Grammar: Too young, too old?

Present perfect and past simple

1Write sentences about the explorers. Use the present perfect. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task. You also need to use correct punctuation.

• Amelia Hempleman-Adams is a British polar explorer.

  1she / be / to the South Pole / .

  2she / never / see / polar bears / .

  3she / ever / get lost / ?

• Wong How Man is a Chinese explorer.

  4he / travel / along the Yangtze River / .

  5he / not explore / Africa / .

  6how many travel books / he / write / ?

Present perfect and past simple

2Match questions 1–5 to replies a–e. Complete 1–5 with the present perfect and a–e with the past simple form of the verbs in brackets. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

• 1 you ever  (climb) a mountain?

• 2 you ever  (ride) a camel across a desert?

• 3 you ever  (discover) an unexplored place on the planet?

• 4 you ever  (make) a TV series about your journeys?

• 5 you ever  (take) tourists on adventure holidays?

• aYes, I have. I  (find) a lost city in the Amazon rainforest in 2004.

  bNo, I haven’t. But when I was in the jungle in Thailand, I  (ride) an elephant!

  cYes, I have. The BBC  (film) my last trip along the Nile. You can watch it in the spring.

  dYes, I have. I  (go) up Kilimanjaro in 2012.

  eYes, I have. I  (lead) an expedition to Mongolia for backpackers two years ago.

Present perfect and past simple

3Complete the sentences with the present perfect or past simple form of the verbs in brackets. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

• 1Penny  (visit) China three times in her life. She wants to go there again.

• 2When I was eighteen, I  (drive) across America in an old car.

• 3I  (never fly) to Australia, but, hopefully, I’ll go there one day.

• 4So far on their trip, Tom and Sue  (buy) lots of souvenirs.

• 5Last summer, Graham  (spend) most of his time on the beach.

• 6We’re in India, but it’s only our second day, so we  (not see) the Taj Mahal.

Present perfect with already, just and yet

4Complete the sentences using already, just or yet and the words in brackets. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

• 1 (I / be) to London, Paris and Rome. I visited them all during a trip in 2009.

• 2 (I / not climb Mount Fuji), but I really want to do it one day.

• 3 (we / ski) for thirty kilometres through the forest. We're tired and cold. Can we get something hot to drink here?

• 4 (Paul / complete) his journey across the Amazon rainforest. He got back a month ago and is now planning his next journey.

• 5 (you / read / today's newspaper)? There's an interesting interview with Wong How Man in it.

• 6 (Sally / completed) the Atlantic Challenge. It took 50 days to row across the ocean!

Present perfect with already, just and yet

5Write one word in each gap to complete the article. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

... by boat

In the sixteenth century, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition to sail around the world. Unfortunately, he 

¹

 

not complete the whole journey − he died in a battle near Mactan Island in the Philippines. Since then, many other adventurers 

²

 

tried to sail, fly, walk, cycle and ride around the globe.

... on horseback

Have you 

³

 

heard of Ezra Cooley? He might not be as famous as Magellan, but this young American cowboy has 

⁴

 

some amazing adventures. ‘I 

⁵

 

always wanted to be the first person to accomplish something,’ he says. So in 2006, Ezra 

⁶

 

his hometown Chico, in California, and began his journey around the world … on horseback! He has 

⁷

 

ridden across America and Australia, but he has 

⁸

 

been to Europe or Asia 

⁹.

 

On his American trip in 2007, he survived freezing temperatures during an ice storm in Oklahoma, met a grizzly bear in the Rocky Mountains, rode through Manhattan to see the Statue of Liberty, and he 

¹⁰

 

even a guest at the White House! Ezra 

¹¹

 

raised a lot of money for children’s charities. He has 

¹²

 

started writing a book about his expedition.

... in a hot-air balloon

6  Imagine you have just completed one of the challenges below. Tell the press about what you have achieved, what you did, how you felt during the challenge, and what you have learned. Speak for no longer than one minute. ski to the South Pole row across the Atlantic ride a camel across the Sahara

1.  Select Record Audio to record yourself.
2.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.
3.  Select Submit to dropbox to send the recording to your teacher.