Учебное пособие Издание второе, переработанное и дополненное Москва Астрель act 2005
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| A + | -ly = | Adv |
| accuratc + | -iy = | accurately |
• Form adverbs from the following adjectives and translate them into Russian.
pure, comparative, rapid, equal, ordinary, certain, accidental, radioactive, previous, rare, heavy, prcsunible, reasonable, separate, haughty, profitable, peevish, cold, sufficient, effective
READING (2A)
• First read the phrases and sentences given in italics, to get the main idea of the passage as a whole and of each paragraph separately. Then, read each paragraph carefully to find specific examples, reasons or details about the main ideas.
THE SCIENTISTS' RESPONSIBILITY
I think it may be reasonably maintained that neither the United States nor any other nation can, by itself, solve the important problems that plague the world now. The problems that count today — the steady population increase, the diminishing of our resources, the multiplication of our wastes, the damage to the environment, the decay of the cities, the declining quality of life — are all interdependent and are all global in nature.
No nation, be it as wealthy as the United States, as large as the Soviet Union, or as populous as China, can correct these problems without reference to the rest of the world. Though the United States, for instance, brought its population to a firm plateau |'phxtoii|, cleaned its soil, purified its water, filtered its air, swept up its waste, and cycled its resources, all would avail it nothing as long as the rest of the world did none of these things.
These problems, left unsolved, will weigh us down under a steady acceleration of increasing misery with each passing year; yet to solve them requires us to think above the level of nationalism. No amount of local pride anywhere in the world; no amount of patriotic ardor on a lcss-than-all-mankind scale; no amount of flag waving; no prejudice in favour of some specific regional culture and tradition; no conviction of personal or ethnic superiority can prevail against the cold equations. The nations of the world must co-operate to seek the possibility of mutual life, or remain separately hostile to face the certainty of mutual death.
Nor can the co-operation be the peevish agreement of haughty equals: each quick to resent slurs, eager to snuff out injustice to itself, and ready to profit at the expense of others. So little time is left and so high have become the stakes, that there no longer remains any profitable way of haggling over details, manoeuvring for position, or threatening at every moment to pick up our local marbles and go home.
The international co-operation must take the form of a world government sufficiently effective to make and enforce the necessary decisions, and against which the individual nations would have neitherthe right northc powertotake up arms.
Tyranny? Yes, of course. Just about the tyranny of Washington ovcrAlbany, Albany over New York City, and New York City over me. Though we are each of us personally harried by the financial demands and plagued by the endless orders of the officialdom of three different levels of government, we accept it all, more or less stoically, under the firm conviction that life would be worse otherwise. To accept a fourth level would be a cheap price to pay for keeping our planet viable.
But who on Earth best realizes the serious nature of the problems that beset us? As a class, the scientists, I should think. They can weigh, most accurately and most judiciously, the drain on the world's resources, the effect of global pollution, the dangers to a fragmenting ecology.
And who on Earth might most realistically bear a considerable share of responsibility for the problems that beset us? As a class, the scientists, I should think. Since they gladly accept the credit for lowering the death rate and for industrializing the world, they might with some grace accept a good share of responsibility for the less than desirable side effects that have accompanied those victories.
And who on Earth might be expected to lead the way in finding solutions to the problems that beset us? As a class, the scientists, I should think. On whom else can we depend for the elaboration of humane systems for limiting population, effective ways of preventing or reversing pollution, elegant methods of cycling resources? All this will clearly depend on steadily increasing scientific knowledge and on steadily increasing the wisdom with which this knowledge is applied.
And who on Earth is most likely to rise above the limitations of national and ethnic prejudice and speak in the name of mankind as a whole? As a class, the scientists, I should think. The nations of the world are divided in culture: in language, in religion, in tastes, in philosophy, in heritage — but wherever science exists at all, it is the same science; and scientists from anywhere and everywhere speak the same language, professionally, and accept the same mode of thought.
Is it not then as a class, to the scientists that we must turn to find leaders in the fight for world government?
From "Today and tomorrow, and ..."
by Isaac Asimov
• Look through the passage and find English equivalents for the following Russian phrases.
можно с полным основанием утверждать; проблемы, беспокоящие мир; упадок городов; снижение уровня жизни; все это ничего не стоило бы; возрастающая нищета; патриотический пыл; никакие предрассудки в угоду...; этническое превосходство; неотвратимость обоюдной гибели (смерти); высокомерные (надменные) равные стороны; каждая стре-мится опорочить; нажиться за счет; торговаться по мелочам; забрать свои «игрушки» и...; чиновничество; твердое убеждение; наиболее здравомыслящие; принять на себя значительную долю ответственности за...; побочные эффекты (влияние)
• Examine each paragraph of the text above carefully and find answers to the following questions.
What problems plague the world today?
Why can no nation solve these problems separately?
What should the nations do to think above the level of nationalism?
Why does the author accept the "tyranny" of a "world government"?
Why should the scientists be responsible (according to the author) for the problems that beset us?
Why could only scientists (according to the author) find the solutions to these problems?
Why are scientists most likely (according to the author) to rise above the limitations of national prejudice?
Why are the nations of the world divided in culture?
Why are the scientists, according to the author, not divided in culture?
• Look through the passage and fill in the blanks with the proper information. In some cases grammatical changes are necessary.
According to Isaac Asimov, the problems that plague the world are the following: 1) the world population ...; 2) the world resources are ...; 3) the wastes are ...; 4) environment is ... ; 5) the cities are ... ; 6) the quality of life is ... .
The author thinks that the US is..., the USSR wasand China is....
The author's idea about the US is that the country's population is its soil is its water is its air is its wastes are ... .
The author thinks that the world scientists should be responsible for ... because they ....
PUBLIC OPINION POLL
Which, if any, of the things on the list do you think could be areas where scientific discoveries could have very dangerous effects (vd), dangerous effects (rf), not dangerous effects (я).
| Branch of science/technology | Men | Women | Total |
| Nuclear energy | | | |
| Biotechnology and genetic engineering | | | |
| National defence and armaments | | | |
| Space exploration | | | |
| Agriculture and plant science | | | |
| Medical research | | | |
| Control and reduction of pollution | | | |
| Robotics | | | |
| New forms of energy | | | |
| Information technology and computers | | | |
| Astrology | | | |
• Discuss the results of the public opinion poll in class. Give reasons for your opinion.
CLASSWORK
READING (2B)
• Read the passage and find arguments to prove that people can look up at the stars and down at the atoms with an equal degree of infer- and superiority.
OUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE
In our everyday life wc encounter objects of widely differing sizes. Some of them are as large as a barn and others are as small as a pinhead. When we go beyond those limits, either in the direction of much larger objects or in the direction of much smaller ones, it becomes increasingly difficult to grasp their actual sizes. We know that mountains are very large, but at a distance they look quite small. While at a short range we can see but a few rocks and cliffs. We know that bacteria are very small, but to sec them we have to use a microscope, through which they look quite big.
Objects that are much larger than mountains, such as our earth itself, the moon, the sun, the stars, and stellar systems, constitute what is known as the macrocosm (i.e., "large world" in Greek). Very small objects, such as bacteria, atoms, and electrons belong to the microcosm (i.e., "small world" in Greek).
Ifwc use the standard scientific unit, a centimeter (0.3937 inch), for measuring sizes, objects belonging to the macrocosm will be described by very large numbers, and those forming the microcosm by very small ones. Thus, the diameter of the sun is 139,000,000,000 cm, while the diameter of a hydrogen atom is only 0.0000000106 cm. Scientists customarily express such numbers in terms of positive or negative powers of ten, and write 1.39 x 10" cm for the diameter of the sun and 1.06 x 10 s cm for the diameter of a hydrogen atom. Sometimes special very large or very small units are used. Thus, in the macrocosm we use the so-called astronomical unit (symbol: A.U.), which is defined as the mean distance of the earth from the sun and is equal to 1.4964 x 10'3cm, or a still larger unit known as a light-year (symbol: l.y.) which is defined as the distance travelled by light in the course of one year and is equal to 9.463 x 10" cm. In the microcosm we often use microns (symbol: m ), defined as l()4 cm, and Angstroms (symbdl: A), defined as 10 8 cm.
It is interesting to notice that the size of the human head is just about halfway between the size of an atom and the size of the sun, or halfway between the size of an atomic nucleus and the diameter of the planetary system (on the logarithmic scale in both cases, of course).
Similar vast variations will be found in the time intervals encountered in the study of the microcosm and the macrocosm. I n human history we ordinarily speak about centuries; in geology the eras arc usually measured in hundreds of millions of years, while the age of the Universe itself is believed to be about 10-20 billion years. The revolution period of an electron in the hydrogen atom, on the other hand , is 1015 sec, and the oscillations of particles constituting atomic nuclei have a period of only 10 22 sec. Notice that the wink of an eye is just halfway between the age of our stellar system and the rotation period of an electron in an atom. Thus, it seems that we are located pretty well in the middle between the macro- and microcosm and can look up at the stars and down at the atoms with an equal degree of infer- and superiority.
• Rc-rcad the passage and find English equivalents for the following Russian phrases.
повседневная жизнь; размеры колеблются от... до...; некоторые величиной с сарай; постичь их действительные размеры; так называемая астрономическая единица; одно деление масштабной линейки; другие размером с булавочную головку; десятичный логарифмический масштаб; с равной степенью неполноценности и превосходства; на малом расстоянии
• Look through the passage again and supply answers to the following questions.
What problem is the passage concerned with?
What is the main idea of the text?
Docs the title of the passage adequately express the main idea?
Why do you think so?
In what paragraph is the main idea expressed?
What two worlds are all the objects of the Universe classified into?
What does the word "cosm" mean in Greek?
What is the main standard unit for measuring the size of an object?
Why does the author prefer centimeter as a measuring unit in this case?
What is the diameter of the sun/hydrogen atom?
How do scientists express very large or very small numbers?
What special units are used for expressing sizes and distances in macro-and microcosm?
What is the main standard unit for measuring time intervals?
Can we measure human history in seconds?
What time periods do scientists usually use when speaking of geology/ history of the Universe/oscillations of particles?
Why does the author say that "we are located pretty well in the middle between the macro- and microcosm"? What "middle" does he mean?
Why can we look up at the stars and down at the atoms with an equal degree of infer- and superiority?
What does the author mean by infer- and superiority?
• Be prepared to give your opinion on these problems.
Macrocosm objects and their special units of measurements.
Microcosm objects and theirspecial units of measurements.
Time intervals of micro- and macrocosm.
The human race in the Universe.
• Match the synonyms from both columns.
ordinarily, in terms of, similar,
to encounter, on the other hand, to
constitute, duration, to grasp, division
II
alike, from the opposite
point of view, usually, to
understand, regarding, to make up, separation, to meet, continuance
1. Objects that are much larger than mountains what is known as the
macrocosm.
Decimal logarithmic scale is the scale in which each factor of ten is represented by one of the yardstick.
Similar vast will be found in the time intervals.
An may be defined as a series of rapid changes in the state of
something during which it moves from its original state to a new state and back again.
5. A of various durations encountered in the macrocosm, microcosm
and in our everyday life is given in Fig. 1
HOMEWORK
(to be done in writing)
1. Translate into Russian.
The government should have thought about the problems that plague the world.
The damage to the environment must have been caused by dirty technologies.
Many of the countries could have cleaned their soil.
They could have found some profitable way of doing it.
They shouldn't have been threatened with wars.
The international cooperation might have taken the form of an effective world government.
In this case individual nations couldn't have had the right to take up arms.
8. They couldn't have realized the serious nature of the problem.
2. Translate into English. Use modal verbs.
Правительству следовало бы разработать более гуманную систему образования.
Научные знания могли бы оказать помощь в решении многих вопросов.
Ученые должны были бы разработатьтехнологии по очистке вод.
Они могли бы получить кредит для выполнения этой работы.
Не может быть, чтобы ученые рассматривали эти проблемы серьезно.
UNIT THREE
GRAMMAR: THE COMPLEX SUBJECT WITH THE INFINITIVE
Complex Subject
Noun or Pronoun
to change
(to have changed)
Predicate Infinitive
a) Passive
This value is said
It is supposed
is expected is believed, etc.
Active seems appears turns out proves happens
is likely is unlikely is sure is certain
Перевод: Predicate — неопределенно-личное предложение
что эта величина меняется (изменилась).
Subject + Infinitive — придаточное предложение с союзом что
Известно, полагают,...
По-видимому, оказывается,...
Вероятно, маловероятно, безусловно,..
25
• Sentences to be translated.
Pressure is known to act equally in all directions.
At very low temperatures some metals seem to be insulators.
This effect is supposed to have occured when there was a spark due to electrical discharge.
The cloud chamber equipment appeared to be too bulky and heavy to be sent up in baloons.
The total energy liberation in the transformation of one atomic nucleus into another is expected to be the same for all nuclei of a given kind.
The chance of a neutrino hitting a proton and producing the above-mentioned reaction is likely to be only 1 out of 10м.
The light thus produced is said to be a spontaneous emission.
WORD AND PHRASE STUDY
V+-ment = N develop + -ment = development
• Form nouns from the following verbs and translate them into Russian.
move, establish, agree, adjust, improve, excite, appoint, develop
V+-ive = A act + -ive = active
• Think of the verbs corresponding to the following adjectives and translate them into Russian.
creative, refractive, indicative, attractive, explosive, representative, expressive, offensive, protective
READING (ЗА)
• The article below is concerned with the problem much too dangerous and difficult to solve. If you were responsible for the problem, what steps would you take?
What measures would you take on governmental level?
What acts would you take on the level of the Academy of Sciences?
What first steps would you take if you were the head of the scientific team dealing with the problem?
• Read the passage, think a little and answer the questions above.
PRESSING PROBLEMS
Atmospheric pollution raises problems of several types. First, there are local problems due to the production of smoke and offensive gases by factories. Secondly, there are regional problems created by industrial agglomerations which may spread the same harmful effects over whole areas. Thirdly, there are some types of pollution, such as those arising from nuclear explosives, which cover a considerable portion of the globe. And lastly, there appeared one more type of pollution which is threatening the globe as a whole.
Recent scientific research suggests that the protective layer of ozone around our planet is under severe attack. Alarm bells were sounded in 1982 when researchers in the Antarctic first identified a yawning (зияющий) hole over the Antarctic where the ozone layer is thinnest.
This was the first sign of a hole. Five years later it was reported that the hole had grown to an area the size of the United States.
The major cause of this weakening of the ozone layer is believed to be the increasing amount of harmful chemicals that arc being released into the atmosphere by humankind.
Environmentalists and scientists point out that a further one per cent drop in the overall ozone layer can cause an increase of skin cancer.
The fundamental importance of the ozone layer is that it acts as a filter intercepting most of the sun's radiation including potentially harmful Ultra Violet B-rays which can cause melanoma — skin cancer.
The appearance of the Antarctic hole has intensified the search for a cause. Strong evidence now suggests that it is the growing industrial use of chlorine compounds called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which is responsible.
CFC is a propellent (движущая сила) gas commonly used in aerosol sprays, air cooling systems in fridges (холодильник) and air-conditioning. Once released CFC can hang around in the atmosphere for 100 years. Some eventually reaches the upper atmosphere to be broken down by the sunlight. In the process chlorine is released which combines with oxygen atoms thus reducing the amount available for ozone production.
According to measurements recorded by the US Environmental Protection Agency one chlorine atom has enough kinetic energy to destroy 100,000 molecules of ozone. US space agency NASA has predicted that a rise of 2.5 percent in CFC emissions would cause an extra one million cancers over the lifetime of the present US population.
Researchers suggest that the level of CFCs in the atmosphere is actually increasing by 5 percent each year. Since 1969 the ozone level has fallen by 3 per cent over the densely populated cities of the US, Canada and Europe and by 4 percent over Australia and New Zealand.
In its "worst prediction scenario" NASA claims that an ever-thinning ozone layer could eventually allow a more harmful form of radiation, known as Ultra
Violet С, to hit the earth. Laboratory experiments have shown that Ultra Violet С can penetrate cells in the body and irreparably damage the nucleic acids and proteins which are the building blocks of life.
There is the need for an international agreement that would completely stop CFC production.
• Answer the following questions.
How many types of problems arise in the atmospheric pollution control?
Are all of the effects equally dangerous and harmful?
Which one is the most serious and why?
How do environmentalists explain the ozone layer thinning?
Why is the ozone layer so important for all living on the earth?
What are the most dramatic predictions of NASA concerning the problem?
What steps should be taken to avoid the situation?
• Topics for discussion.
Scientists' responsibility for atmospheric pollution.
People should avoid overusing:
all kinds of sprays;
air-conditioning wherever possible;
fridges whenever possible.
CLASSWORK
READING (3B)
• Read the passage carefully and discuss the following idea: "How can scientists so confidently predict what will occur in the next 100 years when we can't even predict the weather for tomorrow?"
IS THE EARTH GETTING HOTTER?
It sounded like nature's own apocalypse (апокалипсис). *"The earth's temperature would rise, melting the icecaps, raising the seas, flooding the land. Arisona would turn into a rain forest and the agricultural Midwest would become a desert." At least, that was how TV weathermen interpreted a report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the "greenhouse effect" that would begin altering the earth'sclimateby the 1990s. *The EPAprcdicted "catastrophic consequences" if contingency (непредвиденное обстоятельство) plans weren't made with "a sense of urgency".
Fortunately, the news improved later when the National Academy of Sciences said that although the greenhouse effect was very real, "caution (осторожность) not panic" was in order.
In fact, the science ofthe phenomenon is more interesting than frightening. *Thc greenhouse effect results when CO, and certain othergascs in the atmosphere allow the sun's ultraviolet rays to penetrate and warm the earth but then absorb the infrared energy the earth radiates back into space — much as glass in a greenhouse effect does — forming a kind of "thermal blanket" around the planet. By burning huge amounts of fossil fuels, which release C02 into the atmosphere, man has raised the C02 level from 280 to 340 parts per million since 1860. And continued use of coal and other fossil fuels is expected to double the concentration of CO, by the year 2050, elevating the earth's temperature by 3 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. The greenhouse effect will mean much more than hotter summers and milder winters. It may alter rainfall, affect crop yields (урожай) and eventually— as glaciers begin to melt — raise the level ofthe sea.
Both reports predict that the temperature change will be greater in the polar regions than near the equator. In general, they speculate that snowfall will begin later, the growing season will lengthen and higher latitudes will get less rain. *The EPA says that the sea level will probably rise at least two feet before the year 2100, which could flood "many of the major ports of the world, disrupt transportation networks, alter ecosystems and cause major shifts in land development patterns".
Although use of fossil fuels is the main cause ofthe CO, increase, the government agencies don't advocate any sweeping changes in energy policies. Even a total ban on the burning of fossil fuels in the United States wouldn't have much impact, because the United States accounts for only 25 percent of the world's total man-made C02 emissions. * A worldwide coal ban instituted in 2000 would delay the warming by about 15 years but is considered economically and politically unfeasible.
If we can't prevent the greenhouse effect, we can prepare forit. Suggestions include breeding (выводить) plants that need less water, improving irrigation systems, and many others.
However not all experts are convinced that the heat is coming. Some think that the use of primary energy sources such as coal could decline 60 percent by 2050 and, perhaps, "the opposite of the EPA scenario is true. If the rate of fossil-fuel use is going down, the amount of C02 we add to the air is getting less every year".
Try to guess the meaning of the words given in italics in the text.
Translate the sentences marked with an asterisk.
Answer the following questions.
I. Is there a 100 per cent agreement on our planet's future climatic conditions?
If the EPA's prediction comes true, what should the people living beside the sea do?
If the EPA's prediction comes true, what will the climatic conditions be in different regions of Russia?
HOMEWORK
{to be done in writing)
1. Translate into Russian.
People seem to realize the potential dangers of some scientific discoveries.
The majority of the people questioned in a public opinion poll do not doubt science to do more good than harm.
However, 70 per cent of those questioned accept that scientific discoveries can have dangerous effects.
Nuclear energy is considered to be a high-risk area by 70 per cent of the respondents (отвечающий), with biotechnology and genetic engineering the second most mentioned.
There seems to be really a serious gap (пробел) in communication between the public and scientists about the goings-on in modern biology.
In view of this concern, it is perhaps not surprising that most (84 per cent) of those questioned felt that scientists and technologists should pay more attention to the social implications of their work, with 76 per cent of respondents saying that politicians should know more about science.
2. Translate into English. Use the Complex Subject with the Infinitive.
Model: Конечно, все мы слишком хорошо знаем, что такое загрязнение окружающей среды.
АН of us are certain to know very well what environmental pollution is.
Он, говорят, работает в учреждении, связанном с охраной окружающей среды.
Ожидают, что он приедет в учреждение к 9 часам.
Вероятно, он ответит на ваши вопросы.
Мы, конечно, понимаем потенциальную угрозу вашему региону.
Полагаем, что ваша проблема будет решена.