Learn English | A new lesson every week
Book your course now

'Alien' April Fools' story angers Jordan mayor

Average: 3.5 (12 votes)

Read this recent news story and place the words into the correct places:

A Jordanian mayor is considering _A_ a newspaper over an April Fools' Day report saying aliens had landed nearby.

Al-Ghad's front-page story on 1 April said flying saucers _B_ by 3m (10ft) creatures had landed in the desert town of Jafr, in eastern Jordan.

It said communication networks went down and frightened townspeople _C_ into the streets.

The mayor, Mohammed Mleihan, said parents were so _D_ they did not send their children to school that day.

"Students didn't go to school, their parents were frightened and I almost evacuated the town's 13,000 _E_," Mr Mleihan told the Associated Press.

"People were scared that aliens would attack them."

He immediately notified the security authorities, who he said _F_ the area looking for the aliens. They did not find any.

Moussa Barhoumeh, Al Ghad's managing editor, said the newspaper was simply having some good natured fun on April Fools' Day, and had _G_ for any inconvenience caused.

While April Fools' Day jokes appearing in the press may be a great British tradition, this is not the case in Jordan.

  1. fled - past tense of flee - to run away from danger
  2. flown - past participle of fly
  3. frightened - scared
  4. suing - -ing form of sue - to start a legal process in court against someone.
  5. residents - people who live in a particular area
  6. apologised - to have said sorry
  7. combed - carefully searched

Now use the numbers to put the words into the correct places in the text.

What do you think about this story? What do you think about the actions of the newspaper and the newspaper?

 Link: 'Half an hour of exercise a day not enough' Upper Intermediate Reading

  • Missing word A is number:
  • Missing word B is number:
  • Missing word C is number:
  • Missing word D is number:
  • Missing word E is number:
  • Missing word F is number:
  • Missing word G is number: