Unit 4 Principles of Evolution

Introduction

I. Listen to a brief biography of a very famous scientist. The student first to say the scientist’s name will win the contest.

II. In pairs fill in the gaps.

a

to scrutinize, to survey – тщательно исследовать, изучать

to gnaw on one’s mind – беспокоить, терзать

) What Darwin really liked to do was to ……….. the hills, observing plants and animals,

collecting new specimens, scrutinizing their structures, and

categorizing them.

b) In 1831, when Darwin was only 22 years old, the British

government sent Her Majesty’s Ship “Beagle” on a 5-year

surveying expedition that ……….. first ………… the coastline of South America and then ………….. the world.

c) In South America he discovered a snake with rudimentary hind limbs, calling it

“the passage by which Nature ……… the lizards to the snakes”.

d) But constantly gnawing on his mind was the problem of the ………….. of species.

III. Make up a story of Darwin’s work, including the following words:

tortoise (черепаха) prickly pear cacti (опунции) finch (вьюрок) beak (клюв) Galapagos Islands isolated on separate islands “On the Origin of Species”, 1859

Reading

I. Read the following extract about fossils. There are several sentences taken out of the text. Put them into correct places.

a. Fossil remains also showed a remarkable progression of form.

b. These fossils (from Latin, meaning “dug up”) resembled parts or living organisms.

c. In fact, any tangible trace of an organism that is preserved in rock or sediments is a fossil.

d. The rapidly accumulating fossil discoveries also revealed that fossils come in many forms.

5 10 15 20 25 30

As new lands were explored, excavations for roads, mines, and canals revealed that many rocks occur in layers. In some cases, a few strangely shaped rocks or fragments were found embedded within one of these layers. ( ) At first, fossils were thought to be ordinary rocks that wind, water or people had worked into lifelike forms. As more and more fossils were discovered, however, it became obvious that they were in fact the remains of plants or animals that had died long ago and been changed into or in some ways preserved in rock. ( ) The classic image of a fossil is of bones or other hard parts (such as shells) that have been transformed into rock by aeons of geological processing. But fossils also include casts, molds, and other impressions that organisms left in ancient sediments before decomposing. Some of the most interesting and informative fossils are the trails, burrows, tracks, or droppings that organisms left behind. ( ) These windows into the past are fascinating in and of themselves, but the distribution of fossils in rock can also be revealing. After studying fossils carefully, the British surveyor William Smith (1769-1839) realized that certain fossils were always found in the same layers of rock. Further, the organization of fossils and rock layers was consistent: Fossil type A could always be found in a rock layer resting atop an older layer containing fossil type B, which in turn rested atop a still older layer containing fossil type C, and so on. ( ) Most fossils found in the lowest (and therefore oldest) rock layers were very different from modern forms; the resemblance to modern forms gradually increased upward toward younger rocks, as if there were indeed a ladder of Nature stretching back in time. Many of these fossils were the remains of plant and animal species that had gone extinct – that is, no members of the species still lived on Earth. Putting these facts together, scientists came to the inescapable conclusion that different types of organisms had lived at various times in the past.

II. Find in the text words meaning:

showed ……………………

fixed firml ……………………

unchanged ……………………

ages ……………………

objects formed by molding ……………………

feces ……………………

similarity ……………………

no longer existing ……………………

III. Which of the following are fossils?

a. pollen grains buried in the bottom of a peat bog

b. the petrified cast of a clam’s burrow

c. the impression a clam shell made in mud, preserved in mudstone

d. an insect leg sealed in plant resin

e. all of the above

Language Focus 1

Ving Forms: Use, Terminology and Types

1 We can use Ving Forms (e.g. smoking, walking) not only as verbs, but also like adjectives, adverbs or nouns. Compare:

You’re smoking too much these days. (part of a verb in present continuous)

There was a smoking cigarette end in the ashtray. (adjective describing cigarette end)

She walked out of the room smoking. (similar to an adverb)

Smoking is bad for you. (noun: subject of sentence)

2 When Ving Forms are used as parts of verb forms, or like adjectives, they are called ‘present participles’. (This, as well as ‘past participle’, is not a very suitable name, because both forms can refer to the past, present or future.) When they are used more like nouns, they are often called ‘gerunds’.

3 Ving Forms can be combined with other words to form clause-like structures.

She went running out of the room.

Collecting stamps was a hobby of his.

Having lost all my money, I went home.

I. Find in the Reading Text examples of various uses of Ving Forms and name them.

II. Fill in the table:

Present	Perfect
(not) preserving (not) being preserved	(not ) having ……………… (not) ………… been preserved

III. Choose the correct form of those given in the brackets:

1 (Having spent/Spending) all his money, he went to borrow some from his sister.

2 (Having preserved/Having been preserved) by the efforts of two governments, the reserve is now in a very good condition.

3 (Not seeing/Not being seen) her often was harder than I had thought.

4 The gulls, though (watching/being watched) all the time, did not pay attention to the intruders.

5 For those (trying/having tried) to produce a good impression I would like to note that I do not look at the appearance of students.

6 (Not knowing/Not having known) the facts, we cannot do anything.

7 Although (having listened to/being listened to) I felt ignored.

8 I am afraid that even (having been done/having done) everything I will fail to answer his questions.

Ving Forms Used as Modifiers

Ving Forms can be used before nouns. This can happen both with noun-like Ving Forms (‘gerunds’) and adjective-like Ving Forms (‘participles’). The two structures do not have quite the same kind of meaning. Compare:

a waiting room (= a room for waiting – waiting is a gerund, used rather like a noun)

a waiting train (= a train that is waiting – waiting is a participle, used rather like an adjective)

IV. Place Ving Forms into two groups: gerunds and participles. Note the stressed word with a blob.

a sleeping pill

working conditions

working men and women

writing board

a sleeping child

a living room

living things

cutting edge

a listening exercise

listening students

Language Focus 2

Determiners, possessives and object pronouns before Ving Forms

1 We can often use determiners (for example, the, my, this) with noun-like Ving Forms.

the opening of Parliament I don’t mind your going without me.

Does my smoking annoy you? I hate all this useless arguing.

John’s going to sleep during the wedding was rather embarrassing.

She was angry at Lina’s trying to lie to her.

2 Note that possessives and pronouns are not used before Ving Forms if it is already clear who is being talked about.

Thank you for waiting. (NOT Thank you for your waiting.).

No is often used with Ving Form to say that something is not allowed, or is impossible. The structure often occurs alone in notices; it can also follow there is.

No smoking No parking

Sorry – there’s no smoking in the waiting room.

3 In an informal style it is more common to use object forms (like me, John) instead of possessives (my, John’s) with Ving Forms, especially when these come after a verb or preposition.

I don’t mind you going without me.

She was angry at Lina trying to lie to her.

Some verbs (e.g. hear, watch, feel) are normally followed by an object+Ving Form.

I saw him getting out of the car. (Not I saw his getting…)

I. Put the words into right order to make sentences.

1. hate / I / saying / his / words / to / such / my daughter.

2. you / seen / dancing / him / have?

3. made /up / She / mind / ‘s / her / -/ is / arguing / there / no / with her.

4. always / laughing / are / making / my / mistakes / at / you.

5. for / thank / so / being / you / kind.

6. ever / do / playing / you / the / enjoy / him / violin?

7. upset / the / boys / I / behaving / was / badly / so / by

II. Translate from Russian into English.

1. Я видел, как ты разговаривала с этим человеком.

2. Он шел домой, весело напевая.

3. Этот человек заслуживает, чтобы его выслушали.

4. Развитие разнообразных умений и способностей – наша задача.

5. Посмотри на того человека, который стоит отдельно от остальных.

6. Говорящий лист: так индейцы называли письмо по бумаге.

7. Обожаю кататься на лошади!

Words, Words, Words

I. In 1858, Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace independently described a mechanism for evolution in remarkably similar papers that were presented to the Linnaean Society in London. They stated that the evolutionary theory arises from scientific observations and conclusions based on them. But how did Darwin and Wallace arrive at the conclusion that life’s huge variety of excellent designs arose by a process of descent with modification? The chain of logic leading to this powerful conclusion turns out to be surprisingly

s

descent – спуск, снижение

ascent – восхождение, подъем

trait; feature; characteristic – характерная черта, особенность

offspring - потомок

imple and straightforward. Their theory is

summarized below in modern terms. However,

the observations and conclusions are not given in

the right order. Your task is to match the observations

and conclusions and to place them properly.

Observation 1: Natural populations of all organisms have the potential to increase rapidly, because organisms can produce far more offspring than are required merely to replace the parents. (A population consists of all the individuals of one species in a particular area.). Nevertheless, the sizes of most natural populations and the resources available to maintain them (such as food and appropriate habitat) remain relatively constant at the time.

Conclusion …: Over many generations, differential, or unequal, reproduction among individuals with different genetic makeup changes the overall genetic composition of the population. This process is evolution by natural selection.

Conclusion …: Therefore, there is competition for survival and reproduction. In each generation, many individuals must die young, fail to reproduce, produce few offspring, or produce less-fit offspring that fail to survive and reproduce in their turn.

Conclusion …: The most well-adapted (the “fittest”) individuals in one generation tend to be the ones that leave the most offspring. This is natural selection, the process by which the environment selects for those individuals whose traits best adapt them to that particular environment.

Observation …: Individual members of a population differ from one another in their ability to obtain resources, withstand environmental extremes, escape predators, and so on.

Observation …: At least some of the variation among individuals in traits that affect survival or reproduction is due to genetic differences that may be passed on from parent to offspring.

II. Use the words in bold given in I to describe the evolution of the horse, Equus. See the picture below:

Language focus 3

Ving Forms after Verbs

After some verbs we can use Ving Form, but not normally an infinitive:

I enjoy traveling. (NOT I enjoy to travel.)

He’s finished repairing the car. (NOT He’s finished to repair…)

The doctor suggested taking a long holiday. (NOT The doctor suggested to take…)

Some common verbs that are followed by Ving Form:

admit detest feel like leave off resist

appreciate dislike finish mention risk

avoid endure forgive mind (can’t) stand

burst out enjoy give up miss suggest

consider escape (can’t) help postpone understand

contemplate excuse imagine practice

delay face involve put off

deny fancy keep (on) resent

I. Match parts of the sentences and write out the verbs that require Ving Form after them. More than one variant is possible.

I

accused – обвиняемый

draught [dra:ft] – зд. сквозняк

can’t admit my telling him what to do.

The accused denied being treated in such a way.

We dislike his getting so much money for nothing.

Do you feel like going out tonight?

Do you fancy stealing the money because I was

in a different place at that time.

Do you mind my closing the window? There is a draught.

I strongly resent being guilty until his execution.

He can’t stand playing some old tune?

II. Compose dialogues including at least four of the following expressions.

face losing one’s job mention one’s behaving badly consider doing everything at once give up drinking avoid speaking about it in public

keep (on) smiling suggest choosing another candidate understand one’s complaining

Some of the verbs listed above and some other can be followed by object + Ving Form.

I dislike people telling me what to do.

I can’t imagine him working in a laboratory.

III. Compose sentences using the given words:

suggest + (he) + visiting

can’t stand + (I) + playing

fancy + (they) + going

resent + (she) + complaining

not admit + (we) + saying

consider + (the matter) + developing

not avoid + (mum) + talking

understand + (the professor) + falling asleep

not mind + (I) + leaving

dislike + (they) + looking

prevent + (he) + from finding out

not stop + (the judge) + from having revenge on

IV. Translate into English.

1. Дарвин любил наблюдать за животными и растениями, собирать образцы и классифицировать их.

2. Проблема происхождения видов до сих пор требует глубокого исследования.

3. Поскольку камень встречается в пластах, по возрасту пласта можно установить возраст ископаемого, сохранившегося в этом камне.

4. Века геологической обработки сформировали удивительные образцы давно вымерших фауны и флоры древнейших времен.

5. Ископаемые остатки раскрывают перед нами лестницу природы, простирающуюся вглубь веков.

6. Зерна пыльцы, захороненные в торфе, не являются ископаемыми, так же как не являются ими насекомые, сохранившиеся в окаменевшей древесной смоле.

7. Проведя некоторое время на Галапагосских островах, Дарвин пришел к важным выводам, касающимся эволюции организмов путем естественного отбора.

8. Эволюция путем естественного отбора предполагает выживание потомства наиболее приспособленных к среде обитания особей каждого поколения.

9. Оставив наиболее многочисленное потомство, наиболее приспособленные особи изменяют общий генетический состав естественной популяции.

10. Полученный от родителей новый набор генов, способствующих лучшему выживанию, начинает преобладать в популяции.

Retell in English.

Основные принципы эволюционного учения Ч. Дарвина сводятся к следующим положениям:

1. Каждый вид способен к неограниченному размножению.

2. Ограниченность жизненных ресурсов препятствует реализации потенциальной возможности беспредельного размножения. Большая часть особей гибнет в борьбе за существование и не оставляет потомства.

3. Гибель или успех в борьбе за существование носят избирательный характер. Организмы одного вида отличаются друг от друга совокупностью признаков. В природе преимущественно выживают и оставляют потомство те особи, которые имеют наиболее удачное для данных условий сочетание признаков, то есть лучше приспособлены. Избирательное выживание и размножение наиболее приспособленных организмов Ч. Дарвин назвал естественным отбором.

4. Под действием естественного отбора находящиеся в разных условиях группы особей одного вида из поколение в поколение накапливают различные приспособительные признаки. Они приобретают настолько существенные отличия, что превращаются в новые виды (принцип расхождения признаков).