Traveller 3

KSA - Edition

English Language
Secondary Stage
Credits System Semester System
Compulsory Program Specialized Pathways
Level Three English Language 3

Student’s Book
H. Q. Mitchell - Marileni Malkogianni

Published by

Edition 2015/2016

KSA_Traveller_3_SB_2015-2016_con1 1 1/7/2015 5:34:50 PM

 6b reading
Beam me
A. Discuss.
• Read the title of the text. What do you think it means?
up...
A
• What do you like/dislike about science fiction? Star Trek, by the American science fiction writer Gene
Roddenberry, is generally considered to be the most
popular and successful science-fiction story of all
B. Read the text quickly and match the headings time. Its popularity grew and grew and today it boasts
1-6 with the paragraphs A-F of the text. milions of fans from all around the world.
1. Ahead of its time All science fiction is based on the mix of science and
2. It really happened! fantasy and no other series of books has really done
3. What does the future hold? it better than Star Trek. Long before the technology

B
became commonplace, mobile and hand-held phones
4. Not yet possible
were being used in Star Trek. Small portable computers,
5. An all-time classic rather like our laptops today, were being carried around
6. A unique way of travelling by the characters and speech recognition technology
was being used. In many respects, the technology of
Star Trek was ‘prophetic’, and many things which were
thought to be impossible then are now objects we use
C. Read the text again and answer the following
every day.
questions.
1. According to the text, science fiction is a combination Some of the technology, however, has still not become
of science and reality. Spaceships are still not being sent into space
a. everyday objects. at warp speed (a fictional speed enabling spaceships

C
b. commonplace technology. to travel at around the speed of light). It is argued by
c. fictional characters. some scientists that this will never be possible as it goes
d. great imagination. against the laws of physics.

2. Which of the following was not used in the Star Trek Perhaps the most famous technological idea put forward
in Star Trek was that of ‘beaming’ people to different
series?
places. ‘Beaming’ was done in the ‘transporter’, a
a. mobile phones

D
fictional machine which could transport people and
b. portable computers things to wherever they wanted to go immediately. In
c. speech recognition technology the case of Star Trek, people were usually being beamed
d. prophetic technology to a strange planet or back to the spaceship and out of
3. According to the text, what do some scientists believe? danger. In fact, the ‘beaming’ of people to different
a. One day we will be able to travel at the speed of light. places has become one of the most famous aspects of
the Star Trek technology and the phrase ‘Beam me up,
b. Some technology in Star Trek will not become a
Scotty’ became a catch-phrase for a whole generation
reality.
of Star Trek fans.
c. Spaceships will never be able to go faster than they
do now. Whether we will ever really be able to ‘beam’ people
d. Warp speed can’t be explained by physics. from one place to another is now a question for
discussion. A television news station has recently

E
4. What did the ‘transporter’ in the Star Trek series do?
a. transport the image of a person anywhere
b. transport a person from one place to another
c. transport spaceships to strange planets
d. transport spaceships out of danger
5. The writer suggests that
a. ‘beaming’ will never be used in the future.
successfully ‘beamed’ the image of one of its reporters
into the studio via computer and interviewed him as
though he were actually present. He was, in reality,
thousands of miles away.
Of course, this was slightly different from the Star
Trek version of ‘beaming’. It could, however, still have
consequences for transportation in the future. It may

F
b. ‘beaming’ will not require us to work.
c. ‘beaming’ could replace the need for transportation.
d. ‘beaming’ in the future will not be different from
the Star Trek version.
mean we will no longer be present at work or in the
classroom, but our hologram image will be beamed to
wherever we want or have to be. Could ‘beaming’ solve
our transportation problems in the future?

92

KSA_Traveller_3_SB_2015-2016_mod92 92 1/8/2015 9:48:12 AM