DICTATIONS SECOND SENIORS ( 12,13,14)

Chimney Sweeps

  

         A chimney sweep is a person who cleans chimneys for a living. This job is considered to be one of the oldest in the world.  In the last two hundred years, chimneys grew large enough to hold a man, so this profession developed enormously in the time of the Industrial Revolution.

         In Victorian times, the business became notorious for employing young boys, as they were small enough to enter the chimneys and clean them from inside. The work was dirty and dangerous, and their employers were famous for abusing and exploiting them. Because of this, a special brush with a collapsible handle was invented, and it enabled the sweep to reach up the chimney without having to enter it.

          The image of the chimney sweep has improved, and this can be seen in the film Mary Poppins. In some parts of the UK it is considered lucky for a bride to see one on her wedding day, so many modern British sweeps hire themselves out to attend weddings.

Tornadoes

 A tornado is a dark funnel-shaped cloud made up of violently rotating winds that can reach speeds of up to 300 mph. The diameter of a tornado can vary between a few feet and a mile, and its track can extend from less than a mile to several hundred miles. Tornadoes generally travel in a northeast direction (depending on the prevailing winds) at speeds ranging from 20–60 mph. Tornadoes are most often generated by giant thunderstorms known as “supercells.” These powerful, highly organized storms form when warm, moist air along the ground rushes upward, meeting cooler, drier air. As the rising warm air cools, the moisture it carries condenses, forming a massive thundercloud, sometimes growing to as much as 50,000 ft in height. Variable winds at different levels of the atmosphere feed the updraft and cause the formation of the tornado's characteristic funnel shape.

Post-its

  

         Post-it notes, those small, yellow sticky pieces of paper which we all use, were not planned but were the result of a failed experiment. A man named Spencer Silver had been working in the 3M research laboratories in 1970, trying to find a strong adhesive. He developed a new type of glue but it was weaker than what 3M already manufactured. It stuck but could easily be lifted off. It was super weak instead of super strong! No one else knew what to do with it, but Silver did not throw it away – he kept it. Then, one Sunday four years later, another 3M scientist called Arthur Fry was singing in the church choir. He used pieces of paper to keep his place in the hymn book, but they kept falling out. Remembering Silver’s adhesive, Fry put some on the paper. With the weak adhesive, the paper stayed in place but came off without damaging the paper. In 1980, 3M began selling Post-it notes world-wide. Today, they are one of the most popular office products available.