Focus on language
The following sentences in the text have passive verbs. Would it be easy to rewrite
them with active verbs?
Magazines and journals are called periodicals because they are published on a regular or "periodic" basis.
Libraries are able to purchase one copy which can be shared by many people.
The articles in this type of periodicals may be written by a member of the editorial staff, a scholar or a freelance writer, not a subject expert.
Passive Structures Passive verbs are common when we are thinking about what is done to the person or thing that we are interested in, not about what he/she/it does.
e.g.: English is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world, and as such, can be extremely useful both socially and professionally.
|
Practice
Make these sentences passive. Use by … only if it is necessary to say who does/did the action.
a) Librarians select books, magazines, journals, databases, and Web sites.
b) The library collects sources considered reliable, historically relevant, and
valuable.
c) Magazines publish articles on topics of popular interest and current events.
d) They are studying chemical and biochemical phenomena that occur in natural
places.
e) Who are they going to invite for the ceremony?
f) Scientists have studied a great number of harmful effects of modern civilization
on the environment.
g) You can find a lot of useful information about our university and the degree
courses in this prospectus.
h) My tutor advised me to read this book from cover to cover.
i) I’m afraid my essay is a sloppy piece of work. I should rewrite it by next
Monday.
Reading |
Before you read the text answer the questions below.
What are the biggest and most famous libraries in the world?
Have you ever heard of the ancient library of Alexandria?
When and where was it built?
Who of the ancient scholars is it associated with?
Who and why destroyed it?
When was the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina opened?
Read the text to learn more about the ancient library of Alexandria and the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina. When you read pay attention to the pronunciation of the following proper names:
Bibliotheca Alexandria [,bibliə'θi:kə ,ælig'zændriə], Ptolemy ['ta:ləmi] I, Archimedes [,a:kə'mi:diz], Eratosthenes [,erə'tɔsθə,ni:z], Euclid ['ju:klid], Almagest ['ælmə,ʤest], Hipparchus [hi'pa:kəs], Copernicus [kəu'pə:nikəs], Julius Caesar ['ʤuli:əs 'si:zə], Egyptian [i'ʤipʃ(ə)n], Norwegian [nɔ:'wi:ʤ(ə)n], Aswan [æ'swa:n].
Two libraries |
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina |
At the meeting point of the three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, Egypt has been the cradle* of civilizations since ancient times. The ancient city of Alexandria was the birthplace of the Bibliotheca Alexandria which was one of the
wonders of the ancient world.
Founded by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, built and enlarged by Ptolemy I, Alexander's successor, the city's library comprised perhaps as many as 700,000 manuscripts (the equivalent of more than 100,000 modern printed books) - the whole corpus** of knowledge accumulated by ancient philosophers, scientists and poets that laid the foundations of Western philosophy, mathematics, science, medicine, history and literature.
The word “bibliotheca” comes from the Greek word for “books”. Scientists, philosophers and artists from all over the world were invited to study and enrich the university and library, that made Alexandria carry the beacon*** of civilization until it was burned by the Romans in 48 BC.
It was at the library that Archimedes invented the screw-shaped water pump that is still in use today. At Alexandria Eratosthenes measured the diameter of the Earth, and Euclid discovered the rules of geometry; Ptolemy wrote the Almagest at Alexandria that was the most influential scientific book about the nature of the Universe for 1,500 years. Hipparchus established the first atlas of the stars and calculated the length of the solar year accurately to within 6.5 minutes. Aristarchus was the first person to state that the earth revolves around the sun, a full 1800 years before Copernicus.
They and many others were all members of that amazing community of
scholars, which not only established the foundations of science but also promoted rationality, tolerance and understanding and organized universal knowledge.
Library assistants were in charge of registration and classification of the books. This included its source, author’s name, and that of the scholar**** who edited the text. Books were labeled as “symmigeis” (mixed) when they included more than one work, and "amigei” (unmixed) for single texts.
A record or registry of the contents of the Library was called “Pinakes” (tables). Every field of learning was classified according to subject (rhetoric, law, epic, tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, history, medicine, mathematics, natural science and miscellanea). Under each subject, authors were alphabetically arranged, followed by a short bibliographical notice and a critical account of the author's writing.
The library was later destroyed, possibly by Julius Caesar who burned it as part of his campaign to conquer the city, and completely disappeared over sixteen hundred years ago. But the memory of the ancient Library of Alexandria lived on. It continued to inspire scholars and humanists everywhere.
In 2002, the Egyptian government supported the building of the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina near the site of the first library. Designed by a Norwegian architect, the New Bibliotheca Alexandrina takes the shape of a circular diaphragm wall – 160 meters in diameter and 33 meters high - representing the sun. It consists of 11 floors with a total area of 85,405 square meters. The walls are of grey Aswan granite, carved with characters from 120 different human scripts.
The whole complex comprises a main reading room with seating for 2,000 readers, six specialist libraries (including Library for the Blind and Young Peoples' Library), four museums (science, calligraphy, manuscripts and archaeological), a public plaza, a planetarium as well as research center and exhibition areas.
The library contains 8 million books, 4000 periodicals, 50,000 manuscripts and rare books, 50,000 maps as well as audio-visual and multimedia materials and computer databases.
Today it is an important educational, scientific and cultural centre for the
transmission and sharing of knowledge.
(Adapted from the Internet sites http://www.arabworldbooks.com/bibliothecaAlexandrina.htm
http://www.akdn.org/agency/akaa/ninthcycle/page_01txt.htm)
---------------------------------
*cradle - колыбель
**corpus – здесь: собрание
***beacon – здесь: маяк, путеводная звезда
****scholar – ученый, обыкновенно гуманитарий