Page 86 - TTTP_4_SB_SE

6d In style
1 Read 
complete the gaps 1-6 
A. Read the text and
with the sentences a-f
below.
a. Not surprisingly, only kings could
usually afford it.
© MM Publications
b. This could come from animals
and plants or from rocks.
c. They are created synthetically,
meaning that we can have as
many colours as we want
without much expense or
difficulty.
d. But finding the right outfit, or the
perfect shade of blue for your
bedroom wasn’t always as easy
as a trip to the local shops.
e. For this reason, the government
agreed to protect them by
making this dye officially illegal.
f. When people wore clothes
dyed in this colour, they all
died at an early age.
tip
• B e f o r e d e c i d i n g w h i c h
• Before deciding which
sentence fits a gap in the text,
carefully read the sentences
before and after each gap and the
sentences (options) which have
been removed from the text.
• Look for clues both in the text
and in the options (vocabulary,
reference words, linking words).
• Remember that the correct
option must make sense together
with the sentences before and
after the gap. The tenses must
also fit logically with the tenses
used in the text.
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To the Top_Plus_4_Serbia_SB_BOOK.indb 84
To the Top_Plus_4_Serbia_SB_BOOK.indb 84
ColourS
TO DYE FOR
 Humans love colour. We buy clothes in every colour imaginable, and
paint in all shades of the rainbow. 1 For much of history, making
paints and dyes was a difficult, expensive, and even dangerous process.
If you think you just can’t live without that new purple shirt, then
consider what people in the past did to get their favourite colours.
 Prehistoric people were making paint 30,000 years ago. First, they
looked for a pigment. 2 When found, the pigment was mixed
with a liquid, probably animal fat or blood, to make paint. The favourite
colour of cave artists was red, because it was the colour of blood and
life. The best red pigment came from iron oxide, which cave artists had
to dig out of the earth. All prehistoric sites have trails to sources of iron
oxide. It is believed that these early people sometimes walked 25 miles
to get the iron oxide.
 Because dyes were often difficult or expensive to make, only rich
people wore certain colours. Purple was the most expensive dye in the
ancient world. It was made from shellfish, and over 10,000 shellfish
were needed for less than a spoonful of dye! 3 But even the
Emperor of Rome once refused to let his wife buy a purple piece of
clothing that was worth its weight in gold. In Byzantium, you couldn’t
wear purple even if you could afford it. The Emperor liked purple so
much that he didn’t allow anyone except the royal family to wear it.
 By contrast, the colour blue was associated with ordinary people
and, unlike purple dye, it was inexpensive to make. In the Middle Ages,
German dyers used to make a dull blue dye with the leaves of the woad
th
plant. Then, in the 16 century, Europeans started importing indigo, a
superior type of blue dye, from India. This worried the German farmers
who made their living by growing woad. 4 But eventually it was
admitted that indigo made a much brighter blue compared to woad, and
it became a very popular dye. Today, it is the colour of blue jeans.
 Blue woad dye might sound unpleasant, but other dyes were actually
dangerous. In the 1800s, a pigment called emerald was discovered. It
created a beautiful bright shade of green. There were some problems
with this dye, however. 5 It turned out that one of the ingredients
of emerald, copper arsenic, was a poison. Eventually, doctors advised
people not to use this dye on their clothes. Even today, we haven’t been
able to find any other natural dye with such a brilliant green colour.
 Nowadays, dyes and paints are a different story. 6 If the people
of the past could see all the colours we have now, they would think we
live like emperors and kings. Now there’s something to think about next
time you wear your purple shirt.
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