1 These days, we are able to fly to almost any part of the world in just a

matter of hours, but all this would not have been possible if not for the early
advancements in flight. In the past, the main form of travel was by sea, and 100
years ago, even the fastest ship took more than a week to cross the Atlantic
Ocean. Today, most jet airliners can make this 4,800 km journey in less than 5
seven hours.

2 Aircrafts are the fastest way to travel because they can soar straight over
obstacles such as mountains and oceans, thus there is little to hinder their
journey. Also, modern aircrafts are packed with advanced technology to help
them fly safely and economically at great speed, making air travel the most 10
popular form of travel these days.

3 The advancement in flight date back to the 18th century. The first recorded
flight began with the French brothers Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier. In 1782,
the brothers noticed fragments of ash from the fireplace swirled up the chimney.
This led to the observation that warm air rises, and they later launched the first 15
experimental hot air balloon by igniting a paper fire under an open silk bag. The
next move was a free flight and this required the permission of the King. He
suggested tying two criminals, who were under death sentence, to the balloon
basket. However, a nobleman, the Marquis d’ Arlandes, cajoled the King into
accepting that it would be wrong for such a historic moment to be handed to a 20
couple of criminals. The King eventually gave in and on 21 November 1783, the
Marquis d’ Arlandes and a doctor called Pilatre de Rozier made the world’s first
independent flight across most of Paris.

4 With this success in mind, de Rozier sought to break new ground. While
an argument was developing whether a balloon filled with hot air or hydrogen 25
was the more effective flier, the Frenchman thought that the obvious solution
was to combine the two. So, in 1785, he rigged up a 10-foot hot air balloon
beneath a 40-foot one filled with hydrogen. However, in doing so, he also created
the world’s first flying bomb and doomed himself to becoming the first victim of
an air crash. The balloon disintegrated in flames just 15 minutes into its flight 30
across the English Channel. Scientists later discovered that hydrogen and fire
don’t mix.

5 Another significant advancement happened during the late 1840s, when

the English inventor, Sir George Cayley, built a glider that could carry a person
when it was towed into the air. In the 1890s, German engineer Otto Lilienthal
took to the air in a kind of hand glider and this was the first flight in which the 35
pilot controlled the aircraft.

6 Soon many would-be aviators were trying to take off in flying machines
powered first by steam engines and later by petrol engines. But it was not until
early in the 20th century that the American Wright brothers made the first
 successful powered flight. 40

7 In 1900, bicycle makers Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio,

produced a glider which they tested in the form of a gigantic kite over the sands
at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Three years later, they finally strapped a home-
made motor on it and on 17 December, Wilbur flew the contraption for 59
seconds over 300 yards. Within two years, they’d redesigned the aircraft to the 45
point where it could manage 24 miles in 38 minutes. The age of the aircraft
begun.

8 The early days of flying inspired many brave feats. For example, in 1919,
British fliers John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non-stop
flight across the Atlantic in a plane with an open cockpit. Eight years later, 50
American aviator Charles Lindbergh made the crossing entirely alone, a feat,
which was repeated by American Amelia Earhart in 1932. Then, in 1930, English
aviator Amy Johnson flew solo from England to Australia.

Questions

1 (a) What was the most common mode of transport for journeys to foreign
lands before air travel? (1m)
(b) What does the journey (line 5) refer to? (1m)
2 (a) Why are aircrafts the fastest way to travel? (2m)
(b) Why is it also the most popular form of travel? (2m)
3 (a) What did Marquis d’ Arlandes mean by historic moment (line 20), (2m)
according to the passage?
(b) Who were on the first independent flight? (1m)
(c) Who were responsible for this first flight? (1m)
4 (a) What does it mean to break new ground (line 24)? (2m)
(b) What was wrong with the balloons the Frenchman (line 26) built? (2m)
5 Who was in-charge of the first flight in which the pilot controlled the (1m)
aircraft?
6 What were the two types of engines that aviators used later? (2m)
7 (a) In what year did the age of the aircraft officially begin? (1m)
(b) Who were the two people responsible for this achievement? (1m)
8 Which feat was done twice in just five years? (2m)
9 Choose five of the following. For each of them, give one word or a
short phrase of not more than seven words which has the same
meaning as it has in the passage. (5m)
(i) Advancement (line : __________________________
3)
(ii) Soar (line 7) : __________________________
(iii) Hinder (line 8) : __________________________
(iv) Fragments (line 14) : __________________________
(v) Cajoled (line 19) : __________________________
 (vi) Significant (line 33) : __________________________
(vii) Gigantic (line 42) : __________________________
10 Summarize, in not more than 130 words, the development of flight,
leading up to the Wright brothers’ success. (14m)