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L2b Comprehension Set 6 – The Space Station

Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions in complete sentences.
“Spaceship Nightwing 231 to unknown space station. Please respond…” Anna placed
down the microphone in the spaceship after her thirteenth transmission to the strange space
station orbiting Neptune. Beside her, Kevin sighed and sank back into his seat. “It’s no use,”
he said, crossing his arms, “the space station is not responding. Let’s just dock at the station
to repair our spaceship. The engines are still damaged after the collision with the meteors.
We can also refuel our spaceship to prepare for the voyage ahead.” Although Anna was still
skeptical about the space station, she had no other options, and so could only steer the
spaceship towards the space station.

When they got close, Anna couldn’t help but stare at the space station. It consisted of
six giant rectangular blocks spinning in circles around a sphere in the middle. The middle
sphere was silver in colour, while the six blocks were black. A large red light was blinking
in the middle of the sphere, radiating mystery and danger. Anna gulped and carefully docked
the spaceship at the middle sphere. “Wait here, I’ll go out to fix the damage,” Kevin said. He
reached for his space suit and left the spaceship. As she waited, Anna gazed through the front
windshield. She thought she saw something moving, but she was not sure. Maybe it was just
a tiny meteoroid passing by.

After fifteen minutes, a button on the control board flashed. Anna pressed it, knowing
that she had opened the cockpit and allowed Kevin to return back to the spaceship.
“Normally, repairing the spaceship takes at least an hour,” Anna thought. “It shouldn’t have
been that quick.” The door to the control room opened and somebody walked in. “Kevin?”
Anna asked, but there was no reply. The person sat down in the seat behind her. “Huh. He
must be tired,” Anna thought.

Suddenly, Anna froze. Out of the windshield, hanging by the wing of the spaceship, was
Kevin repairing the engines. So who was that behind her?

1. How many times did Anna transmit her message to the space station?
2. What was the name of the spaceship?

3. How many structures were orbiting the middle sphere of the space station?

4. What two things did Anna and Kevin have to do after docking at the space station?

5. How long does repairing the spaceship usually take?

6. What does “it” in paragraph 3 refer to?

7. Who do you think was behind Anna?