EnglishClub

Pre-listening vocabulary

• ancient: from the distant past
• politician: a person who works in government
• scroll: a roll of paper meant for writing on
• emperor: the ruler of an empire
• myth: a false story that is believed by many people
• advance: to make progress

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

The Library of Alexandria was an ancient in Egypt. It was built in the third century B.C. by a former Greek politician named Demetrius of Phalerum. For years, it held up to 500,000 scrolls of about law, history, math, science and more. But at some point in history, the library was , and all of that knowledge was lost. A myth is that the library burned down in 48 B.C, when the Roman emperor Julius Caesar attacked the of Alexandria. In truth, historians still don’t know exactly what happened to the library. However, many people believe that would have advanced much faster if the scrolls had never been lost.

Comprehension questions

[wp_quiz id=”20538″]

Discussion/essay questions

1. What do you think the world would be like today if the Library of Alexandria was never destroyed?

Transcript

The Library of Alexandria was an ancient library in Egypt. It was built in the third century B.C. by a former Greek politician named Demetrius of Phalerum. For years, it held up to 500,000 scrolls of writing about law, history, math, science and more. But at some point in history, the library was destroyed, and all of that knowledge was lost. A popular myth is that the library burned down in 48 B.C, when the Roman emperor Julius Caesar attacked the city of Alexandria. In truth, historians still don’t know exactly what happened to the library. However, many people believe that society would have advanced much faster if the scrolls had never been lost.