1. Say whether the following statements are true or false.

1. North Carolina State University engineers have created a new computer.

2. The invention may decrease the fuel consumption of cars.

3. Another application of the technology is creating new generations of engines and solar cells.

2. Give synonyms to the following words:

to allow, to store, to change, to boost, to reduce, important, to withstand, technique.

3. Choose one of the options to fill in the gaps.

1. The scientist has ___ a new theory that promises to change our understanding of the universe.

a) created b) compared c) conducted

2. Even a small amount of ___ can make the water unfit for drinking.

a) properties b) semiconductors c) impurities

3. Bicycle is the most environmentally friendly ___.

a) engine b) vessel c) vehicle

4. People have used the wind as an energy ___ for a long time.

a) resource b) source c) sauce

5. The total ___ of Ukraine is 603,550 sq km.

a) areal b) square c) area

4. Give your own definitions to the following words from the text:

an engineer, a computer, memory, an impurity, a vehicle, ceramics.

5. Complete the sentences with the information from the text.

1. American engineers developed a computer memory chip able to ___.

2. Selective doping is the process where ___.

3. In vehicles, the new invention promises ___.

4. A new generation of ceramic engines can be made due to ___.

5. Thanks to better conductivity, the new material will be applied in ___.

Grammar Practice

1. Find all the nouns in Possessive case in the text. Explain their use.

2. Find all the sentences with Subordinate clauses in the text. Define their functions. Give your own examples of the same types of subordinate clauses.

3. Find all the words ending -s in the text. Define their functions as: 1) plural of a noun; 2) possessive case of a noun; 3) a verb in 3-rd person singular.

14. Engineers Develop Safer, Blast-resistant Glass

to protect	захищати	transparent	прозорий
to contain	містити	a fiber	волокно
blast-resistant	вибухостійкий	embedded	вбудований
vulnerable	уразливий	room	місце
an explosion	вибух	cracking	розтріскування
conventional	традиційний	to provide	забезпечувати
layer	шар	flexibility	гнучкість
a sheet	лист	quantity	кількість
to replace	замінювати

To protect from potential terrorist attacks, federal buildings and other critical infrastructures are made with special windows that contain blast-resistant glass. However, the glass is thick and expensive. Currently, researchers from the University of Missouri are developing and testing a new type of blast-resistant glass that will be thinner, lighter and less vulnerable to small-scale explosions. Conventional blast-resistant glass is made of laminated glass that has a plastic layer between two sheets of glass. MU researchers are now replacing the plastic layer with a transparent composite material made of glass fibers that are embedded in plastic. The glass fibers add strength because, unlike plastic, they are only about 25 microns thick, which is about half the thickness of a typical human hair, and leave little room for defects in the glass that could lead to cracking. The use of a transparent composite interlayer provides the flexibility to change the strength of the layer by changing the glass fiber quantity and its orientation.

Speech patterns

to be half (twice)	the thickness	of something	бути вдвоє тоншим (завтовшки), ніж ...
	the width		бути вдвоє вужчим (ширшим), ніж ...
	the size		бути вдвоє меншим (більшим) за розміром, ніж ...