(A2+) Everyday objects

Read the introduction to the factfile. What's it about?

Do you ever stop to think ... ?

Our lives are so easy today. There are objects to help us with everything we do. We have scissors to cut, pencils to write with and light bulbs to help us see in the dark. We can't really live without these objects, but do any of us ever stop to think about where they came from?

Choose the correct alternatives in the factfile.

Do you ever stop to think ... ?

Our lives are so easy today. There are objects to help us with everything we do. We have scissors to cut, pencils to write with and light bulbs to help us see in the dark. We can't really live without these objects, but do any of us ever stop to think about where they came from? Complete the facts below to find out how much you know about everyday objects.

1. Over             [20 billion, 820 million] pairs of shoes are bought worldwide each year.

2. Around the world, one million plastic bottles are sold each        [minute, hour].

3. Jeans were first made in 1873 by              [Levi Strauss, Jacob Davis].

4. Around       [8,500, 2,500] pencils are made from one tree.

5. The first scissors were used       [350, 3,500] years ago.

6. Bluetooth technology is named after a       [king, shark].

7. The first electric light was made by               [Thomas Edison, Humphry Davy].

8. Your mobile phone is powered by      [more, less] technology than the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon.

Read the grammar box and choose the correct alternatives.

Present and past passive

Use      [have, be] and the                 [infinitive, past participle] to form the passive.

• Present passive: Bluetooth technology is named after a king.

• Past passive: The first scissors were used 3,500 years ago.

Use the passive when you            [don't know, know] who or what did an action (or if it's not important).

• 2,500 pencils are made from one tree.

If we want to say who or what did the action, we can use by.

• Jeans were invented in 1873 by Jacob Davis.

Complete the facts about chocolate with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets.

The facts behind CHOCOLATE

1. Chocolate     first      (make) in the Americas.

2. In those days, it               (not eat), it was a drink.

3. Cocoa beans           (use) as money at that time.

4. Chocolate             (bring) to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th Century.

5. Now, half of the world's chocolate          (eat) by Europeans each year.

6. Lots of sugar          (add) to most chocolate today.

7. These days, most cocoa beans           (grow) in West Africa.

8. Cocoa beans              (not/ use) to make white chocolate.

Listen to an interview about chocolate and choose the alternatives you hear.

1. Chocolate was first made over 3,000 years        [before, ago].

2. It wasn't the same as the chocolate we have           [yesterday, nowadays].

3.      [From, For]a long time it was drunk cold.

4. It was in the sixteenth         [years, century].

5.       [These, This]days lots of sugar is added to most of the chocolate we eat.

6. Chocolate wasn't sweet       [until, about]the 1500s.

7.        [At, During]the 1800s, milk was added to chocolate too.

8. Over two-thirds of cocoa beans are grown in West Africa      [all, each]year.

Complete the sentences with the words listed below. Use the previous activity to help you.

ago / century / Each / for /

Nowadays / These / until / Until

1. Electric lightbulbs weren't used       the late nineteenth century.

2. Gas was used to light homes     a hundred years.

3. Chocolate milk was sold as medicine in the eighteenth         .

4.      day, 27,000 trees are used to make toilet paper.

5.          no one uses the small pocket in jeans but they were originally designed for pocket watches.

6.       days, more chocolate is eaten in Switzerland than in any other country.

7. The first iPhone was made more than ten years     .

8.       the 1990s, most people listened to music on CDs.