English For Today chapter 21: Wonders of the World-1

Lesson 21 Wonders of the World-1

After completing the lesson students will be able to

• follow instructions, commands, requests accordingly
• read and understand texts

A. Look at the pictures. What are they called?

Figure

Description: Three photographs side by side. Left: a group of large stone pyramids with smaller structures in front of them. Centre: a white domed marble building with tall slender minarets at its corners, seen across a long garden path lined with trees. Right: a tall lattice-steel tower under a plain sky.

B. Now, listen to the audio and fill in the gaps of the following text:

The pyramids are huge ………………………………… for the ancient kings and queens of Egypt. These kings and queens are known as the ……………………… It needed a few thousand ……………… ……………………………….. to build the pyramids. The most famous ………………………… are the Giza pyramids. Giza is a place near Cairo, the ………………………… of Egypt. The pyramids of ……………….. at Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It is the only one of the ………………… still in existence.

C. Read the following text.

The Taj Mahal is also known as "the Taj". It is a white marble tomb located in Agra in India. Do you know the story behind the Taj Mahal? The Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan loved his wife Mumtaz Mahal more than his life. Mumtaz died at an early age. Shah Jahan was very shocked at her death. So he built the Taj Mahal as a token of love for his wife. It is the place where Mumtaz is sleeping for ever.

The Taj has an area of about 1003 acres or 405 hectares. The Taj Mahal is the finest example of Mughal architecture. It combines the art of Persia, Turkey and India. It took 21 years and thousands of artisans and craftsmen to complete the Taj Mahal. The Taj is universally admired as one of the wonders of the world.

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C1. Now, make some questions based on the passage you read, using the cues given below:

a. What is……………………………………………………………………………?

b. Where is……………………………………………………………………………?

c. How much……………………………………………………………………………?

d. When……………………………………………………………………………?

e. Why……………………………………………………………………………?

f. How many……………………………………………………………………………?

C2. Complete the following table with the information given in the passage:

D. Read the text about one of the wonders of the world, the Eiffel Tower. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense.

The Eiffel Tower is a lattice tower in Paris. It ……………. (be) built in 1889. Now it is .................... (consider) a cultural icon of France. It stands as one of the most recognisable structures in the world too. The tower ……………… (be) famous as the tallest construction in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world. Millions of people …………….. (ascend) it every year. It is 320 metres (1,050 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building. The tower ……………. (have) three levels for visitors. A visitor ………….(have) to walk over 300 steps to go from ground level to the first level. The distance ………………..(remain) the same between the first and the second level. The third and highest level can be ……………… (access) only by a lift. The tower is ……………………… (name) after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company ……………………… (design) and ………………… (build) the tower.

E. Now, read the dialogue. What is it about?

Mong Pru: Nira, I'm really surprised to know about these wonders. What do you think?

Nira: They are amazing! But the wonders of the present time are also amazing. They are not as huge as the super structures of the past but they are also incredible!

Mong Pru: What do you mean?

Nira: Just wait for now! Let me only say that some of the wonders of the modern world are truly incredible! I mean, they are really unbelievable! We'll read about them in the next lesson.