The plastic age

It's in our homes. It's the most common material in the workplace. Sometimes it's even in our bodies. We may be moving into the Information Age, but it's hard to believe that we are not living in the Plastic age.

You can bend plastic, mold it, model it, twist it and ply it in a number of different ways. The finished product can be soft and airy foam or a hard and strong compound rivaling the sturdiest metal alloys.

The first in the long line of man-made plastics was called Bakelite, after its inventor, Leo Baekeland. Many years of work in his chemistry lab in Yonkers, New York, led him in 1907 to the invention of the first synthetic polymer (plastic), made by linking small molecules together to make large ones.

Baekeland made his new material by mixing the carbolic acid (phenol) with the strong-smelling formaldehyde to make a third material that was nothing like the original two. It turned out to be a substance that would change the world.

Some of the early uses for plastic were to make things like radio cabinets, buttons, billiard balls, pipe-stems, toilet seats, airplane parts and, the object of Baekeland's research, shellac. Baekeland's trick was to take the resin produced by the two chemicals and heat it under pressure to produce a soft solid that could be molded and hardened or powdered and set under pressure. With this innovation, the plastic revolution was under way.

VI. Translate these sentences into Ukrainian; underline the predicates and define their verb forms:

1. In its many forms, plastic has forever changed the way we live.

2. The very name “plastic” means versatility.

3. Some of the early uses for plastic were to make things like radio cabinets, buttons, billiard balls, pipe-stems, airplane parts and others.

4. You can mold plastic in a number of different ways.

5. Plastic turned out to be a substance that would change the world.

VII. Find in the text nouns corresponding to the following words; translate them into Ukrainian:

Plastic, man-made, chemistry, metal, radio, billiard, toilet, airplane.

VIII. Translate the following words and word combinations into English:

Карболова кислота, шелак, формальдегід, універсальність, синтетичний полімер, частина літака, кнопка, сухий залишок, йти повним ходом, бути сформованим.

3 курс 2 семестр

Контрольна робота № 4

І. Underline the correct verb in the sentences and translate them into Ukrainian:

1. If Alex was/were younger, he would have got the job.

2. Rob and Lucy have/has not attended the lectures for two weeks.

3. Physics was/were a very difficult subject for the student.

4. The texts of this lesson is/are difficult.

5. The mechanics is/are looking at the engine.

II. Define the type of the conditional sentences and translate them:

1. Had he come, I should have been glad.

2. If you had repeated the rules, you would know them better now.

3. If she were well-qualified, she would have got the job.

4. If you had worked harder last year, you would know English well now.

5. If you had visited the power station you would have seen the new turbine.

III. State the meaning of the Modal + Perfect Infinitive constructions in the following sentences and translate them into Ukrainian:

1. She might have called us while we were out.

2. They can’t have gone to the laboratory.

3. She ought not to have borrowed his car without asking.

4. He could have been injured, but he wasn’t.

5. This line should have been put into operation long ago.

IV. Complete the sentences with too or enough and translate them:

1. She always arrives at the airport … early to take off.

2. Emma’s exam results aren’t good … to go to university.

3. It isn’t cold … to turn on the heating.

4. You put … much water in the measuring glass.

5. There are … many chairs to work in the laboratory.

V. Translate the text into Ukrainian: