Exercise 36. Read the text quickly and decide which structure it describes.

 

a) The Hoover Dam

b) The Arlberg Tunnel

с) The Channel Tunnel

d) The Golden Gate Bridge

 

The... is between Britain and France. It's more than 20 kilometres long. It was built by British and French engineers. They started on opposite sides and met in the middle under the sea. They used specially-designed tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to dig the tunnels through the rock under the seabed. TBMs are enormous machines for digging tunnels. The machines used to dig the main tunnels were about 8.5 metres in diameter and 250 metres long. Work started in 1987 and the teams met under the seabed in 1991. It is a rail tunnel. The first passenger train went through in 1994.

Exercise 37. Read the text again and answer the questions (1-9) below.

1. Where is it?

2. What is it?

3. How long is it?

4. Who built it?

5. How did they build it?

6. What are TBMs?

7. How big are TBMs?

8. How long did it take to build?

9. When did it open?

 

Exercise 38. First, underline the question words in Exercise 3. Then use them to complete these questions.

1. _____ many Roman roads are there in Europe?

2. _____ designed St Paul's Cathedral in London?

3. _____ is the name of the famous bridge in San Francisco?

4. _____ was the Eiffel Tower built?

5. _____ is the Corinth Canal?

 

Exercise 39. Complete the texts by putting one word in each space. Use the words in the box. Check the meaning of any new words in the glossary or your dictionary.

■ across ■ around ■ between ■ over ■ through ■ under

 

The Panama Canal is a 64km waterway (1)__________ the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Before the canal was opened, ships had to travel thousands of miles (2) ____________ South America. To build the canal, engineers had to dam a major river, and dig a channel (3) ______________ a mountain ridge.

Tower Bridge is an openable bascule bridge, designed by Horace Lones in 1886. It goes (4) ___________ the River Thames in London. Thousands of vehicles drive (5) ________ it every day. Tall ships cannot pass (6) _____ Tower Bridge, instead, the roadway parts and lifts to let them through.

 

Exercise 40. Write questions about a building, tunnel, or dam. Use who, what, when, where, and how. Make sure you know the answers!

For example: How old is it? Where is it?

 

Exercise 41. Work with a partner. Ask and answer the questions you wrote in Exercise 6.

 

Exercise 42. Find out about a major new engineering project. Where is it? What will it do? What problems do the engineers have to solve to build?

 

Text 7. Gadgets

 

Exercise 43. Read the descriptions (A-D) of following things.

 

A. Letter opener clock

Desktop clock, thermometer, calendar, and letter opener

This gadget has got lots of helpful information -with the added benefit automatic electric letter opener. The LCD display shows date, time, and temperature in °C or °E In addition there is an alarm clock, a calculator, and the times in 15 cities around the world. Letter opener uses2xAA batteries (not supplied). 5.5x 12x 9.5cm.

B. Radio pen

Sounds as good as it writes

This pen looks beautiful, feels great to write with – but it sounds better in the ears. It`s got a secret radio in the top! Wear the earphones and enjoy music while you work. Button batteries included. 14 cm.

C. Feet washer

The best thing for your feet

Designed for shower or bath, this vinyl mat cleans and massages your feet - and you don't need to bend down or stand on one leg! Suction cups hold it safety while you stand on the 1, 500 relaxing 'fingers'. 2.5 x 14.5 x 27.5cm.

D. Bed Glasses

How to read or watch TV - flat on your back

These glasses are perfect for sick people who must stay in bed, or for people who like to relax with a book or watch TV while lying flat on the floor or sofa. The plastic frame contains two glass prisms that deflect your vision by 90°. The lenses first-class and you can wear them over your normal glasses.

 

Exercise 44. Read the texts (A-D) again and match the sentences (1-6) below with the gadgets.

 

1. These two don`t need batteries.

2. This does two things.

3. You use this standing up.

4. You use these lying down.

5. This can tell you how hot it is.

6. You get free batteries with this.

 

Exercise 45. Complete the definitions (1-7) with the highlighted words in the text. Use the glossary or your dictionary to help you.

 

1. A _________ is a good thing.

2. A __________ is a triangular block of glass.

3. ____________ are the pieces of glass you look through.

4. ____________ holds/attaches with air pressure.

5. ___________ is a type of plastic.

6. _____________ means hidden.

7. To _________ means to change direction.

 

Exercise 46. How useful are the gadgets? Put them in order (1= most useful, 2 = least useful). Discuss your ideas with a partner and agree on an order. Explain your list to the rest of the class. Do other students agree with you?

Exercise 47. Think of a gadget that you use in your home, for example, a TV remote control, a potato peeler. (You don`t need to know the English word). Plan how to describe it, for example:

Where is it used?

Who uses it?

Why is it useful?

What is it made from?

How much does it cost?

Exercise 48. Without naming the gadget, describe it to your class. Can they guess the gadget? Does anyone know the English word?

For example: You use this in the kitchen. You use it when you`re cooking potatoes or carrots. It`s easy to use and safer than a knife. It`s made from metal. It doesn`t need batteries. It`s not expensive.

 

Exercise 49. What information is included about each gadget?

 

Add to this list.

- The name of the gadget.

- What it does.

- …..

Exercise 50. Design a gadget. Choose one of the gadgets below or your own idea. Do a rough drawing of your gadget and write draft information about it. Use your list from Exercise 5 to help you.

 

- A gadget to cut your toenails without bending over.

- A gadget to exercise your dog without going outside.

- A gadget to keep your younger brother/sister out of your bedroom.

- A gadget to clean your shoes.

 

Тексты для самостоятельной работы студентов

 

History of nanotechnology

 

Exercise 51. Read and translate the text.

 

The first use of the concepts found in 'nano-technology' (but pre-dating use of that name) was in " There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom, " a talk given by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959. Feynman described a process by which the ability to manipulate individual atoms and molecules might be developed, using one set of precise tools to build and operate another proportionally smaller set, and so on down to the needed scale. In the course of this, he noted, scaling issues would arise from the changing magnitude of various physical phenomena: gravity would become less important, surface tension and van der Waals attraction would become increasingly more significant, etc. This basic idea appeared plausible, and exponential assembly enhances it with parallelism to produce a useful quantity of end products. The term " nanotechnology" was defined by Tokyo Science University Professor Norio Taniguchi in a 1974 paper as follows: " 'Nano-technology' mainly consists of the processing of, separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or by one molecule." In the 1980s the basic idea of this definition was explored in much more depth by Dr. K. Eric Drexler, who promoted the technological significance of nano-scale phenomena and devices through speeches and the books Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology (1986) and Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation, and so the term acquired its current sense. Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology is considered the first book on the topic of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology and nanoscience got started in the early 1980s with two major developments; the birth of cluster science and the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). This development led to the discovery of fullerenes in 1985 and carbon nanotubes a few years later. In another development, the synthesis and properties of semiconductor nanocrystals was studied; this led to a fast increasing number of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles and quantum dots. The atomic force microscope (AFM or SFM) was invented six years after the STM was invented. In 2000, the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative was founded to coordinate Federal nanotechnology research and development and is evaluated by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

 

Exercise 52. Ask 6 questions about the text.

Nanomaterials

 

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