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?