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1. SPEAKING Work in pairs. Look at the pictures. What do you think these inventions were for?
2. Read the texts. Check your answers in exercise 1. Were any of your guesses correct?
3. In pairs, decide which of the inventions is the most impressive and/or interesting, in your opinion. Give reasons.
4. Number the pictures (A–C) in the order in which they were invented.
A. _____ B._____ C._____
5. Match the texts (1–3) with questions A–E below. Some questions match with more than one text.
Which invention(s)
A. was / were lost and then found again?
B. was / were popular for a time but then disappeared?
C. used electricity?
D. was / were designed by an unknown inventor?
E. was / were first designed in the 19th century?
Reading Strategy• Read the task instructions carefully. • Read each statement and underline the key words. • Look for the relevant section of the text, and read it carefully. • If the information in the statement is the same as in the text, write T. If not, write F. • If there is no mention of the fact, or there is not enough information, write DNS. • Do not use your own knowledge (or guesswork) to fill any information gaps! |
6. Decide if the sentences below are true (T), false (F) or ‘does not say' (DNS).
1. The Telharmonium was invented before the radio.
2. Thaddeus Cahill destroyed the final model of his invention before he died.
3. The Writing Ball was the first machine that used electricity for typing.
4. Other typing machines were cheaper to make because they were not made by hand.
5. The Antikythera Mechanism was at the bottom of the sea for nearly 2,000 years.
6. For about 70 years after it was found, the purpose of the mechanism was not known.
7. VOCABULARY Find nouns in the text related to these verbs.
Noun endings
Text 1 Text 3
a. invent _____ e. discover _____
b. record _____ f. reconstruct _____
Text 2
c. move _____
d. arrange _____
8. SPEAKING Work in groups. Decide which three inventions and discoveries from history are the most important. Use the ideas below or think of your own. Give reasons.
aeroplanes; antibiotics; books; cars; computers; electricity; fire; printing; television (TV); wheels
If the wheel didn't exist, we couldn't travel by car or bus.
If we didn't have aeroplanes, journeys would take much longer.
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Inventions the world forgot
☊3.18
1. Telhartnonium
The Telharmonium was the world's first electronic musical instrument. It was designed by Thaddeus Cahill in 1897. Music from the instrument was broadcast to people’s homes using a telephone. Before the invention of the radio, people loved these first home concerts. After Cahill's death in 1934, his brother kept one of the three models, but in 1962 it was destroyed. No recordings of the music were kept, so the Telharmonium and its unique sound have disappeared forever.
2. The Writing Ball
Invented in 1865 by Rasmus Malling- Hansen from Denmark, the Writing Ball was a machine for typing onto paper. Its use of electricity made the movement faster. However, you could not see the paper as you were typing. Nevertheless, the Writing Ball was very successful. Since each model was made by hand, it was soon replaced by other cheaper machines produced in factories. A new keyboard with a different key arrangement appeared. The once-popular Writing Ball was forgotten.
3. The Antikythera Mechanism
In 1901, parts of an ancient machine were discovered on a ship near the Greek island of Antikythera. It had been made about 1,900 years earlier, in 2 BCE. For many years after its discovery, nobody understood exactly what the machine was for. In the 1970s, scientists found that this ancient computer had been designed to predict the movements of the sun, the moon and the planets. It did this using more than thirty hand-made metal wheels of different sizes. The remains of the Antikythera mechanism are now kept at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, together with a number of reconstructions to demonstrate how it may have worked.
