Unit 2 Life in the Future Lesson 7 Exercise 1.2 Jules Verne (1828-1905) Science fiction is a popular type of writing, and many people think of Jules Verne as the father of science fiction. He was born in France in 1828. His father wanted him to become a lawyer but from his early twenties Verne decided to become a writer. At first he wrote plays for the theater. Then,in 1863, he wrote a story called Five Weeks in a Balloon The success of this book encouraged him to write more stories such as A Journey to the Center of the Earth(1864) and from the Earth to the Moon(1865). In the 19th century, many people were interested in science and inventions. Jules Verne wrote about scientific subjects in his stories and ,as a result, they were very popular. Verne's writing included many predictions for the 20th century and many of them came true. He described space flight,movies, and air conditioning, a long time before they appeared. These books were very successful and they made Verne rich. Jules Verne's books have been the subjects for many movies. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a successful movie for Walt Disney. It was the first Disney movie to use real actors instead of cartoon drawings. Around the World in Eighty Days is another famous movie based on one of Verne's books . The main character is an Englishman called Phileas Fogg. For him,the most important thing is to be always on time! Exercise 2.1 Jules Verne's novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth is an exciting story. The main characters are a strange scientist called Professor Hardwigg. Henry(Hardwigg's nephew)and a guide named Hans. The basic plot of the novel is as follows: Hardwigg finds dirctions to the center of the Earth in an old book. He decides to try to follow the directions. Hardwigg,Henry and Hans enter an inactive volcano in Iceland. It leads to the center of the Earth . After weeks of traveling, they finally come to a huge sea in the middle of the earth. Verne described this setting as a large field lying before them. At the end,Hardwigg,Henry and Hans escape by traveling in a stream of lava from a volcano . When they come out, they find themselves thousands of miles away from where they first started their journey.
|