Post-reading tasks:

Task 1. Answer the following questions.

1. With what sciences is biology closely related?

2. Are there any similarities among plants and animals?

3. What are the main differences between plants and animals?

4. What subdivisions of biology according to the type of organism do you know?

5. What other branches of biology exist?

6. What is anatomy?

7. What is genetics?

8. What is the difference between botany and zoology?

9. What studies ecology?

10. What do you know about taxonomy?

Task 2. Fill in the blanks with the words from the text.

1. Biology is concerned with their nature, functions, reproduction of living … .

2. Principles of biology are found in anthropology, psychology, sociology, agriculture, medicine, … , and indeed, in everyday living.

3. Plants and animals are made up of the same group of … combined in essentially the same way.

4. Tissue systems, … … , and general construction of plants and animals are very different.

5. The … activity of plant is circumscribed by its inability to move.

6. Cryptogamic botany is the study of plants which do not produce … .

7. Biochemistry deals with the … of living organisms and their products.

8. Biometrics is a special field of mathematics concerned with the analysis of … … .

Task 3. Match a line in A with a line in B to define branches of biology.

algology	the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings
histology	the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles
ecology	the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi
genetics	the study of protozoa
herpetology	the practice and science of classification
mycology	the study of chemical processes in living organisms
taxonomy	a subdiscipline of botany that studies algae
anatomy	the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms
protozoology	the study of the anatomy tissues of plants and animals
10. biochemistry	a branch of biology that is the consideration of the structure of living things

Task 4. Complete the text with the words from the box.

nature animals medicine body biology fundamental laws organism

1 ________ gives us an acquaintance with the world of living things and an understanding of some of the great 2__________ and processes of 3_________. There are many special field of knowledge and many phases and principles to which elementary training in general biology is essential.

These include 4________, physiology, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, sanitation, hygiene and many others. Because man is an 5__________ subject to the same laws which governs all living things and is built according to the same plan as other higher 6__________, an elementary knowledge of biology gives us a basis for an understanding of our own 7_________.

TRANSLATION: Translate the following into English.

Биология – наука о живых организмах. Она изучает тайны живой природы: как устроены живые организмы, как они функционируют. Результаты исследований биологов имеют большое значение для развития многих отраслей науки. Исследования биологов помогают решить многие проблемы современной науки. Они помогают понять взаимосвязь между всеми организмами и окружающей средой. Определение сущность жизни – одна из основных задач общей биологии.

SPEAKING: Compose short dialogues for one of the following imaginary situations.

1. Your friend studies at the faculty of physics. He urges you to transfer to this faculty. Reject his proposal and tell him that biology is you dream.

2. Students of various faculties meet at a tourist camp. Everybody speaks about the importance of the science he studies. Prove that biology is the most vital of all the sciences.

WRITING: Write an essay about in which of the above-mentioned branches of biology you are interested most of all and why.