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17. Complete each sentence with the ending which you consider correct according to the text from exercise 16.
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17. Complete each sentence with the ending which you consider correct according to the text from exercise 16.
1. A developed system of numbering ________
2. An additional hand signal ________
3. In seventh-century Europe, the ability to count to a certain number ________
4. Thinking about numbers as concepts separate from physical objects ________
5. Expressing number differently according to class of item ________
18. Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text from exercise 16? There are three possible options. Choose one option. Discuss your opinions with your groupmates.
TRUE— if the statement agrees with the information;
FALSE — if the statement contradicts the information;
NOT GIVEN— if there is no information on this.
1. For the earliest tribes, the concept of sufficiency was more important than the concept of quantity.
2. Indigenous Tasmanians used only four terms to indicate numbers of objects.
3. Some peoples with simple number systems use body language to prevent misunderstanding of expressions of the number.
4. All cultures have been able to express large numbers clearly.
5. The word 'thousand' has Anglo-Saxon origins.
6. In general, people in seventh-century Europe had poor counting ability.
7. In the Tsimshian language, the number for long objects and canoes is expressed with the same word.
8. The Tsimshian language contains both older and newer systems of counting.
9. Early peoples found it easier to count by using their fingers rather than a group of pebbles.
4. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS.
SCIENCE IN THE XXI CENTURY
19. Read the text and answer the questions below it.
Real World is Finding New Uses for Virtual Reality
Gary Steinberg, Stanford University’s head of neurosurgery, has been operating on brains for more than three decades. Only in the past year has he been able to do something that he says gives him a significant advantage: preview the surgery and practice it. Donning a virtual-reality headset, the 64-year-old works through thickets of digital blood vessels in a precise computer simulation of a patient's gray matter before he cuts into the real thing. “I can figure out how best to approach a tumor and practice it so that when I get into the operation, it’s as if I’ve been there before, ” Dr. Steinberg says. “It makes surgeries safer. Outcomes are better. ” Virtual Reality has been slow to catch on with consumers, despite the high-profile launches last year of headsets from Facebook Inc. ’s Oculus unit and Taiwan’s HTC Corp. ’
But businesses are taking to it for training in industries from construction to medicine to sports. Executives say customized software that works like 360-degree videogames can help teach employees more effectively, less expensively, and often more safely than traditional methods. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for example, last week said it would expand VR training to all of its 200 employee training centers this year, after testing it in 31 centers. It plans to make the technology an integral part of training for 140, 000 employees annually, says Tom Ward, a Wal-Mart vice president. And while they are pricey for many consumers, VR headsets have become affordable for most businesses: the upmarket HTC Vive VR system sells for about $800. Research firm International Data Corp. estimates total shipments of headsets for VR and augmented reality a related technology that superimposes digital content onto a user’s view of the real world will grow at a compounded annual rate of 58% over the next five years. Business demand will be the main driver, with shipments of headsets for commercial uses growing 80% a year, versus 50% for headsets for consumers, says IDC.
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VR training is so new that there has been limited ability to measure its effectiveness as a business tool, and it has shortcomings. Some people feel awkward putting on the headsets, and some experience motion sickness. VR doesn't lend itself to training for jobs that require manual dexterity, for example - in the virtual world, you're rarely able to see your hands.
Still, United Rentals Inc. is a believer. The company, which rents generators, backhoes and thousands of other types of equipment, has been testing VR training since December for new sales staff. Instead of giving lectures and showing pictures of construction sites, “we bring the job site into the classroom, ” says Patrick Barrett, director of training and development.
In its VR training, employees stand on the edge of a virtual construction site, with two minutes to observe and determine what equipment is missing before an avatar of a construction boss approaches and they have to begin their pitch. “Do they see that excavation — a hole in the ground, filled with water; do they see that opportunity to rent that customer a pump? ” asks Mr. Barrett. He predicts it will shorten his weeklong training program by half, and is planning to expand the VR training beyond the new hires. At Wal-Mart, trainees scan VR produce and deli sections to spot problems. They also get a virtual preview of a Wal-Mart on one of its busiest holiday shopping days when crowds flood the stores looking for deals.
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