Методические указания разработаны старшим преподавателем кафедры английского языка естественных факультетов Резниковой С. Ю., преподавателем Гафаровой Ю. Ю. Рецензент (стр. 4 из 7)
Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1899, to experiment with high voltage, high frequency electricity and other phenomena. When the Colorado Springs Tesla Coil magnifying transmitter2 was energized, it created sparks 30 feet long. From the outside antenna, these sparks could be seen from a distance of ten miles. From this laboratory, Tesla generated and sent out wireless waves which mediated energy, without wires for miles. In Colorado Springs, where he stayed from May 1899 until 1900, Tesla made what he regarded as his most important discovery - terrestrial stationary waves. By this discovery he proved that the Earth could be used as a conductor and would be as responsive as a tuning fork to electrical vibrations of a certain frequency. He also lighted 200 lamps without wires from a distance of 25 miles and created man-made lightning. At one time he was certain he had received signals from another planet in his Colorado laboratory. (8)
The old Waldorf Astoria was the residence of Nikola Tesla for many years. He lived there when he was at the height of financial and intellectual power. Tesla organized elaborate dinners, inviting famous people who later witnessed spectacular
electrical experiments in his laboratory. (9)
Tesla lectured to the scientific community on his inventions in America and before scientific organizations in both England and France in 1892. Tesla’s lectures and writings of the 1890s aroused wide admiration among contemporaries, popularized his inventions and inspired untold numbers of younger men to enter the new field of radio and electrical science. (10)
Nikola Tesla was one of the most celebrated personalities in the American press,
in this century. Tesla was the genius who ushered in the age of electrical power. Tesla
had a vivid imagination and an intuitive way of developing scientific hypotheses. He used his imagination to prove and apply his hypotheses. Here is how he explained his creative process: “Before I put a sketch on paper, the whole idea is worked out mentally. In my mind I change the construction, make improvements, and even operate the device. Without ever having drawn a sketch I can give the measurements of all parts to workmen, and when completed all these parts will fit, just as certainly as though I had made the actual drawings. It is immaterial to me whether I run my machine in my mind or test it in my shop. The inventions I have conceived in this way have always worked. In thirty years there has not been a single exception. My first electric motor, the vacuum wireless light, my turbine engine and many other devices have all been developed in exactly this way.” (11)
Tesla possessed a striking physical appearance over six feet tall with deep set eyes and a stately manner. To the contemporaries he was a man endowed with remarkable physical and mental freshness, ready to surprise the world with more and more inventions as he grew older. (12)
In 1915, a New York Times article announced that Tesla and Edison were to share the Nobel Prize for physics. Oddly, neither man received the prize, the reason being unclear. It was rumored that Tesla refused the prize because he would not share with Edison, and because Marconi had already received his. (13)
Tesla was clearly ahead of his time, a problem which would haunt his entire career. His inventions and patents for remote operation of robotic devices, for instance, were stunningly advanced but largely ignored at the time. The military inexplicably failed to understand the usefulness of remote-controlled attack vehicles and torpedoes until after Tesla's patents had expired. Even then, they began researching it over from scratch, rather than working with his established techniques. The end result was military technology nearly identical to Tesla's inventions, but developed literally decades later and at many times the cost. Tesla never made a dime off of the discovery of the radio-controlled automation that today is the basis of a multibillion dollar aerospace specialty. (14)
(Adapted from the Internet sites)
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-1 самолет с вертикальным взлетом
-2 передатчик усиления трансформатора Тесла в Колорадо Спрингз
3 What do these figures refer to?
| 700 | 1884 | 200 | 1943 | 6 | 1856 | 1915 | 25 | 59 |
4 Look back in the text and make a list of Tesla’s inventions and developments.
5 Read the text again and answer the following questions:
a) What sciences attracted Tesla?
b) Where did he work?
c) What was his childhood ambition? Did he achieve it?
d) How did he come across the idea of induction motor?
e) What device did Tesla conceive and design first?
f) Did European manufacturers get interested in it?
g) What advantages did alternating current have over/versus direct current?
h) What was the reason for the war of currents?
i) What invention did Tesla consider his most important one?
j) What did he look like?
k) How did Tesla develop his ideas?
l) Which device by Tesla is still widely used in electronic equipment?
m) Were Tesla’s inventions and ideas studied after his death?
n) Do you think Nikola Tesla was a successful inventor?
Vocabulary
1 Look at the following words from the text. What do they have in common?
unclear discover invalid immaterial wireless
Find the other words in the text that have negative affixes.
Using the affixes in- (il-, ir-, im-), un-, dis-, mis-, -less make the opposites to
the following words:
| connect | responsible | literate | use | finite |
| logical | advantage | care | take | finished |
| possible | complete | productive | accuracy | understood |
| fortunate | patient | like | publish | real |
2 Make a list of the electrical terms from the text. Use the dictionary to check their pronunciation. Translate them into Russian. Which of them are international words?
3 Look back in the text and find words that have a similar meaning to:
a) interested in (1)
b) was going to (1)
c) worked (2)
d) imagined (2)
e) making better (3)
f) resulted in (3)
g) working on (4)
h) predicted (6)
i) tried (7)
j) flash (8)
k) devised (11)
l) run out (14)
4 Complete the sentences with prepositions if necessary.
a) While studying at the University of Prague, Tesla was fascinated … electricity.
b) In the USA he joined … T. Edison’s team in New Jersey.
c) Nikola Tesla worked … Edison until Tesla conceived polyphase alternating current system.
d) How many inventions did Tesla hold patens …?
e) Tesla experimented a lot … radio waves, X-rays and terrestrial stationary waves.
f) Tesla had many reasons to refuse … the Nobel Prize.
5 Look back in the text and explain the phrases and sentences in italics in your own words.
a) Tesla’s lectures … inspired untold numbers of younger men to enter the new field
of radio and electrical science.
b) Tesla was clearly ahead of his time, a problem which would haunt his entire career.
c) … began researching it over from scratch, …
d) Tesla never made a dime off of the discovery … .
6 Give English equivalents to the following words and word combinations.
специализироваться в к-л области науки; представить устройство; разрабатывать динамо-машину; неэффективность ламп; серьезный недостаток; сводить потери мощности к минимуму; идеальное сотрудничество; постигать принцип; предвидеть межпланетную связь; объявить об открытии; заявлять о первенстве; наземные стационарные волны; искусственная молния; мысленно разрабатывать; усовершенствовать устройство; делать набросок; задумать изобретение; отказаться от приза
Grammar
1 Look at the chart. Make sentences about Nikola Tesla according to the model. Translate the sentences.
Model: With a stick, Tesla drew a diagramme of a rotating magnetic field in the
sand. He explained to his friend the principle of the induction motor. - With a stick, Tesla drew a diagramme of a rotating magnetic field in the sand, explaining to his friend the principle of the induction motor. – Тесла палкой начертил на песке диаграмму магнитного поля, объяснив (объясняя) другу принцип электродвигателя.
a) He published schematic diagrams of the radio transmitter. Tesla described all the basic elements of the radio transmitter which was later used by Marconi.
b) During the World War II, Claude Shannon was interested in the possibility of building a machine that could imitate the human brain. He worked with Alan
Turing for a few months.
c) In 1909 Marconi received the Nobel Prize for physics. He shared it with Ferdinand Braun.
d) Wiener changed the way everyone thought about computer technology. He influenced several later developers of the Internet.
e) Edison had very little formal education as a child. He attended school only for three months.
f) Tesla organized elaborate dinners. Tesla invited to dinners famous people who later witnessed spectacular electrical experiments in his laboratory.
2 Link the pairs of sentences using after/before … ing.
Model: First Tesla saw a demonstration of the “Gramme dynamo”. Then he
visualized a rotating magnetic field. – After seeing a demonstration of the “Gramme dynamo”, Tesla visualized a rotating magnetic field.
a) First Tesla worked out the whole idea of any device mentally. Then he put the sketch of the device on paper.
b) First Babbage completed a small difference engine. Then he announced his
invention to the Royal Astronomical Society.
c) First Shannon graduated from MIT in 1940. Then he spent a year as a National Research Fellow at Princeton University.
d) In 1931 Marconi began research into the propagation characteristics of still shorter waves. Then he demonstrated his microwave radio beacon for ship navigation.
e) Norbert Wiener was awarded a BA in mathematics in 1909 at the age of 14. Then
he began graduate studies in zoology at Harvard. And in 1910 he transferred to Cornell to study philosophy.
f) First Edison worked in a number of cities throughout the United States. Then he arrived in Boston in 1868 where he began to change his profession from
telegrapher to inventor.
3 Translate paragraph 7 into Russian.
Speaking
1 Sum up the text using the following key-points:
a) Edison’s family background
b) His main interests
c) Areas of science and research activity
d) Major achievements
e) Personality
2 Comment on the statements:
f) Tesla was the genius who ushered in the age of electrical power.
g) Tesla had a vivid imagination.
h) Nikola Tesla left his mark in science, engineering and industry.
3 Read the following quotes by Tesla. Do you think he was right? Provide real life examples.
a) “Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.”
b) “Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.” Nikola Tesla, Modern Mechanics and Inventions, July, 1934
c) “Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.” Nikola Tesla
4 Work in groups of 3-4. Make a list of things you would like to know about Nikola
Tesla. Choose one, find information and make a poster presentation. (Read
instruction on page 33 task 2)
Points for reflection
1 Have you learnt anything new about Nikola Tesla from this unit?
2 What made the greatest impression on you?
3 Has anything surprised you?
4 Did you like the text? Why? /Why not?
Unit 4 Charles Babbage (1792-1871)
 Рис. 6 Difference engine |
Before you start
1 You are going to read about life and work of the British inventor, Charles Babbage. Before you read the text answer the following questions.
a) What field of science did he work in?
b) What is he famous for?
Reading
1 Pay attention to the correct pronunciation of the following words.
| Babbage | [´bæbIʤ] | irascible | [´lɔgərIðәm] |
| Leibniz | [´laIbnIts] | logarithm | [ mə´∫I:nərI] |
| Lagrange | [ lə´gra:n(d)s ] | machinery | [´enʤIn ] |
| Trinity | [´trInətI ] | engine | [´ʤI:nIəs] |
| association | [ sə´saIətI] | genius | [ əb´skjuərətI ] |
| society | [´dIfrəns ] | obscurity | [ِ ِænə´lItIkl] |
| difference | [əِ səusI´eI∫n] | analytical | [I´ræsəbl ] |
2 Read the text and think of the proper title for it. Explain your choice.
* * *
British inventor Charles Babbage is one of the great paradoxes of computing history. Although he is often credited with developing the first "general-purpose computer," he never actually built any examples of his design. His steam-powered Analytical Engine, as it was called, would seem extremely primitive to us today, but in
the 1830s, it was a groundbreaking design. (1)
 Рис.7 Charles Babbage |
Babbage was born in Teignmouth, Devonshire (UK) into a middle-class banking family. He followed an educational path typical for his age and status. His father’s money allowed Charles to receive instruction from several schools and tutors during the course of elementary education.
Around age eight he was sent to a country school to recover from a life-threatening fever with the strict instruction to the master not to press too much knowledge upon him. Perhaps this great idleness and a well-stocked library in the academy in Middlesex prompted his love of mathematics. Here he began to show a passion for mathematics but a dislike for the classics. On leaving the academy, he continued to study at home, having an Oxford tutor to bring him up to university level. He had read extensively in Leibniz, Lagrange, Simpson and was seriously disappointed in the mathematical instruction available at Trinity College in Cambridge. In response, he, John Hershel, George Peacock and several other friends formed the Analytical Society to try to bring the modern continental mathematics to Cambridge. (2)