A Congress

1. What problems does a biological (oncological, etc.) congress deal with? 2. Why are congresses held? How often are they held? What does it depend on? What has the importance of a certain branch of science got to do with it? 3. When does the Preparatory (Organisation) Commit­tee start its work? What are its duties? 4. Why is it important that the delegates should know the programme beforehand? 5. What language does a delegate use when making his report? 6. Why are there special booths for translators? 7. Why are there radios (radio receivers) built into the chairs of the delegates? 8. What are earphones for? 9. What makes the work of a congress successful?

Ex. 32. Read the passage, апзшг the. questions, using the vocabulary of the lesson and retell it.

A Colorado farmer finished his work for the day and turned toward the house, where supper was waiting. In the dark autumn sky he noticed the lights of an airplane. It was United Air Lines Flight* Number 629, eleven minutes out of Denver and heading for Portland, Oregon, with thirty-nine passengers and five crew members.** Suddenly there was a terrible explosion. It was 7.03 P.M., November 1, 1955. The farmer standing in his yard had witnessed one of the most shocking mass mur­ders in the annals of American crime.

When news of the tragedy reached Denver, only one man knew that murder had been committed that night. Only one man knew that a time bomb had been ticking in an old suitcase when it was loaded on the plane. The man was Jack Gilbert Graham, aged twenty-three, who once told a neighbour, "I'd do anything for money."

Jack Graham had driven his mother Mrs. Daisy King, to the Den­ver airport to put her aboard Flight 629, the beginning of a long-plan­ned journey to visit a daughter in Alaska. He carried her valise and her old suitcase from the automobile to the ticket counter to bs weighed.*** The luggage was thirty-seven pounds over the sixty-six pound limit.

An airline ticket agent suggested (to Mrs. King that she might save $27 by lightening her luggage and mailing part of her clothing.

Mrs. King turned to her son. "Do you think I'll need all this?"

"Yes, Mother," he assured her. "I'm sure you will need it."

Mrs. King hesitated a moment and then nodded. While she was pay­ing the overweight charge, her son filled out two insurance policies for $37,500 each and two others for S 6,250 each. Mrs. King signed three of the policies but for some reason Jack didn't get her signature on one for $37,500. Perhaps the ticking of the time bomb was beginning to sound in his ears and he was becoming panicky. His mother's plane was behind schedule and time was running out.

Flight 629 arrived eleven minutes late. For Jack Graham there were twelve more agonizing minutes while the plane sat waiting for a late passenger. At last the door of the plane shut behind the late passenger, and at 6.52 P.M. the big ship took off.