Exercises of Student’s Book

Lesson-1

1   Listen to a specialist talking about the origin of writing. Take notes. Then, put these questions in the same order as their answers appear in the text.

Audioscript

It took primitive man thousands of years to invent writing. All over the world, different civilisations developed their own languages and their own writing systems. The more efficient the written language was, the faster the civilisation developed. The Egyptian civilisation, the Sumerian civilisation (ancestors of the Iraqis), the Indus Valley civilisation and the Chinese civilisation were the first to communicate by writing. This is why they are considered the most developed ancient civilisations. Samples of writing from these civilisations have survived. They are about 5,500 years old.

Hieroglyphics were one of the first modes of graphic communication. Hieroglyphic writing was the picture writing that Egyptians and the Mayans used.

Nowadays, systems for writing are based on symbols for sounds not on pictures. We call these systems alphabets. The first alphabet was invented in Ugarit - a town on the northern coast of Syria - in the 14th century BCE.

2   Listen again and check your answers in pairs.

Answers

2; 4; 1; 3

4   Listen to the words below in context. Try to guess their meanings.

Audioscript

1. The primitive technology in that town just doesn't work.
2. I'm very efficient at work - I don't waste any time.
3. The Sumerian civilisation was in modern-day Iraq.
4. An ancestor of mine, my great-great grandfather, was a captain.
5. Communicate with me more! Let me know what you are thinking!
6. One of the first forms of writing was Egyptian hieroglyphics.
7. I love travelling by train. It's my favourite mode of transport.