Exercise 1. After you read, answer these questions.

1. Who memorized names of capital cities? The students were forced to memorize the
names of capital cities
2. Who took the photo of the Russian couple? This photo was taken by Reza Deghati
3. Who formed the National Geographic Society? This was formed by a group of
professionals including geographers, explorers, teachers, and mapmakers
4. Who watches National Geographic TV? It is seen by 160 million households in 145
countries

Exercise 2. Read the sentences and decide if they are active (A) or passive (P).

1. The first National Geographic magazine was published in October 1888. __P__
2. Today, millions of people read it. __A__
 3. The magazine is translated into many other languages. _P___
4. My cousin reads it in Russian. _A___
5. Most of the articles are translated from English. _P___
6. Some of them are written by famous writers. __A__
7. Many expeditions have been sponsored by the National Geographic Society. _P___
8. The results are reported in the magazine. __P__
9. It is known for its wonderful photography. __A__
10. The first underwater color photographs were taken by a National Geographic
photographer. __A__
11. Photographers are sent all over the world. __P__
12. They take pictures of people and nature. __A__
13. National Geographic is sold at newsstands. __A__
14. It is published once a month. __A__
15. The National Geographic cable television channel has become very popular. ____

Exercise 3. Look at the chart and complete the sentences. Some sentences will be active; some will
be passive.

Language Number of Speakers *

Arabic 197
Chinese 1,070
English 443
Japanese 125
Korean 71
Russian 293
Spanish 341
Turkish 46
* in millions

Example: Japanese is spoken by 125 million people.

1. Almost 300 million people ____ speak Russian ____________.

2. ______Korean is spoken___________________________ by 71 million people.
3. Spanish ________________________________________.
4. _________ 1070 million people speak ___________________________ Chinese.
5. _____________________________ 197 million people.
6. More than 400 million people ____________ speak English ______________.
7. ________________________________ 46 million people.