THE FIRST SEISMOGRAPH

In 1989 millions watched on television as a powerful earthquake rocked San Francisco shortly before baseball's World Series. That quake's tremors brought death and destruction around the Bay area.

Today we know that the shifting in the earth's crust causes earthquakes. This movement sends " seismic waves" across the earth's surface, much as dropping a pebble in a pond sends ripples across water.

People living in Han China believed that angry spirits caused earthquakes to express their displeasure with society. Scholars studied quakes closely, believing they were interpreting a divine message.

In A.D. 132 Zhang Heng invented the world's first seismograph, an instrument for detecting and measuring earthquakes. Zhang's device resembled a domed, cylindrical urn. Each of eight dragons around the top held a ball in its jaws. At the base of the urn sat eight toads with upturned heads and open mouths, each directly under a dragon.

When a tremor occurred, a mechanism caused one of the balls to fall into a toad's mouth. This action showed that somewhere an earthquake was taking place. The side of the seismograph where that toad was sitting indicated the quake's direction. As the ball popped into the toad's mouth, the loudness may have indicated the tremor's strength.

Zhang Heng's seismograph had one quality that today's instruments lack: it was also a work of art.

Соотнесите русские и английские словосочетания.

1. to express displeasure	a) поднятая вверх голова
2. to resemble an urn	b) произведение искусства
3. to cause destruction	c) напоминать сосуд
4. upturned head	d) выражать недовольство
5. a work of art	e) вызывать разрушения

2) Найдите в каждом ряду слово, противоположное по значению первому слову ряда.

1. detect	a) find	b) discover	c) loose	d) determine
2. angry	a) wicked	b) mean	c) powerful	d) cheerful
3. occur	a) happen	b) take place	c) disappear	d) hold
4. tremor	a) peace	b) quake	c) shake	d) vibration
5. strength	a) force	b) weakness	c) intensity	d) rate

Вставьте пропущенное слово согласно информации, данной в тексте.

1. In 1988 a powerful earthquake brought _____ to the Bay area.

2. Scientists who studied the quakes closely believed that they interpreted a ____ message.

3. The first seismograph resembled a domed ____ with dragons on it.

4. When a _______ occurred, one of the balls fell into a toad's mouth.

5. Zhang Heng's seismograph was actually a work of ______.

 

Напишите, соответствуют ли предложения содержанию текста. Отметьте данное утверждение как T (True), если предложение верно передает содержание текста, и как F (False), если оно не соответствует его содержанию.

	Statement	True	False
1.	We know that the shinning in the earth’s crust causes earthquakes.
2.	The movement in the crust sends “seismic waves” across the earth’s surface.
3.	The Chinese believed that angry spirits caused the earthquake.
4.	At the base of the urn sat eight dragons with upturned heads and open mouths.
5.	Zhang Heng’s seismograph could indicate the loudness of the quake.

Найдите в тексте необходимую информацию и дайте ответы на следующие вопросы.

1. What is earthquake?

2. What is seismograph?

3. What is mechanism of Heng’s seismograph?

4. How did Zhang Heng’s seismograph indicate the direction of the earthquake?

5. What preventive measures can be taken in case of the earthquake?