Коммуникативная организация и языковые средства восприятия иноязычного текста практикум по английскому языку для инженеров. Учебное пособие

6.You’re not well this morning. You _____ _____ to work.

7.James isn’t well today. He _____ _____ to the doctor.

8.This experiment is too expensive. We _____ _____ an investor.

9.You _____ _____ worried about this scientific experiment, everything is OK.

10.He is one of the best experts in this sphere. He _____ _____ such a result.

Ex. 7. a Read the words and phrases from the text about the world’s worst scientific predictions given below. Pay attention to their pronunciation and meanings.

predict prediction be frightened amount

b Read the text. Which prediction has actually come true?

Getting It Wrong!

Ever since ancient times «experts» have been predicting the future. If you were frightened that the end of the world was coming in the year

2000, you needn’t have worried: the same prediction was made in the years AD 500, 1000 and 1500. But it’s not just astrologers who get it wrong. Here is a selection of the world’s worst predictions in science made by known people.

«It doesn’t matter what he does, he will never amount to anything.»

Albert Einstein’s teacher talking to his father, 1895.

«I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.»

Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943.

«Airplanes are interesting toys, but they will be of no military value.» Marechal Ferdinand Foch, French professor of military strategy, 1910.

«The idea of space travel is nonsense.» Sir Harold Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, 1957. Two weeks later the

Russian launched Sputnik (the world’s first space satellite).

«The problem with television is that people must sit and keep their eyes glued to the screen, and the average American family just hasn’t time for it.» New York Times, 1939.

51

«By 2000, computers and other devices linked by telephones and radio waves will allow millions of people to exchange electronic mail, shop, work at home, take classes, pay taxes, plan holidays and entertain themselves.» James Martin in the book «The Wired Society», 1977.

«By 2000, more than 1,000 people will live and work on the moon, according to NASA predictions.» Omni Future Almanac, 1982.

«Everything that can be invented has already been invented.»

Charles H Duell, Chief of the US Office of Patents, 1899.

(from Cutting Edge: Intermediate Student’s Book / Sarah Cunningham, Peter Moor. –

London: Longman, Pearson Education Limited, 2005. – P. 92)

c Which of the «wrong» predictions do you find most amusing?

Why? Can you think of any other predictions that didn’t come true?

Ex. 8. a Can you imagine your life without the telephone? But do you know who invented it? Listen to the text «Who really invented the telephone and the radio?» and find if you are right. Pay attention to some words and names from the text.

(from Cutting Edge: Elementary Student’s Book / Sarah Cunningham, Peter Moor. – London: Longman, Pearson Education Limited, 2005. – P. 63)

b Answer the questions to the text.

1.Who was Alexander Graham Bell? What was his nationality?

2.Who was Antonio Meucci? What was his nationality?

3.What did they invent?

4.When did they work together?

5.Why didn’t Antonio Meucci take his idea of «a talking telegraph» to the US Patent Office?

6.What was the official date of the invention?

7.What did Elisha Gray invent just two hours later?

8.Who was Guglielmo Marconi? What was his nationality?

9.Who did he steal his great idea from?

10.When did Marconi win a Nobel Prize for his invention?

11.When did Nikola Tesla die?

52

12. What did the US Congress decide that year?

c Look at the tapescript of the text on page 69. Check the answers to the questions.

Ex. 9. Complete the text on page 69 with the right forms of the verbs in brackets in Past Simple Tense. Practise reading and pronunciation.

Ex. 10. Prepare a presentation / a slide show about any famous scientist or inventor who played an important role in your sphere of study.

PART 2. DISCUSSING MODERN INVENTIONS

Ex. 1. Look at the photographs below. Which modern inventions are shown here?

1.nuclear power station

2.rocket

3.submarine

4.PC

53

Ex. 2. Can you think of any other modern inventions? What do you think of the top 10 inventions of the 20th century? What is # 1?

Ex. 3. Read the words and phrases from the text about the top 10 modern inventions given below. Pay attention to their pronunciation and meanings.

Ex. 4. Read the text. Match the parts A-J with the inventions.

Top 10 Inventions of the 20th Century

There can be no doubt that the twentieth century is one of the most remarkable in human history for its previously unparalleled rate of technological advances and scientific discoveries, a rate that continues to this day. In fact, there were so many new gadgets invented and discoveries made in the last century that it’s difficult to pare the list down to just the ten. However, I think I have managed to whittle it down to those ten innovations or technologies that have had the greatest influence on humanity – both positively and the negatively:

#10 Nuclear power

#9 Personal computer

#8 Airplane

#7 Automobile

#6 Rocket

#5 Submarine

#4 Antibiotics

#3 Radio

#2 Television

#1 The Internet

54

A.It’s difficult to imagine our world today without them. Of course, they have been around since World War Two, but they were clunky, massively expensive things that had all the calculating power of a brick. When Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs introduced the Apple in 1976, however, it changed everything and the rest is, as they say, history. Today, of course, they are everywhere and we have become so dependent upon them that many people almost feel naked without one. For some, they even provide the very means of maintaining a livelihood: we use them to keep track of our finances, write books, design logos and sell real estate.

B.It was to the twentieth century what steam power had been to the nineteenth: a game changer. Suddenly humanity had a power source that didn’t pollute, was efficient and practically unlimited, and so had

the potential to change the planet overnight. Unfortunately, it was a two-edged sword in that this same energy source could be used to create the most destructive weapons in history, threatening human survival with its very presence.

C.It is society’s baby-sitter, news source, teacher, entertainer, and story-teller. When in competent hands, it can be useful. Mostly, though, it fills our days with vapidity, and is the single greatest reason that families no longer eat in the kitchen or dining room anymore, but instead huddle in the living room eating microwavable food and spilling soft drinks on the sofa. Still, even while we pretend we hate it, we can’t help but seeing what’s on tonight.

D.Though under development in Europe during the nineteenth century, it didn’t really become a practical and reliable source of transportation until the twentieth century. It also brought about a revolution in the market place, suddenly making it possible to truck in goods that otherwise would be impossible to acquire. Most of all, Henry Ford’s assembly-line production style made it affordable and accessible to the average person.

E.Few people today can appreciate the impact the advent of it had on the twentieth century. It suddenly made it possible for a person to be heard from hundreds or even thousands of miles away without the use of a wire, and it was the center of family life through the end of the

55

Second World War. Today, it seems to only be useful in the car as a means of keeping the driver from falling asleep behind the wheel.

F.Just as the locomotive made the world a smaller place in the nineteenth century, it did the same for us in the twentieth century, shrinking our planet to the point that a person could be anywhere in the world in a matter of hours. Not only have they made travel quick and safe, but provide many other services as well: from crop dusting and fighting forest fires to overnight delivery of packages and chasing hurricanes. They have also revolutionized warfare, turning battle into a long-range affair fought at arm’s length by machines of such sophistication that the way wars are fought has completely changed.

G.It was invented in the 1880’s but in the twentieth century it came into its own. Today, with the advent of nuclear power – which gave it nearly unlimited range – it has become the capital warship in every first-class Navy in the world.

H.While it was first invented and used by the Chinese over three thousand years ago it wasn’t until the twentieth century that it came into its own and became more than just a dazzling amusement or a largely harmless but still effective «terror weapon» for ancient armies. In the twentieth century, they became bigger and more powerful. Most importantly, they became controllable, which suddenly made them useful both as weapons of war and, even more vitally, as our means of accessing outer space.

I.Until Alexander Fleming discovered it in 1928, almost any little bug that someone picked up was potentially fatal. Once it came on the scene, however, death became rare, resulting in a greatly reduced mortality rate and much longer life-span.

J.While the airplane shrank our planet to the point that one could fly from New York to London in six hours, it made it possible to be there in a few seconds. It also gives anyone the ability to buy and sell almost anything imaginable, find old school mates, watch the latest YouTube videos, and even find their perfect life partner. Where would we be

without it?

(by Jeff Danelek from http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-inventions-of-the-20th-century.php)

56

Ex. 5. Which invention mentioned above do you find really useful for your life / future job? Why?

Ex. 6. Complete the sentences about one more modern invention -

1.GPS stands for the Global Positioning System. It _____ you your location anywhere on the Earth.

2.The user has a GPS receiver, which _____ the signals from the satellites.

3.A GPS receiver _____ the distance from the satellites.

4.You _____GPS receivers in your hand or mount in a vehicle, such as a car or ship.

5.You _____ a GPS receiver which as small as an MP3 player.

6.A satellite _____ a signal to the receiver at the speed of light.

7.Your receiver _____ your exact location if it doesn’t take signals from at least three satellites.

8.Each satellite _____ a different position and time signal to the receiver.

Ex. 7. Review Passive Voice. Complete the sentences with the right form of one of these verbs. There can be some variants.

create create design design examine use use involve pay discover

1.This snake-arm robot ___ _____ by OC Robotics.

2.Rolls-Royce has been a motoring icon for over 100 years, and it ___

_____ in England.

3.Each device ___ _____ carefully going through a lot of stages on the assembly line.

4.It ___ _____ where the access is difficult or where there might be danger.

5.Barcodes ___ (not) _____ much attention by the majority of

consumers, but these codes ___ fairly recently _____ in a working fashion, in 1970.

6. Robots ___ _____ in the aerospace, medicine, and nuclear industries.

57

7.The whole team ___ _____ in the creation and production of this gadget.

8.The first inventor of the wheel remains unknown. What is known, is the fact that the first wheel ___ _____ approximately 3,000 years ago.

9.The camera ___ first _____ by Joseph N. Niepce, a retired French Military Officer. He invented his first camera in 1826 in France.

10.Hundreds of new devices and gadgets ___ _____ every year.

Ex. 8. Watch the video «Knowledge is Great – Part 2»: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/knowledge- great/knowledge-great-part-2. Do online exercises.

Ex. 9. Watch the video «Innovation is Great» from http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/britain-great/innovation- great-part-2. Do online exercises.

Ex. 10. Prepare a presentation of any innovation / interesting or unusual device. Imagine that you are on the committee for the International Innovation Awards. Decide which innovation / device should be given the award.

PART 3.

ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

Ex. 1. Do you think information technologies and computers play an important role in your future profession? Why / Why not?

Ex. 2. Read some words from the text about James Martin’s predictions given below. Pay attention to their pronunciation and meanings.

alien intelligence intelligent

58

Ex. 3. a Read the text and answer the questions.

Getting It Right?

James Martin, the author who correctly predicted the invention and uses of the Internet in 1977, later wrote another book called «After the Internet: Alien Intelligence». There are some of his predictions here.

«All the things we need at present to prove our identity will disappear: credit cards, driving licenses, keys, and so on. Computer programmes will be able to recognize our unique appearance. Doors will open, cars will start, pay phones and parking meters will automatically bill you.»

«It will be a very comfortable world, there will be technology to keep your house tidy and the grass in your garden green.

Televisions will be able to study and learn their owners’ reactions and suggest programmes to watch. It will make sure that commercials that annoy you are not repeated.»

«The world economy will change. The wealth of a country will depend on its workers’ technical knowledge. India has already become a high-tech superpower. Any developing country could do the same in ten years.»

«Computers themselves will design and «breed» new computers programmed in ways that no human being can understand.»

«We will have machines that are a billion times more intelligent than we are, but only in narrow, specific ways. Computers won’t ever be intelligent in the ways we are. Machines will do what they are good at and people will do what they are good at. Humans will

do the creative tasks, leaving the boring work to computers.»

(from Cutting Edge: Intermediate Student’s Book / Sarah Cunningham, Peter Moor. –

London: Longman, Pearson Education Limited, 2005. – P. 93)

b Answer the questions to the text.

1.Which of James Martin’s predictions would you like to happen?

2.Which do you find worrying?

3.Which predictions do you think will come true?

Ex. 4. Are these sentences the same or different from what James Martin predicted?

1.We won’t have to carry so many forms of identification because machines will be able to recognize us.

59

2.We won’t have to pay for telephones.

3.Technology will do a lot of the housework that humans do now.

4.Our TVs will be able to analyze our tastes.

5.Developing countries will become wealthy if they educate their workers correctly.

6.Computers will be able to create newer computers without human help.

7.One day, computers will be able to do everything that human beings can do.

8.Humans will no longer have to do boring tasks.

Ex. 5. In all predictions in the text «Getting It Right?» you can find will or won’t. Review Future Simple Tense and the phrases below.

Ex. 6. Look at the predictions below. Add the phrases above to show what you really think.

1.All housework will be done by robots.

2.All teaching will be done by computers.

3.Chinese will be the world’s number one language.

4.There will be no newspapers.

5.People will live to the age of 130.

6.Cars will report bad driving to the police.

7.Roads will become more dangerous.

8.The quality of computers will be higher.

9.There will be no need for dentists.

10.The number of people learning English will increase.

Ex. 7. Tim Berners-Lee invented something very important. Do you know what it was? Read the text and complete the fact file.

60