Introduction
Modern ‘green’ policies cost money and jobs, and blight the environment. Victorian industrialist Lord Armstrong managed to conserve the environment and yet also trial a range of emerging technologies that now bring comfort and prosperity to hundreds of millions of people.
CRAGSIDE House was developed over several years by Victorian industrialist William Armstrong, starting in 1863.
A keen naturalist, he planted his land with seven million trees and shrubs, chiefly conifers and rhododendrons, and created what remains one of Europe’s largest rock gardens.
Badgers and rare red squirrels scurry in the Cragside woods, while Canada geese, heron, and dragonflies can still be spotted down by the water.
But Armstrong, the first scientist to join the House of Lords, also had a passion for emerging technology. He had made his fortune in the weapons and ship-building industries, and specialised in hydraulics.
At Cragside, he used hydraulic power to drive a laundry and a lift, and in 1870 built the world’s first hydro-electric power station, fed by one of the lakes on his estate. Ten years later, Joseph Swan fitted his revolutionary incandescent electric lighting at Cragside, and considered it his first ‘proper’ installation.
Cragside was where modern living began.
Read more at National Trust: Cragside and Daily Mail (July 2014).
Précis
William Armstrong was a Victorian industrialist, who built a house at Cragside in Northumberland as a showcase for the latest technology. It boasted labour-saving devices such as washing machines and a lift, and was the first private home to be powered by hydro-electricity and lit by incandescent light-bulbs. (48 / 60 words)
William Armstrong was a Victorian industrialist, who built a house at Cragside in Northumberland as a showcase for the latest technology. It boasted labour-saving devices such as washing machines and a lift, and was the first private home to be powered by hydro-electricity and lit by incandescent light-bulbs.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 45 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, besides, despite, if, just, otherwise, unless, whereas.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Industry. Modern. Scientist.
2 Also. Still. Wood.
3 Drive. Rock. Technology.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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