Comprehension check. 1. Choose the best endings to the sentences given below taking into account the contents of the texts.

1. Choose the best endings to the sentences given below taking into account the contents of the texts.

Technology

a) includes a number of activities by which man changes his environment.

b) embraces tools and machines used for making things.

c) may be defined as a study of different methods for producing things.

Techniques

a) are methods for making new tools and machines.

b) include mechanical or technical skills in music, painting, etc.

c) are methods of artistic expression in music, painting, etc.

Man

a) as any other species possesses highly developed instinctive reactions.

b) has the ability to innovate and modify his environment.

c) and other species can make things using different techniques.

If there

a) is any social need a technological innovation is likely to be adopted.

b) are several socially important groups who are ready to consider an innovation seriously, it will be widely accepted.

c) are social resources, needs and some dominant social groups willing to encourage inventors, a new technology will be successful.

Social resources

a) include materials and skilled personnel.

b) are the necessary condition of a successful innovation.

c) involve the existence of surplus productivity.

Technology

a) has always been stagnant, mysterious and irrational.

b) is a rational activity originating from the traditions of science.

c) is based on techniques that have a tendency to ossify.

The history of technology

a) shows how societies have advanced.

b) highlights the most important innovations and inventions.

c) demonstrates its ambiguous nature.

2. Give answers to the following questions.

1. How can one define technology?

2. Where does the term technology come from?

3. What did it mean in Greek?

4. What are techniques?

5. What is the difference between manlike species and other species?

6. When won’t a technological innovation be adopted? Why?

7. Why are social needs a kind of stimulus to technological innovations?

8. Why are social resources an indispensable prerequisite to a successful innovation?

9. When can inventions be foundered?

10. Can you give examples to illustrate such a situation?

11. What does each of social resources involve?

12. What do you understand by a sympathetic social ethos?

13. What is meant by the rationality of technology?

14. Why did sometimes technology become irrational?

15. Why does technology have the ambiguous nature?

3. Mark the following sentences T (true) or F (false). Comment on your point of view.

1. Technology means a discourse on the arts, both applied and fine.

2. Technology can be defined as a number of means and activities by which man changes his environment.

3. Techniques are used to create new tools and machines.

4. Man unlike other species can consciously change his environment.

5. Man’s activity is aimed at creating technological innovations.

6. The absence of social needs doesn’t necessarily prevent people from creating new tools and machines.

7. Social needs have always served as a stimulus to technological innovation.

8. Social resources are vital for realization of innovations.

9. A sympathetic social ethos implies that the whole society should be receptive to new ideas.

10. Technology has always been a rational activity.

11. The process of accumulating techniques has always been intrinsic to the nature of technology.

4. The sentences given below report on the main problems discussed in the texts above but they are jumbled. Put them in the correct order.

1. The existence of socially important groups that are receptive to new ideas has always been a crucial factor in the history of technology.

2. The ability to construct new tools and machines is characteristic of manlike species.

3. There are three points at which societies are involved in technological innovation: social need, social resources and a sympathetic social ethos.

4. There is some progressive element in technology as each generation inherits a stock of techniques on which it can develop or build.

5. Technology is defined as the systematic study of techniques for making things.

6. If there is no social need, people will not be ready to give some resources to a technological innovation.

7. Man can innovate and modify his world.

8. Social resources are the necessary condition of a successful innovation.

9. Technology is a rational activity originating from the traditions of science.

10. The word technology comes from Greek and means a discourse on the arts.

Vocabulary work

1. (A). Match the opposites.

systematic	intolerant
combination	unaware
to embrace	random
capacity	inapt
to devote	unmistakable
ambiguous	to confess
conscious	to ignore
appropriate	separation
sympathetic	inability
to deny	to exclude

(B). Choose from the box appropriate words and use them in suitable forms in the sentences to follow.

1. She always speaks at ….

2. All children suffer from … from their parents.

3. We can … the possibility that the money won’t arrive.

4. He had a … for friendship.

5. He … his life to fundamental science.

6. Man is a … being.

7. It was not a … house and the furnishing and pictures were ugly.

8. She did not absolutely …the possibility of a miracle.

9. This effect is undeniably ….

2. (A). Find synonyms.

systematic	aptitude
to embrace	device
tool	to own
capacity	conditions
to suit	to need
circumstances	to support
to possess	to include
to limit	essential
requirement	to confine
vital	orderly
to lack	demand
to sustain	to fit

(B). Fill in the blanks using the proper words from the box above in suitable forms.

1. She … their offer.

2. The hall had a seating … of 1000.

3. Your coat … you too tight.

4. We could not accept their ….

5. What … him to act so?

6. You make too many … on my patience.

7. Time is … for a full explanation.

8. He was … to bed.

3. (A). Form collocations choosing adjectives from the left column and suitable nouns from the right column. Make use of the texts given above.

applied	behaviour
manlike	need
instinctive	ethos
social	resources
laboursaving	species
skilled	productivity
surplus	technology
stagnant	nature
mysterious	arts
irrational	machine
ambiguous	prerequisite
indispensable	personnel

(B). Use some of the collocations to complete the following sentences.

1. The ability to create new devices is typical of … ….

2. … … must be strongly felt, otherwise people will not devote resources to technological innovations.

3. There were a lot of … … at his plant.

4. He reinforced his firm with … ….

5. Diligence and luck are … … to any deep success.

6. For a long period of time … has remained … and irrational.

7. Life of animals is based on … ….

8. The … … of this phenomenon has attracted scientists’ attention for a long time.

4. (A). Form adjectives using the following verbs. Some of the adjectives are used in the texts above.

To create, to produce, to possess, to innovate, to involve, to stimulate, to suit, to improve, to invent, to cumulate.

(B). Complete the sentences using some of the adjectives derived from the verbs mentioned above.

1. Everybody was amazed by his … abilities.

2. Money is not always … of happiness.

3. His … ideas contributed to the development of this branch of industry.

4. He became … in scientific activity.

5. Would it be … to discuss this problem now?

6. She was … by envy.

7. He underwent a course of treatment by … hormonotherapy.

8. She has an … mind.

9. The … effect of this medicine can have fatal consequences.

5. Fill in the blanks choosing appropriate words from the box.

encompasses	study	conscious	comes from	instinctive	ambiguous
prerequisite	stagnant	techniques	technological	receptive	involves

1. Technology may be defined as the systematic … of techniques for making things.

2. The word technology … Greek.

3. … are methods of creating new machines and tools.

4. In contrast with other species man doesn’t possess highly developed … reactions.

5. The history of technology … the whole evolution of man.

6. A … innovation is unlikely to be adopted if any of these factors is unavailable.

7. People should be …of social needs.

8. Social resources are an indispensable …. to successful innovations.

9. Dominant social groups should be … to new ideas.

10. Technology … the application of reason to techniques.

11. For a long period of time technology has been …, mysterious and even irrational.

12. This fact demonstrates the … nature of technology.

6. Replace the word(s) in italics by the word(s) from the box. Use each word once only.

necessities	maintain	originating	surroundings	failed
improving	invent	inspire	worth	covered

1. Man is able to create new tools and machines.

2. No other species can modify its environment.

3. The term embraced an increasing number of processes and ideas.

4. Military needs have always stimulated technological innovations.

5. A lot of inventions have foundered because social resources were lacking.

6. In order to sustain technological innovations a society should possess suitable resources.

7. Socially important groups should encourage inventors to implement their ideas.

8. It is worthwhile commenting on such a characteristic of technology as rationality.

9. Technology is a rational activity stemming from the traditions of science.

10. For a long period of time societies have been advancing in techniques.

7. Fill in the crossword puzzle.

1↓

8→

Down

1. Unchanging; inactive.

2. Quick or ready to receive suggestions, new ideas, etc.

3. Quality of being rational; reasonableness.

4. Increasing in amount by one addition after another.

5. Not to be available; to be in short supply.

6. (of value, quality) belonging naturally; existing within, not coming from outside.

7. Trained; experienced; having skills.

Across

8. Complex; with the latest improvements and refinements.

9. To make or become rigid, unprogressive, unable to change.

10. (adj.) strange; of a kind not previously known.

11. That cannot be avoided, that is sure to happen.

8. Translate the following sentences.

1. Термин технология представляет собой сочетание двух греческих слов techne и logos.

2. В середине прошлого века технологию определяли как совокупность методов и приемов, посредством которых человек пытается изменить окружающую среду.

3. Технические приемы – это методы создания новых инструментов.

4. Способность создавать новые предметы присуща только человеку, который обладает изобретательным умом.

5. Развитие технологии происходит одновременно с эволюцией человека.

6. Необходимыми предпосылками технологических инноваций являются социальные потребности, ресурсы и стремление социально доминирующих групп внедрить новые идеи.

7. Многие изобретения не были реализованы из-за отсутствия необходимых ресурсов.

8. Потребность в том или ином приборе или инструменте и т.д. должна ощущаться в обществе, иначе люди не направят материальные ресурсы на его разработку.

9. Социальные условия чрезвычайно важны для разработки новых технических приемов.

10. Нельзя отрицать наличие некоторого прогрессивного элемента в технологии.

11. Каждое последующее поколение стремится использовать методы и приемы, разработанные предшествующими поколениями, а также вносить собственный вклад в развитие технологии.

Follow-up activities

1. In pairs or small groups, discuss the most remarkable technological innovations of the 20^th century.

2. Prepare a report about an outstanding inventor or an ingenious invention.

UNIT 3

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Pre-reading tasks

1. What do you think the text headlined “Science and technology” runs about?

2. What changes or influences our life more: science or technology. Explain your viewpoint.

3. Name the main distinctive features of science and technology.

4. There are some words given in bold type in the text “Science and technology”. The definitions of these words are given below. Match the words and their definitions.

a. general notions;

b. skilled workmen who practise crafts;

c. people studying or teaching philosophy, or having a system of philosophy;

d. fabricating; constructing; putting together;

e. study, mastery and utilization of manufacturing and industrial methods; systematic application of knowledge to practical tasks in industry;

f. ability to read or write;

g. meditation; opinion reached by this means; guess;

h. technical or mechanical skills in music, painting, etc; methods of doing smth expertly;

i. ability to count.

Exercise 5. The verbs and nouns given in the box can be used to form collocations. Use each word (a verb or a noun) once only. Make use of the text “Science and technology” while fulfilling this task.

to throw	the ground
to prepare	scientists
to point	interest
to urge	man’s dominion
to apply	light on smth
to attract	investigations
to enlarge	the way
to pursue	principles

Reading

Read the first paragraph of the text and choose appropriate words (given after the text) to fill in the blanks.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

This review of the history of technology throws the 1) … on the 2) … between science and technology. The 3) … of technology is longer than and distinct from the history of science. Technology is the systematic 4) … of techniques for making things; science is the systematic 5) … to understand and interpret the world. While technology is 6) … with the fabrication and 7) … of different things, science is devoted to explaining natural phenomena and processes taking place in the environment, and it 8) … upon the comparatively sophisticated 9) … of literacy and numeracy. Such skills became 10) … only with the emergence of the great world civilizations, so that it is possible to say that science 11) … with those civilizations, some 3,000 years BC, whereas technology is as old as manlike 12) …. Science and technology 13) … as different and separate activities, the former being for several millennia a field of fairly abstruse speculation 14) … by a class of aristocratic philosophers, while the latter remained a matter of essentially practical 15) … to craftsmen of many types. There were points of intersection, such as the use of mathematical concepts in building and irrigation work, but for the most part the functions of scientists and technologists remained distinct in the ancient cultures.

The situation began to change during the medieval period of development in the West (AD 500-1500), when the development of both technology and science was connected with commercial expansion and a flourishing urban culture. The robust growth of technology in these centuries could not fail to attract the interest of educated men. In the 17th century, the natural philosopher Francis Bacon recognized three great technological innovations – the magnetic compass, the printing press, and gunpowder – as the distinguishing achievements of modern man, and he advocated experimental science as a means of enlarging man’s dominion over nature. Bacon insisted on deepening relationships between science and technology and urged scientists to study the methods of craftsmen and craftsmen to learn more science.

Yet the wedding of science and technology proposed by Bacon was not soon consummated. Over the next 200 years, carpenters and mechanics built iron bridges, steam engines, and textile machinery without much reference to scientific principles, while scientists – still amateurs – pursued their investigations in a haphazard manner. But the body of men, inspired by Baconian principles, represented a determined effort to direct scientific research toward useful ends, first by improving navigation and cartography, and ultimately by stimulating industrial innovation and the search for mineral resources. By the 19th century scientists were moving toward professionalism in which many of the goals were clearly the same as those of the technologists. Thus Justus von Liebig of Germany, one of the fathers of organic chemistry and the first proponent of mineral fertilizer, provided the scientific impulse that led to the development of synthetic dyes, high explosives, artificial fibres, and plastics; and Michael Faraday, the brilliant British experimental scientist in the field of electromagnetism, prepared the ground that was exploited by Thomas A. Edison and many others.

The role of Edison is particularly significant in deepening relationships between science and technology, because the prodigious trial-and-error process by which he selected the carbon filament for his electric light bulb in 1879 resulted in the creation at Menlo Park, N.J., of what may be regarded as the world’s first genuine industrial research laboratory. From this achievement the application of scientific principles to technology grew rapidly. It led easily to the engineering rationalism applied by Frederick W. Taylor to the organization of workers in mass production. It provided a model that was applied rigorously by Henry Ford in his automobile assembly plant and that was followed by every modern mass-production process. It pointed the way to the development of systems engineering, operations research, simulation studies, mathematical modelling, and technological assessment in industrial processes. This was not just a one-way influence of science on technology, because technology created new tools and machines with which the scientists were able to achieve an ever-increasing insight into the natural world. Taken together, these developments brought technology to its modern highly efficient level of performance.

1. a) illumination b) light c) shadow d) dawn

2. a) distinction b) characteristic c) prominence d) importance

3. a) story b) account c) history d) record

4. a) study b) examination c) investigation d) consideration

5. a) effort b) undertaking c) trial d) attempt

6. a) related b) interested c) concerned d) involved

7. a) use b) consumption c) profit d) benefit

8. a) counts b) reckons c) depends d) trusts

9. a) talents b)gifts c) aptitude d) skills

10. a) available b) at hand c) useful d) unobtainable

11. a) initiated b) began c) terminated d) arose

12. a) biography b) vitality c) life d) animation

13. a) developed b) expanded c) unfolded d) matured

14. a) done b) practiced c) trained d) applied

15. a) concern b) care c) business d) anxiety

Read the whole text carefully and fulfill the tasks given in Comprehension check.

Comprehension check

1. Choose the best ending a, b, or c to complete the sentences.

The history of science

a) is shorter than and differs from that of technology.

b) is similar to the history of technology.

c) doesn’t take as much time as that of technology.

Technology

a) leads to the improvement of the quality of life.

b) is related to the production and use of things.

c) is connected with scientific research.

Science

a) results in technological innovations.

b) has always interacted with technology.

c) is aimed at understanding and explaining the world.

Science

a) and technology appeared some 3000 years ago.

b) began with the emergence of the great world civilizations.

c) unlike technology is as old as manlike life.

Scientists and technologists

a) were involved in different activities in the ancient cultures.

b) have always been interested in solving the same problems.

c) worried about applications of scientific principles to technology in the 18^th century.

The growth of technology in the Middle Ages

a) was disregarded.

b) led to commercial expansion.

c) attracted attention of educated people.

Experimental science

a) as Francis Bacon thought, could become a means of expanding man’s power over nature.

b) helped to advance technology.

c) attracted craftsmen who started learning scientific principles.

8. In the 18^th century scientists

a) pursued their investigations taking into account future applications in industry.

b) carried out their research at random.

c) applied different techniques in their work.

2. Give detailed answers to the questions.

1. Why is the history of technology longer than that of science?

2. What is technology?

3. What is science concerned with?

4. What depends on skills of literacy and numeracy? And why?

5. What is the difference between science and technology?

6. Why did the situation change in the Middle Ages?

7. Why did the technological growth attract attention of natural philosophers?

8. Why did Bacon urge scientists to study the methods of craftsmen?

9. In what activities were craftsmen and scientists involved over the next 200 years?

10. What contribution did Edison make to the development of relationships between science and technology?

11. How did scientific principles influence the development of technology?

12. What examples of the reverse influence of technology on science can you give?

3. Some sentences given below are contrary to the information given in the text. Find them and correct their information.

1. The history of science differs from that of technology.

2. Technology includes a number of different methods and procedures for making things.

3. Science is a means of explaining natural phenomena.

4. The appearance of science is connected with the emergence of the great world civilizations.

5. Activities of scientists and technologists have never had any points of intersection.

6. Interactions of science and technology in the Middle Ages could have resulted in enlarging man’s power over nature.

7. Technological innovations of the 17^th century were the results of experimental science.

8. In the 19^th century scientists and technologists pursued the same aims.

9. The role of Michael Faraday in establishing relationships between science and technology is of great importance.

10. Technologists create new machines and tools that help scientists to gain a deep insight into the natural world.

4. Organize the jumbled sentences given below to sum up the problems described in the text.

1. Though scientists and craftsmen were still involved in different activities the application of scientific principles to technology grew rapidly.

2. Science explains natural phenomena.

3. But in the Middle Ages technology and science began to interact.

4. The history of science is distinct from the history of technology.

5. Technology is as old as manlike life while science appeared when the great world civilizations emerged.

6. This was not a one-way influence of science on technology as technologists created new machines that enabled scientists to extend their knowledge about the world.

7. Technology is concerned with the production of things.

8. Bacon urged scientists and craftsmen to study methods and principles of each other.

9. At first there were very few points of intersection of science and technology.

Vocabulary work

1. (A). Find pairs of words having the opposite meaning.

proponent	indifference
attempt	to repulse
genuine	to decline
concern	insincere
to expand	useless
to flourish	opponent
efficient	achievement
to attract	to contract

(B). Choose from the box appropriate words and use them in suitable forms in the sentences to follow.

1. She is proud of his ….

2. It was a matter of perfect … to me.

3. When air is warmed it … and becomes lighter.

4. He is pleased as his business is ….

5. He offered to help but was ….

6. He defeated his … in the election.

7. It’s … to try to convince her.

2. (A). Match words with similar meanings.

genuine	procedure
distinction	to support
study	to try
technique	to amplify
to attempt	to urge
skill	impetus
to stimulate	characteristic
to enlarge	research
to advocate	finally
ultimately	quest
search	ability
impulse	true

(B). Fill in the blanks using the proper words from the box above in suitable forms. Sometimes more than one word is possible.

1. Scientists have created a new … for treating some diseases.

2. He neglected his … when he was at school.

3. You can’t just do it however you like – you must follow the …

4. She … me to accept the compromise.

5. He … difficulties of conducting this experiment.

6. I cannot … even the idea of it.

7. The matter is settled ….

8. He made a useful … through medical literature.

9. He acted on ….

10. My dreams came ….

3. (A). Choose adjectives from the left-hand column and match them with suitable nouns from the right-hand column. Use the text above to fulfill the task.

systematic	process
sophisticated	insight
haphazard	expansion
one-way	speculation
ever-increasing	study
abstruse	period
practical	growth
medieval	influence
commercial	manner
robust	concern
trial-and-error	skills

(B). Use some of the word combinations from the previous exercise to complete the following sentences.

1. He conducted his research in a … ….

2. We can’t assert that there’s a … … of technology on science.

3. Researchers managed to achieve an … … into nature.

4. It was impossible to verify his … …..

5. His research problem was of … … to us.

6. The … … was characterized by a rapid development of culture.

7. It was the time of … ….

8. The … … of production resulted in improving the standard of living.

9. The … … can sometimes lead to a successful solution of a problem.

4. (A). Name the verbs corresponding to the following nouns.

Technology, distinction, fabrication, comparison, stimulus, emergence, craftsman, pursuit, relation, failure.

(B). Complete the sentences using the verbs you have just formed.

1. I could not … her among the crowd.

2. The story was … from beginning to end.

3. Her later work does not … with her earlier.

4. He … me to make greater efforts to finish the work on time.

5. What results … from your talks?

6. All our hopes have ….

7. He … his studies in 2 years.

8. He noticed nothing but what …. to himself.

5. Fill in the blanks using suitable words from the box.

innovations	robust	techniques	urged	pointed
abstruse	throws	distinct	concerned with

1. This review … the light on the difference between science and technology.

2. Technology is a number of … for making things.

3. Science is … explaining and understanding the world of nature.

4. Science has been a field of … speculation practised by philosophers.

5. Functions of scientists and technologists remained … in the ancient cultures.

6. The … growth of technology attracted educated people.

7. Scientists were … to study methods employed by craftsmen.

8. Scientific research was directed towards industrial ….

9. He … the way to the development of mathematical modelling and simulation processes.

6. Use the words in brackets in the necessary form.

1. Technology is connected with the (fabricate) and use of artifacts.

2. Scientists have to acquire (compare) complicated skills.

3. Science and technology were (differ) activities.

4. He considered (experiment) science as a means of expanding man’s power over nature.

5. Craftsmen produced steam engines and textile machinery without any reference to (science) principles.

6. He applied scientific principles to the (develop) of plastics.

7. Michael Faraday prepared the ground for further (technology) advances.

8. From this (achieve) they started applying scientific principles to technology.

9. These developments led to a highly (efficiency) level of performance.

7. Translate the sentences.

1. Технология представляет собой совокупность приемов и методов для производства различных предметов.

2. Одной из задач науки является объяснение окружающего нас мира.

3. Возникновение науки стало возможным в связи с появлением великих мировых цивилизаций.

4. Наука и техника оставались различными областями деятельности человека на протяжении длительного времени.

5. Ситуация изменилась в средние века.

6. Среди выдающихся достижений человека в то время было создание магнитного компаса, печатного станка и черного пороха.

7. Френсис Бэкон считал, что экспериментальная наука способствует расширению власти человека над природой.

8. Однако слияние науки и техники не было доведено до конца, и потребовалось несколько столетий, чтобы специалисты в области техники руководствовались научными принципами в своей работе, а ученые начали использовать технические методы и приемы.

9. Томас Эдисон сыграл важную роль в углублении взаимосвязи науки и техники.

8. Fill in the crossword puzzle.

Down

1. Performing; notable action; achievement.

2. Enormous; surprisingly great; wonderful.

3. Machines collectively; methods, organization.

4. Person who proposes smth.

5. Connection; what there is between one thing, person, idea, etc. and another or others.

6. Understanding; power of seeing into smth with the mind.

Across

7. The application of science for the control and use of power, esp. by the use of machines; the technology, work or profession of an engineer.

8. Push or thrust; impetus; sudden inclination to act without thought about the consequences.

9. Without order or plan; at random.

Follow-up activities

1. Prepare a report forecasting further interactions of science and technology.

2. Roleplay:

Student A. Find additional information about other experimental scientists who applied scientific principles to technology.

Student B. Interview your partner about the contribution this scientist made to the development of both science and technology.

UNIT 4

THEORY AND EXPERIMENT

Pre-reading tasks

1. Can you name theories that stimulated scientific progress? Comment on your choice.

2. Explain the role of experiments in conducting investigations.

3. Enumerate the main stages of the experiment. Are they of equal importance for the results of the experiment?

4. In your opinion, whose work is of greater value that of a theorist or an experimentalist? Give your arguments.

5. Choose from the box suitable definitions of the following words: to theorize, empirical, structure, explanatory, relationship, to advance, term, to generalize, to predict, theorem, interplay.

way in which smth is put together, organized, etc;

operation of two or more things on each other;

serving or intended to explain;

connection; what there is between one thing, person, idea, etc and another or others;

words used to express an idea, esp. a specialized concept; part of an expression joined to the rest by + or -;

to form theories;

to draw a general conclusion; to make a general statement;

to say, tell in advance;

statement which logical reasoning shows to be true;

relying on observation and experiment, not on theory;

to come or go forward; to move, put or help forward.

6. Match the words of two columns to form collocations. Use one word once only. Make use of the texts given below to fulfill the task.

to make	a problem
to discover	curiosity
to overlook	a family of laws
to examine	a relationship
to pursue	progress
to encompass	one’s vocation
to uncover	solutions
to satisfy	deductions
to express	a role
to draw	orderliness

Reading

Read the first two paragraphs of the text “Scientific theory” and fill in the blanks choosing appropriate words.

TEXT A

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