Practice

1. Look at the diagram with the words invention and discovery. See how many

collocations you can make with these words.

Scientific Archaeological Medical

Latest New Recent Accidental Chance

Great Brilliant Amazing World-shaking Significant Unexpected

Invention /discovery

2. Use an English-English dictionary and write out the collocations with

the words: investigation, contribution and observation. Compare your results as a class.

	Writing

Managing your learning It is important when reading or writing to recognize and understand the relationship in which sentences and groups of sentences combine to present information. Here are the signal words that can be used to show the order in which things are to be said. firstly in the first place secondly also thirdly in addition to what is more above all etc.

Work in groups. Choose one f the most important inventions you have discussed in this unit. Write a paragraph about it. Give at least three reasons to prove its significance. Make use of these expressions.

It made it possible to …

It became easy to …

It was a breakthrough in…

It made an important contribution to…

It laid the foundation for…

It gave rise to…/ It helped to…

It gave birth to…

It made a revolution in…

It enabled people to do…

It found widespread application in…

Example: I think the invention of a spectroscope was a real breakthrough. It helped Isaac Newton to discover that the white light could be dispersed into a series of rainbow colors. It also made possible to study what extra-terrestrial objects are made of, for example, the sun's atmosphere. Moreover, it helped to reveal new elements such as helium. Above all, spectroscopy of atoms and molecules gave birth to quantum mechanics that is the basis of modern physics and chemistry. Today, laser spectroscopy is one of the most important experimental tools of condensed matter physics and it made a revolution in developing new materials with improved properties.

Listening

Recording 4.1

1. Before you listen answer the questions.

• How many discoveries or inventions of the ancient world do you know?

• How did they influence the development of science at that time?

• Do people still use them?

• Have any modern inventions or discoveries replaced them?

2. The words in A are in the story you are going to hear. Match a word in A with a definition in B.

to recover	the quality of being exact, accurate
complication	to provide place for sth
medieval	to find sth that was lost or missing
precision	to be made or broken into small pieces or parts
to house	to appear somewhere again
inscription	the quality of being difficult and complicated
to be fragmented	connected with the Middle Ages
to decipher	words cut in stone or metal
advent	causing a lot of angry public discussion and disagreement
controversial	sth that makes a situation more complicated or difficult
to re-emerge	the coming of an important event, person, invention
sophistication	to succeed in finding the meaning of sth that is difficult to read or understand

3. Check if you know the meaning of these words and phrases. Use a dictionary if necessary.

• a gearwheel

• a shipwreck

• a fingerprint

• sponge divers

4. Listen to the radio programme about one of the ancient devices and answer the questions.

1. What kind of device did the sponge divers find?

2. Where did they find it?

3. What surprised the scientists most?

4. According to the scientists how old is the device?

5. What is it like?

6. What was it used for?

7. How do scientists explain the long interval between the design of Antikythera Mechanism and the advent of medieval gearwheel?

Get real

Search websites or popular science magazines to find information about two significant discoveries or inventions in your field of science made before the 20^th

century. Make notes on what you have found and report back to the class.

Be sure to include

• description

• inventor / discoverer

• scientific significance

Reading

1. Work with a partner. Name any accidental

discoveries or inventions you have ever heard

about. How did people benefit from them? Did they cause any problems?

2. The words in column A are in the text you are going to read. Match them with the words in column B which are similar in meaning.

A	B
1) wire	a) mix
2) spark	b) silhouette
3) to jerk	c) to vaccinate
4) screen	d) flash
5) virulent	e) covered
6) prevention	f) display
7) compound	g) cable
8) coated	h) dangerous
9) to inoculate	i) avoidance
10) shadow	j) to move suddenly

3. Read the text about four unexpected scientific discoveries. How did they change the world?