Пособия / Techical English Basics. Основы технического английского

seems to connect all geniuses (even young ones like Mozart) – a ‘tenyear rule’. Geniuses have always worked hard in their chosen areas for at least a decade before they create their first masterpieces.

Words and expressions to be remembered:

Vocabulary and Comprehension Exercises

I. (Text 1) Read the words and put down their Russian equivalents.

Quatz, base, principle, stress.

II. Complete the sentences using the correct variant.

1. A fuse serves ........

a.as a load b. as a protection

2.Fuses are used ........

a.for d.c. only b. for both a.c. and d.c.

3.In case of a fault ........

a.the whole fuse should be replaced b. the faulty link should be

replaced

4.Fuse protection is based on ........

a.a simple principle b. a complex principle

III. (Text 1) Find English equivalents.

Защитные приборы; используются в различных электрических цепях, электрооборудовании и установках; перегрузки и короткие замыкания; низковольтные промышленные установки; звено плавкого предохранителя; нагревается до точки плавления; источник тока; в случае дефекта; следует заменить; постоянный ток; переменный ток.

IV. (Text 1) Answer the following questions.

1. What does a fuse serve for?

2.For what type of current are fuses used?

3.What should be done in case of a faulty fuse?

4.What principle is fuse protection based on?

–91 –

V. (Text 2) Answer the following questions.

1. What have Michelangelo, Wagner and Charlie Chaplin got in common?

2.According to the text, how can the death of a parent influence a

child?

3.Did Freud’s work on the importance of dreams finally come to nothing?

4.What id the ‘ten-year rule’?

VI. Find words in the text which mean:

1. The type of education, family and social experience that someone has. (n)

2.The time when you are a child. (n)

3.When people have very little money. (n)

4.Cruel treatment of someone. (n)

5.The opposite of successes (n, pl) and succeed (v).

6.An important discovery or development. (n)

7.Works of art, pieces of writing, etc, of an excellent standard. (n, pl)

8.Typical of a child, in a positive way. (adj)

Grammar Exercises

I. Образуйте новые слова в соответствии с образцом и переведите их на русский язык.

e.g.: charge – overcharge – перегрузка сonnect – disconnect – разъединять

Pressure, heat, stress, current, load, organize, place, stress, use.

II. Образуйте существительное от данных глаголов в соответствии с образцом.

Переведите новое слово на русский язык. e.g: to protect – protection – защита

To utilize, to install, to reduce, to connect.

III. Рапределите данные слова по трём колонкам:

Utilizer, utilize, installation, displace, overheater, displacement, overproduction, starter, equip, protection, disorganize.

IV. Переведите на русский язык. Помните о переводе конструкций: both ... and, in case, up to.

1. Both solid and gaseous insulators are highly in use.

2.In case a fuse gets faulty it should be replaced by a new one.

3.Capacitors of very high capacity – up to 1000 and more mF – are utilized in modern installations.

V. Проанализируйте формы причастия переходного глагола ‘to ask’, приведенные в таблице. Затем прочитайте текст и скажите, какие формы причастия употреблены в нем.

People living in Japan have some customs different from ours. For example, we wipe our washed faces with dry towels (полотенце), they wipe their faces with wet towels. Entering houses our men take off their hats, the Japanese take off their shoes. We give presents when arriving, they leave them when departing. When in mourning (траур) we wear black, they wear white. We frown (хмуриться) when being scolded (бранить), they smile.

When we say that Japanese are strange people, they could reply, ‘The same to you’.

VI. Прочитайте и переведите на русский язык следующие словосочетания, обращая внимание на причастия.

a.the student attending all the lectures, the plan containing many details, the workers building a new house, the engineer using a new method, the car developing the speed of 80 km, the plant producing machinery;

–93 –

b.using new methods, constructing new machines, achieving good results, discovering new lands, using new equipment, receiving important information, moving at high speed;

c.having calculated the distance, having returned home, having found the new way, having developed the speed of 120 km, having passed all the examinations;

d.the achieved results, all developed countries, the research made in the laboratory, the film shown to the students, the letter sent to his parents.

VII. A. Образуйте Participle I (Indefinite, Active) от следующих глаголов и переведите их на русский язык.

To build, to grow, to think, to bring, to move, to obtain, to produce, to get, to teach, to tell, to make, to begin.

B. Образуйте Participle II от следующих глаголов и переведите их на русский язык.

To find, to send, to change, to keep, to maintain, to install, to show, to develop, to receive, to write, to make, to do, to see, to say, to speak.

VIII. Переведите следующие словосочетания на английский язык:

a.профессор, читающий лекцию; студент, изучающий английский язык; мальчики, играющие на улице;

b.студент, спрошенный преподавателем; книга, взятая в библиотеке; машина, сконструированная молодым инженером;

c.изучая иностранный язык, читая книгу, строя дороги, увеличивая скорость, устанавливая новое оборудование, применяя новые методы;

d.изучив один иностранный язык; прочитав интересную книгу, закончив работу, построив дорогу.

XI. Переведите следующие предложения на русский язык, обращая внимание на причастия.

1. He heard the voices coming through the open window.

2.Waiting for him I looked through the newspapers.

3.They remained at home refusing to go anywhere that day.

–94 –

4.The channel linking the two seas is being built now.

5.The explanation given was not complete.

6.Having obtained the necessary results they stopped their experimental work.

7.When studying elements Mendeleyev found that they could be divided into nine groups.

8.When burnt, coal produces heat.

UNIT 18

Grammar Review: 1. Gerund, its functions; gerundial constructions

Texts: 1. ‘Components of Electric Circuits’ 2. ‘Cars: Passion or Problem’

Text 1. Components of Electric Circuits

The main components of any circuit are devices that produce and utilize electric energy. They are 1. Power sources, 2. Utilizing loads, 3. Connecting conductors. The most common power sources are electric generators and primary cells. Electric generators convert chemical energy into electric energy.

Loads include electric heaters, electric motors, incandescent lamps, etc. Motors convert electric energy into mechanical, incandescent lamps and heaters convert electric energy into light and heat. Utilizing devices or loads convert electric energy into thermal, mechanical or chemical energy.

Electric power is delivered from power sources to loads by electric wires. According to their material, wires can be aluminium, copper, steel, etc. Besides, electric circuits use different types of switches, protection devices (relays and fuses), and meters (ammeters, voltmeters, wattmeters, etc.).

Words and expressions to be remembered:

– 95 –

Text 2. Cars: Passion or Problem?

For some people, the car is a convenient form of transportation. But for many people, cars are also a source of passion and pleasure. Yet cars can be a source of many problems.

In 1903, Henry Ford began selling the Model T car for $825. His company, Ford Motors, was the first to produce cars in large numbers. Most Americans buy a new car every five or six years.

Some environmentalists believe that such forms of public transportation such as buses and trains have not been fully developed in the United States. They try to teach others that public transportation saves fuel and helps to protect the environment. One environmentalist, Jan Lundberg, left his Mercedes-Benz in Los Angeles and moved to the forests of northern California. There he works on the Auto-Free Times, a newspaper that teaches people how to live without driving. Lundberg travels on foot, on bicycle, or by bus.

Lundberg and other environmentalists dream of replacing cars with bicycles, but most people around the world believe that the car is a necessary part of life in today’s world. Still, there is an important question that must be answered: What kind of fuel will we use when gasoline is no longer available? Lundberg believes that by the year 2021, there will no longer be oil for gasoline makers to use. To solve this problem, car companies in Korea, Japan, Europe, and the United States are trying to develop an electric car that will not require gasoline at all.

Cars may change, but their importance will not. Cars are important to nearly everyone, including engineers, businesspeople, environmentalists, and even poets. Poet Curt Brown believes that cars are part of our passion for new places and new experiences. According to Brown, this ‘very, very comfortable flying chair’ will continue to bring us travel and adventure, no matter how it changes in the future.

Words and expressions to be remembered:

Vocabulary and Comprehension Exercises

I. (Text 1) Read the words and put down their Russian equivalents.

Aluminium, chemical, generator, material, mechanical, thermal, motor.

– 96 –

II. (Text 1) Translate into Russian.

Convertible values, protected power source, various fuses, variable resistors, chemical cells, cells delivering electric power, generator converting mechanical energy, circuits utilizing common fuses.

Primary cells deliver electric power.

Different kinds of energy can be converted into electric energy. Protection devices are utilized in any circuit.

III. (Text 1) Find English equivalents.

Производят и потребляют электроэнергию; источники энергии; соединители; электрические генераторы и первичные батареи; преобразуют химическую энергию в электрическую; электрические обогреватели; лампы накаливания; электрические цепи; реле и плавкие предохранители; амперметры, вольтметры, ваттметры.

IV. (Text 1) Complete the sentences using the correct variant.

1. The main components of electric circuits are ........

a.loads and wires b. power sources, load and wires

2.Power sources are used ........

a.to produce electric energy b. to deliver it to the loads

3.Electric conductors are used ........

a.to connect the circuit elements b. to deliver electric power

4.Protection devices are utilized ........

a.in some circuits b. in any circuit

5.A switch is utilized ........

a.in some circuits b. in any circuit

V. (Text 1) Answer the following questions.

1. What are the main components of an electric circuit?

2.What is the function of an electric source?

3.What is the function of a load?

4.What is the function of wire conductors?

5.What other devices are utilized in a circuit.

VI. (Text 2) Number the following main ideas in the order they appear in the text.

1. Soon there will be no oil to fuel cars.

2. Cars, whether gasoline or electric powered, will always be im-

portant.

– 97 –

3.Cars can cause problems.

4.To some people, cars are more than transportation.

5.Some environmentalists teach people how to live without cars.

VII. (Text 2) Answer the following questions.

1. What are cars for people?

2.When did Henry Ford begin selling his car?

3.What was the price of the car?

4.How often do most Americans buy a new car?

5.What do some environmentalists believe?

6.Will the gasoline fuel always be available?

7.What car will not require gasoline at all?

Grammar Exercises

I. Проанализируйте формы герундия, приведенные в таблице. Затем прочтите и переведите текст. Скажите, в каких функциях употреблен герундий.

Lena has a bad habit. Her friends always tell her to stop smoking. They say that smoking is unhealthy. Lena knows it, but still keeps on smoking. She wants to stop, but she can’t. Smoking is a habit she just can’t break.

II. Переведите следующие предложения, обращая внимание на герундий.

1. Reading English technical journals is important for an engineer.

2.They began making the experiment in May.

3.What is the reason for his having left our city so suddenly?

4.We heard of the experiment having been started last week.

–98 –

5.Instead of restoring the old theatre they decided to build a new one in the centre of the town.

6.The idea of creating a multi-stage rocket belongs to Tsiolkovsky.

7.Before being sent up the balloon was filled with a special gas.

8.What apparatus do we use for measuring air pressure?

UNIT 19

Grammar Review: 1. Infinitive

Texts: 1. ‘Electric Lines and Their Efficiency’

2. ‘Hackers’

Text 1. Electric Lines and Their Efficiency

Wires are used to deliver electric power and to interconnect different components of electrical installations. Conductors used for electric wiring are commonly produced of copper and aluminium. Aluminium is widely used nowadays due to its low cost. Copper is also widely used in electrical engineering but its cost is much higher.

Wires connecting the components of various installations may be insulated. They may also be used without insulation. Since in short lengths of wire power loss is exceedingly low one can ignore it. In long wires (longer than 10 m), power loss cannot be ignored since it is rather high. Power loss in a line should not exceed a definite value. If this value is exceeded the line becomes inefficient.

One should know that the efficiency of a line is not constant – it may change. The value of the line efficiency depends on the load: the greater the load the lower is the line efficiency. At voltage losses of 2 to 5 per cent the efficiency of a line is 98-95 per cent. Protecting devices, fuses and relays are used to protect the circuit against overcurrents and short-circuits.

Words and expressions to be remembered:

With the development of technology in the twenty-first century, it would be really difficult to imagine life without computers. They are a

– 99 –

source of information, education and entertainment, but today’s world of computers can also be quite frightening and dangerous. This is because of people who use computers for illegal purposes. They are called hackers.

Hackers spend their time playing with computer data in all parts of cyberspace. Much of what they do is not dangerous, but sometimes their activities break the law, for example, when they break into websites, take control of computers or create viruses. They are especially interested in breaking through the security of military websites.

Hackers know how to trick people just using their programs. They use a ‘Trojan Horse’, a program that looks perfectly safe, but actually contains something destructive. The only way of not getting into trouble is not to open it.

Although they can get serious punishment if they are caught, most hackers still think that what they do is a game. They often meet at festivals to take part in discussions, share their experiences, meet other hackers and generally to have a good time. These meetings are organised in well-known places like Las Vegas or Berlin. However, what the hackers do at such festivals is a secret and often many of their activities take place at night.

Recently, hacking has started to increase. Hackers are getting into computer systems and stealing or destroying information. It is certain that there will be a lot more of this high-tech crime in the twenty-first century.

Words and expressions to be remembered:

Vocabulary and Comprehension Exercises

I. (Text 1) Read the words and put down their Russian equivalents.

Line, station, engineer, engineering.

II. Put down the nouns corresponding to these verbs.

Model: to act – action

To ignore, to depend, to cost, to produce, to use, to lose.

– 100 –