Условие:

Read the text and match its paragraphs (1—6) with the titles (a—g). There is one title you don’t have to use. When Was the Umbrella Invented? a) The Umbrella’s First Appearance in Europe b) The Umbrella as a Weapon c) The Latest Changes in the Umbrella Style d) The First Function of the Umbrella e) The Umbrella’s Disappearance and Reappearance in Europe f) The Umbrella as a Symbol of a Person’s Importance g) The Nation That Invented the Umbrella 1. It seems so natural to us to put up an umbrella to keep the water off when it rains. But the umbrella was not invented as protection against rain. Its first use was to protect people against the sun! 2. Nobody knows who first invented it, but the umbrella was used in very ancient times. Probably the first to use it were the Chinese in the eleventh century B. C. ! We know that the umbrella was used in ancient Egypt too. 3. And there was a strange thing about the umbrella in those days. It showed that a person who had it belonged to people of high social status. In the Far East in ancient times, the umbrella was allowed to be used only by the members of royal families or by those in high office. 4. In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella and they used it as protection against the sun. But it is believed that the first people in Europe who used the umbrella as protection against the rain were the ancient Romans. 5. During the Middle Ages the umbrella practically stopped being used. Then people began making them again in Italy in the late sixteenth century. And again it was supposed to be a symbol of power and authority. By 1680, the umbrella appeared in France, and later on in England. 6. By the nineteenth century, the umbrella was used against rain by peoples of most European countries. Umbrellas have not changed much in style during all this time, though they have become much lighter in weight. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that women’s umbrellas began to be made in different colours.

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