Conversational Practice

1. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Begin your answer with the following phrases:

I hold a similar view …

I share this viewpoint …

It’s correct to say …

This is a convincing argument …

I see no point at all to disagree that …

There is no point in denying that …

That doesn’t sound convincing enough …

Not quite so, I am afraid.

I don’t think this is just the case.

I doubt it. Far from that.

Just the other way round.

Not at all. Quite the reverse.

1. The general theory of relativity has numerous successors and competitors.

2. When Newton described gravitation for the first time, he gave science the law of universal gravitation.

3. Einstein’s theory allows for the existence of different models of the universe – “open”, “closed”, etc. – but Logunov and Mestvirishvili allow for only one model. Their universe can only be “flat”.

4. There are a few wise scientists who decline to favour one theory of gravitation over another. They attempt to study all the theories as a class, hoping thereby to unlock some of the secrets of gravitation in an unbiased manner independent of anyone particular theory.

2. Discuss the statements trying to prove your point of view. Use the following phrases:

I have to admit that…

I have reason to believe that…

My point is that…

It seems reasonable to assert that…

Summing up the discussion…

In conclusion, I may say…

To summarize, I may say…

To summarize the topic…

1. “The scientist must order. One makes science with facts as a house with stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a pile of stones is a house.” (Poincare.) Prove or disagree.

2. “Newton was not only the greatest but the most fortunate among scientists, because the science of the world can be created only once, and it was Newton who created it.” (Lagrange.) Your viewpoint.

3. Give a short summary of the text.

Text B. Gravitation

1. Read and translate the text: Gravitation

Gravity is a force that holds together the hundred billion stars of the Milky Way. It makes the Earth revolve around the Sun and the Moon around the Earth. There are three great names in the history of man's understanding of gravity: Galileo who was the first to study in detail the process of free and accelerated fall; Newton, the first to have the idea of gravity as a universal force. However, Newton admitted that he did not know its ultimate cause ("I will not feign hypothesis") but he offered many a keen guess at the nature and mechanism of gravitation; and Einstein, who said that gravity is nothing but the curvature of the four-dimensional space-time continuum.

In specifying gravitation on the new geometrical view Einstein did not prove "Newton's law of gravitation" wrong but offered a refining modifica­tion – though this involved a radical change in viewpoint. We must not think of either law as right (or wrong) because it is suggested by a great man or because it is embodied by beautiful maths; we are offered it as a brilliant guess from the real universe. The changes from Newton's predictions to Einstein's, though fundamental in nature, are usually too small in effect to make any difference in laboratory experiments or even in most astronomical measurements. By reducing gravity to geometrical properties of a space-time continuum, Einstein concluded that the electromagnetic field must also have some purely geometrical interpretation. The unified field theory, which grew from this conclusion had rough going and Einstein died without com­pleting it. Some scientists claim that it is very odd indeed that the theory of gravitation originated by Newton and developed further by Einstein should stand now in majestic isolation, having nothing to do with the rapid devel­opment of other branches of science. This is not the case, however. The progress in quantum mechanics, modern cosmology and astrophysics makes this claim unjustified.

Active Vocabulary

accelerated fall	property
cause	rapid
interpretation	refine
keen	to admit
keen guess	to feign
measurement	to revolve
odd	ultimate
prediction	unjustified