Africa, the Spread of Civilization

Chapter 1: Africa, the Spread of Civilization

Testing your skills

Task 1: How can you explain the fact Africa is still underdeveloped whereas in the text, it is said that “but also certain languages, crops, political, and cultural influences spread outward from Africa”? (in two paragraphs)

Correction Moreover, the contacts were not always in the same direction, and there is now considerable evidence that not only early humans but also certain languages, crops, political, and cultural influences spread outward from Africa.

Task 2: Why was Africa considered, for a long time, as the “dark” continent? What are the impacts of such an assumption on its historical evolution? (in three paragraphs)

Correction Despite the false image of Africa as the "dark" and isolated continent, it was, in fact, often in contact with other areas of the world. It received from them technology, crops, ideas, and material goods that in turn stimulated social and cultural innovations.

Task 3: Africa is the cradle of humanity. True or false? Justify from a quotation from the text. (True/false)

Correction it is true because We have already noted the origins of humankind in East Africa where some of the earliest fossil remains of protohominids have been found. Even before the appearance about 300,000 years ago of Homo sapiens, the ancestors of modern human beings, other hominid species, such as Homo erectus, had moved outward from Africa to Asia and Europe. Africa, therefore, holds a special place in the development of the human species.

Grammar Point:  Read this lesson on the use of Cardinal numbers in English before testing your knowledge with the following exercise.

Cardinal Numbers in English

279 : two hundred (and) seventy nine

3,084 : three thousand (and) eighty-four

5,550,000 : five million, five (and) fifty thousand

Note : there is no plural –s after hundred, thousand, million, and billion when these words are part of a number. When used alone, they can be plural: thousands of people, millions of people, many hundreds of students.

P.S. Several hundred/thousand/million/: with several we have zero plural for the cardinal numbers

Task 4: Are there mistakes in these sentences? If yes, Correct them:

1. After the game, I heard the crowd was over twenty thousands.
2. Thousand of people have died of Ebola in 2013 in Africa.
3. There was several hundreds killed in the plane crash.
4. Many thousands millions are embezzled every year in the world.

Correction

1 AFTER THE GAME, I HEARD THE CROWD WAS OVER TWENTY THOUSAND.

2 THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE DIED OF EBOLA IN 2013 IN AFRICA

3 THERE WAS SEVERAL HUNDRED KILLED IN THE PLANE CRASH

4 MANY THOUSAND MILLION ARE EMBEZZLED EVERY YEAR IN THE WORLD

...