The Leap Second
Read the text about the leap second. Some of the lines are correct; some have a word,
which should not be there. Write this word in the gap next to the line.

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!
1 Clocks around the world are about to change. The world’s
2 official timekeepers are going to add a single other second, or leap
3 second, to atomic clocks on Wednesday, the last day of the new year.
4 This will be the 24th leap second since 1972, when ever the practice
5 began, and the first since 2005.

6 While the move will help match clocks to the Earth’s slowing spin
7 on its axis. Because of tidal friction and the other natural phenomena,
8 that rotation is also slowing down by about two-thousandths of a
9 second a day.

10 The extra second is due to be added in co-ordination with
11 the world’s atomic clocks on New Year’s Eve at about exactly a second
12 before midnight.

13 In just today’s digital world, the smooth operation of everything
14 from cash machines to the Internet only depends on the exactly
15 timed transmission of electronic data. Leap seconds can crash down
16 mobile phones and computer networks. However that, the passing
17 of the upcoming leap second won’t make much of a big difference
18 to most of the people. We’re not going to notice it.