Part I Reading
Read the article and choose the correct answer.
Nicola Tesla.
For some reason his name is not widely known though he could join the company of the most famous scholars like Edison and Newton. He achieved remarkable results in mechanics, engineering, electricity, magnetism, and energy transmitting. His researches and his astonishing discoveries could have accelerated the science and technological progress tremendously, but they didn’t.
The bulk of his theories and drafts were never implemented. Lots of his theoretical and engineering works were either never published, or lost, or just vanished and even the family weren’t able to trace the track of the papers.
The oblivion and rare references in scientific and popular science journals could have been caused by different reasons, his complicated and controversial personality included, but anyone who is keen on physics is very well familiar with his name — Tesla is the unit to measure magnetic induction or magnetic flux, and is used to define the intensity of magnetic fields.
Nicola Tesla was born in 1856 and died in 1943. Serbian by origin, he spent most of his life in the United States and his life there was very diverse. He did unskilled jobs to feed himself and to generate money for research. He was vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He cherished his friendship with Mark Twain and argued severely with Edison.
He had a photographic memory, was fluent in about eight languages and was claimed to suffer from mental disorder at the end of his life. Data about him is rather controversial. According to some documents, it was he who invented the radio and designed radio controlled devices. There is evidence that at the very end of the nineteenth century Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat at the electrical exhibition in the United States, though radio-controlled devices were not used till the middle of the twentieth century. Even more stunning and unbelievable were Tesla’s experiments with electricity.
Tesla supposed that it was possible to generate electricity from atmosphere and to transmit it wirelessly over huge distances. He had a specially equipped laboratory in Colorado Springs, State Colorado, the USA, where he experimented with electricity. According to his biographers the results were astonishing.
Tesla was able to create artificial lightning, much more powerful than the natural thing, and made it move in a certain direction, to a precisely calculated destination. If that had been true, it would make the most powerful and disastrous weapon mankind has ever known. There is a hypothesis, by the way, that the Tungus meteorite or Tunguska event, which happened in remote Siberia forests in 1908, was not a natural space body which exploded near the surface of the earth, but it was the effect of Tesla testing his directed energy weapon.
1 The author believes that the scientist
a) was as talented as his contemporary Edison.
b) was less talented than his contemporary Edison.
c) was absolutely unknown to the public.
d) was Edison’s and Newton’s friend.
2 The scientist’s name is not often mentioned because
a) he researched in a very narrow scientific field.
b) his researches were not important for science.
c) his family didn’t want to publish his papers.
d) there were some reasons the author is not well aware of.
3 According to the author, Nicola Tesla
a) never did any other job but researching into physics.
b) was good at languages and literature.
c) never had any friends.
d) inherited a fortune from his Serbian relatives.
4 The author says that Tesla’s radio-controlled boat
a) was never shown to public.
b) was re-designed in the middle of the twentieth century.
c) was technologically far ahead of its time.
d) was sold after the electrical exhibition.
5 There’s some evidence that Tesla experimented with electricity
a) and made some remarkable discoveries.
b) but didn’t get any results due to poor equipment.
c) but the experiments were banned by the authorities.
d) and his artificial lightning damaged his laboratory.
Part II Use of English.
- Use the words in the appropriate forms.
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Some environmentalists believe that our business and travelling activity adds to the global warming effect. We travel more than we ________(l) to. In recent years travelling by air has become more affordable, since the number of airlines ____________(2) dramatically and the level of competition has risen too. As the result, air ticket prices __________(3). Nowadays, __________(4) travel over continents to negotiate deals, to take part in conferences and even for a weekend — to relax or sightsee. When we travel, our planes burn lots of fuel, much more than any other _______ (5) of transport. A great amount of carbon dioxide _______ (6) in the air. According to statistics, the situation ______ (7) rapidly. Environmentalists insist that it’s necessary to raise people’s awareness of the environmental cost of air travelling and to encourage them to avoid _______ (8) when it is not really necessary. |
use increase fall businessman means emit deteriorate fly |
2. Change the verbs to nouns and write them down.
|
verb |
noun |
||
|
1 |
improve |
||
|
2 |
investigate |
||
|
3 |
punish |
||
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4 |
move |
||
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5 |
explain |
3. Write the words into two columns world combinations and its translations.
|
1 |
Pygmy elephant |
a |
Эволюция человека |
|
2 |
Environmental condition |
b |
Время оледенения |
|
3 |
An astonishing discovery |
c |
Слоны – пигмеи |
|
4 |
Tiny creatures |
d |
Гигантский грызун |
|
5 |
A limited food supply |
e |
Потрясающее открытие |
|
6 |
Human evolution |
f |
Крохотные существа |
|
7 |
A giant rodent |
g |
Условия окружающей среды |
|
8 |
Glacial times |
h |
Ограниченный запас пищи |