Text 2 Pre - reading task

1. What do you know about the Vikings?

2. When did they come to Britain?

3. Why were they successful fighters?

4. How did they harden the metal?

5. Describe the process of building up the blades.

The Coming of the Vikings

After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, there was little progress in the working of metals for many years. Iron-smelting, tin and lead mining, and the general metal-working developed by the Romans in occupied countries almost ceased. What metal-work was still carried on was of poor quality.

Then, about 800 AD, a new power entered northern Europe - the Vikings. These men from the north, Norsemen, were great seafarers and fighters. They owed much of their success to their skill with metal. Their swords were much longer and stronger than those used by the Romans, and with these they won their battles.

In those days it was difficult to make good swords because of the lack of furnaces hot enough to melt iron sufficiently to treat it with carbon and turn it into steel. All that could be done was to heat the iron in charcoal, which is rich in carbon. Some carbon from the charcoal found its way into the metal and hardened it on the surface, like the crust on a loaf.

The swordmakers built up their blades by taking a number of thin strips, which had been hardened on their surfaces, and twisting them together in various patterns. The metal was then reheated and hammered (forged) until it became a solid piece with hardened strips running right through the blade. As well as making blade strong, this method also created an interesting wavy patterns on the metal.

Task 2. Comprehension Check

Exercise 1. Here are the answers to some questions about the text.

Work out the questions.

1) The Roman Empire fell in 476 AD.

2) The Romans were skilled in iron-making, tin and lead mining, and the general metal- working.

3) No, there was little progress in the working of metals after the fall of the Roman Empire.

4) The Vikings owed much of their military success to their skill with metals.

5) It was difficult for the Vikings to make swords because of the lack of good furnaces.

6) Yes, the Vikings had their own method of making swords.

7) They heated the iron in charcoal.

8) Yes, this method also created an interesting wavy pattern on the metal.

Exercise 2. Read the text again and agree or disagree with the

statements given below.

1. Between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Vikings invasion there was much progress in the working of metals.

2.The Vikings’ swords were much longer and stronger than those used by the Romans.

3. In those days men possessed good equipment to melt iron sufficiently.

4. The Vikings could turn iron into steel.

5. The Vikings didn’t use reheating and hammering in the process of sword making.

Exercise 3. Look through the text and find the synonyms to the words

given below.

decline; advance; stop; outstanding; construct; expertness; mastery; deficiency; achievement; model.

Exercise 4. Translate the following idioms into Russian. Use them in the

sentences of your own.

a) To have too many irons

in the fire. Заниматься многими делами одновременно.

b) To iron out differences. Сглаживать различия.

c) Strike while the iron is hot Куй железо пока горячо.

d) To rule with an iron hand Править железной рукой

e) Iron will Железная воля

f) Hammer in Втолковывать, вдалбливать

Exercise 5. Arrange the jumbled sentences into the organized text.

1. This was a new method of discovering truth by experiment.

2. One event of his life particularly interested Edison, a great inventor and scientist.

3. One day he invited a number of professors and students to meet him in one of the squares of Pisa where there was a very high tower.

4. It was this method which Edison used throughout his life.

5. Gallileo didn’t believe the scientists of the time that a heavy weight dropped from a height more quickly than a light weight.

6. He went to the top of the tower and dropped two iron balls with different weight.

7. They struck the ground at the same time.

8. Thomas Edison loved to tell the story of Galileo, a great Italian scientist of the 17th century.