Солнцева Практический курс английского языка Ч.1 2011

3. Read the text and find equivalents to the following Russian words and expressions: открывать (показывать), тревожность, влиять, реагировать на что-л., мера (предел), обеспокоенный чем-л., занимать какое-л. место, жилец, неудовлетворенный чем-л., хлопанье дверьми, жалоба, взаимоуважение, разбираться с чем-л., задача первостепенной важности.

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Watching and Speaking: Smart Homes

1. Watch the video “Smart Homes: Controlling Your Home Through Technology” and answer the following questions:

1)What do you need to do to control your entire home?

2)What smart options does CytexOne offer? Is it the only company that sets up smart homes?

3)What can you programme your smart home to do?

4)What can the ―Welcome home‖ button do?

5)What is the most popular programme?

6)What are some people mainly concerned about?

7)How much does a CytexOne system cost?

8)When will all the smart features make their way into the home?

9)Do you agree that sooner or later these smart features will become part of our everyday life?

10)Do you know any examples of smart homes that already exist?

Reading for Information: Inside the House (by Bill Gates)

1. Read the text about Bill Gates‟ smart house and find out whether the following statements are true (T), false (F) or there is no such information (NI) in the text.

1.Bill Gates began thinking about building a new house around 1987 or 1988.

2.Bill Gates wanted a simple and conservative house.

3.The property he found was close to Microsoft.

4.The living space of his house will be the largest in the world.

5.There will be twelve bedrooms in the house.

6.There will be enough space for a hundred guests.

7.The house will have a different approach to every guest.

8.Technology will be imposed on the guests all the time.

9.People will be able to use the technology not only for entertainment, but also

to get some information they need.

10.There will be pictures of Bill Gates and his family all around the house.

11.If Gates and a guest are in a room at the same time the house will always choose the audio and visual imagery Gates prefers.

12.Gates is sure that such ―smart‖ houses will soon become widespread.

13.Gates doesn‘t support the idea that ―smart‖ houses will stop people from socializing.

Inside the House

I began thinking about building a new house in the late 1980s. I wanted craftsmanship but nothing ostentatious. I wanted a house that would accommodate sophisticated, changing technology, but in an unobtrusive way that made it clear that technology was the servant, not the master.

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I found some property on the shore of Lake Washington within an easy commuting distance of Microsoft. Living space will be about average for a large house. The family living room will be about fourteen by twenty-eight feet, including an area for watching television or listening to music. And there will be

cozy spaces for one or two people, although there will also be a reception hall to

entertain one hundred comfortably for dinner.

First thing, as you come in, you'll be presented with an electronic pin to clip on your clothes. This pin will tell the home who and where you are, and the house will use this information to try to meet and even anticipate your needs — all as unobtrusively as possible. Someday instead of needing the pin, it might be

possible to have a camera system with visual-recognition capabilities, but that's

beyond current technology. When it's dark outside, the pin will cause a moving zone of light to accompany you through the house. Unoccupied rooms will be unlit. As you walk down a hallway, you might not notice the lights ahead of you

gradually coming up to full brightness and the lights behind you fading. Music will move with you, too. It will seem to be everywhere, although, in fact, other people in the house will be hearing entirely different music or nothing at all. A movie or the news or a phone call will be able to follow you around the house, too. If you get a phone call, only the handset nearest you will ring.

You won't be confronted by the technology, but it will be readily and easily available. Hand-held remote controls and discreetly visible consoles in each room will put you in charge of your immediate environment and of the house's entertainment system. You'll use the controls to tell the monitors in a room to become visible and what to display. You'll be able to choose from among thousands of pictures, recordings, movies, and television programs, and you'll have all sorts of options available for selecting information.

If you're planning to visit Hong Kong soon, you might ask the screen in your room to show you pictures of the city. It will seem to you as if the photographs are displayed everywhere, although actually the images will materialize on the walls of rooms just before you walk in and vanish after you leave. If you and I are enjoying different things and one of us walks into a room where the other is sitting, the house might continue the audio and visual imagery for the person who was in the room first, or it might change to programming both of us like.

I will be the first home user for one of the most unusual electronic features in my house. The product is a database of more than a million still images, including photographs and reproductions of paintings. If you are a guest, you'll be able to call up portraits of presidents, pictures of sunsets, airplanes, skiing in the Andes, a rare French stamp, the Beatles in 1965, or reproductions of High Renaissance paintings, on screens throughout the house.

I believe quality images will be in great demand on the information highway. This vision that the public will find image-browsing worthwhile is

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obviously unproven. I think the right interface will make it appealing to a lot of people.

A decade from now, access to the millions of images and all the other entertainment opportunities I've described will be available in many homes and will certainly be more impressive than those I'll have when I move into my house. My house will just be getting some of the services a little sooner.

One of the many fears expressed about the information highway is that it will reduce the time people spend socializing. Some worry that homes will

become such cozy entertainment providers that we'll never leave them, and that, safe in our private sanctuaries, we'll become isolated. I don't think that's going to happen. As behaviorists keep reminding us we're social animals. We will have

the option of staying home more because the highway will create so many new

options for home-based entertainment, for communication — both personal and professional — and for employment. Although the mix of activities will change, I think people will decide to spend almost as much time out of their homes.

The highway will not only make it easier to keep up with distant friends, it will also enable us to find new companions. Friendships formed across the network will lead naturally to getting together in person. This alone will make life more interesting. Suppose you want to reach someone to play bridge with. The information highway will let you find card players with the right skill level and availability in your neighborhood, or in other cities or nations.

I enjoy experimenting, and I know some of my concepts for the house will work out better than others. Maybe I'll decide to conceal the monitors behind conventional wall art or throw the electronic pins into the trash. Or maybe I'll grow accustomed to the systems in the house, or even fond of them, and wonder how I did without them. That's my hope.

2. Find words or phrases in the text which mean:

1.the quality that something has when it is beautiful and has been very carefully made (paragraph 1);

2.vulgar and showy, designed to impress or attract attention (par. 1);

3.to provide room for sth (par. 1);

4.advanced, developed and complex (par. 1);

5.hardly noticeable (par. 1);

6.a building or buildings and the land belonging to it or them (par. 2);

7.daily trips by train (to work and back) (par. 2);

8.not far from sth, easy to reach by train

9.usual, ordinary, standard (par. 2);

10.comfortable, warm, and relaxing (par. 2);

11.to receive (someone) as a guest and provide them with food and drink (p. 2);

12.a small piece of metal for fastening or attaching things (par. 3);

13.to expect or predict (par. 3);

14.power or ability (par. 3);

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15.the part of a telephone that is held up to speak into and listen to (par. 3);

16.a device that controls an apparatus from a distance (par. 4);

17.intentionally unobtrusively (par. 4);

18.to put sb in control (par. 4);

19.disappear suddenly and completely (par. 5);

20.worth the time, money, or effort spent; of value or importance (par. 7);

21.a place of refuge or safety (par. 9);

22.with the personal presence or action of the individual specified (par. 10);

23.traditional, usually done or believed (par. 11);

24.to manage to live or survive (par. 11).

3a. Complete the table.

3b. What suffixes are used in 3a to form a) adjectives b) nouns? Think of or find in the dictionary more examples of words formed with the help of these suffixes (5 examples of each suffix).

4.Translate into literary (!) Russian the italicized sentences in the text.

5.Translate into English, using the words from ex. 2 and the box below:

1.Мы с моей девушкой живем в двух шагах друг от друга, поэтому мы часто случайно сталкиваемся на улице.

2.Я изо всех сил старалась найти работу, до которой было бы удобно добираться на машине от моего дома. К счастью, мне представилась такая возможность, и теперь я могу подольше поспать утром. Это очень удобно.

3.Нам нужно встретиться и обсудить все детали. Какое время будет вам удобно?

4.Она вдруг почувствовала себя так уютно на этом мягком удобном диване, что, сама того не ожидая, крепко уснула.

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5.Существует высокая вероятность, что концерт отменят.

6.Никогда не жалей об упущенных возможностях – это бессмысленно!

7.Пока, мам! Не скучай! Я позвоню тебе, как только у меня появится такая возможность.

8.Ты упустил свой шанс. Я постараюсь помочь тебе, но не уверена, что смогу сотворить чудо.

9.Японский робот стóит 1 млн. долларов.

10.Все книги этого автора стоит читать.

11.Этот девайс стоил потраченных денег.

12.Выставка стоила того, чтобы отменить все наши планы на тот день.

13.Твой план не стоит усилий/ сил, потраченных на его реализацию.

14.Да не мой ты свою машину каждый день – она того не стоит.

15.Я заплатил за эту статую 3 000 долларов, но стóит она гораздо больше.

Watching and Speaking: Smart Home Tour.

1. Watch the video “Smarthome Home Tour” and answer the following question: Which of the things shown in the film:

1. are already widely used?

2. were the same as the ones described in the video ―Smart Homes: Controlling

Your Home Through Technology‖ and in the text ―Inside the House‖?

3. did you hear about for the first time?

2. In pairs discuss the following:

1.Which of the possibilities offered by smart homes you would like to have in your own homes? Why?

2.Which possibilities do you consider absolutely unnecessary? Why?

Studying Skills: Summarising Information

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Before you listen make sure you know these vocabulary units:

drainage, insulation against noise, a layer of soil, habitat, an extensive green roof, to drip, a tiled roof.

Reading and Speaking: Houses and Homes

1. Before you read the text answer the following questions:

1. What is home? What is the difference between a house and a home? 2. What is home for you? Where do you feel at home? Why?

3. Can a person have several homes? Explain why. How many homes do you personally have?

4. Can you say that Russia is your home? Could you ever live in another country? Why or why not?

2. Match the following vocabulary units to their Russian equivalents to help you understand the text better:

3. Read and translate the words before the text. Mind that there is an odd word there. Fill in the blanks with the proper words and find an odd word. You must use each word only once.

available / climate / concrete / depend / dwellings / h u t / level / mansion / owner / place / provides / status / swimming-pool / taste / together / water

A house is a dwelling (1) __________ for human habitation. Whether a crude (2) __________ or an elaborate (3) __________, and whatever its degree of intrinsic architectural interest, a house (4) __________ shelter and acts as a focal point for day-to-day living.

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The physical characteristics of a house (5) __________ on climate and location, (6) __________ building materials, technical skill, and such cultural determinants as the social (7) __________ and economic resources of the (8)

__________. In rural areas until modern times, people and animals were often housed (9) _________; today's houses frequently include storage, work, and guest areas, with several separate spaces for different activities. Houses can be wholly below ground (10) __________, dug out of the earth, or can be partly below and partly above the ground, most contemporary houses are built above ground (over cellars in cold climates). The primary structural materials employed are wood, earth, brick, and stone, with (11) __________ and steel increasingly used, especially for city (12) __________; many of these materials are also used in combination. Choice of material depends on prevalent style, individual (13) __________, and availability. Depending on (14) __________

and available fuels, provisions may be made for heating. In modern industrialized areas, running (15) __________ and interior toilets are common. Whatever its size and conveniences, a house both contains and stands for the basic human social unit.

4. Split into pairs and discuss the following:

―Whatever its size and conveniences, a house both contains and stands for the basic human social unit‖. How do you understand this statement? Do you agree with it? Explain your point of view.

5a. Match the following English proverbs to their Russian equivalents:

1. The wider we roam, the welcomer a. Дома и стены помогают. home.

2. Every dog is a lion at home.

3. Men make houses, women make homes.

4. Every bird likes its own nest.

5. East or West, home is best.

5b. Choose one proverb and comment on it. Write 140-180 words. Try to use the active grammar and vocabulary of the previous units.

Listening and Vocabulary: Compounds and dictionary work

1. How many new words can you make by combining a word on the left with a word on the right? Use your dictionaries to give definitions to the words you make, then provide their translation.

2. Listen to the conversations. They contain examples of some of the compounds in ex. 1. After each conversation, discuss these two questions:

1.Who is talking to whom?

2.What exactly are they talking about?

3.Here are some lines from the conversations. Fill the gaps with a compound word.

a.She's so cute. Is she __________ yet?

b.Do you think you could possibly water my __________ for me?

c.Don't worry, I know how __________ you are. I'll make sure everything stays clean and tidy.

d.Let's give her a spectacular __________ party when she gets back.

e.Not me. I'm the original happy __________, remember? Four kids,

__________ cakes, __________ vegetables!

f.We're having a __________ party on the 12th. Can you come?

g.'Yeah. Mind you, there's much more __________ to do!' ‗That's a drag!'

h.I never thought you'd be so __________.

4. Translate into English using the words from ex.1:

1.В субботу у нас вечеринка по поводу новоселья. Приходи! – Приду! Что подарить? – Какое-нибудь комнатное растение.

2.Я не буду этот салат, я ем только собственноручно выращенные овощи.

3.Ты же домохозяйка, с чего тебе уставать? – Не знаешь – не говори! Ведение домашнего хозяйства отнимает очень много времени и сил.

4.Когда я доделаю домашнюю работу, мне придется приниматься за работу по дому – сегодня мне надо приготовить ужин, погладить и протереть пыль.

5.Когда я уезжаю отдыхать за границу, я так скучаю по дому, что это портит мне весь отпуск.

6.Мне жалко бездомных.

7.Моя бабушка сильно болеет и не может выходить из дома.

8.Корабль уже направлялся домой, когда он попал в бурю и утонул.

9.Ребекка такая чистоплотная!

10.Их котенку всего 2 месяца, а он уже приучен к туалету.

11.Я слежу за своим здоровьем и ем только домашнюю еду.

12.Этим летом я наконец-то еду в свой родной город. Я не был там уже 8 лет. Уверен, что там все очень изменилось. – А ты будешь устраивать вечеринку по поводу возвращения домой?

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