Before you start
1. Chose at least 5 most important words to your mind from the boxto describe an inventor? Can you add more words?
imagination, money, knowledge in economics, skills, abilities,business(-)like manner, efficiency, (good) breeding, education, talent,good health, mental and physical activity, honesty, ambition …
Reading
2. Read the text again and decide if the sentences (1-5) below aretrue (T) or false (F):
1. Birdseye Seafoods, Inc. was a big success.
2. The inventor of Coca-Cola became rich.
3. Karl Gerhardt didn't realize the potential of aspirin.
4. Edwin Armstrong loved the competition of the business world.
5. It takes more than just a good invention to make money.
The Problems of Inventors
Many of the modern world's most famous discoveries andinventions were not made by scientists, but by amateur inventors.Often, these inventors had such unusual ideas that they were laughedat. But people like these, working on their own, gave us many of thethings we use every day.
Clarence "Bob" Birdseye, who invented frozen foods, was botha successful inventor and a good businessman-. But it took him yearsto overcome the biggest problem of successful inventions -convincing people to try something new and different. Birdseye first tried to freeze fish. After years of experimenting with the process, he started Birdseye. Seafoods, Inc. But the company soon went bankrupt. Even though the process worked, people didn't believe that frozen fish could possibly be good. It took a long time, but people finally accepted frozen food. By the end of his life, Birdseye, who was a completely self-taught inventor, had 100 patents that he sold for a total of 22 million dollars.Few inventors were as successful as Birdseye. Some, like theoriginal owners of Coca-Cola, didn't realize the potential of theirdiscoveries. The son of the inventor of Coca-Cola sold the recipe for$2,300. Today the product is worth billions ofdollars. In 1853, KarlGerhardt invented aspirin, but he didn't know what to do with it. Fiftyyears after his invention, a German company discovered that it was apainkiller and has since made millions selling it. Edwin Armstronginvented FM radio, but he spent his whole life trying to protect hisinvention. Competitors stole his patents, and companies cheated himout of money. Finally, he became so frustrated with his failures thathe ended his life by jumping out of a window.
Most great inventors, like Gerhardt and Armstrong, made littleor nothing from their inventions. The first person with a new ideamay get attention, but he also gets the problem of an untried idea. Inbusiness, it is sometimes better to be second.
Vocabulary
3. Choose the definition that fits each word or phrase as it is used inthe text.
1. amateur 3. didn't realize the potential of
a. not professional a. forgot about
b. not educated b. sold
с. not talented c. didn't understand
2. overcome 4. untried
a. recognize a. not early
b. find the answer to b. never done before
с. go past с. unimportant
4. Read the text and find answers to the questions below:
1. Why did Birdseye's first company go bankrupt?
2. Who discovered that aspirin is a painkiller?
3. Why did Armstrong kill himself?
4. What is the biggest problem of successful inventions?
5. Why do you think many inventors are not good businessmen?
Writing
6. Write a short story of an invention.
Unit XX
1. Read and translate the text.
From British Council
The Great Man-Made River Project
Water is a scarce and precious commodity in much of the world, and desertcountries like Libya face serious problems finding enough fresh water. As populations rise and industrialisation increases, the demand for water escalates and long-term solutions need to be found.
In the early 1980s it became clear to the Libyan government that something dramatic had to be done. Most of the population lived on the coast and relied on water from aquifers (natural underground water deposits). But these aquifers had become contaminated with sea water, and the water supply in some cities, including Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, was undrinkable.
The government considered various options, including desalination and piping water in from Europe. Oil exploration had already revealed that there were vast aquifers beneath Libya’s deserts, but these were far from where people lived. Economists looked into the feasibility of piping this water to the coast, and decided that this was by far the cheapest option. The Great Man-Made River Project was inaugurated in August 1984, when Colonel Gaddafi laid the foundation stone for a pipe-manufacturing factory.
The Great Man-Made River Project is in fact a network of pipelines, being constructed in a series of phases, which will take water from the desert aquifers to the coastal cities, and eventually to irrigate agricultural land. Phase I, transporting much-needed fresh water to Benghazi, was completed in 1993. Three years later Phase II began supplying water to the capital Tripoli. Phase III will link the pipelines in Phases I and II, and is still under construction. A further two phases will complete the network.
The scale of the project is impressive. As well as the 4-metre diameter pipes which carry the water throughout the network, the project requires huge reservoirs and holding tanks, new wells, pumping stations and chlorination plants to be constructed. Roads have been built alongside the pipeline trenches to allow trucks to deliver the pipes.
When the project began, Libya did not have the engineering experience required for such a vast undertaking, and relied on experts from a number of foreign countries. Now parts of the project, such as the factory which manufactures the pipes, are run completely by Libyans, and Libya is a world leader in hydrological engineering.
Phases I and II have already transformed the lives of people who for the first time have access to fresh water. But perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the project is the plan to use water for agriculture. Libya hopes to be able to end its dependence on imports for crops such as wheat and oats by irrigating 130,000 hectares of land for farming. In some of the coastal areas the soil is very fertile. Eventually, it hopes to start exporting crops to Europe and the Middle East.
2. Render the text.
UNIT XXI
1. Read and translate the text.
Evolutionary Car Design
The English racing driver James Hunt, Formula 1 World Champion in 1977, gave up his job while still at the top of his career. Why? He said it was because technology and engineering were winning the races, no longer the best drivers. The human element of Formula 1 racing, he claimed, had been lost to the big teams who could spend the most money on producing better engines and faster cars.
Sadly, Hunt died in 1993. It would be interesting to hear what he thinks now that big racing teams spend more than £500 million on engines each year.
Even if Michael Schumacher is certainly a very good driver, it is clear that if he was driving an old car, he wouldn’t win. Formula One is now driven by science and technology. However, it is not only the engineers who are the new experts – now, it seems, it is time for evolutionary biologists to sit in the driving seat!
But what can evolutionary biologists, with their interests in “selective breeding” and producing “offspring”, bring to the world of tyre changes, pit stops and pole positions?
A team of researchers at University College London are combining computer science and evolutionary biology to develop a new generation of fast cars. The team have designed a number of computer simulations to create virtual environments influenced by chaos theory. Dr. Peter Bentley, leader of the team, says that Formula 1 is a perfect example of a “chaotic” environment - a great number of variable factors must be considered when a person is trying to drive a car as fast as possible. Temperature, weather conditions and the materials the car is made out of are just some of the things which can affect a car’s speed.
“In the past”, explains Dr. Bentley, “this was all done by a trial-and-error procedure, out on the race track itself. Now, using simulations, we can limit the number of variable factors.” The team designed a ‘population’ of around 30 slightly different computer-generated cars. Using highly realistic racing simulations, they found the fastest two – the “parents”.
The team looked at the individual features of these “parents” and acted as if they were a genetic code. They put them together to produce the next generation of cars, also introducing very small random mutations, copying what happens in nature. And as in nature only the fittest, or in this case fastest, survived. The team then repeated this process for 40 generations.
The final car had a lap-time much quicker than its ancestor, the original “parent”. It was 0.88 seconds quicker than the car which came second – a car of “human” design. In a sport where a fraction of a second can mean the difference between winning and losing, this was an important difference.
No Formula 1 team has yet bought the results of their research, but Dr. Bentley says several of them are very interested.
Ironically, however, Dr. Bentley shares one thing in common with James Hunt – when asked what he thinks of Formula 1 these days, he replies, “It’s not as exciting as it used to be. There are fewer characters.” Perhaps getting Charles Darwin’s ideas into Formula 1 is his way of bringing back the characters!
2. Render the text.
UNIT XXII
1. Read and translate the text.
From British Council -
Motor
Engineers are always dreaming up ways of improving on existing models of the motor. Industries need motors to be more powerful but without forfeiting precision. The following are some of the important advances in the latest motor technology.
New Efficiency
Yaskawa Electric is one of a number of companies to have come up with a new kind of efficient motor that not only uses less energy but also uses substantially smaller components. The new synchronous motors use internal permanent magnets which give the motor more power. The motors will be used in applications where it is necessary to rotate an instrument using great force. Examples might include such things as lifts and cranes. They will also be useful in applications where a lot of energy is used such as continuous fans or pumps.
Less Heat, More Precision
One of the benefits of the new motor is that the increased rise in heat is only one third that of conventional motors. This is because the torque is generated by magnets rather than a secondary current. With a secondary current, which is what we usually find in a motor, twice as much heat is generated. Lowering heat losses saves energy and allows for more precision.
Noise Reduction and Energy Savings
A second benefit can be found in the lift industry where there is little room for the motor and so low audible noise is desirable. The new motors can fit inside the lift shaft. Speed control is also enhanced. Another important benefit of these new magnet motors is that they will help to produce big savings in energy. Approximately two thirds of all the electricity used in developed countries is to power electric motors. Therefore one effect of any small improvement in motor efficiency will save energy.
Reduced Size
Size is always taken into consideration when developing new projects of this kind. However, the reduced size of these new motors is considerable, with the physical dimensions being one third smaller allowing radical configurations to be designed. Yaskawa Electric is already offering clients a new flat “slimline” motor, ideal for use in lifts where the need for installation in confined spaces has previously presented engineers with all kinds of problems.
Other applications
The applications for these new improved motors are not confined to industry. For the past few years Honda has been leading research into hybrid petrol electric vehicles which run, as the name suggests, on a mixture of petrol and electricity. The new Honda Accord is such a car. Its motor has twice as much power as its predecessors. It is also more efficient as it converts a higher percentage of the available electricity into energy.
2. Render the text.
UNIT XXIII
1. Read and translate the article about hybrid cars.