Английский для магистрантов. Практикум-1

UNIT 8

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Прочитайте статью и переведите ее на русский язык. Объясните значение выделенных слов и словосочетаний на английском.

Выпишите все характеристики нового летательного аппарата, которые выгодно отличают его от остального авиационного вооружения.

Babbage Technology monitor

Joining the Drones Club

by The Economist online

THE future of air power is likely to be unmanned. It may also be surprisingly small. Reapers and Predators grab the headlines, but these big, high-profile drones are already outnumbered by small and cheap but capable craft.

One good example is the RQ-11B Raven, made by AeroVironment of Monrovia, California, and widely used by America’s armed forces. It lookslikea model aircraft. Whendisassembled itfitsintoabackpack.

Launching it is just a matter of snapping the parts together and

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throwing it into the air, whence it is carried aloft by an electric propeller. It weighs just two kilograms. That means the American army’s entire annual purchase of almost 1,300 Ravens is lighter than a single fully armed Reaper. Pilots might dismiss Ravens as radio-controlled toys, but they are popular with soldiers and more are being rushed to Afghanistan.

At its simplest, a Raven acts as a flying pair of binoculars that can look over the next hill, or escort a convoy from above. Being small and quiet, it can get close to targets unobserved, for a good look. Unlike the bigger drones, whose limited numbers mean that officers in the field are in constant competition for their services, Ravens are abundant and thus generally available to provide instant video imagery, day or night. The global-positioning system tells it exactly where it is, and special display software means the images it sends back can be overlaid on a map to produce a moving picture of what is going on on the ground. A Raven’s operator can thus call down artillery fire with lethal precision without having to see the target directly. For extra accuracy, Raven can also mark targets with a laser illuminator.

Another reason for Raven’s popularity is that it is easy to use. The controlling hardware is a tablet computer with buttons on the side, something like a portable games machine, and most people can get the hang of it in a couple of days. Predators, by contrast, were originally flown by real, albeit ground-based, pilots — and, though high demand for operators has led to a new rapid-training course for groundlings, this course still takes 22 weeks to complete.

Ravens are now being upgraded to use a communications system that provides enough bandwidth for 40 of them to fly in the same area, instead of the current four. This digital upgrade also turns the drones into networked devices that can communicate with other robots and systems.

AeroVironment is collaborating with DARPA, America’s main weap- ons-research agency, to use this ability to network in a project called HART (Heterogeneous Airborne Reconnaissance Team), which has a pool of drones including Ravens that fly autonomously over the battlefield. When a soldier wants to see a particular area or follow a specific vehicle, he just clicks on it on a map. The system selects a drone from

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those available in the area, flies it into position and sends back pictures with no need for human control.

Future Ravens may be able to strike as well as scout. The American army has experimented with turning the drones into miniature bombers, capable of delivering grenade-sized weapons. Such bombs would be enough to destroy a small vehicle or take out the occupants of a particular room with high precision and little collateral damage.

For greater punch, AeroVironment has a prototype version of a lethal drone called Switchblade. This resembles Raven, but is a flying bomb, packed with explosives. Its guidance software enables it to lock on to and follow a rapidly moving target, even if that target is trying to evade its attention. A mixture of Ravens and Switchblades could thus make an effective hunter-killer team.

As electronics get ever smaller, small drones get more capable. At the moment, Ravens cost around $56,000 each, and economies of scale should bring this down. By contrast, machines like the Predator cost at least $5 m, and another $5,000 an hour to fly. That is how the Pentagon can afford to buy so many Ravens, compared with just a few dozen Predators and Reapers each year. From the army’s point of view, small is definitely beautiful1.

2. Переведите словосочетания на английский язык:

самоходная машина, щелкнуть мышью по названию объекта на карте, повлечь за собой серьезные разрушения, цифровой фотоаппарат, ударить противника кулаком по лицу, обновить программу, вооруженный до зубов боец, запустить воздушного змея, подниматься в воздух при помощи пропеллера, современное транспортное средство, перевозить взрывчатые вещества, ядерное оружие, переносное записывающее устройство.

3. Прочитайте и переведите на русский язык статью из World Science.

Выразите свое отношение к прочитанному в нескольких предложениях на английском языке.

1 https://www.economist.com/babbage/2011/08/15/joining-the-drones-club

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Tattoos, Piercings MayAdvertise Good Health

Special to World Science

Tattoos and body piercings — common worldwide since ancient times — may exist because they effectively advertise robust health and good genes to potential mates, a study proposes.

Biologists theorize that many risky, costly and apparently useless behaviors persist among animals because of what they communicate to potential mates, rivals and others. For example, an expensive Rolex watch may be no more useful or prettier than a Timex, but for some people it serves a function by creating an aura of wealth.

Tattoos and body piercings — common worldwide since ancient times — may persist because they effectively advertise robust health and good genes to potential mates, a study proposes.

A field of evolutionary biology called signaling theory examines such behaviors. “Honest signals” are defined as signals that are hard to fake and thus make better advertisements. For instance, the Rolex may not show true financial solidity; you might have just overdrawn your credit card or be running a Ponzi scheme. On the other hand, if you stick a metal pin through your cheek without suffering any ill effects that may actually say something about your immune system, especially if disinfection hasn’t been invented yet. Thus, it could be an honest signal of health, if perhaps not of the sharpest mind.

Slawomir Koziel of the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Anthropology in Wroclaw, Poland, and colleagues decided to explore whether body-decorated people actually do have better health than average. They measured levels of bodily symmetry in 200 people with and without tattooes and unconventional piercings. Many scientists consider such symmetry as an indicator of healthy development. Symmetry was significantly higher in the tattooed-and-pierced group, especially in men, the researchers found. “Higher body symmetry of the men having tattoos or piercing indicates that this type of body decoration in the Western society can be related to the honest signal of biologicalqualityonlyformen,”Kozielandcolleagueswrote,describing their findings in a paper slated for publication in the research journal Evolution and Human Behavior1.

1 https://www.world-science.net

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4. Подготовьте презентацию на английском языке о последних достижениях в области науки и техники. Используйте приведенные ниже рекомендации:

10PowerpointTipsforPreparingaProfessionalPresentation by Tina Sieber

Presentations — whether they are made with Powerpoint or other applications, are a great way to support a speech, visualize complicated concepts or focus attention on a subject. However, a bad presentation can achieve the opposite. Badly designed slides with too much text or bad graphics can distract or worse, irritate the audience.

Here’s is a short guide that will help you create presentations with a professional look and concise content, avoiding the most common mistakes.

The first thing that gives a professional touch to any presentation is the design. Presentation Helper has a large selection of free Powerpoint templates for a variety of topics. However, whether you download a free template or create your own, keep the following in mind:

1. Compose Slides

Don’t copy & paste slides from different sources. Keep the design very basic and simple. It shall not distract. Pick an easy to read font face. Carefully select font sizes for headers and text. Leave room for highlights, such as images or take home messages. Decorate scarcely but well. Restrict the room your design takes up and don’t ever let the design restrict your message.

2. Use Consistency

Consistently use the same font face and sizes on all slides. Match colors. You may use your company logo, highlight headers, create a special frame for figures/images or the whole slide but don’t overload your slides with these elements. A poor choice of colors can shatter a presentation. If you’re unsure which colors match best, use ColorBlender to get a set of up to six matching colors, simply by moving a set of RGB sliders back and forth.

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3. Use Contrast

Black text on a white background will always be the best but also the most boring choice. If you want to play with colors, keep it easy on the eyes and always keep good contrast in mind so that your readers do not have to strain to guess what you’ve typed on your slide.

4. Apply Brilliance

Carefully use color to highlight your message! Don’t weaken the color effect by using too many colors at an instance. Make a brilliant choice: match colors for design and good contrast to highlight your message.

5. KISS

Keep It Straight and Simple. Keywords only. No sentences! Never read your slides, talk freely. Remember that your slides are only there to support, not to replace your talk!You’ll want to tell a story, describe your data or explain circumstances, and only provide keywords through your slides. If you read your slides and if you do it slow and badly, the audience will get bored and stop listening.

6. Take Home Message

Always express a Take Home Message. It’s your message, a summary of your data or story. Make it a highlight that stands out. Images are key elements of every presentation. Your audience has ears and eyes — they’ll want to see what you’re talking about, and a good visual cue will help them to understand your message much better.

7. Add Images

Have more images in your slides than text. But do not use images to decorate! Images can reinforce or complement your message. Use images to visualize and explain. A picture can say more than a thousandwords.Ifyoudon’thaveyourownimages,youcanbrowseFlickr or Google’s image search for material. If this is a very public and official presentation however, you need to keep copyrights in mind.

8. Don’t Be Silly

Use animations and media sparingly. Use animations to draw attention, for example to your Take Home Message. Use animations to clarify a model or emphasize an effect. Your target i.e. your audience,

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defines the content of your presentation. For example, you won’t be able to teach school kids about the complicated matters of economy. However, you may be able to explain what economy is in the first place and why it is important.

9. Keep YourAudience In Mind

What do they know? What do you need to tell them? What do they expect? What will be interesting to them? What can you teach them? What will keep them focused? Answer these questions and boil your slides down to the very essentials. In your talk, describe the essentials colorfully and choose your weapons i.e. text, images and animations wisely. If you lose the attention of your audience, everything will be lost — it won’t matter how ingenious your design or how brilliantly you picked colors and keywords.

10. Practice

A well-prepared and enthusiastic talk will help you convince your audience and maintain their attention. There are some key points that define a good talk. Know your slides inside out. Speak freely. Speak with confidence — loud and clear. Don’t speak too fast. Maintain eye contact with the audience1.

1 https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-tips-for-preparing-a-professional-pre- sentation/

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APPENDIX

APPLYING YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1. Передайте данную информацию, используя прямую речь:

1.Yesterday spokesman informed the public about the company’s plans to expand toAsia.

2.Mr. Brooks believes they will earn big profit the following year.

3.Reporter doubted whether the star was sober.

4.This team was supposed to inform the public of what is happing during the trial.

5.A retired American general claimed that Dutch soldiers failed to prevent the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 in part because the presence of gay troops in the Dutch military.

6.Lisa Singleton, an Energy Future spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview that they were taking advantage of the current markets.

7.The Head of the Board insisted on Vice-President’s resigning.

8.They had to reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society was guilty rather than the lawbreaker.

9.Majority ofAmericans thought it was time to restore theAmerican precept that each individual was accountable for his actions.

10.Society and housewives in particular were enraged about new law passed a week before.

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2. Прочитайте статью и сформулируйте ее основную идею на английском языке:

Customer Service OnlyAs GoodAs What YOU Create

by Robert Bacal

When you see these words: Customer Service, what comes to mind? Speedy service? Low prices? A ‘no-questions-asked’ return policy? Okay, these attributes certainly define some of the aspects of customer service,butspeakmoretotheoverallcompanypoliciesandguidelines that have been crafted, not specifically to the individual providing the service.

It’s all very well for a small business to advertise its customer service policies by publishing such statements as: ‘We guarantee your order will be delivered to you within 24 hours of placement’or how about the ubiquitous ‘We are so confident you’ll love our product, we offer a “no-hassle” return policy should you be dissatisfied.’ These are fine customerservicepractices,butmayberendereduselessiftheemployee who interacts with your customers has an attitude that totally negates your company’s customer services practice with regard to friendly service.

Consider this scenario between a customer and company sales representative.Acustomer is attempting to take advantage of a time-limited instant rebate that expired two minutes ago:

Сustomer: I would have been here earlier in the day, but my babysitter was late, then my car wouldn’t start so I had to wait for the towtruck for over an hour, then …………………!

Sales rep: The ad clearly states that the rebate is effective only from 9:00 a.m. ’til 11:00 a.m. You are late.

Customer: I realize that I’m late by a few minutes………..

Sales rep: Rules are rules, and you weren’t here between 9 and 11. I cannot give you a rebate.

Customer: I was hoping you could make an exception for me. I’m a regular customer in good standing and ……

Sales rep: I will not make an exception. I will not give you the rebate.

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Does this sound like an employee concerned about delivering customer service? The employee sounds more concerned about following the company policy to the letter and less concerned about manners. So anxious was he (let’s hope) about following the rules, he constantly interrupted the customer, and he showed no empathy for the customer’s situation. So how could the sales rep have better handled the exchange? He could have demonstrated empathy for the customer’s unfortunatelyhecticmorning.Andalso,hecouldhaveofferedtospeak with his supervisor about making an exception for ‘a valuable customer’.

Sowecanseethatthesalesrepreallyknowsthestorerulewithregards to this particular offer, but very little else about good customer service. Bad for business, and bad for your company’s reputation.

Ensure that potential employees know how much you value (and reward!) civility, empathy, and the ability to know when to bend the rules occasionally.

This business brief is based on Perfect Phrases for Managing Your Small Business, published by McGraw-Hill. It’s an outstanding book for all small business owners and covers everything from starting up, determining whether small business ownership is for you, customer service issues and much more. Best of all it’s under $10.001.

3. Переведите статью на русский язык.

Выразите свое мнение по поводу обсуждаемой проблемы. Используйте выражения из статьи.

Abuse of InternetAccess at Work

When this was written originally, the Internet was less available, and lessessential.Sincethen,almosteveryworkplacehasemployeeaccess to the Internet, and email, so the issue of abusing Internet access at work has escalated. Most human resource (HR) departments have to face this issue. Here’s some advice on policy to try to keep some balance.

1 https://work911.com/articles/

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