The Reading / Listening - Tunnels - Level 5

Egypt is a land of mystery and wonder. Archaeologists hope to unearth the ancient marvels there. Archaeologists at an excavation near the city of Alexandria have made a huge discovery. Archaeologist Kathleen Martinez has dedicated most of her life to searching for the long-lost tomb of Queen Cleopatra. The queen ruled Egypt more than 1,000 years ago. Martinez and her team stumbled upon an amazing find. They uncovered a 1,305-metre tunnel, 13 metres underground. Architectural experts have called it an "engineering miracle".

Ms Martinez was elated at finding the tunnel and its contents. She said the site had a religious centre with three sanctuaries, a sacred lake, statues, gold, and a huge collection of coins portraying…Queen Cleopatra. Martinez's quest to find Queen Cleopatra's tomb began in 2005. She said her perseverance was not an obsession. She said: "I simply admire Cleopatra as a historical character." Martinez spoke of the importance of her team's work. She said that if the tunnel leads to Cleopatra's tomb, "it will be the most important discovery of the century".

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Tunnels - Level 4 or  Tunnels - Level 6

Sources
  • https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/egypt-temple-cleopatra-lost-tomb-scli-intl-scn/index.html
  • https://www.newsweek.com/cleopatra-tomb-tunnel-possibly-discovered-egypt-1757829
  • https://www.archaeology.org/news/10972-221109-taposiris-magna-tunnel


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. Egypt is a land of mystery
  2. full of ancient
  3. at a site near
  4. made a huge
  5. experts have called it
  6. lead to the lost tomb
  7. ruled Egypt
  8. spent most of her life
  1. discovery
  2. over 1,000 years ago
  3. looking for the tomb
  4. marvels
  5. of Queen Cleopatra
  6. and wonder
  7. an engineering miracle
  8. the city of Alexandria

Paragraph 2

  1. happy at finding
  2. a religious
  3. a sacred
  4. Martinez's quest
  5. She said she admired
  6. a historical
  7. the importance of her
  8. the most important discovery
  1. to find Cleopatra's tomb
  2. team's work
  3. of the century
  4. character
  5. centre
  6. Cleopatra
  7. the tunnel
  8. lake

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Egypt is a land (1) ___________________ wonder, full of ancient marvels. Archaeologists (2) ___________________ near the city of Alexandria have made (3) ___________________. They found a 1,305-metre tunnel. Architectural experts have called it (4) ___________________. One of the archaeologists, Kathleen Martinez, believes the tunnel could lead to (5) ___________________ of Queen Cleopatra, who ruled Egypt over 1,000 years ago. Martinez has spent most (6) ___________________ looking for the tomb.

Ms Martinez was (7) ___________________ the tunnel. She also found a religious centre with three sanctuaries, (8) ___________________, statues, gold, and a collection (9) ___________________ Cleopatra's face. Martinez's (10) ___________________ Cleopatra's tomb began in 2005. She said she admired Cleopatra as a historical character. She spoke of (11) ___________________ her team's work. If the tunnel leads to Cleopatra's tomb, it could be the most important (12) ___________________ century.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Egyptisalandofmysteryandwonder,fullofancientmarvels.Archaeolo
gistsatasitenearthecityofAlexandriahavemadeahugediscovery.They
founda1,305-metretunnel.Architecturalexpertshavecalleditan"eng
ineeringmiracle".Oneofthearchaeologists,KathleenMartinez,believe
sthetunnelcouldleadtothelosttombofQueenCleopatra,whoruledEgy
ptover1,000yearsago.Martinezhasspentmostofherlifelookingforthe
tomb.MsMartinezwashappyatfindingthetunnel.Shealsofoundareligi
ouscentrewiththreesanctuaries,asacredlake,statues,gold,andacolle
ctionofcoinswithCleopatra'sface.Martinez'squesttofindCleopatra'st
ombbeganin2005.ShesaidsheadmiredCleopatraasahistoricalcharac
ter.Shespokeoftheimportanceofherteam'swork.Ifthetunnelleadsto
Cleopatra'stomb,itcouldbethemostimportantdiscoveryofthecentury
.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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