1. Say whether the statements are true or false.

1. The chemical symbol of gold is Gd. 2. Gold can perfectly conduct heat. 3. A metal is malleable when we can easily hammer it in thin sheets. 4. You can never see through any piece of gold. 5. “Fool’s gold” is a nickname for silver. 6. People have mined about 1,000,000 tonnes of gold. 7. Today China is the leader in production of gold. 8. Some parts in electronic devices are made of gold.

2. Give synonyms to the following words from the text:

to appear, due to, to estimate, a reserve, continually, to link, to create, to reduce, to receive.

11. Iron

moisture	волога	availability	наявність
disintegration	руйнування	cast iron	чавун
to remove	видаляти	manganese	марганець
a core	ядро	a vehicle	транспортний засіб
huge	величезний	to prevent (from)	запобігати (чогось)
strength	міцність; опір	to coat	покривати
puddle iron	пудлінговане залізо	chickpea	нут, турецький горох
wrought iron	коване залізо	iron rich food	їжа, багата залізом

Iron is a chemical element and metal. Its chemical symbol is Fe and its atomic number is 26. When iron and oxygen react in the presence of water or moisture, rust (iron oxide) is formed. You might have noticed your bike chain (or other parts) rusting from time to time (especially if you haven’t been taking care of it). Another word for rusting is corrosion, which describes the disintegration of materials such as iron and steel. Because iron oxidizes so easily, it is rarely found in a pure metal form on the Earth’s surface. It is instead removed from ores (rocks containing important minerals and elements).

Iron is the 4th most common element in the Earth’s crust, making up around 5% of the total (usually found as iron oxide in minerals like hematite). The Earth’s core is thought to be made up of an iron and nickel alloy. Gas giant planets such as Saturn and Jupiter have cores that are rich in iron, too. Iron is the 6th most common element found in the Universe.

Steel is a well known and commonly used alloy made from iron and a small amount of carbon (or sometimes other elements). The amount of carbon is small (usually between 0.2% and 2.0%) but it makes a huge difference to the strength. Steel can be around 1000 times stronger than iron in its pure form. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, is made of puddle iron. Puddle iron is a form of wrought iron, an iron alloy with a very low level of carbon content. Wrought iron was used commonly throughout western history but is no longer produced in large amounts due to the availability of steel. The early wrought iron used in human history actually came from meteors!

Cast iron is a type of iron that contains carbon, silicon and small amount of manganese. It was used in earlier times to build structures like cast iron bridges. Like wrought iron, however, most of its uses have been replaced by steel.

The Iron Age was a prehistoric time when useful tools and weapons were first made from iron and steel. The dates this occurred in various parts of the world vary, with historians suggesting around 12^th century BC in ancient Greece and 6^th century BC in Northern Europe.

In 2006, China was the world’s largest producer of iron, making up around 33% of the world’s total production.

Iron is relatively cheap to produce and has a large number of different uses. Machines, vehicles and building structures are commonly built from iron (usually in the form of steel). To prevent iron and steel from rust damage, they can be painted, coated with plastic, galvanized (coated with zinc) or by other methods that keep out water and oxygen.

Iron in the human body has a number of important functions including carrying oxygen to the body in the form of hemoglobin. Iron deficiency can be quite common (especially among women), with a number of possible symptoms including fatigue and weakness. Iron rich foods include red meat, fish, tofu, beans and chickpeas.

Speech patterns

The core

is thought is considered is believed

to be made up of ...

Вважають, що ядро складається з...

no longer	більше не; вже не
He is no longer a student.	Він вже не студент.
I can wait no longer.	Я більше не можу чекати.

..., with historians suggesting	причому історики вважають ...
There are lots of higher educational institutions in Kharkov, with the number of students ranging from several hundreds to dozens of thousands.	В Харкові багато вищів, причому кількість студентів в них коливається від декількох сотень до десятків тисяч.