Cloze passages

Long ago people knew very little about the world. The ___1___ was thought to be flat. Hence, if a person ___2___ long enough in one direction, he would finally ___3___ the edge of the world and ___4___ off.Today, we ___5___ that the earth is not a flat rectangular block; it is round. We owe ___6___ knowledge to the explorers who made long voyages to find ___7___ routes and discover new lands. They ___8___ accurate records of the oceans they ___9___ and the strange lands they visited. From these records, they drew up a map ___10___ the world. In this way, they ended ___11___ belief of a flat world. Though we know the earth ___12___ better today, the spirit of exploration has not as a result come to an end. The ___13___ for adventure, the urge to set foot ___14___ a wild shore and the curiosity for far-flung ___15___ are still alive. Besides, not all places on earth have been fully ___16___. Places like deserts, mountains, oceans and polar regions ___17___ have secrets and mysteries to amaze ___18___ surprise us. It is fortunate for us that ___19___ are still many things to be discovered which ___20___ that the earth remains rich and wonderful.

Answers

1. earth   2. walked   3. reach   4. fall   5. know   6. this   7. new   8. kept   9. crossed   10. of   11. the   12. much   13. desire   14. on   15. places/lands   16. explored   17. still   18. and   19. there   20. means

Long ago people knew very little about the world. The earth was thought to be flat. Hence, if a person walked long enough in one direction, he would finally reach the edge of the world and fall off.Today, we know that the earth is not a flat rectangular block; it is round. We owe thisknowledge to the explorers who made long voyages to find new routes and discover new lands. They kept accurate records of the oceans they crossed and the strange lands they visited. From these records, they drew up a map of the world. In this way, they ended the belief of a flat world. Though we know the earth much better today, the spirit of exploration has not as a result come to an end. The desire for adventure, the urge to set foot on a wild shore and the curiosity for far-flung places/lands are still alive. Besides, not all places on earth have been fully explored. Places like deserts, mountains, oceans and polar regions still have secrets and mysteries to amaze and surprise us. It is fortunate for us that there are still many things to be discovered which means that the earth remains rich and wonderful.