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Express your viewpoint on the statements and get ready to speak in class. You may find the vocabulary below useful.1) A laboratory is a system of interacting scientists in which the inhabitants stimulate each other to produce high quality research. Vocabulary: to maintain an atmosphere of intellectual challenge; to benefit from colleagues; to share common enthusiasm and working habits; to stimulate new interests; to respect one another; to prefer similar methods of working together; individuals with different modes of intellectual functioning; to work with one's "head"; to work with one's "hands"; to prefer mapping out a long-range systematic approach; to enjoy short-range puzzles; creative and talented people; to exchange ideas; original ideas; creative approach; to organize periodic seminars on current unresolved problems; to discuss how to approach the task; to contribute to each other's effectiveness; to attend meetings; to have face-to-face conversations; to talk shop with colleagues; to provide new ideas; intellectual stimulation; to be aware of each other's activities, interests, problems.
2) Scientific performance peaks at mid-career, and then drops. Vocabulary: to be drawn off into teaching; to have many administrative responsibilities; to be engaged in work not producing significant output; to devote much time to research; to remain productive; to struggle to build one's reputation; to tend to relax; one's motivation to become famous; to have fun in discovering; to be achievement-oriented; to drop in performance; to become a specialist; a fresh viewpoint; a break-through in some field; to make a name as an expert in a field; to cut oneself off from developments in new fields; to specialize in a field; to change one's field; to lose touch with recent advances and to grow stale; to grow less daring; to keep abreast of the achievements in one's science; to take refresher (retraining) courses; to participate in /attend intensive seminars; to get a sabbatical; to contribute to journals; to be a speaker at conferences; to stand firmly on one's feet; to venture into risky areas; to set new directions for oneself; the state of the art of the field; to be a visiting professor.
4.6. Express doubt / regret / hesitation. a) Read the text and say if the problem discussed is relevant to your scientific environment. Use the vocabulary below. OLD-TIMERS VERSUS NEW TALENT In the scientific community complains have been voiced recently that grant awards committees have become entrenched and favour their own projects and institutions. So many scientific areas live with the results – the lack of new talent and the lack of new discoveries. It is a problem the community should have confronted long ago. To tell the truth, we do have young people, but not with the required breadth, depth, vision and training. We have not attracted top talent, nor have we adequately trained that which we have. Just look at the slow rate at which textbooks with new material appear. Fifty years ago, many disciplines were entering an era of discoveries. But now major discoveries and new insights have almost ceased (=stopped). If there is a metric for the health of any field, it is the rate at which the field develops, by either discovering new problems or addressing and solving existing ones. But little of either is happening, and for one main reason. Rather than actively pursuing new phenomena or theories, many young researchers seek professional security by associating with funded projects, preferably big ones. As to “graybeards” and “silver foxes”, they are mainly concerned with turning the process in their own directions. Breakthroughs are achieved not by old-timers; age does a lot of things, but it rarely changes outlooks or styles of operation. Sometimes, a fresh new forest will not grow until the old one burns down completely. Let’s hope that is a bad analogy.
Vocabulary: To be eager to do sth; to be bold and daring; to probe into the unknown; to be full of enthusiasm; to be enthusiastic /excited about sth; to get deeply involved in sth; to devote one’s life to sth; incentives to attract top talent; to foster young talents; to keep talented students at universities; to pioneer in the area; to enter exciting areas; to be knowledgeable; to have expertise in sth; to gain knowledge and practical skills; to address knowledge gaps; expertise. To hinder scientific process; to stifle initiative; to be cautious; to affect sth negatively; to have a bad effect on sth; to prevent sb from doing sth; to avoid the unknown ground.
b) Discuss the problem answering the questions below. You may use: I’m not sure this is the case; Let’s not jump to conclusions; Date: 2015-12-18; view: 796
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