19 Past Simple - regular and irregular past • Time expressions
• Past Continuous • Pronunciation - consonants
• have + noun = activity
What's in the news?
Past Simple
1
1 Positive
Complete the text with the Past Simple form of the verbs in the boxes.
Across the Channel in a chair
There are many ways to cross from England to
France - by boat, plane or Eurostar, for example.
But one man chose another form of transport.
travel set off become tie reach
Jonathan Trappe tied 54 balloons to a chair and
floated across the Channel. He
the first person
to cross the Channel with balloons filled with helium.
Mr Trappe
Не
top speed of 40 km/h.
from an airfield near Ashford at 5 a.m.
a height of 1,200 metres and
at
plan land control take have fly
The journey was 22 miles, and it
over four hours.
in a field in northern France.
his landing by cutting away some of the balloons.
the trip carefully. He needed permission
from aviation authorities, and he was equipped with sat-nav,
a radio, and oxygen.
Mr Trappe, 36, thinks it's a wonderful way to fly. 'A gas
balloon flies in complete silence, ' he says. 'I could hear the
waves from a height of 300 metres.
'As a child, I always
a dream of holding a bunch
of balloons and floating away into space. Didn't everybody?"
The first balloon crossing of the Channel was in 1785.
A Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, and an American
doctor, John Jefferies,
from Dover to Calais.
It took two and a half hours.
Jonathan Trappe floats across the Channel

Donna and Mark were in the boat.Donna was a good girl.She was going to Spain with her family.Mark was a shy handsome man.He also was going to Spain to stay there for two weeks.
One day Donna and her family were watching sea birds.Donna saw the boys who were very noisy.She saw a shy,handsome fellow.It was Mark.Mark also looked at Donna and smiled her.
Donna and Luiza went to a disco.Donna was waiting for Mark,she wanted to see him very much.
A handsome man came up to Donna and invited her to dance with him.It was Mark with his beautiful and friendly smile.Donna danced with him for a long time.A little later she saw Mark near the entrance to the disco.He was very shy and calm.
During all that time she was dancing with Mark's brother Dave.She stopped dancing and went to look for Mark.She wanted to appologize to him.She didn't know where Mark was.She couldn't find him.She wanted to return to England to see Mark.
Mark had been waiting for Donna since 6 a.m. ,but at 8 o'clock he went to look for Nick and Dave.Donna and Luoza came to the cafe at 8 o'clock.When the boat arrived,Mark and Donna tried to catch sight of one another,but they did't meet in the boat.They met at wild-night in Komilarce.Komilarce is a small town not far from Madrid.There are a lot of buildings,shops,cafes and parks in this town.And in one of these parks it was a disco-night.Many people from Komilarce,Madrid,France, England and Germany visit it.Donna was with her family.She wanted to meet Mark.
Mark didn't want to go there because he wasn't interested in dancing.But he thought about Donna.Dave,Harry and
Nick persuaded him to come.They were sitting at the table when Donna's and Mark's eyes met.Time stopped.
Donna and Mark were together!

Primarily. Industrial. Commercial nation. Major industries. Transportation. Steel. Petroleum. Coal. Electricity. Nationalized. Private investors. Pound sterling. Conversion. Decimal system of coinage. Equal. Completed. Permitted. Charted. Bank of issue. Commercial banks. Overseas branches. Provided. Building societies. Faring. Road vehicles. Equipment. Industrial machinery.

Petroleum products. Electrical machinery. Data processing equipment. Power generating machinery. Organic chemicals. Precision instruments. Iron. Conducting through. Independently owned shops. Although. Cooperative stores. Increasing. Half of all