COMPREHENSION PASSAGE ON "THE ATMOSPHERE" BY: DINZEI MAUREEN MARRIS
THE ATMOSPHERE The earth has an atmosphere, that is, it is surrounded by air. This atmosphere extends several hundreds of kilometers beyond the earth. The atmosphere is not the same all the way up; for example, above a certain height, men cannot breath it and survive. Eighty kilometers above the earth, the air is so thin that it cannot support an aeroplane. Higher up still, there is a special layer of air which is called the 'Heaviside layer'. When some kinds of radio waves hit it, they bounce off it back to earth again the same way that a ball bounces back to you if you throw it at a wall. In this way, radio programmes cross continents and oceans. But this layer of atmosphere can easily be disturbed by certain kinds of storms. When this happens, the sound from the radio comes and goes and we cannot hear it properly because of noises in the background. Adapted from the New Oxford Secondary English Course for Junior Secondary Schools, Book 2 EVALUATION Answer the questions be