Write out of the text all sentences expressing the main idea(s) of each logical part, condense them in any possible way (or paraphrase for the sentences to be shorter) and write 1) a summary, and 2) an abstract to the text.
Make an oral summary of the text.
TEXT 3 Science and Society in the USA
Before you read
1. Comment on the statement: "Science is a powerful engine by which the genius of the few is magnified by the talents of the many for the benefits of all."
Now read the text and determine its main points.
Science on the scale that it exists and is needed today can, however, be maintained only with large amounts of public support. Large- scale public support will be provided only if science and technology are meeting the critical needs of society. Intellectual progress, as measured by advances in specific scientific disciplines, is not in itself sufficient to generate such support. Perhaps it should be, but it is not. Public support for science may be wise policy, but it is not an entitlement.
The central problem is that the costs of meeting the needs of society are too high, and the time scale for meeting them is too long. Both the ideals and the pragmatics of American society are based on improvement in the quality of life. We expect better health care, better education, economic security. We expect progress towards the reduction, if not outright elimination of poverty, disease, and environmental degradation.
Progress towards these goals has recently been frustratingly slow and increasingly expensive. The heavy costs of providing and improving health care and education are examples.
The situation has produced a volatility in public opinion and mood that reflects a lack of confidence in the ability of government and other sectors of society, including science and technology, to adequately address fundamental social needs.
If this mood hardens into a lack of vision, of optimism, of belief in the future, a tremendous problem for science will result. Science, in its commitment to innovation and expanding frontiers of knowledge, is a thing of the future.
The vistas of science are inspiring. Condensed matter physics is embarked on materials by design, nanotechnology and high temperature superconductivity, each containing the seeds of new industries as well as new scientific understanding. Molecular biology is in full bloom with a vast potential for further intellectual progress, betterment of human (and plant and animal) health, and commercialization. Neuro- science seems poised for dramatic progress.
Research into the fundamental laws of physics is aiming at a pinnacle. There is a candidate theory — the superstring theory — which is proposed as a unification of all the known fundamental forces in nature and which is supposed to give an account, complete in principle, of all physical phenomena, down to the shortest distances currently imaginable. At the largest scales of distance, observational astronomy is uncovering meta-structures which enlarge the architecture of the universe — a deepening of the problem of cosmology preliminary to its resolution.
Underpinning much of this progress, and progress in countless other areas as well, has been the emergence of scientific computing as an enabling technology.
All this is first-rate science. All this is not enough — either to forestall change or to ensure adequate support for science in the present climate. Why it is not enough — and what else is required - are the subjects of a special inquiry.
Discussion
3. How would you answer the questions?
1) Are there statements in the text that you disagree with? What are they?
2) Are you aware of the latest achievements in your field of science? What are they?
3) Why do you think the achievements of science are not sufficient to ensure adequate support for science?
4) If you were in power what would you do to support science in Russia?
UNIT II … AS A BRANCH OF SCIENCE
TEXT 1. What Science Is
