Uncle Philip

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Reading comprehension

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This information may be useful to interest students and help to prepare for reading and further work at the lesson.

This is the photo of Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1883 – 1896), the great Swedish inventor and industrialist.

SHORT DESCRIPTION	Chemist, engineer, innovator, armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite
DATE OF BIRTH	October 21, 1833(1833-10-21)
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stockholm, Sweden
DATE OF DEATH	December 10, 1896
PLACE OF DEATH	Sanremo, Italy

The foundations of the Nobel Prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth for its establishment. Since 1901, the prize has honored men and women for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace.

Alfred Nobel is buried in Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.

Recommended resources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel

I.

1. Alfred Nobel had deep knowledge in different fields of science.(T).

2. He studied at the University where he learned languages.(F).

3. He got interested in chemistry and by the time he was twenty became a skillful chemist.(T).

4. His father was a very successful businessman and died very rich.(F).

5. Alfred Nobel was a man of imagination and at the same time showed great financial and business sense.(T).

6. Nobel was very happy in his private life (F).

7. He was always cheerful and lived a life of a very rich man.(F).

8. He spent much time and money for the cause of peace and brotherhood between nations.(T).

9. His famous will in which he left money to provide prizes for outstanding work in Science and Peace is a memorial to his ideals (T).

II.

1. He was an industrialist butremained an idealist.

2. He was cheerful in company but wassad in private.

3. He loved all mankind but didn’t have a wife or a family to love him.

4. He i nvented a dynamite to improve peacetime industries but saw it was used as a weapon to kill people.

5. He was a Swede but livedmore than 20 years in Russia.

6. He was a patriot of his native country but died alone in a foreign land.

7. Never studied at school or University but was a skillful chemist and an excellent linguist.

8. He was a man of imagination but showed great business and financial science.

Tom's Uncle Philip was a scientist and an inventor. He carried out his research in the field of chemistry. He'd been interested in chemistry since his childhood. He made a lot of discoveries and even received the Nobel Prize in chemistry. But he was a strange man, he lived alone, had no wife or friends. Once when he was quite old and seriously ill he sent for his nephew. Here it must be explained that this was the first time Tom and his uncle met. Many years earlier Philip had had a big quarrel with his sister, Tom's mother, and since then he had steadily refused to see them.

When Tom came to see him, Uncle Philip was lying ill in bed. "I am a rich man," he said, "and I'm determined to leave all my fortune to you. You will find it in an iron box in the bank. But before you open the box you must read the letter which is on top of it.” Soon his uncle died. After Uncle Philip's death Tom went to the bank. Before he started to open the box, he read the letter. Here is what it said:

"Dear Tom,

This box contains a great fortune. I am leaving it to you because I want you always to remember your dear uncle. The box also contains powerful dynamite which will explode as soon as you open it. If you do not believe me, open it and you will be blown into atoms.

Do not forget your uncle."

From that time on Tom could think of nothing but the box and the fortune. He asked everyone for advice. But nobody could think of a safe enough plan.

T. Polyakova, E. Sinyavskaya, English for Engineers, Moscow, 2002

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