1 You are going to read four paragraphs about people who made

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Back 1o the fr-rtLrre
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1 You are going to read
four paragraphs about
people who made
predictions. Read the
paragraphs quickly and tick
the events that are
mentioned.
1
The events of September
11,2001
2
The invention of the mobile
3
The tsunami in December
phone
4
5
6
7
2005
The Moon landing
The assassination of John F.
Kennedy
The economic crisis of 1929
The invention of the
submarine
B World War I and
ll
A
Arthur C. Clarke began writing scrence
fiction in the 1930s. Many ideas and
elements from his stories, which are set on
space stations and distant planets, have
become reality here on Earth. For example,
in a novel he wrote in 1951, Clarke predicted
the 1969 Moon landing, though he
suggested that this would probably not occur
until 1978. Sometimes his abilities to see
into the future are uncannilyl accurate. The
orbit for communications satellites is named
after him because in 1945 he suggested
precisely where it should be located.
Nevertheless, Clarke does not believe that
he - or anybody else for that matter - can
see into the future. lnstead, he says, he
simply tries 'to outllne2 possible "futures"
while pointing out that totally unexpected
inventions or events can make any forecasts
absurd after a very few years.' In 1999, he
did make a list of some of the events that he
thought might happen during the 21st
century. Most of these were positive
developments because he believes that it is
always better to be optimistic about the
futu re.
c
Nostradamus has been given credit for
prophesying dozens of important historical
episodes, most recently the destruction of
the World Trade Centre towers in September
2001. Born in 1503 into a wealthy family, he
left home in 1522 to study medicine. He then
worked as a physrcian and invented some
effective medicines for the treatment of the
bubonic plague. Perhaps as a result of the
tragic loss of his wife and children to the
plague in 1538, he spent the rest of his life
formulating prophecies. Nostradamus
claimed an angelic spirit helped him
understand the relationship between the
movements of the stars and planets and
what occurred on Earth. Over the years,
Nostradamus followersa have noted
hundreds of instances where his book, Ihe
Centuries, apparently describes modern
events. Critics say that the way
Nostradamus wrote is very vague and
imprecise and that his prophecies are of
deaths, wars and natural disasters, which,
unfortunately, occur again and again
throughout history. This makes it easy for
people to find what seem like connections
between his writings and actual events.
B
Before he died in 1905, Jules Verne wrote
almost sixty novels in which he described a
world very like the one we live in today. He
predicted inventions such as planes, movies,
guided missiles, submarines, air conditioning
and the fax machine. Between 1865 and
1870, Verne wrote two novels about space
exploration in which an aluminium craft
launched from central Florida achieves a
speed of 24,500 miles per hour, circles the
Moon and splashes down in the Pacific. A
century later Apollo 8, made of aluminium
and travelling at 24,500 miles per hour, did
just that. Of course, not all of what Verne
predicted has actually become a reality. For
example, in Propeller lsland he wrote about
a 10-square-mile island that could be moved
from one part of the world to another. He
was right about the submarine, though, to
the astonishment of his contemporaries3. He
dismissed their claims that he could see into
the future saying that nothing he wrote about
' as'bevcl':j the bcunds of actual scientific
56
D
Edgar Cayce made his name in the first half
of the last century as a psychic healer and
clairvoyant. According io his lollowers, he
predicted the two world wars and the stock
market crash of 1929. More disturbing still
were prophecies of geological upheavals5
that would lead to the destruction of whole
areas of the United States' coastline
sometime before 1998. Cayce was from a
humble6 background and lelt school when he
was still very young. He claimed that his
ability to heal and see into the future came to
him via a vision of a wrnged figure clothed in
white. Many people believe Cayce's
explanation for his abilities because they
consider that such a simple person could not
have known many of the things he
mentioned in his diagnoses and predictions.
Nevertheless. as critics point out, he worked
in a bookshop for several years and was a
voraciousT reader. He would inevitably have
acquired a good knowledge of a range of
subjects during lhat time
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Back to the iuiur-.
i=-f1i nead the texts again and for the questions
below choose from the people (A-D). The people
may be chosen more than once.
l,:r:"alttll:+: ??' 7!.i ccneil Llone is {1 )
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Which person:
,
had formallv studied a
science?
surprised other people by predicting an
invention?
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made use of astrology in his predictions?
said that it is impossible to make accurate
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predictions?
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ITT-I
t6T_l
only used scientific facts to
make predictions?
gave his name to a scientific development?
had a job that helped him learn what he
needed to know?
predicted good things that might happen?
El---l
tET-l
used language that is easily misinterpreted?
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was exactly right about an important screntific
event?
For_-l
only predicted bad things?
tirT-l
wrote only one book?
had very little formal education?
was accurate about an event but wrong about
the
predicted a terrible event that has not
EzI_l
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date?
occurred?
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EET-I
Look at the numbered words and phrases in
the paragraphs. Which of these definitions best
fits each one?
'
-r
1A
;,,
the sentence halves. Four of
halves
are not needed.
sentence
'1:
wrthout going into
1 lf I spend too long
B
A members of his family
B people living at the same time
A people who were born later
B people who admire him
A great changes and movements
B improvements
A not rich or of high status
B
A
B
famous
inefficient
very keen
B
in the sun,
2 lf I fail my exams,
3 If I learnt another foreign Ianguage,
4 lf I had been born a hundred years ago,
B
tr
tr
tr
l
tr
tr
tr
tr
a) I would get married very young.
b) I go very red.
c) it would probably be Japanese.
d) I would feel sick and dizzy.
e) my parents would be very disappointed.
f) I will get a job much more easily.
g) l'll feel really terrible.
h) I would probably not have been able to go to
university.
l,'Z:- Complete the following sentences using the
verbs from the box.
have invite learn buy promise pass
know live be watch
'I You
....... the exam easily if you study
hard enough.
2 lf L.........
3
detail
make absolutely clear
the
A
strangely
B not completely
2 A give general informatton
1y'1s16fi
how much fun it is learning
to drive, I would have started years ago.
....... one of those new home
lf you
cinema centres from CineCity, you get three DVDs
t -- ilee.
4
lf I lived in such a huge house,
my friends to come and stay.
....... some eggs, we could make
5 lf we
I
a chocolate cake.
6 lf I had lived in the nineteenth
century, I probably
an inventor
You can borrow my laptop, if you
....... to take good care of it.
lf I had known it was going to be on TV
....... Back to the Future last night.
....... without modern facilities like
central heating and hot water if you had to?
10 The world would be a better place if people
....... to be less self ish.
I
57
We are family
Reading: mu ltiple-choice
(Part
1)
About the exam: ln Paper 1, Part 1, there is
sometimes a question which asks what
pronouns (e.9. i4 they) in the text refer to.
I
nead the article on the right once
quickly and choose the best title from the
list below
a) Uncovering family secrets: do you dare?
b)The science of genealogy: new developments
c) A step-by-step guide to researching your
family tree
!
m
Read the article again and answer the
ultiple-choice questions.
1 What is Maria
Mcleod's first piece of advice
to people researching their family tree?
A
B
C
D
2
'Don't expect to find out that you are a
member of a royal family.'
'Be prepared to find out disturbing things
about yourself.'
'Don't expect to like your relatives in other
parts of the world.'
'You may find you have serious health
problems you didn't know about.'
According to Maria Mcleod, which of the
following is not a valid reason for researching
your family tree?
A
You think you may have a hereditary
illness.
B
C
D
3
You want to know if any of your
ancestors looked like you.
You suspect you may have royal relatives.
You think you may have a similar
character to your ancestors.
Why might some relatives be reluctant to
meet you?
A You bring back bad memories for them.
B You remind them of their younger
relatives.
C
They think they might have to tell you
D
They suspect you of having wrong
motives.
family secrets.
ft1i;,i;'
r,,,,r',ff
The first question to ask yourself is why you
want to research your family tree. Genealogy
is not about discovering that you are the heir
to the throne of an unknown country. lt's
about finding out more about yourself. For
most people the important question is 'why
am I like I am?'. You might not look like other
members of your immediate family and you
want to know where your green eyes or curly
hair come from. You may be curious about
why you have such a quick temper or are
utterly hopeless at mathematics. You may
even be suffering from a medical condition
and want to know if something in your
genetic makeup has caused it.
Another common motive for researching your
family tree is that you plan to visit the p-lace
that your ancestors came from and you
secretly hope that you will find some long lost
cousins with whom you can share your
memories. There can be few more exciting
things than meeting a distant cousin who is
living on the other side of the globe and
finding that she looks just like your younger
sister. But you should also bear in mind that
they may not necessarily want to have
anything to do with you. Sometimes there are
skeletons in the cupboard that you and your
branch of the family are unaware of, but
which are still fresh in the minds of your more
distant relatives.
This brings up an important aspect of this
kind of research that some people do not
anticipate. Of course you want to find out
about yourself and what makes you 'you', but
you may not be so keen on discovering some
unpleasant facts about your relatives. your
ancestors were human beings too and there is
no reason to expect them to have led
blameless lives. lt is all part of your own
history after all, and if you are going to do
the research, you should accept this fact and
understand that you cannot change it.
UNIT
6
4 . Once you are clear about your motives, you
need to take a moment to think about just
how many ancestors you might have and how
far back you intend to go. You have, no doubt,
thought about your parents' parents and your
parents' parents' parents; you may even know
quite a bit about them. But go back ten
generations and the picture becomes much
more complicated. To begin with, many more
tine 53 people are involved. You can work it out for
yourself. You may be descended from no fewer
than 1024 people through ten generations and
that means there are a lot of different
individuals to trace and stories to check. This
can mean that you spend hours going through
official records, either in person at the records
office or on the lnternet. Are you prepared for
Simply starting the search can be
overwhelming and right now you are probably
asking yourself 'Where do I begin?'. I have
prepared a report which will put you on the
right path to finding your family history. When
you get this report, you will have a step-bystep method to follow. The report tells you
where to begin and what kind of items you
are searching for. lt will also provide you with
a great way to organise what you find so that
future generations will benefit from your
search. There will be dead ends and false trails
that will have you tearing your hair out but
once you start to experience a little success,
you will be hooked. And, with my report, you
will experience success. I guarantee it!
complicated
when the tenth generation were alive
Why might you think twice about researching your
family tree?
8
A
You already know about your greatgrandparents.
B
C
D
Going back ten generations is too far.
You don't have time to do it.
You have a lot of relatives.
Maria Mcleod has written the article to
encourage people to research their family
A
history.
B
such a huge task?
5,'
put people off researching their family's past.
C share an experience of researching the past.
D promote instructions on genealogy research.
ffi
nead the text again and find words or
that mean the following.
phrases
1
2
resemble (paragraph 1)
combination of biological
qualities (paragraph 1 )
reason for doing something
(paragraph 2)
shocking and secret events
from the past (paragraph 2)
5 without any faults (paragraph 3)
6 find (paragraph 4)
7 searching thoroughly (paragraph 4)
B very large (paragraph 4)
9 a point from which you can't
continue (paragraph 5)
10 unable
You might have to accept that your ancestors
A did not want to be found out.
B were not like you at all.
C were rather unpleasant.
D did some things that were wrong.
We are family
What does the word 'it' in line 53 refer to?
A how far back you should go in your research
B how many people you are descended from
C why doing genealogical research is so
D
7
8
to stop doing something
because you Iike it so much
(paragraph 5)
What does Maria Mcleod assume that the reader
has already done?
A
B
C
D
found out about their family ten generations
ago
considered the three previous generations
decided how far back in time they want to go
asked their parents about their grandparents and
great grandparents
63