The microwave oven is an appliance found in most modern homes. It is mostly used in the kitchen
for reheating food. It uses microwaves, which are radio waves that heat up molecules inside the food.
It has an automatic shut-off timer which enables food to be heated more evenly, safely and quickly.
At the touch of a few buttons, this device can boil water, reheat leftovers, cook rice and defrost frozen
food in only a few minutes!
The microwave oven was an accidental invention by Percy Spencer. Spencer worked for a
company that developed microwave radar transmitters during World War Il. One day in 1945, he
noticed that a chocolate bar in his pocket was beginning to melt. He discovered that the microwaves
from the radar set he was working on were heating the chocolate bar in his pocket! He did some
experiments and figured out that the microwaves could be concentrated to heat food. He created
the first working microwave oven in 1945, and the first food he cooked in it was popcorn. The early
microwave ovens were too large, too heavy and too expensive. It was many years before microwave
ovens were produced and sold cheaply. They were finally introduced to the marketplace in 1967.
A Read the passage above. Then, for each of the following statements, underline TRUE or
FALSE. Correct the statements that are false.
1. The microwave oven is mainly used for reheating food.
Answer：
2 Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven in 1967.
Answer：
3 At first, microwave ovens were too expensive to be sold commercially.
Answer：
B Match these words or phrases from the passage above with their correct meanings
transmitters, figured out, concentrated
1. thought about something until you understood it
2. equipment used for sending electronic signals
3. brought together in one place
C Complete the following passage with the simple past or past continuous form of the word in brackets.
One day, Joseph Friedman was 1 (sit) in a soda shop with his daughter. He
was 2 (watch) as his daughter 3
(struggle) to drink a milkshake through a straight paper straw. Joseph 4 (decide) to find a way to help her out.
He 5 (insert) a screw into the straw and 6 (wrap) it with floss.
When he 7 (remove) the straw, it 8 (bend) over the rim of the
glass. His daughter 9 (drink) her milkshake easily. Friedman 10
(patent) his idea in 1937 and 11 (start) the Flexible Straw Corporation.
D Complete the following sentences with the past continuous form of the word in brackets.
1. (returrn) home from the Science Exhibition when I saw an accident on the road.
2. Joseph (play) video games while I (do) my homework.
3. The girls (talk) on the phone for an hour about their Science project.
4. The astronauts (prepare) for their mission in space.
E. Rewrite these sentences using the past tense.
1. Joel is unhappy because he cannot go to the Science Fair.
2. Nik borrows the book because he wants to read more about life under the sea.
3. The boys buy a new video game and give it to Justin.
F Complete the table below with information from the passage.
THE MICROWAVE OVEN
Location:
Most Popular Use:
How It Works:
Key Safety Feature:
Inventor:
Year of Invention:
Problems of Early Ovens:
Year of Sale of Microwave Ovens:
G Explain how the microwave oven was invented. Write a summary in not more than 50 words.
H Read the following passage. There are six errors in the text. Use the codes below to
mark the errors, and then correct them.
P – Punctuation, T — Wrong Tense, Sp — Wrong Spelling, ^ — Missing Word
Do you know what inventor is? An inventor was someone who comes up with an idea for the first
time. You must be creative hard-working and persistent. You must not be afraid to fail. Instead of
getting discouraged, you must ask yourself what went wrong and try again.
Did you know that Bill Gates experienced many failures before achieveing success? His first
invention, a machine that was supposed to create reports for roadway engineers from raw traffic
data, failed to process the data when he tried to present it to a traffic employee? Yet, he wasn’t
discouraged from trying again. He was able to create a company, that completely changed the
computer industry, and we all know just how successful that was for him.
P:
Corrected P:
T:
Corrected T:
Sp:
Corrected Sp:
^:
Corrected ^:
I Match the words and phrases on the top with their meanings on the bottom.
tailor, manufacturers, took over, fastening
1. replaced
2. people or companies that produce goods in large quantities
3. a person whose job is to make or repair clothes
4. closing or joining together the two parts of something
J Complete the dialogue with words and phrases from the box below.
Indran : I’m going to an 1 on Saturday morning. Would you like to
come along?
Mukzir : What is it about?
Indran : It’s the Young Inventors Challenge 2019 organised by the Association of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Mukzir : Oh! I’ve never heard of it.
Indran : The Young Inventors Challenge requires 2 of up to four or
five secondary school students to put their minds together and come up with an 3 .
The purpose of the programme is to build and encourage
the 4 and inventive capabilities of young people. Students
from many schools are taking part in it. The 5 teams willl
compete forthe Grand 6 . It will be interesting.
Mukzir : Are you 7 ?
Indran : No. But I know some of the 8 . I want to 9
them and see what interesting inventions were made.
Mukzir : That sounds cool. What else does this organisation do?
Indran : They have various 10 such as the Science Fair for Young
Children and the Creative and Critical Thinking Camp. We should definitely support them.
Mukzir : Yes, I agree. I'd like to go with you to take a look at the inventions.
Indran : Great. I’ll let you know when and where we will meet.
K Read the poem ‘What Is Red?’ by Mary O’Neill. Then, rearrange the lines below to form a
poem about colours.
If everything’s just black and white,
The rainbow has many colours,
it's surely notapretty sight
so do the beautiful flowers.
L Complete the stanzas below with suitable words from the box. Then, create the next
Stanza in the space provided below.
love, breath, danger, colour, mystery, sweet, shades, green
Red is the colour of 1 ,
but the 2 of red are stranger.
Blue is the colour of 3
like a 4 , charming dove.
5 is for jealousy,
which is always a 6 .
Black is the 7 of death
when there is no more 8