- •The precious envelope
- •1. Warning up.
- •2. Listen to or look through the following text and say what answers you've just discussed are not in it.
- •3. Look through the text again and find all the definitions connected with air.
- •4. A) Look through the text once more and change the given questions to the order of events they occur in the text:
- •5. Listen to or read the given extracts of critical reviews of the book "Air" and decide if they are positive (p) or negative (n):
- •6. Read the text thoroughly with a dictionary and answer the following questions. Use your knowledge of chemistry as well.
- •7. Using a dictionary, find in the text English equivalents to the following Russian words, word combinations and chemical terms:
- •8. Match the words, word combinations and chemical terms in a with their synonyms in b:
- •9. Complete the following sentences using the words from the list below. Some of the words can be used more than once:
- •10. Complete the other sentences, this time using chemical terms from the list below. Some of them can't be used in the given sentences, while the others can be used a few times:
- •11. A) Find in ex. 2 and ex. 5 all the sentences containing infinitive, participle (I and II) and gerund. Translate these sentences into Russian.
- •12. Listen to the following dialogue and say what problems the participants are discussing. The notes and words will help you to understand the text better: notes
- •17. A) Read the text again and state which of the following statements are true (t), false (f) or not mentioned (nm) in the text:
- •18. Read the text again, divide it into logical parts and entitle them thus making a plan. Write out the sentences expressing the main idea(s) of the text.
- •19. Write a summary of the text using your plan and the sentences you've written out.
7. Using a dictionary, find in the text English equivalents to the following Russian words, word combinations and chemical terms:
nouns: слой, одеяло, вещество, дно, вершина, уровень, скалолаз, свидетельство
verbs: упоминать; вести; загрязнять; дышать; улетучиваться; добавить; выяснить; доказать; выделять (изолировать)
adjectives: тонкий; глубокий; перемешанный; обычный
adverbs: вокруг; вдруг; точно; стихийно; начало; позже; постепенно; полностью; много; почти; в отличие; около
prepositions and conjunctions: с тех пор как; до сих пор
word combinations: очень сильно; возможно состояла; другими словами; избавиться; наилучший способ; трудно; совершенно легко; можно было бы назвать; иначе говоря
chemical terms: горение; ржаветь; кислород; азот; аргон; реактивный; инертный; углекислый газ; охлаждение; удалить; смесь
8. Match the words, word combinations and chemical terms in a with their synonyms in b:
А В
1. stuff a) inert
2. evidence b) usual
3. to contaminate c) precisely
4. to sort out d) testimony
5. ordinary e) to delete
6. suddenly f) to isolate
7. exactly g) much
8. spontaneously h) matter
9. gradually i) combustion
10. plenty j) impulsively
11. burning k) to pollute
12. rusting 1) corrosion
13. unreactive m) unexpectedly
14. to remove n) amalgam
15. mixture o) little by little
9. Complete the following sentences using the words from the list below. Some of the words can be used more than once:
level, layer, blanket, top, evidence, to mention, to lead, to contaminate, to isolate, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, spontaneously, gradually, to escape, atmosphere, density, bottom
1. ... for other gases in the ... came towards the end of the 19th century,',
2. The work... to the discovery was an investigation into the ... of....
3. The ... lying all over the Earth like a... is called the ....
4. So far we've......,..., carbon dioxide and water vapour.
5. By the time you get to 50 miles above sea ... , there's practically np air left.
6. The main gas that... the atmospheric ... is ....
7. Gases mix together....
8. So a gas that... from the Earth becomes a part of the ....
9. ... more and more ... is added to the ....
10. ... and ... were ... long before the end of the 19th century.
11. We live at the ... of a very deep "ocean of air".
12. There's enough air to breathe at the ... of Mt. Everest.
10. Complete the other sentences, this time using chemical terms from the list below. Some of them can't be used in the given sentences, while the others can be used a few times:
combustion, rusting, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, argon, inert, reactive, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, cooling, heating, remove, mixture, substance, isolate
1. ... is a corrosion of iron or steel to form a hydrate iron (III) oxide.
2. ... occurs in the air (78%) and is an essential constituent of proteins and nucleic acids in living organisms.
3. ... is a chemical reaction in which a ... reacts rapidly with ... producing heat and light.
4. ... is a colourless, odourless gas, soluble in water, ethanol and acetone.
5. ... occurs only in the presence of both water and ....
6. Reactions of... are often free-radical chain reactions, which can usually be summarized as the oxidation of carbon to form its oxides and the oxidation of... to form water.
7. ... is really prepared in the laboratory by the action of dilute acids on metal carbonates.
8. Though ... is essential to all forms of life, the huge amount present in the ... is not directly available to most organisms.
9. ... is the lightest element and most abundant at the universe.
10. ... is an electrochemical process in which different parts of iron surface act as electrodes in a cell reaction.
11. Flame is a luminous... of gases undergoing ....
12. ... is a by-product (побочный продукт) from the manufacture of lime (известь) and from fermentation process.