Safely clasped. neither could harm the other. Therefore, a handshake originally was a means of self-defense.

Упражнение 21. Дайте недостающие формы глагола, запомните их:

Teach, fighting, wore, frozen, letting, carried on, laid down.

Упражнение 22. Прочитайте и переведите текст без словаря:

The ancient Greeks are known to have been great watchers of the sky and also great thinkers. As they watched the sky night after night. it was natural for them to think that the Earth stood and the stars, planets, sun and moon were moving round the earth in space. They thought the sun to be between Venus and Mars. To explain the movement of the planets, however, was very difficult. Then one day a young scientist named Copernicus at Krakow University in Poland supposed that the sun and not the Earth should be the centre of everything. He was the first to explain properly our solar system. The ancient Greeks had made the mistake of thinking that because the stars and planets seemed to move as they looked at the sky, the Earth must stand. If you sat in a train and looked out at the trees, it would be easy to understand their mistake. The trees seem to be moving backwards, but really it is the train that is moving forwards.

Conversation

Exercise 1. Answer the questions:

1. What field of science studies the phenomenon of supercon­ductivity? (physics).

What could a nation have if it is the first to master this new field of science? (prestige, scientific advantage, economic and military benefits).

What is superconductivity? (the loss of electrical resistively by a, material on being cooled to temperatures near absolute zero).

4. What is absolute zero? (O. Kelvin or -273 °C).

What scientists worked in the field of superconductivity research? (a Dutch physicist K. Ones, Russian physicists L. Landau and V. Ginsburg, and a number of American scientists).

What materials are the best super conductors? (ceramic materials).

7. What are the potential technical uses of superconductivity?
(nuclear research, power generation, electronics, etc.).

Exercise 2. Make a sentence out of the two parts:

1. Recent achievements in 1. fundamental theory to explain
superconductivity research are this unexpected phenomenon.

They may be compared with 2. found the electrical resistively of

Mercury to disappear when cooled

 

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to the temperature of 4 Kelvin.

3. Superconductivity is known to 3. to the development of super-

conductivity theory.

4. While carrying out his low 4. have been discovered by a Dutch temperature research he physicist.

5. For 50 years after the discovery 5.of great importance for science there was no and technology.

6. In the 1950s Russian and American 6.since the discovery of a super-physicists made a great contribution conductive metallic ceramics.

7. Research in the field of super- 7.physics discoveries that led to the
conductivity became especially active development of electronics and

nuclear power.

Exercise 3. Read and learn:

Professor Brown: Hello, glad to meet you, proof. Smith, haven't seen you for ages, since I left the University. Prof. Smith: How do you do, proof. Brown, I haven't expected

to see you here. Are you interested in

superconductivity problems? By the way, how

are you making your living? I haven't heard

anything about your work lately. I spent the

last two years in Geneva as a member of a

special UN committee.
Pr. В.: I am with Bell Telephone company. It is a

global leader in electrical engineering. And I

deal with new technologies.
Pr. S.: Oh, your work is so important nowadays.

Mankind needs energy for producing light, heat

and transportation. This is the basis of our

civilization.
Pr. В.: Sure, that's so. And as the population grows, so

does the demand for better quality of life.

Energy consumption increases daily.
Pr. S.: But with it the threat to clean air, pure water

and soil increases too. These natural resources

are not inexhaustible.
Pr. В.: Of course. We are developing new industrial

systems to improve productivity, reducing the

amount of raw materials and energy required.

Our new advanced systems help to conserve

energy too.
Pr. S.: In Geneva one of the problems I studied was

the problem to generate. transmit and distribute

energy with great efficiency.! think Doctor

Carter's work in this field is the most promising.

From the Agenda (повестка дня) we have all

Probe.: Pr. S.: Pr. В.: Pr. S.:

just received you can see that Dr.Carter will

speak on his work tomorrow.

I have already seen this paper on the program.

I'll not miss (пропустить) it. Have you attended

the morning session?

The most interesting was the discussion on

problems of the balance between the needs of

the mankind and the conservation of the natural

resources.

Have you taken part in it?

Certainly. I've spoken about clean and efficient

technology in the field of electrical engineering.

Exercise 4. Comment on the following statement:

The teaching routine procedures (заведенный порядок, общеиз­верстная и установившаяся практика) ought to be the main aim of education.

One point of view: Routine makes life and experiments easier, it saves energy; experience of past generations takes on the form of routine; routine helps us to avoid risks; thanks to routine we don't have to rediscover things; routine ensures efficiency while experimenting, it enables us to achieve a high level of predictability.

A contrary point of view: Routine kills invention and discovery, it is opposite to creativity; it is necessary to avoid routine so that the world can be changed for the better; young people ought to develop their imagination, but not learn routine; routine is the exact opposite of youthfulness; routine is boring; the best idea would be to combine routine with improvisation.

Exercise 5. Conduct a round-table discussion on "Superconductivity Research''. Use texts 11 A,B, С as a basis for the preparation of oral talks and discussion. Useful words and phrases of scientific communication are given in exercise 5 (see Lesson 10 "Conversation").

Exercise 6. Read and smile:

For a long time Edison's visitors wondered (удивлялись) why the gate (калитка) to his garden was so difficult to open.

Once his friend said: "The gate to your garden is so heavy. I have to use all my strength to open it. I cannot understand this. You are such a brilliant man. You can invent something better". "The gate seems to be all right", Edison answered with a smile. "The fact is that it is a brilliant invention." "You are laughing at me, sir!" "No, I am not. The gate is connected to a pump. Everybody who comes in pumps twenty liters of water out of the well (колодец)".

 

11'

An absent-minded (рассеянный) professor was once travelling by electric train, and when the conductor came the professor couldn't

Find his ticket.

"It's all right, sir", said the conductor who knew the professor very well, "I'll come at the next station".

But at the next station there was the same difficulty, the professor ] couldn't find his ticket anywhere.

"It's all right, sir, it doesn't matter (не имеет значения)", said the conductor. "No, no I must find the ticket, I must know where I’m going to!"

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