Protection Against Radiation

1. What is the best protection against radiation? 2. Why do people working with radio-active substances wear protective clothes.? 3. Why do they have film-holders on the lapels of their coats? 4. How do Health Physics establish the amount of radiation? 5. What is the fatal dose? 6. Why are things in hot labs handled by remote control? 7. What else is done to protect people from radiation in hot labs?

 

A Research Laboratory

1. What purpose does a laboratory serve? 2. What kind of laborato­ries do you know? 3. What does the inside of a laboratory look like? 4. How does an ordinary kind of laboratory differ from a hot lab? 5. Why is a hot lab usually housed in a separate building? 6. Why does a re­search worker sometimes design his own equipment**? 7. What may care­less handling of equipment in a laboratory lead to? 8. Why does work in a laboratory need constant attention? 9. Why is it important that in­struments should be checked before starting an experiment? 10. Why must a laboratory be spotlessly clean and have good ventilation?

 

On Observatories

1. What kind of work is done in an observatory? 2. What do you call the scientists who watch the movements of stars and planets? 3. What are the biggest observatories in our country? in the world? 4. Why are observatories usually situated a long distance from big industrial cen­tres? 5. What instruments help astronomers make their observations? 6. What has greatly helped the astronomers in their work in the last decade? 7. How much do we know now about the Moon, Mars, etc.?

 

On Hobbies

1. What do you do in your spare time? 2. What is your hobby? 3. In what way do hobbies (such as stamp-collecting, etc.) develop (broaden) the mind? 4. What information do stamps, picture post-cards, badges, etc. contain? 5. Why is it important that a system should be worked out in collecting them? 6. What makes a stamp unique? 6. What is your opinion of hobbies?

 

Ex. 40. Read. the following, answer the questions, using the vocabulary of the lesson, and retell the passage.

VICTORY OVER DEATH

It is impossible to say what death is worse. But, probably worst of all, is to feel quite healthy and, yet, know that you must die.

It happened in September, 1958, in the Yugoslav Atomic Centre. Six scientists were looking over the switched off atomic pile. Suddenly the signal lights flashed red, the instrument indicators started their mad dance: the reactor had gone into action. There were no cries, no blood, no pain; beyond the lab walls work went on as usual, people walked un­hurriedly along the corridors. "It was as if nothing had happened, "reads a note in the diary of one of the six made at a later date. "Only after read­ing the Geiger counter did I realize that it was the end."

The scientists were rushed to Paris by plane. There they were ad­mitted to the hospital of the Pierre Curie Institute in d'Ulm Street. The six men were given a careful check-up to establish the exact amount of radiation they had exposed themselves to. The instruments showed that five of them had received 700 г and hardly had a chance. There was hope for only one of them.

The scientists, however, did not lose courage.* In the quiet hospital wards they studied French, listened to the radio and played chess. At first there were no outward signs of the disease, yet it was quietly steal­ing up on them. Nothing seemed to help: neither frequent blood trans­fusions,* nor large doses of antibiotics.

But the doctors would not admit failure. When the patients had only some two or three days to live the Medical Centre called a consilium. In an effort to save the lives of the six scientists it was decided to try a bone-marrow transplant.** It was certaintly a risk, but a risk well worth taking.

Four Frenchmen volunteered to act as donors and give the marrow necessary for injection. Now there was nothing to do but wait.

Several days passed. One of the patients died. but the other five lived. Death was defeated.*** The daring experiment was a success.

The miracle in d'Ulm Street gives hope that medical science will learn to fight leukemia — this terrible and still incurable disease.

 

Questions

1. When and where did the accident occur? 2. How did it happen that the scientists were exposed to an overdose of radiation? 3. Ordina­rily things would be checked by remote control, wouldn't they? 4. What happened when the reactor went into action? 5. What told the scientists of the extreme danger? 6. What instrument is used to establish the amount of radiation? 7. What conclusion did the scientists make on reading the Geiger counter? 8. Why was it necessary to act without delay? 9. What hospital were they admitted to? 10. What did the check-up show? 11. What were the chances of the six scientists to live? 12. How did the scientists take the doctors' verdict? 13. What was life like for them in the hospital wards? 14. What did they do in their spare time? 15. Why was it important to keep the patients under constant observation? 16. What treatments were tried? 17. What decision was finally taken in an effort to save the lives of the scientists? 18. What was the purpose of a bone-marrow transplant? 19. Why was a bone-marrow transplant be­lieved to be risky? 20. Could anyone guess what the result of the oper­ation might be? 21. Who volunteered to act as donors? 22. What was the effect of the treatment on the patients? 23. Why was the experiment des­cribed as daring? 24. What sort of hope does the success of the experiment give to people? 25. Can it be said with conviction that a cure has been found for leukemia?

 

Ex. 41. Read the following, answer the questions, and retell the passage in English.

СВЕТ НАД РОССИЕЙ

Глеб Максимилианович Кржижановский, член партии с 1893 г., отбывал ссылку в Сибири, в далеком Минусинском округе.

Сибирские села Шушенское и Тесинское, куда были сосланы Ленин и Кржижановский, находились неподалеку друг от друга, и это поз­воляло им часто видеться, обсуждать политические вопросы. Сов­местная работа Кржижановского с Лениным в петербургских рево­люционных кружках, а затем годы, проведенные в ссылке, определили весь его дальнейший жизненный путь.

После поражения революции 1905 года, активным участником которой стал по возвращении из ссылки Кржижановский, царское правительство лишило его права проживать во всех промышленных центрах и университетских городах. В Петербурге он проживал не­легально.

Когда в стране победила пролетарская революция, Кржижанов­ский, понимая, как важна ленинская идея электрификации России, принимает самое активное участие в разработке и осуществлении Государственного плана электрификации России.

Выдающийся английский романист Герберт Уэллс, посетивший Советскую страну в 1920 году, писал, что осуществление такого дерз­новенного проекта в России «можно представить себе только с помо­щью сверхфантазии».

В 1924 году вступила в строй Кизеловская ГРЭС, в 1925 — Горь-ковская, Балахнинская, Шатурская... План ГОЭЛРО успешно пре­творялся в жизнь.

В 1921 году, по рекомендации Ленина, Кржижановский стано­вится первым председателем Госплана, в чью задачу входило внед­рение планирования в народное хозяйство страны.

 

Questions

1. Where was Krzhizhanovsky exiled? 2. How was it possible that while in exile, Lenin and Krzhizhanovsky should frequently meet to discuss political matters? 3. What factors determined Krzhizhanov-sky's choice of his road in life? 4. Where did Krzhizhanovsky return after exile? 5. What was his part in preparing the Revolution of 1905? 6. What happened after the Revolution was defeated? 7. Why was Krzhi­zhanovsky denied the right to live in industrial centres and university towns? 8. How soon after the victory of the proletarian revolution did work start on the State Plan for the Electrification of Russia? 9. Why did Krzhizhanovsky believe it all-important to have the plan worked out and put into practice without delay? 10. What was the attitude of Herbert Wells, the famous English novelist, to Lenin's daring project? 11. Why did he believe that the project was impracticable? 12. Why did Wells speak of "superimagination" in connection with this project? 13. What facts were there to prove that the plan for the electrification of the country was being successfully put into practice? 14. When was the Kizelov hydro-electric power station commissioned? 15. What elec­tric power stations were commissioned in 1925? 16. When was the State Planning Commission set up? 17. On whose recommendation was Krzhiz­hanovsky appointed chairman of the Commission? 18. Why was it im­portant to introduce planning in the country's national economy?

 

Ex. 42. Retell the following in English.

ATOM УЧИТСЯ РАБОТАТЬ

«He входи!» Надпись весьма категорична. Но я смело вхожу в лабораторию. Стрелка индикатора, укрепленного на лацкане белого халата, абсолютно спокойна.

То, что найдет геолог, часто бывает загадкой, даже если он на­шел то, что искал. Сколько руда содержит металла или минерала? Насколько велико месторождение? Ответ на эти вопросы будет полу­чен в лаборатории. В большинстве случаев проводится химический анализ, который известен еще с древних времен. Хотя методы его менялись, но все-таки он занимает пока часы, а то и дни-

И вот передо мной первый электронный циклотрон с детектиру­ющим устройством.

Главной целью лаборатории, созданной десять лет назад, был и остается поиск методов анализа руд одновременно на многие эле­менты. Наиболее быстро и точно это можно сделать с помощью радио­активного облучения. Новый циклотрон определяет одновременно и с большой точностью количественное содержание в руде нескольких элементов.

Так, шаг за шагом, усилиями ученых мирный атом все глубже входит в нашу жизнь.

 

to serve the needs of man; No admittance; boldly; a geologist; to remain a mystery; ore; to contain; a deposit; an electronic cyclotron with a detecting device; to test ore for elements; radioactive irradiation; to establish the exact amount of smth in smth; step by step.

 

Ex. 43. Read and retell the following. Use the text as a starting point in speaking of Soviet successes in space research.

MINUTES

Gagarin lay strapped down* in his seat in a tunnel of instruments, each one humming, clicking, buzzing, flashing. It was zero plus 100 sec­onds, and the pressure** was getting less. To his left, without moving his head, which felt as though it was bursting, he read the altimeter: 7,000 metres. Another five seconds ticked by. Now he was higher than any birds had ever flown, speeding upwards faster than any man had travelled.

9.11 Moscow time. Gagarin had left the Earth's atmosphere. The second stage had separated and fallen away. Temperature and speed drop­ped sharply. He was in orbit.

Gagarin pulled his body towards the cabin window and the light beyond. "I can see the Earth in a haze.*** Feeling fine." He added, after a second look, "How beautiful..."

Now he was able to move for the first time, and he loosened his straps. At once his body rose from the seat and he was floating.**** Already he had been in a state of zero gravity, in flight,***** longer than any man had experienced. To him it meant nothing; there was no unpleasantness, nothing unexpected.

Outside Vostok there was complete silence, absolute silence, as the ship, now a satellite, fell around the Earth like a stone dropping down a bottomless well.******

10.15. He reported: "Over Africa." At 10.16 a red light went on to let him know that he would be going down in ten minutes. Quickly he checked his instruments again, reported once more that all was well.

Even firmly strapped in, Gagarin felt the atmosphere around him in the cabin change. Overload******* was greater than on the way up; the pressure was painful in the extreme. Instruments began to swim in front of his eyes, but through it all the clock was seen... 10.27. There were twenty-eight minutes to go. Then he was warned by orange lights and radio to prepare for landing. Gagarin felt a powerful push on the chest as the parachutes opened up high above the capsule.

Two women working in the fields were staring at the sky. The dot******** grew larger, changing from black to white. Frightened but determined, they ran towards the object as it floated over the trees and hit the earth in the middle of a field. As they ran a door opened and a head appeared, followed by a body in a sky-blue suit. Gagarin smiled and called:"Hallo, give me a hand." At the realization of what they had seen one of the wom­en burst into giggling, while the other almost collapsed with shock. A man arrived and shook Gagarin's hand. The little party was still stand­ing, looking at each other with delight, when the first car came speeding up...

 

Ex. 44. Use the following words and phrases in situations.