Self-study activity:
Watch this short BBC video by clicking on the picture below or on this link and complete the gaps in the transcript with the missing information.
The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.
(1) ... years after the American Helicopter Society threw down the gauntlet of creating a human-powered helicopter, the (2) ... has finally been met. This is the Atlas, designed by an engineering team from Toronto. It has defied gravity with a (3) ... lasting (4) ... seconds, reaching an altitude of 3.3 metres, to scoop the $ (5) ... prize. And its fuel: just a pair of strong legs.
“That was the loudest yell I have ever put out”
Apart from pedal power, it also took 18 months of hard (6) ... to design the contraption.
“We were driven at all hours to make it better, to overcome setbacks and to make (7) ... , to make this impossible thing happen.”
You may not see one soaring over your (8) ... any time soon, but the team hope their success will at least help inspire the next generation of aviation (9) ... .
Key:
1 thirty-three 2 challenge 3 flight 4 sixty-four 5 two hundred and fifty thousand 6 work 7 improvements 8 neighbourhood 9 pioneers
