I. Make a comment on the quotations given below.

Modern science and techniques have taught mankind at least one lesson:

1. “Nothing is impossible”. Lewis Mumford (American philosopher).

2. “It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are”. Clive James (Australian critic)

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What is an innovation? How do you understand this word?

2. What role do innovations play in our life? Think of some innovations that has had the greatest influence on our life?

III. You are going to read the text about the Industrial revolution. Choose from the list AE the sentence which best summarizes each part of the text. There is one extra sentence that you do not need to use.

A. It was Louis-Augaste Blanqui who introduced the term “Industrial Revolution” in the 1830s.

B. The greatest innovations of the Industrial Revolution were made in textile industry, iron founding and the invention of a steam engine.

C. It was James Watt who invented the improved steam engine.

D. The Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society: almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.

E The causes of the Industrial Revolution were the increase of a workforce, less labour, intensive production in agriculture, the migration of population to cities, the development of international trade, creation of financial markets, the scientific and technological revolution.

Text A

Industrial Revolution

1. The effects of the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production and transportation changes had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way.

In the later part of the 1700s there occurred a transition in parts of Great Britain’s previously manual-labour-based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways. The introduction of steam power (fuelled primarily by coal) and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) brought up the dramatic increases in production capacity. The development of all metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting most of the world. The impact of this change on society was great.

The First Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century, merged into the Second Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships, railways, and later in the 19th century with the internal combustion engine and electrical power generation.

2. The term Industrial Revolution

The term Industrial Revolution applied to technological change was common in the 1830s. Louis-Auguste Blanqui in 1837 spoke of la révolution industrielle. Friedrich Engels in The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 spoke of “an industrial revolution, a revolution which at the same time changed the whole of civil society”.

3. The causes of the Industrial Revolution

The causes of the Industrial Revolution were complicated. The Revolution was an outgrowth of social and institutional changes brought by the end of feudalism in Britain after the English Civil War in the 17th century. As national border controls became more effective, the spread of disease was lessened, thereby preventing the epidemics common in previous times. The percentage of children who lived past infancy rose significantly, leading to a larger workforce.The British Agricultural Revolution made food production more efficient and less labour-intensive, forcing the surplus population who could no longer find employment in agriculture into cottage industry, for example weaving, and in the longer term into the cities and the newly developed factories. The colonial expansion of the 17th century with the accompanying development of international trade, creation of financial markets and accumulation of capital are also cited as factors, as is the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

The presence of a large domestic market should also be considered an important driver of the Industrial Revolution, particularly explaining why it occurred in Britain.

4. The greatest innovations of the Industrial Revolution

The beginning of the Industrial Revolution is closely linked to a small number of innovations, made in the second half of the 18th century. These innovations were made in textile industry, iron founding and the invention of a steam engine.