SMOKEJUMPERS

The smokejumper program began in 1939 as an experiment in the Pacific Northwest Region, and the first fire jump was made in 1940 on Idaho's Nez Perce National Forest in the Northern Region. In 1981, the first woman smokejumper in the nation successfully completed the training program at the McCall Smokejumper Base in Idaho.

Today, Smokejumpers are a national resource. Jumpers travel all over the country, including Alaska, to provide highly-trained, experienced firefighters and leadership for quick initial attack on wildland fires in remote areas. Fire fighting tools, food and water are dropped by parachute to the firefighters after they land near the fire, making them self-sufficient for the first 48 hours.

READING COMPREHENSION.

1. When a smokejumper gets to a fire site, what is the first thing he or she does?

2. If you want to be a smokejumper, you must be?

MEET THE METEORITE HUNTER

During thirteen days of 2011, Michael Farmer and Robert Ward combed the southern desert of Oman pursuing a treasure in the arenas of Dhofar. The couple was not on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula on the hunt for gold, gems, and fossils. They were by meteorites. The intact landscape of Oman, a monotonous gray background, and the arid climate are ideal conditions for hunting. 

The trip was proving to be particularly fruitful: Farmer gave something shortly before lying in the Luna.conocia to a collector who would want it, so I called him from there itself to negotiate its sale for 33,000 euros. For his part, Ward found a piece of the size of a watermelon, which weighed about 4.5 kilos and that could easily be worth $60,000.

READING COMPREHENSION.

1. Might what be the piece that found?

THE TRUTH ABOUT DINOSAURS

Until now it was believed that the sudden disappearance of the dinosaurs was caused by a meteorite that makes 650,000 centuries opened at the Yucatan peninsula the Chicxulub crater, about ten kilometers in diameter. 
The Chicxulub may have been one of the first and less than a series of impacts of meteorites, but not the immediate cause of the death of the Giants: dinosaurs disappeared in a process of more than 500 thousand years. 
So say it Gerta Keller of Princeton University paleontologist and the paleontologists Thierry Adatte of the University de Neuchtel (Switzerland), Zsolt Berner and Doris Stueben, University of Karlsruhe (Germany). 
"We can prove the meteorite which opened the Chixculub crater was the"killer"of dinosaurs. This crater is 300,000 years old. Our tests are based on an analysis of drillings directly at Chixculub and on the banks of the Brazos River in Texas", says Keller. 
In the samples taken from the boreholes found testimonies of the impact, for example a layer of glass beads. But the same sediments that were found on that layer below. Apparently nothing changed.

READING COMPREHENSION.

1. Dinosaurs disappeared in a process of more of?

LIFE BEYOND EARTH?

ESA plans to send in a few years a robot Explorer in search of life on Mars. This exploration will be you a mission to take samples of rock and soil Martian for scientific study. 
Apart from Mars, there may be life in the oceans covered by ice in some of the moons of Jupiter. Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is also a very interesting place.

It is possible that it has emerged makes life on Mars billions of years when the planet was warm and humid. Currently, the surface is too cold and dry so that it can accommodate life on it. However, some scientists believe that still the simple forms of life as, for example, bacteria can exist in the subterranean depths of Mars.

READING COMPREHENSION.

1. In addition to Mars, where other parts can emerge life?

THE INCREDIBLE DOLPHIN.

Many people say dolphins are intelligent. They seem to be able to think, understand, and learn things quickly. But are they as smart as humans, or are they more like cats and dogs? Dolphins use their brains quite differently from the way humans do. But scientists say dolphins and humans are alike in some ways. How?

Like humans, every dolphin has its own "name". The name is a special whistle. Each dolphin chooser a specific whistle for itself, usually by its first birthday. Dolphins are like people in other ways, too. The "talk" to each other about a lot of things such as their age, their feelings, and finding food. They also use a system of sounds and body language to communicate. Understanding dolphin conversation is not easy for humans. No one "speaks dolphin" yet, but some scientists are trying to learn.

READING COMPREHENSION.

1. Which sentence about dolphin language is true?

2. Why do dolphins sometimes help fishermen?