The September 11th Attacks
Read the questions below. Then read the text and watch the videos to find the answers:
On September 11th, 2001, an Islamic terrorist group called al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, carried out
multiple terrorist attacks on the United States.
The attacks took place in the morning between 8:46 a.m. and 10:03 a.m. The weapons they used were four
hijacked passenger airplanes that were crashed into buildings. There were 19 terrorists involved in the
attacks.
Two of the planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New
York City, the first plane at 8:46 and the second plane at
9:03. When the first plane hit the North Tower, people
thought it was an accident, but when the second plane
chashed into the south tower, it was clear that the United
States was under attack. The South Tower collapsed at
9:58, and the North Tower half an hour later.
A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington
D.C., the headquarters of the USA Department of Defense.
The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Several
passengers and flight attendants on this flight knew from phone calls about the events in New York City.
The passengers voted to take the plane from the hijackers. In the struggle, the plane fell on a field in
Shanksville. Authorities believe that the hijackers’ plan was to hit the White House or the U.S. Capitol
Building in Washington.
There were 246 passengers and crew on board the four airplanes, and all of them died. 2,606 people died
at the World Trade Center and 125 people at the Pentagon.
Many people acted as heroes on September 11th. The
firefighters and police in New York City saved thousands of
people before the buildings collapsed, and almost 350 of them
died in the process.
Match the words to their definitions:
HIJACKER Collide violently
COLLAPSE An instrument used for attack or defense
CRASH To fight against an attacker
CREW A person who seizes an airplane by force
PASSENGER The people who operate a ship or an aircraft
FIREFIGHTER Fall, crumble suddenly
WEAPON A person travelling on a ship, train, plane…
STRUGGLE A person who extinguishes or prevents fires
According to the text and the video, are the sentences true or false?
Osama Bin Laden was the leader of Al Quaeda. TRUE FALSE
We don’t know how many terrorists travelled on the planes. TRUE FALSE
The South Tower was the first building that was hit. TRUE FALSE
The South Tower was the first building that collapsed. TRUE FALSE
From the very beginning people realised it was a terrorist attack. TRUE FALSE
The Pentagon is a military building. TRUE FALSE
The hijackers wanted to take the fourth plane to San Francisco. TRUE FALSE
Nearly 3,000 people died because of the September 11th attacks. TRUE FALSE
All the planes were initially going to California TRUE FALSE
Write the numbers:
1. The year when the attacks happened: September 11th, 2001
2. The number of planes that were hijacked: 4 _
3. The number of planes that crashed against a building: four
4. The number of terrorists involved: 19
5. The number of people who died at the Pentagon: 125 people
6. The number of crew members on the fourth plane: 246 passengers