МЕТ_1к_1ч

C.After World War II the USA became the international leader in science and technology.

D.American scientists have not needed to learn other languages for the last few decades.

E.Before World War II scientists had to learn foreign languages in order to understand scientific publications.

7.Work in pairs. Answer the following questions.

1.Why did the author give such a title to the text?

2.What languages could Werner Heisenberg speak?

3.Should science students speak other languages (except the native one)? Give your reasons.

4.What languages were important (in order of importance) in the scientific world 200 years before World War II?

5.What languages could N.Bohr speak?

6.How did the dominance of languages change after World War II? Why?

7.What is the role of English in the scientific world now?

IMPERIAL ENGLISH: THE LANGUAGE OF SCIENCE?

1.Werner Heisenberg learned Latin, Greek and French when he was a gymnasium student in Munich. Later he tackled English and Danish. This is not the kind of anecdote we associate with today's science majors in the US, that resolutely monolingual lot. Science students here are rarely to be found in a school language lab, much less a spontaneous one, and when they do speak another language it is usually because of family background, not classroom instruction. Then they graduate, attend a conference with colleagues from other countries and discover their linguistic incompetence.

2.We are the people who can no longer be bothered to learn another language. To be sure, we really haven't had to since the 1960s, for in the years since World War II English has gradually but inexorably become the lingua franca

31

of science. Today it is the universal currency of international publications as well as of meetings. Those of us who need to keep up with, need not worry about mastering German; we can leave it to the journal's staff, whose English is no doubt immaculate, to provide us with a convenient international edition published in English.

3.It wasn't always this way. For the 200 years before World War II, most scientific work was reported in German, French or English, in that order of importance. People who wanted to keep up with a specialization had to learn the dominant language of the field. For example, scientists who wished to understand quantum mechanics in the 1920s had to learn German. Sir Nevill Mott comments, "Apart from Dirac, I don't think anyone in Cambridge understood (quantum mechanics) very well; there were no lectures on it, and so the only thing to do was to learn German and read the original papers, particularly those of Schrodinger and Born's "Wave Mechanics of Collision Processes"."

4.German, French and English were the customary languages of meetings, too. At Niels Bohr's institute in Copenhagen, for example, John A. Wheeler recalls that most seminars were held in German, occasionally in English. Bohr, who spoke English and German with equal ease, fluctuated between them, adding Danish as counterpoint. No one had to learn French, though, for Bohr's knowledge of it was limited.

5.After World War II, the linguistic balance of power shifted. US scientists flocked to conferences, bringing their language with them; US scientific publications burgeoned, and their huge readerships made them highly desirable to scientists throughout the world who realized English was a medium through which they could be widely read and cited. Now English continues its reign.

Professor Anne Eisenberg

32

8.Look through the list of words and phrases and check if you know their Ukrainian equivalents. Take turns to ask each other. Use the MINIDICTIONARY section to Unit 2 if necessary.

9.Explain the meaning of the words and phrases.

resolutely monolingual lot, to tackle, to attend, linguistic incompetence, the lingua franca of science, to learn the dominant language of the field, to keep up with a specialization, balance, to shift, to limit, the customary languages of meetings

10.Cross the odd word out.

1)convenient, appropriate, favourable, traditional;

2)adoring, principal, dominant, leading;

3)fluctuate, shift, circulate, oscillate;

4)attend, attempt, appear, be at;

5)burgeon, grow, increase, burrow.

11.Arrange the following words according to similar meaning.

dominant, incompetent, authentic, irregularly, spontaneous, immaculate, leading, attend, occasionally, limit, unpremeditated, original, popular, unskilful, be present, perfect, restrict, desirable

33

12. Match the words and phrases (1−10) with their definitions (a−j).

13.Fill in the word from the list below. Use each word only once. Translate the collocations into Ukrainian.

inexorably, quantum, associate, readerships, incompetence, importance, currency, monolingual, customary, learn

14. Match the words with their Ukrainian equivalents.

15. Fill in the table with the words derived from the given ones.

35

16. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the list below.

language, limits, investigate, science, artificial, improvements, lost, English,

natural

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGES?

Forms used in logic, artificial intelligence, computer 1) ............... and in

semantics are variously viewed as being improvements on natural language or as

PROLOG, and what about the sorts of things that cannot be done with PROLOG

but can be performed in a language like 6) .............? Are there 7) ............... upon

the current approaches to artificial intelligence that result from a reliance on

artificial languages? In other words: Is what is gained by the use of an 8) ................

language in proportion to what is 9) ................?

17.Work in small groups. Arrange the following words and phrases in the correct order to make the sentences. The first word is underlined.

1.to / Is / easy / English / learn?

2.of / the dominant / English / is / science. / now / language

3.short one. / universal, / English / the most / uses / alphabet, / simple and / language / Latin

4.in the / an active / It is argued / ideas. / development / language / role / of scientific / that / plays

5.US scientific / The dominance / decline / language in / may / with / science / leadership. / of the English

6.suits / particularly well. / The lexicon / scientific / English / of the / communications / language

36

18.Mary is a sixth year student. Now she is graduating from the KPI. Mary has had an interesting life at the university. Write sentences about the things she has done. Use the Present Perfect.

1.(she / do / many / scientific projects) .........

2.(she / meet / a lot of interesting people) ............

3.(she / write / several scientific papers) .........

4.(she / get / knowledge in the professional field) .......

5.(she / learn / two programming languages) ...........

6.(she / prepare / seven reports to the conferences) ...........

7.(she / learn / German and Chinese) ...........

8.(she / visit / three technical universities abroad) ...........

9.(she / travel / to many places) ...........

19.Work in pairs. Look at the table. Ask and answer questions. Use the Present Perfect Continuous. Start with phrases: How long have you

been .....? I have been ... . Then continue the list of questions and answers.

20.Choose the correct word in bold.

1.We haven't done our homework just / yet.

2.Have you so far / ever read about Newtonian mechanics?

3.I have never / just written an essay about science and English.

4.I have been studying English since / still I was a child.

5.Linda has already / ever finished her project devoted to influence of English on science.

6.Tom has been at the conference since / for three days.

7.I have never / ever visited MIT. I'm going there next summer.

8.I have done two exercises so far / since.

21.Put the verbs into the correct tense. Use the Present Simple and the Present Perfect Tenses.

communication between Bohr and Einstein which he traced to the different values and meanings that were placed on certain words and concepts.

In his proposal for a new language, the Rheomode, Bohm has also drawn attention to what he 4) ....... (feel) to be a defect of our common language in that it enfolds what could be called a mechanistic view of the world. But this appeal for a new language 5) ......... (come) into conflict with what linguists feel to be the essential limitations of artificial and so-called improved language systems. How,

therefore, is it possible to reconcile Bohm's particular views on the Rheomode

38

within the wider context of his general philosophy and the particular views that are currently held in linguistics? Our answer 6) ....... (be) to propose an empirical investigation of the role and use of language within science and, in particular, scientific literature.

22.Find and correct the mistakes.

1.A research project is outlined which will investigate these hypothesis and, in addition, focus on such questions as the role of mathematics in science and the status of the genetic code.

2.But this can never be satisfactory since these pseudo language systems doesn't work as language.

3.The question we are investigating can, ultimate, be posed as:"Do we speak (have language) because we think, or do we think because we speak?"

4.But we can ask why also science sometimes blocks, runs into obstacles or turns around in circles.

5.The rest of the world's scientists, too, fallen into step.

6.English for Science and Technology (EST) is designed to help international undergraduates and graduate students and professionals become more comfortable using English as common language in the fields of science and technology.

7.The course aim at developing the students' language skills in the areas of science and technology.

8.English for Specific Purposes is defined as the branch English language education which focuses on training in specific academic or workplace tasks.

9.Technology has became an increasingly important element in many aspects of our lives.

10.They improve their overall English language skills and develop profession skills − such as critical thinking, oral presentation and intercultural communication − needed for scientists, engineers and technical experts.

39

23.Choose the correct answer.

1.English is now a global language that _________ to all those who speak it.

A is belonging

B belong

C belongs

D has been belonging

2.It is our opinion that natural language is perfectly _________.

A adequate instrument for the expression of scientific ideas

B instrument adequate for the expression of scientific ideas

C adequate instrument for the scientific ideas of expression

D instrument for the expression adequate of scientific ideas

3.Linguistics _________ the study of the use and organization of language with particular linguistic theories differing in their views on how a and b are organized, or, if you like, how they are acquired and used psychologically.

A has been

B is being

C is

D are

4.The current status of the English language compares _________ that of Latin in the past.

A at

B from

C with

D into

5.She _________ an article about the role of English in science since last week.

A has written

B has been writing

C writes

40