I. Read and translate the text: Getting About Town.

A town is a large number of houses, schools, hospitals, theatres, factories and other buildings built near each other. Streets divide all these buildings into blocks. On one side of the street the buildings have even numbers, on the other—odd numbers. Along the streets run car, buses and trolley-buses. On both sides of the streets there are pavements on which people walk.

People usually cross the streets at special places, called crossings. When the traffic is very heavy, the policeman, who regulates the movement of the cars and buses, has to stop the never-ending stream by raising one hand, thus giving the pedestrians a chance to cross the street.

In the centre and in important parts of a large town, there are squares, gardens and market places. Certainly, in every town there are places of interest, such as monuments, cathedrals, museums, etc.

People use various means of communication to get from one place to another. When getting about town one can go by bus, by tram, by trolley-bus or by the underground. The underground in large cities is very popular with the citizens. It’s the fastest and most convenient way of going about town. If you have to travel a short distance you make take a bus, a tram, a trolley-bus or go on foot. If there is no direct bus to your destination you’ll have to change to another bus,(trolley-bus, tram). When we travel on buses, (trolley-buses, trams, etc.) we have to pay fare. It doesn’t depend on the distance you go. If there are many cars, buses and trolley-buses in the town we say that the traffic is heavy. If the vehicles are few we say that the traffic is light. The traffic is especially heavy in the rush hours, that is in the morning when people are hurrying to work and in the evening when people are coming back home. At this time the public transport is overcrowded (packed to the full).

b) has changed beyond recognition.

c) has become more pleasant and comfortable.

3. Our century has had several names that were connected with

a) a certain era in science and technology.

b) a certain era in art and music.

c) the development of the society.

VI. Answer the questions.

1. What is the role of science and technology in our life?

2. What things, which we use in our everyday life, would seem miracles to our ancestors?

3. How have great inventions changed our life?

4. What problems has the rapid scientific progress aroused?

VII. Speak about:

1. Trivial things that make our life comfortable, but would seem miracles to our ancestors.

2. Why the 20^th century was called the atomic age; the age of the conquest of space and the information era.

3. Newer fields in science and the responsibility of the scientist.

4. The problems caused by the rapid scientific progress.

Lesson 30.

Topic: Scientific and Technological Progress.

1. Read and translate the following text: Science

Science is knowledge about different spheres of the world around us. It studies everything from the structure of atoms to the movement of stars. There are pure sciences as mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, biochemistry, and applied sciences as linguistics, philosophy, psychology, history. Nowadays people can not even imagine themselves without science. Science influenced people’s lives greatly. Every day people use telephones,