8. Act out the situations.

• You are an expert on environmental problems. You were invited to deliver a lecture about one of the most disastrous problems of contemporary world – acid rain. Try to present the following passage demonstrating your professional competence.

I’m going to talk about acid rain, a subject which many people have heard of, but very few understand fully. I’m going to talk about exactly what acid rain is and why it’s a problem, and then I’m going to finish off by saying what we can do about it, what the solutions are now and what and what the solutions will be in the future, in the long term.

So, first of all, acid rain is a term that’s really being used now for a kind of pollution which is hanging over our heads in a sense – it’s the air pollution above us. It’s the pollution that’s coming down in rain, in mist, in snow, in hail, in many different ways, and damaging our forests, our lakes and rivers, our buildings and even human health. If we are to control acid rain, we must know what is actually causing it, so now I’m going to talk about the chemicals involved.

• You are at one of the famous British high schools. The subject of your today’s lecture is “Spoken and Written English”. While giving a lecture take into account that your students are supposed to make notes.

Ok, next point is to do with stress and intonation and pauses. Now, when you’re using language you’re talking … um … to make the message clear, you sometimes emphasize things by saying, “This is very important” or you may pause in order to perhaps also have the same effect, “This is very … (wait for it) … important”. In writing we have to do something different because you can’t sort of make a long space before the next word, what you can do is something else though, you can perhaps print it boldly or underline it or print it in italics or in capitals: there are other techniques used for the same effect.

10. TEST

Test your knowledge of the theory.

Scientific (Academic) Style.

Choose the right answer.

1. Classroom … are the most representative example within the bulk of Scientific (Academic) Style.

a) lectures b) studies c) concerts

2. The lecture must get the …across to his audience.

a) passage b) package c) message

3. The lecturer's purpose is also to establish …with his audience and maintain it throughout the lecture.

a) contract b) contact c) conduct

4. If students are expected to make …, the professor will speak more slowly and leave more pauses.

a) notes b) quotations c) prompts

5. The speaker makes use of alternating … patterns, differing in length.

a) ethnic b) semantic c) rhythmic

6. Some pauses, made by speaker, may be explicable in terms of …phenomena denoting forgetfulness and uncertainty.

a) meditation b) hesitation c) agitation

7. Reading scientific prose is characterized by …rhythmic patterns.

a) contrastive b) connective c) conservative