I Love My Gadgets
A. 1.Go-pro
camera 2. smartphones, iphones 3. flatscreen tv 4. usb stick 5. Game console 6. scientific calculator 7.tabet
8. 3D printer 9.GPS 10. headphones 11.home cinema projector 12.sound bar
B. 1.T ( why should
we..?) 2.T (every year new desirable devices...) 3.T (they inform, entertain...) 4.F
(most of us..) 5.T (it is
unthinkable...)
Cellphone, Friend or Foe?
Video segmet-
order the scenes
1.A couple waking up in the morning, boyfriend looking at his cellphone.
2.Girl going for a run in the mountains, trying to enjoy the moment
while
someone talks loudly on his phone.
3.Girl in a restaurant with friends trying to speak while their friends
look at their phones.
4.Girl walking on the beach sees a man proposing to his girlfriend while
taking a selfie.
5.Little girl in a park looking at her phone instead of swinging.
6.Girl with a friend who’s pouring a drink and taking a selfie of
herself.
7.Man at a theater show using his phone.
8.Girl bowling at an alley while her friends are using their cellphones.
9.Girl at a concert and everybody is recording the show.
10.Girl bringing out the cake at a birthday party while everybody is recording
the moment.
11.Girl turns out the light to sleep while her boyfriend is looking at
his phone.
Technology in the Kitchen
1.c 2.a 3.b
4.c 5.b 6.a
7.c 8.b 9.b
10.a
Transcript:
Today, gadgets galore. The University of Houston’s College of
Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization
run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
What’s the most gadget filled room in your home? If you’re like most
people, it’s probably your kitchen. There are big items like freezers, stoves,
dishwashers, microwaves. And then there are all those little things we couldn’t
do without — coffee makers, pots, bowl scrapers, cheese graters … the list goes
on and on. Just look through your cabinets and drawers.
And to the engineer, it’s a treasure-trove. Almost every item has an
elaborate history of design and redesign. Some survive and some pass into
obscurity, rendered obsolete by new technology.
I recently found myself thumbing through From Hearth to Cookstove: …
Gadgets and Utensils Made or Used in America from 1700 to 1930. The book
doesn’t pretend to be all-encompassing. No surprise. A complete history would
require volumes. But it does contain some gems.
Take, for example, the ale boot — a metal pot shaped like a boot. It’s
easily thrust deep into the coals of a fire, warming your beer on cold winter
nights. We find an assortment of devices for keeping flies away from food — a
real concern before window screens and air conditioning. One such device is the
fly fan. Wind it up and a woman’s hand-held fan waves back and forth — a
mechanical means for saying “shoo, fly, shoo!” Before the toaster was the toast
fork. The many innovative designs were used to hold bread over the fire, much
as we use sticks to roast our marshmallows today.
The contraptions for peeling apples are a delight. Gears, blades,
springs — many are quite elaborate. By 1874, over eighty patents had been filed
for cast iron apple parers. Was it really that important a utensil?
The collection of tools for mashing potatoes goes on for pages. Then
there are the egg beaters. Some look like springs; others like failed fly
swatters. Variations of the dual interlocking mixer are popular. All totaled, I
counted fifty-one different designs in the book — all hand-powered. That’s not
true of butter churns. Some of them incorporate treadmills so they can be run on
dog power.
And women were behind many of the improvements. According to an article
in the New York Times, by 1890 women had filed 2400 patents — an astounding
number given role of women in that era. Most were filed by “thrifty housewives
… generally in the nature of kitchen utensils and domestic articles.” Women
didn’t simply inspire changes; they engineered them.
We take our kitchen gadgetry for granted. We chop with a Cuisinart, mix
with a blender, and slice bagels with specially designed bagel cutters. But our
kitchens are filled with history and innovation. It’s something to think about
next time you’re preparing a meal.
Fiction & Science
1.His book 2.Albert Einstein and
Flash Gordon 3.blink/ you'll see their
biographies printed out/ subtitles will appear under their names 4.Time travel
5.your great great great great grand daughter
Crosswords
Across : 1.dishwasher
2.GPS 3.tablet 4.calculator
10.watch 11.modem 12.toaster
15. webcam 17.mixer 18.headphones
19.electric razor 20. flashlight 21. game console
Down: 1digital photo frame 5.USB stick 6.Remote
control 7.flatscreen 8.camera 9.scale 13.blowdryer 14.Dvd player 16.microwave
19.ebook
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