XVI. What developments do you expect to see over the next ten to twenty years in computers, communications, energy, medicine? Complete the following statements. Be prepared to support your views.
1. I expect the biggest changes will be in ________.
2. I think the effects of _____will be _____.
3. I think the predictions about _____ will turn out to be exaggerated.
4. I suppose the most exciting developments will be ________.
5. I think the main thing we have to worry about is _______.
XVII. Check yourself. How much do you know about outstanding scientists and their inventions? Complete the table of the most important inventions and discoveries. Discuss the consequencies of these events. Phrases given below will help you express certainty or uncertainty.
There is no doubt...
I'm absolutely sure...
It might possibly ....
Well, no one can say for certain...
I’m not sure...
It might be…
It is highly unlikely that...
|
|
|
|
700-900 |
gunpowder |
|
|
1592 |
thermometer |
The thermoscope, developed by Galileo, was the first instrument used to measure temperature qualitatively. |
|
|
practical telescope |
|
|
1687 |
three laws of motion |
|
|
1757 |
|
John Campbell, British naval officer, navigational expert and colonial governor, invented the improved navigational device that enables sailors to measure latitude. |
|
1783 |
practical hot-air balloon |
|
|
|
telephone |
American inventor Alexander Graham Bell made the first coherent telephone call. |
|
1895 |
|
In 1901 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen became the first winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics. |
|
|
|
Wright brothers, American airplane inventors and aviation pioneers |
|
1912 |
|
Click click click! Thanks to an ingenious German physicist named Hans Geiger, we've all heard the sound of radioactivity. |
|
1939 |
helicopter |
|
XVIII. Technology plays a dominant role in the context and content of our lives and it’s definitely not going away. Some of the most hotly contested debates about technology and the effect it has on our values and our culture are identified. Discuss them with the class.
Is technology...
a negative force in our lives?
overwhelming our lives?
making us stupid?
killing our creativity?
a force for good or evil?
WRITING
What is a report?
In Engineering, one of the major forms of communication is the technical report. This is the conventional format for reporting the results of your research, investigations, and design projects. A report is a document that presents information about an issue or investigation concisely and impersonally, in a clearly structured format. There are many different types of report to suit different purposes. Reports must always be: accurate, concise, clear, and well structured.
Most technical reports include the parts listed below. However, you may be required to include or exclude specific sections.
Title page (It carries the title, date, author's name and position, and distribution list.)
Table of Contents (The contents of short reports may be shown on the title page – or not at all.)
Introduction (It gives the background to the report, and shows why it was necessary. It usually states the objective of the report.)
Body of the report (It contains your detailed facts and findings, shows how they were arrived at, and indicates the inferences to be drawn from them.)
Conclusions (Here you draw out the main points of your report and present a considered judgment on them.)
Recommendations (In a good report, the reader is carried along by the argument, so that by the time he reaches the end, he'll need no further convincing.)
Appendices (Some reports need detailed supporting information, or perhaps information that only some readers need.)