The Week Issue 669, p21

The car that’s faster than a bullet

Reading
1. Work in pairs. Try to match the items on the left with the fastest speeds on
the right.

a) manned plane (Lockheed Blackbird) 68 mph

b) car (the Bloodhound) 268 mph
c) train (Shanghai Maglev) 1,050 mph
d) human (Usain Bolt) 242 mph
e) animal (cheetah) 2,193 mph
f) bird (peregrine falcon) 27 mph
g) fish (sailfish) 70 mph

2. You are going to read about ‘the Bloodhound’, a car which is designed to
become the fastest car in the world. What kinds of problems do you think
the designers of the car face?

3. Work in pairs. Your teacher will give you nine sections which make up the
complete news story. Put them in the correct order.

4. Check your answers with your teacher.

5. Read the story again and check your answers to task 2.

Grammar
1. Complete the rules a) to g) about the use of articles on worksheet B by
writing the indefinite article (a, an), the definite article (the) or the
zero article (no article) in each space.

2. Now look at the news story from the reading section with the definite and
indefinite articles removed. Do not look at your answer from tasks 3 and 4
above! Put a / an or the in each space as appropriate. Note: in two cases,
no article is needed.

Speaking
1. Imagine the Bloodhound has just broken the world land-speed record. Work
in two groups.

Group A: You are the driver of the Bloodhound. You are going to be
interviewed by a journalist for a magazine article about you. Work in pairs
and imagine what questions the journalist might ask you, and how you
would answer each question.

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 1 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet
Group B: You are a journalist. You are going to interview the driver of the
Bloodhound for a magazine article about him / her. Work in pairs and
prepare a list of questions that you would like to ask the driver.

2. Work with a student from the other group. Role-play the interview between
the journalist and the driver.

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 2 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet
Writing

1. Work with the same partner as in speaking task 2. Write the magazine
article about the driver of the Bloodhound and his / her experience when
breaking the record.

2. Read the articles written by other pairs. Which article is the most
interesting, and why?

Speaking: extra activity

Hold a class debate on the motion, ‘This house believes that as the most
intelligent race on Earth we have a responsibility to push science to the limits,
whatever the cost.’

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 3 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet

Worksheet A

b)
A car that can travel faster than a bullet from a gun?

e)
It sounds unlikely, but a team of British engineers is hoping to
build exactly that:

a)
in 1999, the team made history when RAF pilot Andy Green
drove its Thrust SSC jet-powered vehicle at 763 mph (1,228
km/h);

h)
now they are planning to put him behind the wheel of a car that
is capable of reaching 1,050 mph.

f)
The team has been working on the Bloodhound for 18 months,
and reckons the vehicle, which is powered by a rocket bolted to
a Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine, will be ready to make a new
land-speed record attempt in 2011.

i)
The wheels of the 12.8m-long, 6.4 tonne supersonic vehicle will
spin so fast they will have to be made from titanium to stop
them falling apart, while the bodywork will have to withstand
pressure exceeding 12 tonnes per square metre.

d)
Wing Commander Green has admitted it will not be a
comfortable ride.

g)
‘The critical thing for a car going that fast is to keep it on the
ground and keep it going in the right direction,’ he told The
Independent.

c)

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 4 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet
‘There is not much time to think of anything else.’

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 5 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet

Worksheet B
Complete the rules for the use of articles in English. Write the
definite article, the indefinite article, or the zero article in each space.

a) ___________________________________ is used before singular nouns that

introduce something or someone we have not mentioned before.
e.g. ‘I met ____ really interesting girl yesterday.’

b) We use ____________________________________ when we know that the other

person knows or can work out what particular person / thing we are referring
to.
e.g. ‘Where’s ______ cat?’

c) We only use _______________________________________ before singular nouns.

d) We use ____________________________________ when we have already

mentioned the person / thing we are talking about.
e.g. ‘_______ girl I met yesterday is an engineer.’

e) We also use _______________________________________ before certain nouns

when we know there is only one of them.
e.g. ‘_______ President of Russia’

f) __________________________________ is used when we are referring to plural or

uncountable nouns in a general way.
e.g. ‘I love _______ music.’

g) __________________________________ is used to refer to any one of a particular

type or person / thing.
e.g. ‘I like ____ student who always tries hard.’

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 6 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet

Now complete the news story with the correct articles.

______ car that can travel faster than ______ bullet from ______ gun?
It sounds unlikely, but ______ team of ______ British engineers is
hoping to build exactly that: in 1999, ______ team made history
when RAF pilot Andy Green drove its Thrust SSC jet-powered vehicle
at 763 mph (1,228 km/h); now they are planning to put him behind
______ wheel of ______ car that is capable of reaching 1,050 mph.
______ team has been working on ______ Bloodhound for 18 months,
and reckons ______ vehicle, which is powered by ______ rocket
bolted to ______ Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine, will be ready to
make ______ new land-speed record attempt in 2011. ______ wheels
of ______ 12.8m-long, 6.4 tonne supersonic vehicle will spin so fast
they will have to be made from ______ titanium to stop them falling
apart, while ______ bodywork will have to withstand pressure
exceeding 12 tonnes per square metre. Wing Commander Green
has admitted it will not be ______ comfortable ride. ‘______ critical
thing for ______ car going that fast is to keep it on ______ ground and
to keep it going in ______ right direction,’ he told ______
Independent. ‘There is not much time to think of anything else.’

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 7 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet

Teacher’s notes and key

Level:
Lower-intermediate to lower-advanced. The grammar section is suitable for
stronger students only.

Aims:
• to provide opportunities for contextualised free speaking and writing
practice
• to encourage learners to engage with and respond to a text by through
role-play
• to develop higher-level thinking skills by encouraging learners to consider
the wider implications of the information contained in a text
• to revise the rules governing the use of definite, indefinite and zero
articles in English.

Preparation:
Make one copy of the question sheet, the original article, and worksheet B for
each student. Make one copy of worksheet A for every two students, and cut
each copy into its nine sections.

Timing:
Whole lesson: 1½-2 hours depending on the time taken for the writing
section
Grammar section: 20-30 minutes
Extra activity: up to an hour, depending on the preparation time
allowed

Reading B1, B2, C1

1.
Students are not expected to get all these right – the aim is to generate
interest in the topic.
Note that the Bloodhound may be faster than the average bullet, but not than
the fastest bullet, which can travel at 2700 mph!
Note also that 27 mph is the top speed (as opposed to his average speed in the
race as a whole) achieved by Usain Bolt during the 2008 Olympic 100 metres
final in Beijing, when he broke the world record.
The following sources were used for the information:
http://www.articles-heaven.com/articles/?World's-Fastest-Things&articleid=488
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/MariaPereyra.shtml
http://newfoundlandnews.blogspot.com/2008/09/monkey-faster-than-usain-
bolt-patas.html
Answers:
plane 2,193 mph

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 8 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet
car 1,050 mph
human 27 mph
animal 70 mph
bird 242 mph
fish 68 mph
train 268 mph

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 9 of 10

The Week Issue 669, p21
The car that’s faster than a bullet
3. and 4.
Note that some variations are conceivable here (for instance, the order of
segments f) and i) could arguably be reversed without affecting the cohesion of
the text).

Answers:
b), e), a), h), f), i), d), g) c)

5.
After students have checked their answers, collect in the text segments.

Answers:
The wheels will turn so quickly they will fall apart unless they are made from
titanium.
The bodywork will have to withstand very high pressure.
It will be difficult to prevent the car from taking off.
It will be difficult to steer it.

Grammar C1

2.
Answers:
a) indefinite article
b) definite article
c) indefinite article
d) definite article
e) definite article
f) zero article
g) indefinite article

Speaking B1, B2, C2

Students should be given sufficient time in stage 1 (at least 10 minutes and up
to 20) to generate ideas for the role-play, in order to enable them to get ‘in
character’.

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 11602 Page 10 of 10