Up in
the air
DEVICES AND GADGETS
12.1
117
LISTENING
4
12.1
Listen to three people describing technological equipment
and answer the questions.
1
What piece(s) of technology is mentioned by each speaker?
2
What do they like/dislike about the technology they mention?
3
What adjectives do they use to describe the technology they talk about?
5
Discuss a piece of technology you like and one piece you dislike,
giving your reasons.
READING
6
What inventions do you associate these names with?
Alexander Graham Bell W.H. Hoover Frank Whittle
John Shepherd Barron Steven Sasson Laszlo Biro
King Camp Gillette Norman Joseph Woodland
Orville and Wilbur Wright John Boyd Dunlop
7
Work in groups of three. Read the introduction of the article and
summarise it to each other.
8
Now read one text each and answer the questions.
Student A:
read the text on this page.
Student B:
turn to page 160.
Student C:
turn to page 162.
1
Who is the text about?
2
What did the person do?
3
When did they do it?
4
Why did they fail?
5
What recent developments have there been?
9
Exchange information about your texts in your groups. What are
the similarities and differences between the three people?
10
Reflecting on the topic
Discuss these questions in your groups.
1
What is your view of the people mentioned in the texts?
2
Do you think it is common that pioneers do not benefit from their
work and are not recognised?
3
Is it OK to copy the ideas of others if they are not protected? What
about if they are protected?
4
How do you feel about the following:
• downloading movies/music/games from the internet without paying?
• buying copies of products (e.g. designer goods)?
5
Are some ideas and inventions too important to be ‘owned’ by
one person?
SPEAKING AND WRITING
11
Work in small groups to discuss the following statements. Think of
arguments for and against each one.
1
People rely on technology too much these days.
2
Inventors of new technology should share ideas, not protect them.
3
The amount of technology in developed countries is a bad thing.
4
Technology can solve all the world’s problems.
5
Technology often leads to social and environmental problems.
6
Today’s technology does not make people’s lives better.
12
Write a short text (100–150 words) giving your opinion (for or
against) of one of the statements from Exercise 11.
The Nearly men
Technological advance is not
a smooth process. Often the
pioneers don’t get the credit they
deserve, or they pay the price for
being first. Sometimes they fail
to protect their ideas by taking
out a patent. In this article we
celebrate three of these unsung
heroes responsible for some of
the most important pieces of
communication technology.
PERCY PILCHER was an English
engineer and pioneer aviator.
In the 1890s, he built and flew
a glider called ‘the Hawk’.
However, Pilcher’s dream was
to achieve powered flight.
He built another ‘soaring
machine’, this time with an
engine. In September 1899,
he was ready to make his first
test flight. Unfortunately, the
engine broke, and not wanting
to disappoint the audience,
he decided to fly his ‘Hawk’
glider instead. Tragically, he
crashed and died of his injuries
two days later. As there was no
one to carry on his work, his
designs were lost. The American
Wright brothers were to achieve
the first powered flight four
years later on 17 December
1903. In 2003, at the time of
the centenary of powered
flight, a replica of Pilcher’s
plane was built and flown,
achieving a controlled flight
of one minute and 26 seconds,
significantly longer than the
Wright brothers’ first flight of
59 seconds.
