Part 1

Read the passage and locate verbs in the passive voice. Write the verb constructions be + past participle in the numbered blanks.

The Cutting Edge: It Can Cut Both Ways

Revolutionary thinkers, thinkers on the cutting edge of their fields, are rarely honored at the time of their discoveries. In fact, they are often criticized or even worse. For example, in the late 1400s, when Columbus thought that he could reach Asia by sailing to the west, it was said that he was insane and that his ship would fall off the edge of the earth. In the following century, Copernicus suggested that the earth was not the center of the universe and that it moved in a continuous path around the sun, but he was largely ignored. Then, in 1609, Galileo not only defended Copernicus's theory, he went even further. Through the use of a telescope, he showed that the earth is only one of several planets that revolve around the sun.

What did this brilliant Italian astronomer receive for being on the cutting edge of human knowledge? He was given a prison sentence and was forced to deny his own ideas.


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