Учебно-методический комплекс по дисциплине «Иностранный язык (английский)» для неязыковых факультетов (отделение заочного обучения) (стр. 19 )

8.  What are the functions of the leaves?

Notes

1.  cotyledon – семядоля

2.  annual – однолетние

3.  biennial – двухлетние

Text 3. METHODS IN THEORETICAL PHYSICS

One can distinguish between two main procedures for a theoretical physicist. One of them is to work from the experimental basis. For this, one must keep in close touch with the experimental physicists. One reads about all the results they obtain and tries to fit them into a comprehensive and satisfying scheme.

The other procedure is to work from the mathematical basis. One examines and criticizes the existing theory. One tries to pinpoint the faults in it and then tries to remove them. The difficulty here is to remove the faults without destroying the very great successes of the existing theory.

There are these two general procedures, but of course the distinction between them is not hard-and-fast. There are all grades of procedure between the extremes.

Which procedure one follows depends largely on the subject of study. For a subject about which very little is known, where one is breaking quite new ground, one is pretty well forced to follow the procedure based on experiment. One must keep to the experimental basis if one is not to indulge in wild speculation that is almost certain to be wrong. One should not condemn speculation altogether. It can be entertaining and may be indirectly useful even if it does turn out to be wrong. One should always keep an open mind receptive to new ideas, so one should not completely oppose speculation, but one must take care not to get too involved in it.

With increasing knowledge of a subject when one has a great deal of support to work from, one can go over more and more towards the mathematical procedure.

Questions

1.  What is the purpose of this article?

2.  What are two main procedures for a theoretical physicist?

3.  What is meant by working from the experimental basis?

4.  What is meant by working from the mathematical basis?

5.  What does the choice of the procedure depend on?

Note

1.extremes - крайности

Text 4. RADIUM

The early alchemists spent most of their time trying to change common metals such as lead into gold. Many people laughed at the idea. The alchemists had no clear notion of what they were doing. They simply tried all sorts of strange «recipes» and hoped to make the change take place by magic.

Now the scientists know that the alchemists were not entirely wrong. For it is possible for certain metals to change into others. The discovery and study of radium showed that this is true. The alchemists would be unhappy, however, because radium, which is thousands of times more expensive than gold, goes through a series of changes and becomes common lead.

Radium is one of the simple substances, or elements, that scientists sail radioactive. Radioactive elements change all by themselves into other elements. As they do so, they send out powerful rays. These rays can go through many substances that light cannot go through. The rays from radium, for instance, can go through flesh and be used to treat such diseases as cancer.

A common use of radium is in paint. Paint containing very tiny amounts of this element is used on the hands of clocks and watches to make them glow in the dark. Chemicals in the paint give out flashes of light when hit by rays from the radium.

Carelessly used radium can cause terrible pplies of it must be kept in special containers with thick lead walls.

Pure radium is a white metal. It is very heavy. But there is so little of it that no one has ever been bothered by its weight. Only a few pounds have been produced in the whole world.

Radium was discovered by the French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie. The story of their work is one of the really exciting chapters in the story of science.

Questions

1.  What did the early alchemists spend most of their time on?

2.  Is radium one of the radioactive elements?

3.  What is a common use of radium?

4.  What can carelessly used radium cause?

5.  Whom was radium discovered by?

Note

1.  alchemists – алхимики

Text 5. SALT

«He is the salt of the earth». «He is not worth his salt». Both of these are common sayings. They show that salt is an important substance, it is even more important today than in the past.

At times salt has been used as money. The word salary comes from sol, the Latin word

for «salt». The Roman soldiers used to be paid partly in salt.

The Arabs used to believe that eating another person’s salt meant that you wouldn`t do him no harm. It was a bad sign it anyone refused to eat salt when he was a guest. In some parts of Africa it is still good manners, when you meet a friend, to let him lick your cake of salt.

There are superstitions about salt, too. Spilling salt is supposed to bring bad luck. But the person who spills the salt can keep the bad luck away if he throws a little over his left shoulder. Another superstition is that you can catch a bird if you sprinkle a little salt on its tail.

Salt is something which everyone has to have. We cannot live without it. Of course, most of us like the taste of salt, too.

Sea water has salt in it. But most of the salt we buy comes from deep in the ground. It comes from layers of rock salt there. The layers were formed when salty seas of long ago evaporated. Later, the salt was covered with other rocks.

It is not hard to get salt from the layers of rock salt underground. Mines can be dug down, and the salt taken out in blocks. Or water can be forced down through pipes to the salt and then pumped up again. The salt that has been dissolved in the water can easily be taken out of it.

Most of the salt we buy is in tiny crystals. Under a microscope they look like tiny cubes of glass.

Chemicals made from salt are used in the manufacture of rubber, and steel, and dyes, and drugs. Chemicals from salt are used to soften - water and to bleach cloth. They help in scouring wool and making leather. The list could go on and on. A great many of our factories of today would be forced to shut down if there were no more salt.

Questions

1.  How has salt been used at times?

2.  What does the word «salary» come from?

3.  Are there any superstitions about salt?

4.  When were the layers of rock salt formed?

5.  How are chemicals made from salt used?

Notes

1.  «He is the salt of the earth» – Таких хороших людей, как он, мало.

2.  «He is not worth his salt» – Он никчемный человек.

КОНТРОЛЬНАЯ РАБОТА ПО АНГЛИЙСКОМУ ЯЗЫКУ № 3.

Грамматический материал.

I Аудиторная работа.

1.  Времена группы Perfect Continuous.

2.  Страдательный залог (Passive Voice) в трех временах всех групп Indefinite (Simple), Continuous (Progressive), Perfect.

3.  Простые неличные формы глагола: the Infinitive, the Gerund, Participles (повторение)

4.  Согласование времен.

II Самостоятельная работа.

1.  Многофункциональность глаголов should, would.

2.  Виды придаточных предложений.

3.  Типы условных предложений.

4.  Словообразование: основные словообразовательные префиксы
и суффиксы.

5.  Конверсия.

КОНТРОЛЬНАЯ РАБОТА ПО АНГЛИЙСКОМУ ЯЗЫКУ № 3.

1.  Прочитайте текст и письменно ответьте по английский на воп
росы, следующие за текстом.

2.  Выпишите из текста 10 неправильных глаголов и образуйте
причастия настоящего и прошедшего времени; переведите их на рус
ский язык.

3.  Найдите в тексте и переведите на русский язык предложения,
в которых употреблено причастие настоящего времени.

4.  Найдите в тексте и переведите на русский язык предложения,
в которых употреблено причастие прошедшего времени.

5.  Поставьте глагол-сказуемое одного предложения из текста в
все временные формы группы Perfect Continuous, произведя все не
обходимые смысловые изменения.

Образец: He has been translating the text since 5 o’clock.

He had been translating the text for two hours when we returned home.

When we return home at 5 o’clock, he will have been translating the text

6.  Найдите в тексте и переведите на русский язык предложения,
сказуемые которых употреблены в страдательном залоге.

7.  Найдите в тексте и переведите на русский язык предложения, в которых употреблены глаголы should, would.

8.  Переведите письменно текст контрольной работы №3. При пе­
реводе пользуйтесь англо-русским словарем.

Text 1. GERMANIC LANGUAGES

Germanic, or Teutonic, languages are a sub-family of the Indo-European family of languages. They include Dutch, English, German, the Scandinavian languages, several extinct languages.

The Germanic languages are commonly grouped according to linguistic similarities into three branches-the East, North and West Germanic branches. The East Germanic group consists of the language of the Goths. The North Germanic, or Scandinavian, languages include Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.

The West Germanic languages are divided into two groups - High German and Low German. The principal High German language is Modern German, also known as Standard German. The surviving Low German languages are Dutch, Flemish, Frisian and English.

Dutch is the language of the Netherlands, Flemish, or Belgian Dutch, is spoken in Northern Belgium. More than half of the Belgian population speaks Flemish, although French is current throughout the country. Frisian is spoken by people on the coast and coastal islands of the North sea, particularly in the north Netherlands province of Frisland. Frisian differs considerably from Dutch and is nearest of the Germanic languages to English.

English, the most widespread of the world's languages, is considered to be an offshoot4 of an Anglo-Frisian dialect that must have been fairly widespread before the Germanic tribes invaded England.