Некоммерческое акционерное общество

АЛМАТИНСКИЙ ИНСТИТУТ ЭНЕРГЕТИКИ И СВЯЗИ

Кафедра Иностранные языки

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

Методические указания для развития умений аудирования

(студентов 1 для всех специальностей)

Алматы 2010

СОСТАВИТЕЛЬ: Сергеева Л.Д. Английский язык. Методические указания для развития умений аудирования для студентов 1 курса всех форм обучения всех специальностей. – Алматы. АИЭС, 2010. – 34 с.

Методические указания предназначены для развития умений аудирования технических текстов на основе учебника Орловской И.В. и предназначены для студентов 1 курса всех специальностей. Целью методической разработки является формирование у будущих инженеров практических умений и навыков в сфере осуществления иноязычной профессиональной коммуникации, повышение мотивационного компонента в изучении английского языка и формирования саморефлексии – способности проанализировать собственный коммуникативный акт. Методические указания рекомендуются к изданию.

Unit 1

Education

Lesson 1

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

America’s Oldest University’: Why Penn Can Make Claim

We conclude our Foreign Student Series this week with questions from three listeners.

Thu Ya Naing from ___ (1) wants to know how many colleges and universities are in the United States. Alexander Romashchenko in Russia wonders which university in the United States is the oldest. And Mohamad Firouzi in ___ (2) would like to know more about Harvard University.

The National Center for Education Statistics says more than four thousand two hundred colleges and universities award degrees. These include ___ (3) schools as well as four-year schools.

The oldest institution of higher learning in the country is Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was established in sixteen thirty-six as Harvard College. Massachusetts was an ___ (4) colony at the time.

The school was named for a Puritan religious leader. John Harvard gave the college all his books and half his property when he died.

At first, Harvard had one teacher and ___ (5) students. Today it has almost twenty thousand students. Nearly four thousand of them this past year were from outside the United States.

There are fourteen schools at Harvard. They include Harvard College and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Harvard College is the undergraduate division of the university and Radcliffe is a former college for ___ (6).

So Harvard came first. Later, in seventeen eighty, the Massachusetts Constitution went into effect and officially recognized Harvard as a university. Some Harvard materials call it America’s oldest university.

But the University of Pennsylvania calls itself America’s oldest university. Penn officials note that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recognized their school as a university in ___ (7). That was one year before Harvard.

Yet the history gets a little complex. Penn considers its anniversary date to be ___ (8). That was when the Charity School of Philadelphia was established, though it never opened. Benjamin Franklin later presented his ideas for a learning institution that included the Charity School. It opened in seventeen fifty-one and became the university.

Today, more than twenty-three thousand students attend the University of Pennsylvania. Four thousand of them come from other ___ (9).

2. Listen again and answer the questions:

1. How many colleges and universities are in the United States?

2. Which university in the United States is the oldest?

3. When was Harvard established? By whom?

4. How many students are there in Harvard?

5. How many schools are there at Harvard?

6. What ideas did Benjamin Franklin present?

7. How many students attend the University of Pennsylvania?

Lesson 2

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Choose Your Degree at an American College or University

Today, we answer a question from Martin in ___ (1) City. He asks about the kinds of degrees that students can earn at an American college or university.

American higher education offers degrees in many areas of study. A community college student earns an associate degree after ___ (2) years of general study. The student may then continue at a college or university for another two years to earn a bachelor’s degree.

An undergraduate student at a four-year school earns a bachelor’s degree. Students majoring in an area of science receive the bachelor of ___ (3), also known by the letters B.S. Arts or humanities students get the bachelor of arts degree, or B.A.

Students who continue in school may earn a master’s degree after two or three more years of study. Many Americans earn master’s degrees at night or on the ___ (3) while they are working. One example of this is the M.B.A., a master’s degree in business administration. Students learn to deal with all kinds of business situations. They develop skills needed by many ___ (4).

M.B.A. programs teach about economics, finance and marketing. They also teach about the structure of ___ (5) and other subjects. Business is a popular subject for students who come to the United States. To be admitted to an M.B.A. program, a foreign student must have a bachelor’s degree and a good score on the TOEFL. Most students also take the Graduate Management Admission Test. Most of the one thousand eight hundred M.B.A. programs around the world use these test scores.

The Graduate Management Admission Council says that foreign students should find out what different ___ (5) could do to help them find a job after they receive their degree. Representatives from many companies visit colleges to hire students. You should ask how many companies are willing to hire international students. The council says even the best schools may have fewer ___ (6) placements for international graduates than for others.

Our Foreign Student Series continues next week with a report about the highest ___ (7) a student can earn at an American university — the doctorate.

Unit 2

Environment

Lesson 1

1. Discussion

Discuss the following questions with a partner for at least five minutes.

1. What do you know about global warming?

2. Is global warming a problem? Why/not?

3. How do you protect the environment? Please explain.

2. Match the word and definition

1. global warming	a) a very large mass of ice that moves very slowly
2. climate	b) energy that uses the power of the Sun’s light and heat
3. shortage	c) advanced scientific knowledge used for particular purposes, especially in industry
4. glacier	d) the process of damaging the air, water, or land with chemicals or other substances
5. desert	e) the natural world, including the land, water, air, plants and animals, especially considered as something that is affected by human activity
6. pollution	f) the slow increase in the temperature of the Earth caused partly by the greenhouse effect increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
7. environment	g) the use of something such as fuel or energy, or the amount of people use
8. consumption	h) a lack of something you need or want
9. technology	i) a large area of land with few plants and little water and were the weather is always dry
10. solar power	g) the type of weather country or region have: a hot/cold/mild/warm/ climate

3. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Save the Planet

More and more people all over the world realize that global warming is real and a serious ___ (1). Almost everyone agrees that the Earth's climate has begun ___ (2), as reported by scientists and experts in newspapers, TV programs, and magazines.

The summers are hotter. The winters are ___ (3). As a result, glaciers have become smaller. If this continues, there could be water shortages in the future in ___ (4) and the ___ (5). In addition, scientists believe deserts will grow much larger in some parts of the world, which means areas of Africa, China, and the Middle East will have little or no ___(6) to grow food. Storms will become worse, too. Although we haven't seen many big changes yet, our children and our children's children could live in a very ___ (7) world. They could face many problems in the future.

Governments around the world have taken ___ (8) to fight pollution and global warming. Unfortunately, they need to do more. In addition, big countries like the US, China, and Russia continue to ___ (9) heavily. All governments must take action with new laws to protect the environment. They must research and develop new technologies, such as wind and solar power. They must pollute less and reuse resources. Individuals can take action now, though. Here's how:

⋆ Don't use plastic bags at the ___ (10), especially if you use the bag only once and throw it away. Take a cloth bag that you can use again and again.

⋆ Take public transportation like trains and ___ (11) as much as possible. Even better, walk.

⋆ Use less water at home. For example, when you brush your ___ (12), turn off the water.

⋆ Turn off the lights, computer, TV, and so on when you're not ___ (13) them. This will decrease your electricity consumption.

⋆ Recycle newspapers, aluminum cans, plastic ___ (14), and so on.

⋆ Organize or participate in a clean-up ___ (15) in your neighborhood.

Help clean the parks, beaches, and land in the ___ (16).

Take action and save the planet today!

4. Listen again and answer the questions:

1. According to the article, what do more and more people realize?

2. What could happen if glaciers continue to melt?

3. What do scientists believe about areas in Africa, China, and the Middle East?

4. How will global warming affect storms?

5. Have governments taken enough action to fight pollution and global warming?

6. What kind of laws must be created? How about research?

7. According to the article, what action can people take?

Lesson 2

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Climate change

Interviewer Doctor Grant, could you explain in a few words what The Greenhouse Effect actually means?

Doctor Grant Well, in simple terms ... the ___ (1) heats the Earth’s surface and the Earth radiates energy back out into Space. Some of the radiation gets trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases. This trapped radiation warms the atmosphere and some of it goes back down to the Earth, making it hotter than normal. This is the greenhouse effect.

Interviewer So, is carbon dioxide the ___ (2)?

Doctor Grant Yes ... and other gases too. Methane ... being released from paddy fileds.... commercial oil and gas from landfills ... vegetation left to rot without oxygen ... These days there are more greenhouse ___ (3) than ever because of

human activities and especially the burning of fossil fuels.

Interviewer What kind of problems do scientists foresee?

Doctor Grant Well, ice caps melting and sea levels rising mean that eventually cities like London, New York, Sydney and Tokyo will be submerged. This is difficult to imagine of course.

Interviewer It seems incredible ... no wonder scientists are ___ (4).

Doctor Grant Well, some scientists are optimistic. They believe that positive feedbacks from ice clouds and their water vapour could have an impact on global warming. Other scientists are more sceptical. They suspect that we have been wrong in our initial analyses of the ___ (5) and might need to go back to the drawing board!

Interviewer So are you saying that some scientists don’t believe in the Greenhouse Effect?

Doctor Grant No, I wouldn’t go that far. In fact, without the Greenhouse Effect the planet would be frozen and no life forms would exist.

Interviewer Is there anything that could ___ (6) us from global warming?

Doctor Grant I’m glad you asked me that. Yes! Volcanoes! When a volcano erupts it throws debris up into the stratosphere. This protects the Earth from solar energy by scattering the sunlight.

Interviewer Of course the best thing that we can do is to address the problem seriously on a world level. That’s where the Kyoto Treaty enters the picture. If all of the governments in the world would commit themselves to making a real ___ (7) to work together on this issue, we might be able to slow down the process and work out a solution.

Doctor Grant So ...how worried do we need to be?

Interviewer That depends. First of all global warming isn’t going to affect all areas of the planet to the same degree. Things like the collapse of glaciers take hundreds of years so we are talking about a slow process here.

Doctor Grant Slow enough for us to do something to prevent a catastrophe?

Interviewer Well ... let’s ___ (8) so!

2. Optional exercise

Read these notes have taken while listening to the radio programme. Identify and correct three errors.

1. Greenhouse Effect: The sun heats the Earth which sends energy into Space. Radiation stays in the atmosphere. It warms the atmosphere and the Earth.

2. Methane and commercial oil and gas from landfills cause damage to the Earth’s surface.

3. Burning fossil fuels has made the problem bigger.

4. The formation of new oceans could slow down global warming.

5. Global warming will cause worldwide problems simultaneously.

Unit 3

Electricity

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Scientists test WiTricity – wireless electricity

A team of US researchers has come (1) ____ with an electricity system that does not need wires. This is a breakthrough (2) ____ what will hopefully be a wireless future. The scientists, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (3) ____ a 60-watt light bulb using magnetic fields. In the test, the power source was just two metres away from the light, but the team hopes they will soon be able to send electricity longer distances through the air. They have (4) ____ their new invention “WiTricity”, or wireless electricity. Although wi-fi has been around for (5) ____ years now, it has been limited to the transmission of information, especially between computers and modems, printers and scanners. This is the first time electrical appliances have been powered (6) ____.

This new development means that our houses may be free from tangled wires. (7) ____ will be the days of having to unplug the vacuum to go from room to room, and of having (8) ____ plugs hidden behind the TV and stereo. The new source of delivering power to gadgets remotely may also reduce the number of fires caused by (9) ____ wiring and overloaded sockets. It turns out the concept is not so new. A century ago, inventor Nikola Tesla struck (10) ____ the idea of building a huge tower in New York that would wirelessly beam power to the city. Unfortunately, his idea never came to (11) ____, until today, that is. It will still be a while before we have wireless homes and offices. Safety experts will be checking closely to (12) ____ the power source causes us no harm.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Scientists have tested a radio that doesn’t have wires inside it.	T / F
b.	In another test, scientists lit 60 different light bulbs.	T / F
c.	Scientists have sent electricity two metres through the air.	T / F
d.	Wi-fi is a concept that first originated at the end of last year.	T / F
e.	The invention of WiTricity signals the end of vacuum cleaners.	T / F
f.	WiTricity may reduce the number of household electrical fires.	T / F
g.	An inventor struck upon the idea of WiTricity a hundred years ago.	T / F
h.	Wireless offices and homes will be with us before the year is out.	T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	come up with	completion
b.	breakthrough	gadgets
c.	dubbed	spread
d.	transmission	jumbled
e.	appliances	faulty
f.	tangled	invented
g.	poor	send out
h.	struck upon	called
i.	beam	revolution
j.	fruition	thought of

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	A team of US researchers has come	appliances have been powered
b.	a breakthrough in what	wiring and overloaded sockets
c.	lit a	from tangled wires
d.	They have dubbed	will hopefully be a wireless future
e.	the first time electrical	up with an electricity system
f.	our houses may be free	60-watt light bulb
g.	having countless	upon the idea
h.	fires caused by poor	their new invention “WiTricity”
i.	inventor Nikola Tesla struck	fruition, until today
j.	his idea never came to	plugs hidden behind the TV

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What did you think when you read the headline?

2. What do you think about the idea of WiTricity?

3. Is your room full of plugs, cables and wires?

4. How much of a breakthrough do you think WiTricity is?

5. Do you think WiTricity means we will be living in a science fiction world?

6. Will WiTricity make your daily life easier?

7. What else would you like to send through the air, besides electricity?

8. Do you already make use of wi-fi devices?

9. What do you think of the name “WiTricity”?

10. Do you think WiTricity will result in people using less power?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?

2. Do you have problems moving your vacuum cleaner around the house?

3. Do you ever get fed up with electric wires?

4. How many plugs do you thin there are in your house?

5. Would you sleep better at night knowing WiTricity has reduced the risk of electrical fires?

6. Why do you think Nikola Tesla’s idea of wireless electricity never came to fruition?

7. What would you call your autobiography and why?

8. Are you looking forward to the age of wireless homes and offices?

9. Do you think WiTricity could cause problems to your health?

10. Did you like this discussion?

11.

Role A – WI-TRICITY INVENTOR

You think your invention is one of the greatest ever. It will revolutionize the way we live. There will be huge energy savings. Fewer people will die in house fires. Old and disabled people will be able to move around more.

THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GET THE CASH

Role B – OLD PERSON

You can’t wait for WiTricity. You have great trouble bending down to put plugs in sockets. You have tripped over wires many times and broken bones. There was nearly an electrical fire in your house last year.

THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY WI-TRICITY WILL HELP YOU

Role C – SAFETY EXPERT

You are 100% convinced that WiTricity is a huge danger. The amount of electricity in the air will cause many health problems. It will also cause more fires as the WiTricity builds up in heat patches. The idea should be abandoned.

THINK OF MORE REASONS WHY WI-TRICITY IS BAD

Role D – ENVIRONMENTALIST

You think the government should not waste money on making the lives of rich people more comfortable. This will only encourage laziness and poor health. This grant should go to aid poor people in developing countries.

THINK OF REASONS WHY THE INVENTORS SHOULD NOT GET THE CASH

Unit 4

Means of communication

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

EU OKs mobile phones on planes

The European Union has given the go (1) ____ for airplane passengers to use their cell phones in the skies over Europe starting later this year. This (2) ____ light for mobile phones gives air travelers greater connectivity than ever before. People will now be able to keep (3) ____ touch with those on the ground while 10,000 metres in the air. Business travelers in (4) ____ will benefit from staying in contact with clients, colleagues and managers. Europe becomes the first region in the world to (5) ____ the ban on using phones on planes. EU officials stressed the use of mobiles on planes will not in any way affect safety. The phone service will be disabled during takeoff and landing and the captain will have the power to turn the system off at any time. This falls in (6) ____ with the current rules on using laptop computers or music players on flights.

Not everyone is happy at the prospect (7) ____ an airplane full of mobile phone chatter. The friendly skies might now be a place where tempers become (8) ____ if passengers do not respect others. The EU has urged airlines to put in place flight etiquette rules to make sure passengers who want peace and quiet are not disturbed. This could include (9) ____ to put phones on silent, encouraging text messaging (10) ____ of voice calls or banning calls on night flights. The EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding said: "I call (11) ____ airlines to create the right conditions on board aircraft to ensure that those who want to use in-flight communication services do not disturb other passengers." She also warned airlines against charging high prices for mid-air calls. "If consumers receive shock phone bills, the service will not (12) ____, she said.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Passengers can soon make mobile phone calls over European skies.	T / F
b.	There will be a special green light on phones that use this service.	T / F
c.	Europe is the second region in the world to lift the ban on mid-air calls.	T / F
d.	People will not be able to use their phone during take off and landing.	T / F
e.	All air passengers are happy that they can use their mobiles.	T / F
f.	There is a law that says phones must be kept on silent.	T / F
g.	A telecom official asked passengers not to disturb phone callers.	T / F
h.	It is likely that mid-air calls will be cheaper than those made on land.	T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	given the go ahead	a.	conversation
2	keep in touch	b.	emphasized
3.	stressed	c.	make certain
4.	disabled	d.	maintain contact
5.	power	e.	encouraged
6.	chatter	f.	be successful
7.	urged	g.	okayed
8.	banning	h.	deactivated
9.	ensure	i.	authority
10.	take off	j.	prohibiting

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

1.	given the go	a.	ever before
2	greater connectivity than	b.	way affect safety
3.	the first region in the world to lift the	c.	instead of voice calls
4.	mobiles on planes will not in any	d.	full of mobile phone chatter
5.	This falls in	e.	for mid-air calls
6.	the prospect of an airplane	f.	place flight etiquette
7.	a place where tempers	g.	line with the current rules
8.	urged airlines to put in	h.	ahead
9.	encouraging text messaging	i.	become thin
10.	charging high prices	j.	ban on using phones

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘mobile phone’?
c)	Do you think this article brings good news or bad news?
d)	Do you think you would use your mobile phone on an airplane?
e)	Will the new rule make flying better?
f)	Don’t you think it’s silly that mobile phone calls are banned on airplanes?
g)	Do you need to take your mobile phone everywhere you go?
h)	Do you think other regions will follow the EU in lifting the ban on mobile phones?
i)	What are the pros and cons of mid-air phone calls?
j)	Do you think this service should only be available in business and first class?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What do you think of mobile phone chatter?
c)	What do you think of the term ‘the friendly skies’? Are they friendly?
d)	Do other people’s mobile phones ever make your temper become thin?
e)	Do you always respect people around you when you use your mobile phone?
f)	What flight etiquette rules do you think are necessary?
g)	What things disturb you while you are on an airplane?
h)	Would you make mid-air calls if the costs were double the usual cost?
i)	What questions would you like to ask Viviane Reding?
j)	Did you like this discussion?

Unit 5

Computers

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Computer mouse turns 40

The computer mouse celebrated its 40th anniversary on December the 8th. It was in 1968 that computer (1) ____ Douglas Engelbart showed off his new invention to an audience (2) ____ 1,000 at a technology conference in California. They witnessed the (3) ____ first public demonstration of the personal computer. Engelbart’s revolutionary ‘pointing device’ was made of wood and had two wheels (4) ____ into the bottom. It was originally designed to highlight text on a written document. Engelbart wowed onlookers (5) ____ demonstrating how text could be selected, copied and pasted. Engelbart said he always wondered why the term ‘mouse’ never changed into a more technical word after it became a (6) ____ success.

Today computer mice or mouses (both are (7) ____ accepted as plurals) are absolutely everywhere. The only real changes to their technology in the (8) ____ four decades are the transition to laser mice, the right-click button, and the scroll wheel. It looks like mice are here to stay, (9) ____ new innovations such as touch screens. Experts say the mouse is still difficult to beat in terms of (10) ____ of use and functionality. On the mouse’s 40th birthday, computer-device maker Logitech announced it had produced its one-(11) ____ mouse. The Swiss company churns out nearly 8 million mice a month. The pioneer, Douglas Engelbart, has never received a penny for his world-changing invention. His patent ran (12) ____ before computer companies started mass-producing mice.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	The computer mouse just celebrated its 40th birthday.	T / F
b.	Just a handful of people saw the first mouse at a California conference.	T / F
c.	The inventor initially designed the mouse to play computer games.	T / F
d.	The mouse’s inventor is surprised people stuck with the word ‘mouse’.	T / F
e.	The plural ‘mouses’ is grammatically incorrect.	T / F
f.	There have been three major changes to the mouse in its history.	T / F
g.	A computer-device maker recently churned out its billionth mouse.	T / F
h.	The mouse’s inventor made a fortune from his creation.	T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	celebrated	a.	saw
2	audience	b.	makes
3.	witnessed	c.	finished
4.	wowed	d.	thought about
5.	wondered	e.	commemorated
6.	absolutely	f.	changes
7.	transition	g.	amazed
8.	innovations	h.	crowd
9.	churns out	i.
10.	ran out	j.	completely

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

1.	The computer mouse celebrated	a.	plurals
2	Engelbart showed	b.	ease of use
3.	It was originally designed to	c.	never changed
4.	Engelbart wowed	d.	a penny
5.	wondered why the term ‘mouse’	e.	producing mice
6.	both are widely accepted as	f.	its 40th anniversary
7.	It looks like mice are	g.	off his new invention
8.	difficult to beat in terms of	h.	here to stay
9.	Engelbart has never received	i.	onlookers
10.	computer companies started mass-	j.	highlight text

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘mouse’?
c)	What do you think of your mouse?
d)	Do you think ‘mouse’ is a good word for the mouse?
e)	What other computer visionaries do you know of?
f)	What do you use your mouse for?
g)	When was the last time you were wowed by computer technology?
h)	Do you think we simply get used to amazing new technological changes and so are not wowed any more?
i)	What have you always wondered about computers?
j)	What word would you choose to replace ‘mouse’?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Do you prefer the plural ‘mouses’ or ‘mice’?
c)	What new functions would you like to see on a mouse?
d)	How important are the right-click button and the scroll wheel to you?
e)	Do you think touchpads, track wheels, touch screens and other innovations are better than the mouse?
f)	Are you surprised just one company has made a billion mice/mouses?
g)	How do you think Douglas Engelbart feels about not receiving any money from his invention?
h)	What other recent world-changing inventions improve your life?
i)	Is there anything about the mouse you don’t like?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Douglas Engelbart?

Unit 6

Materials

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Scientists in the USA say they are a (1) ____ closer to developing materials that could make people invisible. Researchers at the University of California have found a way to (2) ____ humans and objects using special materials that redirect light around things. The (3) ____, led by Professor Xiang Zhang, were published in the journals ‘Nature’ and ‘Science’. Zhang works at the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centre at the university. His team developed a set (4) ____ artificial “meta-materials” on a microscopic scale that is measured in billionths (5) ____ a metre. The researchers said the special “fishnet structure” of the nano-sized objects do not absorb or reflect light, which makes them (6) ____ invisible. They compared the light to “water flowing around a rock".

The new discovery is a huge step forward (7) ____ earlier technology that only allowed the concealing of two-dimensional objects. In the future, scientists could make “invisibility clothing” to hide people and large objects. However, scientists are still a long way (8) ____ designing and manufacturing invisibility cloaks. The U.S. military is (9) ____ interested in developing this idea to bring the technology to the battlefield. The U.S. Army Research Office (10) ____ part of Dr. Zhang’s research. The technology could also lead to more powerful microscopes that are (11) ____ to look more closely at living cells and even tinier objects. This means scientists could look at how viruses are formed and how they (12) ____.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Scientists have invented a cloak to make people who wear it invisible.	T / F
b.	The invisibility is created by redirecting light around objects.	T / F
c.	The scale if the new discovery is measured in billionths of a metre.	T / F
d.	The new discovery can stop water flowing around rocks.	T / F
e.	Earlier technology focused on two-dimensional objects.	T / F
f.	America’s Army said it has very little interest in this new technology.	T / F
g.	Scientists say the new research will lead to more powerful telescopes.	T / F
h.	The technology will allow scientists to study viruses more closely.	T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	closer	a.	appear
2	cloak	b.	financed
3.	artificial	c.	enormous
4.	seem	d.	cover
5.	compared	e.	very
6.	huge	f.	synthetic
7.	concealing	g.	smaller
8.	extremely	h.	nearer
9.	funded	i.	hiding
10.	tinier	j.	likened

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

1.	developing materials that could	a.	flowing around a rock
2	materials that redirect	b.	in developing this idea
3.	measured in	c.	step forward
4.	absorb or reflect	d.	billionths of a metre
5.	They compared the light to water	e.	to the battlefield
6.	The new discovery is a huge	f.	how viruses are formed
7.	The U.S. military is extremely interested	g.	light around things
8.	bring the technology	h.	make people invisible
9.	look more closely at living cells and	i.	light
10.	scientists could look at	j.	even tinier objects

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘invisible’?
c)	Would you like the ability to become invisible?
d)	What would you do if you could become invisible?
e)	What uses could an invisibility cloak have?
f)	What do you think of Professor Zhang’s research?
g)	Do you think invisibility is something only from science fiction?
h)	What do you think of the idea of a two-hour invisibility pill?
i)	Would you like a job as a researcher?
j)	Can you remember how the new technology works?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Are you interested in reading about new discoveries in science?
c)	How much would you pay for an invisibility cloak?
d)	How do you think invisibility cloaks would change the battlefield?
e)	What kinds of large objects might people want to hide, and why?
f)	What other huge steps forward have you read about recently?
g)	Do you think other countries will worry about America’s invisibility technology?
h)	Do you think more powerful microscopes will find things we never new existed?
i)	Do you think this new discovery will help in fighting diseases?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Professor Xiang Zhang?

Unit 7

Transport

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

World’s first flying car makes its debut

The world’s first flying car (1) ____ to the skies on March 18. Its name is the Transition, because it can switch between the road and the sky. The car that looks like a plane that looks like a car took (2) ____ from a small airport in New York. The “roadable aircraft” is from a Boston based company called Terrafugia, which (3) ____ “escape from land” in Latin. The designer and Terrafugia CEO Carl Dietrich has spent the past decade working (4) ____ the project. In 2006 he won a $30,000 design award from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He said his inspiration was to do something (5) ____ America’s crowded highways and airports. Dietrich said: "This flight is a symbol of a new freedom in aviation. It's what (6) ____ have been striving for since 1918."

The two-seater Transition can take off and land at airports and drive on any road. The US government said it is (7) ____ a light sport aircraft and not a car. The flying car has wings that fold (8) ____ for use on the road. It is around 5.8 metres long and 2 metres wide. Terrafugia hopes to start selling the Transition in 2011. The selling price will be between $150,000 and $200,000. There are already more than forty (9) ____ for it. Dietrich is excited about the Transition’s future. He told reporters: "This breakthrough changes the world of (10) ____ mobility. Travel now becomes a hassle-(11) ____ integrated land-air experience.” It is not yet clear whether traffic police or air traffic control will (12) ____ the dozens, perhaps hundreds or thousands, of flying cars.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	The world’s first flying car will soon make its debut flight.	T / F
b.	The name of the company that made the car means “free in the sky”.	T / F
c.	The designer has spent 10 years developing the flying car.	T / F
d.	The designer wanted to ease congestion on roads and in airports.	T / F
e.	The flying car can accommodate two pilots and four passengers.	T / F
f.	America’s government classified the flying car as a small aircraft.	T / F
g.	There are 40,000 orders for the flying car.	T / F
h.	Air traffic controllers will be responsible for regulating the flying cars.	T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	transition	a.	motivation
2	looks like	b.	deal with
3.	inspiration	c.	problem
4.	enthusiasts	d.	legally
5.	striving	e.	collapse
6.	officially	f.	change
7.	fold up	g.	fans
8.	breakthrough	h.	resembles
9.	hassle	i.	discovery
10.	handle	j.	aiming

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one. combination is possible):

1.	The world’s first flying car took	a.	for since 1918
2	it can switch between the road	b.	of personal mobility
3.	Dietrich has spent the past decade	c.	crowded highways
4.	do something about America’s	d.	and not a car
5.	It's what enthusiasts have been striving	e.	and the sky
6.	The two-seater Transition can	f.	to the skies
7.	it is officially a light sport aircraft	g.	air experience
8.	There are already more than forty	h.	take off and land
9.	This breakthrough changes the world	i.	working on the project
10.	a hassle-free integrated land-	j.	orders for it

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘flying car’?
c)	What do you think of the idea of cars that can fly?
d)	Would you buy a flying car?
e)	What are the risks and benefits of flying cars?
f)	Do you think flying cars mean science fiction has come true?
g)	Do you think ‘Transition’ is a good name for the new flying car?
h)	Do you think the flying car will solve congestion on roads and at airports?
i)	What kind of driving / flying license or test would you need for the flying car?
j)	What are you striving for right now?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Do you like reading about new breakthroughs and inventions?
c)	How would a flying car change your lifestyle?
d)	Do you think people would still get angry with other drivers in the sky?
e)	What kind of traffic signals would they need in the sky?
f)	Do you think governments would have to rethink power lines?
g)	Would you worry about cars flying over your house?
h)	Who should regulate the flying cars, the police or air traffic controllers?
i)	What do you think of the expression “roadable aircraft”?
j)	What questions would you ask Terrafugia CEO Carl Dietrich?

Unit 8

Aircrafts

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Airbus A380

Everything about this aero plane is ___ (3) the numbers are truly mind boggling.

Its overall length is 73 meters. That’s about as long as the Great Sphinx in Egypt. The giant two deck fuselage will typically have 550 seats, but has the potential to carry up to 800 passengers. The tail, at 21 meters from the ground, is as high as a seven storey building. The 845m 2 wing area is big enough to park 70 ___ (2).

The A380 can fly a staggering 15,000km without refueling and in order to do that, it needs to carry 310,000 liters of fuel, making the plane’s take off ___ (3) 560 tones. Incredibly, though, the A380 will actually be more fuel efficient than other, similar sized jumbo jets.

Airbus claims that the plane will burn about 3 liters of fuel per passenger per 100km, making it as economical to run as a family car. The building of the A380 is a remarkable example of transnational cooperation. The final assembly line is in Toulouse in ___ (4), but this is only the end of an impressively complicated process.

The construction of each aircraft is the result of collaboration between France, Germany, Britain and Spain. The wings, for example, are built in England and Wales. The main ___ (5) of the fuselage are constructed in Hamburg, Germany. Parts for the nose and the tail are in fact made in Spain, and only assembled in Germany. Everything is then shipped to France to be put together.

The A380 jigsaw gets even more complicated, however. Although a European venture, few people realize how much of the plane is actually made or designed outside the EU. The wings, for example, were created by ___ (6) in Wichita in the United States. Some wing panels, the wheels, and most of the cockpit electronics are also made in America. In fact, in terms of actual cost, almost half the aircraft is made in the USA.

2. Optional exercise. Listen and put these points in the order they are mentioned and find the answer for each point:

Subject Order

a) the countries which collaborate in the manufacturing

b) the range without refueling

c) the size

d) where the plane is put together

e) where the wings are made

3. Listen again and find the numbers:

a) The overall length is ___ meters.

b) The giant two deck fuselage will typically have ___ seats.

c) The A380 has the potential to carry up to ___ passengers.

d) The tail is at ___ meters from the ground.

e) The A380 can fly a staggering ___km without refueling.

Unit 9

Ocean exploration

Lesson 1

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Robotic Mission Dives to Deepest Part of Ocean

Prior to the test run of a new robotic ___ (1) last month, underwater research vehicles operated no deeper than 6,000 meters. Nereus changed that.

The robotic craft, developed and operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, dove to 10,902 meters in the western Pacific, pushing the frontiers of ___ (2) into unknown depths, says Andy Bowen, project manager for the Nereus Robot Development Program.

"Nereus is a tool which we hope the scientific community will use to make important ___ (3) about that final 4,000 meters of the ocean," he says. Bowen says the hybrid design allows Nereus to be operated remotely while tethered to its mother ship or to run as a free-swimming craft controlled by onboard computers.

"It performs a series of routine surveys gathering routine ___ (4) about the sea floor, using sensors such as sonar and digital photography to map out the area of interest in great detail."

Using these maps, scientists onboard the surface ship direct Nereus in its tethered mode through a fiber-optic cable. Bowen explains this lighter cable replaces the steel reinforced copper wire cables used by ___ (5) robotic systems.

"We are able then to go in with a mechanical arm and high-quality cameras and actually interact directly with the sea floor under human control."

Because the 40-kilometer-long tether is so light - it weighs less than a kilogram and is nearly as thin as a human hair - it does not snap under its own weight and can withstand the crushing pressure of the deep ocean. The cable uncoils from both ends - a canister ___ (6) the robot and one attached to the surface vessel.

"And so as the vehicle goes about its business, it is essentially trailing a piece of ___ (7) fiber behind it, which allows us to range freely while remaining in contact with the surface ship. And that's really the big breakthrough with the Nereus system. At the end of the mission, we actually cut the fiber and then bring the end onboard the ship and dispose of it and recharge the batteries, and we're ready to go again."

Nereus weighs 3 tons and is just over 4 meters long and 2 meters wide. It is powered by 4,000 lithium batteries. The craft carries ballast weights in its descent to 11,000 meters, diving at 20 to 30 meters a minute for eight hours. The weights, Bowen says, are dropped on the sea ___ (8).

"It really neither sinks or floats and using its propulsion system, which is a series of small propellers, we can actually drive the vehicle around near the sea floor much in the same way you might think of a helicopter. And that driving is done by a ___ (9) 7 miles [11 kilometers] away on the surface vessel through a joystick."

Last month, Nereus dove nearly twice as deep as previous submersibles to reach Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest known place on earth. It's here near the Island of Guam in the Western Pacific that many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. Andy Bowen says the mission's success paves the way for new scientific discoveries and ___ (10) theories.

"Certainly, the role, for example, of the trench in the carbon cycle; how carbon is recycled within the [earth's] crust. Things such as earthquakes, various other chemical processes are an important part of coloring in a ___ (11) about the ocean that is critically important to our understanding of the global environment."

During its 10-hour dive to Challenger Deep, Nereus sent back high-quality video, gathered rocks and samples of deep ocean sediments and returned with microbes and small worms that live in extreme depths. But, Bowen says, Nereus has barely scratched the surface of the ocean floor, and he expects a research (12) to mount an expedition with Nereus within a year.

2. What do the following numbers refer to? Listen to the text and answer.

10,902 ______________________________

4,000 _______________________________

40 _________________________________

11,000 ______________________________

7 __________________________________

3. TRUE / FALSE: Listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Prior to the test run of a new robotic vehicle last month, underwater research vehicles operated no deeper than 4,000 meters.	T / F
b.	The robotic craft, developed and operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, dove to 10,902 meters in the eastern Pacific, pushing the frontiers of exploration into unknown depths	T / F
c.	Nereus is a tool which we hope the scientific community will use to make important discoveries about that final 6,000 meters of the ocean	T / F
d.	It performs a series of routine surveys gathering routine information about the sea floor, using sensors such as sonar and digital photography to map out the area of interest in great detail	T / F
e.	Scientists onboard the surface ship direct Nereus in its tethered mode through a gutta-percha cable.	T / F
f.	The cable uncoils from both ends - a canister onboard the robot and one attached to the underwater vessel.	T / F
g.	At the end of the mission, we actually cut the fiber and then bring the end onboard the ship and dispose of it and recharge the batteries, and we're ready to go again.	T/F
h.	It really neither sinks or floats and using its propulsion system, which is a series of small engines, we can actually drive the vehicle around near the sea floor much in the same way you might think of a helicopter.	T/F

4. Listen again and answer these questions:

1. What is Nereus?

2. What does allow Nereus to be operated remotely while tethered to its mother ship or to run as a free-swimming craft controlled by onboard computers?

3. How does Nereus perform a series of routine surveys gathering routine information about the sea floor?

4. What does a fiber-optic cable replace?

5. Name the advantages of a fiber-optic cable.

6. What is vehicle is essentially trailing behind it? What does it allow to scientists?

7. Describe the dimensions of Nereus.

8. Why did Nereus dove nearly twice as deep as previous submersibles last month? Where?

9. What is the role of the trench in the carbon cycle?

10. What did Nereus do during its 10-hour dive to Challenger Deep?

Lesson 2

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Greenwich

If you get the chance to visit London, you really _____ (1) take the time to visit Greenwich. You can get there by train, bus, taxi or even walk if you have the

energy. Personally though, I recommend taking a _____ (2). The one I took was

from Tower Bridge which is next to the Tower of London and on it we listened

to a tour guide who showed us a lot of things that you only see from the river.

I’d like to tell you something that he told us and which I found very

interesting: In 1665 London was suffering a _____ (3) plague and thousands of

people died from this disease. As a consequence the ships which came to

London along the River Thames stopped coming for _____ (4) of catching the

plague – this meant that the Londoners didn’t have food to eat or medical

supplies they needed. It was only the ships from Holland that continued to

come and they _____ (5) at a wharf which you can see on your way to Greenwich.

For this reason the City of London decided that no Dutch boats that came to

London pay taxes. This continues to the _____ (6) day!

Anyway, on to Greenwich. The first place I visited was the Royal Observatory.This is famously where the Prime Meridian passes – the 0° longitude which _____ (7) the eastern and western hemispheres. Now, just out of curiosity, how many countries does this line pass through, do you think? Well, starting from

the North Pole it goes through The UK, France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina

Faso, Togo, Ghana and Antarctica. Not as many as you _____ (8) – only 9!

You probably know Greenwich Mean Time. This was once the time based on the clocks kept at the Royal Observatory and is now called Universal Time.

Very often you see the time zone of cities _____ (9) as + or – GMT. For example,

Rome is GMT+1 which means when it’s 2 o’clock in London it’s 3 o’clock in

Rome. There is lots to see at the observatory but now it’s time to see the

National Maritime Museum.

It is _____ (10) to a large number of exhibits which tell the story of Britain’s past

naval strength, the main reason Britain had an _____ (11) back in the last century.

Even if you’re not interested in ships and sailing the stories told are fascinating

and even the building itself is worth seeing – a fine example of Georgian

architecture. It was built in the 1930s and _____ (12)opened by King George the

6th in 1937.

In a bit of a rush now as I spent too much time at the museum, but next

_____ (13) is the Queen’s House. It took 19 years to build and was _____ (14)in 1635. It’s called the Queen’s House because it was built for the wife of Charles the

First, Henrietta Maria. It was a revolutionary design for the period as it was in

a Classical style – indeed the first of its _____ (15) in Britain.

There are many more things to see here, but time has _____ (16) out. But I repeat, if you come to London there are hundreds of things to do and see. Everyone

goes to the West End, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Palace etc but you

_____ (17) must make a little effort to get on the boat which takes you to this little

corner of the city for a _____ (18)day out.

2. What do the following numbers refer to? Listen to the text and answer.

1665 _________________________________

9 ____________________________________

0° ___________________________________

+1 ___________________________________

6th __________________________________

1635 _________________________________

3. Listen again and answer these questions:

How did the writer get to Greenwich?

1. Which country continued to send boats to London during the plague?

2. How did the City of London thank this country?

3. If the time in London is 15.00, what time is it in New York (GMT-5)?

4. Who was Henrietta Maria?

5. In what style was her palace built?

Unit 10

Laser and optical technologies

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

Building the World's Most Powerful Laser

This March, researchers at the National Ignition Facility demonstrated a 1.1 megajoule ___ (1) designed to ignite nuclear fusion reactions by 2010. But the facility's technology, which is housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, cannot yet generate enough energy to drive a practical power plant. So, even as physicists look forward to next year's demonstration, they're working on even more powerful lasers that could make possible a method for a kind of laser-induced fusion called fast ignition.

This week, at the annual meeting of the Optics Society of America in San Jose, CA, researchers from the University of Texas presented plans to build an exawatt laser that would be three orders of magnitude more powerful than anything that exists today. Today's most powerful lasers ___ (2) on the order of about a petawatt, or 10 to the power 15 (one quadrillion) watts. An exawatt is 10 to a power of 18 watts. Exawatt lasers will be able to concentrate that power in areas measuring micrometers, creating tremendous intensities.

One way to increase the power of a laser is to decrease the duration of the laser pulse. But working with laser pulses on the order of picoseconds or even femtoseconds is difficult because such pulses are made up of a wide bandwidth of light frequencies that damage optical ___ (3), including the phosphate glass often used to amplify laser light, for example at the National Ignition Facility.

Todd Ditmire, director of the High Intensity Laser Science Group at the University of Texas at Austin, reported at this week's meeting that a new type of glass should be able to handle the intense pulses of ___ (4) needed to create an exawatt laser. The glass would be doped and used to create devices called amplifiers--when light from a laser shines on the glass amplifier, ions in the glass absorb the light and re-emit it at higher energy. "The glass is just a host--it's a transparent material that holds the ions," says Ditmire.

The advantage of sticking with glass instead of another material is that manufacturers can readily make it into large ___ (5), which increases the power of the resulting beam. In contrast, titanium sapphire can act as an amplifier for high-power lasers, but it's difficult to make in big pieces, says Ditmire. Working with German manufacturer Schott, the Texas group has begun characterizing the properties of their new type of glass, which combines silicate, the material that makes up everyday glass objects, with the metal element tantalum. Ditmire says his group is now working with Schott to create larger pieces of the material that will be assembled to make a prototype laser.

Ditmire expects that the first application of exawatt lasers will be as energy sources for medical particle accelerators. Bombarding tumors with protons causes fewer side effects than x-ray therapy because the protons release their energy all at once, sparing surrounding tissues. However, ___ (6) therapy hasn't come into wide use because it requires large particle accelerators. Compact exawatt lasers should be powerful enough to accelerate protons for medical therapy.

But the most exciting potential application for exawatt lasers is in fusion power plants that rely on a process called fast ignition. In the early stages, the National Ignition Facility will use petawatt lasers to compress a pellet of gold fuel until it heats up to 100 million °C, triggering fusion. Also at the conference this week, researchers from the facility reported that they've completed another step along the way to controlled fusion reactions, describing preliminary tests of their system using a 500,000-joule ___ (7) to implode a fusion fuel pellet.

Fast ignition works differently. Instead of a single pulse, the technique would use lower-power lasers to "compress the fuel without worrying about heating it, and then a short-pulse [exawatt] laser that acts as a spark plug," igniting the fusion reaction, says Ditmire.

"Whether this will work is controversial," Ditmire admits. Aiming such a short pulse might be problematic. In theory, though, the fast-ignition process should take less ___ (8) to operate. The most important measure of the performance of a fusion reactor is its gain, or the ratio of the energy required to operate the lasers to the amount of energy produced by the reaction. The Livermore facility's goal is a gain of 15 to 20. "You need a gain of 100 to make a fusion power plant, and calculations show that exawatt lasers could get it," says Ditmire.

But the new glass material isn't the only key to building an exawatt laser. Ditmire's group has also had success with new amplification techniques for making very short-duration pulses using the university's Texas Petawatt Laser. According to Ditmire, the trick to making very high power is a technique called chirping, in which different frequencies of light are separated, run through glass amplifiers, and then run through a compressor to put them back together into a single, higher-power pulse. The Texas group's ___ (9) combines different types of glass amplifiers for this process, allowing for more compression of the light and therefore increasing the power output further. At the meeting, Ditmire reported using this technique to create 100-femtosecond pulses.

Ditmire isn't the only researcher pushing for the development of ___ (10) lasers. The inventor of chirping, Gérard Mourou of the Ecole Polytechnique in France, is spearheading a European exawatt laser project called ELI, or Extreme Light Infrastructure. The European group plans to use titanium sapphire amplifiers instead of conventional glass.

2. What do the following numbers refer to? Listen to the text and answer.

1.1 __________________________

10 to 18 ______________________

100 million ___________________

500,000 ______________________

100 __________________________

3. TRUE / FALSE: listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	Scientists presented plans to build a petawatt laser that would be three orders of magnitude more powerful than anything that exists today.	T / F
b.	One way to increase the power of a laser is to increase the duration of the laser pulse.	T / F
c.	A new type of plastic should be able to handle the intense pulses of light needed to create an exawatt laser.	T / F
d.	Ditmire expects that the first application of exawatt lasers will be as energy sources for physical particle accelerators.	T / F
e.	The technique would use high -power lasers to "compress the fuel without worrying about heating it, and then a short-pulse [exawatt] laser that acts as a spark plug.	T / F
f.	Ditmire is the only researcher pushing for the development of exawatt lasers.	T / F

4. Listen again and answer these questions:

1. What is the main reason to work on more powerful lasers?

2. How do today's most powerful lasers operate?

3. Why working with laser pulses on the order of picoseconds or even femtoseconds is difficult?

4. Why did scientists need a new type of glass?

5. Where will first application of exawatt lasers be?

6. Where is the most exciting potential application for exawatt lasers?

7. What is the trick to making very high power?

Unit 11

Superconductivity

1. Listen to the text and complete the gaps:

A New Superconductor

Researchers investigate why iron arsenide ___ (1) become superconducting at relatively high temperatures.

A new class of high-temperature superconductors, discovered earlier this year, behaves very differently than previously known copper-oxygen superconductors do. Instead, the new ___ (2) seem to follow a superconductivity mechanism found previously only in materials that are superconducting at very low temperatures, Chia-Ling Chien and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University report in an online Nature paper.

The insight is an important step toward understanding how superconductors work, and it could help researchers design even better materials. High-temperature superconductors could lead to cheaper MRI machines; smaller, lighter power cables; and far more energy-efficient and secure power grids. Utilities, for example, could use superconducting magnets to store ___(3) at night, and then use it at peak demand hours in the mornings and evenings.

Superconducting materials conduct electric current without any losses when they are chilled below a certain temperature, called the critical temperature. Niobium alloys, used to make superconducting magnets for MRI machines, are superconducting only below 10 K. Copper-oxygen compounds, or cuprates, which were discovered in the late 1980s, are superconducting at much higher temperatures of 90 to 138 K. At these temperatures, cheap, easy-to-use liquid nitrogen can be employed as a refrigerant. (Cuprates are not used for MRI magnets because it is difficult and expensive to make wires from them.) And some manufacturers are making nitrogen-cooled superconducting ___ (4) for transmission lines.

But researchers have long tried to find materials with even higher critical temperatures. "The holy grail is operating [superconductors] at room temperature," says physicist Jeffrey Lynn, who studies superconductors at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Superconducting power cables, MRI machines, and energy storage devices would be cheaper and smaller if they did not need ___ (5).

The new iron arsenide superconductors have shown potential for achieving high critical temperatures. Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology first reported in a February paper in Journal of the American Chemical Society that a lanthanum iron arsenide material becomes superconducting at 26 K. Since then, Chinese researchers have pushed the critical temperature up to 55 K. That is not nearly as ___ (6) as the superconducting temperatures for cuprates, but Johns Hopkins's Chien says that "this is a new material to explore, and one hopes we will get even higher temperatures."

The new material's chemical structure makes it particularly exciting. It contains oxides of rare earth metals sandwiched between layers of iron arsenide. The structure allows for a lot of tinkering that tweaks the material's properties, Lynn says. Researchers can, for instance, replace the iron, arsenic, or rare earth metals with other elements. In fact, Chinese researchers replaced the lanthanum in the original Japanese material with other rare earth metals, such as samarium, to raise the critical temperature above 50 K. "There are a lot of different types of chemical substitutions that you can try," Lynn says. "They're actually more ___ (7) than cuprates."

The new superconductors could also have another crucial advantage, says David Christen, who leads superconductor research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. While cuprate ___(8) cables have to be fabricated as specially designed flat tapes, it might be easier to make wires from iron arsenide semiconductors. "These materials could be more practical than cuprates if it turns out that they're easier and less expensive to make," Christen says.

Researchers are also hoping that iron arsenides will help unlock the mystery of how high-temperature superconductors work. That will be key for designing materials with even higher critical temperatures. In superconductors that work at very low temperatures, such as niobium and lead, electrons form pairs below the critical temperature. Atoms or defects in the crystal do not have the energy needed to break the pair and deflect the ___ (9). So the electron pair zips around the material unimpeded, giving rise to superconductivity. But this pairing theory does not hold for high-temperature copper-oxygen materials.

In their Nature paper, Chien and his colleagues show evidence suggesting that the pairing theory might hold for the iron arsenide superconductors. "The pairing of electrons is the soul of the superconductor," Chien says. "If the new materials follow the [pairing] theory, then . . . we will be able to understand the ___ (10) a little bit easier."

More evidence from experiments done with many different iron arsenide compounds will be needed to confirm how the superconductors work, says Pengcheng Dai, a physics professor at the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville. The Johns Hopkins work is "just one piece of the puzzle," he says. Indeed, while the pairing mechanism of iron arsenides might be different than that of copper-oxygen compounds, the two materials also have similarities. In a recent online paper, also published in Nature, Dai and Lynn showed that the two materials share key magnetic ___ (11). And both materials also have a similar layered structure.

It might be too early to say just how useful the iron arsenide superconductors will be. For now, Dai says that researchers are excited about having broken the 22-year monopoly of cuprates and about having a new high-temperature ___ (12) to play with.

2. What do the following numbers refer to? Listen to the text and answer.

90 to 138 ____________________________

26 _________________________________

50 _________________________________

22 ________________________________

3. TRUE / FALSE: Listen again and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A new class of high-temperature superconductors seems to follow a superconductivity mechanism found previously only in materials that are superconducting at very high temperatures.	T / F
b.	Utilities could use superconducting magnets to store energy at night, and then use it at peak demand hours in the mornings and evenings.	T / F
c.	Superconducting materials conduct electric current without any losses when they are chilled below a certain temperature, called the normal temperature.	T / F
d.	Superconducting power cables, MRI machines, and energy storage devices would be cheaper and smaller if they did not need heating.	T / F
e.	The new material's chemical structure makes it exciting	T / F
f.	While cuprate power cables have to be fabricated as specially designed flat tapes, it might be more difficult to make wires from iron arsenide semiconductors.	T / F
g.	Researchers are also hoping that iron arsenides will help unlock the mystery of how low-temperature superconductors work.	T/F
h.	If the new materials follow the [single] theory, then . . . we will be able to understand the materials a little bit easier.	T/F

4. Listen again and answer these questions:

1. Does a new class of high-temperature superconductors, discovered earlier this year, behave the same way than previously known copper-oxygen superconductors do?

2. Where could high-temperature superconductors lead to cheaper MRI machines?

3. What does “critical temperature” mean?

4. When are niobium alloys, used to make superconducting magnets for MRI machines, superconducting?

5. Why aren’t cuprates used for MRI magnets?

6. What have the new iron arsenide superconductors shown potential for?

7. Does the structure allow for a lot of tinkering that tweaks the material's properties?

8. What another advantage could the new superconductors also have?

9. When do electrons form pairs in superconductors that work at very low temperatures, such as niobium and lead?

10. What is the soul of the superconductor?

11. What will be needed to confirm how the superconductors work?

Unit 12

Space exploration

1. Listen to the first part of the text and complete the gaps:

America's Space Agency Turns 50

This month (July, 2008), the United States space agency celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. Today we tell about some of the high and lows of those fifty years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

NASA was established on July twenty-ninth, nineteen fifty-eight when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act. The agency was created mainly because of competition between the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union had become the first country to put an object into orbit around the Earth. The successful launch of the Sputnik satellite on October fourth, nineteen fifty-seven marked the start of "the space race."

VOICE TWO:

NASA began operations on October first, nineteen fifty-eight from headquarters in Washington, D.C. Its first major goal was to show that people could survive and work in space. This was called Project Mercury. NASA chose seven military pilots to be the nation's first astronauts.

But in April, nineteen sixty-one, the Soviets put Yuri Gagarin into orbit around the Earth. NASA had been beaten to its first goal. Soon, however, President John F. Kennedy gave NASA a greater goal, bigger than anyone had considered at that time. He made this statement on May twenty-fifth, nineteen sixty-one.

PRESIDENT JOHN KENNEDY: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important to the long-range exploration of space. And none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

VOICE ONE:

Project Mercury was a success scientifically and in the opinion of the American public. All of the first six space flights were in small one-man capsules. Tom Wolfe wrote a book about the first astronauts and their flights, called "The Right Stuff." These brave astronauts became American heroes. They included John Glenn who was the first American to orbit the Earth in nineteen sixty-two.

The next step was Project Gemini. These spaceships could hold two men. The flights showed that astronauts could fly in space, do complex tasks like linking with other space vehicles and even work outside their spacecraft.

VOICE TWO:

Project Apollo was NASA's biggest effort up to that time. The Apollo spacecraft could hold three astronauts. It was powered by a huge Saturn Five rocket, the first rocket designed by NASA only for space exploration. But the project began with tragedy. In early nineteen sixty-seven, three astronauts were killed in a fire while testing Apollo One.

Space scientists learned important lessons from the disaster and the following missions were successful. The most exciting one was Apollo Eleven. It landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon's Sea of Tranquility. Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched Neil Armstrong take his first step on the moon on July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine.

NEIL ARMSTRONG: "That's one small step for man. “One giant leap for mankind."

VOICE ONE:

Five more flights landed on the moon, ending with Apollo Seventeen in nineteen seventy-two. A total of twelve Americans walked on the moon. Steven Dick, NASA's chief historian, has written about the effect of the Apollo project on society, especially its view of Earth from the moon. He wrote: "The photographs of 'Earthrise", and of the full Earth as a blue marble suspended in space, fragile and without national boundaries, changed humankind's view of Earth forever."

VOICE TWO:

The success of Apollo ended the space race. It also provided a chance for Americans and Soviets to join in the first international space flight, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July of nineteen seventy-five. The project was the start of cooperation in space. It was also the end of the first part of NASA's manned spaceflight program.

2. What happened in there years? Listen to the text and answer.

July, 2008 _____________________________________________

July twenty-ninth, nineteen fifty-eight _______________________

October fourth, nineteen fifty-seven _________________________

October first, nineteen fifty-eight ___________________________

April, nineteen sixty-one __________________________________

Nineteen sixty-two _______________________________________

Nineteen sixty-seven ____________________________________

July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine _________________________

Nineteen seventy-two ___________________________________

July of nineteen seventy-five _____________________________

3. Listen again and answer these questions:

1. Why was “National Aeronautics and Space Act “agency created?

2. What country had become the first to put an object into orbit around the Earth?

3. What was first major goal of NASA?

4. Was the “Project Mercury” successful?

5. What a greater goal did President John F. Kennedy give to NASA?

6. Was the “Project Apollo” successful?

7. Where did Apollo Eleven land astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon?

8. How many Americans walked on the moon?

9. Did the success of Apollo end the space race?

4. Listen to the second part of the text and complete the gaps:

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen seventy-two, President Richard Nixon approved a completely new space project. It would be the world's first reusable space vehicle. The project was the space shuttle program--officially known as the Space Transportation System. Shuttle Columbia, one of five orbiters, made the first flight of the program in April, nineteen eighty-one.

(SOUND)

The space shuttle program has carried many satellites into orbit. It has launched several space exploration vehicles such as the Galileo and Magellan spacecraft. The shuttle also put the Hubble Space telescope into orbit and has serviced the thirteen-meter-long telescope four times. Hubble has discovered planets beyond our solar system and confirmed black holes. It has even helped scientists know the exact age of the universe.

VOICE TWO:

The space shuttle program is closely linked with international efforts to have a permanent presence in space. The shuttle has helped build the International Space Station whose first crew arrived in November of two thousand. The Space Station is expected to be completed in two thousand ten. That year will also be the last for space shuttle missions.

But NASA's space shuttle program has also been marked with tragedy. In January of nineteen eighty-six, the shuttle Challenger exploded seventy-three seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts. Two years later, the shuttle program returned and flew eighty-seven successful missions. But tragedy struck again in February, two thousand three. The shuttle Columbia came apart while reentering the Earth's atmosphere. Seven more astronauts died. These incidents remind everyone of the risk of space travel and the bravery and sacrifice of the astronauts.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In the last fifty years, NASA has sent robotic spacecraft to the moon and all the planets. In the nineteen sixties, the space agency first started to explore other planets with the Mariner probes. A series of Mariner spacecraft visited the planet Venus. Years later, the Magellan spacecraft mapped Venus in great detail.

In nineteen seventy-four, Mariner Ten visited Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. NASA returned to Mercury in two thousand eight with the Messenger spacecraft.

VOICE TWO:

Among the most successful of NASA's robotic explorers are the Voyager One and Two spacecraft. They built on the success of the earlier Pioneer Ten and Eleven. Voyager One visited Jupiter and Saturn.

Voyager Two added Uranus and Neptune to the list of planets NASA has visited. It discovered rings and many new moons orbiting those worlds. Today, Voyager One has traveled farther than any other object made by humans. It is almost sixteen billion kilometers from the sun, beyond the reach of the flow of particles known as the solar wind.

The Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn have greatly increased our knowledge of the two giant planets.

VOICE ONE:

NASA has visited Mars more often than any other planet. Mars continues to interest scientists searching for life because it is known to have water. Mariner spacecraft first visited the planet in the nineteen sixties. In the mid nineteen seventies, the Viking One and Two spacecraft returned detailed pictures of the red planet. The Viking project also put landers on Mars and tested its soil.

More than twenty years later, NASA returned to Mars with its Global Surveyor. Several missions to Mars during this period failed. But spacecraft like the Mars Odyssey and the Mars Exploration Rovers have gathered huge amounts of information about the planet. The Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, continue to operate on the red planet along with the Phoenix Mars Lander.

VOICE TWO:

We have had time to discuss only a few of the most interesting programs of NASA's past and present. Today, NASA is a huge agency with almost nineteen thousand employees who work at ten main centers around the country. Its budget for two thousand nine is about seventeen and a half billion dollars.

NASA is already planning the next generation of exploration vehicles. They include the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and a reusable moon lander. And NASA plans to establish a center to produce power on the moon by two thousand twenty-four.

Yet the return to the moon is only the first small step. Anyone who works for NASA will tell you that Mars is the next goal for human spaceflight. And there is no reason to think that the urge to explore will end after that goal is reached.

5. What happened in there years? Listen to the text and answer.

Nineteen seventy-two ____________________________________

April, nineteen eighty-one ________________________________

November of two thousand _______________________________

Two thousand ten _______________________________________

January of nineteen eighty-six ____________________________

February, two thousand three _____________________________

Nineteen sixties _______________________________________

In nineteen seventy-four ________________________________

Two thousand eight ____________________________________

In the mid nineteen seventies ____________________________

Two thousand twenty-four ______________________________

6. Listen again and answer these questions:

1. What was a completely new space project approved President Richard Nixon?

2. What satellites have carried into orbit with the space shuttle program?

3. What is the main mission of Hubble Space telescope?

4. Why the space shuttle program closely linked with international efforts?

5. What tragedy has NASA's space shuttle program also been marked with?

6. What spacecrafts visited the planet Venus?

7. What are the most successful of NASA's robotic explorers?

8. Why has NASA visited Mars more often than any other planet?

9. How many employees have NASA nowadays? Where do they work? What is budget of NASA?

10. What is NASA already planning? What is the next goal for human spaceflight?

Список литературы

http://www.google.ru/