Which qualities best describe people who want to succeed in work or study?

dependable ambitious critical

truthful accurate responsible

independent decisive quite

patient broad-minded reserved

indifferent enthusiastic conscientious

generous reliable diligent

frank persistent straightforward

strong-willed careful/careless quick-minded

intro/extroverted self-centered punctual

UNIT 8. OUTSTANDING PEOPLE IN THE field of

ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

Genius is 1 percent inspiration

and 99 percent perspiration.

TEXT 1. KARL BENZ (1844 – 1929) AND HIS INVENTIONS

Рис. 20

 

 

 

BEFORE YOU READ

Discuss the following with your partner:

 

1. Do people only work for money?

2. Are some people better suited to some jobs than others?

 

VOCABULARY

 

1. Find the appropriate equivalent:

 

1. internal-combustion engine	1. литейная мастерская, цех
2. fiancée	2. двигатель внутреннего сгорания
3. foundry	3. двухтактный двигатель
4. two-stroke engine	4. невеста
5. high performance engine	5. поставщик
6. to impound	6. оказываться
7. supplier	7. высокоэффективные двигатели
8. momentum	8. скорость движения, импульс, толчок
9. to turn out	9. конфисковать
10. to buy out	10. приданое
11. dowry	11. доход, выручка
12. revenue	12. выкупить
13. spark plug	13. переключение передач
14. gear shift	14. появляться, возникать
15. to arise (arose, arisen)	15. свеча зажигания
16. to incorporate	16. объявлять, называть
17. to withdraw (withdrew, withdrawn)	17. придумывать, организовывать (что-л.) экспромтом
18. to designate	18. уходить, удаляться
19. to maintain	19. исправлять
20. to rectify	20. сохранять, поддерживать
21. to improvise	21. регистрировать, оформлять
22. to bring to smth.	22. удовлетворять свои желания
23. to indulge	23. приводить к чему-л.
24. horseless carriage	24. батарейное зажигание
25. to feature	25. безлошадный экипаж
26. coil ignition	26. испаряющий; парообразующий
27. evaporative	27. содержать в себе как отличительный, особенный элемент
28. roller chain	28. объединять
29. gear	29. втулочно-роликовая цепь
30. to merge	30. привод

 

 

2. Match the words and their definitions:

 

1.internal-combustion engine	1. a mechanism for connecting and disconnecting an engine and the transmission system in a vehicle, or the working parts of any machine
2.clutch	2.an engine which generates motive power by the burning of petrol, oil, or other fuel with air inside the engine, the hot gases produced being used to drive a piston or do other work as they expand
3. modest	3. a government authority or license conferring a right or title for a set period, especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention
4.patent	4. unassuming in the estimation of one’s abilities or achievements:
5. to merge	5. remove or take away (something) from a particular place or position
6. to withdrew	6. a toothed wheel that works with others to alter the relation between the speed of a driving mechanism (such as the engine of a vehicle) and the speed of the driven parts (the wheels)
7. ignition	7. the intervening time
8. gear	8. combine or cause to combine to form a single entity
9.momentum	9. the process of starting the combustion of fuel in the cylinders of an internal combustion engine
10. interim	10. the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity

 

3. Complete the sentence with the words and phrases below:

1. two-stroke engine; 2. revenues; 3. supplier; 4. Merged; 5. internal-combustion engine; 6. vehicle; 7. indulge; 8. two roller chains; 9. patents;10. bought out.

 

1. This company is big a … of software.

2. Benz created his … in 19^th century.

3. The … of this enterprise are rather high.

4. The first practical automobile was powered by an ….

5. These two companies finally … as the large holding.

6. The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to … in designing a horseless carriage.

7. Benz began to sell the … in 1888.

8. The famous scientist began to work on new ….

9. Our chief … his partner’s share in the company.

10. Power was transmitted by means of … to the rear axle.

Reading

 

Karl Friedrich Benz, German mechanical engineer, was born in 1844 in Baden Muehlburg (now part of Karlsruhe). He was the son of an engine driver. Benz attended the Karlsruhe grammar school and later the Karlsruhe Polytechnic University. In 1871 he founded his first company with partner August Ritter, the Iron Foundry and Machine Shop, a supplier of building materials.

The enterprise’s first year went very badly. Ritter turned out to be
unreliable. The business’s tools were impounded. The difficulty was
overcome when Benz’s fiancée, Bertha Ringer, bought out Ritter’s share in the company using her dowry. In 1872 Karl Benz and Bertha Ringer married, later having five children.

Despite such business misfortunes, Karl Benz led in the development of new engines in the early factory he and his wife owned. To get more revenues, in 1878 he began to work on new patents. First, he concentrated all his efforts on creating a reliable gas two-stroke engine. Benz finished his two-stroke engine on December 31, 1878, New Year’s Eve, and was granted a patent for it in 1879.

Karl Benz showed his real genius, however, through his successive
inventions registered while designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine. Benz soon patented the speed regulation system; the ignition using white power sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator.

Problems arose again when the banks at Mannheim demanded that Bertha and Karl Benz’s enterprise be incorporated due to the high production costs it maintained. The Benz’s were forced to improvise an association with photographer Emil Bühler and his brother (a cheese merchant), in order to get additional bank support. The company became the joint-stock company Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim in 1882.

After all the necessary incorporation agreements, Benz was unhappy because he was left with merely five percent of the shares and a modest position as director. Worst of all, his ideas weren’t considered when designing new products, so he withdrew from that corporation just one year later, in 1883.

Benz’s lifelong hobby brought him to a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Esslinger. In 1883 the three founded a new company producing industrial machines: Benz&Cie. Quickly growing to twenty-five employees, it soon began to produce static gas engines as well.

The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing a horseless carriage. He used similar techno-logy when he created an automobile. It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages’ wooden ones) with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to the rear axle. Karl Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it the Benz Patent Motorwagen. It was the world’s first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine.

It was the first automobile entirely designed as such to generate its own power. Benz began to sell the vehicle (advertising it as the Benz
Patent Motorwagen) in the late summer of 1888, making it the first commercially available automobile in history.

Early customers could only buy gasoline from pharmacies that sold small quantities as a cleaning product. The early-1888 version of the
Motorwagen had no gears and could not climb hills unaided. This limitation was rectified after Bertha Benz made her famous trip driving one of the vehicles a great distance and suggested to her husband the addition of another gear.

The great demand for stationary, static internal combustion engines forced Karl Benz to enlarge the factory in Mannheim, and in 1886 a new building was added. Benz & Cie. had grown in the interim from 50 employees in 1889 to 430 in 1899. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899.

In 1895 Benz designed the first truck in history, with some of the units later modified by the first motor bus company: the Netphener, becoming the first motor buses in history.

In 1896 Karl Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first flat engine. It had horizontally opposed pistons, a design in which the corresponding pistons reach top dead centre simultaneously, thus balancing each other with respect to momentum.

This design is still used by Porsche, Subaru, and some high performance engines of racing cars.

In 1903 sales of Benz & Cie. reached 3480 automobiles, and the company remained the leading manufacturer of automobiles. In 1926 Benz & Cie and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company and gave the model of the DMG automobiles the name Mercedes Benz. The name of that DMG model had been selected after ten-year-old Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek who had set the specifications for the new model. Between 1900 and 1909 he was a member of DMG’s board of management and long before the merger Jellinek had resigned.

Karl Benz was a member of the new Daimler Benz board of management for the remainder of his life. A new logo was created, consisting of a three pointed star (representing Daimler’s motto: engines for land, air, and water) surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo, and the brand of all of its automobiles was labeled Mercedes Benz. Model names would follow the brand name in the same convention as today.

In 1929 Karl Benz died at home in Ladenburg at the age of eighty-four. The Benz’s house has been designated as historic and is used as a scientific meeting facility for a nonprofit foundation, the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation, that honors both Bertha and Karl Benz for their roles in the history of automobiles.

Comprehension check:

1. Answer the questions:

1. What was Karl Benz’s profession?

2. Who was his father?

3. Whom did Karl Benz found his first company with?

4. Did the enterprise go first year very well?

5. How were the difficulties in business overcome?

6. When did Karl Benz finish his two-stroke engine?

7. He was granted a patent for it, wasn’t he?

8. What other inventions did Karl Benz patent?

9. Why were spouses Benz forced to incorporate the joint-stock company Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim?

10. When was a new company producing industrial machines founded?

11. Who were Benz’s partners in this company?

12. What type of automobile did Karl Benz create in 1885?

13. What was the name of his creation?

14. Benz began to sell this vehicle in the late summer of 1888, didn’t he?

15. When did Karl Benz design the first truck in history?

16. What kind of engine was Benz granted a patent in 1896 for?

18. Why were the automobiles of the Daimler-Benz company named Mercedes Benz?

19. What is the logo of Mercedes Benz automobiles?

20. What does it mean?

 

2. Say what is true and what is false. Correct the false statements:

1. Karl Benz was a British electrical engineer.

2. He was the son of an engineer.

3. Benz attended the Karlsruhe grammar school and later the Karlsruhe Polytechnic University.

4. In 1881 Karl Benz founded his first company with partner Emil Jellinek.

5. His wife was a designer by profession.

7. 6. The spouses have five daughters.

8. Karl Benz created a gas four-stroke engine on December 31, 1878.

9. Benz soon patented the speed regulation system, the ignition using white power sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator.

10. The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to continue designing of an electric car.

11. The early-1888 version of the Motorwagen had no gears.

12. It was Karl Benz who made his famous trip driving one of the vehicles a great distance.

13. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the most expensive automobile company in the world.

14. In 1926 Benz & Cie and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company and gave the model of the DMG automobiles the name Mercedes Benz.

13. The name of DMG model was given in honour of the Benz’s daughter.

14. A new logo of Mercedes Benz was created by Emil Jellinek.

15. The Benz’s house is used as an automobile museum.

Grammar in Focus

 

1.Compare the translation of the sentences. Pay attention to the different forms of the Passive Voice:

1. The experiment was completed a month ago.

2. The chief’s plans had been changed by the beginning of the negotiations.

3. The explanation of this fact hasn’t been given yet.

4. New theories will have been developed by our team before the project starts.

5. The documents are being signed now.

6. New theories are developed very often.

7. In 1896 Karl Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first flat engine.

8. The text will be translated tomorrow.

9. Many new books had been published by this scientist before he got the Noble Prize.

10. This theory has been just developed.

2. Complete the sentence with correct option paying attention to Active and Passive Voice:

 

1. A new house_____ by the workers by 2015.

a) built b) was built c) has been built d) had been built

2. In 1895 Benz ____the first truck in history.

a) designed b) was designed c) has been designed d) design

3. The workers _____the new equipment now.

a) have installed b) install c) are installing d) will install

4.New theories ______by our team.

a) have already developed b) had been already developed c) were already developed d) have been already developed

5. Who _____ this project?

a) just completed b) has just completed c) did just complete d) had just completed

6. The engineer ______all computations before the experiment starts.

a) will have done b) will do c) have done d) had done

7. The experiment_____ by the scientific team when our colleagues collect all necessary data.

a) will have completed b) will have been completed c) have been completed d) will complete

8. In 1896 Karl Benz ____a patent for his design of the first flat engine.

a) has been granted b) had granted c) has been granted d) was granted

9. The student _____this text the whole lesson tomorrow.

a) will translate b) will be translating c) is translating d) has translated

10. The head engineer _____these documents by the end of the working day yesterday

a) hadn’t signed b) didn’t sign c) hasn’t signed d) wasn’t signed

 

3. Analyze the use of modal verbs and their equivalents. Translate the following sentences:

1. Who can help me to translate this article?

2. Nobody could solve this task.

3. He ought to do this work at once.

4. He is to go home at 9 pm.

5. The students were permitted to do this test again.

6. I asked him to help me, but he wouldn’t listen to me.

7. They should visit her, she is in the hospital.

8. Last semester we would often go to the swimming pool.

9. He will be able to do this project next week.

10. Karl Benz had to enlarge the factory.

11. Your friend should give up smoking.

12. May I leave for a while? – Yes, you may.

13. She should be more attentive at the lessons.

14. Must I attend this meeting? - No, you needn't.

15. You needn’t download this program.

4. Substitute the modal verbs for the possible equivalents:

 

1. The special commission of engineers must test a new device.

2. Can you install the new equipment in time?

3. The students may attend the scientific conference.

4. We can’t prepare this report in time.

5. You may take my laptop till tomorrow.

6. She must go to Moscow for several days.

7. Our meeting must take place next week.

8. You may have another cup of tee.

9. When the head engineer came to London he could communicate with British colleagues without interpreter.

10. Must he start the experiment?

5. Insert the necessary modal verb or its equivalent:

 

1. I... not go to the cinema with them yesterday, I... to work on my term paper.

2. My friend lives not far from the university and... go by foot.

3. All of us... be in time for classes.

4.... you... to work hard to do well in special subjects?

5. One … know a foreign language.

6. My friend … to make a report at the conference at 10 a.m.

7. Nobody … answer my question.

8. The scientist … … to carry on this experiment in the university laboratory.

9. … you … to start this course at once?

10. This is the most necessary information you … to know.

Speaking Workshop

1. Answer the following questions:

 

1. Are the cars-model of Mercedes Benz Company popular nowadays?

2. Are they reliable?

3. Do you like these models? Why?

4. Would you like to have a car of Mercedes Benz Company?

5. Would you like to get a job as an engineer at the Mercedes Benz Company?

2. Speak about Karl Benz using his profile:

 

Born: 1844, Baden Muehlburg, Germany.

Died: 1929, Ladenburg.

Nationality: German.

Education: Karlsruhe grammar school, Karlsruhe Polytechnic University.

First company: with partner August Ritter, the Iron Foundry and
Machine Shop, a supplier of building materials.

Spouse – Bertha Ringer, married in 1872.

Companies he worked for: the Iron Foundry and Machine Shop, Gasmotoren Fabrik, Benz & Cie, Benz Patent Motorwagen, Daimler-Benz Company.

Mercedes Benz – after ten-year-old Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek.

A logo of the automobiles Mercedes Benz: a three pointed star surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo.

Inventions: two-stroke engine (patent in 1879), the speed regulation system, the ignition using white power sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator (patent),
a first automobile featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones)
with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with
a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator, static gas engines, horseless carriage, first truck in history, first flat engine (patent).

3. Use the following phrases and word combinations to speak about Karl Benz and his inventions:

 

1. As I understood from the text...

2. According to the text...

3. According to the author...

4. As it is described in the text...

5. As it is said in the text...

6. If I am not mistaken …

7. According to the figures (data, information) from the text...

8. As for me I learnt that Karl Benz …

4*. Comment on the following statements:

 

1. A Jack of all trades is master of none.

2. Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration

3. A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

5.*Topics for presentations. Pay attention to the tips given in the Appendix I.

1. Outstanding people in others fields of engineering.

2. The most important inventions that we use nowadays.

3. The most important inventions of the 20^th century.

4. The inventions bearing the names of their inventors.

 

SUPPLEMENTARY TASKS