Weightless and heavenly happy

 

One afternoon in the summer of 1989 a 27-year-old technologist/technique (1) Helen Sharman was listening to the radio. She heard an unusual vacancy/vacation (2) being advertised “Astronaut wanted. No previous/preceding (3) experience necessary”. Sharman was one of the 13,000 applicants/applicators (4) who had to take tough psychological and physical test to take part in the joint/joined (5) Russian-British scientific program Juno. To her surprise, her application/appliance (6) was successful and six months later she found herself at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut center.

One of the most interesting parts/particles (7) of her preparation was a set of tests which simulated/stimulated (8) weightlessness. The nearest opportunity/probability (9) to get to these conditions is in a plane flying in enormous loops. They used a huge freight aircraft and each experiment/experience (10) lasted only 23 seconds, but once she was aboard the space shuttle, Sharman found it easy to adapt/adopt (11) to weightlessness, despite a little initial/initiative (12) discomfort.

According to Sharman, living in space was not as frightening /

frightened (13) as it sounds. Curiously, the onboard lavatory was a piece of environmentally correct technique/technology (14), with an amazing proportion of the waste recycled.

In space she performed/produced (15) experiments with various materials to be possibly used for new drugs and electronics. At present, she works

part-time/half-time (16) as a consultant for a company making satellites. The rest of her time she spends trying to persuade/pursue (17) schoolchildren to take up a career in science and technology.

 

 

6. Образуйте соответствующее однокоренное слово.

APOLLO 13

True stories are often the best, and the story of Apollo 13 is no except (1). The story of the

luck (2) mission was made into a successful feature film. It is a tale of the mission that went horrible (3) wrong after just two days in space.

The crew had just finished a TV cast (4) when the pilot pressed a button for a routine exercise. There was a loud

explode (5) and the spaceship went out of control. For the next six hours the crew despair (6) tried to identity (7) what had gone wrong. They had to work fast because they knew if they ran out of oxygen and electrical (8), they would not stand any chance of survive (9). They also needed water, not even for themselves, but special (10) to cool the spaceship electron (11) systems.

With the help of the ground-based engineers from NASA, they managedto resume control over the ship and safe (12) guided it back to earth. When the parachutes final (13) brought the module back, nobody could believe that they had really done it. It was a tale of credit (14) imagination, intelligence and brave (15) – absolutely perfect for a film.

 

 

7. Заполните пропуски подходящими по смыслу словами из предложенного списка.

MOON WALK

	alone attention captured circling collective eternity fault historic link slipped surface uttered witnessed

On July 20 1969, the (1) ___ imagination of the planet was (2) ___ by the images of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon. Yet, there is very little (3) ___ paid to the third astronaut who missed this (4) ___ moment of man setting foot on the moon. The astronaut in question Michael Collins left behind in the spaceship (5) ___ above them waited for what must have seemed an (6) ___ for the safe return of his comrades. Collis was (7) ___ in the Columbia spacecraft for 22 hours. Actually he did not even get to hear the mostfamous words (8) ___ in the 20th century – “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind”. At that point the spaceship “ Columbia ” (9) ___ behind the far side of the moon and lost the moon-earth-moon (10) ___. Neither had he (11) ___ the moment of when Armstrong and Aldrin planted the American flag on the moon (12) ___ as there was a technical (13) ___ that kept him cut off.

 

 

8. Образуйте соответствующее однокоренное слово.

IN AND OUT OF SPACE

Armstrong took his destine (1) in his hand and retreated volunteer (2) from the glare of celebrate (3) to a remote home in rural Ohio. Aldrin struggled with maniac depress (4) before finding a new role of a one-man think-tank, designing everything from new launch vehicles to scene (5) for returning to the Moon.

Rusty Scheweickart, known to his patriot (6) as “the hippy astronaut” brought a collection of quote (7) of this favorite authors secret (8) into space, attaching them to the side (9) of his spacesuit. He also experienced something that no other astronaut, before or after him, has: due to a technology (10) hitch that occurred just as he stepped side (11) the craft, he had to wait for 5 minutes while it was corrected. Instead of working at his tasks quickly and intense (12), as he had been trained to, he suddenlygot an expect (13) opportunity to take in what he was doing. He held on to the rail of “Apollo 9” and for 5 long minutes glided through the vast (14) and silence of space. It was a life-changing moment, he has lived in its shadow ever since.

 

 

9. Образуйте соответствующее однокоренное слово.

SPACE TOURIST

(newspaper report)

 

A Russian spacecraft crew docked flaw (1) and ahead of schedule at the nation (2) space station. The docking was conducted automate (3); in the past, technology (4) problems have forced capsule pilots to dock manual (5), a tense procedure that risks damage to the station.

The spaceship delivered an American space tourist and a new two-man Russian-American space crew. The passenger is a US million (6) scientist Gregory Olsen. His return to earth is scheduled on October 11 on another Soyuz craft.

At the station at least two spacewalks are scheduled during the crew’s six-month mission as well as number (7) scientific experiments, including medicine (8) checks and tests on various metals and build (9) materials.

Since the 2003 Columbia disaster grounded the US shuttle fleet, the U.S. total (10) depended on Russian Soyuz and Progress craft to ferry its astronauts and supplies to the orbit (11) space station. Discovery visited the station in July, but the problems with insulate (12) on its external fuel tank cast doubt on when the shuttle would fly again.

The cash-strapped Russian Space Agency has turned to space tour (13) to generate money. Olsen is the third non-astronaut to visit the orbiting station, report (14) paying $ 20 million. Olsen has said he preferred the term ‘space flight participate (15) ’ to ‘space tourist’.

 

 

10. Заполните пропуски подходящими по смыслу словами из предложенного списка.

MOON COLONY

shelters explore determined attempts survival speculating permanent maintain steps conquering serve expand manufacturing extreme require

 

Man has always been dreaming of (1) ___ the moon. Now, when the first (2) ___ turned out to be successful, there comes a question of what will have to take place before people start living on the moon. Many scientists are (3) ___ about life on the lunar surface. When the moon will be suitable for living is still not (4) ___. But experts believe that colonization will take place in three (5) ___. One of the first things to be done is to plan to build temporary (6) ___ for the first explorers. Secondly, there will be a need for housing to provide living space for more (7) ___ type settlements. Finally, colonies that are self-sustaining both ecologically and economically will have to be built.

Since (8) ___ is the principal problem for living on the moon, early settlers will have to build shelters to (9) ___ an atmosphere like the earth’s. They will have to produce food and oxygen and find water. Also, they will have to (10) ___ the possibilities for commercial development and continue scientific investigation. Some of the types of (11) ___ that could possibly be done on the moon are those that (12) ___ vacuum, (13) ___ cold, and sterility.

Different scientific groups are interested in colonization of the moon in order to (14) ___ their knowledge. They feel that some day the moon can (15) ___ as a base for further space exploration of other planets.

 

 

11. Выберите подходящее слово из предложенных двух вариантов.

SUSTAINING LIFE IN SPACE

 

Everything we are and everything we have ever touched – seawater, sunflowers, snowflakes – is made of atoms that once were drift/adrift (1) among the stars. These atoms are found on adjacent/neighboring (2) planets as well, so in principle it should be possible to rearrange/reform (3) them in such a way that Mars, say, could be given a breathable/breathtaking (4) atmosphere and become a family/familiar (5) place with thunderclouds and cornfields.

But the formable/formidable (6) technological issues provoked/invoked (7) by terraforming, as this project is called, are matched by the ethical concerns it rises/raises (8). If we take care of our own planet, we might in good faith endeavor/encounter (9) to seed barren planets with earthly life. If, instead, we reform/resort (10) to terraforming as a means of escaping ecological disaster at home, that bad faith effort/afford (11) will almost certainly be doomed. Spaceflight cannot solve/resolve (12) the population problem – there will never be enough spaceships for that – and in any event/occasion (13) there’s little pointin colonizing another world just to muck it up. The question, badly put, is whether our species is good enough to deserve/reserve (14) a new world.

 

 

12. Выберите подходящее слово из предложенных трех вариантов.

 

INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL

 

Interstellar travel is (1) ___ on the pages of science fiction tales, but most of the scientists and engineers who have studied the (2) ___ are pessimistic about the (3) ___ of flying to the stars. The cost of propellant, they note, might well (4) ___ the total current energy output of the industrialized world. A starship at a high speed would have to (5) ___ or evade every tiny interstellar dust (6) ___, as in space it would be comparable to a cannon ball. These and many other high hurdles lie between here and a real-world (7) ___ of Star Trek.

Still, one wonders. A (8) ___ invitation is contained in the special theory of relativity, which shows that the (9) ___ of time aboard a starship moving at nearly the velocity of light would be so much slower than here on Earth that astronauts could travel (10) ___ distances in (11) ___ periods. If their ship could maintain a (12) ___ acceleration that reproduced the force of Earth’s (13) ___, they could sail all the way to the Andromeda galaxy in less than thirty years of on-board time. But they could never return. By the time they (14) ___ Andromeda, two million years would have (15) ___ back home.

 

	A routine	B route	C rumour
	A item	B issue	C agenda
	A probe	B perspective	C prospect
	A proceed	B exceed	C precede
	A deflect	B deviate	C reflect
	A grind	B grate	C grain
	A implementation	B completion	C realization
	A hunting	B haunting	C humble
	A pasture	B patch	C passage
	A vast	B expand	C expanse
	A controllable	B measurable	C manageable
	A regular	B smooth	C steady
	A aggravation	B gravity	C grave
	A achieved	B arrived	C reached
	A expired	B terminated	C exhausted

 

 

 

 

JOKES

 

 

· The American space program made medical history. It was the first time a capsule took a man.

 

· This morning I turned on the radio and got some amazing news. The newscaster said, “We have some good and some bad news for the people of the world. The bad news is that we have been invaded by thousands of Martians. The good news is that they eat politicians and pee petrol”.

 

· It is always that way – whenever you want to get somewhere fast, it seems as if the universe is rapidly expanding.

 

СПИСОК ИСПОЛЬЗОВАННОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ

1. Phadon Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Oxford, 1978.

2. The Book of What? A Thesaurus of Things Everyday and Esoteric. London, 2004.

3. The Book of Where? A Gazetteer of Places Real and Imaginary. London, 2004.

4. The Penguin Dictionary of Archeology. London, 1982.

5. The Hutchinson Factfinder. Webster New World Vocabulary, 1999.

6. The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary. New York, 1973.

7. The Penguin Dictionary of Jokes. London, 2003.

8. Great Architecture of the World. London, 1991.

9. T. Ferris. The Universe and Eye, Chronicle Books. San Francisco, 1993.

10. John Fardon et al. The Great Scientists. Arcturus Publishing, 2005.

11. The Dictionary of Inventors and Inventions. Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1995.

12. Virginia Evans, Lynda Edwards. Upstream (advanced). Express publishing, 2003.

13. Virginia Evans, Lynda Edwards. Upstream (proficiency). Express publishing, 2003.

14. N. D. Lay. Developing Reading Skills for Science and Technology. Macmillan, 1988.

15. Sarah Cunningham, Peter Moor. Cutting Edge (upper intermediate). Longman, 1999.

16. Luke Prodromou. First Certificate Star. Macmillan Heinemann, 1998.

17. Amos Paran. First Certificate Gold. Longman, 1996.

18. W.S. Fowler Fowler. First Certificate Use of English. Longman, 1997.

19. Malcolm Mann, Steve Taylore-Knowles. Use of English. Macmillan, 2003.

20. Philip Kerr, Luke Prodromou. Rising Star. Macmillan Heinemann, 2000.

21. Sally Burgess. First Certificate Exam Maximiser. Longman, 2000.

22. David McKeegan. First Certificate Passkey Grammar Practice. Macmillan Heinemann, 1998.

23. Virginia Evans, Jenny Dooley. Enterprise-4. Express Publishing, 1997.

24. M. Kathleen Mahnke, Carolyn B. Duffy. The Heinemann ELT TOEFL Preparation Course. Macmillan Heinemann, 1998.

25. Journals: Scientific American, National Geographic, American Scientist (2003-2006).

 

Амахина Светлана Анатольевна

Беляева Ольга Ивановна

 

USEFUL WORDS AND FACTS

 

ТЕКСТОВЫЕ ЗАДАНИЯ ПО СЛОВООБРАЗОВАНИЮ И СЛОВОУПОТРЕБЛЕНИЮ

Часть I

Учебное пособие

 

Технический редактор: Амахин Дмитрий Валерьевич

 

Художник: Заморев Иван Сергеевич

 

Лицензия ЛР № 020593 от 07.08.97

 

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