Inventions We Cannot Live Without

We’ve all heard the expression “no need to reinvent the wheel”, meaning that a solution already exists to the problem at hand. This saying has added significance when you consider the many ways in which the wheel improved human life, and how long mankind lived without it. The earliest evidence of a wheel in human history occurs at about 3500 B.C. in Mesopotamia. The wheel was probably the most important mechanical invention of all time. Just about all modern mechanical devices use the wheel in some way – factory machines, bikes, wristwatches, movie reels and more. Not to mention the wheel’s continued use for pottery-making and transporting goods by cart.

Surely, the wheel was probably a literal lifesaver for ancient humans, but you can’t hunt a boar with it. That’s why we come to the blade as a breakthrough that literally saved the lives of humans. In fact, new research has shown that stone tools like a blade didn’t just allow humans to eat better, wear better protective clothing and make for a good fight. It appears that 1.7 million years ago when tools began to be formed by human ancestors, they actually contributed to the evolution of how our hands work.

Around a million years ago humans lost their fur to avoid overheating and to cool their skin by sweating. However, we faced a greater risk of exposure to the elements, so we had to put on some clothes. It’s hard to determine exactly when humans started wearing coverings, possibly, during an ice age. Clothes have literally saved our lives innumerable times since then.

Now that we have wheels, blades and clothes, what were early humans to do with all our cool stuff? Just carry it around all day? No. We needed one more breakthrough to make life a little easier, if not actually save human existence. That brings us to shelter. As long as 2.6 million years ago, there were signs that early human groups began collecting food and tools to bring them back to certain favorite watering holes or sleeping spots. About 800,000 years ago, we started seeing fire and hearths added to the mix. By building shelters, humans were not as vulnerable to their environment and could survive harsher conditions.

When the British Medical Journal asked a group of experts and readers what the greatest scientific advancement in the last 150 years was, the answer wasn’t open-heart surgery or the find-my-phone app on smartphones. Beating out antibiotics and anesthesia, the majority chose advancements in sanitation. Though the discovery that proper sewage disposal could save lives wasn’t so long ago. In Victorian England the Thames was filled with waste and sewage overflowed in the streets. During a cholera outbreak in 1854, British scientist John Snow determined that the disease was caused by microorganisms in sewage that contaminated the water supply and came up with the suggestion to apply chlorine to the water to kill the microorganisms, and the illness rate plummeted. Since then, additional chemical and filtration technologies have been developed to make our drinking water much safer.

We don’t know the identity of the African experimenter who discovered how to start, control and use fire about 790,000 years ago. The invention allowed humans to protect themselves and their vulnerable young from predators. It also provided a source of warmth that helped them to survive temperature changes. In addition, the ability to cook animal flesh and vegetation increased food choices for humans and helped them to avoid malnutrition. Perhaps more than any other invention, fire was the breakthrough that enabled humans to multiply and move across the planet’s surface.

 

48

 

Which use of the wheel is mentioned in the text?

 

 

1)	The making of clothes.
2)	Building houses.
3)	The production of different things from clay.
4)	Hunting.

 

Ответ:

 

 

49

 

“They” in “they actually contributed to the evolution” (paragraph 2) refers to …

 

 

1)	hands.
2)	humans.
3)	tools.
4)	blades.

 

Ответ:

 

 

50

 

Which of these statements about clothes is TRUE, according to the text?

 

 

1)	Clothes were needed not to get burnt in the sun.
2)	Scientists know exactly when the first clothes appeared.
3)	Humans needed clothes because they moved to colder regions.
4)	Clothes were invented after humans lost their body hair.

 

Ответ:

 

 

51

 

The word “ elements” in “… exposure to the elements” (paragraph 3) refers to …

 

 

1)	groups of people.
2)	bad weather.
3)	small parts.
4)	chemical substances.

 

Ответ:

 

 

52

 

Which purpose of a shelter is NOT mentioned in the text?

 

 

1)	sleeping at night.
2)	storing tools.
3)	hiding from bad weather.
4)	keeping a fire.

 

Ответ:

 

 

53

 

In paragraph 5 (“When the British Medical Journal asked …”) the importance of … is stressed.

 

 

1)	open-heart surgery
2)	sanitation
3)	antibiotics
4)	anesthesia

 

Ответ:

 

 

54

 

In the author’s opinion, the most important aspect of the discovery of fire is that it helped people to …

 

 

1)	keep warm.
2)	keep wild animals away.
3)	eat proper food.
4)	spread around the globe.

 

Ответ:

 

Ответы к заданиям раздела 2 «Чтение»

 

№ задания	Ответ
1	8412563
2	5187624
3	4183576
4	8472651
5	7481362
6	4713562
7	264175
8	364275
9	475613
10	135672
11	264571
12	723645
13	2
14	1
15	3
16	1
17	2
18	4
19	3
20	2
21	4
22	3
23	2
24	1
25	4
26	1
27	1
28	1
29	2
30	4
31	4
32	3
33	1
34	2
35	1
36	1
37	3
38	3
39	4
40	2
41	2
№ задания	Ответ
42	3
43	4
44	1
45	1
46	1
47	3
48	3
49	3
50	4
51	2
52	4
53	2
54	4

Раздел 3.

Грамматика и лексика

 

 

Прочитайте приведённые ниже тексты. Преобразуйте, если необходимо, слова, напечатанные заглавными буквами в конце строк, обозначенных номерами 1–7, так, чтобы они грамматически соответствовали содержанию текстов. Заполните пропуски полученными словами. Каждый пропуск соответствует отдельному заданию из группы 1–7.

 

1

 

Christmas tree s

One Christmas Eve the trees in a wood were very unhappy. They wished very much to make Christmas stay, but they __________________ how to do so. ‘We are so bare,’ complained one tree. ‘If we only had our pretty green summer dresses,’ said other trees.

NOT KNOW

 

2

 

‘Hush, children, hush,’ whispered North Wind in a gentle voice, which was unusual for the __________________ of all winds. ‘Go to sleep.’ While they slept something happened.

BAD

 

 

3

 

When the trees awoke they found that someone, perhaps North Wind, had cast over each of __________________ a lovely soft cloak of spotless feathery white.

THEY

 

 

4

 

Seagull problem

The councillors of Dumfries, Scotland, are determined to do something about the seagull problem. Dumfries is the __________________ town in the region invaded by seagulls which attack people. The birds protect their nests.

THREE

 

 

5

 

Local authorities declared that next spring special anti-gull ‘task-force’ __________________ the gull nests. “Seagulls are a menace to Scottish towns,” said Environment Minister Michael Russell.

DESTROY

 

 

6

 

“Recently, they __________________ aggressive to other birds, pets and even people.”

BECOME

 

 

7

 

Councillor Jack Groom said the time for talk was over, adding that it was time for action before __________________ people were hurt by the gulls.

MANY

 

 

 

Прочитайте приведённые ниже тексты. Преобразуйте, если необходимо, слова, напечатанные заглавными буквами в конце строк, обозначенных номерами 8–14, так, чтобы они грамматически соответствовали содержанию текстов. Заполните пропуски полученными словами. Каждый пропуск соответствует отдельному заданию из группы 8–14.

 

8