Learning Basic English - Charter Three Answers
EXERCISE IV.
Mr. Jones got to his feet put his hat on, and went out into the night. He took a deep breath or two and sent a small stone jumping across the sidewalk off the toe of his polished boot. He was feeling better now that he had made up his mind. Clearly this was the thing to do.
It was late-how late he had no idea. His foot
steps made a hollow sound in the dark street. He was
unable to see an inch in front of him. " Will anyone
be up?" he said to himself. Then, looking hard at the delicately lighted face of his watch, "But certainly. It is
only a little after 12. I may even be in time for a
word with James as well as his sons. It is possible, at least."
Turning into a side road he came to a stop at the third door
on the left. He put out his hand, feeling for the bell. There where
quick steps and he made out the sound of a woman's voice. Then James's daughter
was there!
She let him in and gave him a little kiss as he
put his hand on her arm. She was like James. She
said nothing and had no need of words. She
was a comfort to him. He saw that her face
was serious but not sad.
"Is your father by himself?" he said
"No. John came an hour earlier but he is still
here. The two sailors are with them. William sent
a note. He is (or will) not coming (or come) till tomorrow.
Some sudden business kept him. It seems (or is) strange not
to have him here."
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EXERCISE V
It seems strange to us now that the men of the Old Stone Age were able to go on foot from Europe into Africa, and that in place of the Straits of Gibraltar, there was a land-bridge between the two. And they were able to go from Europe into Britain because
Britain was joined to Europe, and the Thames and the Trent and the Seine all went into the Rhine. South Africa was joined to India. America was joined by land to Asia on the one hand and to Scotland by way of Greenland on the other. Then, through great natural changes, Europe became separate from Africa and Britain from Europe.
. . . Probably about ten thousand years before the birth of Christ most men had got to the stage of development named the New Stone Age, and were moving slowly forward to a new level of existence. They were now expert in all the most necessary arts : training animals as servants of man; farming; making thread from plants and cloth from thread; forming pots and cooking vessels. But they were still without metals and without writing.
. . . In the museums we may see and take in our hands the very things which were used by the earliest men. They are, in fact, our oldest histories. In them we have the most interesting story of the development of early man, from the first attempt at cracking a stone to the polishing and forming of it into a very good instrument for fighting or other purposes. . . .
After thousands of years men made other great discoveries. when they were looking for stones they somehow came one day on a bit of bright hard substance, the metal copper. In time they became expert in hammering and polishing this substance and made use of it for ornament. But they saw that copper was not hard enough to make strong fighting instruments and other such things. After a time they came across another metal, tin. Then, later still, of getting copper and tin mixed, they were able to make a very had metal named bronze. This great discovery made possible the use of strong bronze instruments in place of stone ones, and became bronze was better at cutting stone and wood, men were now in a position to put up better buildings. The Great Pyramids of Egypt, put up for the dead, were made with the help of bronze instruments.
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EXERCISE VI.
One part of our body makes use of two good inventions which are overlooked at another. Our eyes have covers by which light may be completely shut out if desired. But when the covers are off, the light which does get in has to go through a small hole the round black part in the middle of the eye. This hole quickly and automatically makes an adjustment of its size to the amount of light the eye is getting, shutting up small when the light is strong and opening when the light is feeble. It is strange that we have no apparatus of this sort fixed to our ears. They have to take what they get, even if it is unpleasing or gives pain.
On the other hand, our ears have a much wider range_ than our eyes. We are conscious of sound waves_ between 20 a second and 30,000 a second (a range_ of 1,500 to 1, the range_ of our eyes being only about 2 to 1). With increasing years_ our ear range_ gets less. The hearing_ of the young is better than that of the old: their ears take in much higher notes_. The cry_of the bat, a mouse-like animal_ with wings, which goes about chiefly at nightfall_, is one common test_; a young person_ has the power_ of hearing_ its high note_, but an old person_ has not. And cats and dogs have the power_ of hearing_ much higher _notes_ than we do. For this reason_ their ears take in a soft "hiss" which has very high notes_ in it. When you see a cat in the
street again make a very soft hiss at it. It will be conscious of the high note_ over the loud noises_of all the things/sounds_ in the street, and put up its ears.
KEY: (This is a harder puzzle than the last. It shows us how many of the key ideas nouns can carry. We have a much greater range of choice open to us when it is these we have to fill in. You may find some alternative renderings, e.g., sounds instead of things in the last blank, which will work as well if not better in the passage.)
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