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EXTENDED READING
2 Read the text again. Complete the sentences.
1 Listen and read. TR: 9.11 1519 flying helicopter paintings released
Leonardo da Vinci
The Greatest Inventor in History? 1. Leonardo bought birds at the market and them.
2. He studied the birds’ wings so he could design a machine.
It is often told how Leonardo drew a design for a glider. This
da Vinci used to go to his local was much simpler, and people have 3. Leonardo also designed a and a parachute.
market to buy birds in cages. recently built and successfully
Others bought the birds to kill and flown it, with one small change to 5. Mona Lisa is one of the most famous in the world.
eat them, or keep them as pets. But the original design. Other flight-
Leonardo, to everyone’s surprise, related designs by Leonardo were 6. Leonardo lived from 1452 to .
bought the birds to release from for a helicopter and a parachute.
their cages and let them fly away! 3 Read. Answer the questions. Work with a partner.
Leonardo was so many
Leonardo’s kindness to animals things—artist, musician, architect, 1. Why were people surprised when Leonardo released the birds he had bought?
was well known. He was a engineer, scientist, and inventor.
vegetarian. But more than this, Today he is usually best known for 2. Which of Leonardo’s inventions is the most important, in your opinion?
he was fascinated by the flight of his art, including two of the most 3. Leonardo’s inventions were probably not made in his lifetime. Why not?
birds. Before releasing the birds, he famous paintings in the world:
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studied their wing shape, structure, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. 4 Express yourself. Choose an activity.
and movement. He made detailed However, centuries ahead of his
drawings of birds’ wings. Most time, he imagined and designed a 1. Look at pictures of some of Leonardo’s inventions. Choose an invention of
of all, he had a dream—to design huge range of inventions. Surely he your own, and draw it in the same style as Leonardo’s works. Add labels.
a machine that would let human must count as one of the greatest 2. magine a scene at the market when Leonardo buys some caged birds. What
I
beings fly like birds. inventors ever? do people say? What happens next? Write a short play. Work in a small group
One of Leonardo’s designs to act it out.
for a flying machine showed an 3. Make a poster of Leonardo’s inventions alongside the same inventions in the
enormous pair of wings joined to modern day. Draw or paint, or find pictures and glue them on the poster. Label
a wooden frame. According to the the inventions with the similarities and differences between now and then.
drawings, the brave pilot would
lie inside the frame and move the
wings up and down! Leonardo also
LEONARDO DA VINCI’S LIFE
1452 1467 1482 1500 1502 1503 1503–1513 1516–1519
Leonardo da Vinci is Young Leonardo goes to Leonardo goes to Milan to Leonardo returns to Leonardo works for Leonardo begins Leonardo studies flight, Leonardo moves
born in Anchiano, Italy. Florence to study with artist work for the city’s duke Florence and studies Cesare Borgia as his most famous the human body, and to France. He
Andrea del Verrocchio. as a painter and engineer. mathematics. an architect, map- painting, Mona Lisa. rocks and plants. dies there.
maker, and engineer.
164 Extended Reading 165