Text 2 USES OF ELECTRICITY

Words for translation

to serve v	_______________	служить
to happen v	_______________	случаться
electric arc	_______________	электрическая дуга
gas discharge	_______________	разряд газа
like a candle	_______________	подобно свече
incandescent lamp	_______________	лампочка накаливания
filament n	_______________	нить накаливания
a “cold” daylight lamp	_______________	холодная лампа дневного света
on the average	_______________	в среднем
tungsten	_______________	вольфрам

Electricity is the power that made possible the engineering progress of today. When we look around us, we can find this power which is serving us in some way.

Probably, the most important use of electricity in the modern home is producing light. But we seldom think of what is happening to make it possible.

Do you know that the first man-made electric light illuminated the laboratory of the St Petersburg physicist Vasily Petrov in1802? He discovered the electric arc, a form of gas discharge. But in Petrov’s experiments the arc flame lasted for only a short time.

In 1876 Pavel Jablochkov invented an arc that burned like a candle for a long time and it was called “Jablochkov’s candle”. The source of light which was invented by Jablochkov won world-wide recognition.

At the same time some engineers were trying to develop an incandescent lamp. A young Russian engineer Alexander Lodygin made the first successful incandescent lamp. The famous American inventor Thomas Edison improved the lamp. He used a carbon filament. But Lodygin made another important improvement in the incandescent lamp: he invented a lamp with a tungsten filament, the lamp we use today.

Another electric light we use today is the light of the luminescent lamp – a “cold daylight lamp. Artificial daylight lamp are much cheaper that incandescent lamps and

last much longer. This is the lighting of the future.

The uses of electricity in the home do not end with lighting. There are more and more electric devices helping us in our home work.

Besides, electricity is the most important source of energy in industry as well. A worker in a modern plant uses on the average in the machines which he operates over 10 000 kilowatt – hours of electrical energy a year. This means that he uses enough electrical energy to supply seven or eight modern homes during a year.

Automation is one of the main factors of technical progress and automation is impossible without electricity.

We do not imagine our life without telephone, telegraph and radio communi-cations. Electricity gives them life. In recent years electricity made a great contribution to radio communication between the space-ships and also between the astronauts and the earth.

Modern research laboratory does not exist without the aid of electricity. Nearly all measuring devices which are used in nuclear power are operated with the aid of electricity as well.

Words to be learnt

modern adj	________________	современный
to produce v	________________	производить
man-made adj	________________	искусственный
to invent v	________________	изобретать
source n	________________	источник
to develop v	________________	развивать, разрабатывать
famous adj	________________	известный
to improve v	________________	улучшать
light n	________________	свет
artificial adj	________________	искусственный
industry n	________________	промышленность
to mean v	________________	означать
energy n	________________	энергия
to supply v	________________	снабжать
automation n	________________	автоматизация
main adj	________________	главный
contribution n	________________	вклад
research n	________________	научное исследование
measuring devices	________________	измерительные приборы
to operate v	________________	управлять

Text 3 THE FIRST RUSSIAN WOMAN-SCIENTIST

Words for translation

non-Euclidian geometry	_______________	неэвклидова геометрия
well-off family	_______________	состоятельна семья
to puzzle v	_______________	озадачить
problem	_______________	(здесь) задача
to head v	_______________	возглавлять
right n	_______________	право
the only way out for her	_______________	единственным выходом для неё
the woman should be married	_______________	женщина должна быть замужем
along with	_______________	наряду
vainly adj	_______________	тщетно
position n	_______________	должность
a Corresponding member	_______________	член-корреспондент

The great Russian mathematician, Sophia Kovalevskaya lived in the second half of the 19th century. It was the period of Russian’s progress in science and culture. It was the time when Lobachevsky created a new non-Euclidian geometry and Chebyshev organized a new school of mathematicians.

Sophia was born in Moscow on February 15, 1850 in a well-off family but spent her childhood in a village. Her father, a well-educated person himself, gave a good education to his children. When Sophia was eight an experienced teacher taught her arithmetic, grammar, literature, geography and history. The girl showed an unusual gift in mathematics and at the age of twelve puzzled her teacher when she gave a new solution to a difficult unsolved problem.

In 1867 Sophia wanted to continue her studies in St Petersburg, where her family spent winters. But it was impossible for a woman to attend lectures at the University. Even Chebyshev who at that time headed the Russian mathematical school had no right to allow her to attend his own lectures. The only way out for her was to go abroad, but in this case there was a condition that the woman should be married. Sophia married Vladimir Kovalevsky and soon left Russia.

Sophia Kovalevskaya studied at Heidelberg University, she attended lectures and did a lot of research and practical work.

In 1871 the Kovalevskys went to Berlin. During four years in Berlin Sophia wrote three dissertations. When three scientific masterpieces by Kovalevskaya appeared in 1874, Hettingen University awarded her the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

On her return to Russia she vainly tried to get a post at St Petersburg University. Despite the efforts of Mendeleyev, Butlerov and Chebyshev, Sophia Kovalevskaya, an outstanding scientist already, didn’t get any position at the University. The tsarist government didn’t want to have women-professors. Again S. Kovalevskaya returned to Berlin where she completed her work on the refraction of light in crystals.

In 1883 she accepted the offer of Stockholm University and was elected professor of mechanics and held this post until her death in 1891.

In 1888 she won the highest prize which was offered by the Paris Academy of Sciences for the solution of complicated problem: to perfect the theory of movement of a solid body about an immovable point. Her solution made a valuable addition to the result submitted by Euler and Lagrange. In 1889 Kovalevskaya was awarded another prize, this time by the Swedish Academy of Sciences. In her numerous scientific works Kovalevskaya solved the problems which many scientists couldn’t solve during many years.

Along with her scientific and pedagogical work she carried out literary work took part in editing the journal “Acta Mathematica”, and translated Chebyshev’s works into French. For literary work she was elected member of the Literary Club in Stockholm.

When she became a world-famous scientist Kovalevskaya won recognition in her own country. In 1889 she was elected a Corresponding-member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Unfortunately, Sophia Kovalevskaya died at the age of 41 on February 10, 1891, just as she had attained the height of her fame.

Words to be learnt

to create v	________________	создавать
experienced	________________	опытный
to teach v	________________	обучать
gift n	________________	дар, талант
solution n	________________	решение
difficult adj	________________	трудный
to continue v	________________	продолжать
impossible adj	________________	невозможный
to attend lectures	________________	посещать лекции
to allow v	________________	позволять
masterpiece n	________________	шедевр
to appear v	________________	появляться
to award v	________________	награждать
outstanding adj	________________	выдающийся
to complete v	________________	завершать
complicated adj	________________	сложный
valuable adj	________________	ценный
numerous adj	________________	многочисленный
to solve v	________________	решать
to carry out v	________________	проводить

Text 4 GRAVITATION

Gravitation is a very important force in the universe. Every object has gravitational pull which is like magnetism. But, unlike magnetism, gravitation is not only in iron and steel. It is in every object large or small; but large objects, such as earth, have a stronger pull than small ones.

Isaac Newton, the great scientist of the seventeenth century, first studied gravitation. When he was a boy, he often saw how apples fell to the ground. He wondered why they fell towards the earth and why they did not fly up into the sky.

According to ¹ the law which he later produced everything in the universe attracts everything else towards itself. The sun attracts the earth and the earth attracts the sun. The earth attracts the moon and the moon attracts the sun. Although the bigger object has the stronger attraction, all objects, in fact ² have some attraction too but we do not notice the gravitational pull of a book because the pull of the earth is very much greater.

Why does the earth always move round the sun, and not fly off into cold space? The sun’s gravitation gives the answer. The earth always tries to move away in a straight line, but the sun always pulls it back. So it continues on its journey round and round the sun.

The sun is one of then stars in the galaxy, in which there are about 100 000 million stars. It is not in the middle of the galaxy, but rather ³ near one edge.

There are millions of galaxies in the universe and so there are thousands of millions of millions of suns. Many astronomers believe that some of these suns have planets as our sun does.

Gravitation is the force which holds all the atoms of a star together. It holds the sun together and holds the atoms of the earth together. It holds us on the earth.

Einstein produced a new law of gravitation. Its main results are the same as the results of Newton’s law; but in very small and fine matters Einstein’s law gives different results. One of these is that gravitation bends light a little; but according to Newton’s law gravitation has very little effect on light. Einstein showed this fact by means of mathematics and not by experiment. And astronomers later proved by experiments that Einstein was right.

Примечания:

1 according to – в соответствии с

2 in fact – на самом деле, фактически

3 but rather – а скорее