Read the following text. Choose one word or phrase that best keeps the meaning of the original sentence if substituted for the word in bold type

Tell the group whether these statements are true or false.

Ask each other questions based on the text. Do it in pairs.

Work on the text

1) Kulibin is well-known all over the world.

2) Kulibin was invited to come to St. Petersburg by Vladimir Orlov, the Director of the Academy of Sciences.

3) In 1770 he began service at the Academy of Sciences teaching the academy’s artists his mechanical skills.

4) Kulibin’s most famous projects, never realized, was the design and scale model of a single-arch bridge.

5) This bridge was built in 1776 and Kulibin was awarded 2,000 rubles and a gold medal for his design.

6) Kulibin often worked on problems that had already been solved, wasting time and talent.

7) Like his gifted grandfather, Nikolai Kulibin received an excellent education in Russia and abroad.

LANDMARK INVENTIONS OF THE MILLENNIUM

The last 1,000 years have produced an (1) incredible number and variety of scientific and technological (2) break­throughs – but which of these were the most important? Narrowing a list of the thousands of inventions made since the year 1000 to the ten greatest requires some (3) exact criteria. The qualifying inventions either provided (4) rad­ically new ways to do an important job, or they made possible tasks that were previously unimagined. Their (5) impact was felt, if not (6) right away then eventually, by a large portion of humanity. These developments have (7) enabled significant new technological innovations and scientific discoveries. And finally, they have had a(n) (8) enduring effect on the world.

The inventions that meet these criteria, in (9) chronological order, are the compass, the mechanical clock, the glass lens, the printing press, the steam engine, the telegraph, electric power, wireless communications, an­tibiotics, and the transistor. Missing from this list are many extremely significant technological advances, including the airplane, telephone, automobile, and computer. In many cases these inven­tions were (10) omitted because they are based on earlier developments or breakthroughs.

In considering the ten most significant inventions of the past 1,000 years, a (11) subtle distinction must be made: The difference between "invention" and "discovery" is not as (12) clear as one might think. A discovery can be as simple as the observation of a (13) previously unnoticed phenomenon, while an invention is a human-devised ma­chine, tool, or apparatus that did not previously exist. For example, ancient people discovered that drops of water and certain gemstones distorted light in a predictable way. (14) However, it was not until medieval times that others tried to reproduce this effect by applying new glass-shaping technology to the formation of lenses – the (15) basic ele­ments of spectacles, microscopes, telescopes, and camer­as. (16) Similarly, people knew about and studied electric­ity as a force of nature for thousands of years, but it was the technological (17) leap of mass-producing electricity and (18) delivering it to homes and factories in the early 20th century that (19) transformed the world.

1) A improper	C impossible
B impressive	D unbelievable
2) A advantages	C advances
B advents	D adventures
3) A exaggerate	C accurate
B precaution	D penetrating
4) A fantastically	C far
B fundamentally	D further
5) A affect	C pressure
B affection	D influence
6) A instantaneously	C initially
B instant	D once
7) A made available	C made after
B made away	D made change
8) A long-expected	C long-acting
B long-term	D long-day
9) A such-and-such	C sequential
B suchlike	D suchwise
10) A passed down	C passed from
B passed for	D passed over
11) A delicate	C deliberate
B subtractive	D slender
12) A decisive	C persistent
B definite	D persuading
13) A formally	C later
B former	D formerly
14) A obviously	C nevertheless
B apparently	D evidently
15) A essential	C final
B extreme	D fine
16) A likely	C alike
B likably	D likewise
17) A arise	C attack
B spring	D overrun
18) A going	C bringing
B coming	B bearing
19) A altered	C exchanged
B alternated	D attained

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