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UNIT 4. PROGRESS FOR THE BENEFIT OF MAN

Read the passage to find the answers to the questions below. While reading, do not worry about anything except the answers you need to find.

1. How does modern science influence our vision of the world?

2. What did the development of electronics lead to?

3. What examples of the acceleration of scientific ideas are given in the text?

4. What new disciplines have appeared as a result of the integration of different disciplines?

5. What disciplines does materials science integrate?

6. What possibilities have been opened due to the integration of sciences?

 

Development of scientific thought today in many areas means abandoning old philosophical concepts and creating a new vision of the universe. It has given the world a new conception of nature, of man, and of man in nature and society. It has enlarged our perspectives in time and space, altered the habits of our daily life, and given us new possibilities for speculation and wonder. In many cases it produces a revolutionary shock to the underlying principles long established by founding fathers of any particular science.

In our century, the marriage of science and technology has become one of its general features. We can see how science and technology interact in electronics, which has led to radar, television, computers, mobile telephones, modern biochemistry, medicine and biology. This interaction brought into our lives nuclear energy, jet engines, rockets and space exploration.

Another striking thing about science today is the acceleration in the development of scientific ideas. The quantum theory of Planck is succeeded by the theories of electrons and the electrical structure of matter; Einstein’s theory of relativity is followed by theories of wave mechanics and by atom smashing, and the end is not yet.

One more characteristic of modern science should be mentioned – scientific research has gone far toward integrating different disciplines. Hence, in recent decades, we have seen the rapid development of biophysics, biochemistry, and bioinformatics, microbiology and molecular biology, as well as geophysics, geochemistry, and paleobotany. Materials science is typical example in the domain of applied disciplines. It integrates metallurgy, ceramics, physics, solid state chemistry, electrical and electronic engineering, etc. This integration of sciences is likely to continue and will surely result in giving scientists new possibilities for solving global problems facing mankind at present.

 

NOTES

a new conception of nature:a new way of understanding nature;

NB: a concept – an idea underlying a class of things, a general notion.

to enlarge perspectives:to give better possibilities to understand, to see, to judge;

to alter the habits of daily life:to change the conditions in which people live, i.e. their housing, food, clothing, leisure, etc.

to give new possibilities for speculation and wonder:to enable one to advance new theories concerning nature and to feel amazed at what one comes to see and understand;



the marriage of science and technology:the close union between the two;

a general feature:a universal, common characteristic;

a striking thing:something that is of great interest, attracting attention;

to be succeeded by something:to be followed by something;

atom smashing:splitting atoms into parts to free their powerful forces;

to integrate different disciplines:to joint two or more different branches of science so as to form a whole;

the domain of applied discipline:the spheres of those branches of science which bring about new technology;

the problems facing mankind:the problems that need consideration and action by all the peoples of the world.

to speculate – 1. to examine, to meditate on a subject; to be curious about sth; 2. to assume a business risk in hope of gain; to buy and sell in expectation of profiting from market fluctuations.

 

1.2. a) What parts of speech are the words given in brackets?

VERBS

enlarge (enlargement) continue (continuation, continuous)

alter (alteration, alternative) result (a result, resulting)

lead (leader, leading) solve (solution, solvable)

mention (mention) face (a face)

integrate (integration) succeed (succession, successive)

NOUNS

advancement (advance) wonder (to wonder, wonderful)

thought (thoughtful, to think) marriage (to marry, married)

conception (concept, to conceive) feature (to feature)

society (social, socialize) engine (engineer, engineering)

energy (energetic) exploration (to explore, an explorer)

space (special) acceleration (to accelerate)

habit (habitual) structure (structural)

possibility (possible) speculation (to speculate)

relativity (relative, relatively) speculation (to speculate, speculative)

ADJECTIVES

modern (to modernize, modernization) recent (recently)

scientific (science, scientifically) typical (type)

material (material) solid (solidify)

general (generalization, to generalize) global (globe, globalization)

technological (technology) striking (to strike)

rapid (rapidly) present (presently)

 

B) For each of the vocabulary items listed above give your own phrase and word combinations from the text. Group them according to the following patterns and give their Ukrainian equivalents.

V + N; N + prep + N; N + N; Adj + N.

 


Date: 2015-12-18; view: 700


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