FCE SIMULATOR ACTIVITIES  1. WOMEN IN HISTORY

Is the history of the world in urgent need of correction? Some historians, mostly women, argue that insufficient attention has been paid to a very important group: women. These historians want history textbooks to be revised so that they show accurately the role played by women.

According to the history books, cavemen provided most of the food for their families through hunting animals. But the evidence shows that 80% of the diet of prehistoric humans was vegetarian and it was collected by females. In addition, women's efforts in fighting in wars or leading revolutions have been ignored. Textbooks concentrate on men such as Hannibal or Che Guevara and neglect outstanding women such as Théroigne de Méricourt, an opera singer who led the storming of the Bastille in 1789, or Mariya Bochkareva, a Bolshevik who organised a well-trained and highly successful troop of 2,000 fighting women during the Russian revolution in 1917. Women rulers are also forgotten. Between 962 and 1582 there were at least 16 women rulers in countries ranging from Italy to Angola.

Women make up half the human race. If there is no reference to their contribution to history in the textbooks, then the real story is not being told. However many male historians deny that important female figures have been kept out of the history books. 2. ENGLISH SPELLING Why does English spelling have a reputation for being difficult? English was first written down when Christian monks came to England in Anglo-Saxon times. They used the 23 letters of Latin to write down the sounds of Anglo-Saxon speech as they heard it. However, English has a wider range of basic sounds (over 40) than Latin. The alphabet was too small, and so combinations of letters were needed to express the different sounds. Inevitably, there were inconsistencies in the way that letters were combined. With the Norman invasion of England, the English language was put at risk. English survived, but the spelling of many English words changed to follow French patterns, and many French words were introduced into the language. The result was more irregularity. When the printing press was invented in the fifteenth century, many early printers of English texts spoke other first languages. They made little effort to respect English spelling. Although one of the short-term effects of printing was to produce a number of variant spellings, in the long term it created fixed spellings. People became used to seeing words spelt in the same way. Rules were drawn up, and dictionaries were put together which printers and writers could refer to. However, spoken English was not fixed and continued to change slowly - just as it still does now. Letters that were sounded in the Anglo-Saxon period, like the 'k' in 'knife', now became silent. Also, the pronunciation of vowels then had little in common with how they sound now, but the way they are spelt hasn't changed. No wonder, then, that it is often difficult to see the link between sound and spelling. 3. REWRITING SENTENCES  1. Richard seldom fell ill when he was a child. hardly Richard was  HARDLY ever ill in (during)  his childhood. 2. Drunk driving causes many accidents. by Many accidents   are caused BY drunk driving. 3. Why don't you stay in bed for a few days? I If I  were you, I'd (I would) stay in bed for a few days. 4. You seem to have a terrible cold. as It looks  AS if (AS though) you have  a terrible cold. 5. Take this medicine and you'll soon feel better. you If you  take this medicine, YOU'll (YOU will)  soon feel better. 6. Apples are better for you than cakes. you Cakes are not   as good for YOU as  apples. 7. Can I borrow your hot water bottle? mind Do   you MIND lending  me your hot water bottle? 8. The new doctor is going to give me a health check. going I  am GOING to be given  a health check by the new doctor. 9. Before you buy a boat, you ought to learn to swim. had Before you buy a boat, you   HAD better learn  to swim. 10. I prefer having an injection to feeling the dentist's drill. rather I'd  RATHER have an injection than  feel the dentist's drill. 4. TRAVELLING ALONE Marina Blum, a    student, travelled by herself for MEDICINE ten months last year in South America. 'I wasn't    FRIGHTEN by the idea of doing a long trip without a  . Some COMPANY people think that travelling alone is a sign of  , SELFISH but you are freer when you can make all the    on DECIDE your own. When I was ill, I    felt lonely, but I made OCCASION many friends. However, I was    to avoid obviously CARE   situations. In some countries people stared and DANGER made rude comments. Sometimes I reacted  , but  AGGRESSION I never worried about my  .  I will definitely travel SAFE like that again. Next time I will be more    and I PATIENCE won't try to do so much.' 5. ELSA SCHIAPARELLI (1896-1973) The innovation of a top fashion designer can greatly influence the public's taste in dress. Elsa Schiaparelli was a French designer whose ideas shocked the fashion world of the 1930s. Today she is mainly remembered for making the padded shoulder popular and introducing to the fashion world the colour 'shocking pink'. Schiaparelli was Italian by birth, but attended French, Swiss and English schools before working in the United States. In 1920 she went to Paris where she made friends with Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau and other surrealist artists who influenced the design of the clothes she made for herself. As a result of wearing her own striking black and white sweaters, Schiaparelli began receiving/getting orders from an American store. In 1929 the store's managers were so impressed that they decided to set her up in business. Soon she was able to expand into jewellery, perfume, cosmetics, lingerie and swimsuits and to commission her artist friends to create further fashion ideas. After the war, it was not clear what was going to happen to the fashion industry. But by 1947 Schiaparelli and others had re-established Paris as the heart of the fashion world. She continued to spread the city's fashions across the world on a large commercial scale until/till her death in 1973.