Elevators It may be hard to believe, but the modern elevator is close to 150 years old. The first elevators were produced in the mid 1800s. They raised and lowered their cars using a system of hydraulic pumps, but this was inherently dangerous because there was nothing to prevent a collapse of the elevator if the pumps failed. Then Elisha Otis invented the first safety elevator in 1852. Otis’ elevator prevented the car from falling in case of an error. Elisha Otis is considered to be the father of the modern elevator because of his work in designing elevators. Otis’ first passenger elevator was installed in a building in New York City in 1857. In 1880, a German company invented the first electric elevator. This breakthrough allowed companies to build elevators that only required access to electricity. They were more compact because they did not require big pumps. Electric elevators were safer and were similar to an elevator you might use today. At the beginning of the 20th century, trained professionals were needed to operate elevators. These workers would dock the lift on the appropriate floor. They would also announce which businesses or offices were on a floor. An elevator that allowed a passenger to press a button and move the elevator to the selected floor would not be invented until the 1950s. The true benefit of this invention can be seen in large cities like New York City or London, where people live and work inside tall buildings. Elevators allow quick and easy access between floors. In these busy buildings, hundreds of people might exit or enter an elevator at any given second. Moving around tall buildings wouldn’t be the same without such an efficient and necessary invention! 4 Select the correct answer. Which question will this article most likely prompt you to ask yourself? A. Which company invented the electric elevator? B. What other inventions have made city-living easier? C. Who invented the escalator system? D. How fast did early elevators travel?

In another country by ernest hemingway (excerpts) excerpt 1 "in the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more. it was cold in the fall in milan and the dark came very early. then the electric lights came on, and it was pleasant along the streets looking in the windows. there was much game hanging outside the shops, and the snow powdered in the fur of the foxes and the wind blew their tails. the deer hung stiff and heavy and empty, and small birds blew in the wind and the wind turned their feathers. it was a cold fall and the wind came down from the mountains." excerpt 2 "the people hated us because we were officers, and from a wine-shop someone called out, "a basso gli ufficiali! " as we passed. another boy who walked with us sometimes and made us five wore a black silk handkerchief across his face because he had no nose then and his face was to be rebuilt. he had gone out to the front from the military academy and been wounded within an hour after he had gone into the front line for the first time. they rebuilt his face, but he came from a very old family and they could never get the nose exactly right. he went to south america and worked in a bank. but this was a long time ago, and then we did not any of us know how it was going to be afterward. we only knew then that there was always the war, but that we were not going to it any more." 19 select the correct answer. what important fact about the wounded soldiers is reflected by the repetition of the bolded sentences in the excerpts from "in another country" by ernest hemingway? a. it establishes the irony that, although the wounded soldiers have physically left the warfront, the war continues to haunt them psychologically. b. it shows the gradual loss of hope and growing depression of the wounded soldiers and their need for distractions. c. it establishes the wounded soldiers’ determination to shun war and disobey military commands to return to the front after they recover. d. it shows the wounded soldiers’ sadness and disappointment at the lack of gratitude from the people they risked their lives to protect. e. it shows the wounded soldiers’ belief that the war would never end, even as thousands of soldiers were killed or wounded and sent to hospitals. reset next