UNIT 1
SCIENCE HELPS MAN TO SURVIVE
Lead-in
· Do scientific and technological inventions always serve for the good of man?
· Why are scientists and technologists responsible for the consequences of their work?
· The impact of scientific inventions on conditions of our life on the Earth is already evident. What is your opinion on the ethics in the modern world of science?
Practise pronunciation of the following words and underline the stressed syllable. Translate the words into Ukrainian.
Survival, development, severe, existence, knowledge, environment, scientific, contribution, technology, ancient, acquire, although, twinkling, conventional, executive, amplifier, oscillation, intellectual, dangerous, beneficial, chemical, humanity, depletion, surrounding.
2. Memorize the following words and word combinations. Make up your own sentences:
| 1. antiquity | – старовина, античність |
| 2. survival | – виживання |
| 3. surround | – оточувати, обступати |
| 5. long uphill struggle | – тривала тяжка боротьба |
| 6. acquire | – набувати, оволодівати |
| 7. to domesticate animals | – одомашнювати тварин |
| 8. executive | – виконавчий |
| 9. to record and pass on knowledge | – записувати і передавати знання |
| 10. to disseminate | – поширювати |
| 11. did not begin until | – не почався аж поки |
| 12. to be in full flourish | – бути у повному розквіті |
| 13. means of communication | – засоби зв’язку |
| 14. frequency | – частота |
| 15. let alone control | – не кажучи про контроль |
| 16. although | – не дивлячись на |
| 17. versatility | – різноманіття, багатобічність |
| 18. depletion | – виснаження, спустошення |
| 19. the very survival | – для самого виживання |
| 20. before Christ – before our era (B.C.) | – до нашої ери |
Read the text. Give examples of how, according to the author, science helps man to survive.
SCIENCE HELPS MAN TO SURVIVE
I
According to some scientists, man has lived on the Earth for over 2,000,000 years. The development1 of human life has been very rapid if we consider man's existence as one long uphill struggle for survival in the severe environment.
It took man some 20 thousand years to learn how to use the energy of fire and how to use clay for making pots, to domesticate animals and to be able to make the simple clothes for himself. It was some 10 thousand years ago that writing was invented, and it became possible for people to record and pass on their knowledge about the environment from generation to generation.
A scientific explanation of the world surrounding man began in prehistoric times, probably in Egypt and Babylonia, more than 2,000 years B. C., but true progress in science did not begin until the sixth century B. C., when the Greek civilization was in full flourish. Any school student can name many contributions made to the development of science and techniques in the period from the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance The scholars of ancient Greece and Rome say in their records that by the time they came on the scene humanity had gone a long way and had acquired many skills and a great deal of knowledge.
Today we see the world in which social, industrial and even political order has been greatly influenced by science. The achievements of science and technology during the past hundred years have modified our homes, places of work, means of communications and even our enjoyment. In general, although not always, scientific progress has engendered technology and medicine. Solving the problem of the environment — such as global warming, or the depletion of the ozone layer is the task of technology.
Science now is radically changing the instruments of production, the objects of labour and the whole of technology and organization of production. It has become a productive force while production is becoming a technological branch of modern science.
II
Due to the progress of science and technology in our remarkable age we may speak of an entirely new era of supersonic speeds.
In the twinkling of an eye — which scientists say lasts about one sixth of a second — a modern supersonic plane covers a distance of nearly a quarter of a kilometre, and a space rocket — several kilometres. A special research camera can take more than 100 million shots a second.
Man cannot follow, let alone control, such speeds by conventional levers, switches or relays. And so he adopted light for his speedometer. It is the fastest thing there is, and covers 300,000 kilometres a second. For his execution man chose the electron, the smallest and most mobile particle of the material world. Its speed and versatility has helped man to make a great number of electronic instruments and devices, the most important of them being the electronic amplifier. Having become the basis of a new field of science and technology known as electronics or radio electronics, it found a wide application.
Electronic devices help to amplify extremely weak electrical charges, oscillations and signals. They have enabled man to hear how grass grows, to amplify the whine of a mosquito to the proportions of a thunder crash, and to detect the electrical signals which arise in the human brain in the process of thinking. An electronic valve can generate its own signals at the fantastic frequency of millions of oscillations a second. Mounted on radio waves they travel to the Moon, the Sun and other celestial bodies at the speed of 300,000 kilometres a second. These signals are reduced to less than a thosand millionth of their initial volume on their way to a planet, and as they are reflected from its surface and arrive back on Earth, electronic devices amplify them back to the required volume. Photoelements will record the flare of a match struck on the Moon.
The advantage in the scientific and technical progress would not have taken place if their had not been such talented people as Tsialkovsky, Korolyov, Kondratyuk, and others. One might go on and on describing their discoveries that once would have sounded fantastic.
The more complex and intricate are the innovations of man’s intellectual activity, the higher is the responsibility of scientists for the outcomes of application and use of their innovations.
Answer the following questions.
1. What were the early stages of man’s existence on the Earth?
2. How has man’s life on our planet changed?
3. What inventions influenced man’s progress?
4. What is the role of science in human’s development?
5. What are the outstanding stages in scientific and technical progress of mankind.
6. When are scientific and technological inventions beneficial?
7. What are the main tasks of science and technology to preserve life on the Earth?
Exercises
