English for Biologists

A practical course

2012 Т.В. Шумило English for biologists

A Practical Course

Английский язык для биологов

Практический курс

Предисловие

Учебное пособие представляет собой курс английского языка, предназначенный для студентов биологических факультетов университетов. Цель курса – подготовить студентов к самостоятельному чтению и переводу оригинальной научной литературы по биологическим специальностям, а также развить навыки устной речи, предусмотренные программой по английскому языку для университетов.

Учебное пособие построено по принципу комплексного изучения иностранного языка и включает аспекты аналитического и ознакомительного чтения, перевода и устного общения.

Материал рассчитан на 132 учебных часа. Курс обучения состоит из 19 разделов (units) и включает следующие темы: Biology as a science; Botany; Zoology; Human anatomy. Каждое занятие включает в себя основной текст, предтекстовые и послетекстовые фонетические и лексические упражнения и задания, на основе текста отрабатываются навыки устной речи – составляются диалоги, рассказы на специальные темы.

Система упражнений включает задания на контроль понимания прочитанного, активацию соответствующих лексических явлений, перефразирование мыслей, изложенных в тексте, поиск информации, изложение содержания текстов в произвольной форме, а также в форме реферата, резюме или аннотации. Каждый раздел завешают задания на говорение и развитие письменной речи, которые предполагают умение использовать изученную лексику в нужном контексте.

Пособие может использоваться в организации практических занятий в группах с различным уровнем подготовки, так как позволяет варьировать методики преподавания от совершенствования навыков чтения, письма и говорения до развития творческих способностей, а также для самостоятельной работы студентов, что обеспечивается последовательным изложением материала, четкими формулировками заданий.

Unit 1. The science of biology.

WARM-UP: Spend a minute writing down all of the different words you associated with Biology. Share your ideas with the partner.

VOCABULARY: Learn the following words and word combinations.

reproduction science physics chemistry psychology medicine vital process plants living organisms animals composition locomotion nutritional activity bacterium fungus alga moss fern amphibian reptile bird mammal cell tissue heredity species fossil organism disease environment to study basic differences to subdivide to compose of inability division seed cones characteristics internal structure animal mind matter to deal with biological data nature industry agriculture

Guess the meaning of the following words and word combinations.

Mathematics; sociology; organism; elements; organ systems; mechanism; process; structure; function; zoology; botany; system; classification; anatomy; genetics; ecology; endocrine gland system.

Practice the following for pronunciation.

science – [´saıəns]

psychology – [saɪˈkɒlədʒi]

ultimate aims – [´ʌltɪmət eımz]

nutritional – [nju: ´trɪʃənəl]

bacterium – [bæk´tɪəriəm]

fungus – [´fʌŋgəs]

alga – [´ælgə]

bryology – [bri´ɒlədʒɪ]

cytology – [saɪˈtɒlədʒi]

histology – [hɪˈstɒlədʒi]

tissue – [´tɪʃu:]

genetics – [dʒə´netɪks]

biochemistry – [baɪəʊ´kemɪstri]

biometrics – [baɪəʊ´metrɪks]

READING: Read the text and do the tasks that follow.

Biology is the science of living organisms. It is concerned with their nature, functions, reproduction, and place in their environment. It is a ramifying science, but it aims to be a precise one. It is rooted in physics and chemistry and many of its interpretations are made in terms of these sciences and of mathematics. It is bound closely with geology and meteorology, and applications of its principles are found in anthropology, psychology, sociology, agriculture, medicine, industry, and indeed, in everyday living. In as much as one of its ultimate aims is through understanding of living organisms including man, biology is entitled to be called the most vital of the sciences.

We’ll consider plants and animals together, both in the discussion of fundamental biological principles and with respect to their natural associations with each other. They will be treated separately when this appears desirable for purposes of emphasizing basic differences and when the problems of approach are different.

Plants and animals are similar in their fundamental composition. They are made up of the same group of elements combined in essentially the same way. Both are composed of cells as the fundamental structural units, but their tissue systems, organ systems, and general construction are very different. Animals are usually more complicated than plants, and with this greater structural complexity are associated with more highly developed coordination and greater activity. Plants lack the power of locomotion; animals have various means of moving about. The nutritional activity of plant is circumscribed by its inability to move; that of an animal is fairly broad. This difference is associated with the expenditure of far more energy by animals and with more intricate mechanisms for the liberation and use of energy. Partly as a result of such differences, evolution has brought about greater diversity among animals, the types of animals being much widely different than the types of plants.

Biology may be divided in either of two ways, depending upon whether the emphasis is placed on type of organisms or on processes, structures, and functions. With the first system there are two principal divisions: botany, which deals with plants, and zoology, which deals with animals.

Botany may be subdivided as follows:

Bacteriology – study of bacteria.

Mycology – study of fungi.

Algology – study of algae.

Bryology – study of mosses.

Pteriology – study of ferns.

All these branches may be grouped together as cryptogamic botany, the study of plants which do not produce seed. Study of the seed plants (actually two groups – the gymnosperms, which bear corns, and the angiosperms, which bear flowers) covers a single field, phanerogamic botany.

Zoology is similarly divided as follows:

Protozoology – study of single-celled animals.

Entomology – study of insects.

Ichtyology – study of fishes.

Herpetology – study of amphibians and reptiles.

Ornithology – study of birds.

Mammalogy – study of mammals.

Anthropology – study of man (with reference to physical rather than cultural characteristics).

This botany-zoology system grew up naturally as biological science developed, the emphasis during its early years being placed on structure and relationships.

As it became more and more of a precise experimental science and emphasis was given to finer aspects of structure and function, another system of classification based upon the parts or processes studied came into use. In this system there are such subdivisions as the following:

Cytology – study of cells.

Histology – study of tissues.

Anatomy – study of internal structure as revealed by dissection.

Morphology – study of gross structure, the organism viewed as a whole.

Physiology – study of functions and processes.

Genetics – study of heredity and variation.

Pathology – study of aberrant conditions and diseases and their effects.

Evolution – study of origin and changes in species.

Paleontology – study of fossil organisms.

Taxonomy – classification of organisms.

Ecology – study of organism-environment interrelations.

Psychology (experimental psychology) – study of the animal mind.

Examples of more specialized fields that fall within this same general classification are:

Embryology – study of individual development.

Endocrinology – study of the endocrine gland system in animals.

Parasitology – study of parasitism.

As the emphasis on these finer studies increased, biology as an exact science has become more dependent on the other exact sciences for interpretation of its data and their significance. Biochemistry, a division of chemistry, deals with the chemistry of living organisms and their products. Biophysics has as its subject matter the physics involved in the structure, development and functioning of living organisms. Biometrics is a special field of mathematics concerned with the analysis of biological data.