Amelia Earhart was the most famous female pilot of all
time. She was born in 1897. She grew up in Kansas in
the USA. She did well at school, but she didn’t finish
university. There was a war, so she became a nurse.
Her life changed when she was twenty-three. That’s
when she first flew in a plane. She wasn’t the pilot,
but after this she became very interested in flying. She
learned to fly and in 1921 she flew solo* for the first
time. The next year she bought her own plane. She
named it ‘The Canary’.
Amelia Earhart was very brave. In 1932 she became
the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic – in a
record time of fourteen hours and fifty-six minutes. She
flew from Canada to Northern Ireland. The President
gave her a medal. Amelia Earhart was suddenly famous!
She competed in many flying races and broke many
records. She also wrote popular books about flying.
In 1937 she tried to fly around the world. Sadly, she
didn’t return. Nobody knows what happened exactly.
Her plane probably crashed, but
they didn’t find her or her
plane. Amelia Earhart was
only forty-one when she died.
*alone
110
CULTURE
CULTURE
• Amazing people
I can talk about amazing people.
7
Options
2
Read the text and check your sentences in
exercise 1.
1
Match the words in the box with pictures 1–5.
Then look at the photo of Amelia Earhart in the
text and write a sentence about her with each
word.
president
crash
war
nurse
pilot
3
3.31
Read and listen to the
text again and answer the questions.
1
Where was Amelia Earhart from?
2
Why did she become a nurse?
3
How old was she when she first flew?
4
When did she fly solo across the Atlantic?
5
What did the president give her?
6
What happened in 1937?
4
YOUR CULTURE
Write about an amazing
person from your country. Complete the table.
Use the internet to help you find the information
you need.
Name
From
Born
Job
Amazing
things about
this person
5
USE IT!
Work in groups. Tell your group
about your amazing person in exercise 4.
AMELIA EARHART
4
1
5
2