1. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ
Readıng skılls ı1
Week 2:Gettıng ın touch through the ages
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Mühendislik Mimarlık Fakültesi
mmf.nisantasi.edu.tr

2. Pre-readıng Look at the pıctures and dıscuss the questıons ın paırs
Do you use these inventions every day?
How do they affect your life?
How did people live before these inventions?
How were their lives before big inventions (fire, wheel, electricity, etc.)?
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3. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©
Look at the words below, match them with the definitions Then, compare your answers with your friends.
arrive (v.) _____
ancient (adj.) _____
stamp (n.) _____
deliver (v.) _____
in fact (phrase) _____
appear (v.) _____
salesman (n.) _____
cost (n.) _____
to begin to exist
to carry something to somewhere
a person who sells things
the price paid to buy something
actually, really
to come to a place from somewhere else
a small piece of paper put on letters
very old
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4. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words given in the box. There are 2 EXTRAS.
Joe’s mother thought he was sick. __________, he lied to his mother because he didn’t want to go to school.
I didn’t put a __________ on my letter, so it came back to me.
Centuries ago, in the __________ Greece, people made many marble statues.
Martin is a __________, he goes from door to door and sells vacuum cleaners.
Bella is very busy right now, she is __________ a letter to the post office.
This computer is too expensive, it __________ $6000.
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5. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©
Whıle readıng
Getting in Touch Through the Ages
500 years ago, it took five months for the news of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in America to reach Queen Isabella in Spain years ago, it took two weeks for news of President Lincoln’s assassination in the USA to reach Europe. In 1969, when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, it took just 1.3 seconds for his words to reach the Earth!
Nobody knows who wrote the first letter or when, but we know that 4,000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, people carried letters by hand over hundreds of kilometres. Very few people could write, so there were special people, called scribes, who wrote letters for everyone else. In those days, you didn’t need a stamp. The first stamp didn’t appear until 1840, and it cost just one penny. Nowadays, one of these original stamps costs €375. Letter writing was so popular in the 1840s that they delivered the post several times a day! An American company- Remington and Sons- made the first typewriter in All these letters in the word “typewriter” were on the top line of the keyboard so that salesmen could show the machine more easily. Amazingly, the letters are still in the same place on the modern computer keyboard! In 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell showed a fantastic new invention called the telephone, nobody was very interested in it. The first fax machine appeared at around the same time, but it was so big and heavy that nobody wanted one- in fact fax machines didn’t become popular for another hundred years. Then, there was the walkie-talkie, a small two-way radio first used by the US army in the 1930s. However, since they weighed around 13.5 kilos, the talking was perhaps easier than the walking! After World War II, they became popular with police officers. Before that, they had to use whistles to call for help! Nowadays, of course, we can send messages and pictures around the world in a few seconds using computers and mobile phones. It’s hard to believe that was only invented in 1971, and the first text message was sent in Today, we send over a billion text messages around the world every single day, and an incredible thirty-six billion s!
Adapted from New Cutting Edge, Longman
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6. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©
Read the text and put the ways of communication in order from the oldest (1) to the newest (7). The first and last ones have been done for you.
_____
typewriter _____
text messages __7___
pen and paper __1___
the telephone _____
the postage stamp _____
the fax machine _____
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7. Underline the correct statement.
Example: Neil Armstrong walked on the moon / Mars.
All the letters in the word ‘typewriter’ / ‘Remington’ are still on the top line of modern keyboards.
Walkie-talkies / Typewriters weighed more than 10 kilos.
Christopher Columbus arrived in America / Spain.
Telephone became popular in 1800s / 1900s.
A European / An American company made the first typewriter.
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8. Are the statements TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)?
Example: President Lincoln was assassinated 150 years ago. __T___
Letters were very popular in 1840s. ____
In Ancient Egypt, scribes wrote people’s letters for them. ____
Ancient Egyptians wrote the first letter. _____
You needed a stamp in the ancient times. _____
A European company made the first typewriter. _____
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9. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©
POST-READING List the advantages and disadvantages of technology and inventions.
Advantages
Disadvantages
everything is easy
communicate with friends -
people are lazy
lonely in real life
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10. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©
The class divides into two groups. One of them argues that technology is important, while the other group argues against it.
Student A: Because of technology, everything is easy now. I easily talk to my friends online.
Student B: But because of technology, people are lazy today. We talk to our friends online, but we rarely leave our houses and talk to them in real life.
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11. NİŞANTAŞI ÜNİVERSİTESİ ©
References
Cunningham, S. and Moor, P. (2012). New cutting edge. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
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