Invent hired closet nap laboratory light bulb

1. Edison liked to _______________ things.
2. Edison worked in his _______________ day and night.
3. When you take a short sleep, it is a _______________.
4. A place where you hang your clothes is a _______________.
5. Edison paid chemists and mechanics to work for him. He _______________ them.
6. When the lamp in your house does not work, you may need to change the _______________.

 

II. Choose right answer.

1. When Edison was a boy, he ______.

a. made a lot of money

b. built a laboratory in his house

c. invented motion pictures

1. In his laboratory at Menlo Park, Edison ______.

a. worked day and night

b. slept most of the time

c. did not work

1. Edison invented ______.

a. only a record player

b. his name

c. more than 1,300 things

III. Number the sentences 1 through 7 to show the correct order.

_____ He died in 1931, at the age of eighty-four.

_____ With this money he started to invent.

_____ Edison was ten when he read his first science book.

_____ In 1876, he invented the phonograph.

_____ After that, he built a laboratory in his house.

_____ When he was twenty-three, he made a lot of money.

_____ He started his own laboratory at Menlo Park.

 

IV. Complete the sentences with the Past Tense forms of the verbs in brackets.

EXAMPLE: Edison started his own laboratory in Menlo Park (start).

1. Edison __________ the light bulb (invent).
2. When he was twenty-three, he __________ a special machine (make).
3. He __________ this invention for a lot of money (sell).
4. Edison __________ chemists to help him (hire).
5. Edison __________day and night (work).
6. He often __________ naps (take).

Read the article about one more inventor and his invention:

Who was... Thomas Adams?

Love it or hate it,the sight ofgumbeing chewed,stretched and snapped is a worldwide phenomenon. New Yorker Thomas Adams (1818 – 1905) is regarded as the farther of chewing gum – though he wasn’t its inventor.

The ancient Greeks chewed gum from resin,as did American Indians. Early American settlers combined it with beeswax to make gum. And the ancient Mayans chewed “chicle” from the sapodilla tree. Chicle formed the basis of Adams’s “ Tutti-Frutti”, the world’s first mass-produced chewing gum. It was an improvement on the “penny gum” then for sale – a mix of paraffin wax and beeswax.

A business and inventor, Adams first tried, unsuccessfully, to sell glass and then photographs. He was looking for a business idea when he met the exiled former president of Mexico, Antonio de Lopes de Santa Anna, in the mid-1860s. Santa Anna, who had a large supply of chicle, suggested Adams try turning it into synthetic rubber products. This did not work, however. Frustrated, Adams decided to throw his chicle into the East River. But before he did this, he saw a girl selling penny gum, reminding him of chicle’s original use. So he put a piece in his mouth – and it tasted good. That same year, 1869, he patented Tutti-Frutti, building a factory in 1871 to produce it. His advertising slogan was “Adam’s New York Gum No. 1 – snapping and stretching”. In 1881, Adams introduced the first chewing gum vending machines. By 1889, his company, Adams & Sons, had built a monopoly, after taking over the six biggest producers in the US and Canada. From then on, the firm produced Chiclets chewing gum, still produced today, by Cadbury Adams.

Business Spotlight, 2/08

Try to give the explanation of the following words from the text: