Задание 10 из ЕГЭ по английскому языку: задача 32

2. For drawing angles

3. Three-ring binder

4. Shaped like breadbaskets

5. An ancient writing tool

6. Important properties

7. Regional differences

8. For carrying textbooks

A. An ancient Roman writing instrument, the stylus, gave rise to the modern pencil. Some early styluses were made of lead. When graphite was documented in Borrowdale, England, in 1564, the mineral replaced the heavy metal. Graphite left a darker mark on papyrus, but it was so soft that it crumbled easily. To protect the graphite, a holder had to be fashioned for it. The first holders were nothing more than string wound around graphite sticks. Later, hollow wooden sticks replaced the string.

B. In the United States and Canada, it’s an eraser. But in the United Kingdom, India, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, the object used to eradicate pencil or ink marks is known as a rubber. Before 1770, when erasers first appeared, many people used small rubber or wax slabs to rub out their penciled mistakes. To eradicate errors in ink, they employed sandstone or pumice. Japanese writers used soft bread to erase pencil marks.

C. Starting in 1888, when American tanner John Loud patented his version of a ballpoint pen to mark hides, over 350 other inventors began patenting additional designs for a ballpoint pen, but none of them saw production. The viscosity, or thickness, of the ink had to be just right: too thin, and it leaked; too thick, and it clogged. The ink’s viscosity was often at the mercy of the temperature. In 1935, Ladislas and Greg Biro set out to invent a better pen and made their Biro pen.

D. Before the 1960s, when Japanese inventor Yukio Horie invented a felt-tip pen that used water-based ink, students kept track of important textbook information by making marginal notes and underlining key words and passages. In 1963, Carter’s Ink produced the Hi-Liter, a marker similar to Horie’s pen. Both instruments rely on capillary action to draw ink into their tips. Fluorescent colours were introduced in 1978. Since then, polyethylene beads molded into porous heads have replaced felt tips, and there are retractable and scented models.

E. The protractor has been measuring angles for 500 years. Mapmaker Thomas Blundeville first described the instrument in his 1589 monograph. By the early 17th century, protractors were commonly used by maritime navigators. By the 20th century, their use among students in elementary and intermediate schools became prevalent. The variety of uses for protractors dictates their range of shapes. Protractors made of brass, steel, ivory, and plastic appear in the forms of circles, rectangles, squares, semicircles and quarter-circles.

F. German inventor and office supplier Friedrich Soennecken invented the ring binder in 1886. Later, two holes in the side of the binder were added, 80 millimeters apart from one another, setting the standard distance between these openings. When loose-leaf paper appeared in 1854, Henry T. Sisson invented the two- and threering binders, but they weren’t mass-produced until 1899, when the Chicago Binder and File Company began to sell the product. The three-ring version remains the most favoured by today’s students.

G. Backpacks haven’t been around for very long. Before their advent, students strapped stacks of books together and carried them at the end of leather or cloth thongs. Alternatively, they carried them by hand, boys slung under their arms, girls cradling them as though they were babes in arms. In 1938, outdoor clothing and gear retailer Gerry Outdoors invented the first zippered backpack, but students weren’t interested in them at the time. They sold mostly to campers, hikers, and skiers. Students stuck with straps or used small briefcases called satchels.