end-of-term test reading 6 grade

Read the article and decide if the sentences below are True or False.

A day in the life of a trainee astronaut

It can take up to two years to train to be an astronaut. After training, some astronauts wait for ten years before they make their first trip into space. So what’s life like as a trainee astronaut? Well, we asked one! 

1 Astronauts have ten years of training before they go into space.

‘We all learn how to use and take care of the complex equipment we use, so we have many classes. These happen in a classroom, in machines that are a bit like real space ships, and in the swimming pool. The swimming pool is very similar to being in space because you weigh much less in water! 

2 Astronauts practise in real space ships.

‘We all learn how to use and take care of the complex equipment we use, so we have many classes. These happen in a classroom, in machines that are a bit like real space ships, and in the swimming pool. The swimming pool is very similar to being in space because you weigh much less in water!  

3 Working in a swimming pool is a bit like working in space.

‘We also have to have language classes. My first language is Japanese, but I have to learn English and Russian too, so I can talk to the ground crew.

4 All astronauts have to learn Japanese.

I have to be very fit so I exercise for about three hours a day. Many of my colleagues go running together, but I prefer cycling on my own

5 The trainee astronaut likes cycling.

‘There are training centres in Germany, Russia, Japan and the USA and we spend time at all of them. I hope one day I can make it into space.’

6 Trainee astronauts have to live in many different places

2. Use the words in the box to complete the text. 

1. J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter_________so now she’s very rich and famous. 

2. Before this, however, she worked ________________ an English teacher in Portugal. 

3. When she wrote the first book, though, she was living in Scotland and had no job – she was _________________.

4. She first had the idea for Harry Potter when she _________________ a train from Manchester to London.

5. The train was running four hours late so it was a very difficult _________________ but it gave her time to think and to write

6. So Harry Potter was born on a train! She wrote the first book on an old-fashioned _________________ called a typewriter because she didn’t have enough money for a computer. She probably has enough money now!