and powdery”, he noted. Minutes later, he was joined by Edwin Aldrin. Then, gaining confidence with every step, they walked about the lunar landscape for 2 hrs. 14 min., while the TV camera they had set up transmitted their steps with remarkable clarity to the audiences on earth, more than 150,000 kilometres away. Some 600 million people witnessed this historic event on television.

They moved in surrealistic slow motion, sometimes jumping around in the weak lunar gravity like exuberant kangaroos. They set up experiments, got samples of rocks and took pictures while enjoying every minute of their stay in the moon’s alien environment. Finally, after centuries of prophecies, dreams and desires, the moment had come: for the first time, humans had broken their terrestrial ties and set their feet on another world.

PART ONE: READING COMPREHENSION

1. Answer the following questions without copying from the text.

a) What was Neil Armstrong trying to suggest with his first words from the moon’s surface?

b) In what ways was the landing of the first man on the moon different from similar historic events like, say, the discovery of America in 1492?

c) How did the astronauts spend their time on the lunar surface?

  PART TWO: WRITING
Choose ONE. Write about either 1 or 2.

Option A: Imagine you are asked to interview Neil Armstrong for the student magazine of your university. Write down this imaginary conversation.

Option B: Some scientists believe that there will be great migrations of people to other planets in the future. Would that possibility bring good things to the human race? Is it still possible to dream about new worlds? What do you think? Write down your views on these questions in the form of an article for a newspaper.

3. Vocabulary

Explain next words in English, write the phonetics and also an example: leap,witness, sample,weak .