Choose Past Simple/Continuous or Present Perfect Simple/Continuous. 1. How the government (fight) inflation without lowering the standard of living in the mid-fifties? 2. There (not – be) a famine here for centuries. 3. Jill (begin) to open out, when she started work at the factory. 4. Lunch is not quite ready yet, although she (cook) all morning. 5. He (tie up) all his money in stocks and shares, so he has nothing in the bank to pay his debts with now. 6. The police (recapture) the prisoners who (escape) yesterday. 7. The European court (already – indicate) its view that wine and beer are indeed competitive products. 8. Mankind (know) these facts since the Middle Ages. 9. After so many disappointments I (stop) asking people for help. 10. Many countries (suffer) from a depression during the pre-war years. 11. This practice (exist) since the fifteenth century. 12. I (only – know) about that event for a few days. 13. While the car (approach) the village, the driver (slow down). 14. They (try) to improve the situation for a great many years, but until now without success. 15. The governing coalition, which (have) no clear majority in parliament lately, (announce) some modest spending cuts last month. 16. I wonder why he (walk out) on his job as well as on his wife. 17. Sales (fall) alarmingly of late. There is too much competition.
We live in the era of high technologies, and we use modern inventions in our everyday life because they have brought us much comfort. New technologies have spread on every field over the past 15 years. Moreover, they are rapidly changing. For example, video-recorders, DVD-players or compact disks have already become obsolete and have been replaced by more up-to-date devices. Today we can hardly imagine our life without such modern mobile devices as cell phones or laptops. Our offices are fully equipped with computers, printers, scanners, air-conditioners, interactive whiteboards and wi-fi modems. Household appliances (vacuum-cleaners, coffee-machines, dish-washers, food processors and others) help us to save our time and energy.