Exercise 7. Read and smile.

A Fable from Aesop [t.Sop]

While sitting together one time, a group of animals was discuss­ing the popularity of the elephant. They all agreed that the elephant was the most popular animal in the forest, but none of them could give a satisfactory explanation of this fact. Yet they all had certain comments to offer.

The giraffe [d3i'ra:f] said, «If the elephant had a long neck like mine, then it would be easy to understand his popularity. He would be the tallest animal in the forest».

The peacock (павлин) said, «If he possessed my beautiful tail, it would be easy to understand. He would be the most beautiful creature in the forest».

The rabbit said, «If he could run as fast as I, it would be easy to understand. He would be the fastest animal in the forest».

The bear said, «If he was as strong as I, it would be easy to un­derstand. He would be the strongest animal in the forest».

Suddenly the elephant himself appeared. He was larger and stronger than any of the other animals, and he was also superior in many ways. But he was always quiet and modest about his many accomplishments. This, after all, was the real explanation for his popularity.

An American lady got into a smoking carriage (вагон) where an Englishman was smoking a pipe.

She began doing everything to show him she objected to his smoking. At last, seeing that the man paid no attention, she said, «If you were a gentleman, you would stop smoking when a lady got into the carriage».

«If you were a lady», replied the Englishman, «you would not get into a smoking carriage».

«If you were my husband», said the American lady angrily, «I would give you poison (яд)».

«Well,» said the Englishman at last, «if I were your husband, I would take it».

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Text 9b

Прочитайте текст и озаглавьте его. Ответьте на следующие вопросы: Какую новую информацию вы нашли в тексте?

За счет чего можно устранить недостатки в существующих погружаемых аппаратах?

Now most submersibles are connected with a support ship on the surface. This connection is an armoured cable measuring an inch or two in diameter and weighing up to 10 tons and it transmits power and navigational commands to the submersible, as well as sends sensor data and television images back to the support ship. Cables allow submersibles to transmit data at a great speed, but they limit the range of territory studied and have many disadvan­tages in operation.

Autonomous underwater submersibles can move freely. Con­trolled by on-board microprocessors or by acoustic signals trans­mitted by a ship on the surface, battery-operated submersibles can cover much greater areas. They can operate under ice and in very deep water. Such three-ton unmanned crafts can submerge to the depth of almost 20,000 feet and stay there for up to seven hours. High quality images of the ocean bottom can be transmitted to the support ship in three to four seconds (because of the slow speed — about 5,000 feet per second through water — acoustic data trans­mission is much less quick than signals sent via cable which travel at the speed of light).

But even these most advanced submersibles have definite disad­vantages: batteries are heavy, data transmission is slow and com­puter programs are primitive. Future submersibles may overcome those difficulties. Some may be propelled by nuclear power or by fuel cells (топливные элементы) that use oxygen from the sea water. Many of them will rely on signal-compression techniques to speed up acoustic data links. Computerized systems will enable some submersibles to repair damaged telephone cables or oil plat­forms. If research work in this field continues to expand at its present rate, the number of radically different kind of more effi­cient crafts will appear very soon.

Text 9c

Прочитайте текст. Назовите особенности современного спасательного средства на воде и принцип его действия.

Lifeboats

Even though we now have ships of a kind unknown in earlier centuries, we are still very far from mastering the sea. The Greek

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sailor who was shipwrecked (терпеть кораблекрушение) on his way home from Troy and the sailor of tomorrow whose nuclear-powered cargo ship might be on fire both face the same dangers. They may drown (тонуть), and so they need to keep afloat. They may die, and so they need to keep themselves covered and dry. Rescuers (спасатель) may never find them, and so they need to send signals.

The Greek sailor at the time of the Trojan war had only a small chance of survival (спасение). The sailor of tomorrow has a greater chance, especially if the ship has one of the new rescue crafts on board.

One such lifeboat looks more like a flying saucer (тарелка) than a boat. Sailors on board a ship which is in trouble can get into the capsule, close the water-tight doors and operate the controls which drop the capsule automatically into the sea. Made of glass fibre (стекловолокно) the capsule will float on the sea and will not be dragged down by the sinking ship. It will protect the men inside from explosions, fire and extreme cold. It has a thirty-kilowatt diesel engine and so can carry survivors to the coast. To help rescue ship and aircraft to find it, the upper part of the capsule is covered with a special orange paint which can be detected by radar. Each capsule is large enough for twenty eight men.

Text 9d

Прочитайте текст. Расскажите по-английски, что вы узнали об истории Гринвича и его сегодняшнем дне.

Greenwich

Greenwich is on the river Thames, five miles from the middle of London, and its story is 2,000 years old. The first English people — the Saxons — were fishermen there and they gave Greenwich its name — «the green village».

You can still walk along the old Roman road in Greenwich park. But the river was the true road to the outside world for the Romans and for English kings and queens who later lived in Greenwich.

The King Henry VIII loved this place. He knew that England must be strong at sea. So two big shipyards were started at Greenwich and for 350 years the ships made there were the best in the world.

Many ships were lost at sea — their sailors did not know how to tell exactly where they were.

In the 17th century astronomer Flamstead tried to find the an­swer. He worked in an Observatory on the high ground in Green­wich park. The walls of its big light-sided (непрочной) room shook

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when the weather was bad. But from it, with a telescope made by himself, Flamstead could look all round the sky. And he did look night after night for twenty years. Carrying on Flamstead's work a hundred years later, an astronomer called Harrison finally made a clock which told the time at sea and helped sailors to know where they were. You can see Harrison's clock, still working in Green­wich museum of the sea. Because of Flamstead's work every coun­try in the world now tells its time by Greenwich time.

Every year a million people come to Greenwich to see its mu­seums and palaces and its two famous ships: one old, one new. Both the big CUTTY SARK and the little GYPSY MOTH sailed through dangerous waters before they came safely back to their Greenwich home. At-the end of the 1800's the CUTTY SARK was the fastest ship of its size. Carrying more than a million kilos of tea, she travelled the 25,000 kilometeres from China to England in only hundred days.

Next to the CUTTY SARK is the GYPSY MOTH - only 16.5 metres long, but full of newest equipment. Her captain Sir F. Chichester wanted his ship to sail as far and as fast as the CUTTY SARK. When he sailed round the world by himself in CYPSY MOTH in 1966 - the first man ever to do this - he took a flag from the CUTTY SARK with him.

Дополнительные задания

Упражнение 1. Найдите в тексте 9А:

а) ключевые слова со значением deep sea ship; переведите их;

б) словосочетания с under и близкие по значению выражения, переведи­ те их;

в) слово marine и словосочетания с ним; поясните их и приведите примеры.

Упражнение 2. А. Прочитайте текст. Постарайтесь догадаться о значении термина scuba divers.

A computer for scuba divers will provide in one device informa­tion about time, depth and air supply. It is to be used together with special divers' tables. A display will provide visual information and audible warnings about critical conditions.

If a diver wants to know an accurate depth he is down, he must set water type he is in. If he is in the sea, he will set «sea water», otherwise he will set «fresh water». The device shows the diver's current depth in meters and the level of power left in the batteries. It will indicate if the level is low, medium or high.

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If a diver wants to know how long he has been down, he can see this from the display. If a diver needs to spend some minutes at a certain depth for decompression, he will start his stop watch, and will wait until the time has elapsed (passed). If a diver wants to know the amount of air left in the tank, he can see this from the contents display.

A warning signal tells him when he must start his ascent. Before he descends, the diver sets the time to ascend. If he began his as­cent before the display started flashing, he would be within safe limits. If he did not ascend then, he would expose himself to de­compression sickness. If he started his ascent and went up too quickly, he would see a warning light «Too fast». Then he should slow down his ascent.

B. Объясните на английском языке значения следующих слов и словосо­ четаний: scuba diving, stop watch, display flashing, air tank content, expose oneself to decompression sickness. Переведите их.

C. Найдите в тексте дополнительное придаточное предложение с союзом if

D. Заполните пропуски антонимами выделенных слов.

Tables give information about safe and ... diving limit,

Time information is the time from the beginning of the diver's descent to the ... of his ...

If a diver is in the sea, he will set «sea water», otherwise he will set ...

Battery level information indicates if the level is low or ...

Before a diver starts to descend, he should set the time when he must ...

E. Заполните таблицу на словообразование.

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Упражнение 3. Составьте возможные словосочетания глаголов из колон­ки А и существительных из колонки В.

Упражнение 4. Заполните пропуски, образуя составные слова, общеизве­стные словосочетания и термины. Запомните их.

battery-... 7. ocean-... minerals

... warning 8. ... arms

visual ... 9. support ...

... diving 10. life ... system

stop ... 11. one ...

... plants 12. ... camera