Test yourself 4 - Trang 54 VBT Tiếng Anh 8 mới

Speech is one of the most important (1)______ of communicating. It consists of far more than just making noises. To talk and also to (2)_____ by other people we have to speak a language, that is, we have to use combinations of (3)______ that everyone agrees stand for a particular object or idea. Communication would be impossible if everyone made up their own language.

Learning a language properly is very (4)_______. The basic (5)_____ of English is not very large, and only about 2,000 words are needed to speak it quite (6)________ .But the more words you know, the more ideas you can (7)________ and the more precise you can be about their exact meaning.

Words are the (8) _______ things we use in communicating what we want to say. The way we (9) ________ the words is also very important. Our tone of voice can express many emotions and (10) ________ whether we are pleased or angry, for instance.

Bài 6

Task 6. Read the passage and answer the questions below.

(Đọc đoạn văn sau và trả lời câu hỏi.)

Lightning

Every second of every day, all over the world there are more than 100 lightning bolts. That's about ten million lightning bolts in one day! Lightning amazes us, but it can also frighten us. We have good reason to be afraid of lightning. Every year, about 100 people in the United States and Canada die from lightning and another 300 are injured. It is strange that of all the people who die from lightning, 84 percent are men. Lightning is the main cause of forest fires; it starts more than 9,000 fires each year

Lightning is electricity inside a cloud, Scientists do not know exactly what makes this electricity. But they know that the electricity inside a cloud can be as much as 100 million volts. From this extremely strong electricity, a lightning bolt, like a streak of bright light, comes down from the sky. Its temperature can reach 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit within a few millionths of a second. That's almost five times the temperature on the sun's surface. The lightning bolt is very quick. It can move at a speed of 87,000 miles per second. A rocket traveling at his speed would reach the moon in 2,5 seconds. With the lightning bolt, we usually hear thunder, which is the sound of hot air exploding.

Lightning and thunder happen at exactly the same time, but we see lightning first because light travels a million times faster than sound.

Lightning often strikes tall buildings. However, many buildings have lightning rods to protect them from lightning. When lightning strikes, the electricity goes safely down the metal rod to the ground. Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman, invented the lightning rod in 1760. That is why buildings like the Empire State Building in New York City are safe. Lightning may hit this building as many as twelve times in twenty minutes and as often as 500 times a year. Airplanes are not as easy to protect as buildings, and accidents do happen. In 1963, a Boeing 707 jet was hit by lightning and crashed. Eighty-one people died.

They say that lightning never hits the same place twice, but this is not true. One man, Roy Sullivan, was hit by lightning seven different times in his life. He was injured each time but did not die. He died in 1983, but not from lightning. He killed himself because he loved a woman, but she didn't love him.

1. How does lightning and thunder happen?

2. Where does lightning strike?

3. How many people die from lightning in the United States and Canada every year?

4. Why do we see lightning before we hear thunder?

5. Why is it not a good idea to touch metal when there's lightning?