Prime Time 4, Workbook

The good, the bad, the weird Reading: Inventors who were killed by their own inventions a) Before you read this text carefully, scan it quickly and tick. The date in the text gives the … number of sheets printed day of somebody’s death day something was invented Actually, Marie Curie was not an inventor, but a discoverer. She discovered radium. We need radium to produce radon, a radioactive gas used as medicine. Marie Curie died because she had not known how dangerous radioactive gas was for the human body. Alexander Bogdanov, a doctor, experimented with blood transfusion. Bogdanov gave the transfusions to himself because he thought they would make him young and healthy. However, once he used the blood of a sick person and died. William Bullock improved a printing press that could print 30,000 sheets an hour. One day he wanted to make his press even better. But his leg got caught in the machine. Bullock died of this bad injury 1 . Franz Reichelt invented a special suit which had wings you could open by opening your arms. He wanted to prove that his invention worked and jumped off the Eiffel Tower in Paris on February 4, 1912. However, the parachute folded around Reichelt and didn’t open. He probably died of the shock during his fall. b) Read the last paragraph of a biography and the diary entry. Write who each text is about. This text is about: This text is about: c) In each of these sentences there is at least one mistake. Correct them in your exercise book. 1. If Marie Curie hadn’t discovered radon, radium would never have been produced. 2. If Marie Curie had been working with radioactive material for years, she wouldn’t have become sick. 3. If Bogdanov hadn’t used his own blood in one transfusion, he would have got malaria. 4. If Bogdanov hadn’t managed to make himself and his patients healthier and older with his transfusions, lots of people would have wanted to be treated by him. 5. If Bullock hadn’t made printers more efficient, newspapers wouldn’t have become so expensive. 6. If Bullock had been more careful, his arm would have got caught in the machine. 7. If Reichelt had invented a suit that worked, wingsuit flying could have started in the early 19 th century. 8. If Reichelt hadn’t been successful with his jump, he would have been celebrated as a hero. 5 5 10 1 injury – Verletzung The famous scientist had become worse overnight. Everybody in the room was very quiet. It hadn’t been a very long life, but it had been very successful. It was clear to everyone that all of this hadn’t been for nothing. There would be more and more experiments. None of this would ever be forgotten. … enough experimenting; I’m going to do it myself! This will show everyone how great my invention really is. Nobody will be able to say I wasn’t brave enough! 77 13 Unit Incredible inventions seventy-seven Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv