Bicyle-powered helicopter / Вертолет "на педалях"

   This contraption may not look very impressive...
   But when the bicycle-powered helicopter defied gravity, it caused great excitement.
   Its flight only lasted 64 seconds and reached an altitude of 3.3 metres. Though it was a great achievement for the Canadian team, which spent 18 months designing the chopper.
   They won a prize worth $250,000 from the American Helicopter Society.
   The team hope to inspire the next generation of aviation pioneers.

Ключевые слова (определение на английском языке)

contraption – machine that looks strange or old-fashioned
defied gravity – flew
altitude – height above sea level
chopper – informal word for helicopter
pioneers – people who are the first ones to do something

Упражнение

Вставьте слова в нужном месте (в правильной форме):

a) contraption
b) defied gravity
c) altitude
d) chopper
e) pioneers

   1. About 200 firefighters are continuing to fight the Arizona wildfire – started by a lightning strike – and more crews are on their way. They will include helicopters and other aircraft, which can drop thousands of litres of water or fire-retardant chemicals from low ___.
   2. Now, one of the original lunar __ believes the time has come to make another great leap for mankind. Buzz Aldrin thinks that manned missions to Mars should take place sooner rather than later – within the next quarter of a century.
   3. Hawking will test at least one of those laws on Thursday, when he plans to ___ – for a moment anyway – by floating during one or more parabolic manoeuvres aboard a specially modified Boeing 727. The plane, operated by Florida-based Zero Gravity Corporation, will take off and land from the space shuttle's runway at the Kennedy Space Center.
   4. Then another ___ took off. This one I recognized as a French army Puma. Then another military helicopter was in the sky – I'm not sure what make – then another.
   5. As with its smaller counterparts, the print head moves firstly horizontally and then vertically building up salami slices of the 3D object. The enormous __ will be able to fabricate individual life-sized rooms in one print session.

Ответы

1) c
2) e
3) b (defied gravity)
4) d
5) a