EXTRATERRESTRIALS
“Two possibilities exist: Either we are
alone in the Universe or we are not.
Both are equally terrifying.”
- Arthur C. Clarke
BEFORE YOU READ
1) Work in pairs. Discuss these questions.
a) Have you seen any films or plays, or read any books featuring aliens? If so, which
ones and what did you find interesting about them?
b) Do you believe in the possibility of extraterrestrial life? Have you or anyone you
know seen an alien?
2) Read the quotation by Arthur C. Clark. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Why? Discuss with a group.
3) Look at pictures A and B. What do you think the article is about?
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WHILE YOU READ
Read the article and check your ideas.
Stephen Hawking warns against “contacting aliens” **
“They will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see
bacteria,” the British physicist warned.
British physicist Stephen Hawking has warned against announcing our presence to any alien
5 civilisations, especially to those more technologically advanced than humans.
Our first contact from an advanced civilisation could be equivalent to when Native Americans
first encountered Christopher Columbus and things “didn’t turn out so well”, Hawking said in
a new online film.
The film, Stephen Hawking’s Favourite Places, takes viewers to five significant locations
10 across the cosmos, on his spacecraft — the SS Hawking.
In the film, Hawking performs a hypothetical flyby of Gliese 832c, a potentially habitable
exoplanet* located 16 light years away.
“One day we might receive a signal from a planet like Gliese 832c, but we should be wary of
answering back,” he said.
15 “They will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see
bacteria,” Hawking warned.
“As I grow older, I am more convinced than ever that we are not alone. After a lifetime of
wondering, I am helping to lead a new global effort to find out,” he was quoted as saying by
The Guardian.
Not the first warning
20 It is not the first time Hawking has warned about the prospect of hostile aliens.
Launching the Breakthrough Listen project, which will scan the nearest million stars for signs
of life, last year Hawking had suggested that any civilisation reading our messages could be
billions of years ahead of humans.
“The Breakthrough Listen project will scan the nearest million stars for signs of life, but I
25 know just the place to start looking,” he said, in the film that appeared on the online platform
CuriosityStream.
___________________________
* Any planet that revolves around a star other than the Sun
** Article taken from The Hindu
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4) Match the words given with their meanings using contextual clues.
a) presence (line 4) the possibility that something good might g
happen in the future
b) equivalent (line 6) providing conditions that are good enough to
live in or on
c) hypothetical (line 11) not completely trusting or certain about
something or someone
d) habitable (line 11) equal in amount, value, importance or
meaning
e) wary (line 13) imagined or suggested but not necessarily
real or true
f) vastly (line 15) the fact of being in a place
g) prospect (line 20) unfriendly and not liking something
h) hostile (line 20) very much
5) Read the article again. Tick the true sentences. Correct the false ones.
a) Stephen Hawking thinks that we should use our technological devices to contact aliens.
b) Stephen Hawking’s Famous Places takes the viewers to a journey through the Seven
Wonders of the World.
c) In the film, Stephen Hawking was on a real spaceship that allowed him to go to
Gliese832c.
d) Stephen Hawking thinks that there is alien life elsewhere in the universe.
e) Stephen Hawking has warned people several times about not contacting aliens.
f) CuriosityStream is the rover that explores Gliese832c.
6) Read the article again. Find the answers to these questions.
a) What does the word “we” refer to in line 17?
b) What do you think Stephen Hawking means when he resembles our possible first contact
with aliens to Native Americans first encountering Christopher Columbus?
c) What is the purpose of the Breakthrough Listen project?
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Help with Grammar: Reported Speech (revision)
Tense Direct Speech Reported Speech
Present Simple “I like riding a bike” She said (that) she liked riding
a bike.
Present Continuous “I am living in New York” She said (that) she was living in
New York
Past Simple “I bought a house” She said (that) she had bought a
house OR She said that she
bought a house.
will “I’ll see you later” She said (that) she would see
me later.
should* “I should call my brother” She said (that) she should call
her brother.
may “I may buy a pair of scissors” She said (that) she might buy a
pair of scissors.
might* “I might be late” She said (that) she might be
late.
could* “I could swim when I was five” She said (that) she could swim
when he was five.
*doesn’t change
I. Find the sentences in the article that contain direct speech and change them into reported
speech.
II. Get ready!***
a) In a group, write one interesting question that you can ask all the other group of students in
the class.
Ex: What do you really dislike doing?
b) One student from each group visits the other group to ask questions. Other students in the
group stay to answer the questions from other groups.
c) After you finished, work in pairs. Take turns to tell each other what each student asked you.
Then tell your partner what your answer was.
Hasan asked me what I really
disliked doing, I told him I hated
getting up early. I said that I couldn’t stand
people talking in cinemas.
d) Tell the class two things that you told other students.
___________________________
*** Activity taken and adapted from Face to Face Upper Intermediate Students Book.
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e) In your group, collect and classify the answers you are given, and fill in the relevant part
of the following grid.
Ex:
Group 1 Student 1 = Elif said that she couldn’t stand people talking in cinemas.
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
Student 1
Student 2
Student 3
Student 4
ROLE-PLAY
• Imagine you are a news reporter, and there is an alien attack in the world. Your boss
wants you to gather information by interviewing people to inform the public about this
event.
• Get into groups. Other students in your group are the people you will interview. These
people can be one of the following roles;
- Famous people
- Scientists
- Experts
- Commoners
- …
• After you finish the interviews, in your group put this information into a newspaper
article and make a group presentation about it.
