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Файл:Иностранный язык в профессиональной коммуникации. Английский язык для студентов-магистрантов. Учебное пособие
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2. Translate these words and word combinations into English:
полагаться на кого-л.; транзакция (групповая операция); пугать,
устрашать; критический элемент; внешнее периферийное устройство;
выполнять резервное копирование; понятно, доходчиво; дисковая матрица;
сервер броадкастов; сетевое хранилище; пропускная способность; сеть
хранения данных; объединение; реализация, ввод в действие.
3. Answer the questions to the text:
1. Name 3 areas of computing that companies rely on more and more.
2. What can intimidate even the most experienced network manager?
3. What 3 types of peripheral storage devices do most companies rely on for
backing up data and storing information?
4. What type of data-intensive application do companies rely more heavily on?
5. What has kept the SCSI bus from evolving rapidly?
6. What traditional LAN interface is mentioned in the text?
7. Name 2 drawbacks of NAS.
Text 13. Futures
Talking to Professor Cochrane is probably as close as you can get to time
travelling without leaving the current dimension, as his vision stretches far into this
century and beyond. His seemingly unshakeable conviction is that anything is
possible if you really put your mind to it. In fact, ВТ (British Telecom) is already
sitting on a host of innovations poised to blow your mind during this century.
Designed for the 21st century, Peter Cochrane's signet ring is built around a
chip that holds all the details of his passport, bank account, medical records and
driving licence. According to Cochrane, it's set to revolutionise shopping.
The ring is already a fully operational prototype, but it will be some time
before you'll be trading your credit card in for the ultimate fashion accessory.
It's not just jewellery that's set to get smarter. One of the biggest projects down
at the Lab is looking at artificial intelligence as a way of creating software programs,
networks, telephones and machines with a degree of intelligence built in. By sensing
their environment, they should be able to develop new capacities as demands change.
“I have software that is breeding, which is interchanging genes and creating adaptable
behaviour. This means you'll see the network come alive — itwill watch what you do
and it will adapt.”
It doesn't stop there, though, as ВТ has taken artificial intelligence one step
further and created machines that are solving their own problems. “We've created
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solutions that a human being could never have dreamed of. We have solutions, and
although we don't understand how they work, they do work. We're effectively
increasing the speed of evolution”, says Cochrane.
It's already good to talk, but with artificially intelligent phones on the way it
will be even better. Cochrane is at present working on smart phones that can translate
English into German, Japanese and French in real-time. “Some of it's rocket science,
but a lot of it's extremely simple. What we've built is a kernel of understanding inside
a machine that extracts meaning from the sentence itself — at the moment we can do
simple things such as phrase books,” he says.
The system uses a non-linear approach that sends the English to the
understanding kernel in the machine and then fans it out to all the other languages
simultaneously.
There's no doubt that Cochraneis putting a lot of faith in intelligent machines,
particularly when it comes to cutting through the deluge of information that he says is
the downside of the electronic revolution. BT's solution is the development of
intelligent agents that watch, learn and start communicating.
It's not all work down at the Lab, though. BT's also involved in an on-going
trial that it claims will revolutionise our leisure time, in particular the way we watch
TV. “We put people on the Internet and broadcast TV at the same time, so that the
people at home could actually influence what was happening on their TV sets. As a
result, it became interactive and therefore more active.”
ВТ has its fingers in multiple pies and has made biotechnology another core
focus of R&D. “Personally, I think hospitals are very dangerous places to be. There
are lots of viable alternatives. For a start, we can stop bunging up hospital wards by
putting people online.” ВТ has already developed a pack for heart attack victims that
monitors their progress and uploads information via a radio link back to the hospital.
So what will the future hold for us if Peter Cochrane and his futurologists have
their way? Well, by the year 2015, it's likely that we will be eclipsed by a
supercomputer more powerful than the human brain. And if that's got visions of
Terminator dancing in your head, don't worry — Cochrane's got it covered. “I'd really
hate one morning to find myself considered an infestation of this planet. Our
inclination is to nurture life and not to destroy it. Before we let loose a bunch of
artificial intelligence, we ought to be thinking through the necessity of building in a
number of rules that hold your life as a human being sacrosanct.”
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Comprehension check:
1. Translate the text and find the sentences which best summarise each
paragraph.
2. Translate these words and word combinations into English:
убеждение, уверенность; одновременно, синхронно; намерение,
склонность; заботиться, лелеять; священный, неприкосновенный.
3. Answer the questions to the text:
1. Of what is Professor Cochrane completely convinced?
2. What is stored in the professor's signet ring?
3. What will change dramatically when we start using rings like these?
4. What is the ВТ lab developing with artificial intelligence?
5. What effect are the professor's Al experiments having on evolution?
6. What does the professor see as the negative side of the electronic revolution?
7. What was the result of combining the Internet with TV?
8. What developments does the professor suggest in the field of biotechnology?
UNIT 2.
PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIOLOGY
Text 1. Social Deviance
Words and phrases to the text:
1) deviance (n) — отклонение о нормы
2) deviant (adj) — девиантный, отклоняющийся от нормы
3) stranglehold (n) — мертвая хватка; господство; засилие
4) tick (v) — жить, действовать
5) mold (n) — форма, шаблон
6) catch (n) — выгода
7) fraud (n) — обманщик, мошенник
8) plight (n) — состояние, положение
9) manner (n) — стиль, манера
10) to be on the lookout — быть начеку
11) road rage (n) — агрессивное поведение на дороге
12) fix-all (n) — решение, устраивающее всех
13) craved (adj) — страстно желающий
14) serene (adj) — безоблачный, ясный, тихий
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Deviance is defined as the recognized violation of cultural norms. This is an
extremely broad definition, and depending on who is explaining it, the above
definition can mean a variety of different things. It is, however, generally assumed by
the general public that anyone who is considered “deviant” is putting a negative
stranglehold on society. This is not necessarily true. The types of people that become
deviants is another issue that is heated with controversy. What exactly is the makeup
of a deviant? What makes him tick? These are all questions that “experts” have been
trying to answer for years. Deviance is exhibited in many forms throughout society.
Deviance is not necessarily negative either. Sometimes the norms of society need to
be violated so that new norms can be enforced. Society repeatedly attempts to put
many social controls on its people. Anyone who does not fit the perfect mold of the
zombie-citizen would be considered a deviant. If there was no deviance, this planet
would be comprised of billions of mindless robot-like people who are simply guided
from an unseen power that tells them when to get up in the morning, when to go to
bed at night, how much money to give to the government, and what decisions they
can and can't make under their own free will.
However, there are also negative deviants. These people are the ones who are
starved for attention. These are the people who attempt to convince you how
“disturbed” or “depressed” they are. These are the people who claim to be evil and
dark. However, they have a catch. When you expose them for the frauds they are, the
roles are reversed, and it is their claim that the accuser just doesn't understand their
plight. But if they aren't hurting anyone, does society really owe them a punishment?
These are examples of the two extremes. Somewhere between the two lies a
middle ground. Any free thinking person would have to be considered a deviant.
Anyone who questions the morality of society's laws would be a deviant. Citizens
aren't supposed to think about the laws, they are simply supposed to obey them.
When they openly question them, society has taught the others to look down upon
them as an “extremist”.
Deviance does not always need to be looked upon in a negative manner. There
is no need for society to always be on the lookout for a cure, or a way to rehabilitate
deviant persons. Violent criminal deviants are dealt with in this manner, as are
mentally unstable deviants (according to whom though? “Road Rage” is now a
certified “condition”). However, these types of deviants only make up a small
fraction of our population. Quite simply, it was a large group of deviants that wrote
the Declaration of Independence and fought for the very existence of the United
States of America. Did the founding fathers need to be “handled” by society because
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they did not fit the perfect mold? They certainly were, but we now consider them
heroes.
Deviance covers such a broad base that no easy “fix-all” will ever come close
to solving it. Many bleeding heart idealists would like to see people living in some
serene utopia, but that will never happen. People are individual thinking, breathing,
living organisms. The more society attempts to mold people into the perfect model
citizen, the more they will want to rebel against it. Not because they are craved for
attention, but because they know who they are. People do not need society to give
them an identity. Most people know who they are already. People cannot always look
to society for the answers to all their problems. Of course, someone who did that
would fit the perfect mold, and wouldn't be a deviant, but sometimes people need to
think and do for themselves. If that makes every free thinker a deviant, so be it.
Exercise 1. Answer the questions to the text.
1. What is the definition of deviance?
2. Is a person who is considered “deviant” always a “bad” guy?
3. Are there many types of deviance in the society?
4. Who attempts to put many social controls on people?
5. What person would be considered a deviant?
6. What is the positive aspect of deviance?
7. What do negative deviants want?
8. Why do negative deviants claim to be evil and dark?
9. Is any free thinking person a deviant?
10. What citizen do people look down upon as an “extremist”?
11. What is the number of violent criminal deviants and mentally unstable
deviants in the society?
12. Can the founding fathers of the United States of America be considered as
deviants?
13. Will people ever live in a serene utopia?
14. What person is a perfect citizen?
15. What person is not a perfect citizen?
16. What person brings more benefit to the society: a perfect citizen or a
deviant?
17. What person are you trying to be?
18. What persons does the society always attempt to bring up?
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Exercise 2. Complete the following sentences and translate them:
1. Deviance is defined as …
2. The general public thinks that anyone who is considered “deviant” …
3. The deviance “experts” have been trying to answer …
4. There are many forms of deviance in …
5. There is a negative deviance and …
6. Sometimes the norms of society need to be violated …
7. A deviant is considered a person who …
8. There are not billions of mindless robot-like people on our planet because …
9. Negative deviants are the ones who …
10. The trick that negative deviants play consists in …
11. Anyone who questions the morality of society's laws would ...
12. Citizens are supposed to obey ...
13. When citizens openly question the society's laws the other people …
14. The society tries to find a way to rehabilitate two types of deviant
persons …
15. Many bleeding heart idealists would like to …
Text 2. Teenage Pregnancy
Words and phrases to the text:
1) teen = teenager (n) — подросток
2) rate (n) — степень, процент, доля
3) concern (n) — тревога, беспокойство
4) prenatal (adj) — предродовой
5) prenatal care (n) — наблюдение за беременной женщиной
6) pregnancy (n) — беременность
7) complication (n) — осложнение
8) premature labor (n) — преждевременные роды
9) distress (n) — недомогание, утомление, истощение
10) vision (n) — зрение
High teen birth rates are an important concern because teen mothers and their
babies face increased risks to their health, and their opportunities to build a future are
diminished.
How does a teen mother's health affect her baby?
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Some teens may need to change their lifestyle to improve their chances of
having a healthy baby. Eating unhealthy foods, smoking, drinking alcohol and taking
drugs can increase the risk that a baby will be born with health problems, such as low
birth weight (less than 5Ѕ pounds). Teens are least likely of all maternal age groups to
get early and regular prenatal care. From 2000 to 2002, an average 7.1 percent of
mothers under age 20 received late or no prenatal care, compared to 3.7 percent for
all ages. A teenage mother is at greater risk than women over age 20 for pregnancy
complications, such as premature labor, anemia and high blood pressure. These risks
are even greater for teens who are under 15 years old.
What are the health risks to babies of teen mothers?
A baby born to a teenage mother is at higher risk than a baby born to an older
mother for premature birth, low birth weight, other serious health problems and
death. Babies of teenage mothers are more likely to die in the first year of life than
babies of women in their twenties and thirties. The risk is highest for babies of
mothers under age 15. In 2005, 16.4 out of every 1,000 babies of women under age
15 died, compared to 6.8 per 1,000 for babies of women of all ages. Teenage mothers
are more likely to have a low-birth weight baby. Most low-birth weight babies are
born prematurely. The earlier a baby is born, the less she is likely to weigh. In 2006,
10 percent of mothers ages 15 to 19 had a low-birth weight baby, compared to
8.3 percent for mothers of all ages. The risk is higher for younger mothers. Babies
who are premature and low birth weight may have organs that are not fully
developed. This can lead to breathing problems, such as respiratory distress
syndrome, bleeding in the brain, vision loss and serious intestinal problems.
What are other consequences of teenage pregnancy?
Life may be difficult for a teenage mother and her child. Teen mothers are
more likely to drop out of high school than girls who delay childbearing. Only
40 percent of teenagers who have children before age 18 go on to graduate from high
school, compared to 75 percent of teens from similar social and economic
backgrounds who do not give birth until ages 20 or 21.
With her education cut short, a teenage mother may lack job skills, making it
hard for her to find and keep a job. A teenage mother may become financially
dependent on her family or on public assistance. Teen mothers are more likely to live
in poverty than women who delay childbearing, and more than 75 percent of all
unmarried teen mothers go on welfare within 5 years of the birth of their first child.
About 64 percent of children born to an unmarried teenage high-school dropout
live in poverty, compared to 7 percent of children born to women over age 20 who
are married and high school graduates. A child born to a teenage mother is 50 percent
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more likely to repeat a grade in school and is more likely to perform poorly on
standardized tests and drop out before finishing high school.
Because of the risks involved in teen pregnancy to both mother and child, we
strongly urge teenage girls to delay childbearing. We also recommend that anyone
who could become pregnant eat a healthy diet, achieve a healthy weight and quit
smoking.
Exercise 1. Answer the questions to the text:
1. What is an important concern nowadays?
2. What risks do teen mothers and their babies face?
3. How should teen mothers change their lifestyle while being pregnant?
4. Do teen mothers get early and regular prenatal care?
5. What complications may teenager mothers have?
6. What health problems may a baby born to a teenage mother have?
7. What are mortality rates of babies born to teenage mothers?
8. What weight do babies which are born prematurely have?
9. What health problems may low-birth weight babies have?
10. Do teenage mothers continue going to high school?
11. How many teenage mothers graduate from high school?
12. Are teenage mothers able to find and keep a good job?
13. Do many unmarried teen mothers go on welfare?
14. What children are at higher risk to live in poverty?
15. How well do children of teenage mothers study at school?
16. What lifestyle should a pregnant girl lead?
17. Why should teenage girls delay childbearing?
Exercise 2. Complete the following sentences and translate them:
1. High teen birth rates are an important concern because …
2. A teenager mother should change her lifestyle to …
3. Bad habits of teenager mothers can increase the risk that …
4. Teens are least likely of all maternal age groups to get …
5. Speaking about prenatal care of teenager mothers we can say that …
6. Premature labor, anemia and high blood pressure are …
7. A baby born to a teenage mother may have …
8. Babies of mothers under age 15 risk to …
9. The earlier a baby is born, the less …
10. Premature birth and low birth weight of a baby may cause …
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11. Teen mothers are more likely to drop out …
12. With her education cut short, a teenage mother may …
13. A teenage mother may become financially dependent on …
14. Teen mothers are more likely to live in …
15. High school graduates and their children live better than …
16. A child born to a teenage mother is 50 percent more likely to …
17. Teen pregnancy involves the risks both to …
18. A healthy diet, a healthy weight and no smoking are to recommend for …
Text 3. Changing Children’s Lives
Words and phrases to the text:
1) adopt (v) — усыновлять
2) reduction (n) — сокращение
3) tendency (n) — тенденция
4) difficulties (n) — трудности
5) decisive (adj) — решающий
6) reluctance (n) — нежелание
7) orphan (n) — сирота
8) official (n) — чиновник
9) inevitable (adj) — неизбежный
10) orphanage (n) — детский дом
11) foster care (n) — воспитание (чужого) ребенка
According to the Moscow ZAGS (Citizens Status Registration Department)
statistics, 1,034 children were adopted in the past 8 months, which is 200 kids less
than in the same period of the previous year. This annual reduction in the number of
adoptions has been a tendency for the past ten years.
Some believe that Russians don't want to take children into their families due
to financial difficulties, while experts say this reason is important but not decisive.
After all, the most active adoption period in the city's latest history was in the mid
1980s, when Muscovites were definitely poorer than today. People's reluctance to
help orphans is a myth from which some officials profit.
The process of adopting a Russian child by a Russian adult usually takes up to
two years, and when the child finally comes to a new family, the new parents are left
alone with their inevitable problems. Nobody guarantees even psychological help. So
it is not surprising that 13 out of 100 adopted kids are sent back to the orphanages.
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Foster care is not supposed to last forever but until a child's parents or some
relative can take care of him or her properly. The experience of Moscow shows,
however, that most blood mothers and fathers, having got rid of the 'objectionable
burden', don't return to a proper life style, and children stay with their foster family
till coming of age.
Children's Home № 19 has been helping abandoned kids in finding foster
families for ten year now. According to its statistics, 97 % of the children have found
new parents. Fosterage organizations were initially planned to appear in each of
10 Moscow districts, but the plans haven't materialized. The unique children's home
has received 7,000 telephone calls from Muscovites willing to foster a child. Over
600 prospective foster parents have attended special training courses, while only
300 kids have been fostered so far.
Meanwhile, 3,000 kids are kept in Moscow's orphanages. Founders of the
foster system suppose the main reason for such an absurdity is a lack of
professionalism in the wardship sphere. “Nobody will tell you what was done for a
certain child, whether his blood family was restored or — if it didn't work — new
parents were found,” foster parents stress. “What we have are careless administrators
choosing kids for “profitable” adults although according to common sense,
professional educators must seek compatible parents for every child. Only a revision
of the whole system can change the situation.”
Exercise 1. Answer the questions to the text:
1. How many children were adopted in the past 8 months?
2. Is it more or less than in the previous year?
3. What tendency in the number of adoptions is observed?
4. What are the reasons of people's reluctance to help orphans?
5. How long does the process of adopting a Russian child by a Russian adult
last?
6. Is any psychological help provided to foster families?
7. How many adopted kids are sent back to the orphanages?
8. How long is foster care supposed to last?
9. Do blood mothers and fathers of abandoned children return to a proper life
style and take their children back?
10. How long has Children's Home № 19 been helping abandoned kids in
finding foster families?
11. How many fosterage organizations were initially planned to appear in
Moscow?
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