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Passionate fighter for peace (1903-1960)
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Курс
Тext № 8
SOURCES OF POWER
The industrial progress of mankind is based on power: power for industrial plants, machines, heating and lighting systems, transport, communication. In fact, one can hardly find a sphere where power is not required.
At present most of the power required is obtained mainly from two sources. One is from the burning of fossil fuels, i.e. coal, natural gas and oil. The second way of producing electricity is by means of generators that get their power from steam or water turbines. Electricity so produced then flows through transmission lines to houses, industrial plants, enterprises, etc.
It should be noted, however, that the generation of electricity by these conventional processes is highly uneconomic. Actually, only about 40 per cent of heat in the fuel is converted into electricity. Besides, the world resources of fossil fuels are not ever-lasting. On the other hand, the power produced by hydroelectric plants, even If increased many times, will be able to provide for only a small fraction of the power required in the near future. Therefore much effort and thought is being given to other means of generating electricity.
One is the energy of hot waters. Not long ago we began utilizing water for heating and hot water supply, and in some cases, for the generation of electricity.
Another promising field for the production of electric power is the use of ocean tides. Our engineers are engaged in designing tidal power stations of various capacities. The first station utilizing this principle began operating in the Soviet Union on the Barents Sea in 1968.
The energy of the sun which is being used in various ways represents a practically unlimited source.
Using atomic fuel for the production of electricity is highly promising. It is a weel-known fact, that one pound of uranium contains as much energy as three million pounds of coal, so cheap power can be provided wherever it is required. However, the efficiency reached in generating power from atomic fuel is not high, namely 40 per cent.
No wonder, therefore, that scientist all over the world are doing their best to find more efficient ways of generating electricity directly from the fuel.
They already succeeded in developing some processes which are much more efficient, as high as 80 per cent, and in creating a number of devices capable of giving a higher efficiency. Scientists are hard at work trying to solve these and many other problems.
Words to be learnt:
besides prp - кроме, кроме того
capable a - способный
conventional а - стандартный, обычный
convert v - превращать
efficiency n - производительность, к.п.д.
effort n - усилие
engaged а - занятый
enterprise n - предприятие
flow v - течь
fuel n - топливо
however adv - однако
means n - средство
by means of - посредством
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case n - случай
cheap a - дешевый
capacity n - мощность
oil n - нефть
per cent n - процент
reach v - достигать
represent v - представлять
require v - требовать
source n - источник
succeed (in) v - удаваться
tide n - морской прилив и отлив
try v - стараться
namely adv - а именно
Ответьте на вопросы:
1. What is the industrial progress of mankind based on?
2 Which is the first widely applied method of producing electricity at present?
3 Which is the second way of generating power?
4 What (how high) is the efficiency of these two methods?
5 What do we use the energy of hot waters for?
6 When and where did the first power station using ocean tides begin operating in the USSR?
7 What can you say about the energy of the sun?
8 What fuel is the most promising for the production of electricity?
9. Is the efficiency of generating power from atomic fuel high or not?
10. What problem do scientists pay great attention to?
11. How high may the efficiency of devices converting electricity directly from the fuel be?
Тext № 9
IGOR VASlLYEVITCH KURCHATOV – ATOMIC SCIENTIST AND
PASSIONATE FIGHTER FOR PEACE (1903-1960)
With joy and pride we see that the genius of the Soviet people is mastering the atom's secrets. Among our famous atomic scientists the first place belongs by right to Academician Igor Kurchatov. Everybody knows that it was he who laid the foundation of the atomic might of Russia.
Since 1925 I.V.Kurchatov began to work at the Physical-Engineering Institute in Leningrad. It was here that he achieved great results in the research of dielectrics, which had been little known at that time.
As far as the early thirties atomic research was being successfully conducted in the Soviet Union. Nuclear physics was in need of powerful source of fast particles capable of inducing a nuclear reaction. A group of young research workers, with I.Kurchatov at the head, began investigating the physics of the nucleus of the atom. Their investigations led to a striking discovery of fission of uranium nucleus.
I.Kurchatov understood that the neutron was the key to splitting the atom and he put all his efforts into neutron research. In 1940 I.Kurchatov came to the conclusion that slow neutron chain reaction was quite possible. But World War II interrupted his work, and all research programs had to be suspended. During the war I.Kurchatov gave all his energy and knowledge to the strengthening of military might of our country.
In 1949 the Government announced that the secret of the atom bomb no longer existed and the USA had lost its atomic monopoly. It was decided that scientists would continue their work in the field of atom application for peace.
On June 27, 1954, the first atomic power plant in the world was put into operation near Moscow. This power generating installation based on the uranium-graphite reactor was Kurchatov's favorite creation. Later he was carried away by another great idea – to master controlled thermonuclear reactions and he surely declared that the second half of the 20th century would be the era of thermonuclear energy.
I.V.Kurchatov died in I960 but his experience and his knowledge have become immortalized in the world's first atomic power plant, atom-driven ice-breakers, in Dubna Institute and in the broad development of thermonuclear research in our country.
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Notes on the text
by right -по праву
as far as the early thirties - еще в начале тридцатых годов
Words to be learnt
belong v - принадлежать
chain n - цепь
conclusion n - заключение
experience n - опыт
fission n - расщепление
ice-breaker n - ледокол
induce v - вызывать
install v - устанавливать
installation n - установка
key n - ключ
lay (laid) v - класть
lead (led) v - вести, приводить
lose (lost) v - терять
master v - овладевать
might n - могущество
nuclear a - ядерный
particle n - частица
right n - право
slow a - медленный
split v - расщеплять
war n - война
Ответьте на вопросы:
1. What was I.V. Kurchatov?
2. When was he born?
3. What place does I.V. Kurchatov occupy among the famous atomic scientists?
4. What city did I.V.Kurchatov begin his scientific activity in?
5. What discovery did the experiments of Kurchatov's group lead to?
6. What was the result of this work?
7. What conclusion did Kurchatov come to in 1940?
8. Why was his neutron research program interrupted?
9. What did he do during the war?
10. When was the first atomic power plant in the world put into operation?
11. When did Kurchatov die?
12. How are his great ideas immortalized?
Тext № 10
TODAY'S ASTONISHING COMPUTERS
Not long ago computers were not very reliable and comparatively slow in operation. Since then, several generations of complex electronic computing equipment have been developed, each being significantly better than the one before it. Almost every day a new use is found for these astonishing devices to help man.
We know a computer to be a complex electronic device that can store and process vast quantities of information. Following instructions, computing equipment will perform calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and provide the answers to a large variety of problems in a tiny fraction of time.
A computer is known to be the "heart" of an electronic data processing system, other parts of equipment being auxiliary.
There are two main types of computing equipment – digital and analogue. They work differently and yield different results. The digital computer is performing a much broader range of functions than the analogue one.
The analogue computer, as its name implies, produces analogues orparallels of the process to be described or the problem to be solved. Both the digital and the analogue computers must be "programmed". This means they must be set up in such a way that they can produce a result from the information fed into them, and information itself must be organized so it can be handled by the machines. These devices working by electronic impulses perform at fantastic speed and with great precision.
Looking to the future, computer makers see no end to the things they would like to accomplish. The computer of the future seems to be developed by using bionics – biological functions of plants and animals – as a guide in designing electronic circuits.
Nowadays computer makers are working at the problem of introducing small computers into our everyday life making them personal. They are trying to develop a computer that will understand human language.
Each new generation of computers opens up new possibilities for basic and applied research.
Notes on the text
tiny fraction of time - очень короткий период времени
data processing system - система обработки информации
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Words to be learnt
accomplish v - осуществлять plant n - растение
auxiliary a - вспомогательный precision n - точность
data n - данные, информация process v - обрабатывать
describe v - описывать range n - диапазон
digital a - цифровой reliable a - надежный
generation n - поколение set up (set) v - организовывать
yield [ji:ld] v - выдавать, производить
Ответьте на вопросы.
1. What were the computers like not long ago?
2. Have they been developed since that time?
3. What is a computer?
4. What calculations can a computer perform?
5. What two types of computing equipment do you know?
6. Do digital and analogue computers work in the same way?
7. How do digital and analogue computers work?
Тext № 11
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