Unit 1: Rocket Science - Assets.cambridge

Cambridge University Press978-1-107-69577-1 – Cambridge IGCSE First Language EnglishMarian CoxExcerptMore informationUnit 1: Rocket scienceUnit 1: Rocket scienceA Reading1Read the letter below.Passage A: New Year’s Eve fireworksDear Mum and DadHappy New Year! Hophere in Dubai, wat e you had a good New Year’s Eve. I had the mosching the biggest amazing timet firework displasix minutes, whiy ever – an extrch set a new woravldaganza lastingrecord for a sing500,000 fireworle coordinatedks were set off frdisplay. Theom 400 firing locomputers. It tocations, synchrook the technicians ten monthsnised by 100to plan!There was a countdown to midnight in fireworks inOrganisers saidbothey wanted tocreate a burst of th roman and arabic numerals.dazzle spectatolight to imitaters with a Uniteda sunrise andArab Emirates flbeing the largesag that could alt ever made of fiso break recordreworks. They ces forrtainly did thatI was down with!thousands of watchers standingthe world’s talleby the fountainsst tower, whichwas used as a baat Burj Khalifa,got there earlyckdrop for the dispand the anticipation beforehandlay. Everyonechildren who werwas electric; ite excited! The Bwasurn’t only thej is shaped like apad for thousandrocket itself, ans of smaller rockd was the launchets. It was turnmonuments, likeed into a whole sethe Eiffel Tower,ries of famousby patterns of liga small part of itht flashing on it. And that was justIt was a helter-skeltincandescent pi er, with showers of sparks sliding down it. It wasne tree with thouansands of starryunleashing arrowbranches. It wass of fire. Down bea castlelow there was anblossom; there worchard of treesere pulsing globesbursting intolike dandelion hetiered birthdayads sending outcakes with explodseineds; there wereg candles. IridesScintillating fountains leapt upceto meet the casc nt rings climbed the tower.flowers of everyades of light. Bouhue filled the sky.quets of brightEveryone was holding up their phone to capturemesmerised. It wthe images, holdas too much toing their breathtake in; there wersimultaneously.,e too many placThe soundtrackes to lookofsci-fi film-type mof dancing lightandusic matched the displayhuge applause at water, and made it a space-ageexthe end, cheeringperience. There wand whistling thunforgettable, anasat went on for agd I really wish you could have seenes. It wasMaybe next yearit too.! I’m really enjoying the job and the lifestyle, so I’llLovestill be here then!Lee in this web service Cambridge University Press1www.cambridge.org

Cambridge IGCSE First Language EnglishB Language and style2Give meanings for the following words, as they are used in Passage A. Look up any words youdo not know, but first try to guess from the prefix or stem of the word.a extravaganzab coordinatedc synchronisedd technicianse electricf incandescentg iridescenth scintillating2ersity Pressimesmerisedjsimultaneously3 a Next to each of the above words, write which part of speech it is, as used in the passage.b Study the words and then write out without looking (in a notebook) those you did not knowhow to spell.C Comprehension and summary4Re-read the fourth paragraph of Passage A and comment on:a the sentence structure and its effectb the vocabulary and its effectwww.cambridge.org

ersity PressUnit 1: Rocket science5Select relevant material from the passage and write a news report, with a suitable headline,for the next day’s local newspaper.3www.cambridge.org

Cambridge IGCSE First Language EnglishD Reading6Read the following encyclopedia article.Passage B: Facts about fireworksF4ersity Pressireworks are believedto have been inventedmore than 2000 yearsago in China, wherethey were used in the form offirecrackers to accompany manyfestivities, in order to ward offevil and invoke prosperity. It isbelieved that the first firecrackerswere actually accidental: chunksof bamboo thrown onto a fire.(Bamboo traps air inside thesegments so that when heatedit expands and bursts throughthe sides, and this could havestarted the idea.) China is the largest manufacturer andexporter of fireworks in the world; 90% of all fireworksoriginate from there. Firecrackers are still made by hand,and it is a hazardous job.In 1240, the Arabs acquired knowledge of gunpowder,and in the same century firecrackers arrived in Europe,with the crusaders or Marco Polo. The key ingredientin making fireworks is gunpowder, which consists ofsaltpetre (potassium nitrate), charcoal and sulphur. Earlyfireworks were enjoyed less for the show than for thesound; simple gunpowder explodes quickly with aterrific bang but with little colour. Over time, peoplediscovered that using chemical compounds with greateramounts of oxygen made the explosives burn brighterand longer. At first fireworks were only orange andwhite. In the Middle Ages, new colours were achievedby adding different minerals. They had least successwith blue. This became available with the discovery ofcopper compounds, but this is an unstable metal and sois less frequently used.It wasn’t until the 1800s that fireworks developedinto what we know today. Italy was the first countryin Europe to truly master and experiment withpyrotechnics, by loading firecrackers into cannonsand shooting them into the air. Multi-hued displayswere an innovation of the 1830s, when metals thatburn at high temperatures and create colours, sparksand noises were added to gunpowder. The Italiansare still at the forefront of pyrotechnic development,and the phenomenal New Year display in Dubai in 2014was masterminded by the Italian-American Phil Grucci.Every year, people in China celebrate the inventionof the firecracker on 18th April. Fireworks are also anintegral part of the Chinese New Year celebrations.The big occasion for fireworks in the UK is Guy FawkesNight (5th November) to celebrate the failure of theGunpowder Plot to blow up parliament. France usesfireworks to celebrate Bastille Day, commemorating thestorming of the prison during the French Revolution.Firework displays are also a major part of IndependenceDay celebrations in the United States.The world record for the largest firework displaybefore January 2014 in Dubai consisted of 77,282fireworks set off in Kuwait in November 2011 as part ofthe country’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The largestfirework rocket –13 kg – was produced and launchedin Portugal in 2010. The biggest annual firework displayevent in Europe is the International Festival concertheld in Edinburgh,Scotland, in which no fewer than awww.cambridge.orgmillion fireworks are set off in less than an hour. A stringof firecrackers lasting 22 hours marked the New Year’sDay celebrations in Hong Kong in 1996. The world’slargest single firework was seen at a festival in Japan in1988; the burst was over a kilometre across and theshell weighed over half a tonne. A rocket can reachspeeds of 240 kph, and the shell can reach as high as200 metres. People will always see the explosion of afirework before hearing it. This is because although theyboth travel in waves, light travels at 1080 million kphwhereas sound travels only at 1225 kph.In public shows today, specialists use computers tocontrol the electronic ignition of fireworks, as well asto synchronise the aerial bursts with music. Fireworkdisplays are becoming ever more spectacular and arean established way of celebrating any global, national orlocal event or anniversary.

ersity PressUnit 1: Rocket scienceE Language and style7 a Underline the passive verb forms in Passage B.b Explain why passive rather than active verb forms are used in certain types of text.8Look at the underlined words in Passage B and consider how they are used. Fill the blanks inthe paragraph below with one of these words. (You may want to use some words more thanonce, and come not at all.)fewfewerThere arefewesta fewlittlelessleasta littlesigns of fireworks losing popularity as a form of entertainment. Gradually,private firework shows are becomingcommon and are being replaced by publicevents. This means that the injuries caused by fireworks are, but they are stilla cause of damage to property, unintended fires, maiming of children and traumatising of animals.people argue that fireworks are destructive in many senses, and that the expense andwaste of natural resources cannot be justified in return forbut there ismoments of pleasure,public debate on the subject, and unlikely to be, given that they havebeen around for so long.9Use given that (used in the last line of the paragraph above) www.cambridge.orgcorrectly in a sentence of your own.F Comprehension and summary10 a In which century did fireworks become known in Europe?b Express in your own words what happened to fireworks in the 1830s.5

Cambridge IGCSE First Language Englishc Which country held the world record for a coordinated firework display before New Year’s Eve 2014?d Explain in your own words why we see fireworks before we hear them.e Express the following phrases in your own words.i invoke prosperityii multi-hued displays were an innovationiii still at the forefront11 In one sentence each, summarise what Passage B says about:a the Chinese and fireworks6b the Italians and fireworksersity Presswww.cambridge.orgc how fireworks are made12 Write a one-paragraph summary of the history of fireworks.

ersity PressUnit 1: Rocket scienceG Directed writing13 Write an article for a school magazine called ‘Who needs fireworks?’ Engage with some of theideas and use some of the facts contained in Passages A and B in order to construct the argumentthat: ‘too much money is wasted on this form of brief, childish and destructive entertainment’.7www.cambridge.org

IGCSE English as a First LanguageH CompositionDescriptive writinga Describe the environment and atmosphere ofa venue waiting for an exciting event to start.b Give an account of a real or imaginaryexperience of witnessing a sensational show.Narrative writingc Write a story which involves an explosion.d Continue this story opening: ‘I was reallylooking forward to the coming year .’Co2Discuss the competitiveness betweencountries to beat records and outdo eachother, and say whether you think this isgood for the world.‘New Year’s Eve’. Write a shortstory with this title.urto sepi wocs rk18ersity Presswww.cambridge.org

Cambridge IGCSE First Language English B Language and style 2 Give meanings for the following words, as they are used in Passage . Look up any words you A do not know, but first try to guess from the prefix or stem of the word.