Reading Comprehension

Metal Detectors

Have you ever seen a man with a headset pointing a long pole at the ground on the beach?

If so you might have seen a person using a metal detector. People use these devices to find metal.

Metal detectors make magnetic waves. These waves go through the ground. The waves change when they hit metal then it beeps. This lets the person with the device know that metal is close.

The first metal detectors were meant to help miners. They were big and cost a lot of money. Although they use a lot of power, they didn’t work well. People kept trying to make them better.

Nowadays metal detectors are smaller, light and cheap. That’s why people bring them to the beach. People can look for rings in the water, as well as look for phones in the sand. But they usually find junk though. Metal detectors also protect people. They help to keep guns out of some places:

Airports, courthouses and, schools. They also help guards look for weapons. Guards use special wands to find metal on a person.

These devices save lives in other ways too. During wars, people plant bombs in the ground. When the war ends, they don’t clean up their messes. This is unsafe for the people who live in those places. Others use metal detectors to find bombs. They remove them and help the people. These devices also make clothes safer. It sounds funny, but it’s true. Most clothes are made in big factories.

There are lots of needles in these places. Needles break from time to time. They get stuck in the clothes. They would poke people trying them on. They don’t though. That’s because our clothes are scanned for metal. Isn’t that nice?

Metal detectors make the world a safer place.

                                       The intrigue behind the Bermuda Triangle

       On a sunny day nearly 80 years ago, five Navy planes took off from their base in Florida on a _________ training mission, known as Flight 19. Neither the planes nor the crew were ever seen again. Thus was a legend born. The Bermuda Triangle is an area roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. No one keeps statistics, but in the last century, numerous ships and planes have simply vanished without a trace within the imaginary triangle.

       The disappearances have been attributed to the machinations of enormous sea monsters, giant squid, or extra-terrestrials. Alien abductions, the existence of a mysterious third dimension created by unknown beings, and ocean flatulence—the ocean suddenly spewing great quantities of trapped methane—have all been suggested as culprits.

       The reality, say many, is far more prosaic. They argue that a sometimes treacherous Mother Nature, human error, shoddy __________________ or design, and just plain bad luck can explain the many disappearances.

       "The region is highly traveled and has been a busy crossroads since the early days of European exploration," said John Reilly, a historian with the U.S. Naval Historical Foundation. "To say quite a few ships and airplanes have gone down there is like saying there are an ________ lot of car accidents on the New Jersey Turnpike—surprise, surprise."

(Fonte: National Geographic. — adaptado.)

                                       The intrigue behind the Bermuda Triangle

       On a sunny day nearly 80 years ago, five Navy planes took off from their base in Florida on a _________ training mission, known as Flight 19. Neither the planes nor the crew were ever seen again. Thus was a legend born. The Bermuda Triangle is an area roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. No one keeps statistics, but in the last century, numerous ships and planes have simply vanished without a trace within the imaginary triangle.

       The disappearances have been attributed to the machinations of enormous sea monsters, giant squid, or extra-terrestrials. Alien abductions, the existence of a mysterious third dimension created by unknown beings, and ocean flatulence—the ocean suddenly spewing great quantities of trapped methane—have all been suggested as culprits.

       The reality, say many, is far more prosaic. They argue that a sometimes treacherous Mother Nature, human error, shoddy __________________ or design, and just plain bad luck can explain the many disappearances.

       "The region is highly traveled and has been a busy crossroads since the early days of European exploration," said John Reilly, a historian with the U.S. Naval Historical Foundation. "To say quite a few ships and airplanes have gone down there is like saying there are an ________ lot of car accidents on the New Jersey Turnpike—surprise, surprise."

(Fonte: National Geographic. — adaptado.)

                                       The intrigue behind the Bermuda Triangle

       On a sunny day nearly 80 years ago, five Navy planes took off from their base in Florida on a _________ training mission, known as Flight 19. Neither the planes nor the crew were ever seen again. Thus was a legend born. The Bermuda Triangle is an area roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. No one keeps statistics, but in the last century, numerous ships and planes have simply vanished without a trace within the imaginary triangle.

       The disappearances have been attributed to the machinations of enormous sea monsters, giant squid, or extra-terrestrials. Alien abductions, the existence of a mysterious third dimension created by unknown beings, and ocean flatulence—the ocean suddenly spewing great quantities of trapped methane—have all been suggested as culprits.

       The reality, say many, is far more prosaic. They argue that a sometimes treacherous Mother Nature, human error, shoddy __________________ or design, and just plain bad luck can explain the many disappearances.

       "The region is highly traveled and has been a busy crossroads since the early days of European exploration," said John Reilly, a historian with the U.S. Naval Historical Foundation. "To say quite a few ships and airplanes have gone down there is like saying there are an ________ lot of car accidents on the New Jersey Turnpike—surprise, surprise."

(Fonte: National Geographic. — adaptado.)