Science Fiction: Multiple Choice Vocabulary Test

Do you like vivid stories about aliens, or impossible events, or future worlds with weird gadgets? If you do, you’re a fan of science fiction. Science fiction is a made-up story about some (1) _________ of science or technology.

(2) _________ voyages to distant lands with strange creatures were common in ancient Greek and Roman literature. Descriptions of trips to the Moon were first written in the 17th century. Stories about wars of the future, (3) _________ with new kinds of weapons, also became popular.

In 1818, «Frankenstein» became one of the first stories to (4) _________ whether science could be good or evil. British writer Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (5) _________ the answer was — evil. She created Frankenstein, a doctor who makes a monster out of parts of human corpses. Alas, Frankenstein’s monster eventually destroys its creator.

Science fiction really (6) _________ during the late 19th century with French writer Jules Verne. Verne wrote thrillingly about cave exploration in «Journey to the Centre of the Earth». He wrote about space travel in «From the Earth to the Moon» and about underwater (7) _________ in «20,000 Leagues under the Sea».

English author H. G. Wells shocked readers in 1895 with a dramatic time-travel adventure called «The Time Machine». It describes a (8) _________ world of the future. His «The War of the Worlds» is one of the scariest stories ever: Martians (9) _________ England and they’re not friendly. Wells and others used science fiction to explore the future, including travel in space, marvellous beings and inventions, and the use of science to make (10) _________.