Section 3. Memory Exercise

Ex.1. Work in pairs. Listen to the sentence and translate.

1.

• Babies are born with more bones than adults have: around 300. Adults have 206.

• В России, человек которому есть 20 лет, но нет 21 скажет, что ему 20 лет, а в Америке и Европе - что ему 21 год.

• The 7 billionth human was born on October 31, 2011.

• На голове блондинов (и блондинок) в среднем по 150.000 волос, на голове брюнетов (и брюнеток) - по 100.000.

• Just one person in a room adds 37 million bacteria to the air every hour.

• Землетрясение в китайской провинции Шэньси в 1556 году забрало 830 000 человеческих жизней менее чем за три часа.

• It took radio broadcasters 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, television 13 years, and the Internet just four years.

2

• У сороконожки вовсе не обязательно 40 ножек. У разных видов сороконожек(точнее, многоножек) от 30 до 400 и выше ног, причём это число может быть разным даже у особей одного вида.

• It has been found that the Hawaii islands are moving at a speed of 10 cm/year towards Japan. This is due to the fact that Japan and Hawaii lie on separate tectonic plates.

• Одна из причин гибели языков — неравномерное распределение их по числу носителей. Так, 80 % населения планеты знает лишь 80 языков. При этом 3,5 тыс. языков приходится на 0,2 % жителей Земли.

• The loudest sound produced by any living creature on earth is 188 decibels. The sound produced by The Blue Whale has been detected 560 miles away from source.

• Если число 111 111 111 умножить на самого себя, то получится интересное число 12 345 678 987 654 321

• Insects called fleas are capable of jumping up to 130 times the height of their own body.

• Длительность полного солнечного затмения не превышает 7,5 минут; полного лунного затмения - 104 минут.

3

• The total length of blood vessels present in human body is approximately 62,000 miles.

• В Долине смерти, самом сухом и горячем месте на земном шаре, живет свыше 15 видов птиц, 40 видов млекопитающих, 44 вида пресмыкающихся, 12 видов амфибий, 13 видов рыб и 545 видов растений.

• Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean has the deepest part on the earth. Depth of this part is 10,916 m.

• За последние 500 лет масса Земли увеличилась на миллиард тонн за счет космического вещества.

• Length of the Hubble Telescope is 13.1 m. This telescope weighs 12 tons and its total cost is 2.1 billion.

• Несмотря на то, что некоторые люди имеют в социальных сетях сотни и тысячи друзей, эффективно взаимодействовать средний человек способен не более чем со 150 контактами.

• If underwater turbines could harness just 1/1000 of the energy of the Gulf Stream's current, they could power 7 million homes.

Section 4. Listening/Composition

Text 1. Science on the Cutting Edge

"You're not going to like this," warned Robert Krulwich, delivering a story about visionary robotics developers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau. They created a carnivorous clock, supposedly able to power itself for 12 days merely on the carcasses of 12 dead houseflies (which the clock traps with fly paper and then mechanically razors in two). The pair also showed a prototype of a coffee table that catches mice by luring them up the table legs with cheese into a hole in the center, where they are guillotined. Auger and Loizeau said their creations are just extensions of TV nature programs showing animals hunting in the wild, but Krulwich fretted about the dangers inherent in "giving robots a taste for meat."

Text 2. Cannabis may reduce depression.

The debate over the health benefits and dangers of cannabis, or marijuana, continues with the publication of a study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that showed rats given a synthetic cannabis substance were less depressed and anxious. A research team from Canada’s University of Saskatchewan observed that a chemical found in cannabis had an antidepressant effect on rats. In the study, the animals were injected with high levels of an artificial substance similar to that found in cannabis, for a month and displayed less anxiety when placed in new environments, a usual trigger of fear for rodents. The research data and findings are being treated with a degree of skepticism from mental health experts, who warn that the laboratory results on rats are unlikely to be replicated in humans. A mountain of previous research has linked cannabis to long-term damage to mental health and an increased susceptibility to anxiety and depression.