THE STORY OF THE PENCIL
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A
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The beginning
of the story of pencils started with a lightning. Graphite, the main
material for producing pencil, was discovered in 1564 in Borrowdale in
England when a lightning struck a local tree during a thunder. Local people
found out that the black substance spotted at the root of the unlucky tree
was different from burning ash of wood. It was soft, thus left marks
everywhere. Chemistry was barely out of its infancy at the time, so people
mistook it for lead, equally black but much heavier. It was soon put to use
by locals in marking their sheep for ownership and calculation.
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B
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Britain turns
out to be major country where mines of graphite can be detected and
developed. Even so, the first pencil was invented elsewhere. As graphite is
soft, it requires some form of encasement. In Italy, graphite sticks were
initially wrapped in string or sheepskin for stability, becoming perhaps
the very first pencil in the world. Then around 1560, an Italian couple
made what are likely the first blueprints for the modern, wood-encased
carpentry pencil. Their version was a flat, oval, more compact type of
pencil. Their concept involved the hollowing out of a stick of juniper
wood. Shortly thereafter in 1662, a superior technique was discovered by
German people: two wooden halves were carved, a graphite stick inserted,
and the halves then glued together - essentially the same method in use to
this day. The news of the usefulness of these early pencils spread far and
wide, attracting the attention of artists all over the known world.
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C
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Although
graphite core in pencils is still referred to as lead, modern pencils do
not contain lead as the “lead” of the pencil is actually a mix of finely
ground graphite and clay powders. This mixture is important because the
amount of clay content added to the graphite depends on the intended pencil
hardness, and the amount of time spent on grinding the mixture determines
the quality of the lead. The more clay you put in, the higher hardness the
core has. Many pencils across the world, and almost all in Europe, are
graded on the European system. This system of naming used B for black and H
for hard; a pencil’s grade was described by a sequence or successive Hs or
Bs such as BB and BBB for successively softer leads, and HH and HHH for
successively harder ones. Then the standard writing pencil is graded HB.
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D
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In England,
pencils continue to be made from whole sawn graphite. But with the mass
production of pencils, they are getting drastically more popular in many
countries with each passing decade. As demands rise, appetite for graphite
soars. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), world
production of natural graphite in 2012 was 1,100,000 tonnes, of which the
following major exporters are: China, India, Brazil, North Korea and
Canada. However, much in contrast with its intellectual application in
producing pencils, graphite was also widely used in the military. During
the reign of Elizabeth I, Borrowdale graphite was used as a refractory
material to line moulds for cannonballs, resulting in rounder, smoother
balls that could be fired farther, contributing to the strength of the
English navy. This particular deposit of graphite was extremely pure and
soft, and could easily be broken into sticks. Because of its military
importance, this unique mine and its production were strictly controlled by
the Crown.
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E
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That the
United States did not use pencils in the outer space till they spent $1000
to make a pencil to use in zero gravity conditions is in fact a fiction. It
is widely known that astronauts in Russia used grease pencils, which don’t
have breakage problem. But it is also a fact that their counterparts in the
United States used pencils in the outer space before real zero gravity
pencil was invented. They preferred mechanical pencils, which produced fine
line, much clearer than the smudgy lines left by the grease pencils that
Russians favored. But the lead tips of these mechanical pencils broke
often. That bit of graphite floating around the space capsule could get
into someone’s eye, or even find its way into machinery or electronics,
causing an electrical short or other problems. But despite the fact that
the Americans did invent zero gravity pencils later, they stuck to
mechanical pencils for many years.
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F
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Against the
backcloth of a digitalized world, the prospect of pencils seems bleak. In
reality, it does not. The application of pencils has by now become so
widespread that they can be seen everywhere, such as classrooms, meeting
rooms and art rooms, etc. A spectrum of users are likely to continue to use
it into the future: students to do math works, artists to draw on sketch
pads, waiters or waitresses to mark on order boards, make-up professionals
to apply to faces, and architects to produce blue prints. The possibilities
seem limitless.
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Question 14-20
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from
the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 14-20
on your answer sheet.
Graphite was
found under a 14______________ in Borrowdale, it was dirty to use because
it was 15______________.
Ancient
people used graphite to sign 16______________.
People found
graphite 17______________ in Britain.
The first
pencil was graphite wrapped in 18______________or animal skin.
Since
graphite was too smooth, 19______________was added to make it harder.
Russian
astronauts preferred 20______________ pencils to write in the outer space.
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Question 21-26
Do the following statements
agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 20-26 on
your answer sheet, write
TRUE
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if the
statement agrees with the information
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FALSE
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if the
statement contradicts the information
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NOT GIVEN
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if these is no information on
this
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21
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Italy is probably the first country of the whole world to make
pencils.
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22
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Germany used various kinds of wood to make pencils.
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23
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Graphite
makes a pencil harder and sharper.
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24
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In Britain, pencils are not produced any more.
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25
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American
astronauts did not use pencil in outer space.
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26
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Pencils are unlikely to be used in the future.
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