Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sor Juana Ines de Ia Cruz

Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Leonardo da Vinci

Ex.145 Everyone develops special talents during his or her lifetime, but few are able to equal the extraordinary feats of the following individuals. Complete these passages with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. Use Simple Past and Past Perfect.

Most people recognize Leonardo da Vinci as the painter of the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. Yet, Leonardo ___________ (be) a master of design, engineering, science, and invention, as well as a master of art.

After Leonardo ___________ (paint) his most famous works, he __________ (begin) to spend more time on his other dreams. As a military engineer, Leonardo __________ (draw) plans for primitive tanks and airplanes long before they __________ (be) ever dreamed possible. He also ____________ (design) the first parachute and ____________ (construct) the first elevator.

In the sciences, Leonardo ____________ (be) equally amazing. He ___________ (discover) complex principles of physics nearly a century before Galileo. In anatomy, Leonardo ___________ (study) muscle and bone structure to improve his painting, and even after he __________ (tire) of painting, he ____________ (continue) to study the workings of the heart. He _____________ (even/ speculate) on the circulation of blood a century before William Harvey __________ (prove) it.

Leonardo da Vinci ___________ (be) so far ahead of his time that not until this century did his genius become truly evident.

Ibn Sina ___________(be) a Persian who ___________ (write) The Canon of Medicine. This medical encyclopedia _____________ (be) very advanced; as a result, scholars ___________ (use) it for five centuries. Before his death in 1037, Ibn Sina ____________ (complete) an additionial 150 books on such varied subjects as philosophy, mathematics, theology, and astronomy. Like many learned men, he ___________ (begin) early. By the age of ten, he ____________ (memorize) the Koran. By the age of eighteen, he _____________ (be) physician to a sultan.

Sor Juana, the Great Mexican poet, ____________ (be born) in Mexico City around 1651. She _____________ (start / already) to read before she ____________ (be) three years old. By her seventh birthday, she __________ (try) to enter the university. Because girls ____________ (be allowed / not) in the university, Sor Juana eventually _____________ (join) the convent. During her life, she ____________ (write) extraordinary prose and poetry. Before she _____________ (die) in 1695, she ____________ (collect) a library of over four thousand books.

Goethe _____________ (live) from 1749 to 1832. He _____________ (be) a scientist as well as the greatest of German poets. By age sixteen, he ____________ (write / already) religious poems, a novel, and a prose epic. While continuing to write, he _____________ (study) both law and medicine. After he _____________ (be invited) to live in Weimar, Goethe ____________ (become) minister of state. Because of his position, he _____________ (educate) himself in agriculture, horticulture, and mining. He then _____________ (proceed) to master anatomy, biology, optics, and mineralogy.

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