Exchange Programs Unproductive.

Student exchange programs – a widespread practice in the late Gorbachev era and early in the Yeltsin era – are virtually nonexistent today. Russia’s higher schools have no money for that, to say nothing about students themselves.

Moreover, there are very few of those wishing to do just one or two terms. Those who do come have difficulty getting a foothold in the United States, especially in the sphere of social sciences.

True, there are various advance training programs funded by the U.S. government: the MacArthur, Hurbert Humphrey, Muskie, Eleanor Roosevelt, and other programs. Only individual Russian undergraduate/graduate students and teachers get on such programs. But these people, by their own admission simply hope to make some money, not pursue any useful academic program.

It is certainly prestigious, and potentially beneficial, to get a degree in the United States. Especially if one plans to live and work abroad (preferably in North America, since there is some allergy to a U.S. diploma in Europe). But in Russia, someone with a degree from an American university is unlikely to automatically land a high-level job at Gasprom or LUKoil. Still, is not impossible, especially if their tuition in the States was paid for by people near the top in these companies.

Task 1

Read the text again and answer the following question about the details.

1. Who could go to a U.S. university in the Gorbachev era? Who can go there in the era of new Russians?

2. What are the most prestigious American universities?

3. What is the main attraction to a student from Russian? Why?

4. Why do the majority of Russian graduates not stay in the USA?

5. Do Russians study only in the top universities?

6. Do American universities guarantee a job to their graduates?

7. Who study at Maryland State University? Does the future trouble them?

8. What education program was very popular in the late Gorbachev – early Yeltsin era?

9. What other educational opportunities are there?

10. Who take this kind of advance courses? Why?

 

Task 2

1. Find words (phrases) in the text for the following definitions.

1) having plenty of money

2) guarantee a good job

3) get back expenses

4) study the material

5) make things equal again

6) future probabilities

7) make officially a member of a school

8) gain a stable position

9) continue with a program

10) pick up prestigious work

11) ex-students, former graduates

2. Use these words and phrases in your own sentences.

 

Task 3

Explain or express in another way.

1. At present there are 3,000 “ self-supporting ” undergraduates from Russia.

2. Russian students are the main target of local head-hunters.

3. At first, Russian undergraduates at U.S. universities feel unhappy about what they see as oversimplified curricula.

4. It is certainly prestigious and potentially beneficial to get a degree in the United States.

5. By paying so much money for a course of training, parents secure not simply a promising career but also financial future for their children.

 

Task 4

Render the following text into English

.

Через образование – к общности человечества

 

Одаренные россияне могут учиться за рубежом бесплатно. В конце 50-x годов, вопреки «холодной войне», Курт Хан и его сторонники решили создать Unites World College (UWC) – Колледж объединенного мира для обучения по единым стандартам одаренных, вдохновленных идеями мира между народами, интернационализма и гуманизма юношей и девушек из различных стран. Первое учебное заведение в сети UWC открылось в 1962 году в старинном замке на западе Уэллса. С тех пор возникло еще девять аналогичных учебных заведений: в США, Канаде, Италия, Норвегии, Сингапуре, Венесуэлы, Свазиленде, Гонконге и Индии.

Всюду обучение проходит на английском языке, в течение двух лет, после чего получают диплом бакалавра и перед ними открывается дорога в лучшие вузы мира, в том числе такие, как Гарвард и Кембридж. Программа UWC предполагает не только всестороннее пополнение знаний студентов, но и гармоничное развитие личности: умственное, физическое, эстетическое и, в первую очередь, нравственное. В частности, студенты оказывают «шефскую помощь» нуждающимся в духе наших «тимуровцев», о которых писал Аркадий Гайдар. Выпускники колледжа из различных стран мира регулярно встречаются и на протяжении всей жизни поддерживают между собой теснейшие связи.

Что, пожалуй, особенно примечательно, так это то, что в UWC вообще нельзя поступить за деньги. Либо студентов направляют правительства из стран, которые и платят за их обучение (так поступают власти Швеции, Нидерландов и т.д.), либо их принимают по определенной для каждой страны квоте на обучение за счет самого заведения. (Спонсорами колледжей сети UWC в Италии и Канаде выступает правительство, в Норвегии – Красный Крест, в Индии – семья Махиндра и т.д.).

В России молодых людей направляет на обучение общественная организация – Национальный отборочный комитет совместно с Ассоциацией выпускников UWC. За последние шесть лет эта честь выпала 32 россиянам.

К участию в конкурсе принимаются юноши и девушки от 16 до 18 лет, окончившие 10 или 11 классов средней общеобразовательной школы. Наряду с академическими результатами, общей эрудицией и культурным уровнем отборочный комитет будет принимать во внимание желание молодых людей служить общественному благу, идеалам мира и гуманизма, толерантность, открытость к восприятию культур различных народов и наличие лидерских качеств. Знание английского языка желательно, но обязательным условием не является.

 

Helpful vocabulary

Unified (единый), inspire (вдохновлять), widen (всесторонний), patronize (оказывать шефскую помощь), the needy (нуждающийся), in the spirit of (в духе), quota (квота), at the expense of (за ч-л счет), selection committee (отборочный комитет), the honour fell on (честь выпала), school providing general education (общеобразовательная школа), the welfare (the good) (благо), apprehend (perceive) (воспринимать).

 

Final task

Organize your knowledge on the topic and present a report on one of the following points.

1. What is the purpose of secondary school in your opinion?

2. What subjects in the school program are of the greatest importance? Why?

3. The higher education system reforming.

4. Advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad, in the USA in particular.

5. The value of University degree.

6. The ways of self-education.

 

 

UNIT 6

PEOPLE AND PROGRESS

People from time immemorial have said that ‘know­ledge is worth more than wealth’. At present the value of knowledge is rapidly increasing. Therefore the problem of training young scientific workers is of great impor­tance. A novice (a beginner) in science is like a bud—­either he will blossom into a beautiful rose or he will fade without blooming. If a novice proves to be really talen­ted, then he is given every possible assistance. What scientist's personal traits are the most important? Many scholars put diligence before all else. The time of scien­tific discoveries "by intuition" is over - you know this business of a scientist sitting down, pondering and exclaiming ‘Eureka’. Nor are new laws of physics disco­vered just by seeing an apple fall. Today it takes hun­dreds of costly experiments to discover something new. There is no doubt that it is a scientist's social and moral obligation to investigate and discover. Morally, the scien­tist should push his talent, which nature has given him, to the utmost.

Text 1

 

Pre-reading task

How often do you think about the advantages of the 20-th century?

Reading

Read the text and.rate the inventions mentioned. Prove your choice and answer the questions.

Is the idea clearly stated?

Are details effectively supported? Explain or defend the ideas in each text.

 

Our Century … and the Next One

As centuries go, this has been one of the most amazing: inspiring, at times horrifying, always fascinating. Sure, the 15th was pretty wild, with the Renaissance and Spanish Inquisition in full flower, Gutenberg building his printing press, Copernicus beginning to contemplate the solar system and Columbus spreading the culture of Europe to the Americas. And of course there was the 1st century, which if only for the life arid death of Jesus may have had the most impact of any. Socrates and Plato made the 5th century B.C. also rather remarkable. But we who live in the 20th can probably get away with the claim that ours has been one of the top four or five of recorded history.

Let's take stock for a moment. To name just a few random things we did in a hundred years: we split the atom, invented jazz and rock, launched airplanes and landed on the moon, concocted a general theory of relativity, devised the transistor and figured out how to fetch millions of them on tiny microchips, discovered penicillin and the structure of DNA, fought down fascism and communism, developed cinema and television, built highways and wired the world. Not to mention the peripherals these produced. Initials spread like graffiti: NATO, IBM, UN, NBA, CIA, IMF. And against all odds, we avoided blowing ourselves up.

All this produced some memorable players. Look around. There's Lenin arriving at the Finland Station and Gandhi marching to the sea to make salt. Winston Churchill with his cigar, Louis Armstrong with his horn, Charlie Chaplin with his cane. Einstein is in his study, and the Beatles are on The Ed Sullivan Shoow.

In our special issues we'll pick and profile the most influ­ential players of this century: leaders, politicians and revolu­tionaries, artists and entertainers, business titans, scientists and thinkers, heroes and inspirations. It's not a simple task, but it helps to start by looking at what the great themes of this century have been.

Rarely does a century dawn so clearly and cleanly. In 1900 Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams, ending the Victorian era. Her Majesty died the following January, after a 63-year reign. The Boer War in South Africa was signaling the end of the colonial era. In America, cars were replacing horses, 42% of workers were in farming (today it's 2%), and the average life-span was about 50 (today it's around 75).

The tape recorder was unveiled in 1900 at the Paris Ex­position and Kodak introduced the Brownie camera, and apt symbol of a century in which technology would at first seem magical, then become simple, cheap and personal. Lenin, 30, published his first newspaper calling for revolution in Russia. Churchill, 25, was elected to the House of Commons. And the German physicist Max Planck made one of the discoveries that would shape the century: that atoms emit radiations of energy in bursts he called quanta.

From these seeds was born a century that can be summed up and labeled in a handful of ways.

 

The century of freedom

If you had to pick a two-word summation, it would be: freedom won. It beat back the two totalitarian alternatives that arose to challenge it, fascism and communism. By the 1990s, the ideals developed by centuries of philosophers — individual rights, civil liberties, personal freedoms and dem­ocratic participation in the choice of leaders — finally held sway over more than half the world's population.

The century of capitalism

Democracy can exist without capitalism, and capitalism without democracy, but probably not for very long. Political and economic freedom tend to go together. Early in the century, Theodore Roosevelt laid the foundation for a govern­ment-guided free market, one that encouraged individual initiative while protecting people against cartels and the colder faces of capitalism. His cousin Franklin confronted capitalisms greatest challenge, the Great Depression, by following these principles. Half a world away, Lenin laid the groundwork for a command economy, and his successor, Stalin, showed how brutal it could be. They ended up on the ash heap of history. Although capitalism will continue to face challenges, internally and externally, it is now the economic structure for most societies around the world.

The electronic century

A defining event actually occurred three years before the century began: the discovery of the electron by British physicist J.J.Thomson. Along with Planck's 1900 theory of quantum physics, this discovery led to the first weapon of mass: destruction, which helped hasten the end of the Second Work War and became the defining reality of the cold war. Alar turing harnessed electronics to devise the first digital computers.

The transistor and the microchip have cut the cost of transmitting information by a factor of more than a million.

The global century

In this century, everything became global. Now not only are military issues global, so are economic and even cultural ones. People everywhere are threatened by weapons anywhere, they produce and consume in a single

The mass-market century

Yet another defining event of the century came in 1913, when Henry Ford opened his assembly line. Ordinary people could now afford a Model T. Products were mass-produced and mass-marketed. Television sets and toothpaste, magazines and movies, shows and shoes: they were distributed or broadcast to millions of people. In reaction, a modern­ist mix of anarchy, existential despair and rebellion against conformity motivated art, music, literature, fashion and even behavior for much of the century.

The genocidal century

Then there was the dark side. Amid the glories of the cen­tury lurked some of history's worst horrors: Stalin's collectivi­zation, Hitler's Holocaust, Mao's Cultural Revolution, etc.

We try to personalize the blame, as if it were the fault of just a few madmen, but in fact it was whole societies, includ­ing advanced ones like Germany, that embraced or tolerated madness. What they had in common was that they sought totalitarian solutions rather than freedom. Theologians have to answer the question of why God allows evil. Rationalists have one almost as difficult: Why doesn't progress make civ­ilizations more civilized?

The American century

Some countries base their foreign policy on realism: a cold and careful calculation of strategic interests. America is unique in that it is equally motivated by idealism. Whether it is the fight against fascism or communism, or even interventions like Vietnam, America's mission is to further not only its in­terests but also its values. And that idealist streak is a source of its global influence, even more than its battleships. As became clear when the Iron Curtain collapsed in 1989, America's clout in the world comes not just from its military might but from the power of its values. Which is why it did, indeed, turn out to be an American Century.

So what will the next century be? Let's take that risk, peer into the haze and slap a few labels on the postmillennial period.

In the digital realm, the Next Big Advance will be voice recognition. The rudiments are already here but in primitive form. In a decade microchips will be truly embedded in our lives when we can talk to them. Not only to our computers; we'll also be able to chat with our automobile navigation systems, VCRS, microwaves and any other devices we want to boss around.

Task 1

Identify common technical terms used in the text.

 

Task 2

Use the various parts of the text (index, table of contents, glossary) to locate specific information.

 

Task 3

Find in the text the synonyms to the following:

to watch, to examine, influence, to consider, to think over, to invent, very small, to expose, apt, hasten, amid.

 

Task 4

Where are the facts and opinion or a combination of facts and opinion?

 

Task 5

Render the texts into English.

 

1. Будущее у нас – одно на всех. Ближайшие 20-30 лет мы будем жить в постиндустриальную эру: это может быть меньше касается повседневного быта, но информационные технологии будут активно развиваться в медицине, образовании и т.д. Хотя предсказания в области бытовых приборов и удобств делать очень трудно: ведь 30 лет назад никто не мог предсказать такого распространения персональных компьютеров, мобильных телефонов, которые полностью изменили нашу жизнь. Что касается социально экономической плоскости, за это время Россия сможет выйти на путь развития нормальной демократической страны, просто потому, что иначе она не сможет выжить. Постиндустриальная эпоха опирается на творческий потенциал свободных людей: какие бы то ни было виды тоталитаризма или авторитаризма, если они и сохраняются, неминуемо приводят к отсталости. В России в эти годы будет сокращаться население (возможно к концу этого периода сократится в два раза), поэтому мы будем страной менее населённой, чем остальные, и, стало быть, возможность развития будет теперь связана ни с тем, что «баба нарожает», а с тем, что кого нарожают, должны быть очень образованными и развитыми людьми, без этого мы не сможем выдерживать мировую конкуренцию.

2. Через 30 лет многое изменится, в первую очередь в технике. Если не говорить об электронике, где сложно сделать точный прогноз даже на 5 лет, наглядным показателем является развитие транспортных средств. Уже сейчас стали появляться автомобили, работающие на экологически чистом топливе и, скорее всего, в будущем они будут превалировать. Не знаю, будут ли эти машины на природном газе, водороде или солнечных батареях, но то, что не бензин – скорее всего. По идее должно изменяться и управление. Современные автомобильные компьютеры уже могут самостоятельно парковать машины. Вероятно, появятся системы автоматического управления и на дорогах. Но это лишь с условием качественного дорожного покрытия и, возможно, с установлением в нём вспомогательных систем позиционирования. В целом же внешний облик автомобилей принципиально вряд ли изменится. Те же четыре колеса, кресло водителя и места пассажиров. И даже скорость останется в прежних пределах. Не успеет за это время измениться сильно и авиация. Упор в её развитии будет сделан на экономичность и экологичность. Увеличение пассажировместимости летательных аппаратов, скорее всего, будет определяться фактором развития авиаперевозок на ближайшие десятилетия. Однако мне кажется, широкое распространение получат набольшие бизнес самолёты, обладающие гиперзвуковой скоростью. А в это время будут вестись разработки суборбитальных летательных аппаратов большой вместимости. Многие люди к тридцатым годам этого столетия побывают в космосе. Космический туризм обещает стать очень прибыльным бизнесом. И, скорее всего, совершить хотя бы суборбитальный полёт сможет позволить себе довольно широкий круг людей.

Helpful vocabulary

Post-industrial area (постиндустриальный), inevitably (неминуемо), backwardness (отсталость), prediction (предсказание), to be under way for (выйти на путь), to dominate (превалировать), road surfacing (дорожное покрытие), capacity (вместимость), spreading (распространение), profitable (прибыльный).

 

Text 2

Pre–reading task

What is “virtual reality”?

What different things is VR being used for at the moment?

 

Reading

Choose the most suitable heading below for each numbered paragraph.

1. How “real” can you get? Who invented VR?

2. The problems of simulated flying. The early days of VR.

3. The Japanese VR revolution. Some practical applications.

4. The long-term effects. VR and drug abuse.

5. Enthusiastic response from psychologists. Losing touch with reality?

Hype or Hyper-Reality?

Virtual reality will connect your senses up to a computer - and take you to the realms of dreams. Discover how virtual reality will revolutionize your world.

Looking for a new thrill? Perhaps you'd like to meet Madonna or Harris on Ford; wander the marbled halls of a palace that was destroyed a thousand years ago; go climbing up Olympus Mons on Mars- the Solar System's highest mountain. Virtual reality (VR) promises to make it possible.

(1) It aims to be more fan just like being there. It is claimed that it will be impossible to tell the difference. Indeed, the boundaries between real and virtual are already breaking down, thanks to technological improvements such as touch-sensitive body suits and 3-D surround sound. The hope is that one day we will be able to do 'virtually' the things we cannot do in real life – because in VR we won't be bound by boring restriction like the law of physics.

(2) Current VR technology grew out of developments in the flight-simulator industry. The skills needed to fly a plane are incredibly complicated, and the ability to land at different airports requires careful practice. The dangers of practicing in real aero-planes have been avoided for a long time by building an artificial cockpit with controls linked to a simulation of the real plane. Pilots in the simulator see and feel nothing but the artificial world and have direct control over it.

(3) Today's still quite limited technology is now quietly being used for all kinds of projects-planning telecommunication systems, designing drug molecules, and, in Japan, a scheme has already been successfully developed to use VR in furniture showrooms so customers can plan the layout of new kitchens. The plan is to integrate this with a complete computerized system - so the virtual kitchen designed by the customer goes through an automated process until delivery to the home.

(4) Iain Brown, a psychologist from Glasgow University, is worried that virtual reality will be extremely addictive. He has studied children whose dependence on computer games makes them behave like drag addicts. They spend all their money on arcade games and sometimes turn to crime to pay for their habit.

(5) Some psychologists think computers can be addictive because they are so predictable. Real life is often hard to control, but a computer will always do exactly what you tell it to. For some, to sit in front of a screen is to be secure.

Brown worries that people who spend a lot of time in simplified, virtual worlds might not develop many of the skills they need to deal with the uncertainties of real life. But VR enthusiasts prefer to talk of the exciting possibilities like becoming a musical instrument or a robotic insect on Neptune.

 

Task 1

Predict how each passage will continue:

· By giving details of …

· By giving examples of everyday/industrial use of …

· By describing how … is/are used in …

· By giving the history of …

 

Task 2

1. Identify common technical terms used in the text.

2. Recognize the difference between fact and opinion in the text.

3. Recognize new information. Answer the question: How does this new information change your knowledge of subject?

Task 3

Give the correct translation of Paragraph 3.

 

Task 4

Answer the questions and give your own opinion.

1. Is there danger of young people becoming “addicted” to computer games?

2. Is there a danger that people will become unable to function properly in the real world because they spend too much time in virtually real worlds?

3. What are the most useful fields of virtual reality application?

4. Do you know any centers or laboratories practicing virtual reality (in Russia or abroad)?

5. What kind of equipment is needed to organize such practicing center?

6. Do you think VR will become popular in a big way? Why? Why not?

Task 5

Render the text into English.

 

Подводный компьютер NEMO

Компания Mares выпустила специальные часы-компьютер для дайверов, которые работают в соответствии с новейшими представления о правильности погружения. Они выдают ныряльщику данные о рекомендуемой скорости погружения, а также время необходимой остановки для предотвращения кессонной болезни. Точность измерения глубины ± 10 см, кроме этого Mares могут измерять температуру в пределах от –10С до +50С с точностью 2 градуса. Часы выпускаются в двух корпусах – стальном и титановом.

Helpful vocabulary

Diving (погружение), diver (ныряльщик), (aero)embolism (кессонная болезнь).

Text 3

Pre–reading task

Do you know the origin of the world “robot”?

What is/are the robot’s application sphere(s)?

Reading

After reading the text think about the following.

1. Is the text intended for specialists, students, general readers, experts or others with an interest in science?

2. Is the purpose of the text:

· to interest readers in a new subject

· to present new information

· to persuade people to adopt a particular point of view

· to tell the readers how to do something

· to teach the subject

Real World Robots

 

They are finally among us. They may not look like the getsons’ Rosie, but they are actually doing real jobs alongside humans – in homes, hospitals and on the battlefield.

ASIMO, THE HONDA MOTOR Corp.'s cream-colored, humanoid robot, is a mechanical marvel. It has two legs, red lights for eyes, can climb stairs and wave. But as a true robot—a machine that thinks on its own— Asimo is a big, fat phony. During a recent demonstration in New York City, in a classic "Wizard of Oz" moment, Honda execs were backstage controlling Asimo with a laptop.

Asimo illustrates why frustration plagues observers of the robotics industry. Honda spent tens of millions to build the Asimo prototypes, but it won't say anything more about their long-term potential than that one day such robots will be "a useful benefit to the human race." In other words: tell your great-grandchild to get ready for a robot friend!

But hold on. Over the past few years, robots have infiltrated our ranks, robots that look nothing like the luminescent-eyed androids of science-fiction lore. They can't emulate the human brain's boundless flexibility, but they do take advantage of the latest innovations in computing pow­er, sensors and artificial intelligences, and can do one or two things well. Today robots work in homes, hospitals and in dirty, dan­gerous environments like tunnels under New York City streets. Perhaps most significantly, they populate military bases around the world, where the next generation of unmanned aerial and ground vehicles are currently being battle-tested. In an industry that has risen and collapsed several times since the early '80s, there is at last optimism that the Age of Robots might finally have arrived. "For the first time, lots of ordinary people are actually using robots," says Rodney Brooks, chief of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab.

"Elvis" might very well be the a king of the new age. It's one of 100 HelpMate robotic couriers, made by the San Diego-based Pyxis, for the nation's hospitals. It weighs 600 pounds, looks like a five-foot-tall cabinet on wheels and toils beneath the University of California, San Francisco, hospital, ferrying blood samples and medicine throughout the build­ing. Once directed to a location, Elvis can chug down the hallway, wirelessly beckon the elevator and easily avoid other people and obstacles in its path.

Elvis is among an increasing number of robots being created to meet the needs of the health-care industry. Today there are five workers for every senior citi­zen. By 2020, the ratio will decrease to 3 to 1 (and in Japan, 2 to 1). Robotics firms are trying to stem the coming shortage of caregivers with products like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Wakamaru, due out early next year. It's a three-foot-tall, yellow-faced robot with beady black eyes, designed to serve as a home caretaker for the elder­ly. It can talk, hug and send e-mail to the owner's relatives if something seems wrong. But there will be a whopping $10,000 price tag.

Robots are invading messi­er territory, too. The torpedo-shaped Wisor is due to begin crawling through New York City's leaky steam pipes to weld cracks later this year. Wisor finds, cleans and fixes the holes in the pipes, and has five cameras to help it navigate the danger­ous twists and turns. It's made by the same firm, Hon­eybee Robotics, that's build­ing tools to help the new Mars Rovers – which launch this spring – grind through Martian rock..

The U.S. military is also pushing the robotics envelope in the wake of its success with the remote-controlled Predator surveillance drone in Afghanistan. In its latest budget, the Army said it plans to spend $1.14 billion between 2004 and 2009 researching un­manned vehicles such as Boeing's X-45, a tailless, stealthy plane designed to attack enemy air defenses from 40000 feet in the sky.

 

Task 1

1. The text involves the interaction of observations and hypotheses. Use the information in the text to complete this table:

Observations Hypotheses

1. 1.

2. 2.

3… 3…

2. Use your answers to complete the following statements:

The fact that … (observation) suggests that … (hypotheses)

It is reasonable to suppose that … (hypotheses)

This is born out by the fact that … (hypotheses)

Task 2

1. Which of the information can be used to show:

· reasons why robots are invading messier territory

· evidence for the effectiveness of robots as home caretaker

2. Say how robots are characterized (give adjectives, verbs, word combinations).

3. Do you like the "appearance" of robots given in the text? Give pros and cons.

4. Why do scientists prefer to send robots to space?

5. What is/are the difference(s) between a robot and a man?

6. Say whether you would like to have a robot at home as a helper.

 

Task 3

Render the text into English.