Listeining Skill Exam Term 4 PDF

The Gods vs the Titans In the time before humans, there were the Gods and the Titans. The Gods were great beings with immense powers, and Zeus was their leader. The Titans were powerful giants, who were older than the Gods. They fought for power in a great war that lasted many, many years. There w...

The Gods vs the Titans In the time before humans, there were the Gods and the Titans. The Gods were great beings with immense powers, and Zeus was their leader. The Titans were powerful giants, who were older than the Gods. They fought for power in a great war that lasted many, many years. There were two Titans called Prometheus and Epimetheus who were twin brothers. The name 'Prometheus’ means ‘foresight’ and he was the wiser of the two, and the name 'Epimetheus’ means ‘hindsight’, but this is a tragic tale for another time. The brothers turned against their fellow Titans and joined with Zeus and the Gods, and together through many battles and with great bravery, they proved themselves to be fine warriors in Zeus’ army. When the war was won, Zeus praised Prometheus and Epimetheus. They watched as the defeated Titan army were sent to the fiery pits of Tartarus in the Underworld. They watched as another of their brothers, Atlas, was doomed to hold the earth in the sky for all eternity. They did not come to live on Mount Olympus with the other gods, instead they made their homes on the earth and visited the gods in their palaces. Zeus knew that Prometheus cared for his human creations and so, to punish the Titan for his trick Zeus declared, “No human may use fire on Earth, neither to cook with nor to keep warm. You will be blinded by the dark of night and you will never forget how powerful the Gods are, and how it is by our power you have any food or warmth at all. Perhaps then you will remember to always worship us properly and not challenge us with these tricks again!” The humans shivered in fear and in the cold. They had none of the traits of the gods and without fire they would stay weak. Prometheus was outraged, he could not stand by as the humans struggled to survive. Secretly that night, he climbed the steep rocks of Mount Olympus all the way to the very top where lay the workshop of Hephaestus, God of Blacksmithing and Fire. Hephaestus’ workshop was a great forge, where the weapons of the gods were made. In a corner he saw the arrows of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, and on a bench there lay a pile of Zeus’ own thunderbolts ready to smite the earth. Prometheus crept forwards to the gigantic anvil and the blazing fire of the hearth, he took a single spark of the gods’ fire and stored it within a vessel he had made inside a hollow stalk of fennel. Safely he brought the spark back to the humans and while he stayed he taught them all the things that would help them to be strong.