Speech Practice

Ex.1. Study the models and mind the difference between Active and Passive Participles:

to interest - “Computers interest me very much”.

to be interesting - “Computers are very interesting to me”.

to be interested in - “I am interested in computers very much”.

 

Complete the chart and translate the formed words into Russian:

to impress (by)
	surprising (at)
to bore (with)
		shocked (at)
to annoy (with)
		excited
	amusing
to depress
		disappointed (with)
to delight
	frightening
		embarassed
to offend

 

Translate the following into English using the above-mentioned words:

1. Меня сильно разочаровал его последний фильм. 2. Я никогда не встречал такого скучного человека.. 3. На церемонии он чувствовал себя смущенным. 4. Комары раздражают всех. 5. Результат оказался впечатляющим. 6. Кажется, я его обидел. Он выглядел унылым. 7. Сэм был просто в восхищении, когда ему подарили комьютер. 8. Вы меня удивляете. 9. Меня совершенно не интересует политика. 10. Стихи теперь никого не волнуют, важнее всего музыка.. 11. Я был поражен, услышав эту новость. 12. Мэтью боится быстрой езды, а я считаю, что это сильно возбуждает. 13. Какой смешной ребенок! Я удивляюсь, откуда у него столько энергии.

 

Ex. 2. Study the expressions with verbs and try to memorise them:

to DO = perform, carry out an action; work at, be busy with; study, learn;	to MAKE = construct or produce by combining parts together; establish; acquire; force; turn into
How do you do? to do a favor business with one’s best housework (washing,cooking,gardening) a translation DIY = do it yourself (usu. house decoration) to have to do with (be connected)	to make progress, a success an experiment, a mistake, an attempt, an effort a decision, one’s mind a /no difference a profit, a fortune an offer, a promise a good/bad impression tea, coffee

 

Insert the correct verb-noun combinations and translate into Russian:

1. We are... much business with German companies. 2. Could you... me a favor and... some tea? 3. While...ing the translation he... few mistakes. 4. He has... great progress in his studies since I last met him. 5. David... his best to... a good impression on the employer. 6. Several years ago Eltec was in financial difficulties, but then they... some efforts to recover. Now it is a profit-...ing company. 7. On Sundays John always... shopping while his wife...washing and cooking. 8. He left for America and... a fortune there. 9. You... a promise to keep it a secret. How could they learn about it? - I have nothing to... with that. 10. It... no difference now. I have already...up my mind. 11. He... another attempt but it... no good to him. 12. She is fond of..., especially knitting.

 

Ex. 3. Study the verbs and use them in the sentences that follow:

to get = become, change the state; receive; understand

to keep = remain in the same state; to observe

Once he got in touch with a businessman who offered him a job.

I always try to keep in touch with my friends.

 

1. You should... your promise. 2. I’m... too old to dance. 3. She... mad when she heard the news. 4. He’s a very reliable person. I’m sure he’ll... a secret. 5. Go upstairs and... dressed! 6. I feel so excited! I’ve... my money back at last. 7. He... extremely tired but... doing his work. 8. She never... my jokes. 9. Please... the fire burning. 10. I hope you’ll manage to pass your exam. I’ll... my fingers crossed! 11. We... to know each other ages ago. 12. I did ask you to... silence. Why are you making so much noise?

 

Ex. These are some things that have improved the quality of people's live.

Describe each of them in accord with the examples given below:

- a personal stereo;

- - a mobile phone;

- - a calculator;

- - a refrigerator;

- - a microwave;

- - a TV and video;

- - a washing machine;

- - a fridge-freezer;

- - a hi-fi system;

- - a computer.

Examples:

a/ Describe it and say when it was invented.

A PERSONAL STEREO.

A personal stereo is a small, portable machine for playing tapes, which are listened through headphones. Some personal stereos have special features like an auto-reverse (автоперемотка) system and anti-roll mechanism to make the tape roll smoothly and play good quality stereosonic sound. The first stereo the Sony walkman was introduced in...

b/ Say why you think it has improved the quality of life.

It has improved the quality of life, because you can listen to your favourite music whrever you are - in the street, in the park, even on a bus or train. You can also listen to music while you are doing sports. The most important thing is that you don't disturb (беспокоить, мешать) other people with...

 

Ex. Read the E-mail tales below and share your experience of using it:

E-MAIL TALES

A. RICHARD DOOLING.

I'm a freelance writer and before e-mail I sent off my writing to an editor. I now participate in a kind of textual Darwinism. I spent 10 hours in front of my computer examining the blocks of text I've written for fitness. In this electronic economy, the survivors seem to fit onto a single screen.

B. JAN JAP.

I live in Hawaii, and last year my daughter Alia studied in Japan while my son Weston served in the Peace Corps in Micronesia. My youngest, Sara, just started at Brown University in Rhode Island. E-mail keeps us in touch and helps avoid phone bills of nearly $500 per month.

C. GERRY VILLAREAL.

When I moved from San Francisco to New York, I found that via e-mail I ended up talking more with folks than I did when I lived in S.F. In the last six years, I've met people all over the world through a music-discussion group. The message archives are a great time capsule. Unfortunately, anything stupid you say gets preserved, as well.

 

Ex. Read the text paying attention to the numbers in brackets that designate services/possibilities, provided by Internet and discuss the possibilities of the latter in your city

WIREDVILLE, U.S.A.

 

Such cyber-towns are already being built that hard-wire residents to each other and to the outside world. These towns will bring a whole new way of shopping, working and keeping in touch.

Welcome to Wiredville, where state of the art, fibre-optic cable under the street (1) changes the way you live and work. The Internet is always on (2), at speeds that are 100 times faster than today's 56K modems. The same wires also deliver cheap phone service with video capability (3) plus hundreds of digital cable channels to your televisions (4). The network within your home allows to monitor systems such as your burglar alarm (5) and air conditioner (6) from any computer in the world. Meanwhile, you can also log in to your office from you den???(7). In the neighbourhood, casual conversation will move from the yard to the Not (8). With everyone's e-mail address listed on the community Intranet you can plan parties over e-mail (9) or peruse the local bulletin boards to hire a babysitter (10). Handheld (11) and auto-based computers will offer access to the community network, letting you, say, tracks the location of a public bus (12) or get directions and traffic reports on your way to work (13). Worried moms can check the videocam in the local day-care center (14). And since the local stores and commercial outlets like the bank (15) operate online, you can order dinner, a dry-cleaning pickup, even groceries (16) to be delivered to your door. The local hospital (17) and school (18) are also on the network, which means that you can check in remotedly with doctors and teachers, and they can access the largest in long-distance learning and tele-medicine technology. But the whole thing really starts to pay off when you sign your kids up for activities like Little League (19), and then easily find other parents to shuttle them to the game.

Vocabulary:

resident - житель

outside - внешний

state of the art - (зд.) современный

keep in touch - поддерживать связь/контакты

fibre - волокно

deliver - доставлять, поставлять

within - в, в пределах

monitor - отслеживать

burglar - взломщик

alarm - здесь: система тревоги

casual - случайный, нерегулярный

listed - перечисленный, указанный

peruse - рассматривать

hire - нанимать

handheld - ручной

access - доступ

track - проследить

location - местонахождение

direction - направление

traffic - дорожное движение

worried - обеспокоенный

groceries - овощи и фрукты

remotedly - на расстоянии

shuttle - увозить и привозить

 

Ex.1 Improve your interpreting skill

 

Electronic Books   You will hear a radio programme in which two people, Marcia and Robert, talk about the differences between electronic book discs and conventional printed books.   Radio Presenter: You’ve probably noticed that you can’t buy long-playing records anymore – they’ve all been replaced by CDs. Is it possible that the same thing could happen to printed books? Will printed books disappear from our lives and be replaced by electronic books? We invited Marcia Brown, a computer expert, and Robert Smith, a novelist, to discuss the issues. You first, Marcia.   Marcia: It is my view that books are the dinosaurs of the 20th. I think that by the second or third decade of the 21st century, books will only be produced in tiny quantities for specialist collectors, if at all. We will obtain all the information we need by inserting CD-ROM discs into handheld computers, or downloading it from the Internet and reading from the screen. In fact, we can do this now. People will prefer this way of reading because of its sheer convenience. For example, the entire Oxford English Dictionary, twenty very heavy volumes in book form, can be placed on a disc that you can carry around in your pocket. The books weigh 66 kilograms. Because discs are so much lighter than books, people will find them much more convenient.   Robert: Well, I think that you are overstating your case quite a bit, Marcia, because although the Oxford English Dictionary can fit onto one disc, it can’t be used with a handheld computer. It has to be used with the kind of computer you have on your desk, which certainly can’t be carried around. It is much quicker to find the information in a book, to look up a word in a dictionary, for example, than to locate the information on a disc or from the Internet. And even a handheld computer is heavier than a paperback book, although I agree that the actual discs are lighter, but they are useless without something to play them on.     Marcia: Well, I’m not sure I entirely agree. The latest pocket computers are very small and light indeed. Of course, there is a long way to go and a lot of things to improve. We are in the same position as we were with books in the fifteenth century. I think you are forgetting how quickly things catch on and improve. The batteries, for example, although they don’t last very long, last a lot longer than they did a few years ago and the image, even in color, is very clear on the most up-to-date machines. Also although people like you, Robert, who are used to books and actually like books, can quickly find information in them, people who have grown up using computers from an early age can find the information they need very quickly and often prefer to do it that way. It is very noticeable that young people feel more comfortable with computers than they do with books.   Robert: I can see that certain types of books, especially reference books such as encyclopaedias and dictionaries, are very suitable for using in the form of electronic discs because you can have all the information available in your home or office without lots of space being taken up by large books. But this question of the quality of the image is a very important one. It is possible to call up a street plan on your disc, for example, and find you can’t read the street names because they are blurred. Until that is improved, people will still prefer to read print from a page. It’s just a much more pleasant experience to hold a book in your hand.   Marcia: I still think you are ignoring the pace of change. Think how fast mobile phones have improved and how popular they have become. When the first printed books appeared more than 500 years ago, I’m sure there were people who thought they were ugly compared with the beautiful, hand-written manuscripts produced by monks. They thought they were losing something valuable and in a sense they were right, but books had the immense advantages of being cheap and practical. It’s like that now with books on disc.   Robert: But not cheap, surely. The discs, not to mention the computers themselves, are much more expensive than books. And there are so many different systems, which are not necessarily compatible with each other.   Marcia: It’s true that we still have several different formats for disc books – and we need to reach agreement on one format – and that will happen, I’m sure. And prices are still higher than for conventional books but not for long. Quite soon a book in electronic form will be about the same price as a hardback novel. Think of videos – they used to cost much more than books, now they are cheaper. We have to look ahead and imagine how much things will have improved in thirty years’ time. That’s when there won’t be any more bookshops in your town.   Robert: I don’t know. What I can see right now is lots of new, very large and impressive bookshops opening up everywhere, which are a pleasure to visit.   Marcia: Yes, because they are facing a lot of competition from computer-based entertainment.

Электронные книги   Вы услышите радиопрограмму, в которой два человека, Марсия и Роберт, обсуждают отличия книг, записанных на электронные диски, от обычных печатных изданий.   Ведущий: Вы, наверное, заметили, что в продаже больше нет долгоиграющих пластинок, - их заменили компакт-диски. Может ли то же самое случиться с печатными книгами? Исчезнут ли они из нашей жизни и будут заменены электронными книгами? Мы пригласили специалиста по компьютерам, Марсию Браун и писателя Роберта Смитта высказаться по этому вопросу. Вам слово, Марсия. М.: По-моему, наши книги – это динозавры 20 века. Я думаю, что ко второму - третьему десятилетию 21 века книги, если и будут издаваться, то лишь крохотными тиражами для коллекционеров. Мы же будем получать всю необходимую информацию на экране, вставив диск в портативный компьютер или загрузив ее из интернета. Мы и сейчас уже фактически можем это делать. Люди будут предпочитать этот вид чтения из-за его удобства. Например, весь Большой оксфордский словарь, который представляет собой 20 тяжелых томов в книжном варианте, может поместиться на диск, который вы сможете носить в кармане. А книги весят 66 кг. Именно потому, что диски так намного легче книг, люди предпочтут их. Р. Ну, я думаю, Марсия, вы слегка приукрашаете свой пример, потому что хотя большой оксфордский словарь и может поместиться на один диск, Вы не сможете пользоваться им с помощью портативного компьютера. Для этого понадобится что-то вроде стационарного компьютера, который с собой не возьмешь. Да и гораздо быстрее найти информацию в книге, посмотреть слово в словаре, чем разместить ее на диске или перекачать из интенета. Да и к тому же, даже портативный компьютер тяжелее, чем книга в легком переплете, хотя, я согласен, что сам диск легче, но он бесполезен без соответствующей техники. М: Не могу вполне с вами согласиться. Последние портативные компьютеры - очень маленькие и легкие. Но, конечно здесь предстоит еще долгий путь, многое надо сделать. Ситуацию здесь можно сравнить с той, что была в 13 веке с книгами. Мне кажется, Вы не учитываете, насколько быстро сейчас улучшается техника. Например, батарейки. Хотя они и сейчас недолговечны, они работают намного дольше, чем несколько лет назад, а изображение, даже в цвете, - очень высокого качества на большинстве современных машин. И к тому же, Роберт, хотя такие люди как Вы, кто привык к книгам и может быстро находить в них нужную информацию, те, кто вырос с компьютером и пользуется им с детства, легко и быстро находят то, что им нужно. Они, конечно, предпочтут компьютер. То, что молодые люди чувствуют себя комфортнее с компьютером, чем с книгой, - очевидно. Р:Я понимаю, что определенные виды справочных книг, такие как энциклопедии и словари, очень удобны для использования в электронном виде, так как можно иметь дома или в офисе всю необходимую информацию, не загромождая пространство большими книгами. Но вопрос о качестве изображения очень важен. Можно, например, вызвать на экране план какой-то улицы и обнаружить, что названий прочесть невозможно, из-за "размытости" изображения. До решения этой проблемы люди будут всегда предпочитать чтение с бумажных страниц. Да и гораздо приятнее держать в руках книгу.   М.И всё-таки, мне кажется, Вы недооцениваете ритм времени. Задумайтесь о том, как быстро были усовершенствованы мобильные телефоны. Когда 500 лет назад появилась первая книга, я уверена, были люди, которые считали их уродливыми по сравнению с красивыми манускриптами, написанными монахами. Они считали, что теряют что-то значительное, и они были правы в некотором смысле, но книги имели огромное преимущество дешевизны и практичности. Ситуация с книгами и компьютерами сейчасаналогична той. Р.Только не дешевизна! Диски, не говоря уж о компьютерах, намного дороже книг. А такое количество различных систем, которые не всегда подходят друг к другу!     М. Да, это так. Существует несколько различных форматов для книг-дисков, и нам надо достичь согласия по формату, что, я уверена, произойдет. А цены все еще выше, чем для обычных книг, но не для длинных. Очень скоро книга в электронном виде будет стоить столько же, сколько роман в твердой обложке.Вспомните о видео, - они когда-то стоили намного дороже книг, а теперь они дешевле. Надо заглянуть вперед и представить себе, насколько улучшатся наши вещи через 30 лет. Вот тогда-то и не будет больше книжных магазинов.   Р. Ну, не знаю. Сейчас же я повсюду вижу множество новых больших и впечатляющих книжных магазинов, которые приятно посещать.   М. Да, и это потому, что они сталкиваются с сильной конкуренцией со стороны компьютерной индустрии развлечений.