Topic “The world around us: science and technology” Film “The Vanilla Sky”

I. Accomplish the tasks before viewing the film.

Task 1. Discuss (in pairs or small groups) what you know about developments in science and technology, for example: genetic engineer, cloning, cryonization etc.

Task 2. Read, memorize and retell the text from the webpage newscientist.com http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/cloning about cloning.

Nearly every month, there's news of how cloning technology is poised to change our lives. From agriculture to medicine, from psychology to law, New Scientist's team has followed the potential impact of cloning and stem cell technology every step of the way.

Our special report gives you an instant update - as well as looking at the wider issues. What molecular magic makes cloning possible? What would it be like to be an exact copy of your parent? Who is working towards human cloning? Could cloning be the end of humanity, and the start of something quite different?

Caution, you are entering the clone zone....

Is cloning "unnatural"?

Not at all - some organisms in nature only reproduce using cloning - not only bacteria and yeasts, but also larger organisms like some snails and shrimp. Because in nature sexual reproduction is the only way to improve the genetic stock of a species, most asexual species tend to die off, but at least one - a shrimp called Artemia perthenogenetica - has survived for at least 30 million years. Many more species, including the aphid, reproduce by cloning most of the time, only reproducing sexually every few generations. Perhaps one day humankind may follow their lead.

Is an identical twin essentially the same as a clone?

Only if the clone is born at the same time from the same womb as its clone, as we now know that what a fetus is exposed to in the womb, in the way of nutrition or alcohol or drugs or perhaps even stress hormones, can influence its physical and mental development.

Could some lunatic clone Hitler if human cloning were perfected?

Just possibly - but they wouldn't get what they wanted. First, they would need some living cells from his body - unless it was frozen or otherwise preserved soon after death they would probably be unusable. More importantly, because of differences in the environment of the womb and upbringing clone Hitlers would not act, think or even necessarily look like the original.

Could clones be "farmed" to provide spare body parts for their "parent" clone without problems of tissue rejection?

Possibly, although we don't know enough yet to be confident that rejection would be eliminated entirely. You would also have to wait a number of years until the clone's organs were mature enough to transplant, and of course your actions would be highly illegal unless your clone was willing to act as a donor as a clone would be just as human as you or I. Even leaving aside the ethical concerns, with the progress that is being made in understanding and coping with tissue rejection, you would be more likely to have a pig's heart in your future than a clone's.

Would a clone have a soul?

Though we are not theologians if you grant souls to identical twins and to the various kinds of "test tube babies" already being born then it follows that a clone would have one too.

Could people be cloned without conscious brains (so their body parts could be harvested with fewer moral qualms)?

No. For starters, whatever consciousness is, it doesn't reside in any one brain structure or set of genes that could be easily removed from the clone before or during its development. Moreover, attempting to surgically or genetically erase someone's "consciousness" is itself morally dubious. It would also be hard to know if your "technique" worked. A person can look and behave like a mindless vegetable but have a very active mind - witness the paralyzed French writer, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who dictated a 130 page novel by moving an eyelid.

Could vital organs be grown using cloning without the rest of a body?

Possibly - but nobody is even close to knowing how. Contrary to scientists' expectations, the birth of Dolly shows it is possible to reprogram the cell of an adult (or at least its genome) so that it begins development all over again. This newly discovered flexibility means it may one day be possible to reprogram skin or blood cells so that they grow into "spare part" tissues and organs, rather than whole organisms. But the technical obstacles will be huge.

Could cloning be used to create "super warriors" or super-intelligent people?

Possibly - though we don't yet know enough about human genetics to do much "improving" of people. So far, because of ethical concerns, geneticists are concentrating on finding the causes of genetic diseases and then curing them. Cloning makes it easier to meddle with human and animal genes but is not necessarily genetic improvement, by itself. Even before recent discoveries a considerable amount of genetic improvement of animals was already taking place. A thoroughbred horse is essentially genetically engineered, for example.

Genetic engineering is rather a hit and miss technique. You try to add the gene you want in the right place, in the right cell, and sometimes that works. Before cloning, genetically engineering a sheep, for example, might have involved injecting DNA into the egg or early embryo. It was only once the animal grew up and was tested that it was possible to see if the desired genetic change had been introduced and stably incorporated into the animal's germline.

Cloning, in theory, allows you to turn any cell into an animal. So instead of injecting DNA into an egg, you can shoot DNA into cells in a petri dish, allow them to grow and look among millions of cells for the type of genetic alteration you want. Since it is so much easier to manipulate cells than sheep - not to mention the fact that it is easier to feed, say, 100,000 cells than the same number of livestock - much rarer and more subtle gene manipulation can be accomplished, such as replacing one gene for another, or changing a single DNA letter of a gene.

Once you have cells with the desired genetic character, they are fused with an egg from which the chromosomes have been removed. Any animal that grows up from that experiment will have the genetic change in every cell of their body.

Could cloning be used to save endangered species?

At the moment its success rate is very low (Dolly was only cloned after 276 tries) but if this can be improved on it might well turn out to be useful to increase the population of hard-to-breed animals. Extinct animals (or animals without females) would be more difficult. A female can't normally give birth to an animal of a different species, although in certain cases a female of a closely-related species could give birth to a clone of a different species.

Could cloning help gay couples to conceive and make men unnecessary for procreation?

In principle, yes. Of course a clone would have to be the identical twin of one or the other partner - it would be difficult to duplicate any of the mixing of genes that occurs during sexual reproduction using cloning techniques.

Task 3. Read and analyze the vocabulary notes: dialogues, sentences, expressions and word combinations from the movie script.

– You're a shrink. You gotta do better than that.

• shrink – psychologist, psycho-analyst; psyche [`saiki] – the human mind, soul, or spirit

– The question is how you got here and why you've been charged.

• to charge with – to bring a charge against, to accuse; a charge – a spoken or written statement blaming a person for breaking the law or for doing smth morally wrong: he was arrested on a charge of murder. The police brought a charge of murder against him; care, control and responsibility

– Most days I fooled myself into believing it would last forever. Isn't that what being young is about? Believing secretly that you would be the one person in the history of man who would live forever.

– How's your cold? - Still there. How 'bout yours? -You definitely took my mind off it.

• to take off – to remove esp. clothes (compare to put on); (esp. of a plane) to rise into the air (compare to land); to take smbd off infm to copy (someone’s speech or manners): to take off leading politicians; a takeoff – beginning of a flight, when a plane rises from the ground: a smooth takeoff; infm an amusing copy of someone’s behavior: a funny takeoff of famous singers

– I missed my audition. I lost my head!

• audition – a test performance requested of a singer, actor, etc., by the people from whom he/she hopes to get employment (прослуховування, конкурс співаків)

– Did you reserve the court?

• to reserve – to keep for a special purpose; to book; syn. to hold back, preserve, to postpone, to delay, to put off (зберігати за собою право володіння або контролю)

– Easy. I can't handle heavy conversation at this ungodly hour.

• to handle – to deal with, control

• ungodly – wicked, depraved, irreligious, irreverent, profane, disrespectful, sinful (n. blasphemy)

– Don't be late for the 10:00 with the board.

• board – a committee of company directors, government officials, etc. with special responsibility: Mary is now on the Board.

– Can't you get rid of that board?

• to get rid of – to free oneself from smth unwanted; to drive, throw or give away or destroy

– The Seven Dwarfs? No. - Those people drive you nuts. - And that was the desire of my father who hired them.

• a dwarf – a small imaginary manlike creature in fairy stories: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy, Doc... Dopey, and of course, Grumpy.

• dopey – sleepy and unable to think clearly, having or showing a dullness of the mind as if caused by alcohol or a drug; stupid

• grumpy – bad-tempered esp. because of low spirits

• buddy – friend, pal, mate, chum (a good friend esp. among boys), companion

– David, the part where we parry and joust and get to know each other bit by bit <…>

• to parry – to turn aside or keep away (an attacking blow or a weapon); fgr. to parry an unwelcome question (уникати відповіді)

• to joust [au] – to fight on horseback with lances

– He and my mother threw the grandest parties of the literary world. Ballooned. Jumped out of airplanes. He sought adventure.

• to seek – sought – sought [after, for out] – to make a search for; try to find or get smth, to look for smth: he sought out his friend in the crowd; to seek (after) the truth; to try, make an attempt; to ask for, go to request

– "David Jr. was a delight as a child."

• delight – smth that gives great pleasure or satisfaction, joy; to take a delight in smth

– I don't think he ever got over the fact that I'm absolutely terrified of heights.

• to get over – to return to one’s usual state of health, happiness etc. after a bad experience of or with: to get over an illness; I can’t/couldn’t get over = I am/was very much surprised at

– The irony continues… when he and my mother were run over by a drunken teenager on New Year's Eve ten years ago he left the keys to the kingdom to me.

• to run over – (of liquids or their containers) to overflow: The water (The cup) ran over; (of a vehicle or its driver) to knock down and pass over the top of; to run into; to run down

– …a man wearing a latex mask and spouting conspiracy theories

• to spout out – to throw or come out in a forceful stream: to pour out in a stream of words: She spouted on and on… (to sprout (from, up) – to (cause to) grow or send up new growth)

– Stop flirting and open it.

• to flirt with – to behave in a way that attracts his/her attention; fig. I’ve been flirting with (= considering but not very seriously) the idea of changing my job.

– No, no, don't blow me off. I'm all packed. I'm going back to London and I understand. You put me up for the other attorney’s job so you didn't have to fire me.

• to put up – to offer for sale; to offer, show make or give esp. in a struggle: What a coward! He didn’t put up much of a fight!

• attorney /əˈtɜːni/ – lawyer, advocate

– Is there anything more unbecoming than an aging mascot?

• unbecoming – inappropriate, unsuitable, not fitting

• mascot – an object, animal or person thought to bring good luck; syn. good luck charm, talisman, amulet

– These guys, the Seven Dwarfs... they think you're stupid – a corporate hazard, a rogue.

• hazard – a danger: a health hazard

• to hazard – to risk, to put in danger; fig I’ll hazard a guess = I’ll make a guess but I may be wrong

• rogue /’rəʊg/ – a boy who likes playing tricks; a very dishonest person, esp. a man

–They're lined up for your office, your life, your position.

• to line up – (to cause) to move into a row; to arrange a show, event, etc.: I’ve lined up a famous singer for the school concert.

– Claim your life...

• to claim on, for – to ask for, demand or take (a title, property, money etc.) as the rightful owner, or as one’s right; fig. The flood claimed hundreds of lives; to declare to be true; state esp. in the face of opposition

– She looks like a moth.

• a moth – a large insect related to the butterfly which flies mainly at night.

– How 'bout if you help me, unless I'm horning in here.

• to horn in – to interrupt or try to take part in smth when you are not wanted, to butt in; sl. втручатися; to horn in on smth: Don’t try and horn in on our fun!

–I got a stalker.

• a stalker – to stalk – to hunt (esp. an animal) by following it quietly and staying hidden: to stalk a criminal; syn. to follow, to pursue (pleasure), to haunt

– I need for you to pretend we are having a scintillating conversation and you are wildly entertained.

• scintillating – (esp. of speech) full of interest; quick and clever; syn. sparkling, dazzling, brilliant, bright, shining, glittering, amusing, entertaining

– I can't keep this banter going.

• to banter – to speak or act playfully or jokingly; teasing, mockery

– You're paying me to write my novel, so you own me.

• to own – to possess esp. by lawful right; to admit; to own up [to] – to admit a fault or crime: She owned up to taking the money.

– But why'd you have to hit on Sofia?

• to hit on – AmE inf. to talk to someone in a way that shows you are sexually attracted to them; to find by lucky chance or have a good idea about

– I dig her. (old-fashioned – to like something: I dig that hat!)

– You are in great hands. I'm just humoring myself that my opinion matters.

• to humor – to keep someone happy or calm by acceptance of foolish wishes or behavior (потокать, ублажать).

You will never know the exquisite pain of the guy who goes home alone because without the bitter, baby, the sweet ain't as sweet.

• exquisite – very finally made or done, almost perfect; acute (of a feeling) syn. superb, splendid, delicate

– It's not the height that bothers me. It's the impact that terrifies me.

• impact – the force of one object hitting another: The cup hit the wall and broke on impact; fig. Her new idea made a great impact in the office.

– I have to take you for a walk. - I'm glad he protects you. He's a lethal canine

• lethal – able to kill; canine – клык

– That's because I'm an arms dealer.

– Somehow I can't play the violin for you.

– I dug her completely. Somehow I'd found the last semi-guyless girl in New York City. <…> well, you know, I'm a pleasure delayer.

– I had intricate systems with women you wouldn't believe.

• intricate – containing many detailed parts and thus difficult to understand

- Just our shortcomings, that's all we're allowed to draw.

• shortcoming – a fault, defect, drawback, negative aspect, weakness

– It is at the frontier of a new science.

• at the frontier of – edge, boundary, border, margin, limit (на порозі)

– Life Extension. - How do you accomplish such a thing?

• accomplish – to succeed in doing, finish successfully; syn. achieve, complete, finish, realize

– Is he a fraud?

• fraud – a person who pretends or claims to be what he/she is not; syn. impostor, charlatan, fake, faker

– He was frozen for three months and thawed out to live a normal life.

• to thaw (out) – /θɔː/ – (to cause) to increase in temperature and so become liquid or soft; to melt; ant. freeze;

• a thaw: There was a thaw in the spring (= a warmer period when snow and ice melted).

– Thank you for the inspiration. I will now attempt to run my company showing compassion for the seething throng of my partners who root quietly for me to fail.

• to seethe – to boil, to foam, to rage, to be furious

• throng – crowd, mob, horde, mass

– You wanna make it up to me?

• to make it up to smbd – to repay someone with good things in return for smth

– Do you like my music? – It's vivid.

• vivid – bright and strong: a vivid flash of lightning, vivid red hair; colorful; that produces sharp clear pictures in the mind; lifelike: a child with a vivid imagination; a vivid description

– My dreams are a cruel joke. They taunt me.

• to taunt – to try to make someone angry or unhappy by making unkind remarks: syn. to mock, to tease, to insult, to abuse

– My face and my arm shattered and my jaw was broken in four places.

• to shatter – (to cause) to break suddenly into small pieces; to smash: the glass shattered

– There are blinding migraines now – nerve damage.

• migraine – severe and repeated headaches usually with disorder of the eyesight

– This is how big business operates – random accidents a lifestyle mishap.

• mishap – an unfortunate, often slight, accident; unfortunate happening

– They are not coincidences.

• coincidence – combination of events, happening by chance, but in such a way that it seems planned or arranged

How do you think airtight contracts are broken?

• airtight – unquestionable; sound, strong, solid; hermetic, sealed (his fate is sealed – його доля визначена)

– These are power upheavals.

• upheaval – (a) great change and movement

– David, look, I don't wanna worry you. I'm holding them off, but we got a situation here. The bylaws of the board protect your 51 % vote only if you're mentally acute.

• to hold (smbd or smth) off = to keep (smbd or smth) off – (to cause) to remain at a distance; to put (smbd or smth) off – to delay

• bylaws – постанови будь-якої організації, міської влади

– …but you've handed the board a real gift with your mishap. They'd like to declare you incapacitated.

• incapacitated – to incapacitate for – to make (someone) not able to do smth: He was incapacitated after the accident.

– Yes, well, the rumors of my death have been mildly exaggerated.

• mildly – gently, slightly, a little

• exaggerate – to make (smth) larger, bigger, worse, etc. than in reality

– who could I trust? The ants were taking over the anthill.

• to take over – to gain control over or responsibility for

– These are like steel plates slicing through my every thought.

– This isn't about vanity.

• vanity – the quality of being too proud of oneself or one’s appearance, ability, etc.

– Nobody here takes your feelings for granted.

• to take smth or smbd for granted – to accept a fact, action, etc. without question; to treat smth or someone with no attention or thought; not realize the true value of; to take nothing for granted

– I attended the monthly board meeting with the Seven Dwarfs by video hookup.

• video hookup – connection, (to connect, to link up) (летучая схема соединений)

– He's just lost a little bit of his friskiness.

• friskiness – frisky – overflowing with life and activity; joyfully alive

– Take it off. <…> It's freaking me out.

• freak out – to cause to become greatly excited or anxious (esp. because of drugs)

– If you're embarrassed, just go. Nobody asked you to chaperone.

• chaperone – an older person who goes with a young unmarried woman in public and is responsible for hr behavior

– Don't take it out on a girl you only met once.

• to take smth out on smbd – to express (one’s feelings) by making (someone else) suffer

- Just cut it out, okay?

• to cut out – to leave out, stop; cut it/that out! – stop it! quit it!

– I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats.

– That's hilarious that you said that.

• hilarious – full of or causing laughter, very funny, amusing, comical

– This is a cheap ploy for sympathy.

• ploy – a way of behaving in order to gain some advantage

– I don't have a mother-savior bone in my body.

– I thought you guys hooked up.

• to hook up with smbd – to start having a sexual relationship with someone; hooked up – connected, linked up, united

– Apparently, you kept repeating it last night.

• apparent – easily seen or understood (syn. obvious; evident); not necessarily true or real; seeming;

– What happened next was surreal. That same arrogant bastard, Dr. Pomeranz, called me.

• arrogant – proud and self-important in a rude way that shows no respect for other people

– Suddenly he was my new best friend. <…> The odds, they said, were one in three that the headaches could be reduced by 50 percent and facial tissue (тканина) could be regenerated.

• the odds – chances, probability: The odds are that he will do it (скоріше за все він це зробить)

– I once knew a guy who was a real loner.

• loner – a person who spends a lot of time alone, esp. by choice

– Wouldn't be you delaying something you were dreading.

• to dread – to fear greatly

– How's things? – Don't flatter yourself.

• to flatter (on, about) – to praise someone too much or insincerely in order to please; to flatter oneself (that) – to have the pleasant though mistaken opinion (that)

– She was a proximity infatuation.

• proximity – closeness, nearness

• infatuation – obsession, craze, passion, a strong unreasonable feeling of love for someone

– You know you're not gonna get away with this...

• to get away with – to do smth bad and escape punishment

– I have an intruder… I've captured an intruder... who's entered my home.

• intruder – a person who has come in unasked and perhaps secretly

• to intrude into, on, upon – to bring or come in when not wanted; to break in, to interfere

– She's not gonna press charges. – Press charges against me? <…> Tommy, someone's setting me up. <…> So Sofia was abducted by Julie... and now Julie is posing as Sofia.

• to abduct – to take away (a person) unlawfully, often by force, to kidnap

– I talked to Sofia. – Where is she? – I just dropped Sofia off.

• to drop off – to take someone by car to a place and leave them there, especially on your way to another place; to fall asleep unintentionally – to doze off

– Do you know what derangement is?

• derangement – mental disorder – to derange – o put (esp. the mind) into a state of disorder

– What will you plead?

• to plead – to give as an excuse for an action; to declare in official language that one is (in a state of): She pleaded guilty/not guilty

– Temporary derangement.

– …somebody was playing a trick on you. Maybe it was the board. But I can't exceed my duties.

• exceed – go beyond, go above, surpass

– Seventy-two cryonized patients are currently held at our facility in New Brunswick.

• facility – (pl. обладнання, засоби обслуговування); competence

… And we feature the finest scientific technicians on the planet.

• to feature – to be present as a feature: Work features largely in her life

– McCabe! Come back!

– Not in the juvenile sense

• juvenile – youthful, childish, infantile, immature

– …heart ailments,

• ailment – an illness (esp. one that is not serious); sickness, disease, disorder, weakness, malady

– Very simply, your anguish, your discontent... even your death is no longer necessary... in a traditional sense.

• anguish – very great pain and suffering esp. of mind, torment, torture, sorrow: anguish of body and mind

• discontent – dissatisfaction, unhappiness, restlessness, displeasure

– nothing will affect your suspension hibernation.

• hibernation – a sleep-like state during the winter

– Imagine that you are suffering from a terminal illness.

• terminal – fatal, lethal, life-threatening

– …to be resurrected to continue your own life as you know it now.

• to resurrect – bring back to life, raise from the dead, revive, renew

– And what is any life if not the pursuit of a dream?

• pursuit /pəˈsju:t/- chase search quest hunt

– Roam free, David.

• to roam – to wander with no very clear aim (through, around); to travel

– that was the moment that you chose for the splice. – Splice?

• to splice – to fasten end to end (by weaving ropes), sticking (pieces of film)

– What did you erase? (стерти)

• hung over – hangover – the feeling of headache, sickness, etc. the day after drinking too much

– The glitch has been corrected.

• glitch – problem, fault, hitch, drawback, hindrance

• a blast – informal – an enjoyable and exciting experience: The concert was a blast. We had a blast at the fair.

Task 4. Read the proper names you are supposed to meet in the film. Watch the film and identify the characters.

• David Aames

• Brian Shelby

• Sofia Serrano

• Julie Gianni (Juliana)

• Mr. McCabe

• Thomas Tipp

• Libby

• Rebecca Dearborn

• Edmund Ventura

• Benny