1) __A__ huge animal is rumoured to 2) _be living in Loch Ness, in Scotland.
“Loch” 3) ___is__ a Scottish word meaning “lake”. The water in Loch Ness is deep,
cloudy, and extremely cold 4) __that___ makes it hard to explore. The Loch’s mystery
inhabitant, “Nessie”, is said 5) _to___ have a huge body, a long neck and flippers.
Some people think Nessie 6) __must___ be an ancient species of reptile, called a
plesiosaur. But experts disagree, for two main reasons. First, plesiosaurs 7) _are
believed to be extinct; they probably died out millions of years 8) _ago___ . Second,
plesiosaurs were cold-blooded animals, so they could never 9) _have survived in the
freezing waters of Loch Ness, Recently, it has been suggested that “Nessie” could 10)
be_ an elephant! One expert pointed out that in the past, Nessie 11) __was___ often
seen when a famous circus came to Scotland. The circus often stopped at the Loch
12) that the animals could cool down. The elephants often swam in the Loch.
When an elephant is swimming, only 13) __its___ long neck and two small humps (parting
of the head and back) can be seen. Might eyewitnesses have mistaken this for a
monster?
