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UNIT 14Task 1. Study new words and word combinations.
TASK 2. Match the inventions, years and inventors.
TASK 3. Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with the verbs in the correct form from the box.
The iPod can download new files from iTunes, exchange software … by Apple. 2. When men … that they could use electricity to send messages, long distance communication changed. 3. The company is expected to … several new products next year. 4. We … the electric telegraph to send written messages to people far away from us. 5. First came the student speeches, and the presentation of awards …. 6. The company has done a poor job of … its computer network. 7. The semiconductors such as silicon, germanium, selenium, phosphorus, boron and various other metallic oxides and sulphides appear to possess some unexpected properties. For instance, their conductivity … with heating and falls with cooling. 8. The lecture … for another hour after we left. TASK 4. Match the verbs below with their definitions. e.g. Discover means to learn, see or find something new but existing.
TASK 5. Match the synonymous verbs in the box below: diversify, cease, undergo, spread, experience, enrich, propagate, disappear, stop, erase e.g. Start has the same meaning as begin. TASK 6. Read the text. ENDLESS INVENTIVENESS Many animal species (['spiːʃiːz]) use tools, and some, such as crows and apes, can even create them. But only our species has taken this ability to such an extreme that it can be said that we maintain an evolutionary symbiosis with these tools. In other words, our ability to develop complex tools increased our intelligence, allowing us to manufacture even more complex tools. This, in turn, launched a new phase in this cycle, and after several million years it finally led to the modern human, who continues to develop tools that will likely continue to transform the species. Of course, this history has not always followed a linear path. In the 9,000 years since humans discovered agriculture and cattle farming, many inventions were discovered many times and forgotten nearly as many times. Today we are surprised to learn that the Romans knew about concrete and that they had taxis and hamburger stands or that the Greeks developed the basic principles of the locomotive and the steam engine (although, oddly enough, they never combined the two to invent the railroad). We have developed the most absurd theories to explain the construction of the pyramids in Egypt or the moai ([mou’ai] monolithic human figures) of Easter Island. This winding history, with steps forward and steps backward, can be explained thus: technical inventions are a specific response to the specific needs of a given human group, and when these needs or the people who needed to meet those needs disappear or change, the inventions associated with them also disappear or change. A few centuries ago, the creative ability of human beings took a major leap forward when tools associated with craft and empirical techniques began to complement science, thus systematizing the methods of production. This is how modern technology emerged, allowing improved preservation not just of know-how but also of the economic, social, and cultural aspects involving this know-how. Once tool making ceased to be something that was passed on from master craftsman to apprentice and became an organized set of procedures and knowledge accessible to a specialized community, the human ability to invent new tools underwent an explosion similar to the one it experienced 9,000 years earlier. Virtually overnight thousands of objects appeared (and would continue to appear) that changed our way of seeing and understanding the world – the clock, which allowed us to divide time and set a new pace for our lives; the printing press, which allowed knowledge to be spread beyond a privileged few; the refrigerator, which enriched and diversified our nutrition practices; the cinema, which opened up the possibility of dreaming while awake; the Internet, which erased borders and distances; and robotics and artificial intelligence, which led us to question our definition of being human. With the emergence of technology, you could say that our lives are surrounded by marvelous objects. TASK 7. Answer the questions below. Choose no more than THREE words from the text for each answer. What word used in the text describes the process of coexistence of two living things which depend on each other? 2. What was discovered along with agriculture about 9000 years ago? 3. According to the text, what nation did not manage to put two inventions together to produce one of the most popular means of transport existing now? 4. Before the development of technology, what was the privilege of only craftsmen and their trainees? 5. What invention, according to the text, contributed into the propagation of knowledge? TASK 8. Do the following statements agree with the text? Decide if the information is true, false or not given. All the animal species are able to create tools. There is a clear interconnection between the complexity of tools and people producing them and their ability to think. The Romans used concrete to build the roads along which taxis were moving. People invent something when they feel this thing is really necessary and forget about it when the necessity disappears. According to the text, a lot of inventions were made within a very short period of time. TASK 9. Study the following information about the infinitive:
The bare Infinitive is used: 1. after modal verbs (can, should, must, etc.): e.g. He should apologize to his parents. BUT: ought is followed by to-infinitive: e.g. She ought to find a job. 2. after the verbs let, make, see, hear and feel: e.g. They saw her talk to the manager. BUT: be made, be heard, be seen + to –Infinitive (passive): e.g. She was seen to talk to the manager. 3. after had better and would rather: e.g. You had better see a doctor. 4. Help is followed by either the to-infinitive or the bare infinitive. e.g. She helped me (to) fill in my application form. TASK 10. Fill in the gaps with “to” if necessary. 1. How could electricity ... be used ... send a message? 2. For two years Tom Watson and Alexander Bell were working together ... build a machine that people could ... be used ... talk to one another over long distances. 3. The camera-tube will ... allow the user ... switch from a wide view of the room to the face of the person speaking. 4. There is a mirror attachment, which allows the camera ... scan documents, which may be lying on the table. 5. Satellites help … minimize all the difficulties that may appear. 6. One CD-ROM disk can ... replace 300,000 pages of text – about 500 floppies, which represents a lot of savings in databases. 7. Superconductors are extremely difficult ... fabricate into wires. 8. Superconductor ceramics are substances which can ... transmit electric currents with no loss of energy at temperatures much higher than conventional superconductors. 9. If a current is induced by a magnetic field in a ring of superconducting material, it will ... continue ... circulate when the magnetic field is removed. TASK 11. Complete the second sentence using the word given, so it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Write between two and five words in each gap. He can easily create a new gadget to meet his needs. FOR It is not difficult … a new gadget when he needs it. It is impossible to maintain the technological development without new scientific data. CANNOT You … without new scientific research. Some animal species can use and create tools. ABLE Some animal species … create tools. A human being uses tools to create other more complex tools. USED Tools are … to create other more complex tools. This computer is too old to be used for this purpose. ENOUGH This computer is … used for this purpose. They made him design a new approach to the problem. TO He … a new approach to the problem. His telephone wasn’t up-to-date enough to run this application. OLD His telephone … to run this application. I think it’s interesting to invent new devices which can make our life easier. INVENTING I think … which can make our life easier is interesting. Maintaining equipment regularly is important. MAINTAIN It’s … regularly. TASK 12. Listen to the recording and fill in the gaps. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL The 1) … of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, was born in Scotland, where he studied voice 2) … and hearing. He later moved to America, where he combined this work with an 3) … into the transmission of 4) … by electricity. Bell managed to transmit his voice 5) … in 1875, patenting his idea the next year. He formed the Bell Telephone Company in 1877, as part of a legal fight to protect his 6) …. He used some of the profits from his 7) … of the telephone to finance special schools for the deaf. Bell carried on inventing for the rest of his life, 8) … hydrofoils to make ships faster and kites capable of lifting people. |