Russell Crowe’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Listen to the article and then try to fill in the gaps. You will not need to use all the words.

a) scoffed
b) existence
c) rough
d) shifting
e) reckons
f) presence
g) rats
h) beaming
i) mysterious
j) presence
k) terrestrial
l) gruff
m) bats
n) celestial
o) shipping
p) casting

Forget NASA. Russell Crowe 1) ………. he can confirm the 2) ………. of extra- 3)………. life in our planet’s skies after spotting a 4) ………. orange light from his own Aussie backyard. The 5) ……….Oscar winner was 6) ………. at by skeptics when he tweeted out a 23-second video of the orange flash in the sky, recorded from his office window near his Woolloomooloo home in Sydney. The 7) ………. light could be seen 8) ……….across the city’s Royal Botanic Gardens, 9) ………. down an orange spotlight on the ground as it moved. The 48-year-old tweeted: ‘A friend and I set camera to capture fruit 10) ………. rising from Botanic Gardens, this was a big surprise.’‘

Answers: 1) e, 2) f, 3) k, 4) h, 5) l, 6) a, 7) i, 8) d, 9) p, 10) m

Decide what the underlined word means in each sentence.

1) Russell Crowe reckons he can confirm the presence of extra-terrestrial life in our planet’s skies.
a) thinks
b) suggests
c) says

2) The gruff Oscar winner was scoffed at by skeptics when he tweeted out a 23-second video of the orange flash in the sky.
a) criticized
b) attacked
c) mocked

3) The mysterious light could be seen shifting across the city’s Royal Botanic Gardens.
a) moving
b) floating
c) speeding

4) ‘A friend and I set camera to capture fruit bats rising from Botanic Gardens, this was a big surprise.’‘
a) catch
b) film
c) trap

5) Just raw footage would have made it viral.
a) infectious
b) addictive
c) spread rapidly

Answers: 1) a, 2) c, 3) a, 4) b, 5) c

Decide if the statements are TRUE or FALSE.

1) Russell Crowe believes he can prove there is alien presence in the skies. T/F
2) Crowe’s video shows an orange light blinking in the sky. T/F
3) He captured the alien light from the backyard of his home. T/F
4) Few twitter users believed his tweet. T/F
5) There are other celebrities who share his belief that aliens exist. T/F

Answers: 1) T, 2) F, 3) F, 4) T, 5) T

Match the underlined words to their synonyms.

1) Russ is not the only celeb to crow about aliens.
2) Robbie Williams will happily back up his findings.
3) ‘Seriously, I want to go out and investigate these things.
4) I’m stopping being a pop star and being a full-time ufologist,’ the singer has said in the past after spotting an unidentified object.
5) The 39-year-old singer said at the time it was ‘about 300 foot above me, there was this square thing which just passed over my head silently and then shot off.’

a) support
b) talk boastingly
c) not known or recognized
d) leave quickly
e) examine

Answers: 1) b, 2) a, 3) e, 4) c, 5) d

Forget NASA. Russell Crowe reckons he can confirm the presence of extra-terrestrial life in our planet’s skies after spotting a beaming orange light from his own Aussie backyard. The gruff Oscar winner was scoffed at by sceptics when he tweeted out a 23-second video of the orange flash in the sky, recorded from his office window near his Woolloomooloo home in Sydney.The mysterious light could be seen shifting across the city’s Royal Botanic Gardens, casting down an orange spotlight on the ground as it moved.The 48-year-old tweeted: ‘A friend and I set camera to capture fruit bats rising from Botanic Gardens, this was a big surprise.’‘

‘Canon 5D, No Flash, can’t be a lense flare because it moves, camera is fixed,’ he added.One user wrote: ‘Just an insect or some such reflecting the light on the other side of the trees into your time lapse camera.’Another scoffed: ‘Come on RC. It could have been more believable without all the editing. Just raw footage would have made it viral. Anyways, loved you in Les Mis.’But Russ hit back: ‘I will grant you at the time the music wasn’t playing, also, yes, we have pushed in on the frame..this is 3 photo’s in order, nothing added.’Other more loyal fans rushed to his defence. One tweeted: ‘Without imagination mankind would not have evolved.‘If it makes Russell happy, let him believe it is a UFO and not some light interference. Be kind people, be kind.

Russ is not the only celeb to crow about aliens. Robbie Williams will happily back up his findings.‘Seriously, I want to go out and investigate these things. I’m stopping being a pop star and being a full-time ufologist,’ the singer has said in the past after spotting an unidentified object from his sun lounger at the Beverly Hills Hotel.The 39-year-old singer said at the time it was ‘about 300 foot above me, there was this square thing which just passed over my head silently and then shot off.’

source: metro.co.uk

to forget – elfelejteni
to reckon – vélni 
to confirm – igazolni, alátámasztani
presence – jelenlét
extra-terrestrial  – földönkívüli
to spot – észrevenni, megpillantani
beaming – sugárzó, ragyogó
gruff – nyers, mogorva, rekedtes
to scoff – csipkelődni, kötekedni
mysterious – titokzatos, rejtélyes
to shift – elmozdulni
to cast down – lebocsájtani, levetíteni
to set – (be)állítani
to capture – (itt: lencsevégre) kapni
bat – denevér
to rise – emelkedni
lense flare – bevillanás, becsillanás
to reflect – tükrözni
believable – hihető
to edit – (meg)szerkeszteni
raw footage – nyers filmfelvétel
viral – (a neten) elterjedt 
to hit back – visszavágni/ütni
frame – keret
loyal – hű(séges)
to rush to someone’s defence – valaki védelmére sietni
imagination – képzelet
mankind – emberiség
to evolve – fejlődni
interference – beavatkozás, zavaró hatás
to crow – ujjongani
to back up – alátámasztani
findings – ténymegállapítások, felfedezés
to investigate – vizsgálni, kutatni, nyomozni
unidentified – azonsoítatlan
to shoot off – eliramodni, kilőni