BEST IELTS General Reading Test 33

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GENERAL READING TEST 33 – PASSAGE – 3

GENERAL READING TEST 33

READING PASSAGE – 3

PLANETS OF THE SUN

1. You know that the earth goes round the sun and the moon goes round the earth. You know also perhaps that there are several other bodies which like the earth go round the sun. All these, including our earth, are called planets of the sun. The moon is called a satellite of the earth because it hangs on to it. The other planets have also got their satellite. The sun and the planets with their satellites form a happy family. This is called the solar system. Solar means belonging to the sun, and the sun being the father of all the planets, the whole group is called the solar system.

2. At night you see thousands of stars in the sky. Only a few of these are the planets and these are really not called stars at all. Can you distinguish between a planet and a star? The planets are really quite tiny like our earth, compared to the stars but they look bigger in the sky because they are much nearer to us. Just as the moon, which is really quite a baby, looks as big because it is quite near to us. But the real way to distinguish the stars from the planets is to see if they twinkle or not. Stars twinkle, planets do not. That is because the planets only shine because they get the light of our sun. It is only the sunshine on the planets only shine because they get the light of the sun. It is only the sunshine on the planets that we see. The real stars are like our sun. They shine of themselves because they are very hot and burning. In reality our sun itself if a star, only it looks bigger as it is nearer and we see it as a great ball of fire. So, then our earth belongs to the family of the sun – the solar system.

3. Astronomers, those people who study the stars, tell us that long, ago the earth and all the planets were part of the sun. The sun was then as it is now a mass of flaming matter, terribly hot. Somehow little bits of the sun got loose and they shot out into the air. But they could not wholly get rid of their father, the sun. It was as if a rope was tied to them and they shot out into the air. But they could not wholly get rid of their father, the sun. It was as if a rope was tied to them and they kept whirling round the sun.

4. In this way, our earth also shot out from the sun. It must have been very hot, but as it was very much smaller than the sun, it started to cool. The sun is also getting less hot but it will take millions of years to cool down. The earth took much less time to cool. When it was hot, nothing could live on it – no men or animal or plant or tree. Everything would have been burnt up then.

5. So the earth cooled over a long time. Gradually the surface of the earth became cooler although the interior remained very hot. Even now if you go down a coal mine, it becomes hotter as you go down. When the earth cooled, all the water vapour in the air condensed into water and probably came down as rain. All this water filled the great hollows in the earth and so the great oceans and seas were formed.

6. As the earth became cooler and the oceans also became possible for living to exist on the earth’s surface or in the sea.

Questions 27-30

Choose the appropriate letter from A-D and write them in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27. What is a moon called?

A. a star.

B. a planet.

C. a satellite of the earth.

D. a part of the sun.

28. What is the whole group, of the sun, the planets and their satellite, is called?

A. Solar family.

B. Solar system.

C. Lunar system.

D. Planets family.

29. Which of the two twinkle, stars or the planets?

A. Stars.

B. Planets.

C. Neither of the two.

D. Both.

30. What are the astronomers?

A. they study the planets.

B. they study the moon.

C. they study the satellites.

D. they study the stars.

Questions 31-36

On the basis of your reading of the above passage, say whether the following statements are TRUE and FALSE.

Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank number.

31. Our earth is a planet.

32. The sun move round the earth.

33. The moon goes round the sun.

34. The sun is a star.

35. The sun is the father of all planets.

36. After our earth shot out from the sun, it cooled over in a very short time.

Questions 37-40

Complete the summary below.

Use NO WORD from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

The earth goes round the sun and the (37)……………………goes round the earth. Both the earth and the moon are called the (38)…………………….of the sun. The planets are quite (39)…..…………like over earth. The real way to distinguish the stars from the planets is to see if they (40)………………………..or not.