Cloze passages

Rays look like huge birds in slow flight when they swim. They have huge triangular side fins which flap like ___1___ when the rays swim. Their bodies ___2___ flat and their mouth and gill openings are usually ___3___ on the underside of the body. They have a thin, whip-like tail which is usually armed ___4___ a poisonous spine.Rays cannot swim ___5___. They are slow, graceful swimmers. They are not hunters so they do not ___6___ to swim at high speed to chase their prey. They feed on small ___7___ creatures which are filtered as the water containing these small creatures ___8___ the mouth and passes over ___9___ gills. There are not more than 20 ___10___ of rays. Most of them have taken to live permanently near the ___11___ of the sea. There are, however, ___12___ that prefer to live near the upper layers of the sea. Eagle rays and manta rays, for example, are found to swim ___13___ the water surface most of the ___14___. They even leap out of the water and 'fly' for a short ___15___ before vanishing into the sea again. Some rays are very ___16___. They have a 'wing span' of about 20 meters and weigh as ___17___ as a rhinoceros. Because of their ___18___ and look, these rays are also ___19___ devil fish or vampire rays. But according to skin divers, rays are mostly gentle, harmless creatures. This is shown by some divers holding on to a ray to get a free ___20___.

Answers

1. wings   2. are   3. found   4. with   5. fast   6. need   7. sea/marine   8. enters   9. the   10. species   11. bottom   12. some   13. near   14. time   15. distance   16. large/huge   17. heavy   18. size   19. called   20. ride

Rays look like huge birds in slow flight when they swim. They have huge triangular side fins which flap like wings when the rays swim. Their bodies are flat and their mouth and gill openings are usually found on the underside of the body. They have a thin, whip-like tail which is usually armed with a poisonous spine.Rays cannot swim fast. They are slow, graceful swimmers. They are not hunters so they do not need to swim at high speed to chase their prey. They feed on smallsea/marine creatures which are filtered as the water containing these small creaturesenters the mouth and passes over the gills. There are not more than 20 species of rays. Most of them have taken to live permanently near the bottom of the sea. There are, however, some that prefer to live near the upper layers of the sea. Eagle rays and manta rays, for example, are found to swim near the water surface most of the time. They even leap out of the water and 'fly' for a short distance before vanishing into the sea again. Some rays are very large/huge. They have a 'wing span' of about 20 meters and weigh as heavy as a rhinoceros. Because of their size and look, these rays are alsocalled devil fish or vampire rays. But according to skin divers, rays are mostly gentle, harmless creatures. This is shown by some divers holding on to a ray to get a freeride.