Read the following passages carefully and answer the questions given below them:
Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier were paper-makers. Both the brothers had been interested in flying for years. One night in 1782, Joseph noticed something strange. He was sitting in his living room in front of the fire in a grate. He had put some pieces of paper to burn there. All of a sudden, he noticed some small pieces being carried upward into the chimney. This gave him an idea, which he shared with his brother.
Soon afterwards the brothers made an experiment. They lit a fire under a silk bag, which was open at the bottom. At once the bag rose to the ceiling. After this, Stephen and Joseph made many more experiments, both indoors and out in the open. At last they built a huge balloon made of linen and paper.
On June 5th, 1783, they sent the balloon up into the air in the village of Annonay where they lived. The first man to sit in a gas balloon and go up into the air was Vincent Lunardi, an Italian living in England. On September 15th, 1784, he took off in a hydrogen balloon from a field in London, taking with him a pigeon, a cat and a dog.
(1) How did Joseph Montgolfier get the idea of making a balloon?
(2) What do we learn about the Montgolfier brothers from this passage?
(3) Who was the first man to go up in a gas balloon? Describe his trip.
(4) Write from the passage one word for :
(a) a metal structure that holds coal or wood in a fireplace and
(b) strong cloth that is woven from the fibres of the flax plant.
