orlovskaya

Superconductivity is a state of matter that chemical elements, compounds and alloys assume on being cooled to temperatures near to absolute zero. Hence, a superconductor is a solid material that abruptly loses all resistance to the flow of electric current when cooled below a characteristic temperature. This temperature differs for different materials but generally is within the absolute zero (—273 °C). Superconductors have thermal, electric and magnetic properties that differ from their properties at higher temperatures and from properties of nonsuperconductive materials.

Now hundreds of materials are known to become superconductors at low temperature. Approximately 26 of the chemical elements are superconductors. Among these are commonly known metals such as aluminium, tin, lead and mercury and several less common ones.

Most of the known superconductors are alloys or compounds.

It is possible for a compound to be superconducting even if the chemical elements constituting it are not.

Text 11C

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New Hope for Energy

Recently some ceramic materials have been found to be superconductors. Superconducting ceramics are substances which can transmit electric currents with no loss of energy at temperatures much higher than conventional superconductors (that is, at the temperature of liquid nitrogen).

One use for the new superconductors would be to replace those that need the extreme cold of liquid helium — huge superconducting electromagnets used in nuclear magnetic resonance research, atomic particle acceleration and research reactors.

Other types of electromagnets made with superconductors could be used to lower the cost of electric generation and storage. Such uses may take 10 years of research, a quicker use will probably be in electronics.

Researchers now estimate that tiny but immensely powerful highspeed computers using superconductors may be three to five 239years away. Further off are 300 m.p.h. trains that float on magnetic cushions which now exist as prototypes but may take at least a decade to perfect. Power

lines that can meet a city’s electric needs with superconductor cables may be even further in the future.

Meanwhile, scientists around the world are trying to turn the new materials into useful products. Among the most notable is a micron-thin film to transmit useful amounts of electric current without losing superconductivity. The film could be used in the microscopic circuitry of advanced computers as high-speed pathway (маршрут, соединение) between computer chips.

Several nations are known to be very active in superconductor research. For example, the United States is spending millions of

dollars on such research, much of it for military uses: projectile accelerators, lasers, ship and submarine propulsion.

Text 1 ID

Прочитайте текст и расскажите по-английски о Массачусетском Технологическом Институте.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT is an independent university located in Boston area. It was founded in 1861 by William Barton Rogers, a distinguished natural scientist, who believed professional competence to be best fostered (воспитывать) by the combining of teaching, research, and the application of knowledge to realworld problems. MIT held its first classes in 1865 after having delayed opening because of the Civil War. There were approximately 15 students enroled at that time.

Today MIT has about 9,700 students, a faculty (профессорскопреподавательский состав) of approximately 1,000 and several thousand research staff. The total teaching staff numbers more that 1,800. The institute is broadly organized into five academic Schools — Architecture and Planning, Engineering, Humanities and Social Science, Management and Science — and a large number of interdisciplinary programs, laboratories, and centers, including the Whitaker College of Health Science, Technology and Management. A unique feature of MIT is that undergraduates join with graduate students, faculty, and staff to work on

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research projects throughout the institute.

Most academic activities take place in a group of interconnected buildings designed to permit easy communication among the Schools and their 22 departments. Across the street from this set of buildings there are

become almost perfect conductors at very low temperatures at the absolute zero (—273 °C). However, a number of uses have been proposed.

If a current is induced by a magnetic field in a ring of superconducting material, it will continue to circulate when the magnetic field is removed. In theory this could be made use of in the memory cells of computers. Memory cells made of superconducting material could store information indefinitely. Because of the zero resistivity of the cells, the information could be retrieved quickly, as fast as 10-8 seconds.

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with to ... electric current. Moreover, the lower the temperature, the less resistance the material had. 3. The resistance continued to fall in liquefied nitrogen. To continue the experiments, they needed liquid helium. To obtain it was quite a problem at that time. So the experiments were stopped. 4. But it was this compound of copper, lanthanum and oxygen that proved to be a ... for which the Swiss physicists were honoured with a Noble Prize in 1987. 5. Later neither efforts nor money were spared (жалеть, экономить) for the study of the ... materials. Moreover, there were no longer any problems with helium.

Упражнение 4. А. Назовите 15—20 ключевых слов и словосочетаний на тему:

«Superconductivity research».

В. Speak about:

Latest achievements in conductivity research.

LESSON 12

Сослагательное наклонение Многофункциональность глаголов should, would Особенности пассивного залога Глаголы to involve, result in, result from

Text 12A. The International Space Station Text 12B. Benefits of Building the ISS

Text 12C. Living Aboard the Space Shuttle and the ISS Text 12D. Time Travel and New Universes

ПРЕДТЕКСТОВЫЕ УПРАЖНЕНИЯ

Упражнение 1. Переведите предложения с глаголом-сказуемым в сослагательном наклонении.

A.1. Would you like to come with us? 2. Would you be so kind as to tell me how to get to the Red Square? 3. Could you tell me the way to the main building of the University? 4. Would you mind giving me your dictionary for a minute? 5. Would you be kind enough to pass me the textbook? 6. I’d like to thank you for your help. 7. He’d like to meet you.

B.1. You are the only person she would listen to. 2. The material in that book is very much out of date. The book must have been written a long time ago. 3. He speaks English well. He must have lived in the United

States for a long time. 4. You could have done it in a different way. 5. It’s strange he is not244 here. However, he might have forgotten all about it. Or he might have come while I was out.

6.For long journeys in private cars one could use automatic guidance systems. 7. One laser beam could carry all the radio, TV and telephone messages simultaneously.

C. 1. Mary wishes she could drive a car. 2.1 wish that, for just a day, I were President of the United States. 3.1 wish I had not spent so much money yesterday. 4. I wish when a boy I had studied

French instead of English. 5. John wishes he had been a mechanical engineer. 6.1 wish I had a car. 7.1 wish you had mentioned this fact to me before.

D.1. If he were better educated, he would get the job. 2. Were I you, I should speak to him about it. 3.1 would have called you if I had had your telephone number. 4. Had she felt better, she would have gone with them. 5. If you watched a laser operate, you might be surprised at the simplicity of a device capable of such power. 6. «If I had had a chance to live my life again, I should have tried to combine the study of the history of art, philosophy and science.» «But then you wouldn’t be good at either.» «No, you are probably right, I’d be a dilettante.»

E.1. K. Onnes found that it was necessary that a mercury wire be cooled to —265 °C for electrical resistivity to disappear. 2. Tsiolkovsky proposed that liquid propellants should be used for space travel.

3.Recently it has been improbable that superconductivity should appear at an unbelievable temperature of 98 К in a special ceramic material. 4. The great speeds and high resistance of air demand that new hyperliners be built without windows. 5. It is essential that a superconductor should be a solid material and it is necessary that it should be cooled to —273

°C. 6. It was natural for the ancient Greeks to suppose that the stars, planets, the sun and the moon move round the Earth in space. 7. It is possible that a compound should become a superconductor even if the chemical elements constituting it are not. 8. Copernicus suggested that

the Sun and not the Earth should be at the centre of everything.

Упражнение 2. Переведите предложения, обращая внимание на союзы in order that, so that, lest.

1. A special system is being developed so that drivers could see after dark. 2. Aircraft designers tend to replace conventional metal alloys by new composite materials in order that an aircraft structure should be lighter. 3. Some materials are cooled almost to —273 °C so that they should become superconductors. 4. Great attention is paid 245to ecological problems all over the world so that air in supercities should be clean. 5. You must put down this formula lest you should forget it. 6. Metal parts

are tested for defects lest they should fail in operation. 7. Students must work hard lest they should fail at examinations. 8. All kinds of safety devices for motor cars are being developed lest accidents should occur. 9. A hypersonic craft will require complicated cooling measures lest it should burn.

Упражнение 3. Переведите предложения, обращая внимание на особенности страдательного залога.

1. International cooperation, especially in the field of space and science, may be spoken of as a long-standing tradition. 2. The «night vision» system is being worked at in many design bureaus. 3. The invention of an internal combustion engine was followed by the appearance of a motor car as we know it today. 4. Any flying vehicle is acted upon by aerodynamic forces. 5. The improvement of our working conditions and life is influenced by the achievements of scientific and technological progress. 6. New developments in the field of superconductivity are much written about at present.

7. The invention of a steam engine was followed by the first industrial revolution. 8. The neutron is not influenced by a magnetic field. 9. The appearance of a jet engine was followed by a tremendous increase of aircraft speeds. 10. The problems of interplanetary flight are dealt with in the latest magazine.

Упражнение 4. Переведите предложения с глаголом to involve и его производными (занимать, быть занятым, вовлекать, связанный с этим).

1. While on their last space flight French cosmonauts were mostly involved in carrying out scientific experiments. 2. A program to establish an International Lunar Base may involve many nations. 3.The struggle for the protection of Lake Baikal has shown the true position of the organizations involved. 4. To understand the operation of computers one must understand the principles involved.

СЛОВООБРАЗОВАНИЕ

Упражнение 5. Переведите производные слова согласно образцу:

префикс multi- (много-) multi-room — многоместный, multi-national —

246 многонациональный

multi-stage rocket, multi-purpose, multi-functional, multi-lateral, multiplex, multimedia, multi-ton vehicle.

Упражнение 6. Прочитайте и переведите интернациональные слова.

international station [,inta'naej9nl 'steijen], civilization [,sivilai'zeij9n],

alternately — поочередно at least — по крайней мере

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The International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS), the most complex and expensive structure that has ever been launched and built in space, is expected to be a permanent off-planet extension1 of human civilization. When completed, it will be a multi-room hotel and research facility orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes. By that time, resupply and assembly flight by shuttles or rockets will have become routine.

The Russians and Americans are partners in this international enterprise. The three-person multi-national crews will be alternately composed of two Americans and one Russian followed by a Russian majority. Later a six or seven-person crew will occupy the station. Some astronauts may stay on the ISS up to 187 days, but there are no plans yet for longer missions. The official life expectancy of the station itself is 10 years, but it should last much longer.

Five times the size of the Russian space station Mir, the ISS will be one of the biggest objects in the night sky, looking like a supersize Lego set2, almost as long as a football field. Only the Moon and Venus will be bigger and more visible.

The fifth-generation station’s complexity is as awesome3 as its size. Built by a partnership of 16 nations, the ISS will consist of 36 modules and hundreds of individual elements that come from all over the world. The station involves the most technologically advanced nations — Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and 11 European nations. There will be many interconnected parts from so many countries that it would be impossible to predict how they would interact.

Hence, it is very important that all of these elements made by different suppliers should fit together properly and work exactly as planned. But even if all the parts fitted perfectly, the assembly process itself in orbit would be risky248. The space station is flown while it is being constructed and each new building block added might change the way the station behaves in flight, which could result in serious trouble.

The ISS may be the world’s most ambitious engineering project in