Part 2 George Washington Carver: The Plant Doctor

Vocabulary Practice

1. Explain the meaning of the following words and word combinations and translate them into Russian.

1. to snatch (up)

2. kidnap(p)er

3. to pursue the raiders

4. ransom

5. intermediary

6. burden

7. benefit

8. obvious

9. adept at smth.

10. corollary

11. arrogance

12. humility

13. to hinder

14. solitary

15. insatiable thirst for learning

16. brief hiatus

17. to acquire smth.

18. avid correspondent

19. to inquire

20. apparently

21. quite at random

22. quite by accident

23. socially timid

24. to buoy

25. assiduous study

26. dedicated student

27. to lack in fundamentals

28. to make up the deficiencies

29. to enroll in

30. prestigious and lucrative positions

31. dissemination

32. to draw out/ to bring out

33. out of place

34. hostile

35. to rise up against smth.

36. superiority

37. total apathy

38. to conspire

39. to tumble over each other

40. to boost (the discoverer)

41. to survive

42. specimen

43. to be possessed by smth.

44. eminence

45. artifact

46. sample

47. ample proof

48. obstacle

2. Translate into English.

1. не предвещать ничего хорошего, служить дурным предзнаменованием

2. не говоря уже о

3. не иметь пристрастия

4. не иметь другого выхода, кроме

5. крыша над головой, кров

6. безопасность

7. быть искусным, знатоком в чем-либо

8. домашние ремесла

9. человек, легко находящий практическое решение проблемы

10. испытывать недостаток базовых знаний

11. наверстать, восполнить нехватку

12. поворотный момент

13. занимать пост

14. получить степень магистра в

15. никогда не терять из виду цель

16. специально оборудованный

17. воплотить в жизнь

18. стадия критики

19. новомодный

20. представление о

21. сомневаться в научной состоятельности подхода

22. последнее обвинение

23. необоснованный

24. ввиду чего-либо

25. обширные знания

26. бросить привычку

27. ни в какое другое время

28. остро чувствовать, понимать

29. не проходит ни дня

30. признание

31. подытожить

32. пренебрегать

33. быть очарованным

34. человеческие способности

35. цвет кожи

36. присуждать степень

37. почетная степень

38. свидетельствовать в пользу

39. преодолеть

3. Fill in the blanks with prepositions or adverbs where necessary.

1. The poor child was snatched up … a group of criminals in order to get a large ransom for him.

2. He was valued by the slaves because he had no relish … cruelty.

3. Especially adept … science, he later excelled … botany.

4. After he finished a secondary school, he set … from his home town … the distant country he knew nothing of.

5. He chose number 13 quite … random (quite … accident) and won the first prize.

6. Rather an ugly boy in his childhood, at the age of 17 he turned … a handsome young man.

7. Nobody doubted … the honesty of the elderly woman.

8. A lot of people tried to oppose … his monstrous plans, but in vain.

9. The word ‘independent’ is derived … the word ‘dependent’.

10. George Washington Carver was a figure widely recognized for his art of painting, let … for his achievements in botany and education.

11. This school is famous for its classrooms specially equipped … the brand-new computers.

12. All his life he was possessed … the idea of turning ‘ugly’ into ‘beautiful’.

13. To understand how precious life is, one needs to pass … all the difficulties and mishaps.

14. The University was named … a world-famous writer who had graduated from it.

15. He tried to quit … smoking several times, but he couldn’t.

The article that you are going to read now comes from the Internet site of Tuskegee University where George Washington Carver worked for more than forty years. Read the text and translate it into Russian.

Legacy of George Washington Carver

Scientist Extraordinaire, Man of Faith, Educator and Humanitarian

As a botany and agriculture teacher to the children of ex-slaves, Dr. George Washington Carver wanted to improve the lot of “the man farthest down,” the poor, one-horse farmer at the mercy of the market and chained to land exhausted by cotton.

Unlike other agricultural researchers of his time, Dr. Carver saw the need to devise practical farming methods for this kind of farmer. He wanted to coax them away from cotton to such soil-enhancing, protein-rich crops as soybeans and peanuts and to teach them self-sufficiency and conservation.

Dr. Carver achieved this through an innovative series of free, simply-written brochures that included information on crops, cultivation techniques, and recipes for nutritious meals. He also urged the farmers to submit samples of their soil and water for analysis and taught them livestock care and food preservation techniques.

In 1906, he designed the Jessup Wagon, a demonstration laboratory on wheels, which he believed to be his most significant contribution toward educating farmers.

Dr. Carver’s practical and benevolent approach to science was based on a profound religious faith to which he attributed all his accomplishments. He always believed that faith and inquiry were not only compatible paths to knowledge, but that their interaction was essential if truth in all its manifold complexity was to be approximated.

Always modest about his success, he saw himself as a vehicle through which nature, God and the natural bounty of the land could be better understood and appreciated for the good of all people.

Dr. Carver took a holistic approach to knowledge, which embraced faith and inquiry in a unified quest for truth. Carver also believed that commitment to a Larger Reality is necessary if science and technology are to serve human needs rather than the egos of the powerful. His belief in service was a direct outgrowth and expression of his wedding of inquiry and commitment. One of his favorite sayings was:

 

“It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.”

Our nation currently agonizes over questions about ethics and society in the wake of egregious moral abuses in our public and private lives. The life of Carver reminds us that such abuses will continue until we reunite ethical and technical reasoning in the context of a profound faith that holds all inquiry and action accountable.

Accomplishing this in the midst of so much diversity will not be easy. We can, however, approximate it if we act on the belief in a common humanity, which binds us together despite our differences of race, nationality and culture, and a common destiny that can be secured only if science and technology seek to serve broad and deep societal needs.

 At Tuskegee University, we continue to commit ourselves to inquiry and commitment, faith and knowledge, truth and service, scientific/technical competence and ethical maturity.

Such is the imprint of George Washington Carver upon us.

Part 3

Emily Dickinson: An Inland Soul