A watercolour / an oil painting / a drawing

an etching (= a picture made first on a metal plate and then printed on paper)

a portrait (= a painting of a person)

a self-portrait (= a painting of the artist by himself/herself)

a landscape / a seascape (= a painting of part of the countryside / sea)

a still life (pl. still lifes) (= a painting of an arrangement of objects including flowers and food)

a mural (= a painting made on a wall, inside or outside)

a fresco (= a watercolour wall-painting made on wet plaster)

a mosaic (= a picture made of pieces of stone or stained glass)

an abstract painting (= a painting that is not realistic)

 

D Art trough ages and schools of art

Early Beginnings: Stone Age - cave drawings

Classical Greek sculpture

Byzantine art

Flemish tapestries

Gothic architecture

The Golden Age: the Renaissance period

the Baroque age

the Romantic era

the Neo-Classicists

 

Recent Developments: Impressionism

the Symbolists and Expressionism

Cubism. Pop art. Abstract art.

 

UNIT IV. SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS.

GRAMMAR: PASSIVE VOICE (continued).

Pre-reading questions:

 

1. What great scientists do you know? What do you know about them?

2. What discoveries were meant to benefit humanity but were used against it?

 

TEXT: ALBERT EINSTEIN.

 

Albert Einstein [2] (1879-1955) was born in Ulm, in Germany but took out Swiss citizenship in 1901. Surprisingly as a child he wasn’t a remarkable student. In fact he failed his first attempt at the entry exam for Zurich Polytechnic. However two years later he passed and, after his graduation in 1900, he worked as a schoolteacher before getting a job in the Patents office in Bern. He worked there from 1902 to 1909. In 1905 he published three papers on theoretical physics and, in the same year, he obtained his PhD.[3]

In 1908 he became a lecturer at the University of Bern. His genius brought him respect and he went on to hold various professorships. In 1915 he published the final version of his theory of relativity. When his theories were verified four years later, he became world famous and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921.

However, in 1933, while Einstein was visiting California, Hitler came to power. Being Jewish, Einstein decided to remain in the USA, took out American citizenship and continued his research at the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton where he remained until death.

During the First World War Einstein had been a pacifist, but prior to the Second World War, he abandoned this idea because German scientists had managed to split the atom, and an atomic bomb was now possible. He believed Hitler was a threat to world peace. He therefore persuaded President Roosevelt, in 1939, to develop a US atomic research program.

Here there is a version of how Albert Einstein discovered the Law of Relativity taken from Ch. Chaplin’s Autobiography.[4] They first met in 1926, when the great scientist had been invited to California to lecture.

Chaplin received a telephone call from Universal studios[5], saying that Professor Einstein would like to meet him. He was thrilled and gladly accepted the invitation. So they met at the Universal studios for lunch, Ch. Chaplin, the Professor, his wife, his secretary and his Assistant Professor.[6] Mrs. Einstein spoke English very well, in fact better than the Professor. She was extremely proud of him and frankly enjoyed being the wife of the great physicist. She did not even try to hide the fact.

After lunch, while Einstein was being shown around the studio, Mrs. Einstein took Chaplin aside and whispered: “Why don’t you invite the Professor to your house? I know he will be delighted to have a nice quiet chat with just ourselves.” It was to be a small affair, and only two other friends were invited. At dinner Mrs. Einstein told Chaplin the story of the morning when the theory of relativity first came to Einstein’s mind.

“The Doctor came down in his dressing gown as usual for breakfast but he hardly touched a thing. I thought something was wrong, so I asked what was troubling him. “Darling! he said, “I have a wonderful idea.” And after drinking his coffee, he went to the piano and started playing.

Now and again he stopped, reached for his pencil, made a few notes, then repeated: “I’ve got a wonderful idea, a marvelous idea!”

“I said: “What’s the matter with you? Why don’t you tell me what it is?”

“He said: “I can’t tell you yet. I still have to work it out.”

She told me he continued playing the piano and making notes for half an hour, then he went upstairs to his study, telling her that he did not want anyone to disturb him, and remained there for two weeks.

“Each day I sent him up his meals,” she said, “and in the evening he walked a little for exercise[7], then returned to his work again.”

“At last,” she said, “he appeared looking very pale and tired. In his hand he held two sheets of paper. “That’s it!” he told me, putting the sheets of paper on the table. And that was the theory of relativity”.

(Adapted)

 

VOCABULARY

discover vt 1.открывать, находить discover an island (a new continent; a new deposit of oil, coal, gold, etc); 2. обнаруживать; раскрывать discover a mistake (the truth, facts, etc) We discovered that it was too late to catch the train; discovery n открытие Phr, make a discovery сделать открытие

 

law n 1. закон; правило Laws tell people what they must do and what they must not do. Phr observe (break) the law соблюдать (нарушать) закон

2. право, юриспруденция international law, law of nations международное право; law merchant торговое право 3. право (как предмет науки) study law; a law department; a law student

 

first adv 1. впервые, первый раз When did you first meet him (= When did you meet him for the first time)? Phr at first первое время, сначала I didn’t like the place at first; 2. первым делом, сначала First we shall have lunch and then talk. Phr first of all прежде всего, в первую очередь

 

scientist n ученый; science n наука; scientific a научный

 

invite vt приглашать invite sb to dinner (one’s house, a conference, the cinema, etc); He invited me to take part in the experiment.

 

receive vt 1. получать receive a letter (an invitation, an answer; money, news, etc.); 2. принимать (кого-л.) receive a visitor (delegation, guest, etc); reception n 1. получение 2. прием, принятие Phr hold a reception устроить прием

accept vt принимать, одобрять (соглашаться) accept help (money, a plan, an offer, a suggestion, an invitation; prices, etc); acceptance n принятие, одобрение; (un)acceptable a (не)приемлемый The price for the goods was acceptable to us.

proud a гордый a proud man (look, etc) Phr be proud of sb (sth) He is proud of his son; pride n Phr take pride in sb, (sth) гордиться кем-л., (чем-л.)

 

frank a искренний, откровенный, открытый a frank face (look, smile, ect.) Phr be frank with sb быть искренним (откровенным) с кем-л.; frankly adv откровенно Phr frankly speaking откровенно говоря

hide vt/vi (hid, hidden) прятать(ся), скрывать(ся) hide a letter (a book; one’s feelings; the truth; a person, etc); What is he hiding from us? Where’s she hiding?

whisper vt/vi шептать, говорить шепотом You don’t have to whisper, say it out loud; whisper sth in sb’s ear; whisper n шепот Phr in a whisper шепотом

affair n дело; занятие Don’t discuss your personal affairs with strangers. Phr international affairs международные дела; home (domestic) affairs внутренние дела; public affairs общественные дела; Ministry of Foreigh Affairs Министерство иностранных дел

hardly adv 1. едва, с трудом He was so tired that he could hardly move; 2. едва ли, вряд ли; мало, редко This is hardly the truth. She hardly ever goes visiting now.

touch vt 1. трогать, дотрагиваться, прикасаться He didn’t let anybody touch his books. He touched me on the shoulder (arm). She hasn’t even touched the food; 2. (рас)трогать, (раз)волновать Her sad story touched us deeply; touchy a обидчивый She is very touchy; touching a трогательный a touching story (incident, episode, etc)

trouble vt/vi беспокоить(ся), тревожить(ся) What is troubling you? Don’t trouble about it; trouble n беспокойство; неприятности He is having a lot of trouble with his car. Phr be in trouble быть в беде; get into trouble попасть в беду; get sb out of trouble вызволить кого-л. из беды; give trouble причинять беспокойство

reach vt/vi 1. достигать, добираться (до) reach home (school, a town, the station, etc.) The news reached them on the next day. He has reached good results. Phr reach an agreement достичь соглашения. His words reached my ears; 2. доставать, дотягиваться (до) Can you reach the ceiling? Phr reach for sth протягивать руку за чем-л.

disturb vt мешать, беспокоить Don’t disturb him when he is at work.

remain vi оставаться After the fire very little remained of the house. He remained unchanged (unhurt, etc). Phr It remains to be seen. Мы еще посмотрим.

appear vi 1. появляться He appeared quite unexpectedly; 2. появляться, возникать Many new towns have appeared in the North of our country; 3. выходить, издаваться; появляться (в печати) When did this newspaper first appear? disappear vi исчезать; appearance n 1. появление; возникновение 2. внешность, внешний вид His appearance was very unusual.

hold vt (held) 1. держать (в руках) hold a bag (a book, newspaper, cigarette, etc); 2. занимать, держать, удерживать (место, позицию) Phr hold first (second, etc) place (in sth) занимать, держать первое (второе и т.д.) место (в чем-л.); 3. проводить (собрание, конференцию и т.д.) hold a meeting (conference competition, exhibition, etc),

 

 

READING I

 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION.

The poisoning of the world’s land, air, and water is the fastest-spreading disease of civilization. It probably produces fewer headlines than wars, earthquakes and floods, but it is potentially one of history’s greatest dangers to human life on earth. If present trends continue for the next several decades our planet will become uninhabitable.

Overpopulation, pollution and energy consumption have created such planet-wide problems as massive deforestation, ozone depletion, acid rains and the global warming that is believed to be caused by the greenhouse effect.

The seas are in danger. They are filled with poison: industrial and nuclear waste, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Mediterranean is already nearly dead; the North Sea is following. The Aral sea is on the brink of extinction. If nothing is done about it, one day nothing will be able to live in the sea.

Every ten minutes one kind of animal, plant or insect dies out for ever. If nothing is done about it, one million species that are alive today will have become extinct in twenty years’ time.

Air pollution is a very serious problem. In Cairo just breathing the air is life threatening – equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. The same holds true for Mexico City and 600 cities of the former Soviet Union.

Industrial enterprises emit tons of harmful substances. These emissions have disastrous consequences for our planet. They are the main reason for the greenhouse effect and acid rains.

An even greater environmental threat are nuclear power stations. We all know how tragic the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are.

People are beginning to realize that environmental problems are not somebody else’s. They join and support various international organizations and green parties. If governments wake up to what is happening – perhaps we’ll be able to avoid the disaster that threatens the natural world and all of us with it.

 

 

READING II

 

ALFRED NOBEL – A MAN OF CONTRAST

 

Alfred Nobel, the great Swedish inventor and industrialist, was a man of many contrasts. He was the son of a bankrupt, but became a millionaire, a scientist with a love of literature, an industrialist who managed to remain an idealist. He made a fortune but lived a simple life, and although cheerful in company he was often sad in private. A lover of mankind, he never had a wife or family to love him, a patriotic son of his native land, he died alone on foreign soil. He invented a new explosive, dynamite, to improve the peacetime industries of mining and road building, but saw it used as a weapon of war to kill and injure his fellow men. During his life he often felt he was useless: “Alfred Nobel,” he once wrote of himself, “ought to have been put to death by a kind doctor as soon as, with a cry, he entered life “. World-famous for his works he was never personally well known, for throughout his life he avoided publicity. “I do not see,” he once said, “that I have deserved any fame and I have no taste for it,” but since his death his name has brought fame and glory to others.

He was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833 but moved to Russia with his parents in 1842, where his father, Immanuel, made a strong position for himself in the engineering industry. Immanuel Nobel invented the landmine and made a lot of money from government orders for it during the Crimean War, but went bankrupt soon after. Most of the family returned to Sweden in 1859, where Alfred rejoined them in 1863, beginning his own study of explosives in his father’s laboratory. He had never been to school or university but had studied privately and by the time he was twenty was a skillful chemist and excellent linguist, speaking Swedish, Russian, German, French and English. Like his father, Alfred Nobel was imaginative and inventive, but he had better luck in business and showed more financial sense. He was quick to see industrial openings for his scientific inventions and build up over 80 companies in 20 different countries. Indeed his greatness lay in his outstanding ability to combine the qualities of an original scientist with those of a forward-looking industrialist.

But Nobel’s main concern was never with making money or even making scientific discoveries. Seldom happy, he was always searching for a meaning to life, and from his youth had taken a serious interest in literature and philosophy. Perhaps because he could not find ordinary human love – he never married – he came to care deeply about the whole of mankind. He was always generous to the poor. “I’d rather take care of the stomachs of the living than the glory of the dead in the form of stone memorials,” he once said. His greatest wish, however, was to see an end to wars, and thus peace between nations, and he spent much time and money working for this cause until his death in Italy in 1896. His famous will, in which he left money to provide prizes for outstanding work in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Medicine, Literature and Peace, is a memorial to his interests and ideals. And so, the man who felt he should have died at birth is remembered and respected long after his death.

 

READING III

 

THE WILL

 

“…the whole of my remaining estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital shall be safely invested to form a fund. The interest on this fund shall be distributed annually in the form of prizes to those who, during the previous year shall have done work of the greatest use to mankind. The said interest shall be divided into 5 parts and distributed as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of Physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the field of Physiology or Medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced within the field of Literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for brotherhood between nations, for the abolition or reduction of permanent armies and for the organization and encouragement of peace conferences. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, that for medical works by the Caroline Institute in Stockholm, that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for workers for peace by a committee of five people to be elected by the Norwegian Parliament. It is my firm wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.”

Paris, November 27, 1895