Reading

1. Read the facts. Say which one is the most surprising.

Students, did you know… ?

Text-messaging was invented by the Finnish company Nokia. They wanted to help Finnish teenagers, who were very shy. They found it easier to text their friends than to phone them.

The first bikini was designed by two Frenchmen. It was named after Bikini Atoll, the island where the atomic bomb was first tested. The Frenchmen thought that the bikini would have the similar effect on men as a bomb exploding.

Light bulbs are designed specially to last only a certain number of hours. It would be possible to make light bulbs that lasted forever, but then the manufacturers wouldn’t make so much money.

The first Harry Potter book was written in a cafe in Edinburgh. JK Rowling was unemployed and she didn’t have enough money to pay for heating, so she wrote it in the cafe where it was warmer.

Although penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming, he didn’t know how to make it into medicine. It was first made into a medicine ten years later, by an Australian scientist Howard Florey.

Spiders were used as a cure for toothache in the 17^th century. They were first made into a paste, and then put on the bad tooth.

Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective was created by writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes was based on a real person – Doyle’s teacher at medical school, who was famous for saying to his students, “What can you tell me by just observing the patient?”

Vocabulary

to invent – изобретать

shy – робкий

exploding – взрыв

unemployed – безработный

heating – отопление

cure – средство, лекарство

2. Mark the sentences True or False.

1. The first bikini was designed by two Englishmen.

2. Spiders were used as a cure for toothache in the 18^th century.

3. Light bulbs are designed specially to last only a certain number of hours.

4. Penicillin was discovered by Alfred Nobel.

5. Text-messaging was invented by the American company Sony.

6. The noun which is used most frequently in conversation is time.

3. Please, point out the verbs in Passive voice.

4. Give a short summary of the text in English.

Funny pages

Read and smile.

1. A man was arrested for stealing things from chemist shops. He said it was the doctor’s fault, it was him that told him to keep taking the tablets.

2. In the court. The judge says, “What’s this man charged with?” The policeman says, “He opened a shop.” “And what’s wrong with opening a shop?” “Well, it wasn’t his shop, Sir.”

Quicktest

Variant I

Complete the sentences. Use the passive (present or past) of these verbs:

Clean, damage, give, make, take.

1. The room …every day.

2. I saw an accident yesterday. Two people … taken to hospital.

3. Paper … from wood.

4. There was a fire at the hotel last week. Two of the rooms … .

5. “Where did you get this picture?” “It … to me by a friend of mine.”