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Reading - The First Modern Time Capsule

Dr. Thornwell Jacobs created the first modern time capsule at Oglethorpe University in Georgia to preserve objects from early 20th century civilization for future historians. He included famous books, photographs, films, and everyday items in a locked room intended to remain sealed for 6,000 years. In 8113, after thousands of years, university officials unlocked the room housing the time capsule. Inside, they found relics including a Bible, Koran, sewing machine, early television, and telephone. While the items were badly degraded, historians were able to determine they were artifacts from the early 20th century. The discovery provided

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Javier Alvarez Ruiz
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396 views1 page

Reading - The First Modern Time Capsule

Dr. Thornwell Jacobs created the first modern time capsule at Oglethorpe University in Georgia to preserve objects from early 20th century civilization for future historians. He included famous books, photographs, films, and everyday items in a locked room intended to remain sealed for 6,000 years. In 8113, after thousands of years, university officials unlocked the room housing the time capsule. Inside, they found relics including a Bible, Koran, sewing machine, early television, and telephone. While the items were badly degraded, historians were able to determine they were artifacts from the early 20th century. The discovery provided

Uploaded by

Javier Alvarez Ruiz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.- Read the text and underline a First and Second Conditional sentence.

THE FIRST MODERN TIME CAPSULE

What would you expect to see if you found a time capsule from thousands of years ago? Well, at the
Ogelthorpe University in Georgia, USA there is a room that was locked more than 70 years ago and it is
intended to stay locked for the next 6,000 years. The room is filled with objects that are meant to portray
modern civilisation.

This project was the idea of Dr Thornwell Jacobs. He was a teacher of ancient history and it disturbed him
that there was not a lot of information about how people lived in ancient times. He decided to preserve
modern civilisation because he wanted to make it easy for the historians of the future to understand life in
the early 20th century. So, he decided to store items which represent modern civilisation.

Jacobs and his students included famous books, such as the Bible and the Koran, in the time capsule. They
also collected photographs, films and voice recordings of world political leaders. In addition, they collected
items from daily life, including a sewing machine, an early television and a telephone.

Jacobs was very worried that someone would open the room, so he put a sign over the locked door. The
sign requests that nobody open the room until the year 8113. However, if the time capsule remains locked
for the next 6,000 years, how useful will it be when it’s finally opened? It’s possible that the items in the
room won’t survive for such a long time. What’s more, we won’t know if the people in the future will be
able to identify the objects, and understand what they were used for. However, if people do make sense of
them, they will certainly learn a lot about life in the 20th century

2.- Answer the questions.

1. Why did Dr Jacobs create the time capsule?


.....................................................................................................................................................
1. Why are the Bible and the Koran mentioned?
.....................................................................................................................................................
2. How did Dr Jacobs try to make sure that the room would remain locked for 6,000 years?
.....................................................................................................................................................
3. 4. What are some problems of the time capsule?
.....................................................................................................................................................

3.- Complete the sentences according to the text. Use conditionals in your answers.

1. If someone opened the time capsule, ........................................................................................


................................................................................................................................................... .
2. Dr Jacobs wouldn’t have been disturbed if ................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................... .
3. Dr Jacobs wouldn’t have put a sign over the room if .................................................................
................................................................................................................................................... .
4. Unless people make sense of the items, ................................................................................. .

4.- Imagine that it’s the year 8113 and the time capsule is opened. Write a news article (100-130 words)
describing this event. Use information from the text to help you.

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