Electricity
It is impossible to imagine our civilization without electricity: economic and social progress will be turned to the past and our daily lives completely transformed.
Electrical power has become universal. Thousands of applications of electricity such as lighting, electrochemistry and electrometallurgy are longstanding and unquestionable.
With the appearance of the electrical motor, power cables replaced transmission shafts, gear wheels, belts and pulleys1 in the 19-th century workshops. And in the home a whole range of various time and labour saving appliances2 have become a part of our everyday lives.
Other devices are based on specific properties of electricity: electrostatics in the case of photocopying machine and electromag-netism in the case of radar and television. These applications have made electricity most widely used.
The first industrial application was in the silver workshops in Paris. The generator — a new compact source of electricity — was also developed there. The generator replaced the batteries and other devices that had been used before.
Electric lighting came into wide use at the end of the last century with the development of the electric lamp by Thomas Edison. Then the transformer was invented, the first electric lines and networks were set up, dynamos and induction motors3 were designed.
Since the beginning of the 20th century the successful development of electricity has begun throughout the industrial world. The consumption of electricity has doubled every ten years.
Today consumption of electricity per capita4 is an indicator of the state of development and economic health of a nation. Electricity has replaced other sources of energy as it has been realized that it offers improved service and reduced cost.
One of the greatest advantages of electricity is that it is clean, easily-regulated and generates no by-products5. Applications of electricity now cover all fields of human activity from house washing machines to the latest laser devices. Electricity is the efficient source of some of the most recent technological advances such as the laser and electron beams. Truly6 electricity provides mankind with the energy of the future.
Notes to the Text
1. transmission shafts, gear wheels, belts and pulleys — трансмиссионные валы, зубчатые колеса, ремни и блоки
2. time and labour saving appliances — электроприборы, экономящие время и труд
3. induction motors — индукционные моторы
4. per capita — на человека; на душу населения
5. by-products — побочные продукты
6. truly — поистине
УПРАЖНЕНИЯ
Упражнение 10. Просмотрите текст ЗА и ответьте на вопросы.
1. What is this text about? 2. What industrial applications of electricity do you know? 3. What home applications of electricity do you know? 4. Where was the generator developed? 5. Who invented the electric lamp? 6. Do you know who invented the dynamo? 7. Can you imagine our life without electricity? Why?
Упражнение 11. Определите функции глагола to have, переведите.
1. Electricity has many useful properties: it is clean and generates no by-products. 2. It has many important applications in industry as well as in our houses. 3. The latest laser devices have found application in medicine. 4. Electricity has provided mankind with the most efficient source of energy. 5. No other source of energy has been so widely used as electricity. 6. We have many various electric devices in our houses. 7. Our lives have been completely transformed with the appearance of electricity. 8. The generator replaced batteries that had been used before. 9.The consumption of electricity has doubled every ten years.
Упражнение 12. Найдите подлежащее и сказуемое в предложениях, переведите.
1. That electricity is clean and easily-regulated is its great advantage. 2. The important fact is that electricity offers improved service at reduced cost. 3. That the two scientists Lodygyn and Yablochkov were the first in Russia to work in the field of electrical engineering is well-known. 4. One of the main advantages of electricity is that it does not pollute the environment. 5. The indicator of nation development is how much electricity is consumed per capita. 6. What has been and is being done in environment protection cannot be measured by yesterday's standards.
Упражнение 13. Определите время и залог глагола-сказуемого, переведите предложения.
A. 1.1 have not cleaned the window yet. I am cleaning it now. I
have cleaned it. 2. But Bob has a different idea. 3. Last year she
passed school leaving exams. 4. We will be studying for our exams
at the end of the term. 5. While we were having supper, all the
lights went out. 6. Will people speak the same language all over the
world? 7. People will land on Mars in the 21st century. 8. I think
cars will be powered by electric batteries in five years' time and
they will not be powered by atomic power in 100 years' time. 9. The
Earth is getting warmer because of the increase of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere.
B. 1. It is evident that electricity will be the energy of the fu
ture. 2. The transformer was invented and the first electric lines
and networks were set up at the end of the 19th century. 3. New
powerful electric stations must be built because it is electricity that
offers improved standards of life and work. 4. A combination of
electric lines and networks are being set up throughout the country.
5. Electric power has become universal 6. Electricity is transmitted
to distant parts of this country by a combination of electric net
works. 7. Our power stations have been connected by high voltage
transmission lines into several networks.
УПРАЖНЕНИЯ ДЛЯ САМОСТОЯТЕЛЬНОЙ РАБОТЫ
Упражнение 14. Определите, к какой части речи относятся производные слова и переведите их.
invent — inventor, inventive, invention;
transform — transformer, transformation;
generate — generator, generation, generative;
pollute — polluter, pollutant, pollution;
effect — effective, effectively;
vary — variety, various;
possible — impossible, possibly, possibility;
complete — completely;
recent — recently;
replace — replacement;
economic — economical, economically.
Упражнение 15. Найдите: а) синонимы
application, appliance, latest, power, use, enable, reach, device, longstanding, make it possible, achieve, energy, transform, old, turn to, most recent;
б) антонимы
future, unlimited, with, past, necessary, limited, old, unnecessary, without, present.
Упражнение 16. Поставьте глагол в скобках в соответствующем времени.
My brother (enter) Moscow University (long ago, already, just, next year, last year, this year, by the end of the month, when I came to Moscow).
Упражнение 17. Найдите предложения со словами to have, one, that, переведите.
Although the US is a large country with many peoples the language is almost the same wherever one goes. There are two reasons for this. One is that people move around a great deal in the US. A man can grow up in one part of the country, go to college in another place, find work in another place and marry a girl from still another part of the country.
The second important factor is public communication. Movies, radio and television all have standard way of speech. The southern part of the US is probably the region with the most individual speech. Southern pronunciation differs from that in the rest of the country. Southerners talk slowly and often do not pronounce «r» or a final «g». Another common Southern expression is the unusual use of the word «evening». In most parts of the country this means the time after the sun goes down, the early part of the night, but to a Southerner it can mean any time after twelve o'clock noon. In the southern mountains there have not been new settlers from other countries for two hundred years. They have ways of speech that are like the English spoken centuries ago when the first people came there from England. Many songs they sing today are those sung long ago in England.
Упражнение 18. Поставьте глагол to be в соответствующей форме.
Today is...,..., 20...
I... at my English class. I... reading a story about Thomas A. Edison. I... learning that his laboratories are in Orange, New Jersey. I... glad to read about such a man as Th.A. Edison. A young inventor... in Thomas Edison's laboratory. He... looking at an invention that... in a glass case. It... an electrical invention. The young inventor's pencil... in his hand. He... drawing the part of the invention which he came there to study. An Englishman and his young son... in Edison's laboratory. They... looking at hundreds of
inventions. Many of them... in glass cases. The man and his son... interested in all Mr. Edison's inventions, they... most interested in the electrical ones. Many of those... in one room. Several tourists...in this room, and among them... the Englishman and his son. The man says to one tourist, «We... interested in electrical ones».
Упражнение 19. Вставьте предлоги to, with, about, at, for, on, in.
This morning father spoke... my brother and me... going to see our aunt this evening. It is our aunt's birthday. We wanted to surprise her family. Our mother was going to go... us. We had to be ready... seven o'clock. We wanted to be... our aunt's house... seven thirty. We left... my aunt's house... seven... our mother and father. But the aunt was not... home. Her children had taken her and the uncle... the theater. We laughed: we had a surprise party, but it was on us. We left the presents and went... a show ourselves.
We went... Kuskovo yesterday. I went... my mother and father. We took our lunch... us. We reached Kuskovo... noon. Father went... a parking station, but it was full. He went to another and then... another. Every parking station was crowded. Father drove for a while.... one o'clock he found a place... a car.... two o'clock our friends came, we sat down... grass and ate our lunch. We didn't see much because too many people were there... Kuskovo. Next time we have a day to spend we shall go... some other place.
Упражнение 20. Дайте недостающие формы глаголов, запомните их.
becoming, set up, keep, understand, spoken, showing, built, left, light.
Упражнение 21. Прочитайте и переведите текст без словаря.
Before Faraday's inventions in the field of electricity and magnetism the only source of electricity that was used was the galvanic battery. It made possible some practical applications: the electric light and electric telegraph. The practical use of electricity on a larger scale became possible after developing electromagnetic machines, generators and transformers. It is considered that the development of the induction motor has become the most important technical achievement. At first, the induction motor had a constant and unchangeable speed (скорость). Some years later a motor with two speeds was designed. Since its invention the induction motor has been considerably improved and its power increased. But the principle of operation still remains the same.
CONVERSATION
Exercise 1. Answer the questions.
1. What is electricity? (a source of electric power used in every day life and industry) 2. What are the sources of electricity? (batteries, generators, electric motors and many other devices) 3. What properties of electricity have made it widely used? (electrostatics and electromagnetism) 4. What are the advantages of electricity? (clearness, easy regulation, no byproducts, low cost, improved service) 5. What are home uses of electricity? (lighting, heating, various time and labour saving appliances, radio, television, video and many others) 6. What are the latest industrial applications of electricity? (lasers and electronic devices)
Exercise 2. Make a sentence out of the two parts.
1. Electricity 1. have already become universal.
2. The applications of 2. has completely transformed our electricity in the home and everyday life.
industry
3. Electricity was used for 3. per capita is an indicator of the the first time state of development of a nation.
4. The generator, a new 4. the wide industrial use of source of electricity electricity has begun throughout
the world.
5. Since the beginning of 5. was also developed in Paris. the 20-th century
6. Today consumption of 6. for industrial purposes in the electricity silver workshops in Paris.
Exercise 3. Read and learn.
A Story about Edison
Edison: Oh, Ben, I'm glad to see you. How are you?
Wilson: Fine, and how are you?
Ed.: So-so. A lot of work to do. Just today I've begun some important work. Oh, excuse me, meet my assistant John Smith. John, this is my old friend from my home town, Ben Wilson.
Smith: How do you do, Mr.Wilson?
W: How do you do, Mr.Smith? Glad to meet you.
Ed.: Will you come to my laboratory and have dinner with John and me tonight?
W.: Yes, I will.
Ed.: Come at six tonight, will you?
W.: I'll certainly come.
At six o'clock at the laboratory.
W.: Good evening, Tom. Good evening Mr. Smith.
S.: Good evening, Tom. Good evening Mr. Wilson. Mr. Edison
is experimenting with a microscope. All his interest is there.
Would you mind walking around for a while looking at Mr.
Edison's inventions.
W.: With pleasure.
S.: In a few minutes dinner will be brought. We usually eat our
dinner here. Don't you mind? W.: Certainly not.
S.: The dinner is ready. Let Mr. Edison know you are here.
W.: Shall we eat; Tom? But he doesn't answer.
S.: He is busy working with his microscope.
W.: But I am quite hungry. Tom, the food looks good, and it is
getting cold.
S.: You see, Mr.Edison never stops working for a second till he
is satisfied with what he is doing. W.: Then let's sit down and eat.
Two hours later Mr.Wilson and Smith finished eating and left the laboratory.
Ed. (entering the laboratory):
Oh, I am hungry. If those dishes were not empty, I'd say I've had no dinner tonight.
Exercise 4. Speak about:
1. Electricity — its nature, history and development.
2. Applications of electricity cover all fields of human activity.
Use exercises 1, 2, as well as the following words and word combinations for your topic:
it is difficult to imagine; applications such as; completely; to replace; to come into wide use; to double every ten years; to be an indicator; the latest technological advances.
Exercise 5. Read and smile.
A young doctor, the son of a well-known professor of medicine, proudly (с гордостью) told his father one day: «Imagine, dad! I've cured (вылечить) that lady that has been your patient for ten years».
«She deserved (заслужить) it. It was she who had paid for your studies», his father replied.
«Where did the car hit him?», asked the coroner (следователь). «At the junction (стык, перекресток) of the dorsal and cervial vertebrae (спинных и шейных позвонков)», answered the doctor. A big man rose from his seat. «Listen, I've lived in these parts for fifty years», he protested, «and I've never heard of this place».
Text 3B
Прочитайте текст. Ответьте на вопрос, почему Эдисон сказал: «Don't watch the clock».
