LESSON 3. CITIZEN OF THE WORLD

Communicative area: predicting, expressing opinion Active vocabulary: fate, principal

1. Read what Borys Kit said in a recent interview. How do these words characterize the scientist?

"Everything I did in my life I did for my homeland and its fame."

2. a) Do you know all the phrases below? Explain what they mean or ask your classmates for help.

Great patriot, difficult fate, Nazi occupation, college prin­cipal, Stalinist terror, inter-continental rocket systems, Apollo mission.

b) Work in pairs. The phrases above are taken from the article about Borys Kit. Try to predict the story of his life.

3. a) Read the article and check your predictions.

Borys Kit turns 100

Marat Haravy

Borys Kit, an outstanding Belarusian mathematician, phys­icist, chemist, philosopher and educator who lives in Germa­ny's Frankfurt am Main, turned 100 on April 6. Both Belarus and Belarusians around the world have the right to be proud of Dr. Kit, a celebrated scientist and educator and a great patriot of his Fatherland, Alena Makowskaya, president of the Batskawshchyna World Association of Belarusians, said in an interview with BelaPAN.

Despite his age and rather difficult fate, Dr. Kit stands out because of his great energy, active civic position and a bright spirit, Ms. Makowskaya said.

In late February, the organizing committee adopted a sched­ule of events to celebrate the 100^th birthday of Borys Kit.

Among them is an evening to be held at the Palace of Arts in Minsk on April 6. The committee also planned to unveil a me­morial in the yard of a school in Korelichy, Grodno region, where Dr. Kit once studied; hold a meeting and an exhibition at the local history museum in Korelichy; give lectures in schools in the Novogrudok district; produce a film about Dr. Kit; hold an exhibition at the National Library of Belarus and a chil­dren's intellectual games tournament in Novogrudok.

Borys Kit was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 6, 1910. His family soon moved to the village of Ogorodniki, which was his father's home town (now the town of Korelichy, Grodno region).

A graduate of the Novogrudok (Navahrudak) Lyceum and the University of Vilno, he served as teacher and later as direc­tor of Vilno's Belarusian Lyceum, which he managed to move to Novogrudok at the beginning of World War II.

During the 1941-44 Nazi occupation of Belarus, Dr. Kit worked as a teacher in the village of Lebedevo near Molodyech- no and later as the principal at the Postavy Teachers College. Although he never collaborated with the Nazis, the researcher had to flee Belarus, fearing the Stalinist terror. He moved to Germany first and later settled down in the United States.

In the mid-1950s, Borys Kit began his scientific activities in the field of astronautics. He worked for the US space research program for 25 years. As a mathematician and systems analyst, he took part in projects aimed at the development of inter-conti­nental rocket systems. He also worked in the planning division on several space projects, which later were used in the Apollo mission to the moon and on the Shuttle spaceship project. Since 1958, Dr. Kit worked at the US Astronautics Bureau as a state adviser and expert in international astronautics.

Dr. Kit, whom Belarusian literary great Vasil Bykov called Belarusian Number One in the world, has been living in Frank­furt am Main since 1972.

b) Where in the article could the following three paragraphs fit to add more information about the scientist?

1.In the early 1990s, Borys Kit returned to Belarus for the first time in half a century. In the recent years he visited our country several times, despite his increasing age. He has re­ceived an Honourary Doctorate of Science from Grodno Uni­versity. The Belarusian writer and literary critic, Lidia Sivik, wrote two books about his life and work "Return home" and "The Space of the Belarusian."

2.In 1960, the Belarusian headed the first meeting between the USSR and the USA. As a result the Soviet-American pro­gramme Soyuz-Apollo was launched in 1972. The name of Bo­rys Kit was added to the list of important American scientists in a time capsule buried in the wall of the Capitol.

3.Soon after his arrival to the States Kit founded and head­ed the Belarusian-American committee for cultural, social and political support of his countrymen.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1657