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There is/are - Counting Stars




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1. Complete the following text with the correct for of the verb "to be":
ASTRONOMERS COUNT THE STARS
There �ten times more stars in the visible Universe than all the grains of sand on Earth's beaches and deserts.
��������� Because of the bright lights of the modern cities, when we look up at the sky we can see no more than 100 stars. But from dark parts of the Earth, the naked eye can see more than 5.000! And modern telescopes tell a very different story.
��������� With the help of some of the world's most powerful instruments to measure the brightness of all the galaxies in one sector of the cosmos, Australian astronomers say it �probable�that there �70 sextillion stars in the visible Universe. In other words and numbers, seven followed by 22�zeroes, a really astronomical figure.
��������� That �more than the total number of graisn of sand in�all the world's beaches and deserts, and that �only the stars in the visible Universe within range of our telescopes.
��������� Dr. Simon Driver, of the Australian National University, has a theory that many of the stars out�there have planets, and that some of them probably have life. Dr. Driver's theory� not exactly new, and those planets �so distant, he says, that there �no real possibility for us to see or contact anyone living on them.
(adapted from "Astronomers�Count the Stars", by Andrew Craig, BBC News, 22 July,�2003)�
2. Complete the questions and then answer them.
a. Is there a planet called Earth? Yes, there is.
b. �a planet called Sun?
c. �a satellite called Moon?
d. �beaches and deserts on the moon?
e. �ten planets in our Solar System?
f. �a galaxy called the Milky Way?
g. �billions of stars in the Milky Way?
h. �a planet called Mars?
i. �little green men on Mars?
3. Use possessive forms instead of have/has to make new sentences with "is"�or "are" and the complement in parenthesis.
a. Dr. Simon Driver has a theory. (not new)
��� Dr. Simon Driver's theory is not new.
b. Our planet has a satellite. (called moon)
���
c. Many�stars have planets. (not visible)
���
d. The Earth has water. (precious)
���
e. The astronomers have instruments (powerful)
���
f. The world has a big desert. (called Sahara)
���
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