1. Read the text and write a short annotation of it

Variant 1

1. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.
HOW CAN THE EFFICIENCY OF UTILIZATION OF SOLAR ENERGY BE IMPROVED?

Annually the sun supplies the earth with 16x10(sixteen multiplied by ten to the seventeenth power) kilowatt hours of radiant energy, more than 20000 times greater than the world's total power consumption. But only a very small part of the solar energy which reaches the earth becomes useful.

One of the most important problems is the discovery of ways and means of more effective use of solar radiation, the energy of unlimited possibilities.

The sun is the source of all main forms of energy. We must learn to gather and store sunlight and convert its energy into other forms of energy. Today man converts solar into electricity with an efficiency of about 10 per cent. This is not much, but not long ago this also seemed impossible.

Systematic work on the utilization of solar energy began in the Soviet Union in 1926. At present there are four centers which deal solar power problems in our country. They do much work on solar energy utilization, especially in Central Asia and Armenia. There are some places there where the amount of solar power that hits the ground at noon is nearly equal to the capacity of the famous Dnieper Hydroelectric Station.

There exist a project of solar electric station which will generate 2,500,000 kwh of electricity a year. That is not very much, but the power will be quite cheap. On the order of the day are power stations which will use principles of direct conversion of solar energy into electric one.

The solar energy is the main power supply source for all space systems spaceships and rockets as the density of solar radiation in space is half as great as on the earth.

The solar energy provides the conditions which are necessary for man's life on the earth. But man will also make the sun heat and cool his homes, produce fresh water from sea water, melt metals and generate great quantities of electric power.

3.Answer the questions:

a) How much energy is supplied by the sun annually?

b) What is the world's power consumption?

c) What is the source of all main forms of energy?

d) Where do people work on solar energy utilization?

e) Is solar energy the most expensive type of energy?

Variant 2

GRAVITATION

1. A)Explain or give synonyms:

Force

Object

Iron

Law

To attract

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the given words.

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.

GRAVITATION

Gravitation is a very important force in the universe. Every object has a gravitational pull which is like magnetism. But, unlike magnetism, gravitation is not only in iron and steel. It is in every object large or small; but large objects, such as earth, have a stronger pull than small ones.

Isaac Newton, the great scientist of the seventeenth century, first studied gravitation. When he was a boy, he often saw how apples fell to the ground. He wondered why they fell towards the earth and why they did not fly up into the sky.

According to the law which he later produced everything in the universe attracts everything else towards itself. The sun attracts the earth and the earth attracts the sun. The earth attracts the moon and the moon attracts the sun. Although the bigger object has the stronger attraction, all objects, in fact, have some attraction too but we do not notice the gravitational pull of a book because the pull of the earth is very much greater.

Why does the earth always move round the sun, and not fly off into cold space? The sun's gravitation gives the answer. The earth always tries to move away in a straight line, but the sun always pulls it back. So it continues on its journey round and round the sun.

The sun is one of the stars in the galaxy, in which there are about 100,000 million stars. It is not in the middle of the galaxy, but rather near one edge.

There are millions of galaxies in the universe and so there are thousands of millions of millions of suns. Many astronomers believe that some of these suns have planets as our sun does.

Gravitation is the force which holds all the atoms of a star together. It holds the sun together and it holds the atoms of the earth together. It holds us on the earth.

Einstein produced a new law of gravitation. Its main results are the same as the results of Newton's law; but in very small and fine matters Einstein's law gives different results. One of these is that gravitation bends light a little; but according to Newton's law gravitation has very little effect on light. Einstein showed this fact by means of mathematics and not by experiment. And astronomers later proved by experiments that Einstein was right.
3. Answer the questions:

a) Does every object have a gravitational pull?

b)What is gravitation?

c) What is magnetism?

d) What is the difference between gravitation and magnetism?

e)Who first studied gravitation?

Variant 3

METRIC SYSTEM AND ITS ORIGIN

1. A)Explain or give synonyms:

System

Measure

To realize

Decimal

to define

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the given words

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.
METRIC SYSTEM AND ITS ORIGIN

The idea of a universal system of measures and weights dates from long ago, but it was realized only two centuries ago. The metric, or decimal system was worked out by the French Academy of Sciences in 1791. How were the units for length and weight defined then?

Two French scientists who were given the task to define these units took one fourth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator on the geographical meridian which is running through Paris (the distance from Dunkirk in France to Barcelona in Spain) and divided it into ten million equal parts. One of these parts was called a metre or "measure". For shorter measurements the metre was divided by ten, for longer things the metre was multiplied by tens.

It was easy to use the same metre for volume. The weight of one cubic centimetre of water was called a gramme. Thus the metric system was created.

Russian scientists played a great part in the spreading of the metric system in Russia as well as in other countries.

As far as in 1867 D.I. Mendeleyev addressed Russian scientists to help to spread the decimal system. The project of the law about the use of the metric system in Russia was also worked out by D.I. Mendeleyev.

It should be said, however, that up till the end of the 19th century different units of measurement were used in various countries. In our country the metric system was adopted in 1918, soon after the Great October Socialist Revolution. Now it is adopted by most of the countries. None of the systems of the past can be compared in simplicity to that of our days.

3. Answer the questions:

a)When was the metric system worked out?

b)Where was the metric system worked out?

c) What distance did the scientists take to measure?

d) How were shorter and longer things measured?

e) Who worked out the project of the law on the use of the metric system in Russia?

Variant 4

TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND TV CENTER

1.A)Explain or give synonyms:

Message

Distance

Field

To vibrate

To ensure

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the given words

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND TV CENTRE

Different ways of sending messages over long distances have been known and employed for thousands of years. But most important developments in the field of telecommunications have been made over the last hundred years.

Most modern methods of telecommunication employ electricity. In 1820 it was discovered that an electric current could deflect a magnetic needle to the left or to the light, according to the direction in which the currents was flowing. This discovery made possible the inventions of the telegraph.

The telephone, which transmits speech, was a later invention. All sources of sound vibrate the air in different ways. The vibrations of a voice speaking into the microphone of a telephone cause vibrations in an electric current. This varying current is carried along a wire to a receiver, in which a thin metal plate vibrates in the same way as the original voice.

Moving pictures can be sent by television. Originally only black-and-white pictures could be transmitted, and the distances over which they could be sent were relatively short. But colour television has now been developed, and telecommunication satellites have made inter-continental television transmission possible.

In order to coordinate all the TV centres in our country a new USSR TV Centre has been built. It also ensures contact with other countries through Intervision and Eurovision.

The 533-metre ferroconcrete TV tower at Ostankino, in the northern section of Moscow, is one of the world's tallest free-standing structures. It houses the broadcasting TV stations, the apparatus and communication, systems, the equipment and instruments of the Central High-Altitude Hydro-meteorological Observatory, as well as a restaurant, observation platforms and a conference hall.

Television now plays an important part in many people's lives. Television informs people about current events, the latest developments in science and politics, and offers different programmes which are both interesting and instructive.
Notes

1. in the same way - таким же образом

2. moving pictures - (движущиеся) изображения

3. Answer the questions:

a)What are the ways of sending messages?

b) What kind of energy do modern methods of telecommunication employ?

c) What discovery made possible the invention of th telegraph?

d) What does the telephone transmit?

e) What plays an important part in many people's lives?

Variant 5

SILENT METALS

1.A)Explain or give synonyms:

noise

to exceed

inconvenience

To generate

To reduce

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the abovegiven words

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.

SILENT METALS

A hundred years ago noise on the main streets of the world's biggest cities did not exceed 61 decibels. Today it is 100 and more. Industrial noise is at very high level at many factories, and in some it reaches 90 to 110 decibels.

Noise is an ever growing inconvenience of modern life, and much of it is generated by vibrations of metals. These vibrations not only cause noise but can also lead to "fatigue" and consequent failure, of a structure.

Research into methods which can minimize vibrations in strugtures is therefore of considerable importance. There are two methods to reduce vibration in an engineering design; either we make the structure so stiff and heavу that it cannot vibrate significantly, or we introduce "damping" into the structure, that is, we have to introduce somе mechanism for the absorption of energy within the system.

To apply dumping coating is standard practice today. The damping coatings are usually made of plastics and are applied to sheet-metal shells such as car bodies. This method is often cheap and has the advantage that the coating can be applied precisely where damping is required. But these damping coatings may be efficient for certain sound frequencies and temperatures.

So metallurgists were interested in the possibility of metals that ore strong and tough enough to be used in structures. But they must also possess a high inherent damping capacity that is independent of frequency and less temperature-dependent than that of plastics.

Scientists want to combine some of the properties, which characterize steel, with high damping capacity of lead and to produce a material that could be used to minimize noise and vibration. This can, in fact, be done with several materials, the most outstanding of which are alloys of manganese and copper. Those alloys can be stronger, than ordinary steel, with similar toughness and hardness, yet they have a damping capacity nearly 50 times greater than mil of steel.

However, noise and vibration are problems to be faced by engineers It is seldom sufficient merely to replace a troublesome component with one of a high-damping alloy. The particular characteristics of these "high-damping" structural alloys should be properly employed. As a result, perhaps, the future will be a little quieter - in some respects at least!

Notes

1. decibel - децибел (db) = 0,1 b; b (бел) - акустическая единица измерения

2. damping - демпфирование

3. to sheet-metal shells - к наружным частям, сделанным из листового железа

4. a high inherent damping capacity - способность сильного; внутреннего демпфирования

5. yet - зд. но

6. it is seldom sufficient merely to replace - редко бывает достаточно лишь заменить

7. at least - по крайней мере
3. Answer the questions:

a) What was the noise level a hundred years ago?

b) What is the level of the industrial noise?

c) How is the noise generated today?

d) What research is of considerable importance?

e) How many methods are there to reduce the noise? What are they?

Variant 6

FLAMELESS FIRE

1.A)Explain or give synonyms:

flame

to melt

alloy

furnace

To ignite

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the abovegiven words

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.

FLAMELESS FIRE

For centuries it was a common practice that in order to get an alloy of two hard substances they must be first melted down. But Soviet scientists replaced high-temperature furnaces by a reactor, in which fire has no flame. It is called flameless fire. Substances were found that don't give off gases when they are burning. A mixture of titanium and boron was pressed into a very large tablet and was ignited by a wire spiral which was heated by electric current. A blight wave of light rapidly spread along the tablet from the point of its contact with the spiral. The experimenters paid attention to the fact that the tablet had neither smelted nor lost its initial form, but had become dense and hard. They got a titanium-boron compound-a substance with excellent abrasive properties. Normally to obtain this alloy the process lasted several hours in a special kind of furnace. In the new method it took them only a few seconds to produce the alloy. The scientists had to make lots of experiments and thermodynamic calculations to find out what actually goes on inside the tablet at the moment when it receives the thermal pulse. A vast new section appeared in chemistry - the gasless combustion theory.

The process of getting alloys has become much quicker and much cheaper, energy is saved which was used to keep up high temperature in furnace. The quality of the product has improved, and all the undesirable substances arе burnt out. In other words, self-purification of the alloy takes place.

As we see fire has appeared in a new role: instead of destructive element it has become a fine chemist synthesizer, a creator of alloys.

Note
1. what actually goes on - что, фактически, происходит
3. Answer the questions:

a) What is called flameless fire?

b) What substances don't give off gases?

c)How was a wire spiral heated?

d) What did the experiment show?

e) How long did it take to produce the alloy?

Variant 7

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT SERVES MEN

1.A)Explain or give synonyms:

To contain

to supply

inexhaustible

need

To burst

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the abovegiven words

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.

SUBTERRANEAN HEAT SERVES MEN

Coal, oil and gas have been man's main sources of heat from ancient times. At the same time the earth contains inside it a practically inexhaustible supply of thermal energy, which without doubt can be used with great profit for economic needs.

Long, long ago magma, surrounding the core of our planet, rose towards the surface but could not burst through the crust and started cooling down gradually. This cooling process has been going on for hundreds of thousands' or millions of years. By transferring heat to the rock around it, the magma heats the water in artesian basins and this is how subterranean deposits of hot water originated.

Our country has tremendous quantities of hot subterranean water. Such water can be found both in the subtropical areas in the Arctic.

In onе year the thermal springs in the Soviet Union bring to the surface of the earth an amount of heat equivalent to that which could be obtained from the combustion of 100-150 million tons of fuels.

The hot subterranean water is being used for heating blocks of flats and hothouses and for medical purposes. In some places this hot water goes to the top of the house without pumping.

The geological and geographical conditions for the presence of thermal water are different. But everywhere it is found that the economic effect of using it is quite great.

Plans are made for building an experimental power station in Kazakhstan powered by hot subterranean water. The temperature of the water reaches 170° at the depth of up to 3 kilometres.

The lime is not far off when this cheap thermal energy will lie widely used in the economy, making it possible In employ such valuable raw materials as coal, oil and gas, mainly In the chemical industry.
Notes

1. subterranean - подземный (от лат. terra - земля)

2. blocks of flats - многоквартирные дома

3. Answer the questions:

a) What are the main sources of energy since ancient time?

b) What energy does the earth contain?

c)How did subterranean deposits of hot water originate?

d) Can hot water be found in the Arctic?

e) What is the subterranean water used for?

Variant 8

THE REFRIGERATING SUN

1.A)Explain or give synonyms:

latitude

to lie

to amount to

mirror

To install

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the abovegiven words

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.

THE REFRIGERATING SUN

A look at a map of Turkmenistan will show you that its northern-most points lie south of Yalta and Vladivostok, whereas the southern-most points are on the same latitude as Algiers and Teheran. In its number of clear sunny days (more than 250 in a year) Turkmenistan can be compared to Агabia, the Sahara, Egypt and the Sudan. About 80 per cent of the republic's territory is occupied by the Kara Kum. Each square metre of this desert gets a dose of sun rays amounting to more than two million great calories a year.

The use of solar energy for the needs of the economy and the population is of great importance.

The Physico-Technical Institute of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences is a centre working to place solar energy at the service of man.

At the Institute's experimental station located near Ashkhabad there is an original structure with a huge concave mirror 1259 metres in area. It is installed on a lattice-like metal support at an angle of 40° and faces the sun.

The principle of the solar installation is both simple and original. The rays concentrated in and reflected by the mirror fall on to a cylindrical boiler filled with a liquid known as phreon which evaporates at a temperature of 15-18°C. In summer, solar energy sets the refrigeration plant in motion and the vapours of phreon, entering the refrigerator installation through pipes, create an inside temperature 10-15° below than outside. The more intense the radiation, the faster the temperature falls. The installation operates non-stop with the help of a; "time relay" which keeps the mirror always turned towards the sun.

Turkmen solar energy specialists are now working to reduce the size of solar installations and make them more economical, compact and easier to transport to the (remote) desert regions of Turkmenistan that lack power sources.

Notes

1. northern-most points - самые северные точки

2. on a lattice-like metal support - на металлической подставке в виде решетки

3. Answer the questions:

a) What will a look at the map show you?

b) Where does Turkmenia lie?

c) What desert is there in Turkmenia?

d) What center works to place solar energy at the service of man?

e) What are principles of solar installation?

Variant 9

URBAN PROBLEMS

1.A)Explain or give synonyms:

population

to employ

to expect

scientist

To appear

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the above given words

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.

URBAN PROBLEMS

The urban problem is one of the most complicated in today's world. One out of every six people lives in a city with a population of more than one million. There is a. tendency towards rise in the population of cities. Today there are a lot of big cities in the world with a population ranging from 6 to 10 million and above. By the year 2000 demographers expect that Mexico will have a population of 30 million, Calcutta, some 20 million, and Bombay and Jacarta, from 16 to 20 million. The problems arising as a result of this are water supply, public transport employment, food, housing construction, etc.

There are more than 20 cities in the USSR with the population of over one million. Large cities are not concentrated, but are situated across the entire territory of the country. Over 1,200 new cities have been founded during the Soviet years.

How do new cities appear? The principal factor here is the construction of plants and other enterprises and of large industrial complexes. Togliatti is a classical example. It developed following the construction of a big can plant. Cities are created in step with the discoveries of oil and natural gas resources, the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway. Some cities appear as scientific centres and resorts.

Our country has great experience in building new cities. They are going up in the hot deserts of Central Asia, in the Siberian taiga, practically everywhere in the country where industrial and cultural development is in progress.

Notes

1. in step with - зд. одновременно

2. to be in progress - зд. Происходить
3. Answer the questions:

a) Are there any problems in big cities?

b) Is your native town very big or small?

c) What are the advantages of living in a big city?

d) What are the disadvantages of living in a big city?

e) How do cities appear?

Variant 10

ASTRONOMY AND RADIO

1.A)Explain or give synonyms:

astronomy

to stimulate

enormous

to explore

To penetrate

b) make up 5 sentences of your own with the abovegiven words

2. Read the text and write a short annotation of it.

ASTRONOMY AND RADIO

The science of radio astronomy has become the most efficient of all methods of probing the universe. It was the intense development of radio and radar techniques that stimulated the development of radio astronomy and gave astronomy a new and enormously powerful tool for the exploration of space.

The huge parabolic dishes of giant radio telescopes listening to the voices of distant stars majestically dominate the landscape for many kilometres around.

Radio telescope is an instrument so penetrating that it can receive radio waves from distances of thousands of millions of light year away. With ordinary telescopes it is possible to work only when the sky is not covered with clouds, whereas clouds are no obstacle to radio telescope.

Radio telescopes are supplied with a precise control system. It takes 15-20 minutes to make a full rotation of the huge reflector.

With the help of a young science - radio astronomy - the astronomers have made great achievements which were undreamt of only a few decades ago.

Radio telescope can measure the temperature of planets, can probe the structure of the planets and provides the astronomers with the data which could not have been received without this wonderful device. In order to achieve better results, highly sensitive reception devices were made for radio telescopes.

Astronomers use radio waves to study celestial bodies on behalf of science, peace and progress, for the benefit of mankind. Astronomers hope that radio waves will continue helping them to reveal the mysteries of the universe.

Notes

1. which were undreamt of - о которых и не мечтали

2. on behalf of science - вo имя науки

3. Answer the questions:

a)What science has become the most efficient of probing the universe?

b) What stimulated the development of radio astronomy?

c) What telescopes are used by radio astronomy?

d) What is radio telescope?

e) What system are radio telescopes supplied with?