Assignments

(a) Explain the meaning of the following words. (Look for clues in the text.)

1. current, 2. penetrate, 3. plate, 4. request, 5. injured, 6. cell, 7. detect.

(b) Quickly look through the list and mark the lettered phrase nearest in meaning to the word or phrase tested.

1. Guess: (i) know for sure; (ii) be in two minds; (iii) suppose.

2. At a distance: (i) not very near; (ii) very close; (iii) a long way off.

3. Mysterious: (i) hard to explain; (ii) unexplainable; (iii) easy to explain.

4. Obediently: (і) unthinkingly; (ii) unwillingly; (iii) willingly.

5. Through in "through exposure to X-rays": (i) with the help of; (ii) in spite of; (iii) as a result of.

6. Destroy: (i) kill; (ii) make useless; (iii) break to pieces.

(c) Briefly describe the experiment made by Professor Röntgen.

(d) Say whether, in your opinion. Professor Röntgen knew he was going to discover the X-ray, or he discovered it by chance. Quote facts from the text.

(e) Look through the text once again, and select the statement which best expresses its main idea. Explain your choice.

(f) Sum up what the text has to say on each of the following points.

1. How the X-ray got its name. 2. How it happened that many doctors were injured through exposure to X-rays. 3. The most important uses of the X-ray at the present time.

(g) Write a précis of the text.

Ex 43 Read the text carefully, consulting the dictionary, if necessary. During the second reading note the key sentence in each paragraph. Write five questions covering the main points, answer each question in one complete sentence in your own words as far as possible; then, using your answers as guides, write a summary of the text.

In the intricate complex of historical processes in the second half of the 20th century, one of the most crucial is the scientific-technological revolution. It is going on in socialist and capitalist countries and is beginning to take hold in the countries of the Third World; it is thus acquiring a global character. The scientific-technological revolution itself is a profound, qualitative revolution in the forces of production — in this lies its importance. It offers possibilities for a radical transformation of the methods of production, creating advanced instruments of production, incorporating new principles, advanced materials, it brings new industries to life and makes possible a previously unheard of increase in efficiency in all aspects of production.

The current revolution in technology signifies a profound transformation both in the instruments and other technical means of labour and in the methods of managing and organising the process of production and even in the objects of labour. Consequently, it is necessary to think of the technological revolution in the broadest sense of the term — as a revolution in the very elements of the productive forces.

The revolution in science is a dialectical negation of all the previous and essentially mechanistic views of the world. The process of revolutionary transformation encompasses almost all the natural sciences. Their paradigms, i.e., the established, basic premises, canons and conceptions that yesterday seemed certain today reveal their shortcomings and limitations and are being rapidly replaced with new paradigms.

One of the most important results of Marxist research on the problem of the technological revolution is the conclusion that it is impossible to restrict the modern technological revolution to scientific or technological progress. To the extent that science becomes a productive force, the universal education of people, the development of the creative forces of every man, becomes a crucial parameter in the development of the material base of civilisation and all the more becomes an inseparable component and an independent factor in the growth of the forces of production.