Development of a System of Visual Symbols

Ex.1. Learn the following words:

1. to allow – позволять, разрешать;

2. auditory – звуковой;

3. to communicate – общаться (with), communication – общение;

1. efficient – действенный, результативный, эффективный;

2. to mark – отмечать, обозначать;

3. record – запись; регистрация, письменная фиксация;

4. to represent – представлять, показывать;

5. similar (to) – подобный ( to ); похожий, сходный;

6. visual – визуальный, зрительный.

Ex.2. Read the following text:

The man's first step toward writing was to develop a system of auditory symbols, or a language. Then, after many millenniums, he understood that visual symbols as well as spoken sounds could use for experiences. He was then to develop these symbols into the efficient system of communication called writing.

Very early, man must have felt the need to send messages and to keep records. He made little piles of stones to mark the boundaries of his land. He made scratches on stones to mark the number of days since the full moon or the number of skins a neighbor owed him. He learned to communicate with distant places by use of a code of smoke signals or drumbeats. He made pictures in sand and on the walls of caves.

From picture writing, called pictographs, the development of writing progressed in two ways. Some pictures were simplified and given broader meanings, so that man could write in pictures without having to draw realistically. The pictures became more abstract, a method similar to one which uses a stick figure to represent a human being. Also, a few designs were chosen from the pictographs to represent the sounds of language, and these became an alphabet.

The development of pictures into letters made it possible for more people to learn to write and to read. It also enabled people to write quickly, and it made it easier for one generation to pass on its best ideas to the next generation. It allowed people to communicate easily and clearly. Most of the great history of Western civilization was made possible by the early development of alphabetic writing.

1. pile – куча, груда

2. drumbeat – тростник

3. cave – пещера

Ex.3. Practice to pronounce the following words.

Auditory, visual, symbol, efficient, to communicate, communication, alphabet, alphabetic, pictograph, boundary, civilization, generation.

Ex.4. Form the nouns according to the examples.

To educate – education

To communicate, to examine, to form, to found, to explain, to suggest, to generate, to dominate, to associate, to assimilate, to accommodate.

To govern – government

To agree, to develop, to move, to treat, to represent, to punish, to establish, to manage, to achieve, to employ, to reinforce.

Ex. 5. Read and translate the words and word-combinations.

A system of auditory symbols, visual symbols, a system of communication, writing, to send messages, to keep records, to mark the boundaries, to mark the number, broader meaning, the sounds of language, to make it possible, next generation, Western civilization.

Ex.6. Choose the proper modal verb or its equivalents:

1. The teachers (have to, must) spend much of their time getting ready for lessons.

2. At school children (have to, must) observe a number of rules.

3. You (must, should) be more attentive.

4. I hurt my leg but I (could, was able to) walk.

5. (Could, May) you give me your textbook?

6. What (must, shall) we do now?

7. I have no idea where Paul is. He (must be, could be) anywhere.

8. He (can, must) manage this work.

9. (Can, May) I wait here?

Ex.7. Find in the text the sentences with modal verbs and translate them in writing.

Text 2.