Variant 1 You could have come first and won the race if you … faster

25. What is the text about?

A) American inventors who became multi-millionaires. B) The hard lengthy job of sewing.

C) Two European inventors of the sewing machine. D) The history of one invention.

26. Whose design of a sewing machine was used by other producers?

A) Elias Howe`s B) Isaac Singer`s C) Thomas Saint`s D) Barthelemy Thinomonnier`s

27. What does the word FURTHERED mean in the text?

A) added B) advanced C) arranged D) alleged

Silk Road During the Han dynasty. In China, the conquests and alliances made in Central Asia by Emperor Wudi, combined with the extensive development of roads, enabled a trade route to be opened at extending across the Gobi Desert, through the Pamirs and Karakorum mountain ranges, to reach Samarkand, Damascus, Alexandria and Rome. Chinese silk and spices were traded in for wool, gold and silver. The route was over 6,000 km long, was crossed by camels, travelling in caravans. The Silk Road carried not only goods, but ideas between East and West. China received Buddhism from India and Christianity form Europe. The Silk Road ended with the rise of Islam and the collapse of Imperial Rome, but was re-established by Kubilai Khan under the Yun Dynasty, allowing Marko Polo to reach his court in the 13th century.