Foreword

English for the first-year students of the Institute of Physics and Technology aims to help learners improve their competence in communication skills. This is achieved in various ways, as the material is flexible in design. It can be used by the first-year-students of the Institute of Physics and Technology, the intermediate stage.

Underlying the material is the conviction that students will learn more readily and efficiently if they are actively and personally involved in their language lessons. Thus, throughoutthe units, the learners are encouraged to express their own opinion on questions concerning many aspects of science and technology and to discuss and evaluate the role they play in society.

The course includes listening, speaking, reading, writing and problem-solving sections. The material is designed to be used either in the classroom or by the student working alone.

English for the first-year students of the Institute of Physics and Technology covers nine topics: "Our University", "Imperial English: the Language of Science", "The Mind Machine", "IQ Testing", "The Principal Elements of the Nature of Science: Dispelling the Myths", "Beauty in Science", "Mathematics − the Language of Science", "Recreational Mathematics", "The Dawn of Atomic Physics".

While developing the material we have shared a great deal of fun with students, colleagues and friends. We thank them all for their participation, advice and comments, and hope that you will share the fun we had working on the course.

Authors

Unit 1: University.

Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him.

Dr. Thomas Fuller

1. Comment on the picture.

2. Do you agree or disagree with the quotations? Discuss them in pairs.

1. "Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten." B.F. Skinner

2. "Education is a state-controlled manufactory of echoes." Norman Douglas

3. "Education is the process of casting false pearls before real swine." Irwin Edman

4. "Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education." Bertrand Russell 

5. "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." George Bernard Shaw 

6. "Teachers are people who start things they never see finished, and for which they never get thanks until it is too late." Max Leon Forman 

7. "The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done." Jean Piaget

8. "You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself." Galileo Galilei 

3. Discuss the following questions in small groups or pairs.

1. What institute do you study at?

2. What specialists does your institute train?

3. Are there any workshops and laboratories in the National Technical University in Ukraine "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" (NTUU "KPI")?

4. What kind of research work can you carry out at our university?

5. Do you regularly attend lectures and seminars?

6. How long does the academic term last?

7. When are the classes over?

8. Why do you go to these places: a library, a dean’s office, a gym, a hostel, a students’ canteen, an assembly hall?

4. Test yourself. Are you attentive?

• There are some portraits and memorial plates on the walls of buildings and monuments on the territory of the University to the prominent people who studied or worked at the KPI. Do you know their names? Tell your groupmates about them.

• What classrooms, labs, faculties’ offices, departments can you find in the main building?

• How many storeys has the library got?

READING

5. a) Underline the stressed sound in each word as in the example. Practise reading.

mechanical, technological, chemical, glorify, speciality, specialization, engine, consecration, leisure, knowledge, physical, engineering, enthusiasm, metallurgist

b) Practise reading the following figures paying attention to the comma: 70%; 374; 1,000; 21; 15,000; 150,000; 2,000; 2,650,000; 1989−2012 (years).

6. Read the article "Our University" and answer the questions.

1. When was the KPI founded?

2. How long does training of full-time students / tuition by correspondence last?

3. When was the KPI founded? How many faculties were there at the KPI at that time? Name these faculties.

4. Who was the first rector? What field of science did he work in?

5. What institutes were founded on the KPI basis?

6. What famous people studied and worked at the KPI?

7. What research tendencies are particularly interesting for university students and scientists?

8. What new faculties were formed and with what purpose?

9. How do student spend their leisure?

7. Find 7 phrases with the adjectives in the text.

Example: prominent people