Precis writing*

Ex. 36- Learn to write a precis. Use the following as a model.

M o d e l: a) Read the passage and give it a title.

From Switzerland comes news of a robot telephone which can an­nounce its number, the name of its absent owner and its willingness to record automatically any information given to it. When the called per­son returns, he has to push a button and the phone recites what has been said to it during his absence.

(55 words)

b) Give brief answers to the following questions in your own words as far as possible.

1. What can an automatic Swiss telephone do? An automatic Swiss telephone gives its absent owner's name and number. 2. What is it meant for? It is meant to record messages. 3. How does the owner learn the mes­sage? The telephone repeats the message when the owner returns.

c) Write a precis summing up the answers (in 20 words).

An automatic Swiss telephone gives its absent owner's name and number, and records messages to repeat them when he returns.

(20 words)

Ex. 37. a) Read the passage; b) Do the assignments following the pas­sage.

a) The hidden face of the moon has so long been a mystery that the first successful attempt to show it will probably go down in history as one of the most important steps man has made to enlarge his knowledge of outer space. What the voyage of Columbus was to the world in the fifteenth century, the journey of the rocket, Lunik 3, might well be to the twentieth.

Lunik 3 was shaped like a cone and weighed about 614 pounds. It travelled from the earth to the south side of the moon and continued its journey for some 400 miles beyond the other side before the moon's attraction made it change its path, making it turn round. When this occurred, the rocket was in a direct line between the sun and the moon and a great number of things happened. At a signal from the earth, the rocket stopped turning and a cover opened at its nose. Two cameras ap­peared, one of which magnified^* the moon two and a half times more than the other. The film that was used to take the pictures had special markings on it so that the photographing of the moon's far side could be controlled from the earth. When the pictures had been taken, they were developed automatically by a special device^** designed to work under conditions of weightlessness.^*** Now it was time for the rocket to move again, and another signal from the earth set it turning once more, for there was danger that if it remained still, its underside would freeze and its topside become too hot and so do irreparable harm to the delicate instruments within. The rocket then continued its journey round the moon, and on its way back to earth began to send the photographs that had been taken, with the help of a special television-camera which translated the lines on the pictures into radio signals. In this way, the hidden face of the moon became known to everybody. Those few who had expected to hear of strange animals or lost civilizations may have been disappointed. But for most people, the photographs solved an age-old mystery and gave the first really exciting glimpse of outer space.

b) 1. Give the passage a title.

2. Give brief answers to these questions in your own words as far as possible. Use one complete sentence for each answer, a. With what voyage is the journey of the rocket, "Lunik 3", compared? b. Why did the rocket turn round and face the moon when it reached the other side? c. What caused the rocket to stop turning? d. How were the photographs taken by the cameras in the rocket sent back to the earth?

3. Describe in not more than 80 words everything that happened to the rocket from the moment it left the earth to when it sent back photographs. Use your own words and do not include any­thing that is not in the passage.