Tasks and exercises

1. Answer the questions:

a) What is Stephen Hawking’s main area of interest?

b) What books by Hawking have you read?

c) Where did he spend most of his academic life?

d) What did Hawking research between 1965 and 1970 and what did the results of his studies lead him to?

e) When did he start trying to unite general relativity and quantum mechanics and what came as a sign that this is possible?

f) What is curious about Hawking’s position at Cambridge?

2. In the text find words that have the following meanings:

a) “extremely large in area, size, amount”;

b) “to show, to point at”;

c) “to be considered in a particular way”;

d) “a particular way of doing smth; a method”;

e) “a line that marks the limits of smth”;

f) “the act of working with another person or in a group of people”;

g) “to invent smth new or a new way of doing smth”;

h) “a statement that shows that smth is true, correct or definite”;

i) “to estimate, to work out; to find a total amount, distance, value, etc.”;

j) “a force that pulls objects towards each other”;

k) “a standard by which smth can be judged or compared”.

3. The text contains some general scientific words. Study the collocations in which they are used:

a) career: the peak/height of your career, career ladder/path, to build a career, to start out on a career, a career choice/move;

b) point (n) (an essential aspect of smth): to the point, get to the point, basic point;

c) to devise: to devise a technology/mechanism/system;

d) technique: to allow/enable smth, develop/devise/pioneer, use/develop/apply, an effective/standard/ingenious technique, research/scientific/analytical technique;

e) field (subject/activity): to open up a field, to work in a field, an expert/leader in the field of, a research field;

f) to indicate: clearly, appear to/seem to;

g) to imply: clearly/usually/automatically, seem to;

h) implication (smth suggested but not said openly): clear/obvious, to carry/have/understand;

i) to confirm: be (un)able to, appear to/seem to, only/simply, officially.

4. Fill in the gaps:

The letter seems to ____ that the director knew about this project. The recent discoveries appear to ____ my original idea. I can’t answer that – I’m afraid that’s outside my ____. Moving to Caltech was a smart career ____. His remark seemed to have various possible _____. This ____ was pioneered in Caltech. He was at the peak of his ____ when he made his major scientific discovery. The plans were officially ____ yesterday. His remarks were brief and to the ____. We have an ingenious ____ for the storage of data. This discovery has opened up a whole new ___ of research. A new system has been ____ to control temperature in the lab. All of them are experts in their chosen ___. The figures ____ that the project can hardly be finished this year. It took me a few minutes to get to the ____. He is now working in the ____ of computer science.

5. Make up 10 sentences with the collocations from ex.3.

6. Translate into English:

a) Большую часть своей карьеры Стивен Хокинг провел, разрабатывая общую теорию относительности Эйнштейна, введшего понятие пространства-времени.

b) Некая точка в пространстве-времени называется событием, и у любого события должны быть 4 параметра: длина, ширина, высота и время.

c) Сотрудничая с Роджером Пенроузом, Хокинг создал новые математические приемы для изучения пространства-времени и затем применил их к исследованию черных дыр.

d) Гравитационное поле черной дыры обладает такой силой, что свет, среди прочего, не может преодолеть ее притяжение.

e) В 1970 году Хокинг показал, что объединение квантовой теории и общей теории относительности указывало на способность черных дыр испускать радиацию.

f) Одним из следствий этого является подтверждение, что можно сформулировать физические законы, которые бы объясняли, каким образом появилась вселенная.

7. Read the following extract from Hawking’s latest book “The Grand Design” (in co-authorship with Leonard Mlodinow):

“Not everyone liked the big bang picture. In fact, the term “big bang” was coined in 1949 by Cambridge astrophysicist Fred Howle, who believed in a universe that expanded forever, and meant the term as a derisive description. The first direct observations supporting the idea did not come until 1965, with the discovery that there is a faint background of microwaves throughout space”.

Can you recall any similar examples when a natural phenomenon or hypothesis was given a derisive [dɪ'raɪsɪv]¹ name or description and later it became an official term (for instance, the Kuiper [kaɪpə] belt)?

What point of view do you have on the problem of the universe contracting or expanding?

8. Make a written resume of the text about Stephen Hawking (10–15 sentences) and retell the text orally relying on what you have written.