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4b Only time will tell Lesson Link

1.READING www.ien.edu.sa

A. Discuss. B. Read the texts quickly and choose the most suitable introduction, a, b or c.
• What do you know a. It is very difficult to make correct predictions about the future, but four famous

about the following? people have tried. So, let’s see what the future holds.
b. With the world changing so quickly, it is very difficult to make correct predictions
the Wright brothers
about the future. Some people get it right, others get it wrong. Some people, however,
IBM rockets are a long way off. Here are a few examples.
c. Nowadays, we fly planes, use computers and relax in front of the TV. We don’t think
TV it’s something special. But how about in the past? What was life like then?

‘Man will not fly for 50 years.’

Wilbur Wright, to his brother Orville (1901)

In 1901, the Wright brothers tried out their flying machine for the first time
but were very disappointed when they didn’t succeed. However, two years
later, in 1903, they took to the skies and entered the history books. And
only 18 years after Wilbur made his prediction, Captain John Alcock and
Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic
flight from Newfoundland, Canada to Ireland.

‘I think there’s a world market
for about five computers.’

Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of IBM (1943)
This prediction seems ridiculous today, but it was true for ten years after
Watson said it. Even so, today there are about 2 billion computers in use
in the world, and experts predict that this number will continue to grow.

‘Television won’t last because people will soon
get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.’

Darryl Zanuck (1946)
Zanuck definitely got it wrong about television. The total number of TV sets in the
world is over 1.5 billion. In the USA, where the TV plays a major role in everyday life,
there are over 2000 TV channels and on average, a TV set is on for 6 hours and 47
minutes every day.

‘A rocket will never be able to leave
the Earth’s atmosphere.’

New York Times (1936)

At the time, it was hard to imagine that sending a rocket into space would be
possible. However, some years later, the first unmanned rocket left the Earth’s
atmosphere. Not only that, but in the next years it was possible to send humans
to space. Most people know Yuri Gagarin, the first human in outer space (1961)
and Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon (1969).

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