ENGLESKI JEZIK I

ELEKTROTEHNIKA

2011/12

INTRODUCTION
Each unit of these texts is an interdisciplinary look at a topic which provides a focus for debate.
My aim is to provide a good, intellectually challenging language education. All areas including
engineering, engineering ethics, technology, language arts, social studies, mathematics, science
and business English are covered.
I suggest techniques involving all students as active participants in selecting topics and materials.
Cooperative learning, put quite simply, is a type of instruction whereby students work together
in small groups to achieve a common goal. Cooperative learning has become increasingly
popular as a feature of Communicative language teaching (CLT) with benefits that include
increased student interest due to the quick pace of cooperative tasks, improved critical thinking
ability, and the opportunity to practice both the productive and receptive skills in a natural
context. The array of benefits extends beyond increased language learning to include increased
self-esteem and tolerance of diverse points of view. (Johson and Johnson 1989; Kagan 1995;
McCafferty, Jacobs, and Iddings 2006; Slavin 1995).
Johnson and Johnson (1999) indicate five features of a successful cooperative learning activity:
students learn that their success depend upon working together interdependently
students are individually accountable while achieving group goals
students support and assist one anothers success through face-to-face interactions
students develop social skills by cooperating and working together effectively
students as a group have the opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of working
together
When these principles are realized, cooperative learning creates a rich environment for students
to learn language and simultaneously develop their capacities for collaborative twenty-firstcentury communication and problem solving.
English Teaching Forum, Volume 47, Number 4, 2009

I also suggest techniques as elicitation the process of drawing out something, of provoking a
response. Using elicitation as a questioning strategy in the language classroom focuses
discussion on the learners on their ideas, opinions, imagination, and involvement.
Classroom discussions that use elicitation as a technique allow students to draw on what they
know on existing schemata/scaffolding and provide for a rich sharing of ideas within sociocultural context (Huong 2003).
Classroom discussions can so build on the experiences and language of learners by inviting them
to discuss their experiences. I would also like to use students as resources by letting them share
their knowledge and expertise with others in the class emphasizing their experience and
knowledge and taking the focus off of the text as the source of authority. Therefore, elicitation
helps learners become more self-reliant. The student could help by sharing their ideas, interests,
and aims and by being engaged members in collaborative learning.
Through the strategies of elicitation, gapping extension or adaption, students interact more,
construct solutions together and with this e-mail book have the tools to participate in and
contribute to their education.

The students will also be systematically taught English grammar and creative writing.
My curriculum was developed to provide students of all the necessary support in the form of the
roundtable discussion, which could give them opportunities to speak in front of an audience with
confidence, enlarge their vocabulary and give them chances to learn from classmates - their
colleagues. Any 'general statement' whether such a statement is made on human behaviour, art,
science or history must be questioned.
Man's knowledge of his world could be built up by analytical observation and pieced together
rather like a jigsaw puzzle. Our history has taught us that objective observation is impossible
because of the various strata of human and individual consciousness. Therefore, involving the
science, technology and social studies, we not only lighten the curriculum and ideas but also
allow students to see natural ties across curriculum and across cultures.
I would also like to stress the genius of students by having students engage in this curriculum,
dialogue with each other, sharing their attitudes and experiences with each other. We emphasize
communication, scientific outlook, and deep insight into various phenomena by reassessing the
common views and outlooks.
Various units that are presented emphasize more student-centred approach that may fit their
interests. Students shouldnt be afraid of holistic approach, an approach from various standpoints
and an approach including activities such as listening, watching movies, reading, writing and
discussing. Moreover, they should not be afraid of reassessing. Therefore, I offer you various
texts, texts with various registers, styles and standpoints.
In the end, you might also share with me how you go implementing your English.
I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new academic year full of exciting opportunities,
high motivation, goodwill, good feelings, good intentions and good communication.
Your teacher of English
Senior lecturer Ksenija Mance

SOME USEFUL PHRASES FOR YOUR DISCUSSION

Making a point/Stating an argument
Whats your opinion / point of view . ?
How do you feel about .?
What do you think of .?
In my opinion . . ..
From my point of view .
I reckon .
Personally, I think/ feel . . .
I believe (that). . .
The point is this: ...
If you ask me. I think. . .
I'd like to say this: .. .
As far as I'm concerned, ...
But speaking of it, could you tell me .
It seems to me that ..
As I see it, .
Clarifying
What I said/meant was: .. .
I did not say. . . . What I did say was. . .
I think you (must have) misunderstood me/what I said.
Let me repeat/rephrase what I said.
I'm not saying that. What I am saying is (that)...
Yes, but don't forget I was only referring to.. .
Disagreeing with an argument
(I'm afraid) I disagree.
On the other hand, of course, ...
That's not (entirely) true, . ..
I can't possibly agree with/accept that.
I hate to disagree with you, but. . .
Yes/All right, but don't you think.. .
Asking for an opinion
Well? What do you think?
Do/Don't you agree?
What's your view (then)?
How do you see it (then)?
Let's have your opinion.

Challenging an argument
That can't be (true/right).
But what about. . . ?
What's your answer to that?
Do you mean to tell me that. . . ?
Are you seriously suggesting that. .. ?
If you don't. . ., then you should say what you mean.
Agreeing with an argument
Quite. Exactly. That's (very) true.
So (do) I. Neither/Nor (do) I.
I entirely agree. I agree with you entirely.
You're absolutely right.
That's a good point.
I couldn't agree with you more.
That's just what I think.
How interesting.
Interrupting an argument
Excuse me, did you say/do you mean (that). . .
Before you make your next point. ..
So what you're saying is (that)...
Qome to the point! What you really think k (that)...
Does this make sense to you?
Hoping to hear from you again before long.
I must go home immediately, give my apologies to Mister XY
Thats it. It was on the tip of my tongue.
I cant help thinking
I dont doubt that
Summarizing a discussion
Then we agree.
(Basically), we're in agreement.
(I think) we'd better agree to differ.
Can you admit that you are wrong?

LECTURE 1
Section 1
An Introductory Lecture to the Course as a Whole

Section 2
Placement Test

Section 3
Language Arts

LECTURE 2

Section 1
Presentations or Team Work
Language Arts
Where Does English Come From?

The American English

American versus English

Section 2
Modal Verbs

Section 3
Engineering Ethics

The English language has come a long way since it first

took shape in the island of Britain, sometime in the 5th
century AD. It took another 700 years of evolution before it
sounded anything like the English we recognise today.
And when Shakespeare was writing, in what is often
thought of as the golden age of the language, only about
four million people spoke it.
Now in the early 21st-century, English has become the
pre-eminent global language. Nearly a quarter of the
worlds population is estimated to have some knowledge
of English and 400 million people speak it as their mother
tongue.
If beings from outer space landed on Earth tomorrow they
would most likely assume that the human language was
English.
What is the future of the language?
Will it be more important than ever or could it be
supplanted as the global lingua franca by another
language German, Spanish or Chinese perhaps or even
by the artificial language Esperanto?

LANGUAGE ARTS by Isaac Asimov

1
The world has been shrinking for a long, long time. No place on earth is more than hours away
from any place else by fast plane or more than fractions of a second away by radio and television.
2
What this means is that any two people on earthany two peoplemight potentially find
themselves having to communicate with each other. What language will they use? If we were to pick at
random two people on earth, the chances are they'll have to use sign language.
3
More people on earthperhaps 470 millionspeak Mandarin Chinese than any other language.
Almost all of those millions are concentrated in China, however, and make up only 11 percent of the
earth's population and perhaps not more than three-fifths of the population of China.
4
The next most common language is English, which is spoken by perhaps 340 million people. This
represents only a little more than 8 percent of the earth's population, but it is a very widespread language,
thanks to the British Empire. English is spoken by 10 percent or more of the population in 32 different
nations and, in every case, by a much larger percentage of the educated and technologically trained in
those nations (where it is not already the native tongue).
5
English is the almost universal language of science, business, and international politics. It might
be thought, then, that as the world is knit together more closely by ever-improving means of
transportation and communication, English will become ever more dominant and will, in effect, become
the global languageeither the first or second language of every person on the planet.
6
But there's a catch!
7
There could be nationalistic reactions against English. It may seem to billions of people that those
who speak English as a native language would have an advantage over those for whom it is a learned
language. The English-language heritage in literature and in culture generally would cast all others into
the shade.
8
It is easy to imagine a linguistic revolt: a refusal to speak English on the pretense of not
understanding it. Many French Canadians today, for instance, feel that their own pride requires that they
not understand English. There might well be movements to make Gaelic and Welsh stronger within the
British Isles.
9
Other languages suffer revolts. India uses English as an official language because the domination
of no one Indian language will be permitted by those speaking others. In the Caucasus, Georgians
mounted a rare public demonstration against Soviet policy, when they protested an attempt to make
Russian the official language of their Soviet Republic.
10 What's the alternative? Interpreters? Whether interpretation is human or computerized, could we trust
it? How easy it would be to make small errors in interpretation and how costly those might be.
11
Can we have any other global language? Surely any language other than English would create
even louder objections the world over.
12
There are artificial languages, of course. The best-known of these is Esperanto, invented in 1887.
It is sensible and easy to learn, but it is essentially a distillation of the Romance languages and might
therefore rouse non-European hostility. Besides, artificial languages seem to lack vitality. In fact there are
only about 100,000 speakers of Esperanto. Other artificial languages are even less successful.
13
And yet the problem may well take care of itself, for on a smaller scale solutions have arisen with
no one's purposeful interference. In the Mediterranean world in late medieval times, a lingua franca
("language of the Franks," i.e., Europeans) developed among the merchants of the area to handle
absolutely necessary communication. It was a mixture of Italian, French, Spanish, Greek, and Arab.
Similarly, in eastern Asia, various mixtures, called "pidgin English," were developed to break the
language barrier.
14
As communications around the world improve, and as it will be increasingly the common folk
not just educated businessmen and scientistswho wish to communicate, lingua terra, a "language of the
world," may slowly arise. English will make up a large part of it, yes, but every other language will add
vocabulary, idiom, and grammar.
15
It could end as a fearful construction, with rules all its own, bearing no clear mark of any one
national language. All human beings would have to learn it, in addition to their own languages, and none
would have an advantage over others by the mere accident of place of birth.
Lingua terra could end up with a vocabulary, a flexibility, a richness, surpassing any other, so that it could
develop a mighty literature of its own.
16
It might then, by its mere existence, do more to emphasize the familyhood of humanity than a
million sermons on the subject laid end to end.

ASSIGNMENT 1
VOCABULARY LIST
FIND SYNONYMS - a different shade of meaning
shrink, shrank, shrunk

make or become smaller, compress

The information age and information revolution has compressed, shrunk time and
distance.
fraction
small part or bit
at random
without aim or purpose
pick
choose, select
If we were to pick at random
kad bi nasumce birali
make up
form, constitute, compose
the most common language is English
they can all use this language
it is to the common advantage
to everyones advantage
the world is knit together
united closely
ever-improving means of communication increasingly improving
dominant
dominating, most important or influential
there is a catch
there is a tricky or concealed drawback
have an advantage over other people
cast others into a shade
cause to appear small, unimportant
on the pretence of, under the pretence of friendship pretending
mount a rare demonstration against
to demonstrate against

the world over all over the world throughout the world - worldwide
sensible
reasonable, practical
rouse hostility, rouse
wake up
arose hostility, suspicion
awaken
on a smaller scale
in small proportion
solutions have arisen
have come into existence, have appeared
a language of the world may slowly arise come into existence
end to end
in a line with the ends touching
lingua terra
global language
lingua franca
any language that is widely used as
a means of communication among
speakers of other languages

ASSIGNMENT 2
Discuss in your group the idea that the global spread of lingua terra is
unprecedented (never known before) and the fact that English has been an
international language for more than 50 years.

ASSIGNMENT 3
Discuss the following text LANGUAGE ARTS written by Isaac Asimov in
groups and summarize ideas of each group as introductory notes:

A Group
......................................................................................................
......................................................................................................
1
The world has been shrinking for a long, long time. No place on earth is more than hours
away from any place else by fast plane or more than fractions of a second away by radio and
television.
2
What this means is that any two people on earthany two peoplemight potentially find
themselves having to communicate with each other. What language will they use? If we were to pick
at random two people on earth, the chances are they'll have to use sign language.
3
More people on earthperhaps 470 millionspeak Mandarin Chinese than any other
language. Almost all of those millions are concentrated in China, however, and make up only 11
percent of the earth's population and perhaps not more than three-fifths of the population of China.

B Group
......................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
4
The next most common language is English, which is spoken by perhaps 340 million people.
This represents only a little more than 8 percent of the earth's population, but it is a very widespread
language, thanks to the British Empire. English is spoken by 10 percent or more of the population in
32 different nations and, in every case, by a much larger percentage of the educated and
technologically trained in those nations (where it is not already the native tongue).
5
English is the almost universal language of science, business, and international politics. It
might be thought, then, that as the world is knit together more closely by ever-improving means of
transportation and communication, English will become ever more dominant and will, in effect,
become the global languageeither the first or second language of every person on the planet.

C Group

......................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
6
But there's a catch!
7
There could be nationalistic reactions against English. It may seem to billions of people that
those who speak English as a native language would have an advantage over those for whom it is a
learned language. The English-language heritage in literature and in culture generally would cast all
others into the shade.
8
It is easy to imagine a linguistic revolt: a refusal to speak English on the pretense of not
understanding it. Many French Canadians today, for instance, feel that their own pride requires that
they not understand English. There might well be movements to make Gaelic and Welsh stronger
within the British Isles.
9
Other languages suffer revolts. India uses English as an official language because the
domination of no one Indian language will be permitted by those speaking others. In the Caucasus,
Georgians mounted a rare public demonstration against Soviet policy, when they protested an
attempt to make Russian the official language of their Soviet Republic.

D Group
....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
10
What's the alternative? Interpreters? Whether interpretation is human or computerized, could
we trust it? How easy it would be to make small errors in interpretation and how costly those might
be.
11
Can we have any other global language? Surely any language other than English would
create even louder objections the world over.
12
There are artificial languages, of course. The best-known of these is Esperanto, invented in
1887. It is sensible and easy to learn, but it is essentially a distillation of the Romance languages and
might therefore rouse non-European hostility. Besides, artificial languages seem to lack vitality. In
fact there are only about 100,000 speakers of Esperanto. Other artificial languages are even less
successful.
13
And yet the problem may well take care of itself, for on a smaller scale solutions have arisen
with no one's purposeful interference. In the Mediterranean world in late medieval times, a lingua
franca ("language of the Franks," i.e., Europeans) developed among the merchants of the area to
handle absolutely necessary communication. It was a mixture of Italian, French, Spanish, Greek, and
Arab. Similarly, in eastern Asia, various mixtures, called "pidgin English," were developed to break
the language barrier.

E Group

......................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
14
As communications around the world improve, and as it will be increasingly the common
folknot just educated businessmen and scientistswho wish to communicate, lingua terra, a
"language of the world," may slowly arise. English will make up a large part of it, yes, but every
other language will add vocabulary, idiom, and grammar.
15
It could end as a fearful construction, with rules all its own, bearing no clear mark of any one
national language. All human beings would have to learn it, in addition to their own languages, and
none would have an advantage over others by the mere accident of place of birth. Lingua terra could
end up with a vocabulary, a flexibility, a richness, surpassing any other, so that it could develop a
mighty literature of its own.
16
It might then, by its mere existence, do more to emphasize the familyhood of humanity than
a million sermons on the subject laid end to end.
Isaac Asimov, the author of this article, writes science fiction stories. When you write descriptions of
the future, you cannot be sure what things will be like. When you examine the present and try to
guess the future, you use words like may, might, seem, and could. You might also use the
subjunctive mode if it were...and the future tense.

ASSIGNMENT 4
Scan (look over quickly) the article and see how many times the author uses
the following words: may, seem, might, could. Now write a short answer to
the question Should there be lingua terra one international language using
may, might, seem, and could. Anyway, there are points for and against
lingua terra.

ASSIGNMENT 5
Answer the following questions or discuss the points in groups

A Group
1. More people speak English as an auxiliary language than as a first language.
2. When did the English language begin to spread to countries outside the British Isles? How was
it spread?
3. How did English become so firmly rooted in some parts of the world, and which countries
exactly?
4. Why was its use in other parts of the world of a completely different nature? Give some
examples of the countries where English was the old imperial language.
5. Why is English still used in some of these countries although they are no longer British
colonies?

B Group
1. What are the reasons for this country's success in confirming English as the world's No. 1
international language?
2. Some linguists fear that English is breaking up into unintelligible varieties; that the time will
come when interpreters will be needed to translateone form of English into another. Others
say that modern means of transport and communication ensure ample protection against this
danger, but awareness of the risk seems to be growing. Think about this and discuss.
3. Perhaps the best solution is to leave things as they are. After all, the same linguists also state
that it will take over 200 years before any really serious linguistic difficulties arise.
Discuss this attitude.
4. Mandarin Chinese is spoken by 700 million people whereas English is the most widespread,
with 400 million speakers. English has the largest vocabulary, with approximately 300,000
technical words. Do you think that Chinese is too complex to be a world language?
5. Many varieties of English could be divided into three main categories: national, group and
individual. Let us consider national varieties first.

C Group
1. George Orwell, the British writer, was very interested in both politics and language, and in his
novel Nineteen Eighty-Four one of the central themes is the manipulation of language by
politicians in an attempt to shape the thinking of the people. Discuss this part from the book:
Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end
we shall make thought crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to
express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with
its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Every
year fewer and fewer words and the range of ..
2. English has become the global language lingua terra. Discuss the advantages of the native
speakers over the non native ones. Native speakers have an advantage over non native speakers
by the mere accident of place of birth. Discuss this statement.
3. Is it easy for you to understand a linguistic revolt?
4. Can we have any other global language?
5. Can criteria like language or culture become the basis for political disintegration?

D Group
1. A language of the world as lingua terra might slowly arise? Discuss this point.
Can lingua terra contribute to the familyhood of humanity?
2. The dream about power is as old as the mankind: it started by building the Babel Tower and
has been continued by turning the world into a global village. The prerequisite for obtaining
such a dream is a common language the language that will be used by all people in the world.
Will finally people be allowed that their dream come true? The Babel Tower fell apart and
people got disintegrated at the moment when being intoxicated with their own power: they
forget to communicate in the same language.
3. International migrations have been in full swing, and therefore, they need greater tolerance,
understanding and respecting differences. Taking into consideration the diversity of language
groups, neither language can claim the right on the linguistic superiority.
4. What does the expansion of the English language mean: linguistic imperialism or completing
the construction of the Babel Tower?
5. It goes without saying that no two persons ever have an identical command of their common
language. Certainly they have not precisely the same vocabulary. No two men are identical; no
two styles are the same. No two people speak the same language in exactly the same way. All
of this is implicit in the well-known phrase, Style is the man. Discuss.

E Group
1. Which English-speaking country now seems to have taken over the task of promoting the
English language internationally?
2. To what extent do you think political considerations affect language, and vice versa?
3. Could English as a global language end as a fearful construction as Isaac Asimov pointed
up?
4. Where did a lingua franca develop in the 11th century?
5. What two types of interpreters are available today?

ASSIGNMENT 6
Read and write notes!
Where does English come from?
English is not the language that has always been spoken in the British Isles, nor indeed is it the only
language that is spoken there today. English was originally a foreign language, imported by foreign
invaders. These invaders were two Germanic tribes living in what is now Northern Germany, along
the North Sea coast. They were called the Angles and the Saxons, and they spoke different dialects of
the same language. It is from these dialects that the modern English has descended.
Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, as historians of the language prefer to call it, remained the language of
English from about A.D. 450 to about A.D. 1150. The reason why it is not still the language of
England is that there were two more foreign invasions of the Island by people speaking different
tongues - first the Northman or Vikings from Denmark, and then the Normans from Normandy in
France.
The result of these further invasions, particularly the second by the French-speaking Normans in A.D.
1066, was to modify Old English very considerably, and turn it, in the course of the next three
centuries, into a compound language which is known as Middle English. Middle English is
recognizably the ancestor of the English spoken, today (which Old English is not, and it was the
common language of the inhabitants of England from about A.D. 1150 to about A.D. 1500.
As there were no more foreign conquests of the Island the language was from then on able to develop
under its own impetus. There were no more radical changes and so the Middle English merged
imperceptibly into the Early English of Shakespeare's age and then into the language spoken now.
Anglo-Saxon is now, of course, a dead language, but a good deal of its vocabulary has survived, in one
form or another, to the present day. Most of the very common words in modern English are AngloSaxon in origin: nouns like father, mother, food, drink, bed, hunger most of the propositions and
conjunctions, and nearly all of the strong verbs. When it was mixed with Norman French there were
three main results: the grammar was simplified, the pronunciation and spelling became -and still aremuch more complicated, and the vocabulary was enormously extended. French is a Latin language so
the major part of the English vocabulary is now Latin in origin. That is also one reason why there are
so many synonyms. In pairs of words like "wed" and "marry", fat and "corpulent", and "lively" and
"vivacious", the first word is derived from Anglo-Saxon, the second, from Latin.
A language never stands still. It is always changing and developing. These changes are rapid in
primitive societies, but slow in advanced ones, because the invention of printing and the spread of
education have fixed traditional usage.

D.H. Spencer and A.S. Hornby

Listen to the tape and jot down some new interesting information.

ASSIGNMENT 7
Write the subtitles for the passages in question forms.
Where does English come from?

Up to now nobody has been able to count all the languages spoken in the world today. But there must be
about 3,000, two of which are far more common than any of the others: Northern Chinese, which is
spoken by almost six hundred million people, and English, which is spoken by three hundred and sixty
million people in Europe, India, Africa, America, Australia and New Zealand; 1,000 among American
Indians, 750 in Sub-Sahara, 150 in India, 750 just on one island: New Guinea. Though international
conferences are often conducted simultaneously in three or four languages, more often than not scientists
and politicians from Russia, Japan, Germany, India, France and some remote African state will speak
English together.

However, English is not the language that has always been spoken in the British Isles, nor indeed is it the
only language that is spoken there today.
So, where have all the English words come from? Only very few have survived from the time when
Britain was inhabited by the Ancient-Britons, a Celtic tribe. They were masters of the island from the 6th
century B.C. up to 55 B.C. when the island was invaded by the Romans, who ruled the country for several
centuries. During that time Britain, was a province of the Empire, but very few Latin words from that
period have remained: castra (a camp) appears in Lancaster, Leicester, Gloucester and Worcester; strata
(a paved way) in Stratford, etc. By the fifth century the Roman Empire was falling to pieces, and the
occupying forces had left the country.

English as a separate identifiable language is over 1,200 years old. As it was originally a foreign
language, imported by foreign invaders, English, like German, belongs to a group of related languages
which may ultimately be said to have descended from Common Germanic (or proto-Germanic) as a
distinct branch of the Indo-European group of languages. Ethnic and linguistic differentiation within the
Germanic language community sooner or later put an end to the original unity.

So, it all began with the biggest invasion of all, the invasion of the island of Britain by three Germanic
tribes from northern Europe the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, in the year 499 A.D. Anno
Domini. Although the Island had been inhabited since pre-historic times indeed Stonehenge was built
by ancient Britons some 3,500 years ago the beginning of English dates from this invasion, when the
pagan adventurers from Denmark and the lowlands of the Continent, what is now Northern Germany,
along the North Sea coast, drove the native Celts and Romans out of what is now England, into the
mountains and protective regions of Wales, and Scotland where the Celtic languages have survived, as in
Brittany (France). The languages that these invaders spoke were three forms of Germanic; they spoke
different dialects of the same language which had many words in common. It is from these dialects that
the modern English has descended.

From the tribe of Angles comes the name Englalond, Land of the Angles, and the name of the
language but it was primarily the dialect of the West Saxons which became the standard speech, and
developed into Old English. The first written records in English date from 700 A.D. and about this time
Britain was invaded yet again by Scandinavian adventurers the Vikings.

Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, as historians of the language prefer to call it, remained the
language of English from about A.D. 450 to about A.D. 1150.

The Germanic tribes took over very little from the Celtic or Latin apart from a few place names.
Different though it is from "Old English", modern English contains many words from it. Indeed, most of
the vital every day words are of Germanic origin:

and, bright, come, find, good, hand, in, Tuesday, through, two, under, was, we, well, when,
all of which remind us of German words which we, too, use every day.
The reason why it is not still the language of England is that there were two more foreign
invasions of the Island by people speaking different tongues - first the Northman or Vikings from
Denmark, and then the Normans from Normandy in France.

Toward the end of the eighth century the Danish Vikings started invading the coast of England
and settled among the natives. This was quite natural since the languages spoken by the Danes were not
unlike the language spoken by the Angles and Saxons, all these languages being of Germanic origin.
However, a very large number of new words were added:

call, fellow, get, hit, knife, leg, skin, sky, Thursday, happy, wrong, egg, bank.
After some 200 years of fighting with the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings came to an agreement with
the Saxon King, Alfred the Great, to divide the island the Saxons in the west the Scandinavians,
who were Norse speaking, in the east. England was therefore bi-lingual until the two groups, through
intermarriage, became one people. The linguistic blend of Saxon and Norse was also a marriage. In the
verb to be, for example, the third person singular he is is pure Saxon, but the plural, they are pure Norse.
The word wife is Saxon, but the word husband came from the Norse arm from the Saxon, but leg
from the Norse. Duru was the Saxon word for door, but vindu was the Norse word which gave us
window so from this marriage, we have one language which we call Old English. It was a very
complicated language compared to modern English: it was highly inflected that is, had many different
endings for all words as in Latin or modern German and Russian. It also gave grammatical gender to
nouns masculine, feminine and neuter like modern German and not only did it have singular and
plural, but a third form called the dual form to indicate precisely two no more and no less. For
example, in addition to the pronouns I and we in the first person, Old English had wit which means the
two of us... both of us... you-and me but not them. Many words in Old English are still close enough to
modern English for us to understand them. See if you can guess what these Old English words mean:

Thencan

cild

wifmann

muth

nosu

god niht

Perhaps you could hear that thencan is the verb to think, cild in modern English is child, wifmann
became woman, muth mouth, nosu nose, god niht good night.
But most of Old English is unintelligible today without studying it as a separate language.
Anglo-Saxon is now, of course, a dead language, but a good deal of its vocabulary has survived,
in one form or another, to the present day. Most of the very common words in modern English are AngloSaxon in origin: nouns like father, mother, food, drink, bed, hunger most of the propositions and
conjunctions, and nearly all of the strong verbs.

The next invasion of Britain and incidentally the last foreign invasion of the island in English
history was in the year 1066. This invasion was far-reaching in many ways: the invading forces were
again Scandinavians, but with a difference these Norsemen called Normans came from the north
coast of France and were French speaking. Their leader William of Normandy, known as the Conqueror,
conquered the Anglo-Saxons and had a claim on the throne of England. As his forces were victorious,
William established himself as king and set about building London's two greatest tourist attractions: The
Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. Norman French became the language of the court, the
aristocracy of England, and the country once again became bi-lingual. We often say history repeats
itself and this is just what happened to the language: in the course of 300 years, Old English absorbed
Norman French and emerged as one language, much as had happened with Saxon and Norse before.
Linguistically, the Norman Conquest meant the domination in England of a non-Germanic language,
which over a period of almost three and a half centuries was to play a significant (although progressively
decreasing) role as a means of communication among certain sections of the populationUnlike the
Germanic Conquest of the larger part of Britain in the fifth and following centuries and the later
Scandinavian invasions, the establishment of Norman rule in England did not lead to large-scale
immigration and mass settlements of compatriots of the conquerors.


As a consequence of the Norman Conquest, political and economic power became concentrated in the
hands of a small group of great feudal landlords, which included the king himself, the clergy and the
vassals of the king (feudal aristocracy).
The Normans were descendants of the "Norsemen" who had come from Scandinavia and settled in the
north of France. They had adopted French as their language. William set up a kingdom on the island, and
for three hundred years all the kings and the nobility spoke Norman-French. Thus two languages were
spoken from 1066 till early in the fourteenth century. The result of this invasion was to modify Old
English very considerably, and turn it, in the course of the next three centuries, gradually into a
compound language which is known as Middle English.

Middle English is recognizably the ancestor of the English spoken today (which Old English is not),
and it was the common language of the inhabitants of England from about A.D. 1150 to about A.D. 1500.
When Anglo-Saxon was mixed with Norman French there were three main results: the grammar was
simplified, the pronunciation and spelling became - and still are - much more complicated, and the
vocabulary was enormously extended. French is a Latin language so the major part of the English
vocabulary is now Latin in origin. That is also one reason why there are so many synonyms. In pairs of
words like:

wed - marry, fat corpulent, lively vivacious, child infant, freedom liberty, love
charity, a hearty welcome a cordial reception, the first word is derived from Anglo-Saxon, the
second, from Latin.
Norman French enriched the language and gave English its unique blend of Germanic and Latinate
structures and vocabulary. This is why today we can say the world's population or the population of
the world and why only English has different words to distinguish the names of animals from their flesh
which we eat: from the cow, we get beef; from the calf we get veal; from the sheep, mutton; from the pig,
pork; and from the deer, venison. The names of the animals are Saxon, and the words for the meat are
from French. This is not only interesting as a point of language, but as a point of sociology, because it
reflects that the animals were raised by farmers who spoke Old English, but eaten by the aristocrats who
spoke French.

Because England was bi-lingual, many phrases appeared in the language which contained one word of
Saxon origin coupled with a word of the same meaning, coming from French such as law and order.
This way everybody knew the meaning, whether they only understood the Old English word law or they
only understood the French ordre order. Many of these set phrases dating from the Middle Ages are
just as common today in modern English. How many politicians in Britain and in the U.S.A. call for more
law and order at election time! In the U.S. Senate, as in the British Parliament, there is a ways and means
committee to find the methods of achieving a goal. The word ways from the Saxon the word means
from the French the phrase ways and means still common after some seven or eight hundred years in
the language. This merger of Saxon and Norman French we call Middle English. Bilingualism obviously
remained a more or less widespread phenomenon in the ranks of the lesser nobility throughout most of the
thirteen century and could even be found in the fourteenth century. But on the whole, the importance of
French in England was declining rapidly in the course of the fourteenth century (especially the latter half)
until it approached the status of an ordinary foreign language in the early fifteenth century, which is
about three hundred and fifty years after the Battle of Hastings.

The first great English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, wrote in Middle English in the 14th century
about the same time as Dante Alighieri and Boccaccio. His best known work, The Canterbury Tales was
written in 1386 and its vocabulary reflects the blend of the two language sources. In the following
century, the printing press arrived in England and libraries were founded at Oxford, Cambridge and in
London.
The first printer, William Caxton, began to stabilize the written language and its spelling, when
he set up his printing press in the precinct of Westminster Abbey. Even by the 15th century, Old English
seemed a foreign language to him. The language was changing even in his lifetime, which is what he
wrote in 1490.

As there were no more foreign conquests of the Island the language was from then on able to
develop under its own impetus. There were no more radical changes and so the Middle English merged
imperceptibly into the Early English of Shakespeare's age and then into the language spoken
now.

The English language was destined to become still richer and more hybrid. The Renaissance in
1500 brought about the rediscovery of the classics, and English was greatly enriched by a profusion of
words directly taken from Latin and ancient Greek. Words of Greek and Latin origin were adopted in the
14th, 15th and 16th centuries, it has been said that the greater part of the classical dictionaries was poured
into the English language at this time and even today when a new word is needed to name a new thing,
Latin or Greek words, or syllables may be used: cinema, telephone, bicycle, television (which is a
mixture of Greek tele = from a far and Latin visus = vision), from Latin, words like accommodate,
capable, persecute, investigate and from Greek, words like apology, climax, physical, emphasis and so
on. The flood of words from Latin and Greek did not end with the Renaissance and whenever we have
needed a new word or name, we have tended to look to the classics to provide it from Greek:
aerodrome, telegraph and telephone; from Latin: escalator, penicillin and the prefix mini for cars and
skirts, for example.
There are words of Italian origin (concerto, pavement, and potato), Dutch origin (dock, yacht) or
words taken from the Indian languages, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish
and various African languages.

......

But back to the 16th century now, for what could be one of the greatest influences on the English
language the birth of William Shakespeare in 1564 appropriately enough on the 23rd of April, the day
dedicated to St. George Patron Saint of England. Curiously enough, Shakespeare also died on the 23rd of
April, 52 years later. It will forever be a mystery how this man, of modest education became the greatest
poet of the English language and the worlds most produced playwright. It has been said that in the nearly
400 years since his death there has never been a day when one or more of Shakespeares plays has not
been played somewhere in the world.
But even more important, perhaps, was his contribution to the language. However poorly
educated a native English speaker may be, he cannot help using the words and phrases created by
Shakespeare they are too much a part of English. Shakespeare gave the language, through his inventive
genius, so many words, phrases and memorable sayings which simply didnt exist before.
Today English is the richest language in the world. There are about 800 000 words. But don't
worry: you needn't learn all of them. The average speaking vocabulary of a well-educated person is 5 000
words. And if you are able to use 2 000 common English words, you can always make yourself
understood and you will get along wonderfully.

.................................................................................................................................
A language never stands still. It is always changing and developing. It is also a very variable
social phenomenon in the sense that it varies through time. For language to keep functioning as an
efficient instrument of mutual communication among the members of a continually changing society, it
must constitute a system which is non-static, dynamic flexible and open in character. It originates and
develops in the process of social interaction between the members of a community. These changes are
rapid in primitive societies, but slow in advanced ones, because the invention of printing and the spread of
education have fixed traditional usage.

Adapted from Speak Up

ASSIGNMENT 8
After listening comprehension exercise answer the following
questions in pairs!
1. Where is English mainly spoken?
2. What was the biggest invasion of Britain?
3. Who were the first foreign invaders?
4. In which parts of Great Britain have the Celtic languages still survived?
5. How is Anglo-Saxon language called by the historians?
6. State why this language is not still the language of England?
7. State some words of Germanic origin.
8. What happened after the conquest by the Northman or Vikings from Denmark?
9. What was the name of the language spoken by the Vikings?
10. What do you know about bilingualism in Great Britain?
11. What happened after Williams conquest?
12. Why it is said that history repeats itself?
13. Why is language important from sociological standpoint?
14. What languages is the present-day vocabulary of English composed of?
15. Give some examples of two words of different origin for the same thing and for the
same concept.
16. When were words of Greek and Latin origin adopted?
17. We are not free to say just what we like. Ordinary everyday conversation is narrowly
determined. It is a sort of roughly prescribed social ritual in which you generally say
what your friends expect you to say.
18. So, the world is indeed a stage and society is the author of the play. The grown man
in a modern society has to play many parts, and unless he knows his roles and his
lines he is no use in the play. If you do not know your part, there are no clues for the
other and no place for his lines either. The play then just falls through.
19. This is a sort of paraphrasing and analogy of Shakespeares lines from As You Like
It, II, 7, 139;
All the worlds a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.

ASSIGNMENT 9

THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE

America is a nation of immigrants a melting pot of English, French,
German, Italian, Spanish, Scandinavian, African and many other cultures. As
the country absorbed these various peoples and turned them into Americans,
most lost their native language and customs. But no ethnic group left the
American language untouched. American English grew in vitality and variety
along with the nation itself.
The first English settlers to reach America arrived in Virginia in 1607 and in
Massachusetts in 1620. They all spoke the English of the early seventeenth century the
language of Shakespeare and Milton. Most of them came originally from the south and
south east of England. Although some of them had spent some years of exile in Holland
they spoke with the accents of the southern part of their home country. To a large extent
they kept that form of speech, but they soon learned to give old words new uses. They also
took words from the local Indian languages for plants and animals that were new to them.
Until the Declaration of Independence in 1776 over two thirds of the settlers in what later
became the U.S. came from England. After that date many other peoples came to make a
new life for themselves in the New World. These included Irish, French, Germans, Dutch.
Italians, Slavs, and Scandinavians. All these peoples gave new words to the language of
North America. The French gave such words as chowder and prairie. Sleigh came
from the Dutch settlers. The Afro-Americans who had been taken from Africa as slaves to
work on the rice and cotton plantations added words and structures from their own native
languages. Some people today think that the very American expression O.K. comes from
a similar African expression which was brought to America by the Afro-Americans.
Although all these people contributed in various ways to the language which was to
become American English, there is one man who can be singled out as the person who did
most to give American English an identity of its own. He was Noah Webster (1758-1843)
He worked as a teacher, lawyer, journalist and essayist; he wrote on many subjects, but his
two best-known works were his Blue-Backed Speller* (1783) and his American
Dictionary of the English Language (1828). He is largely responsible for the differences
which exist today between British and American spelling.
Webster had a practical approach to language and he simplified many of the
traditional English spellings. For example, he wrote favor, humor, and labor for the English
favour, humour and labour. Since Webster's time many of his spellings have become
acceptable in England, such as author, tailor and visitor. Public, jail and cider in their
original English versions were publick, gaol and cyder. But there are other differences apart
from vocabulary between American and British English. The idioms of American slang are
often very different from those we have in Britain. For example, Cool it!, which is a way of
telling someone to calm down.
Also, like the early settlers, Americans today are constantly inventing new words
and usages to meet their needs. They have given us the verb to televise from the noun
television and combined the words sport and broadcast to give us sportcast. From
American English we have all learned that we park our cars. In fact the word park was used
in a slightly different way in Shakespeare's time, but the Americans have revived it and
given it a new meaning.
*Blue-Backed Speller book (with a blue cover) used to teach and improve spelling.

In terms of pronunciation, there are three main types in America. These are New England,
General American and Southern. General American is by far the most widely used. New
England is the pronunciation which was used by John F. Kennedy. President Carter, who
comes from Georgia, speaks with a Southern accent. If you listen to a recording of these two
presidents you will be able to hear the difference quite clearly. Some American
pronunciations are related to English ones. Americans say the words dance, fast and grass
like people from the North of England with a short a. But in spite of many small
variations the three American accents do not differ greatly from one another. One reason for
this is that an important fact of American life has always been travel. People have moved to
wherever work could be found and this has tended to level out differences in pronunciation.
There are more differences in pronunciation between the various areas of Britain than there
are in the whole of North America.
During the twentieth century the differences between American and British English
seem to have been getting smaller. The reasons for this include the interchange of books and
newspapers and the large numbers of American soldiers who came to Britain in the two
World Wars, importing many American expressions. But more important today are the
films, television and radio programmes which can bring the latest American slang to Britain
instantly.
There are words from many different languages in English: from Latin, French and
Danish as a result of invasions throughout history, from colonized countries like India, but
also from America and many other countries.
No other language has been so quick or willing to let itself be influenced by other languages.
If the English stumble on to a new food or thing or concept, then the word for it is quickly and
wholly taken over.
From the Italians, we have piano, opera, soprano, umbrella, influenza, fresco etc.
Two Italian navigators have a special place of honor in the American language. The name of
Christopher Columbus lives on in the District of Columbia, Columbus Day and many other
towns and cities named Columbus. Amerigo Vespucci' the first navigator to recognize America
as a new continent, gave us our name from his first name. Later Italian immigrants brought us
the names of familiar foods like pizza, spaghetti, and tutti-frutti ice cream.
From Spain we have cigar, cigarette, cork, cargo and embargo.
Spanish has contributed more words to American English than any other language. The
Spaniards had an early start at it, since they were the first Europeans to explore much of the
American continent. They gave the names to many of the natural phenomena they saw such as
alligators, buffalo, and the mesa (a high, wide tableland).
In the Southwest, which borders on Mexico, Spanish words are used for food. Later immigrants
to the U.S. from Puerto Rico and Cuba also brought more Spanish words into the language.
From Portugal, we have our marmalade, verandah etc.
From Mexico come cocoa, chocolate and tomato.
The words hammock, hurricane and maize came to England from the Caribbean.
Pyjamas, shampoo, bungalow and punch all came from India.
The words caravan and bazaar came from Persia.
Bamboo and gong are Malaysian words.
Australia provided boomerang, kangaroo and cockatoo.

From the Dutch we have yacht, deck, skipper, and cruise, smuggle and sketch.
In the seventeenth century, New York City was known as New Amsterdam. The early Dutch
settlers on the East coast introduced into the language such words as boss, hunky (which has
become hunky-dory = fine, satisfactory), and Santa Claus from Sant Klaas , or Saint Nicholas.
Because American colonists appreciated Dutch baking, the language picked up words like
cookie, from the Dutchword for little cake and waffle, a crisp pancake baked in a waffle iron.
And we shouldn't forget that large numbers of Germans emigrated to the States during
the nineteenth century, bringing with them the food and customs of their homeland.
Frankfurters and hamburgers are two of the most popular American foods today. We also love
to eat pretzels, pumpernickel, sauerkraut and other treats purchased at a delicatessen.
frankfurter a small sausage also known as a wiener or hot dog
hamburger a ground beef sandwich, from Hamburg.
Also, from the German come Rucksack, Wanderlust, Weltanschauung, Kindergarten
and Schadenfreude.
There are still countless words alive from the old language of the British Isles, Celtic:
ass, cairn, clan, plaid, flannel, druid, bard, galore and, of course, whisky.
The English language has never stood still. It is still changing: it is shaped by those who speak
it all the time.

The Jewish immigrants loaned us schnozzle, bagel and nosh. The Scandinavians
brought a smorgasbord of foods and customs with them. Some of the words which survived the
suppression of the native African languages are gumbo and voodoo.
pretzel
pumpernickel
sauerkraut
delicatessen
schnozzle
bagel
nosh
smorgasbord
gumbo
voodoo
District of Columbia
tutti-frutti

a brittle, salted cracker in form of a loose knot

rye bread
sour cabbage
a store that sells food delicacies
a large nose
a hard, chewy bread
a snack between meals
a buffet offering a wide variety of foods
a thick soup
magic or sorcery
the area of land on which the nation's capital, Washington, is situated.
all fruits

French explorers left an early mark on the American language as well. In Canada and
the northern part of the U.S., French trappers and fur traders known as voyageurs, or FrenchCanadian boatsmen and fur traders who explored much of the American continent for the first
time carried their language with their canoes from river to lake and across portages, i.e. land
between lakes over which boats have to be carried. These same adventurers gave the vast
grassland in the continental interior its name the prairie. Way down in New Orleans, the
French established their customs and language, e.g. Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, or Shrove
Tuesday before Lent has become a time when the city erupts into a festival of merrymaking and
parades. In the French Quarter of the city, residents-and tourists dine on excellent French cuisine.
Some passages are adapted from the text written by HUGH CORRIGAN, BBC English

ASSIGNMENT 10

BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

So which is correct - "theater", .or "theatre", "center" or "centre", "labor" or "labour" color/colour,
fiber/fibre, neighbor/neighbour, sulfur/sulphur, favorite/favourite.?
But this variety is not only confusing for the reader. For a copy editor, the differences between the two
versions of English can be a nightmare. Most people know that the Americans say "sidewalk" for the
British "pavement", or "subway" for "underground"; for example, in the past we've had "bond" (BE bail),
"dumpster" (BE rubbish container, skip) or "realtor" (BE estate agent), all words which are not used in
Britain.
It can work the other way too - when listening to two English girls discussing a new rucksack one
had bought, an American bystander said: "Pardon me (American for excuse me), what's a rucksack?" She
only knew "backpack".
Often when a letter is doubled in British English, it appears singly in American English, for
example: traveling/travelling, instalment/installment. But just when you think you've understood the trick,
they then double a letter where the British only have one, as in enroll/ enrol. A word like program/me
presents the problem that even the British use the shortened version in the world of computers.
You'll read words like "percent", "defense", "check", "movie" in an article on New York, but "per cent",
"defence" "cheque" and "film" in one from London.
The United States and Britain are two countries divided by a common language. An American
colleague recalls a Canadian friend of his mother who tried to buy diapers in a store during a visit to the
United States. She asked the clerk for "nappies". The clerk gave her napkins. The woman said, no, she
wanted "nappies". The clerk kept handing her napkins. They did eventually straighten it out. Lucky for
the woman's baby.
Sometimes we run into trouble when we write our stories. We avoid the word "mad" because it
means "crazy" to a Briton but means "angry" to Americans. When writing about parliaments and their
doings Americans stay away from the verb "table", which means "introduce legislation" to the British
colleagues but means "postpone action" to the Americans.
Actually, it's a complete myth that American English is much richer and more varied than British
English. The British absorb all the Americanisms, and then add a medley of regional and slang variations
of their own.
"American English" (AE) and "British English" (BE) means that when I mention a "truck" for my
American clients, I must render that is a "lorry" for my British customers.
Similarly, an American "undershirt" is a British "vest", an American "buddy" is a British "mate". Then
there is the problem of spelling, with Britain's "labour" becoming America's "labor", as just one example.
We have to worry about group nouns, which in AE generally take a singular verb but in BE a plural verb.
Thus, in AE "the government has" but in BE, "the government have", although a change may be
forthcoming -I heard a BBC "news reader" (in AE, "news announcer") use the singular the other night.
Jot down British equivalents for the American words in the text just read

ASSIGNMENT 11

Jot down British equivalents for the following words:

PLACES

FOOD

apartment
baby carriage
doctor's/dentist's office
drugstore
elevator
hall, hallway
hardware store
intersection
mailbox
the movies
one-room apartment, studio
orchestra (seat) (in a theater)
overpass
parkway
pedestrian crossing
sidewalk
store
streetcar
subway
toilet (bathroom)
traffic circle
yard

can (of solid food)

candy
cookie
crackers
dessert
French fries
fruit and vegetable store
jello (gelatin dessert)
ground beef
molasses syrup
potato chips
powdered/confectioner's sugar
rare (meat)
string beans

USEFUL OBJECTS
absorbent cotton
ballpoint
eraser
faucet
flashlight
garbage can, trash can
loose leaf notebook, binder
package
rubber band
shopping bag
slingshot
spool of thread
stovec
thread
thumbtack
water heater
wrench

PERSONAL ITEMS
bangs (of hair)
cuffs
diaper
nail polish
pants
pantyhose
raincoat
ready to wear
run (in a stocking)
suspenders
turtleneck (sweater)
vest
undershirt
zipper
sneakers athletic shoesPEOPLE
attorney, lawyer
faculty (of university)
graduate student
guy
janitor
patrolman (police)
cop, policeman
salesperson

ASSIGNMENT 12

The following description is written in American English.

Fill in the correct British equivalent from the list below for each
italicized American word.

We took the freeway ......... . out of New York but soon got onto a
smaller divided highway in New Jersey. The traffic was
heavy and cars and trailer trucks .. kept passing ............................

us.

Soon, ahead of us, we saw a detour .. sign just before a

traffic circle ....................................... It was confusing, so we pulled off the

road into a gas station.
We asked for some gas ......... . and directions. The attendant washed our
windshield......................... opened the hood to check the oil,
and gave us directions. He pointed to a stop light .
where a truck ..................... was turning left. He said that was the
correct route. After carefully watching the rear view mirror
.. . we pulled back on the road.

articulated lorries,
bonnet,
diversion,
petrol,
lorry,
dual carriage-way,
garage,
motorway,
overtaking,
windscreen,
roundabout,
traffic light,
wing mirror

26

ASSIGNMENT 13

How was English imported from

Britain into Australia?
Why did the British become interested
Australia?
What port did Sidney develop from?
Who were the first settlers?
What did the Government take care of?

in

A stream of adventures and rebels from other parts of

the world poured into the newly-discovered continent. Scots,
Irish, English and others driven from the land by the
industrial revolution, which created an army of the poor, left
Europe for Australia with its seemingly* endless, empty
expanses*.
The loss of their American colonies made British take
a more serious interest in Australia, but at first, because of its
great distance, it did not seem a very attractive economic
proposition*. This distance was an advantage, though, for
other purposes.
In may 1787, a fleet of eleven vessels under the
command of Captain Arthur Phillip set sail from England
with 1 500 people on board, more than half of them felons.
After an arduous voyage lasting eight months, the ships put
in at Botany bay, where the passangers disembarked. A few
days later they were transported to port Jackson, which was
to grow into the largest Australian city, SIDNEY. Captain
Arthur Phillip was named first governor of New South
Wales, a new British colony. The British government could
now breathe a sigh of relief, for it had found a solution for
the overcrowding in prisnons by transporting convicts to
Australia. It seems, though, that care was always taken to
include a certain proportion of honest folk, ordinary
immigrants, in the convoys.
*seemingly - apparently
*expanse wide and open area
*proposition matter to be dealt with
*felon person guilty of felony, major serious crime, e.g. murder, armed robbery,
arson

27

ASSIGNMENT 14

Group Work Revision

Discuss the following:

A Group

Is English replacing other languages?

Worldwide over 340 million people speak English. The number of people who speak
English as a second or foreign language will exceed the number of native speakers.
English has a large and extensive vocabulary, of which 80% is foreign it borrows from
Spanish, German, French, Hebrew and Arabic, Bengali and Chinese it is unique in
history.
English is inherently a borrowing and an Anglicising language. Ever since its earliest
beginnings it has been part of the nature of the English language to incorporate ideas,
concepts, expressions from other societies and to make them part of English.
Noboy guards the purity of the language.
There is no standard pronunciation, but unity of grammar.
There is no Academy or other authority for English which determines the norm;
The norms of English are, in practice, set in relation to the NS or NNS usages outlined
above: that is to say, each community sets its own goals and targets, usually without
conscious decision. At the same time, there exists an unspoken mechanism, operated
through the global industry of English teaching, which has the effect of preserving the
unity of English in spite of its great diversity.
For throughout the world, regardless of whether the norm is native-speaker or nonnative-speaker variety, irrespective of whether English is a foreign or a second language,
two components of English are taught and learned without variation: these are its
grammar and its core, basic vocabulary.
English is not a property of only a few countries.
Will English exert pressure toward global uniformity? Is the future predictable?
English is keeping its monopoly and may form an oligopoly or a fearful construction, a
supranational language that all people would have to learn.
Paraphrase the following:
A language of the world could end as a fearful construction, with rules all its own,
bearing no clear mark of any one national language. All human beings would have to
learn it, in addition to their own languages, and none would have an advantage over
others by the mere accident of place of birth. Lingua terra could end up with a
vocabulary, a flexibility, a richness, surpassing any other, so that it could develop a
mighty literature of its own.

Can we have any other global language?

Economics and demogaphics will have more influence on language than governments
political powers.

28

B Group
Read and retell the text in an abstract form in English!

Izumiranje svjetskih jezika

U cijelome svijetu manjinski jezici i dijalekti nestaju ili ih odrava tek aica starih
govornika.
U Junoj Australiji kod Adelaidea, narod kaurna surauje s lingvistima I glazbenicima
kako bi nanovo oivjeli kaurna jezik koji se ve smatrao izumrlim.
Nicolas Ostler iz Zaklade za ugroene jezike vjeruje da jezici ipak ne moraju nestati ako
nove generacije pokau interes za njih.

Strunjaci smatraju da prosjeno svaka dva tjedna jedan od 6500 jezika svijeta nestane sa smru
posljednjeg govornika, odnosei sa sobom i veliko kulturno bogatstvo, pie Reuters.
Ugroeno znanje
Na nedavnom sastanku u malezijskom glavnom gradu lingvistiki strunjaci su rekli da je
najgore stanje u SAD-u, Kanadi i Australiji, a da je u opasnosti i bogatstvo azijskih jezika. To je
golema riznica ljudskog znanja. I kada jezik nestane, to nisu samo rijei, ve i odreeno znanje objanjava Nicholas Ostler, predsjednik Foundation for Endengered Languages (Zaklada za
ugroene jezike) sa sjeditem u Velikoj Britaniji.
Prema izvjetaju amerikog asopisa Cultural Survival (Preivljavanje kulture), ak 89 posto od
154 plemenska jezika u SAD-u u neposrednoj je opasnosti od izumiranja, a vie od polovice na
ivotu odrava tek aica starijih govornika. Primjerice, u amerikoj dravi Oklahomi barem 14
jezika, ukljuujui indijanske hitchiti, kaw, kitsai i peoria, vie se ne govori.
Stanje nije nita bolje ni u mnogim dijelovima Azije, usprkos kulturalnoj raznolikosti tog
podruja. Strunjaci kau da mnoge vlade nisu voljne dotaknuti se tog problema u ime
nacionalnog jedinstva. Tradicionalno se smatra da veliki broj jezika pridonosi razdijeljenosti
zemalja kojima je teko vladati, u kojima su neredi ili su siromane. Na raznolikost se gleda kao
na veliki i nepotreban teret - kae Ostler. Na Andamanu, otoku u Indijskom oceanu, najraireniji
tamonji jezik je spao na svega 20 govornika. U Bruneju pak lingvisti predviaju nestanak
manjinskih jezika u sljedee dvije generacije i opstanak samo dva ili tri jezika. Svi manjinski
jezici u Bruneju su ugroeni, a veina nije ni dokumentirana - kae Adrian Clyne, profesor
engleskog na Brunejskom sveuilitu.
Lingvisti se boje i za siraiki, jezik to ga je u jugozapadnoj pakistanskoj pokrajini Punjabu
govorilo 40 milijuna ljudi. Sada je njegov opstanak doveden u pitanje jer se ljudi okreu
engleskom i urdskom kako bi poboljali svoj socijalni i ekonomski status. Oni vjeruju da im
siraiki nita ne prua. Studenti koji govore siraiki smatraju se manje vrijednima. Siraikiji moraju
nauiti engleski i urdski da bi preivjeli i dobili bolje poslove - smatra Saiqa Imtiaz Asif,
pakistanska lingvistica.
Marginalizacija malih
Ni Kina s otprilike 235 ivih jezika i dijalekata nije imuna na gubitak jezika. Prema Picusu
Sizhiju Dingu, predavau na Politehnikom institutu u Makau, kao prevladavajui jezik
mandarinski se naveliko promovira u programu jezine edukacije, ime se marginaliziraju svi
ostali jezici i dijalekti.
Iz iskustva drugih vidljivo je da na ouvanju jezika treba sustavno raditi jer se nikada ne zna
kada e postati ugroen.
MEX

29

VOCABULARY LIST
strunjaci = experts
na nedavnom sastanku = in/during the recent meeting
malezijski glavni grad = the Malaysean capital
bogatstvo = richness
riznica = treasury
nestati = disappear
sjedite = headquaters
izvjetaj = report
neposrednoj opasnosti = directly endengered
izumiranje = dying out, extinction,
izumirati = be dying out, be extinct
odravati na ivotu = keep alive by, maintain
aica starijih govornika = a few elderly speakers
barem = at least
usprkos = despite; inspite of
kulturno bogatstvo = cultural heritage
pridonijeti = contribute to
razdijeljenost = split, division, disunion
vladati = govern, is governed by; rule
Asia Manor
u opasnosti, ugroen = in jeopardy, be endengered
nisu voljne dotaknuti se problema = are not willing to face the problem
tradicionalno = traditionally, by tradition
prosjeno = ON THE AVERAGE
nered =disorder, chaos
najraireniji tamoji jezik = the most spread local language
kulturalna raznolikost = cultural diversity
gledati na neto = look at, regard, judge, consider
Cultural diversity is considered to be a large and an unnecessary burden
teret = burden
spasti na = be reduced down
dokumentiran = documented
bojati se za = be afraid for
Urdu is an Indic language, an official language of Pakistan
Brunei is situated on the NW coast of Borneo
predvidjeti = forsee; envisage
manjinski jezici = minority languages
nestanak = disappearance, extinction
opstanak = preservation
imuna na = immune to/against
promovirati = promote
marginalizirati = marginalizing, making marginal
sustavno = systematically
prevladavajui = dominating
pakistanska pokrajina = Pakistani province
otprilike = approximately

30

C Group
Read and jot down the origins of present-day English
English is not the first language in the world from a numerical point of view the 1 billion Chinese speakers hold that place , but it is the most widespread. Yet, up to the
beginning of the 17th century, the English language was little used outside the British Isles.
Why should it be English that has come to occupy this unique position? English is after all a
young language compared with Chinese, or Greek, or Japanese, or Sanskrit. Nor is it convincing
simply to reply that English was the language used for exploration, trade, conquest, and
dominion from the 16th century onwards: so also was Portuguese, and Spanish, and Arabic, yet
they do not have dominant NNS populations. There is of course an element of historical luck
about it: the explorations of Captain Cook and Captain Vancouver, the establishment of trading
posts in Africa and the Orient, the colonial and penal settlements in North America and
Australasia, the profit-dominated grip on India, the infamous triangular slaves-for-molasses-formanufactured-goods traffic between Britain, West Africa, and the Caribbean, the early stages of
the Industrial Revolutionall these and others since were happenings dominated by people who
spoke English. But one can also view the development of the English language as having passed
through several stages, since 1600, which cumulatively yet inevitably led to the present state of
affairs.
It all began on a tiny scale. English first came into existence in roughly the form in which we
know it today around 1350, when the influence of 300 years of Norman French occupation had
been assimilated on to a basis of Germanic dialects with some additions from the Norse of the
Scandinavian invaders. For 150 years, until 1600, English was spoken only in England, probably
not even by all the seven million inhabitants. But then between 1600 and 1750 were sown the
seeds of today's global spread of English, as explorers, merchant adventurers, buccaneers,
traders, settlers, soldiers, and administrators went out from Britain to begin settlements and
colonies overseas. And it is necessary to realize that before about 1750 all these settlers regarded
themselves as English speakers from Britain who happened to be living overseas.
Yet after about 1750 and until c. 1900, three major changes took place. First, the populations of
the overseas NS English-speaking settlements greatly increased in size and became states with
governmentsalbeit colonial governmentsand with a growing sense of separate identity,
which soon extended to the flavour of the English they used. Second, in the United States first of
all but later in Australia and elsewhere the colonies began to take their independence from
Britain, which greatly reinforced the degree of linguistic difference: Noah Webster, for example,
urged Americans to take pride in the fact of their English reflecting the dynamic new life of the
United States. And third, as the possessions stabilized and prospered, so quite large numbers of
people, being non-native speakers of English, had to learn to use the language in order to survive,
or to find employment with the governing class. These NNS learners were of two kinds:
indigenous people (e.g., in India, Hindus and Moslems; in the United States, settlers of other
European origins such as Dutch, Spanish, and French, and freed slaves) and immigrants.
Learning English (though not, generally speaking, being taught English) now became a major
activity.
After 1900, and until about 1950, a fourth stage in the creation of today's global English took
place, at an increasing pace, when the colonies began to build schools and to offer education, in
English, to a small but growing fraction of the indigenous population, while in the United States,
Canada, and Australia the provision began of English language classes for immigrants.

31

D Group
WHY ENGLISH?
Jot down the answer in note-taking form.
The most recent stage, which is still going on, began around 1945 and contains two
distinct strands:
The first strand concerns nearly all the remaining colonies of Britain became
independent states, and at once the role and function of English changed from being an
instrument of subservience to other, quite different ends, such as a "window on the world of
science and technology," or as the only language not rejected by one section of the population
or another. This has been a period, in such former British statesand also in many of the
equivalent countries in the former possessions of France and Holland, and in the formerly
U.S.-related territories of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Samoafor the immense
explosion of English teaching, both for adults and, even more, for children of school age.
The second strand of the current stage in the development of English concerns the
emergence of a number of activities, movements, and subjects that are carried out
predominantly (though not exclusively) in English, across the world. One of the earliest
examples was the international agreement to adopt English for air-traffic control; another,
which began with the establishment of the United Nations, was the use of English in the
numerous bodies providing international aid and administration. As the telecommunication
revolution got under way, English became dominant in the international media, radio and TV,
magazines and newspapers. The international pop-music industry relies on English; so, too,
do space science and computing technology. The importance of this strand within the recent
development of English has been not just the vast numbers of people who now need or want
English for these activities, but the fact that using English suddenly has nothing to do with
one's nationality or with the historical facts of the spread of English-speaking colonies: the
Peruvian air pilot, from a country relatively untouched by past British (or American)
expansionism, nevertheless needs English for his job; the Polish doctor, spending two years
working for the World Health Organisation in tropical countries, also needs English; popmusic cults generate maniausing English wordsin the Soviet Union as well as in Hong
Kong or Germany or the United States.
strand
subservient
subservience
end

line of development in this history of English

subordinate or subject to
subjection
purpose, aim

32

E Group
1. The language spoken in each society is a reflection of its own particular culture. The type of
language spoken by each individual within a society is a symbol of his personality, background
and status. People, therefore, classify each other according to the way they speak.
2. If people can measure each other's speech, they must be measuring against some implicitly
acknowledged standard. In British English this standard accent is known as R.P., or Received
Pronunciation it is the accepted norm.
3. Although the speakers carry both a geographical and a social label, the more socially mobile
someone is, the more complex his accent becomes, and so the more difficult he is to label.
4. The relationship between language and social status, between linguistic skills and class
distinction makes language a powerful social weapon.
5. What are basic characteristics of English?
In Britain nowadays people often cultivate regional accent.
6. What do you think of artificial languages? Considering the variety of languages world-wide, it
would seem logical for everyone to learn an international language, like Esperanto. But that idea
has never really taken off. Maybe it's because speech is not merely a practical tool of
communication. It's much more than that. The way we speak reveals something about ourselves
and who we are, about our culture and our attitudes. No wonder we fight so hard to preserve our
languages, accents and dialects. They form a great part of our identity, both national and personal.
And ethnical.

33

Section 2
MODALS
Strong obligations

Strong obligations are formed by using be + passive infinitive or be + infinitive, e.g.:

The plans that are to be submitted for approval are to indicate clearly details of the welded
connections of main structural members.

Modal verbs expressing obligations

Must is used when the obligation comes from the speaker.

Have to is used when the obligation comes from someone else, often a law or a rule.
Need to expresses a weaker obligation than have to and must.
Mustnt expresses a negative obligation.
Neednt expresses that there is no internal obligation.
Dont have to indicates that there is no legal requirement at all.
Should and ought to are used when the obligation is not so strong and when they express
advice or duty.
Should have done is used when past actions werent performed.
Shouldnt have done shows that an action was done even though it wasnt advisable.
Neednt have done shows that an action was done even though it wasnt necessary.
Didnt need to shows that an action wasnt necessary and it wasnt performed.
Cant have done expresses deduction.

34

ASSIGNMENT 1
Complete the sentences with the appropriate modals expressing
obligation. (Autocorrective test)
1. Motorcyclists .. .. wear a crash helmet in Croatia.
2. Also we . drink alcohol while driving.
3. I really finish my lunch? Im not hungry.
4. No, you .. finish your lunch, but you . to wash up the dishes.
5. I go now. Its getting dark.
6. I have a nasty headache after reading. I . wear glasses.
7. You .. . write to your friends more often.
8. You . .. pay a months rent in advance.
10. We had plenty of cash so we .. .. pay by cheque.
11. I .. .. booked the seat for the bus because the bus was half empty.
12. Ive no idea when the agreement will be finely drawn up and signed. It
.. . . .. and .. weeks ago.
13. Beggars . .. no choosers.
14. Desperate diseases .. desperate cures.
15. I ............................ cooked all this food.
16. You ask me when you want to use the telephone.
17. You wash up. Ill do it later.
18. I know that I . get overtired.

2 Didnt need to do something OR neednt have done something

Write sentences using didnt need to do OR neednt have done something.
He didnt take his umbrella because the sun was shining and the forecast was good.
He didnt need to take his umbrella.
He took his umbrella but it did not rain.
He neednt have taken his umbrella.
1. I cleaned my shoes and then walked across a muddy field.

2.
He went to room 107 for the meeting but found it was cancelled.

3.
She took her money with her but her boyfriend paid.
...............
4.
She didnt take her money with her because she knew her boyfriend would pay.
...
5.
He knew I loved him so I didnt tell him.

6.
We didnt pack our towels because we knew the hotel would provide some.

7.
I was going to ring my friend yesterday but he unexpectedly came to see me.

35

8.
9.

They telephoned the landlady but the flat had already been let.
.
There was a buffet car on the train so he didnt bring any sandwiches.
.

Translate into English the following (auto corrective test):

1.
Nisu mi dozvolili da platim kreditnom karticom pa sam morao platiti gotovinom.
2.
Za svaki sam sluaj ipak uzeo gotovinu ali deki su me pustili da uem bez plaanja.
Nisam trebao uzimati gotovinu sa sobom.
3.
Kako sam mislio da je ulaz slobodan nisam uzeo gotovinu.
4.
Znao sam da je ulaz slobodan, pa tako nisam uzeo sa sobom gotovinu. Ti takoer nisi
trebao nositi gotovinu sa sobom.
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................

4 Complete the sentences with the appropriate modals:

Can, could, be able to express ability. Can and could express general events whereas be able
to and was able to denote particular events.
Cant help doing expresses avoidance.
May, might be likely to express permission granted and conjecture about the present future or
past. (It may/might rain tomorrow. It may/might be raining now. It may/might have rained in
Italy yesterday.)
May and can are used in polite requests, the only difference being that may is more polite.
Might is used in a slightly hesitant request.
I dont want to disturb you but might I use your dictionry for a moment?
Of course you may use it. (might can never be used in a short reply to such a request.)
They might have found your car, but they havent mentioned it. (conjecture but with a feeling
of doubt.

36

1. An open door . tempt a saint.

2. I .. .. . to visit him so far.
3. He . . to swim the crossing from Crikvenica to ilo.
4. Im sure you ... . to do it when the time comes.
5. He .. .. to learn Technical English in few months.
6. How old do you think he is? He . be forty.
7. He isnt yet here. Im afraid he have had an accident.
8. I go with my friends, Mummy? Yes, you .. .
9. .. they be successful! they live happily!
10. I think they .. be interested in that.
11. He . be right, but I dont think he is.
12. I not write to him. I didnt have time.
13. I take your pencil? Yes, you . No, you ..
14. You .. be right. It .. rain.
15. It .... . . raining all night. The streets are wet.
16. It . raining in England right now, who knows.
17. You be good at English if you studied harder.
18. .. I keep this book a few more days?
19. You . smoke in this room.
20. The match .. end in a draw.
21. I easily swim across the river if I wanted to.
22. He . .. run a mile in five minutes when he was younger.
23. I .. .. .. to get these tickets because I was willing to stand in the queue.
24. It rain tomorrow.
25. It ...................... in Zagreb yesterday.
26. I laughing at him.
27. He telephoned last night. I dont know, but its quite likely.
28. He telephoned last night. Yes, its possible, but I doubt it.

5
Tell what you deduce from the following. Use the cue word. Use
the modal verb must (autocorrective test)
Must be
Must have been doing

general truth
past continuous

Must have done

past finished

Must be doing

present moment activity

Must be going to do

future situation

1. I smell smoke. (burn)

2. I see a student running. (late)
3. You havent eaten any breakfast this morning. ( already/ eat)
4. She was wearing rubbers and had a wet umbrella this morning. (rain heavily)
5. He went right to bed when he got home. (tired)
6. He did all the exercises in short time. (study)
37

7. I hear footsteps. (come)

8. It is getting very dark. (rain)
9. I phoned the library but no one answered the call. (busy)

Conversational Drills
The verb need

Why dont you buy some tools?

Id like to buy some, but I dont really need any.
Do I need a haircut? I really wonder if I need a haircut.
You dont really need one.
I must pay the bill.
You neednt bother, Ive already paid it.
You really didnt have to pay for the lunch. Its my turn.
Do you know that you mustnt go near that machine? Its dangerous.
You neednt have told me that. I know it is.
Why did you wait for me? You didnt have to. Besides, you neednt have come if you didnt
want to.
You neednt have told me that. I know I didnt have to wait for you. (I neednt have
waited)

May and Might

a) May is often used in clauses with a concessive meaning:

Your job may be very demanding, but at least it isnt boring. =
Although (I am prepared to admit that) your job is very demanding, at
least it isnt boring.
b) May + perfect infinitive is used for referring to past time:
The work may have been difficult, but at least it was interesting.

Rewrite the sentences, using may as in the examples above.

1 Although the file is long, you could hardly call it boring.
a)
b)
2 Although the restaurant is expensive, the cuisine is excellent.
a)
b)
38

3 Although he is old, he isnt by any means senile.

a)
b)
4 Although the climb was exhausting, the view from the top made is well worth while.
a)
b)
5 Although he acted unwisely, he was at least trying to do something constructive.
a)
b)
6 Although old-age pensions have risen considerably, they havent kept pace with the cost of
living.
a)
b)
7 Although I was rude to him, I feel he had given me every justification.
a)
b)

May and Might

You might send me a postcard while youre on holiday.

You might look where youre going!
You might have told me you werent coming!
You might have let me know.
Rewrite the sentences, using might as in the above examples.
I wish he would be a little more tactful!
I think pehaps you should ask him if it is convenient before you call on him.
Im annoyed that you didnt warn me that the car was nearly out of petrol.
Think you should at least have apologized for what you said.
Im irritated that he didnt ty to look at the problem from my point of view.

39

ASSIGNMENT 9
Make sentences with CANT HAVE, COULD HAVE,
MUST HAVE in answer to these questions, as in the example.
She cant have gone far because she didnt have much money.
She could have missed the last train.
She must have met somebody.
1
Heavens! Wheres my wallet? I thought Id brought it with me.
.
2
Who has taken my mobile? I left it on the table.
.
3
Oh dear! The car has stopped. Whats happened to it?
.
4
The babys crying. I wonder why.
.
5
My girlfriend looks angry. Whats happened?
.
6
Annas bought a new car. I wonder how that was possible.
..
7
Peter and Stella are moving to a new house. I wonder why.
..
8
Theres a policeman going into the house next door. What does he want?
..

40

Modals
Auto corrective tests
(Exercise 1)
Complete the sentences with the appropriate modals.
1. Motorcyclists have to wear a crash helmet in Croatia.
2. Also we mustnt drink alcohol while driving.
3. Need I really finish my lunch? Im not hungry.
4. No, you neednt finish your lunch, but you need to wash up the dishes.
5. I must go now. Its getting dark.
6. I have a nasty headache after reading. I should wear glasses.
7. You ought to write to your friends more often.
8. You dont have to pay a months rent in advance.
10. We had plenty of cash so we didnt need to pay by cheque.
11. I neednt have booked the seat for the bus because the bus was half empty.
12. Ive no idea when the agreement will be finely drawn up and signed. It should
have been drawn up and signed weeks ago. It shouldnt have been postponed.
13. Beggars should be no choosers.
14. Desperate diseases need desperate cures.
15. I shouldnt have cooked all this food.
16. You neednt ask me when you want to use the telephone.
17. You dont have to wash up. Ill do it later.
18. I know that I mustnt get overtired.

(Exercise 3)
Translate the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.

They wouldnt let me pay by credit card so I had to pay cash.

I took cash just in case, but boys let me in for free. I neednt have taken cash.
I didnt take cash as I thought entry was free. I should have taken some cash.
I knew entry was free so I didnt take any cash. You didnt need to take cash either.

(Exercise 5)
The modal verb must
1. Something must be burning.
2. He must be late.
3. You must have already eaten.
4. It must have been raining heavily.
5. He must have been very tired.
6. He must have been studying.
7. He must be coming.
8. It must be going to rain.
9. They must have been very busy.

41

Section 3
OATH OF THE ENGINEER
Faith of the Engineer
I am an Engineer. In my profession I take deep pride, but without vainglory; to it I owe
solemn obligations that I am eager to fulfil.
As an Engineer, I will participate in none but honest enterprise. To him that has
engaged my services, as employer or client; I will give the utmost of performance and
fidelity.
When needed, my skill and knowledge shall be given without reservation for the public
good. From special capacity springs the obligation to use it well in the service of
humanity: and I accept the challenge that this implies.
Jealous of the high repute of my calling, I will strive to protect the interests and the good
name of any engineer that I know to be deserving; but I will not shrink, should duty
dictate, from disclosing the truth regarding anyone that, by unscrupulous act, has shown
himself unworthy of the profession.
Since the Age of Stone, human progress has been conditioned by the genius of my
professional forebears. By them have been rendered usable to mankind Nature's vast
resources of material and energy. By them have been vitalized and turned to practical
account the principles of science and the revelations of technology. Except for this
heritage of accumulated experience, my efforts would be feeble. I dedicate myself to the
dissemination of engineering knowledge, and. especially, to the instruction of younger
members of my profession in all its arts and traditions.
To my fellows I pledge, in the same full measure I ask of them, integrity and fair dealing,
tolerance and respect, and devotion to the standards and the dignity of our profession;
with the consciousness, always, that our special expertness carries with it the obligation
to serve humanity with complete sincerity.
Note: The "Faith of the Engineer" was presented to the Eleventh Annual Meeting of Engineers
Council for Professional Development by the Committee on Principles of Engineering Ethics
and received unanimous approval
Hippocratic Oath is the oath generally taken by students receiving a medical degree: it is
attributed to Hippocrates and sets forth an ethical code for the medical profession.

42

Assignment
Translate this oath and discuss it
Study this WORDLIST
canon
ethics
uphold, upheld, upheld
impartial
strive, strove, striven
vainglory

jealous of
vigilant
solicitous
forebear
revelation
feeble
disseminate
pledge
solemn
obligation
enterprise
spring, sprang, sprung
shrink, shrank, shrunk
commitment

general standard or principle by which something is

judged; the canons of conduct (norma, mjerila)
science of morals
support or approve
fair in giving judgments not favoring one more than
another (nepristran)
struggle
extreme vanity or pride in oneself; excessive elation or
pride over ones own achievements and abilities; boastful
vanity, empty pomp or show;
(pobjedonosnos, tatina, hvalisavost)
taking watchful care; solicitous or vigilant in maintaining
or guarding something;
keenly watchful to detect danger, awake and alert
careful
ancestor, forefather (predak)
revealing, making known of something secret or hidden
weak, without energy
distribute or spread widely ideas, doctrines
promise
(uzvien, svean)
moral responsibility
a business firm
to make known or cause to appear suddenly, unexpectedly
to draw back, withdraw, to move back and away
a pledge or promise to do something

Justify the use of the PASSIVE in the following paragraph

and turn the sentences into the ACTIVE:
Since the Age of Stone, human progress has been conditioned by the genius of my professional
forebears. By them have been rendered usable to mankind Nature's vast resources of material and
energy. By them have been vitalized and turned to practical account the principles of science and
the revelations of technology.

43

ENGINEERING ETHICS
By Senior lecturer Ksenija Mance
1. INTRODUCTION
Engineering ethics could be developed as a topic within all engineering departments and their curricula.
The Oath of the Engineer, was presented to the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Engineers' Council for
Professional Development by the Committee on Principles of Engineering Ethics and received unanimous
approval. The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development or simply, the Engineers'
Council for Professional Development, ECPD was established in June 1932. Later it became an
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, ABET, an Engineering professional body
dedicated to the education, accreditation, regulation and professional development of engineering
professionals and students in the United States. It sets standards and publishes codes of ethics and other
material for engineers and engineering schools and organizations in the United States.
Conversely, a formalized engineering oath of ethics does not exist in Croatia. Besides, there are no
professional oaths in Croatia except for the Hippocratic Oath, also called the Genevas Oath,
established in 1948.

2. ETHICS OF THE ENGINEERS OATH

Ethics, in accordance with Websters Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, is that branch of philosophy
dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain
actions and to the integrity and falsity of the motives and intentions of such actions.
Engineering ethics is a type of professional ethics and, as such, must be distinguished from personal
ethics and ethical obligations, which one may have as a holder of other social roles. Engineering ethics is
concerned with the question of what the standards in engineering ethics should be and how to apply these
standards to particular situations. [1]
The texts of code and oath express codified knowledge which is expressed in a format that is
standardized and compact, so as to permit easy, low cost transmission, verification, storage and
reproduction. [2]
The Oath begins with the following sentence:

I AM AN ENGINEER.
In Croatian, engineer is both a job and a title whereas engineering, a very old activity and trade, is a
relatively young profession or academic discipline in Croatia.
In my profession I take deep pride, but without vainglory; to it I owe solemn obligations that I am
eager to fulfill.

The engineering profession is a prestigious vocation and calling, which is of paramount importance for
our society. However, engineers should neither show excessive elation and pride over their own
achievements in their profession, nor keep monopoly of the profession as a status symbol. The moral
responsibility and obligations toward society as a whole come first. Most codes emphasize professional
prestige rather than moral responsibility, obligation, environmental stability and sustainability promotion.
The termsustainable development, first popularized by the World Commission on Environment and
Development, sponsored by the United Nations, is defined as development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.[5]
44

As an Engineer, I will participate in none but honest enterprise.

Honesty is an essential component of trust in stating claims or assessments based on attainable data. Some
codes of ethics imply that, without trust, an organization cannot function effectively. Both professional
responsibility and autonomy of engineers versus managers are to be addressed by the code of an oath.
To him that has engaged my services, as employer or client, I will give the utmost of performance and
fidelity.

Many engineers face, however, the dilemma of loyalty to their company and employer versus their
responsibility to society as a whole.
When needed, my skill and knowledge shall be given without reservation for the public good.

The welfare of the public i.e. the public good should be held paramount by the engineers. What is implied
by the public good? The semantic meaning of the public good implies an ethical notion of the good and
welfare in political decision-making and this meaning should not be confused with the economic concept
of public goods although these two concepts are very similar. In economics, a public good is defined
primarily by the fact that the exclusion of its consumption is impossible. A public good is defined as: a
good which all enjoy in common, in the sense that each individual's consumption of such a good leads to
no subtractions from any other individual's consumption of that good... [6] The public good encompasses
public health and welfare programs, education, research and development, national and domestic security,
roads, and a clean environment. Besides public goods there can be public bads, i.e. public wrongdoing,
which can have adverse externality effects (like pollution). Issues relating to public goods problems are
sometimes called the tragedy of commons because of public goods overuse.
One example of an irrational approach to the public good and irrational development of public goods (pay
attention to various meanings of these two phrases) is the Three Gorges Dam in China, which spans the
Yangtze River. With the reservoir over 600 km long, it is known as the largest hydroelectric river dam
and the largest hydro-electric power station in the world. Although there are economic benefits of flood
control and hydroelectric power, a lot of ethical issues have been raised, because the impact of the dam on
the environment is irreversible; the region's wildlife, water quality, local residents valuable archeological
and cultural sites, as well as ecological damage like landslides, soil erosion, water pollution, conflicts
caused by land and water shortage have all been affected.
We wonder if our environment can be sacrificed in exchange for temporary economic prosperity.
Anyway, should this oath of the engineer be modified to include a reference to the environment?
As an example, we can mention the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Code, which states
that engineers should be committed to improving the environment to enhance the quality of life and that
engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with
the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties. The IEEE code
of Ethics, (The IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) the world's leading
professional association for the advancement of technology, states that the members of the IEEE commit
themselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree to accept responsibility in making
decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that
might endanger the public or the environment; it was approved by the IEEE Board of Directors in 2006.
45

So, the word environment is explicitly mentioned. The oath of the engineer has a short linguistic form
and, therefore, requires effective semantic and clear communication that should not result in lack of
communication or under-estimation of the canons of ethics. When a new technology is introduced, its
potential unintended consequences are unknown until decades later. That is why we have to improve the
understanding of new technology, technical competence, and its appropriate application. When
implementing new technologies, engineers must consider physical and environmental safety. In this
context, we have to keep in mind that Man and the environment significantly influence one another.
Everything is closely intertwined and the earths interconnected ecosystems are under extreme pressure.
That is why the responsibility of the engineering profession is to sustain the balance in nature. Life and
the environment evolve together as a single system so that not only does the species that leaves the most
progeny tend to inherit the environment but also the environment that favors the most progeny is itself
sustained. [7] James Lovelock formulated the Gaia Hypothesis, which provides an interesting idea of the
interaction of physical, chemical, geological and biological processes on Earth.
From special capacity springs the obligation to use it well in the service of humanity: and I accept the
challenge that this implies.

The challenge mentioned in the faith is nothing more than a compromise between less health, safety and
welfare and more health, safety and welfare for the money spent.
But how to make a compromise between progress and ecology, between reliability and ecology, between
technically practical, viable, safe and economic requirements, between moral responsibility to people and
the whole environment and obligations to future generations.
However, we have challenged nature so far. Therefore, we could now supplement this code with the word
Nature and say that we shall use our knowledge in the service of humanity and Nature:
Since there is a universal conception of nature, and since the universe is presumed to have a nature, [8]
the word nature conveys a lot of meanings which are related just as Nature in its totality conveys
relatedness. This is the most comprehensive word which can be applicable always and everywhere.
Jealous of the high repute of my calling, I will strive to protect the interests and the good name of any
engineer that I know to be deserving; but I will not shrink, should duty dictate, from disclosing the
truth regarding anyone that, by unscrupulous act, has shown himself unworthy of the profession.

Ethical standards are embodied in the oath of the engineer and it is implied that if ones manager,
employer or superior do not act to undo, curb or mitigate dangers of serious personal or social damage, it
is necessary to offer honest criticism or even blow the whistle, so as to reduce the risk, to acknowledge
and correct errors, violations or negative consequences as much as possible. The ethical inner judgment
should be the final decisive guide in deciding whether or not to blow a whistle. Being a matter of
integrity and honesty, ethical principals should always take greater priority. Engineering professionals
must minimize malfunctions, any serious harm to others, any environmental impact and if necessary,
advice should be sought from other engineering professions. To avoid causing harm to society,
engineering professionals have enormous responsibility to define appropriate and inappropriate use of
engineering resources, systems and technology.
Since the Age of Stone, human progress has been conditioned by the genius of my professional
forebears. By them have been rendered usable to mankind Nature's vast resources of material and
energy. By them have been vitalized and turned to practical account the principles of science and the
revelations of technology.
Except for this heritage of accumulated experience, my efforts would be feeble.
46

..
.

..
Does human progress represent conflicts of values? Technology was seen by our ancestors as a force for
controlling a hostile nature and not as a threat or harm that could be inflicted upon nature. The oath
focuses on our professional forefathers i.e. on the past. However, engineers have obligations to future
generations who could be harmed by irresponsible engineering activities. It may take decades and
generations for products and facilities to have adverse effects; e.g. according to United Nations
Environment Programme, (Ozone Secretariat) air pollution and global warming are instances where the
damage done today is so irreparable that even if we begin to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and
ozone layer depletion now, the effects will be felt over the next 300 years. Definitely, human-induced
climate change has ethical dimensions.
I dedicate myself to the dissemination of engineering knowledge, and especially, to the instruction of
younger members of my profession in all its arts and traditions.

Engineering professionals have a responsibility to share technical knowledge and professional

development, not only with younger members, colleagues and co-workers but also with the public.
To my fellows I pledge, in the same full measure I ask of them, integrity and fair dealing, tolerance
and respect, and devotion to the standards and the dignity of our profession; with the consciousness,
always, that our special expertness carries with it the obligation to serve humanity with complete
sincerity.

Professional competence, personal accountability for professional work, confidentiality of information,

honesty, integrity and fair dealing and the contributions of others must be honored, properly credited and
obligated not only by the oath of the engineer but also by contract or by law. Bribery must be rejected and
malicious action such as injuring others avoided. All persons will be treated equally without regard to
age, gender, race, religion, disability, or national origin. Immoral and unethical rules and laws must be
challenged by all engineers.
In conclusion we can say that the existing oaths wording is inadequate in addressing many engineers as
guardians of the environment for future generations. The political expression public good and the
expression humanity neither place the ecological consciousness of the engineers in the first place nor
address the problem of maintaining environmental quality properly.

47

DICTATION
Engineers should now strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development and be morally
obliged to provide and maintain healthy environment for future generations. Also, adverse consequences
of technology can nowadays be regarded as ethically unacceptable because technology is nothing more
than an area of interaction between ourselves as individuals and our environment. Thus, engineers need to
be aware as to how their work will affect society in the future.
Consequently, professional normative standards are not abstract moral philosophies. An oath of the type
that is discussed in this article, determines the ethical foundation of a profession, in terms of the actual
content or meaning of the words that are uttered. In this case, one can see that it gives engineers an ethical
grounding which they can rely upon, or refer to, in terms of ethical decision making whilst carrying out
their professional career.
REFERENCES
[1]
Harris, Ch. E., Jr., Pritchard M.S., and Rabins, M. Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases
(1995), as in Engineering Practice and Engineering Ethics in Science, Technology & Human Values by
Lynch, W.T. and Kline R. Vol. 25, No 2, (2000) 195-225
[2]
Dasgupta and David, Toward a new economics of science. Paper presented at the Center for
Economic Policy Research Conference on the Role of technology in Economics, (1992) as in
Callon M., Is Science a Public Good? Science, Technology & Human Values, 19, 4 (1994) 395-424
[5] Vesilind P.A., Vestal Virgins and Engineering Ethics, Ethics&the Environment, 7(1) (2002), 92-101
[6] Samuelson Paul A., The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure, Review of Economics and Statistics 36
(4) (1954), 387-389
[7]
Lovelock, J.E., Geophysiology: A New Look at Earth Science, in Dickinson R.E. (ed.), in The
Gaia Hypothesis: Fact, Theory and Wishful Thinking, by Kirchner J.W., Department of Earth and
Planetary Science, University of California, (1886), Berkeley,
p. 394.
[8] Rivers, Th.J. Technology and the Use of Nature, Technology in Society, 25 (2003) 403-416
[9] Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, New Revised Edition,
Gramercy Books, New Yoork, 1996
Taken from Engineering Review

Some additional information can be found on:

http://www.ieee.org/about/ethics/index.html
http://www.ieee.org/about/corporate/governance/p7-8.html

48

LECTURE 3
Section 1
Seminar Group Work

Section 2
What is Engineering?

Section 3
Writing an Abstract

Section 4
Mathematical Expressions

49

Section 1
Write your own conclusion concerning the text Faith of the Engineer

A Group
Answer the following questions
1.
2.
3.
4.

Is engineering ethics important for society as a whole?

How could engineers responsibility for safe design be nurtured?
How could we manage risk better?
Can we protect ourselves from unscrupulous competitors by setting high product
standards?
5. Are engineers morally required to act on the basis of professional codes and canons?
6. Are they required to assume ethical responsibility for their activity?
7. Do you agree that the best basis for ethical responsibility is regulation and law?
8. Do you think that the oath of the engineer is unnecessary because engineers, in general,
have an inner moral duty and conscience not to deceive?
9. If a product or structure is an enormous hazard, do we have a duty through our
individual consciousness to make the problem public or do we have to protect our
organization or company?
10. Should the Oath of the Engineer also embody the ethical commitments of
engineering professionals and reflect moral values and principles which are to be put
into practice.
11. Do you agree with the statement that the oath tells us what engineers stand for when
conducting business and that it enhances the sense of community among members, of
belonging to a group with common values and a common mission? [3]
12. Do you also agree with the fact that the oath of the engineer deserves our special
attention because there are increasingly important new issues in engineering
professions lately?
13. In answers to the question why engineering schools and organizations in Croatia should
draw up the oath of the engineer and codes of the engineer, we can say:
to show moral maturity and responsibilities
to promote high standards of engineering practice and sustainable
development
to show that the profession's ethical standards conform to common regulations
and law
to show that the professions ethical standards can even transcend commonly
accepted morality
because ethical issues in new technologies must be resolved.

50

B Group

Ethical Issues in New Technologies Must Be Resolved

Investigate with great thoroughness the article
written in Croatian

51

Kodeks ponaanja za nanotehnologiju

Jo se ne zna dovoljno o uincima nanoznanosti
io je nanotehnologija
Podruje primijenjene znanosti i tehnologije kojoj je zajedniko kontroliranje ma-terije na
razini atoma i mo-lekula, najee od 1 do 100 nanometara (milijunti dio milimetra), te
proizvodnja ureaja i strojeva ije su dimenzije unutar tih parametara.
Europska komisija predloila je u petak zemljama lanicama da usvoje kodeks ponaanja u
istraivanju nanoznanosti i nanotehnologije, budui da ne postoji dovoljno informacija o
njihovom uincima na ljudsko zdravlje i okoli te s obzirom na neka etika pitanja.
'Postoji nedostatak znanja u vezi s uincima koje te tehnologije mogu imati na ljudsko
zdravlje, okoli, kao i na pitanja koja se odnose na etiku ili na potivanje te-meljnih prava',
istie se u priopenju.
Komisija smatra da je Europa predvodnik u nanoznanosti i i nanotehnologiji, znanstvenom
podruju koje je u punom zamahu i koje bi moglo imati velike negativne uinke u ekonomskom, socijalnom ili ekolokom smislu, te se stoga predlae kodeks ponaanja koji
bi se trebao primjenjivat i u tom podruju, a lemel|i se na sedam naela.
- Naa snaga djelomino lei i u pozornosti koju pridajemo odgovornom razvoju i uporabi
tih tehnologija. Kodeks ponaanja je instrument koji je izradila Komisija nakon javne
rasprave i on e omoguiti da se lake odgovori na legitimnu zabrinutost koju
nanotehnologije mogu izazvati - izjavio je povjerenik za istraivanje i razvoj Janez
Potonik. Prema prijedlogu kodeksa, razvoj i uporaba nanotehnologija moraju bili
razumljivi iroj javnosti te potovati ljudska prava. Pri primjeni tehnologija mora se voditi
interesima drutva i pojedinaca. Zahtijeva se takoer i da te tehnologije budu sigurni, da
potuju etika naela i pridonose odri vom razvoju.

Write an Abstract of this text!

..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................

52

Group
Discuss the importance of the following arguments that
employees and employers should take into consideration and
report on mobbing:

foster the open communication,

be aware of and obey the laws and regulations
manage their business in compliance with local and international laws and regulations, and high
standards of morale and ethics,
respects and preserve the environment in accordance with the specific local and international
regulations,
employees should be encouraged to exercise their rights
be committed to develop a professional relationship based on openness, respect, confidentiality,
promote fair competition and legal behavior among competitors
encourage diversity and respect the culture and business practices in every country
act in accordance with anti-corruption laws
protect confidential and proprietary information and communicate it only when it is necessary
for conducting our business
not use this information for personal advantage
respect ethical code and adhere to the highest standards of ethical behavior and business
conduct
be committed to meet all laws and regulations designed to promote fair competition and legal
behavior among competitors
respect business relations with our dealers, resellers and other partners
not restrain the free trade
not obstruct competition
develop our products and services in order to meet the expectations, needs and requirements of
our customers, partners and shareholders
do our best for improving our portfolio of products and services
protect our assets, including intellectual and physical property
use all resources and assets in group's interest
comply with all laws and regulations that govern and protect our own and others' intellectual
property rights
be committed to avoid any conflict of interests in performing their activities, inside the
organization or outside of it
develop a professional relationship with each other based on openness and respect
provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants as well as equal treatment for all
employees
develop a professional relationship with each other based on openness and respect

53

54

Vocabulary list
samohrani roditelj
self-supporting mother, single provider
zlostavljanje
maltreatment, abuse, ill-treatment, violence
rtve
victims
strukovna udruga
professional association
naruiti neija prava
infringe on smb's rights
biti sve loijeg zdravlja be in failing health, her health is deteriorating, getting worse
podnijeti pritubu
make a complaint
podnijeti tubu protiv (tuiti) sue for, bring suit against
pravomonost
legal validity
poslodavac
employer
progovoriti
make oneself heard , break silence, speak out
ostati anoniman
remain anonymous, he asked not to be identified, named,
he requested anonymity

Summarize the text in English!

Jot down essential idea, then support this idea and write conclusion sentence.
.............................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................

55

D Group
Whistleblowing
When an employee discovers unethical, immoral or illegal actions at work, the employee makes a decision
about what to do with this information. Whistleblowing is the term used to define an employees decision to
disclose this information to an authority figure (boss, media or government official).
The purpose of this chapter is to learn more about how employees make their decisions to come forward with
potentially damaging information and in turn, avoid potentially unethical employers.

1. Is whistle blowing regarded as responsible behavior towards the public?

2. Should whistle blowers receive legal protection or should they be regarded
as obstructionists?
3. Can whistle-blowing be justified by arguments using a moral theory?
4. Are engineers whistle-blowing rights protected in Croatia?
5. When should an employee blow the whistle? When should he or she "keep
quiet"?

Guidelines for Whistleblowing

Experts have set guidelines for whistleblowing. Some of those are listed
below.
This list is a guideline that will help an employee to determine if a situation merits
whistleblowing. Discuss them by using your own explanation
1.
Magnitude of consequences
An employee considering whistleblowing must ask himself or herself these questions: How much harm has
been done or might be done to victims? Will the victims really be "beneficiaries"? If one person is or will be
harmed, it is unlikely to be a situation that warrants whistleblowing.

Probability of effect
2.
The probability that the action will actually take place and will cause harm to many people must be
considered. An employee should be very sure that the action in question will actually happen. If the employee
does not know if the action will happen and if the action will harm people (or the environment), the employee
should reconsider his or her plan to blow the whistle. In addition, the employee must have absolute proof that
the event will occur and that people (or the environment) will be harmed.
Temporal immediacy
3.
An employee must consider the length of time between the present and the possibly harmful event. An
employee must also consider the urgency of the problem in question. The more immediate the consequences
of the potentially unethical practice, the stronger the case for whistleblowing. For example, the effects of toxic
waste

56

dumping that are likely to occur in a week are more pressing than the firing of 100 employees next year.

Proximity
4.
The physical closeness of the potential victims must be considered. For example, a company that is depriving
workers of medical benefits in a nearby town has a higher proximity than one 1,000 miles away. The question
arises about matters of emotional proximity or situations in which the ethical question relates to a victim
with some emotional attachment to the whistleblower.
5.

Concentration of Effort

A person must determine the intensity of the unethical practice or behavior. The question is how much
intensity does the specific infraction carry. For example, according to this principle, stealing $1,000 from one
person is more unethical than stealing $1 from 1,000 people. By Lizabeth England; English

Teaching Forum Online

Background Information
Whistleblowing leads to good and bad results. First, the benefits of carefully considered
whistleblowing can lead to the end of unethical business practices. The lives of individuals and whole
communities have been saved by whistleblowers. Severe damage to the environment has been stopped by the
actions of one individual who blew the whistle on an unethical employer. Here are some examples of serious
ethical violations that have resulted in whistleblowing. These examples represent significant consequences to
businesses:

Dumping of toxic waste

Padding an expense report
Violating laws about hiring and firing
Violating laws about workplace safety
Violating health laws which lead to documented illness and even death

The actions of whistleblowers are potentially beneficial to society. Businesses that engaged in
unethical practices have been shut down because of the actions of whistleblowers. Lives have been saved, and
severe damage to the environment has been averted because of the courage and persistence of whistleblowers.
At the same time, an employee who witnesses unethical business practices at work may want to think
carefully before making the decision to inform an authority of the practice. The consequences of
whistleblowing are often extreme and include possible firing, civil action, or even imprisonment.
Furthermore, an employee may want to follow the rule of "chain of command" that is, begin to discuss
issues of whistleblowing with his or her immediate supervisor first, before discussing the matter with anyone
else. A great deal of information about whistleblowing, whistleblowers rights and protection, whistleblowers
in many countries and in many professions (sports, the tobacco industry, chemical industry, and even the
government) is available on the World Wide Web. A list of some of those sites, with links to others, appears
later in this chapter (see Internet Resources).
Company loyalty is an internationally held value. Employees want positive work environments. Most
workers do not like to have disagreements with their bosses. At the same time, bosses and managers do not
want employees to complain to others in the workplace about a problem that the manager might be able to
solve. Complaining to ones colleagues can be harmful to morale and should not be confused with careful
thinking and action on behalf of unethical business practices. One companys unethical practices were
uncovered by an employee who was later fired for "blowing the whistle." No employee wants to be branded
as having bad judgment.

57

Discuss risk management and technical failures in groups

In conclusion, we classify any technical disaster and failures into the

following group:
the role of the human operator, technical design, organizational systems, and the role of socio
cultural factors.
In recent years, numerous engineers have faced ethical dilemmas in which engineering judgments
ultimately led to technological disasters. The various technical design flaws and technical
miscalculations are cases in point.
Some of the risks now confronting humanity are global in nature and cannot be mitigated by
individual countries or even by regional communities. Unlike the risks of previous civilizations,
technological disasters are rooted in ecologically destructive industrialization and are global,
pervasive, long-term, incalculable, and often unknown.

Have a deep scrutiny and analyse radioactivity, chemical contamination, and other
risks

E Group
Bhopal poison gas release
In 1984, a poisonous cloud of methyl isocyanate, a chemical compound used to make pesticides,
escaped and passed over the town of Bhopal, India, eventually causing the deaths of an estimated
14,000 people. In addition, more than 30,000 permanent injuries (including blindness), 20,000
temporary injuries, and 150,000 minor injuries were reported.
The Bhopal disaster may not have happened

if the refrigeration unit had not been disconnected;

if all gauges had been properly working;

if the proper safety steps had been taken upon the immediate detection of the deadly
methyl isocyanate instead of waiting an hour or so to do anything about it;

if the vent scrubber had been in service;

if the water sprays had been designed to shoot high enough to douse the emissions;

if the flare tower had been of sufficient capacity.

Such obvious violations of basic safety procedures were the unintended consequences
of the decision to cut costs.

58

Group

Do you remember The Paris DC-10 case which raised a host of organizational,
professional, and ethical issues because top management, a subcontractor that designed the cargo
door, had known about the faulty design from memoranda circulated by a senior vice president of
engineering, warning of the likelihood of a crash?
Do you know that management at McDonnell Douglas, the company that designed and
manufactured the DC-10 jumbo jet, as well as managing directors knew of the potentially deadly
problems associated with the rear cargo doors of the DC-10?
Consequently, they all became aware of the problem after an incident in 1972 over Windsor,
Ontario, where a DC-10 had to make an emergency landing when its rear cargo door blew open.
Did you read the news that On May 25, 1979, an American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10
jumbo jet crashed into a field shortly after taking off from Chicago-OHare International Airport,
killing 273 people on board.
What was the cause of the crash?
It was the result of a series of factors:
During take-off, the left engine broke loose, severing control and hydraulic cables housed
in the body of the wing.
The loss of those control cables made it impossible for the pilots to maneuver the wing slats
- extensions of the wing that provide additional lift during takeoff and landing.
Consequently, the left wing of the aircraft lost its ability to provide lift and it dipped low;
at the same time, the right wing rose until the wings were perpendicular to the ground,
causing the plane to crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported that the engine broke loose of
the large pylon holding it to the wing as the result of cracks in the pylon.
According to the report, these cracks were overlooked because of an improper
maintenance procedure.
The NTSB report chastised the Federal Aviation Administrations maintenance policies.
Additional questions arose when it was learned that McDonnell Douglas knew about the
improper maintenance techniques that led to the pylon cracks.
Besides questions about the ethical adequacy of the FAAs maintenance policies, should
McDonnell Douglas have informed the FAA that airlines were using a nonstandard method
for removing the engine and pylon assembly?
A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 jumbo jet crash may not have happened if

59

G Group
Ford Pinto rear- end collisions
In 1978 the Ford Motor Company was charged with reckless homicide in the deaths of three
teenage women whose Ford Pinto burst into flames after it was struck from behind by another
vehicle on August 10, 1978. An eyewitness to the fiery crash testified during the trial that the car
exploded like a napalm bomb when struck from behind by a van. The three women died from
burns they suffered in the accident.
The charges held that Ford executives consciously allowed an unsafe car to be manufactured and
sold to unsuspecting consumers. The controversy surrounded the design and placement of the gas
tank. The Pinto gas tank was placed behind the rear axle of the car, where it was vulnerable to
puncture if the car were struck from behind. In prototype testing, it was discovered that the Pinto
had a propensity to burst into flames if struck in its rear end at speeds as low as 3035 mph.
Between 500 and 900 victims died as a result of rear-end Pinto collisions.
The three DC-10 crashes and the Ford Pinto rear-end collisions all involve technical design
failures.
Ford Pinto rear- end collisions might not have happened if
..
..
..
..

H Group
Read the text and complete the following sentences
DC-10 crashes
In 1974 a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed outside of Paris, killing all 346 on board. The cause of
the crash was traced to a defectively designed rear cargo door. It blew open at an altitude of 12,000
feet, triggering rapid cargo cabin depressurization. Cabin depressurization, in turn, caused the
floorboards, which separate the cargo cabin from the passenger cabin above, to tear apart.
Unfortunately, the plane was designed to have all of the hydraulic and electrical control wires run
along directly under the floorboard. Hence, when the floorboards ripped apart, so did the hydraulic
and electrical systems that control the aircraft. With the crucial control systems destroyed, the
pilots lost all control, and the plane crashed to earth with breakneck speed.

Complete the following:

A Turkish Airlines DC-10 crash might not have happened if

60

Group

Manhattan Project
United States history

The World War II Manhattan Project is known as the U.S government research project (1942- 45)
that produced the first atomic bombs. Under Manhattan Project, the U.S. government built, in a
relatively short period, such facilities as production reactors, chemical-reprocessing plants, test and
research reactors, and weapons production facilities.
Oppenheimer (in J. Robert Oppenheimer (American physicist) ) participated in the efforts of
British and U.S. physicists to seek a way to harness nuclear energy for military purposes, an effort
that became known as the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer was instructed to establish and
administer a laboratory to carry out this assignment.
The first atomic bomb was built in Los Alamos, N.M., during World War II under a program
called the Manhattan Project. Los Alamos was approved as the site for the main atomic bomb
scientific laboratory on Nov. 25, 1942, by Brig. Gen. Leslie R. Groves and physicist J. Robert
Oppenheimer and was given the code name Project Y. One bomb, using plutonium, was
successfully tested on July 16, 1945.
American scientists, many of them refugees from fascist regimes in Europe, took steps in 1939 to
organize a project to exploit the newly recognized fission process for military purposes. The first
contact with the government was made by G.B. Pegram of Columbia University, who arranged a
conference between Enrico Fermi and the Navy Department in March 1939. In the summer of
1939, Albert Einstein was persuaded by his fellow scientists to use his influence and present the
military potential of an uncontrolled fission chain reaction to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In
February 1940, $6,000 was made available
to start research under the supervision of a committee headed by L.J. Briggs, director of the
National Bureau of Standards. On December 6, 1941, the project was put under the direction of the
Office of Scientific Research and Development, headed by Vannevar Bush.
From Encyclopedia Britannica on-line

61

Electrical Safety Study Sheet

It only takes one time of disobeying or forgetting a safety rule for you to be seriously injured. If we
have a poor attitude about safety , we could hurt or even permanently disable ourselves or some of our
colleagues.

The number one cause of accidents is a poor attitude. Mistakes cause accidents.
If a machine doesnt sound right, or if you can see something is wrong, tell the
instructor immediately.
Before using any equipment, you should know where the fire extinguishers are located
and how to use them.
Oily rags must be kept in a closed metal container to prevent spontaneous combustion.
See to it that you and others stay out of the danger zones marked by red or red/white
striped tape around machines.
If you have to leave a machine, turn it off and wait till it stops.
Pull the plug, not the cord, when you unplug a machine.
Your safety is everyones responsibility and others safety is everyones responsibility.
Store all materials properly.
A safety rule which applies to all power equipment is to never talk to a person while
he/she is operating a machine.
While you are learning to operate power machinery, have the instructor check the setup
before turning the power on. When operating any machine, give it all of your attention.
Chech all stocks for cracks, loose knots, and nails.
If there is an accident, even a minor one, it should be reported immediately.
The cord must be disconnected from the power source before changing bits, belts or
blades.
Damaging the cord of electrical hand-held tools may cause an electrical shock.
Use only properly insulated or grounded tools.
Take your time when working with tools.
Plan your work; measure twice and cut once.
Return all your tools to their proper places when you are finished using them.
Always work in a dry area.
Always short out large-value capacitors with the proper equipment.
When checking voltage, always keep one hand behind you or in your pocket.
Never use equipment that has had the ground prong removed from the plug.
Never work on an electrical circuit with the power on.
Never use any equipment without proper instruction first.
Use caution when dealing with hot tubes and resistors; let them cool first.
Less than one (1) ampere is enough electrical current to cause death.
Always check a circuit for power before working on it.
Never bypass or defeat a ground circuit.
Wear proper clothing and eye protection.
Never activate a circuit without first checking with the instructor.
Never assume anything around electricity; check it for yourself.
Wear rubber-soled shoes when working with electricity.
Stand on a rubber mat when working with electrical tools and machines.
Know where the circuit breakers are located and see that they are properly labeled.
Consider all circuits live until confirmed personally.

Never overload a circuit.

62

Section 2
WHAT IS ENGINEERING?
Whether building bridges, designing machines, developing new materials or constructing complex
electronic devices, the engineer is a central figure in the progress of a modern industrial society.
Engineers produce most of Man's material wealth, change the face of the Earth, create every new
product of modern technology and increasingly make life easier and more convenient.
According to one wit: "an engineer does for twenty-five pence what any fool could do for fifty." In the
same vein, an aeronautical engineer is described as "a man who designs a. part weighing eight ounces
that any fool could design to weigh a pound." Clearly, engineers have to be cost conscious, and some
have to be weight conscious; almost all of them are deeply concerned with how long things will last,
what they will accomplish and with what efficiency; their reliability, safety and a thousand other factors.
An engineer's whole life is spent balancing conflicting factors like these, weighing one against another
and coming up with the best possible answer. Each of his products is a compromise: it could always be
improved if it were made more expensive; it could always be made lighter, if reliability was
unimportant and much cheaper if it did not have to last long.
Also, during product development many problems deal with complex, strategic, and influential
issues that require team resolution. A poor decision on these problems may not be easily corrected
later or noticed in time to correct it. Poor results may have significant impact on product quality,
cost, and development time.
If the team had made a poor choice, they might have ended up making a product that did not sell
well, was overpriced, or was late to market. Teams often dont know how well they have done until
long after the decision is made, so it is imperative that they make the best decisions possible. So,
engineers are encouraged to generate multiple alternatives. One manager said that his engineers
always had at least three alternatives. When asked why, he responded that he would not approve a
new idea unless at least two other solutions for the problem were presented at the same time.
Experience suggests that effective team situations generate multiple alternatives as the result of
normal communications. This is especially true in a collaborative environment, when team
members have established an atmosphere of trust.
All engineers create something out of nothing. Sometimes, as with suitcases or even motor cars, the
engineering design is not really a dramatic step into the unknown; the new product is technically very
similar to what has been made before, and most of the effort is concerned with making it look attractive
while keeping down the production cost. But other engineers spend their whole lives pushing out the very
frontiers of human achievement. Aircrafts are made to carry greater loads, trains to go faster, telephone
systems to handle more traffic with fewer breakdowns, newspaper presses to work faster at lower cost,
home sewing machines to be more versatile yet smaller and neater than before, life-support systems to
enable an astronaut or aquanaut to go where man could not go before, and a bridge to span a great
river previously thought unbridgeable.
The engineer's creations are of steel, aluminium, glass, glass fibre, plastics, concrete and every
other material used by Man. The engineer must have a deep knowledge of these materials and
may be skilled at fashioning them; but to do so is not his job. His own tools are a drawing
board and notebook, pencils and pens, slide rules, typewriter, test equipment, computer,
instruments and dozens of volumes of reference books, catalogues and articles from the
technical press.
(Some sentences are taken from THE MIND ALIVE ENCYCLOPEDIA, TECHNOLOGY, London
Cavendish, 1977)
63

ALGORITHM FOR EFFICIENT READING

1st reading
vertical for global information.
2nd reading
pay attention to transparent words and
make predictions about the topic.
3rd reading
analytic and linear for detailed information

CODE TRANSFER (English Croatian)

1.1 To avoid frequent mistakes give the meanings in Croatian by referring first to
the examples given in the brackets.
(Older than...)

than .............................

(Then he decided to...)

then .............................

(Last week the weather...)

last ..............................

(The last bus for...)

last ..............................

(This cold weather cannot last another...)

last .............................

1.2 Logical interpretation.

Find the appropriate expressions in Croatian.
cost conscious

...............................................................................

drawing board

...............................................................................

man's material wealth

. .......................................................

weight conscious

...............................................................................

production cost

...............................................................................

engineering design

...............................................................................

life-support systems

...............................................................................

reference book

...............................................................................

If you were in somebody elses shoes how would you introduce engineering as a career to
beginning students of that discipline?
Any problem involving the low-cost production of large quantities of any item is an
engineering problem even if the item itself originated in the work of other disciplines.
Explain in detail why efficiency costs money, safety ads complexity, and performance
increases weight. Is this always true?
Can we state that the engineering solution to most problems is the most desirable end
result taking into account many factors?

64

Engineering is optimizing. It implies efficiency in engineering operations.

Unlike the scientists, the engineer is not free to select the problem which interests him and
he is not reputed to have pushed out the very frontiers of human achievement; the
engineering design is not really a dramatic step into the unknown; Though some engineers
spend their whole lives pushing out the very frontiers of human achievement they must
solve the problem as they arise, and his solutions must satisfy conflicting requirements.
The 19th century gave us the Industrial revolution today we are at the dawn of a new
Information revolution that could trigger a massive social upheaval.
Advocates of this Information Revolution have properly foreseen our future with digital
superhighways criss-crossing the globe. We are now able to shop, play, learn, and even
make love while sitting alone in our homes. The contents of the worlds best libraries are
instantly accessible. The race between computer and telecommunication companies to
exploit the potential of this new revolution is just taking place.
Engineering as a career implies optimizing and efficiency. Efficiency costs money, safety
ads complexity, and performance increases weight. The engineering solution is the
optimum solution; the most desirable end result taking into account many factors; it may be
the cheapest for a given performance, the most reliable for a given weight, the simplest for
a given safety, or the most efficient for a given cost.
To the engineer, efficiency means output divided by input. His job is to secure a maximum
output for a given input or to secure a given output with a minimum input. The ratio may
be expressed in terms of energy, materials, money, time, or men. Most commonly the
denominator is money; in fact, most engineering problems are answered ultimately in
dollars and cents. Efficient conversion is accomplished by using efficient methods, devices,
and personnel organizations.
When great quantities must be produced at low cost, it becomes an engineering problem.
Since output equals input minus losses, the engineer must keep losses and waste to a
minimum. Losses due to friction occur in every machine and in every organization.
Efficient functioning depends on good design, careful attention to operating difficulties,
and lubrication of rough spots, whether they are mechanical or personal.
Engineering of the highest type is required to conceive, design, and achieve the conversion
of the energy of a turbulent mountain stream into the powerful torque of an electric motor a
hundred miles away.
In a certain sense, the successful engineer is a malcontent; a person who is never satisfied
with what is achieved, always trying to change things for the better.

65

Human Ingenuity
What are engineering, technology and science
nowadays?
Science and Technology Made Our World
1

Paraphrase the following citations!

A human being is part of the whole, called by us the Universe a

part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts
and feelings as something separated from the rest a kind of optical
delusion of consciousness.
Albert Einstein
To begin with we may investigate the forces of nature, and from these
forces demonstrate the other phenomena.
the whole burden of philosophy seems to consist in this, from the
phenomena of motions to investigate the forces of nature, and from these
forces to demonstrate the other phenomena.
(I. Newton, PRINCIPIA PHILOSOPHIAE, 1686)
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed
us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their
use.
Galileo Galilee 1564 -1642

66

Write subtitles for each paragraph!

Once shaped only by the forces of nature, our world is being transformed by the
products of human ingenuity. Key inventions and technologies, which are grown from
them, are changing not only our environment but the way we live in it, our comfort,
prosperity and even lifespan. Science and technology have come to pervade every
aspect of our lives and, as a result, society is changing at a speed which is quite
unprecedented. There is a great technological explosion around us, generated by
science.

A simple watch-spring enabled navigators to set out across uncharted oceans.

Today satellite time-keepers in space can pinpoint shipwrecks or track missiles to their
target. Impurities in a crystal brought about the computer revolution and the ubiquitous
silicon chip. Stores of knowledge ranging from libraries to laser discs, linked by strands
of glass, are weaving a network of data around our planet. Radio and television
distribute news almost as it happens, and yet engines put every nation within reach.
Even our food and drink have been transformed by technology.

The electronics, aircraft, chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive and energy

industries have revolutionized life in the course of the 20th century, and the revolutions
within the industries themselves are happening at an ever-faster rate. It is fascinating
how electronics epitomizes the accelerating rate of change in industry as a whole.

However, the question is if all inventions and discoveries have made man happier and
his life easier?
Enormous knowledge, technology and engineering have brought great benefits
but also grave perils to mankind. Progress has always been double-edged. Thats why
an array of philosophers have stressed that progress must be directed by something
more than just knowledge. Bertrand Russell sets out to seek a means of balancing
knowledge with an equivalent offsetting of wisdom. For, he thinks that although our
age far surpasses all previous ages in knowledge, there has been no correlative increase
in wisdom. There are several factors that contribute to wisdom. Of these I should put
first a sense of proportion: the capacity to take account of all the important factors in a
problem and to attach to each its due weight. This has become more difficult than it
used to be owing to the extent and complexity of the specialized knowledge required of
various kinds of technicians.

67

You study the composition of the atom from a disinterested desire for
knowledge, and incidentally place in the hands of powerful lunatics the means of
destroying the human race.
In such ways the pursuit of knowledge may become harmful unless it is combined with
wisdom, and wisdom in the sense of COMPREHENSIVE VISION is not necessarily
present in specialists in the pursuit of knowledge. The semantic meanings of being
comprehensive as well as comprehensible come from the verb comprehend which
means:
1. understand fully and be comprehensible and
2. include referring to be comprehensive
That means that if you have comprehensive vision you are able to comprehend fully
because you have a comprehensive mind and thus are capable of performing a
comprehensive survey and seeing a comprehensive and overall picture of the world. A
researcher must be aware of all the consequences his research might bring.

Knowledge must be directed by wisdom. Do we know what wisdom is?

The definition of wisdom might be as follows: power of judging rightly and following
the soundest course of action based on knowledge, experience, understanding, good
judgment, sagacity, erudition and comprehensive viewpoint.
Wisdom is inner knowledge, inner consciousness and inner conscience.
Engineering science and ethics must be directed by wisdom and comprehensive vision
of the world.

Nowadays computer-based risk assessment models can provide rough

estimates measuring the probability and consequences of problems. These models
might enable engineers to take systematic approaches that can incorporate many
variables that might otherwise be overlooked.

Moral responsibility is a characteristic that can only be assumed by individual

human beings, not by corporations or big companies. Engineers through their
professional organizations or their individual consciences have to assume ethical
responsibility for the applications and results of their achievements, in short they have
to behave responsibly, and foster safety design. We might design a code of ethics that
all engineering societies could adopt.

68

The question how safe we should be may not always be answered by safer
because risk assessment is a social problem and requires social solutions that may even
involve accepting or rejecting technologies. Thus, no social technologies are
immutable; as a matter of fact they change beyond recognition.

Do you agree with the statement that pushing out the very frontiers of human
achievements can be very perilous and that engineers are not supposed to bridge the
gap previously thought unbridgeable but they should bridge conflicts between
members who identify with the industries and managements that employ them,
conflicts that have always been unbridgeable. Engineering problems require
multidisciplinarity, i.e. multidisciplinary efforts from engineers, scientists, social
scientists as well as thoughtful discussion between public and private sectors; they
require once again a comprehensive vision of the projects.

How should the risks that are part of or by-products of the engineers work be
managed?
Do you think that engineers have special professional responsibilities?
Do you think that we should offer increased protection to those who blow the
whistles? What is your attitude towards whistle-blowing?
Do most accidents occur in routine use or from design failures?

Technological achievements leave much room for mistakes and also modern science
has brought grave perils to mankind.
Engineers will be required to solve an array of problems and to improve and develop:

Economically feasible energy sources

Transport methods
Reliable telecommunication
Waste disposal
Food manufacturing
Agricultural machinery
Monitoring and recording of peoples health
Improving the lives of the disabled
.
.
.
.

69

GROUP WORK
Write your cross-section to the questions
If you were in somebody elses shoes how would you introduce engineering as a
career to beginning students of that discipline?
Any problem involving the low-cost production of large quantities of any item is
an engineering problem even if the item itself originated in the work of other
disciplines.

Explain in detail why efficiency costs money, safety, ads complexity and performance,
increases weight. Is this always true?

Can we state that the engineering solution to most problems is the most desirable end result,
taking into account many factors?

Is it true that much of the opposition to science comes from those who have gained little
knowledge and education.

If you have a degree in German Literature, or in any mental discipline, this equips you to do
the other. You could study the sciences because you have the necessary analytical mind.

Is science regarded as the discipline which could save the world or the discipline we are
afraid of? Science links and divides people thanks to the environmental and the animal rights
movements.

Is science essential if the developing world is to become the developed world?

Have we witnessed any sudden upsurge in interest in the sciences as a result of the advances
in technology?

Why is Establishment frightened of science? Is there something frightening about not

wanting to know things which are evident, and always true? Why are we not able to live with
the truth?

Should we all have an inkling of what is going on right now in the area of science?

Why science as a discipline has not been brought out of the labs and research rooms into the
living-rooms?

Few people have the privilege to write about new discoveries in science. The world we live
in today is shaped and affected by the discoveries (but not inventions) of the pioneer
scientists.

John Newell said: The same hormone in the human body equips us for flight, fright and
fight. Some people run away from science because it symbolises such terrifying things: of
getting to grips with the huge, mysterious thing that is universe. (London Calling, BBC
World Service.)
70

USE OF THE GENITIVE

Saxon Form or s Genitive Form is used to show possession, a quality or a
state relating to a person.
1

noun

When the noun of the possessor is

- singular, even if it ends in s, or if it is
- plural not ending in s, we add apostrophe + s
+

(apostrophe + s)

The s genitive is used:

with nouns and names denoting persons and animals:
St Jamess Palace; the childrens new toys; Moses laws;
Dickenss novels or Dickens novels
possession in common
Peter and Marys new house
individual possession
Peters and Marys houses or Peters house and Marys
with geographical or institutional names and personifications:
Londons Hyde Park; the familys support; musics voice;
with nouns denoting time, with adverbs like today, tonight, etc:
Last Fridays party; a moments rest; tonights dinner;
with set phrases like:
an hours walk; within a stones throw (=very close);
in somebody elses shoes

Double Genitive
A friend of Marys
Some ideas of John
Two sisters of Toms
Two photos of Toms wife
Toms wifes photos
Marys mothers friend

=
=
=

One of Marys friends

Some of Johns ideas
Two of Toms sisters.

71

When the noun of the possessor is

- a plural ending in s, we add only apostrophe.

noun

(only apostrophe)

Speakers Corner; Euripides plays; for goodness sake, for justice sake;

The Genitive with Ellipsis

Words which denote buildings like store, shop, church, cathedral, house,
hospital, restaurant etc. may be omitted, provided the sense is clear, e.g.:
Dont take my umbrella, take Susans.
Whose umbrella is this? Its Johns.
This newspaper is yesterdays.
Mrs Nicholls was a happy life.
This new car is Dr Foxs.
Im going to the dentists tomorrow.
I always spend my holidays at my grandparents.
The apostrophe is often dropped in names of large department stores,
publishing houses, travel agencies, e.g.:
Harrods, Longmans, Cooks, st Albans, etc

ASSIGNMENT
Apostrophe - possession
In the following advertisement for a department store, the
apostrophes to denote possession are missing. Put them in
where necessary.
PETER SMITHS DEPARTMENT STORE
This seasons sale has bargains for everyone! We sell everything families need!
On the third floor: ladies coats and girls dresses, all at half price. Mens trousers, on the
second floor, are in this years colours and styles again at a low, low price. Or see our
ranges of boys summer jackets. Youll find childrens toys on the ground floor, with our
selection of books by Britains favourite authors. Dont forget: PETER SMITHS is
Newtowns biggest department store!

72

ASSIGNMENT
Correct the mistakes in these sentences:
1.
2.
3.
4.

James bike is very large. Isnt it a present from his grandparents?

The youngs dream is to have a lot of money.
A friend of Dean is living at us.
Last Monday I met Roberts and Peters grandmother. The two brothers love her
very much.
5. Goethe and Shakespeares works are famous throughout the world.
6. I dont like that new dress of Ann.
7. This tables leg needs repairing.
8. The Napless Gulf is marvellous.
9. Do you remember the girls name that we met at the Johnsons last night? (two
mistakes)
10. This is my fathers portrait. Doesnt he look nice? (this is the case of specification,
not of possession)
11. The Mays month is the month when the gardens are full of flowers.
12. Have a rest. Here, at me, you are on holiday.
13. The dog of the friends of my brother is a spaniel. (use double genitive)
14. One of Tom friends is studying for his exams.
15. The office of the lawyers of my fathers is near Speakers Corner.
16. St Jamess Palace was the official sovereigns residence.
17. This is a photo of me, and that is Marys.
18. Jim is Bob Stuarts cousin, our next door neighbour.
19. The sisters friend who is talking with your friend lives in Boston.
20. I dont remember the students name that helped me up with this heavy bag.

Use double genitive forms

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Can you see the bicycle of the son of the doctor?

Some of your sons paintings are good.
Many of our teachers books are good.
Two of Mrs Walls daughters are married.
Many of the Johnsons relatives live in the country.
Are you going sailing with some of the Clintons friends this afternoon?
Marys sisters friend is also my friend.
-Who is that lady?
- She is one of Mrs Wells cousins.
Handball is one of my sisters favourite games.
I wonder why some of Jills schoolfriends were absent this morning.

73

AUTO-CORRECTION
1. Jamess bike is very large. Isnt it a present from his grandparents?
2. The dream of the young is to have a lot of money.
3. A friend of Deans is living at us.
4. Last Monday I met Robert and Peters grandmother. The two brothers love her
very much. (Not an individual possession)
5. Goethes and Sheakespeares works are famous throughout the world.
(Individual possession)
6. I dont like that new dress of Anns.
7. The legs of the table
8. The Gulf of Naples the case of specification
9. The name of the girl that the possessor followed by an apposition/ at the
Johnsons
10. A portrait of my fathers - this is the case of specification, not of possession
11. The month of May when the possessor followed by an apposition
12. Have a rest. Here, with me, / at my house you are on holiday.
13. The brothers friends dog is a spaniel.
14. One of Toms friends is studying for his exams.
15. The office of the lawyers of my fathers is near Speakers Corner.
16. St Jamess Palace is the official residence of the sovereign.
17. This is a photo of me, and that is of Mary. Or this is my photo, and that is Marys.
18. Jim is the cousin of Bob Stuart, our next door neighbour.
The possessor is followed by an apposition
19. The friend of my sister who is talking with your friend lives in Boston.
The possessor is followed by a relative clause
20. I dont remember the name of the student that helped me up with this heavy bag.
The possessor is followed by a relative clause

Use double genitive forms

1. Can you see the bicycle of the son of the doctor?
Can you see the bicycle of the doctors son?
2. Some of your sons paintings are good.
Some paintings of your sons are good.
3. Many of our teachers books are good.
Many books of our teachers are good.
4. Two of Mrs Walls daughters are married.
Two daughters of Mrs Walls are married.
5. Many of the Johsons relatives live in the country.
Many relatives of the Johsons live in the country.
6. Are you going sailing with some of the Clintons friends this afternoon?
Are you going sailing with some friends of the Clintons this afternoon?
7. Marys sisters friend is also my friend.
A friend of Marys sisters is also my friend.
8. She is one of Mrs Wells cousins.
She is a cousin of Mrs Wells.
9. Handball is one of my sisters favourite games.
Handball is one of favourite games of my sisters.
10. I wonder why some of Jills schoolfriends were absent this morning.
I wonder why some schoolfriends of Jills were absent this morning.

74

Section 3
3.1 Reading Some Mathematical Expressions, Formulae and Symbols
Even numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8,...
Odd numbers:
1,3,5,7,9,...
-teen
13- 19 (fifteen)
-ty
20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 (fifty)
Cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers
Roman numerals and Arabic numerals
The whole number 3 and 1/3 fraction

7893
A four-figure number. 3 units, 9 tens, 8 hundreds, 7 thousands
5,078,493
five million seventy-eight thousand four hundred and ninety-three
1,000,000,000 a milliard or a thousand million; US a billion (A comma
is used to separate groups of 000,)
24.621
twenty-four point six two one (In Britain the decimal is
always represented by a point).
0.47
nought point four seven
0,357
proper decimal fraction with decimal places, 3 tenths, 5 hundredths and 7
thousandths
0, 77777
recurring decimal
0.001
nought point oh oh one (zero is not often used in reading decimal
values)
+ 90 F
ninety degrees Fahrenheit above/plus zero
-7 C
seven degrees Centigrade below/minus zero Temperature
508-209
five oh eight two oh nine (Telephone numbers)
3: 0
three nil (FootballGB)
30: 0
thirty lov (Tennis)
,

a third or one third, one fourth or a quarter

one over nine hundred and thirty seven

a/b

a over b

Addition (to add)

7+ 9 = 16

seven plus nine equals (is, are) sixteen (sum)

Subtraction (to subtract)

8- 6 = 2
eight minus six equals two (difference, remainder)
Multiplication (to multiply)
4 x 7 = 28
four times (multiplied by) seven equals twenty-eight
(product)
Division (to divide)
27 : 3 = 9
twenty-seven divided by three equals nine (quotient)
Three into twenty-seven goes nine times. Twenty seven over three is nine.

75

32 = 9
y3 = 5
24 = 64
x-5
xn-1

Raising to the Power

three squared equals nine
y cubed equals five
two (to the) power (of) four equals sixty-four
x(to the) power(of) minus five
x(to the) power (of) n minus one

Finding the Root (Extraction of Root)

the square root of nine is three
the cube root of eight is two
the fourth root of sixteen is two
Solving Equations
(a + b) (a b) = c
a plus b in brackets times a minus b inbrackets equals c.
x[(a+b) (a-b) + 6]=0
x open square brackets a plus b in brackets times aminus b
in brackets plus six close square brackets equals nought.
B2
B subscript 2
A'
A prime
capital F equals small m small v squared all over small r
H2O
x y
xy

h two o
x is equivalent to y
x is not equal to y

x ~= 10

x is approximately equal to ten

x >0
x < 10
x > 10
X 10
x 10
X 10
x 10
x y
x>
x=3
x=0

x tends to nought
x is less than ten
x is greater than ten
x is much less than ten
x is much greater than ten
x is less than or equal to ten
x is greater than or equal to ten
x is proportional to y
x tends to infinity
x equals plus or minus three
therefore x equals nought

dy/dx

derivative(dx,dy: the differentials;

d:differential sign

76

The names for the Greek letters with the accepted British English pronunciation:
alpha/ elf/
beta
/ bit/
gamma/ gm/
delta
/ delt/
epsilon/ep'sln/
zeta
/ zit/
eta
/ 'it/
theta
/ 'it/
iota
/ t /
kappa/ kp
lambda/lmd/

mu

nu
/nju/
xi
/ksl/
omicron /'mkrn/
pi
/p/
rho
/r/
sigma / 'sigm/
tau
/ta/
upsilon
/jup'slbn/
phi
/f/
chi
/k/
psi
/ps/
omega
/ ' mig /

/mju/

3.2

Exercises

A Read out these numbers.

1

3
4

40
93

10 10.874
11 1200

231

13 1,000.000

2
5
7

14

8 1.053

15

9 2,279

15387

16

102 12 100.302
995 14 82 985

73 5

17
18

90005
1931
44829
8075

19
20

B Write down the names of these units: mm, m, cm, km.

C Use these patterns to ask and answer questions about objects in your classroom, eg window,
door, table, etc.
How high
wide
long

is . . . ?

height
width
length

What is the

The height
width
length

... has
a

of ... ?

of . . . is
...

. . . is . . .
in

height,
width,
length.

height
width
length

of . . .

77

Height, width and length are all nouns High, wide and long are all adjectives
Height, width, length are all __________ dimensions.

3.3

Describing objects

A Write down the names for these dimensions.

1

This object is . . .

5 The adjective to describe

a circle is c __________________ or
r __________________
A circle has dimensions of:
d ___________________
r----------------------------and
c____________________

78

B Study the descriptions below.

A is a solid wooden block 5 c m high, 10cm long and 4 cm wide.
A is a solid wooden block. It has a height of 5 cm, a length of 10 cm and
a width of 4 cm.
A

There are three other ways of writing this description

A is a solid wooden block which has a height of 5 cm, a length of 10 cm and a
width of 4 cm. A is a solid wooden block having a height of 5 cm, a length of
10cm and a width of 4 cm. A is a solid wooden block of height 5 cm, length
1 0 cm and width 4 cm.
Now make similar statements about the following object:
h=10cm I =8 cm t
=1 cm d = 9 cm
wood

C Here are some shapes which you must learn the names of:

79

3.4 Drawing dictation

a) Draw the following shapes:
flat
round
square
oval

thin
pointed

thick.

b) Draw the following lines:

1 a straight line
2 parallel lines
3 a curved line
4 a dotted line
5 a dashanddot line
6 a broken line
7a horizontal line
8 a vertical line
9 a transverse line
10 a slanting line (kos, nagnut) also called oblique i.e. straight lines neither
horizontal nor vertical
11 two mutually perpendicular lines(okomit)
12 intersecting lines and mark the point of intersection.
c) Draw the following angles:
1 the right angle
2 the obtuse angle (tup)
3 the acute angle (iljat) and
4 adjacent angles.
Adjacent angles are two angles having the same vertex (vrh kuta) and having a
common side between them. Angles are measured with the protractor.
d) Draw solid figures threedimensional shapes!
Triangles may be classified according to the relative length of their sides.
1 Draw a right angled triangle. The side opposite to the right angle is the
hypotenuse; Draw the interior angles and exterior angles.
2 If two sides (called the arms, legs krak kuta) are equal, it is called an
isosceles triangle (istokraan trokut). It has the base, the perpendicular,
an altitude. Draw its altitude and mark it with H;
3 If all three sides are of equal length, it is an equilateral triangle
(istostranian) also called equiangular triangle.
4 Draw a scalene triangle (raznostranian trokut) , which has all three sides of
different lengths.
TRIANGLES

A Right angle; B Isosceles; C Equilateral; D Obtuse; E Acute; F Scalene

80

e) Draw plane figures!

Plane geometry deals with planes (plohe) which have two dimensions;
There are quadrilaterals which have both pairs of opposite sides parallel to each
other:
1 a parallelogram
2 a rectangle
3 a rhombus and
4 a rhomboid.
A trapezoid has only two sides parallel.
5 Draw an isosceles trapezoid
6 a regular polygon
7 concentric circles
8 circumferential angle
9 angle subtended by the arc at the centre
10 a square
11 a rectangle
12 a rhombus and
13 a rhomboid
14 a polygon
15 a circumcircle (circumscribed circle) and
16 an inscribed circle
17 a curved line and 18 a radius of curvature
f) Draw (naval architecture)
1 a middle line plane
2 transverse plane and
3 water plane of a vessel and a square.
g) Draw a circle!
Geometrically, a circle is a closed curved line, every point of which is the same
distance from a point within called the centre.
The length of such a curve is called the circumference.
Any portion of the circle is called an arc.
A straight line which touches a circle at one point is called a tangent.
If straight line cuts a circle at two points, it is called a secant (sekanta), if a line
segment terminates in the circle, it is a chord (tetiva).
The portion of the circle passes through its centre and is called the diameter;
half of the diameter is a radius.
All radii of a circle branch out from the centre like the spokes of a wheel (bice
kotaa).
The area included by two radii and their subtended arc is called a sector of the
circle (isjeak kruga).
Draw an inscribed circle (upisan) and a circumscribed polygon (opisan
mnogokut) pentagon, and 2 foci of the ellipse.
A circle
81

h) Draw solid figures threedimensional shapes!

Solid geometry (stereometry) deals with bodies geometrical bodies:
1 the sphere
2 the cone
3 the cylinder
4 the quadrilateral pyramid
5 the cube
6 the parallelepiped
7 the triangular prism
8 the quadratic prism with an edge and a corner.

3.5 Now complete these descriptions of flat threedimensional objects.

1

Object A is a ________ plate of side ________

and ________ 001 cm.

Object B is a ________ plate of side ________

and ________ 1 2 cm.

82

3.6 Here are some important 3-dimensional shapes.

Describe these objects

For example, cube: solid steel

B is a solid steel cube of side

5cm/having a side of 5
cm/which has a side of 5 cm.

83

3.7

Right triangle rule

One of the most famous relationships in all geometry concerns right triangles. It
is named after Pythagoras, a famous Greek mathematician. This is the
relationship: the square of the side opposite the right angle (hypotenuse) is equal
to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. If we know any two sides of a
right triangle, we may use the equation to find the third side. Write down this
equation. .

3.8

3.9

Draw the following shapes:

1

A square with rounded corners, ellipsoid of revolution, a sphere

A triangle with one rounded corner.

A semi-circle, a semi-sphere

A cone with a flat top i.e. truncated cone (frustum of a cone) (krnja
piramida)

A cylinder with a point at one end.

Draw a curved line from a point A to a point B.

Inclined planes

We can hold a wooden board or two planes upright (plumb, vertical,

perpendicular to the ground).
When we tilt (naginjemo) the top over to the right, left, forward or backward,
the board (the plane) tilts (slants, inclines, slopes).
I can tilt the monitor a little bit forwards.
Two boards or planes can be put in such a way as to look like a roof. Each side
of the roof is an inclined plane. The sides rise to a ridge (apex) and from the
ridge or apex boards or planes slope down, incline or slant.
His handwriting slopes forward and yours backward. Hers slants also from right
to left. Our garden slopes down to the sea. If we tilt the table, the plates will
slide off to the floor!

84

Exercises
Exercise 1
Describe the shapes of the parts of the following objects which are
marked with an arrow. For example,
What shape is the end of P? It's pointed.

Exercise 2
Read the following text:
We can make general descriptions about things in the following way:
A pencil consists of a wooden bar. This bar contains a thin cylindrical rod of
graphite. It is pointed at one end.
A matchbox is a wooden or cardboard box in two parts. The two parts consist of a
hollow inner tray and an outer sleeve. It is used for holding matches.
These descriptions can be changed slightly in the following way:
A pencil consists of a wooden bar which contains a thin cylindrical rod of
graphite. It is pointed at one end.
A matchbox is a wooden or cardboard box in two parts which consist of a hollow
inner tray and an outer sleeve (vanjska omotnica). It is used for holding matches.
85

Read the following text:

We can make general descriptions about things in the following way:
A pencil consists of a wooden bar. This bar contains a thin cylindrical rod of
graphite. It is pointed at one end.
A matchbox is a wooden or cardboard box in two parts. The two parts consist of a
hollow inner tray and an outer sleeve. It is used for holding matches.
These descriptions can be changed slightly in the following way:
A pencil consists of a wooden bar which contains a thin cylindrical rod of
graphite. It is pointed at one end.
A matchbox is a wooden or cardboard box in two parts which consist of a hollow
inner tray and an outer sleeve (vanjska omotnica). It is used for holding matches.
Notice the way which is used to connect pieces of information. Notice also that
say a pencil or a matchbox when we are making a statement about pencils and
matchboxes in general.
Study the following general descriptions, and then combine two of the sentences
together with which, as above.
Here are also some opposites which can be used in making general descriptions
Curved
hollow
long
heavy

flat
solid
short
light

Ask questions about these things. Give an answer using an opposite.

For example.
Is this full?
No, it isn't, it's nearly empty.
(rectangular, large, cylindrical, sherical, regular)
1 An eraser is a solid block of rubber. It is used for erasing pencil marks. It can be
either rectangular or round.

2 A ruler is a thin rectangular wooden or plastic strip. It is used for drawing

straight lines and measuring linear dimensions.

3 A standard mass is a solid cylindrical brass block. It is used for comparing

masses on a laboratory beam balance.

86

4 A laboratory thermometer consists of a sealed hollow glass tube with a hollow

spherical bulb at one end. The bulb and the tube both contain mercury. A
thermometer is used for measuring temperature.

Exercise 3
a) Translate into English the following:
nagnuti se

.....................................

nagib, kosina

.....................................

nagnut

.....................................

b) Describe a beaker (hollow cylindrical glass container/closed/one end/hold liquids or

solids)

.............................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................

Exercise 4
Complete these descriptions by giving the dimensions required.
1 The block has a h ___________________of _________ a
I _____________________ of ________ and a w ________ of
________.

2 The I __________________ of the block is _________ the

w _____________________ is ________ and the h ________ is
________ .

87

The block is ________ w _______, ________

I _______and ________ h ______.

4.

How w________ is the block?

What's the I ________ of the block?
How h _______ is the block?
What's the w ________ of the block?
How I _______ is the block?

88

Exercise 4 Complete the descriptions of these objects.

A is a _________________ steel __________of

_______ 391 cm and ________ 93 cm.

B is a ______ copper ___________ having an

_______ _______of 21 cm, an__________ _________
of 55 cm and a ________ of 9 3 2 cm.

C is an aluminium ________ which has a

_______ of 212 cm, a __________ of 05 cm. a
_______ of 30 cm and a _________ of 100 cm.

The cone D has a _________ of 8 8 5 cm, and a

______ ______ of 230cm.
89

drill 1
What's the first value?
Thirteen centimetres.
What's the second value? Twenty-eight
point five centimetres.
1
2
3
4
5
6

13cm
285cm
5348 km
7385m
8.7205 km
98021cm

7
8
9
10
11
12

935201 cm
00915 km
72358 m
5002cm
3035 cm
1414m

drill 2
What's the height of the block?
The height is twenty-eight point five one
centimetres.
How wide is the block?
It's thirty-two point oh eight centimetres wide.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

h =2851 cm
w = 3 208 c m
I =7329 cm
h =832 cm
w = 793cm
I = 2434cm
h=9005cm
w=8895cm
I =21200cm
h =031 cm
w = O45cm
I =272cm

90

drill 3
What is A?
A is a circle.

Is F square?
No. it isn't square, it's cubic.

91

drill 4
What's the depth of M?
Thirty-two point four three centimetres.
What's the radius of P? Twenty-two point three
centimetres.

92

drill 5
Is R pointed?
Yes. It is.
Is T f l a t ?
No. it isn't; it's curved.

93

drill 6
What is i t ?

It's a thermometer.

94

Section 4
SCHEME AND PROCEDURAL
APPROACH OF WRITING AN ABSTRACT

If students cannot write properly, they will never be able to express their ideas in clear,
persuasive and effective ways.
Some common grammatical errors may be acceptable in conversation but not in writing.
Therefore, check your drafts to catch awkward wording or sentence structure.
Students have to distinguish between language used in conversation and that used in
writing. Clearly, clarity and simplicity are always preferable to complexity. The academic
tone in writing will be studied, identified and defined. Also, students have to distinguish
between central, essential, main points and ideas and the most important supporting or
peripheral ideas.
How to summarize in writing? Students can summarize an article in 80-100 words. In this
way, it is important to isolate primary, secondary, and tertiary issues. Also, the right idiom
for the type of writing must be learned.
Examine the roles played by sentences, paragraphs, parentheses, footnotes, chapters,
prefaces and conclusions. Students are encouraged to think in terms of paragraphs.
What function is served by particular paragraphs. Do they explain, inform or
persuade?
What is the logic behind footnoting and other conventions of academic writing?
The first time students are given a writing assignment, they have to examine the
issues they need to consider, e.g. study the essentials of good writing that are the
same under all circumstances:

TEST

Writing an abstract
Writing exercises in and out of class
Common mistakes the students make are:
- inconsistency in verb tense
- confusion of singular and plural
- common spelling mistakes, not to rely on computer spell checkers
- eliminate intensifiers as very etc.
- use the right idiom
- the logic of the presentation
- cohesion
- reread your first draft

95

SCHEME OF WRITING AN ABSTRACT AND PROCEDURAL

APPROACH
When writing an abstract of an engineering text, reduce the volume of the text by
keeping the following levels in mind:

Write the title, the topic in block letters;

If small letters are used all the initials of the words are written in capital letters
except the prepositions, conjunctions and articles; the title must be as short as
possible containing primarily the novelty of the information, a new piece of
information, the essence and the main idea of the article content that is further
elaborated in the body of the abstract;

Write key words, i.e. the basic engineering concepts;

Set up relations between the concepts so as to convey concise, clear and precise
information.

3
Select only the essential information of the article (cca 100
words);
4

Organize the form of the summary i.e. divide the text into:

a)
b)
c)

the introduction, i.e. the relevant essential or core idea

the body which supports the basic information of the article
the conclusion

Coherence or cohesion of the summary must be ensured:

by keeping the order and logic of the article content so that one sentence must be
logically and semantically linked with another sentence; Cohesion may be realized
by reference, by the pronouns this and these, by inter sentential links known as
sentence linkers, by synonymous expressions, etc.;
6

Engineering concepts must be properly matched by the appropriate

language structures and the type of discourse used, e. g. descriptive, expository,
informative, argumentative, chronological, experiment- result oriented, etc.
7
There are two types of abstract predominantly used in technical English:
a)
the topic oriented abstract, used in the written form, where information
content is reported as given by the article;
b)
the author (paper, article) oriented abstract, used in the oral report, in
which the content is reported from the point of view of the author.

96

A LIST OF INTRODUCTORY PHRASES:

This paper deals with and considers discusses..
This paper is concerned with
The concern of the article is ...
The focus is on the following aspects
This paper sets out to examine
The most interesting aspects are
This paper discusses
The object of this article is
The subject of this article is
It is the chief aim of this paper to
The main aim of this article is .
This paper treats the problem ..
This article gives a survey of
The article presents an overview of
This article provides a short account of
The basic principles of text .
The only criterion in this article is .
In this paper it is shown how .
It is argued that there is
This report explains the method
A short description is given of .
A general survey is given of
The following can be singled out .
In this article some basic concepts are given and it is shown how
.
In this paper a new formula, a method for . is derived and
described.
The first part of this article offers an exhaustive analysis of
The only criterion elaborated in this text is .
The following can be singled out in this article
From the insight gained into discourse structures a synthesis may be
deduced

97

Sentence Linkers
1. To show addition: and, besides, again, additionally, in addition to this,
furthermore, moreover, as well as, also, apart from, except for, possibly, more
surprising, another point is that
2. To show contrast: but, however, nevertheless, despite, yet, otherwise, in
spite of, unlike, while, whereas, whilst, instead, on the other hand, in contrast
to, as contrasted to, by way of contrast, by contrast, as opposed to, on the
contrary, fortunately, alternately, irrespective of, notwithstanding, regardless of,
except, conversely, it is very unlikely, rather
3. To show comparison: like, in like manner, similarly, unlike, in the same
way, so, likewise, correspondingly, in comparison with this, regardless,
regarding
4. To show emphasis: in fact, actually, as a matter of fact, certainly, indeed,
above all, clearly, obviously, really, surely, significantly, rather (tovie,
zapravo), more importantly, it is worth remembering, naturally, of course
put otherwise
5. To show concession: even though, although, though, despite this
6. To introduce an example: for example, e.g. (= exampli gratia), in particular,
for instance, i.e. (=id est., or that is), in other words, viz. (= vide licet, that is to
say); namely, put another way, rather (bolje reeno, bolje rei)
7. To introduce reason or result: thus, as a result, therefore, so, hence,
consequently, accordingly, because of this, on account of, for this reason, due
to, given (the fact), in as much as, in so far as, owing to, since, then, it follows
that, no doubt
8. To introduce conclusion: in summary, in conclusion, (taken) as a whole,
taken together, finally, briefly, to sum up, to summarize, on the whole, in short,
overall, interestingly, we can conclude
9. To show sequence: in the beginning, at first, initially, first(ly), second(ly),
subsequently, next, afterwards, then, eventually, finally, later on, ultimately, at
last, not suprisingly
10. To show a cause effect: due to, owing to, because of, on account of,
since,
11. To show condition: if, unless (if not), provided that, on condition, providing
12 To show doubt or hypothesis: possibly, probably, maybe
98

ASSIGNMENT
Write the abstracts of the following
texts:
a)
Text A
Fighting Noise with Antinoise
b)

Text B

Environmental and Resource Protection - Strategies

for More Sustainability

c)
Text C
Keeping In Touch
d)

Text D

Human Factors Engineering

99

100

Additional reading
Noise Pollution
Noise pollution (or environmental noise) is displeasing human or machine created
sound that disrupts the activity or happiness of human or animal life. A common form
of noise pollution is from transportation, principally motor vehicles.
antinoise
adj.
1. Designed to reduce environmental noise
2. Capable of neutralizing the sound of another noise.
n.
A technique for neutralizing unwanted sound, in which a second sound wave, identical
to but out of phase with the unwanted sound, is used to cancel the unwanted sound.
Active noise control (ANC) (also known as noise cancellation, active noise reduction
(ANR) or antinoise) is a method for reducing unwanted sound.

Explanation
Sound is a pressure wave, which consists of a compression phase and a rarefaction
phase. A noise-cancellation speaker emits a sound wave with the same amplitude and the
opposite polarity (in antiphase) to the original sound. The waves combine to form a new
wave, in a process called interference, and effectively cancel each other out - an effect which
is called phase cancellation. Depending on the circumstances and the method used, the
resulting sound wave may be so faint as to be inaudible to human ears.
A noise-cancellation speaker may be co-located with the sound source to be
attenuated. In this case it must have the same audio power level as the source of the unwanted
sound. Alternatively, the transducer emitting the cancellation signal may be located at the
location where sound attenuation is wanted (e.g. the user's ear). This requires a much lower
power level for cancellation but is effective only for a single user. Noise cancellation at other
locations is more difficult as the three dimensional wave fronts of the unwanted sound and
the cancellation signal could match and create alternating zones of constructive and
destructive interference. In small enclosed spaces (e.g. the passenger compartment of a car)
such global cancellation can be achieved via multiple speakers and feedback microphones,
and
measurement
of
the
modal
responses
of
the
enclosure.
Modern active noise control is achieved through the use of a computer, which
analyzes the waveform of the background aural or non-aural noise, then generates a
polarisation reversed waveform to cancel it out by interference. This waveform has identical
or directly proportional amplitude to the waveform of the original noise, but its polarity is
reversed. This creates the destructive interference that reduces the amplitude of the perceived
noise.

What could you tell about applications of noise-cancelling headphones?

101

Study the following wordlist of the text - Fighting Noise

with Antinoise
din
noise

a loud, continuous, deafening sound, painful to the ears

loud shouting, a sound of any kind, (the noise of
the rain)
uproar
loud, confused sound as of shouting, laughing
clamour
loud shouting as in protest
drumming engine noise a loud, reverberating sound and noise made by an
engine
ANT. quiet
electronic mufflers
any of various devices for silencing, suppressing noises; a
larger section with a baffler or baffles in the exhaust pipe
of an internal-combustion engine.

muffle
suppress the sound
Syn. to deaden, mute, soften, silence, weaken, reduce, suppress the sound
soften
reduce, weaken
baffle
to hinder, impede, interfere with
midair
any point in space, not in contact with the ground or
other do not confuse with middle ear (see also external
ear and inner ear)
matte
not shiny or glossy; dull
headsets
earphones, often with a mouthpiece transmitter
attached;
earmuffs
cloth or fur coverings worn over the ears to keep them
warm in cold weather
airport baggage handlers a person that handles the baggage
whine
whiz, hiss, whistle, whisper
rumble
to make a deep, heavy, continuous, rolling sound as
thunder
deafen
to make deaf
deaf
unable to hear, deaf to her pleads
slinky
sinuous and graceful in movement
seesaw
a plank used by children at play to ride the ends so that
when one goes up,the other comes down; ljuljaka;
mute
unable to speak, deaf from infancy, deaf-mute
mute
soften or muffle the sound
blast
to make a loud, harsh sound
eavesdropping devices device for listening secretly to the privateconversation of
others;
eavesdropper
lit. one who stands on the eavesdrop to listen
muzzle
straps fastened over the mouth of an animal to prevent its
biting; anything that prevents free speech or discussion

Give definitions for the following words:

antinoise devices, noise suppression, din, electronic mufflers, muffle, rumble, deaf,
mute, seesaw, eavesdropping devices, muzzle, mute
102

Translate into Croatian the following phrases:

matte-black headsets
offending sounds in midair
deafening din
hazardous noise levels
undulating
Slinkies or jump ropes
mirror-image waves
combat cockpit noise
air ducts
dampen
computerized silencers
electronically muzzled
run silent
repetitive noise,
random or unexpected noises
none of the antinoise devices is currently on the market
high-pitched squeals and whistles

An example of abstract scheme:

At the beginning of the article the author gives the fundamental idea, essential
relations between and the . Moreover, fundamentals of are given in order to
Then he shows the close relationship which exists between and . Some data
related to are also offered.
Finally, the necessary steps for are defined in order to .
In the conclusion the author underlines the impact of on

An example of the abstract (110 words)

This article is concerned with reducing noise level by using
earphones, which generate sound waves 180 out of phase with
the noise that should be blocked. Thus, the noise wave and the
generated waves cancel each other out and no noise is heard.
This phenomenon is known as destructive interference.
The main use of these earphones is to block excessive noise in
the airplane and helicopter cockpits. However, this device is not
perfect, because it cannot block very high-pitched noise.
It is worth mentioning that there are many companies working on
the anti-noise systems, so that the first one to develop a perfect
system will make a fortune.

103

B Group
Read the text and research the most important strategies for more
sustainability that could also be implemented in Croatia; Jot down these
strategies in note form
Environmental and Resource Protection - Strategies for More
Sustainability
By Martin Orth
What can stop climate change?
Which forms of energy will we use in the future?
How can everyone be assured access to enough water?
These important questions are closely linked to environmental and climate
protection
In the spring of 2008 Time Magazine ran the headline Lessons from Germany. In
the article that followed, the renowned US magazine gave detailed answers to the
question: What can Americans learn from Europes most populous country? It
informed its readers about how Germany saves energy, lowers carbon dioxide
emissions and generates power from renewable energy sources. Germany cut its
greenhouse-gas emissions by 18% between 1990 and 2005,the magazine writes,
while emissions in the USA rose by 16% in the same period.Time Magazine paints
a picture of a new Germany where wind farms, biogas plants and solar roofs have
become a normal part of the landscape. The main point made by the article is that the
German Federal Government paved the way for change early on. It introduced an
eco-tax to reduce oil consumption. It built up a recycling system to conserve
resources and re-use raw materials. And above all, it passed the Renewable Energy
Act (EEG).
Indeed, the EEG, which came into force in 2000, is at the heart of German energy and
climate policy. It encourages citizens, businesses and local authorities to generate
electricity for themselves from renewable sources and to sell any excess on to the
power utilities. Some people have been making a tidy profit out this scheme. And the
proportion of power consumption generated by renewables has risen to 14% within a
few years. The target is 25 to 30% by 2020. In the meantime, 47 countries have
themselves passed legislation modelled on the German Renewable Energy Act. After
all, not only the climate benefits from the programme of market incentives, but also
the economy. One in three solar cells and almost half the worlds wind turbines are
made in Germany. The German greentech industry is the technology leader.
According to a recent study, by 2020 it will have the potential to take over from the
successful mechanical-engineering and automotive industries as the biggest employer
in Germany. Environmental protection and jobs are not a contradiction. On the
contrary, the two are mutually dependent on a global scale,says Sigmar Gabriel,
Germanys Federal Minister for the Environment. People are already talking about
the third industrial revolution.
The idea is not as utopian as it may sound, because protecting the environment and
climate is one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century and will require
enormous efforts.
104

How can climate change be stopped?

What will be our sources of energy in the future?
How can an equitable and sufficient supply of water and food be assured
for the worlds growing population?
These are the most pressing issues of our time. Consequently, environmental protection
has become an important part of German foreign policy. Diplomats speak of foreign
policy for environmental protection, and mean a three-pronged approach consisting of
future provision, conflict prevention and active security policy. After all,
environmental issues (e.g. unfair distribution of water) can lead to considerable social
and political tensions. The Federal Foreign Office is therefore promoting international
environmental protection on many levels, be it in negotiations on international
environmental agreements or by organizing conferences.
Only this April, 150 business and political leaders from the five Central Asian countries
were guests of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin for the Water Unites conference.
This meeting launched the Central Asia Water Initiative, which comprises a wide
range of collaborations and support measures to counteract the negative consequences
of water shortages in the region.
Energy and climate policy was at the centre of the environmental issues discussed a
field in which Germany is taking on a pioneering role with its ambitious reduction
targets in the fight against climate change. Germany is already very close to delivering
on the commitment it made in the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions
by 21% by 2012. Furthermore, Germany is second only to Sweden in the 2008 global
Climate Protection Index, which rates the performance of 56 countries in climate
protection. In its efforts Germany applies a dual strategy of improving energy and
resource efficiency and expanding the use of renewable energies and renewable
primary products. The country is also taking the lead within the European Union. If
other countries are prepared to follow suit, Germany has said it is prepared to aim for
even higher targets than some of those specified by the EU, which envisage a 20%
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to the figure for 1990, raising
renewable energys share of the energy mix to 20%, and reducing energy consumption
by 20%. On Germanys initiative the heads of state and government of the eight leading
industrial nations (G8) have agreed to halve CO2 emissions by 2050. The aim here is to
limit the rise in the average global temperature to two degrees.
Germany is also intensely involved in the preparations for the 2009 Copenhagen
Climate Conference. The key issue there will be reaching agreement on a new,
comprehensive climate-protection regime to avoid international climate protection
efforts coming to a standstill after the 2012 Kyoto Protocol runs out. The integration of
economically advanced NICs (newly industrializing countries) such as China, India,
South Africa, Brazil and Mexico will be high of the agenda in this context. After all, the
global challenge of climate protection cannot be mastered without these partner
countries.
July 28, 2008 Deutschland Magazine www.magazine-deutschland.de

sustainable development = odrivi razvoj

sustainability = odrivost

105

TEXT B
The Abstract
Key Words
................................................................................................................................................

Essential Idea
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
..........................................

Supporting Information
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................

Conclusion
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................

106

Group C
Keeping in touch
A product doesn't just disappear into the ether after design; it leaves tracks to
follow in the real world. By Jean Thilmany, Associate Editor
Write subtitles for each paragraph

TECHNOLOGY THAT HELPS ENGINEERS pass design ideas back and forth and
brainstorm with others involved in a project can be harnessed down the line in a product's life
to provide much-needed information about those early days. Equally important, it can
encourage engineers involved at the beginning of a product during its designto think about
how it will be used during its entire life. It's sort of like making sure that children are
inoculated against diseases they might encounter later in life.
By using technology to forecast and plan for the uses of products such as computers and
automobiles before they're even created, engineers and manufacturers can minimize the
environmental impact the products will have at the end of their useful lives. And the same
technology used in product creation, called product lifecycle management, or PLM, software,
can be reactivated farther down a product's lifefor instance, when the owner of a Peugeot
wants to find out what's causing that billowing smoke from the exhaust.
PLM isn't always thought of as forward-thinking technology because it's used mainly at the
front end of product creation. But it leaves a rich trail of information about original design and
marketing intent that can be called upon later.
..
Some companies couple PLMwhich allows engineers and manufacturers to exchange design
files and communicate about product developmentwith a mix of other technologies to
forecast a product's life and to come up with more environmentally friendly products.
Companies, such as the French automaker Peugeot, use a blend of technologies, including
PLM, to give them contact with products long after they've been driven off the lot. Peugeot s
technology, from IBM, uses a vehicle's original engineering and bill of materials information to
troubleshoot problems that crop up for owners anywhere down the road.
PLM also comes into play in a method of environmentally friendly product design called
design for the environment. Government agencies and some manufacturers have found
economic value in designing and manufacturing products with parts that can be recycled after
the product is at the end of its service life. Recycled parts might take their place as material in
a new product, rather than be tossed into a landfill, according to the Minnesota Office of
Environmental Assistance.
..
Ironically, it's the quickly changing technology landscape, in which new software applications
and computer upgrades are introduced at ever-faster rates, that takes a heavy toll on the
environment. It does so by introducing heavy and toxic metals into the waste stream,
according to several studies, which say that the need to design products made partly of reused
material is crucial to America's current technological state. Each computer or television display
contains an average of 4 to 8 pounds of lead. Cathode ray tubes used in computer monitors and
107

TV sets are hazardous waste, which is banned from California landfills, according to a March
2001 letter from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Computers are discarded fairly rapidly these days, what with constant innovation and greater
affordability. About 315 million computers will have become obsolete between 1997 and
2004, and together they'll contain more than 1.2 billion pounds of lead, according to the letter.
..
The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance urges manufacturers to harness product
lifecycle management technology to help reduce this technological waste. In design for
environment, PLM is helpful in the very early design stages by cuing engineers as they track
design changes and exchange information to consider the environmental impacts of a product
throughout its lifecycle.
Potential environmental impacts range from the release of toxic chemicals into the waste
stream to consumption of nonrenewable resources and excessive energy use, according to the
Minnesota OEA. So, product lifecycle management might be used to link engineers and
manufacturers while they design and produce a computer made with less lead, or one that runs
on less energy than past models. Used this way, a PLM software application ties together all
stages of design and manufacturing in determining the most environmentally sound method of
production and the most suitable materials, both for the product and for the environment.
Because mechanical and manufacturing engineers, designers, marketers, and many others are
involved in creating a product, a PLM system helps these people exchange plans and ideas via
the Internet, whatever their location, to brainstorm design and manufacturing.
.
ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The Minnesota environmental office defines five stages of a product's life. In each stage, the
PLM system can be used to consider the product's environmental impact.
During the design stage, for example, engineers determine the raw materials that will make up
the product. They can choose low-impact materials that can be more readily recycled than
other materials. At manufacture, engineers can find methods of making products that use less
energy than other production methods.
The packaging and distribution stage is the point at which the product can be minimally
packaged and sent on an efficiently planned delivery route.
The Minnesota OEA defines the use and maintenance stage as the time after the customer buys
the product until the customer is ready to dispose of it. Here, technologies tied to the PLM
system, like the one used at Peugeot, come into play.
At the end of its life, the product, of course, is recycled, remanufactured, or sent to a dump or
incinerator. If engineers chose to use easily recyclable products during product creation, fewer
materials wind up in a landfill.
..
Other nations have already passed laws that stipulate design for environment, such as Japan's
Electric Home Appliance Recycling Law that took effect last year. Under the law,
manufacturers must ensure that their product is recycled when it can't be used anymore. A takeback scheme has to be in place, too, so the product can be easily dropped off for recycling.
Since 1991, Germany, the first nation to pass packaging laws, has required manufacturers to
assume the costs of collecting and recycling used packaging.
The French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen has found a way to incorporate its PLM system
during the use and maintenance stage of its vehicles' lives. At that stage, when a customer is
108

using the product on a regular basis, it might become easy for the manufacturer to be out of the
loop.

But Peugeot is using a technology system called Tele-Assistance that ties together a blend of
software and hardware applications, including the PLM system, to remotely diagnose vehicles
that might have been sold years ago. The system, which is hooked up to the car while it's in
the garage for repair, uses the vehicle's original bill of materials and information about its
current operating state to help find and fix problems. In some particularly hard-to-diagnose
cases, the engineer who helped design the vehicle might even be consulted via the Internet.
"We give the service technician everything that he needs to do a particular repair job," said
Alan Chakra, the director of IBM's Service After Sales Solutions division, which provides the
technology to Peugeot. IBM's PLM team, which makes Enovia software, also helped to
develop the system.
.
Chakra s division makes software that focuses on a product during what he calls its service
lifecycle; that is, during its use by consumers. Such technology helps cut warranty expenses
for manufacturers, reduces labor costs, increases parts and service business after the warranty
expires, and saves time needed to solve repair problems, he said.
"Let's say you have a Peugeot of some kind and you go into the dealership to get it fixed,"
Chakra said. "The technician may not have seen a case like this, so he might try many things to
see if they work."
But using Tele-Assistance, in place at Peugeot since 1999, the technician enters into the
computer vehicle serial number and, like a doctor, also enters a list of symptoms (black
smoke billows from the exhaust pipe when the car is moving, for example). The system tells
him of any part recalls that might be affecting the vehicle.
.
If a recalled part isn't the problem, the technician then plugs what's called a diagnostic
connector under the dashboard and plugs the other end into a computer attached to the TeleAssistance server. The connector loads all the codes from the vehicle's many minicomputers
into the system. This is like taking an X-ray of the vehicle. All its internal workings are
documented and displayed on a screen viewed by an off-site expert who helps with diagnosis.
"If a sensor has failed, it says why it failed, what time it failed, and under what load it failed,"
Chakra said. "We know everything that's inside this particular vehicle, and we've got the BOM,
so we know how it's supposed to run. We know what software components are in the control
unit. Based on that, the server builds a profile for this particular vehicle."
The system houses information on thousands of other cars of the same make and model as the
one in the garage, Chakra said. It's a veritable database of past problems with similar cars,
attendant information on why those problems cropped up, and how they were successfully
repaired.

"The reason Peugeot launched this technology in the first place is because its vehicles went
from one computer on board, to vehicles with a local area network on board, to what they call a
canbusa controller area network," Chakra said. "In these cars you can get up to 30
computers connected on a network. One computer operates the security system, one the
dashboard, one the radio, another window, another engine.
109

"Peugeot needed some kind of software to support this copulation of highly complex vehicles,"
he said.
Eight thousand Peugeot automobiles are made every lay, said Jean-Philippe Fournier, Peugeot's
technical director for parts and services. The system has allowed Peugeot technicians to
diagnose and repair 80 percent of its cars within one day, rather than the several days it might
take without the Tele-Assistance system, he said.
REPAIRING A CAR ONLINE
Let's say a vehicle fails in Sao Paolo," Chakra said. "If the technician can't fix it, he can call a
number and speak to someone who speaks his language."
The expert on the other end of the line is certified by the National Institute for Automotive
Service Excellence. He or she requests the dealership identification number, asks about the
issue at hand, and then consults a computer that showslives via the Internetall the data
coming from the vehicle.
"So the expert is doing diagnostics on the vehicle with the technician on the line with him,"
Chakra said. The expert has easy access to these 10,000 past cases in the system. He can tell
the technician, 'Okay, we've seen this before. This is what you do.' "
If the diagnostic expert can't fix the problem, the engineers who originally worked on the
vehicle can be consulted. The minute the vehicle is fixed, the system is automatically updated
to include the new solution in its database for future reference.
.
The Tele-Assistance system grew out of similar technology developed at IBM and used for the
computers it makes, Chakra said. IBM servers that use the technology send a messageusually
via a pager or cellular phone when one of their parts is about to go bad.
"When you have a server supporting a company that has 10,000 workstations attached to it,
you can't afford to have the server go down," Chakra said. "So the server is attached to a
diagnostic server. Before the server starts having problems, it can say, 'I'm getting ready to fail.
I have a component ready to fail.'
"IBM ships the necessary part to the customer before you have a failure. That's the whole idea
that spawned the automaker idea," he added.
...................................................................................................................................................
The remote monitoring component is the next step in the Tele-Assistance system, Chakra
added. IBM officials next envision a wireless link that connects the vehicle, via a cellular
telephone, to a customer support center. Computers at the center would monitor the vehicle
to see if a part is about to break or a sensor is ready to fail.
If something is about to go wrong, the driver would get a phone call that says, for example, the
engine is about ready to overheat or the clutch is starting to slip. Taking advantage of global
positioning technology, the system could also tell the driver where the nearest Peugeot service
center is and exactly how to get there.
Sales and marketing people are currently using the Tele-Assistance system at Peugeot to profile
vehicles. They can figure out how long, on average, a model will run until it needs servicing.
Chakra expects the system to be used for more marketing efforts in the future.
PLM technology, often thought of as a tool that's useful in the first stages of product design and
manufacture, is now being used to project a product's life, to follow a product even after it's
sold, and to ensure an environmentally sound product in the first place.
September 2002, Mechanical Engineering
110

Vocabulary List
brainstorm a sudden inspiration, idea, or plan
harness
to control so as to use the power of (to harness ones energy)
inoculated to introduce ideas
billowing a large wave,
forecast
to plan in advance; foresee
the lot
a quantity of material processed or manufactured at the same time
troubleshot to detect and correct faults
troubleshooter
a person who locates and repairs mechanical breakdowns; a person charged
with locating and eliminating the source of trouble in any flow of work
crop up
appear or arise unexpectedly
service life life of the vehicle in service
in service in use; functioning: said esp. of an appliance, vehicle, etc.
toss
to throw lightly or carelessly
computer upgrades improved computers
on the upgrade improving, making progress
upgrade
raise to a higher grades
hazardous waste risky, dangerous, useless, superfluous or discarded material, as garbage, sewage
obsolete
no longer in general use; of a discarded or outmoded type; out of date
cue
to insert and direct engineers to come in a specific place
make up
form, compose, constitute
dispose of get rid of
dump
heap of rubbish; place where rubbish, etc. may be unloaded and left
incinerator furnace, enclosed fireplace for burning rubbish
wind up
come or bring to an end a landfill
landfill
the disposal of garbage or rubbish by burring it under a shallow layer of ground
stipulate
put forward, insist upon
veritable real, rightly named
hook up
any combination of created parts; a connection, the elements as set up for operation
bill of material written statement of charges for goods delivered or services rendered
warrantly written or printed guarantee to repair or replace defective goods
expire
come to an end When does your driving license expire?
recall
revoking something
attendant information
accompanying information
controller area network
spawn
produce in great numbers
envision
to picture mentally
slip

Translate into Croatian

forward-thinking technology

..

environmentally friendly

..

at ever-faster rates

..

It takes a heavy toll on the environment

111

environmental impact

throughout its lifecycle

non-renewable resources

excessive energy use

..

low-impact materials can more readily be recycled than other materials

.
pass the law

take effect

..

the product can be dropped off for recycling. .

be tossed into a landfill

wind up in a landfill

current operating state

veritable database of past problems ..

environmentally sound project
service lifecycle

..

Translate the following sentence into Croatian:

The system, which is hooked up to the car while it's in the garage for repair, uses the vehicle's
original bill of materials and information about its current operating state to help find and fix
problems

WORD FORMATION
to afford
to sustain
to know

affordability
sustainability
knowledge

affordable
sustainable
knowledgable

112

TEXT B
The Abstract
Key Words
................................................................................................................................................

Essential Idea
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
..........................................

Supporting Information
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
....................................................

Conclusion
................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................

113

D Group
ERGONOMICS: THE SCIENCE OF "QUANTIFYING
THE OBVIOUS"
Consideration of the human factor can save a fortune by forestalling industrial design
blunders.

Design engineers too easily assume that because they are human they understand how other
humans react. A condemnation of designers perhaps, but the 3,000 people who went to
hospital in 1980 with injuries to fingers caused by lawnmower blades, would no doubt
argue that not enough attention is paid to how the user actually operates the product.
"Ergonomics is about trying to examine the interaction between humans and machines
and describing it in a practical way which is of use to designers. Its basis is a scientific
approach and we like to get to the point where the facts speak for themselves", explains
the principal research engineer at the Institute of Consumer Ergonomics (ICE). Whether
designing a phone or a machine tool, the engineer is bound to take decisions about how
the user will operate it. Ergonomics, or human factors as the Americans call it,
provides the expertise to study the problems, set up trials with users and produce facts to
support certain design features or argue for changes.
It is not merely concerned with average people they do not exist but the many ways
in which people vary. Ergonomists look at the extremes and the variations in attitude and
perception ability of users. Engineers have made some of their biggest blunders on human
factors when designing innovative products. BMW was first with an onboard car trip
computer, but the vast array of push buttons proved so confusing to drivers it had to be
withdrawn. Learning from this, Jaguar has gone to the ergonomists before designing its own
trip computer.
One of the largest electronics companies developed a new product right up to the prototype
stage before the top management accepted the news its engineers had designed something
totally unusable. It never saw the light of the day. Showing rather more maturity in its
use of ergonomics, Ford went to ICE for a detailed user assessment of analogue and digital
displays so that when the flexibility of electronic displays becomes available, the user gets
something he or she likes. Ford used cars fitted with various types of display for trials, with
a microcomputer checking response times and error rates. These techniques can be used to
assess the optimum size, shape and color of displays. Large digital representation for speed
was found to be successful, and older people actually preferred it to current instruments
contrary to what you might assume. However, analogue rather than digital read out
proved most acceptable for presenting engine speed.
Only now ergonomists are starting to be called at the start of a design project. The design
engineer's traditional approach is to take known technical developments that are likely to
succeed and build the product from those things. But this is fundamentally the wrong
approach. The user's needs should be analyzed and these requirements used to define the
product.

114

In the field of information technology, and particularly office automation, companies have
begun to realize that the user's needs must be the starting point for product design as the
software and computer hardware can easily be built up around them.
If an extensive office automation system has been installed with 50 sophisticated
functions, on average, the operator will only be using five. This is because the days
when
computers were operated by specialist data processing personnel are over; the
computer-naive generation has taken control. No longer are machines being used by
people who understand the system's operating logic.
Summing up the case for using ergonomists, the principal research engineer at the
ICE says: "Always think of what it is going to cost you if you don't use ergonomists.
They have no panacea for solving problems, but by improving the information on
the user, you can cut down the risks of taking a wrong design option."
Large companies use ergonomists alongside engineers and designers.
From: THE ENGINEER 34 November 1983

Summarizing
Essential idea:

The most important supporting information:

.
Conclusion:

115

Lecture 4
Section 1
Electron Theory- Presentation

Section 2
Atom and Interactions in Atomic Systems
from Technical English by Ljerka Bartoli:
Section 1 and Section 2 - Presentations

Section 3
Nouns

116

Section 1
ELECTRON THEORY

The atom is a constituent of all matter. The name atom comes from the Greek
/tomos, -, which means uncuttable, something that cannot be
divided further. It is analogous to a miniature solar system, with a nucleus as
the 'sun' and electrons as the 'planets' revolving in the orbits around the nucleus.
The electrons are held in their orbits by the attraction of the nucleus. This force
of attraction is presumed to exist because the nucleus and the electrons carry a
charge. The characteristics of charged bodies are such that bodies of similar
charge exert a force of repulsion upon each other, whereas bodies of opposite
charge experience a force of attraction. The nucleus is considered to have a
positive charge and the electron a negative charge.
The electron is by far the least massive of these particles at 9.11 1031 kg, with
a negative electrical charge and a size that is too small to be measured using
available techniques. Protons have a positive charge and a mass 1,836 times that
of the electron, at 1.6726 1027 kg, although this can be reduced by changes to
the energy binding the proton into an atom. Neutrons have no electrical charge
and have a free mass of 1,839 times the mass of electrons, or 1.6929 1027 kg.
Neutrons and protons have comparable dimensionson the order of
2.5 1015 malthough the 'surface' of these particles is not sharply defined.
In most atoms, the amount of positive charge equals the amount of negative
charge, and therefore the atom exhibits no charge externally. If an electron is
removed from the atom however, there is an excess of positive charge. Similarly,
the addition of an electron makes the atom negative. Atoms that have lost or
gained one or more electrons are called ions.
An atom is classified according to the number of protons and neutrons in its
nucleus: the number of protons determines the chemical element, and the number
of neutrons determines the isotope of the element.
The number of protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus can be modified,
although this can require very high energies because of the strong force. Nuclear
fusion occurs when multiple atomic particles join to form a heavier nucleus, such
as through the energetic collision of two nuclei. For example, at the core of the
Sun protons require energies of 310 keV to overcome their mutual repulsion
the coulomb barrierand fuse together into a single nucleus. Nuclear fission is
the opposite process, causing a nucleus to split into two smaller nucleiusually
through radioactive decay. The nucleus can also be modified through
bombardment by high energy subatomic particles or photons. If this modifies the
number of protons in a nucleus, the atom changes to a different chemical element.
If the mass of the nucleus following a fusion reaction is less than the sum of the
masses of the separate particles, then the difference between these two values is
emitted as energy, as described by Albert Einstein's massenergy equivalence
117

formula, E = mc2, where m is the mass loss and c is the speed of light. This deficit
is the binding energy of the nucleus.
Electron cloud
The electrons in an atom are attracted to the protons in the nucleus by the
electromagnetic force. This force binds the electrons inside an electrostatic
potential well surrounding the smaller nucleus, which means that an external
source of energy is needed in order for the electron to escape. The closer an
electron is to the nucleus, the greater the attractive force. Hence electrons bound
near the center of the potential well require more energy to escape than those at
greater separations.
Electrons, like other particles, have properties of both a particle and a wave. The
electron cloud is a region inside the potential well where each electron forms a
type of three-dimensional standing wavea wave form that does not move
relative to the nucleus. This behavior is defined by an atomic orbital, a
mathematical function that characterizes the probability that an electron will
appear to be at a particular location when its position is measured. Only a discrete
(or quantized) set of these orbital exist around the nucleus, as other possible wave
patterns will rapidly decay into a more stable form. Orbitals can have one or more
ring or node structures, and they differ from each other in size, shape and
orientation.
Each atomic orbital corresponds to a particular energy level of the electron. The
electron can change its state to a higher energy level by absorbing a photon with
sufficient energy to boost it into the new quantum state. Likewise, through
spontaneous emission, an electron in a higher energy state can drop to a lower
energy state while radiating the excess energy as a photon. These characteristic
energy values, defined by the differences in the energies of the quantum states,
are responsible for atomic spectral lines.
The amount of energy needed to remove or add an electron (the electron binding
energy) is far less than the binding energy of nucleons. For example, it requires
only 13.6 eV to strip a ground-state electron from a hydrogen atom, compared to
2.23 Mev for splitting a deuterium nucleus.
Properties
Nuclear properties
By definition, any two atoms with an identical number of protons in their nuclei
belong to the same chemical element. Atoms with equal numbers of protons but a
different number of neutrons are different isotopes of the same element. For
example, all hydrogen atoms admit exactly one proton, but isotopes exist with no
neutrons (hydrogen-1, by far the most common form, sometimes called protium),
one neutron (deuterium), two neutrons (tritium) and more than two neutrons. The
known elements form a set of atomic numbers from hydrogen with a single
proton up to the 118-proton element ununoctium. All known isotopes of elements
with atomic numbers greater than 82 are radioactive.

118

Mass
Because the large majority of an atom's mass comes from the protons and
neutrons, the total number of these particles in an atom is called the mass number.
The mass of an atom at rest is often expressed using the unified atomic mass unit
(u), which is also called a Dalton (Da). This unit is defined as a twelfth of the
mass of a free neutral atom of carbon-12, which is approximately 1.66 1027 kg.
Hydrogen-1, the lightest isotope of hydrogen and the atom with the lowest mass,
has an atomic weight of 1.007825 u. An atom has a mass approximately equal to
the mass number times the atomic mass unit. The heaviest stable atom is lead208, with a mass of 207.9766521 u.
As even the most massive atoms are far too light to work with directly, chemists
instead use the unit of moles. The mole is defined such that one mole of any
element will always have the same number of atoms (about 6.022 1023). This
number was chosen so that if an element has an atomic mass of 1 u, a mole of
atoms of that element will have a mass of 0.001 kg, or 1 gram. Carbon, for
example, has an atomic mass of 12 u, so a mole of carbon atoms weighs 0.012 kg.
Size
Atoms lack a well-defined outer boundary, so the dimensions are usually
described in terms of the distances between two nuclei when the two atoms are
joined in a chemical bond. The radius varies with the location of an atom on the
atomic chart, the type of chemical bond, the number of neighboring atoms
(coordination number) and a quantum mechanical property known as spin. On the
periodic table of the elements, atom size tends to increase when moving down
columns, but decrease when moving across rows (left to right). Consequently, the
smallest atom is helium with a radius of 32 pm, while one of the largest is
caesium at 225 pm. These dimensions are thousands of times smaller than the
wavelengths of light (400700 nm) so they cannot be viewed using an optical
microscope. However, individual atoms can be observed using a scanning
tunneling microscope.
Some examples will demonstrate the minuteness of the atom. A typical human
hair is about 1 million carbon atoms in width. A single drop of water contains
about 2 sextillion (2 1021) atoms of oxygen, and twice the number of hydrogen
atoms. A single carat diamond with a mass of 2 10-7 kg contains about
10 sextillion atoms of carbon. If an apple were magnified to the size of the Earth,
then the atoms in the apple would be approximately the size of the original apple.
Radioactive decay
Every element has one or more isotopes that have unstable nuclei that are subject
to radioactive decay, causing the nucleus to emit particles or electromagnetic
radiation. Radioactivity can occur when the radius of a nucleus is large compared
with the radius of the strong force, which only acts over distances on the order of
1 fm.

119

Valence and bonding behavior

The outermost electron shell of an atom in its uncombined state is known as the
valence shell, and the electrons in that shell are called valence electrons. The
number of valence electrons determines the bonding behavior with other atoms.
Atoms tend to chemically react with each other in a manner that will fill (or
empty) their outer valence shells. For example, a transfer of a single electron
between atoms is a useful approximation for bonds which form between atoms
which have one-electron more than a filled shell, and others which are oneelectron short of a full shell, such as occurs in the compound sodium chloride and
other chemical ionic salts. However, many elements display multiple valences, or
tendencies to share differing numbers of electrons in different compounds. Thus,
chemical bonding between these elements takes many forms of electron-sharing
that are more than simple electron transfers. Examples include the element carbon
and the organic compounds.
The chemical elements are often displayed in a periodic table that is laid out to
display recurring chemical properties, and elements with the same number of
valence electrons form a group that is aligned in the same column of the table. (The
horizontal rows correspond to the filling of a quantum shell of electrons.) The
elements at the far right of the table have their outer shell completely filled with
electrons, which results in chemically inert elements known as the noble gases.
Conductivity
Some materials are so constituted that the electrons farthest from the nucleus are
loosely bound to the atom. They can leave the atom upon the application of a small
force, thus becoming free electrons within the material. An individual free electron
does not remain free very long however, because it soon encounters an atom
lacking an electron, and atomic reunion occurs. This continual interchange of
electrons occurs throughout the material. Other materials have their electrons
tightly bound to the atoms. In these materials it is exceedingly difficult to free any
electrons.
Materials having free electrons are classified as conductors; those having tightly
bound electrons are classified as insulators. In general those materials that are good
conductors of heat are also good electric conductors. Their relative abilities to
conduct electricity and heat are about the same.
Under certain conditions an insulator may become a conductor. An example is
glass. It is a good insulator at normal temperatures and it becomes a conductor
when heated to dull red.
Independent electrons moving in vacuum or certain media are termed free
electrons. When free electrons move, they produce a net flow of charge called an
electric current. A current of electrons acquires the cumulative electromagnetic
properties of the individual particles, so it generates a magnetic field. Likewise a
current can be created by a moving magnetic field. These interactions are described
mathematically by Maxwell's equations.
At a given temperature, each material has an electrical conductivity that determines
the value of electric current when an electric potential is applied. Examples of good
120

conductors include metals such as copper and gold, whereas glass and Teflon are
poor conductors. A material with metallic bonds has an electronic band structure
that allows for delocalized electrons. These electrons are not associated with
specific atoms, so when an electric field is applied, they are free to move like a gas
through the material. However, unlike an atmospheric gas (which follows the
MaxwellBoltzmann distribution of energies), the states of this cloud of electrons
obeys FermiDirac statistics; hence the reason for the electron's family name,
fermions.
Metals make relatively good conductors of heat, primarily because the delocalized
electrons are free to transport thermal energy between atoms. However, unlike
electrical conductivity, the thermal conductivity of a metal is nearly independent of
temperature. This is expressed mathematically by the Wiedemann-Franz law, which
states that the ratio of thermal conductivity to the electrical conductivity is
proportional to the temperature. The thermal disorder in the metallic lattice
increases the electrical resistivity of the material, producing a temperature
dependence for electrical current.
Because of collisions between electrons and atoms, the drift velocity of electrons in
a conductor is on the order of millimeters per second. However, the speed at which
a current at one point in the material causes a current in other parts of the material,
the velocity of propagation, is typically about 75% of light speed. This occurs
because electrical signals propagate as a wave, with the velocity dependent on the
dielectric constant of the material. In dielectric materials, the electrons remain
bound to their respective atoms and the material behaves as an insulator.
Semiconductors have a variable level of conductivity that lies between the extremes
of conduction and insulation.
When cooled below a point called the critical temperature, materials can undergo a
phase transition in which they lose all resistivety to electrical current; a process
known as superconductivity. In BCS theory, this behavior is modeled by pairs of
electrons entering a quantum state known as a BoseEinstein condensate. These
Cooper pairs have their motion coupled to nearby matter via lattice vibrations
called phonons, thereby avoiding the collisions with atoms that normally create
electrical resistance. (Cooper pairs are separated by roughly 100 nm, so they can
overlap each other). However, the mechanism by which higher temperature
superconductors operate remains uncertain.
Quantum theory
Interactions can only extend over a given distance if there is a particle to carry the
force. The electromagnetic force which operates over a long distance is carried by
a particle called the photon, the light quantum.
The laws of quantum mechanics
Within a few short years scientists developed a consistent theory of the atom that
explained its fundamental structure and its interactions. Crucial to the development
of the theory was new evidence indicating that light and matter have both wave and
particle characteristics at the atomic and subatomic levels. Theoreticians had
objected to the fact that Bohr had used an ad hoc hybrid of classical Newtonian
dynamics for the orbits and some quantum postulates for limiting the motion. The
121

new theory ignored the fact that electrons are particles and treated them as waves.
By 1926, physicists had developed the laws of quantum mechanics, also called
wave mechanics, to explain atomic and subatomic phenomena.
The duality between the wave and particle nature of light was highlighted by the
American physicist Arthur H. Compton in an X-ray scattering experiment
conducted in 1922. Compton showed that X rays scatter from electrons exactly like
particles. The X rays have discrete amounts of momentum, which is property of
particles. When X rays are scattered, their momentum is partially transferred to the
electrons. The recoil electron takes some energy from an X ray, and as a result the
X ray frequency is shifted. Both the discrete amount of momentum and the
frequency shift of the light scattering are completely at variance classical
electromagnetic theory.
Louis-Victor de Broglie, a French physicist, had proposed in his 1923 doctoral
thesis that all matter and radiations have both particle- and wavelike characteristics.
Until the emergence of the quantum theory, physicists had assumed that matter was
distinct from energy and followed different laws: energy radiations were waves and
matter was particulate. Plancks theory was the first to propose that radiation has
characteristics of both waves and particles. Believing in the symmetry of nature,
Broglie ended the wave-particle dichotomy by applying Einsteins mass-energy
formula. Using the old-fashioned word corpuscles for particles, Broglie wrote, For
both matter and radiations, light in particular, it is necessary to introduce the
corpuscle concept and the wave concept at the same time. In other words, the
existence of corpuscles accompanied by waves has to be assumed in all cases.
Broglies conception was an inspired one, but it had no experimental or theoretical
foundation. The Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger had to supply the theory.
Bohr model
The Rutherford-Bohr model of the hydrogen atom (Z = 1) or a hydrogen-like ion (Z
> 1), where the negatively charged electron confined to an atomic shell encircles a
small positively charged atomic nucleus, and an electron jump between orbits is
accompanied by an emitted or absorbed amount of electromagnetic energy h. The
orbits that the electron may travel in are shown as grey circles; their radius increases
as n2, where n is the principal quantum number. The
transition depicted here
produces the first line of the Balmer series, and for hydrogen (Z = 1) results in a
photon of wavelength 656 nm (red).
In atomic physics, the Bohr model created by Niels Bohr depicts the atom as a small,
positively charged nucleus surrounded by electrons that travel in circular orbits
around the nucleussimilar in structure to the solar system, but with electrostatic
forces providing attraction, rather than gravity. This was an improvement on the
earlier cubic model (1902), the plum-pudding model (1904), the Saturnian model
(1904), and the Rutherford model (1911). Since the Bohr model is a quantum
physics-based modification of the Rutherford model, many sources combine the two,
referring to the Rutherford-Bohr model.
Introduced by Niels Bohr in 1913, the model's key success lay in explaining the
Rydberg formula for the spectral emission lines of atomic hydrogen; while the
Rydberg formula had been known experimentally, it did not gain a theoretical
underpinning until the Bohr model was introduced. Not only did the Bohr model
122

explain the reason for the structure of the Rydberg formula, but it provided a
justification for its empirical results in terms of fundamental physical constants.
The Bohr model is a primitive model of the hydrogen atom. As a theory, it can be
derived as a first-order approximation of the hydrogen atom using the broader and
much more accurate quantum mechanics, and thus may be considered to be an
obsolete scientific theory. However, because of its simplicity, and its correct results
for selected systems (see below for application), the Bohr model is still commonly
taught to introduce students to quantum mechanics, before moving on to the more
accurate but more complex valence shell atom. A related model was originally
proposed by Arthur Erich Haas in 1910, but was rejected. The quantum theory of the
period between Planck's discovery of the quantum (1900) and the advent of a fullblown quantum mechanics (1925) is often referred to as the old quantum theory.

Vocabulary

constituent part of, one of the parts that makes up the whole
analogous like something else in some way, similar to.
revolving moving in circles around
attraction the force which pulls or draws things together
presumed thought to be, assumed to be
to carry a charge to hold a quantity of electric energy
excess additional, more than is needed
gained got, obtained, increased in amount
interchange intersection, putting one in the place of another
encounters meets, is faced with something
conductivity - the transmission of heat or electricity or sound
valence - (chemistry) a property of atoms or radicals; their combining power given in
terms of the number of hydrogen atoms (or the equivalent)
to occur to take place, to happen
resistivity - a material's opposition to the flow of electric current; measured in ohms
to exert a force upon
to apply the force
to experience a force of
loosely bound

lose, lost, lost

the force of attraction

excess

weak force

attract

attracting

firmly bound, tightly bound

gain
the force of repulsion
lack of
strong force
repel (offer an opposition force to something)
repellent

123

1. Find synonyms in the text:

very small
without
is thought to
shows
going round

categorized
basic part
too large a quantity
meets
very

2. Comparison of adjectives. Insert the proper form of the following adjectives.

little, much, great, good, thin, high, early, far, important, efficient, heavy
a) Metals are ____________ conductors of electricity.
b) Lead is ______________ than aluminum.
c) Ohms law is one of the _____________ laws in physics.
d) From the ____________times people have dreamed of air flights.
e) Materials having free electrons are ______________ electric conductors.
f) The metals are _________________ conductors of heat.
g) The electrons _________ from the nucleus are loosely bound to the atom.
h) The Thicker wire you use, the ____________ current will flow through it.
i) The greater the energy of the revolving electron, the _____________ from the
nucleus it will revolve.
j) The ____________ the voltage, the better should be the insulation.
k) The __________the difference between the temperatures, the _____________ the
engine.
3. Reading comprehension:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

What are atoms like?

Explain the two atom theories.
What are the characteristics of charged bodies?
Why do most atoms exhibit no charge externally?
What are ions?
What is atomic reunion?
Name some of the properties atoms have?
What is valence?
What are conductors, insulators?
Can an insulator ever become a conductor?

124

Section 2
Presentations, Pair Work, Group
Work
According Technical English by
Ljerka Bartoli, Pages 12 -21
Study the following:
1 Websters Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English
language explains the meaning of
Transuranic Chem. Physics means
pertaining to an element having a higher atomic number than
uranium. Those presently known, and having numbers from 93 to
103, are neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium,
californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium and
lawrencium.
2 Write sentences using
- The former (or a more recent theory) . The latter ..
3 Write sentences by using:
N.B.
with respect to, with reference to, regarding, as to, with regard to, as
regards sth. and
without regard to, without reference to, regardless of

Discrepancy = nesuglasje, nesklad

5 Drawing comprehension. Draw figures of:

a hydrogen atom, a deuterium atom and a carbon atom.
The hydrogen atom is the simplest of all atoms. It consists of a proton
and one planetary electron. The isotope of hydrogen, which is
deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, consists of one electron revolving
around a neucleus consisting of one proton and one neutron.
The carbon atom is number 6 in the periodic table. It, therefore, has
six electrons, two in the first shell and four in the second. It will have
six protons to balance the negative charge of six electrons. Since the
atomic weight of carbon is 12, there must be six neutrons in the
nucleus.

125

Section 3
COUNTABLES AND UNCOUNTABLES
Countable nouns include individual things, people, places and units of
measurement:
a computer, a report, an office, a manager; a metre, a kilo, a pound

Countable nouns can be used in the plural, follow words such as many,
these, those, several, few, a few and are used with a/an
Uncountable nouns include substances, many abstract ideas, and
verbal nouns:
gold, plastic; safety, progress, travel, weather; brainstorming, engineering,
video-conferencing

Uncountable nouns take the singular form of the verb; have words like
much, a little, little, some before them and do not take the when used in
general sense
Some of the more common uncountable nouns are things that cannot
be counted, have no indefinite article and usually no plural:
wool
tobacco
grass
music
poetry
iron

water
paper
jam
soup
adventure
darkness

accommodation advice
employment equipment
legislation
luggage
transport
traffic

wood
butter
wheat
milk
sugar
stupidity

ink
cheese
coffee
honesty
meat
help

flour
progress
glass
cloth
silver
gold
swimming t ea
butter
metal
sand
sleep

advertising
information
merchandise
travel

baggage
news
money
weather

cash
damage
furniture insurance
research software
work

Uncountable nouns and countables in the plural are preceded by

some when a certain quantity or number is implied:
Give me some bread and milk.
Which of the following words can be either countable or uncountable?
Remember that only countables take a or an.
drink
spinach
butter
jam
corn

glass
rosemary
toast
soap
butter

cabbage
tea
meat
honey
sugar

onion
hair
chocolate
milk
cloth

garlic
ice
luggage
salt
water

steel
music
mail
jewelry
tobacco

A small piece of garlic or a clove of garlic; A leaf or two of mint, dill, rosemary and
other herbs:
Whereas spinach is uncountable because we see only a large heap of leaves to
chop up, we talk of a cabbage because we buy the plant whole and regard it as a
reasonable unit.
126

Some Measuring Words for

Noncount Nouns
a pound, (cube, stick or pat) of butter
a clove of
garlic
a piece, (slice) of
toast
a piece of
chocolate*
a piece of
candy*
a piece of
meat
a piece, block, cube of
ice
a piece of
jewelry
a piece of
luggage
a piece of
mail
a piece of
music
a piece of
advice
a piece of
information
a piece of
equipment
a sheet of
paper
a show of
strength
a spell of
bad weather
a pair of
scissors
a bottle of
perfume
a barrel of
oil
a stroke of
inspiration
a pair of
jeans
a flash of
good luck
a mountain of
work
a round of
applause
a kernel, an ear, a bushel of
a loaf of

corn
bread

bushel = measure for grain and fruit, 8 gallons or about

36,4 litres

a lump, cube, spoonful of

a scoop, dish, pint, quart of

sugar
ice cream

pint =1/8 of a gallon, 0,568 of a litre, US=0,473 of a litre

a jar of
jam
a bar, cake of
soap
a jar of
jelly
a spool, piece of
thread
a ball of
yarn (ue)
a jar of
honey
a pinch of
salt
a glass, cup, bottle, carton, gallon, quart of milk
gallon = 4,5 litres,
quart = 1,14 litres or 2 pints

*Can also be used as a count noun.

127

Collective nouns
Match these words for a group:

pride, shoal, flock, herd, pack, bunch, school

to the following words:
cards, lions, sheep, bananas, cows, fish, birds, dolphin,
whale
of cards

of dolphins

of lions

.... of whales

of sheep

of elephants

of bananas

of birds

of cows

of fish

Answers. pack of cards, pride of lions, flock of sheep, bunch of bananas, herd of cows, school of
dolphins,
school of whales, herd of elephants, flock of birds, shoal of fish

jato riba (kitova, pliskavica, morskih krava) school

jato riba - shoal
jato ptica - flock
opor pasa, vukova pack
paklo karata pack
opor lavova pride
krdo ovaca flock
stado krava -herd
ASSIGNMENT

Correct the following:

Im going to buy a bread.
The news are very sad and depressing.
We had a very good travel.
Im looking for a work.
What a beautiful scenery!
We had a nice weather.
Thats a good advice.
I have to buy furnitures.
These informations were not correct.

128

ASSIGNMENT

Explain the difference between by writing sentences:

1 a noise and much noise;
2 a notice and notice of;
3 damages and the damage;
4 a talk and talk;
5 a paper and some paper;
6 business travel and a business trip;
7 a lot of work and a particular job or task;
8 some good advice and one suggestion;
9 a hair and long hair;
10a spare room and there isnt enough room;
11 experiences and a lot of experience;
12 a good time and I havent got time.

129

Plural of Nouns
ASSIGNMENTS
1

Make these plural and pay attention to the pronunciation:

museum
bus
lady
life
roof
potato*
bath
Tudor
man
foot

taxi
dress
country
shelf
chief
soprano*
mouth
Jones
woman
mouse

boy
box
cliff
Giotto*
youth
Fox
goose
tooth

match

brush buzz

dwarf
photo*
path

radio*
truth

child
ox

*N.B potatoes, BUT sopranos, Giottos, photos, radios

Nouns with two plural forms of different meaning

Cloths (textile material) and clothes (clothing in general)
five pence (whole amount) and five pennies (six one-penny pieces)

Plural Forms of Compound Nouns

2 Make the following nouns plural
The element denoting the principal idea takes the plural ending
boy friend
man-of-war
lieutenant-general

knight-errant
mother-in-law
lieutenant governor*

looker-on

*boy friends, knights errant, lookers-on, men-of-war, mothers-in-law, notaries

public, lieutenant (leftennt) generals, lieutenant (lu: tennt) governors.

Both elements equally important take the plural ending

Knight Templar

Lord Justice

Manservant

woman driver*

*Knights Templars, Lords Justices, menservants, women drivers

130

Verb forms in compounds do not take the plural endings

go-ahead

forget-me-not

hold-up

stand-up*

*go-aheads, forget-me nots, hold-ups, stand-bys

Make the following nouns plural

hanger-on
..
girl-friend
sit-in
.
sister-in-law
run-down
.
shop-assistant
woman clerk .
fellow traveller
take-off

fire-work
go-between
editor-in-chief
fountain pen
man-eater
man secretary
boy scout
passer-by
good-for-nothing
asistant manager

..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
.

Special Plurals
letter names: Dot your is
numerals. In the 1990s or 1990s
abbreviations: two MPs or MPs
in expressions as: the ifs and buts, the pros and cons, the whys and wherefores,
the ups and downs

Foreign Plurals
In scientific English there are a large number of words
borrowed from other languages. They have been absorbed into
language, but they have not been thoroughly naturalized.
Usually they retain their original plural forms. The largest
number by far of these foreign plurals is of Latin and Greek
origin. Here is the list of nouns of foreign origin with their
foreign
plurals:

131

Singular

Plural

From Latin
bacillus
stimulus
nucleus
radius
alga
larva
addendum
bacterium
datum
momentum
desideratum
erratum
medium
stratum

bacilli (bsilai)
stimuli (stimjulai)
nucleii
radii
algae
larvae
addenda
bacteria
data
momenta
desiderata
errata
media
strata

From Greek
crisis
analysis
basis
diagnosis
ellipsis
hypothesis
oasis
parenthesis
synopsis
thesis

crises (kraisi:z)
analyses
bases
diagnoses
ellipses
hypotheses
oases
parentheses
synopses
theses

phenomenon (finominn)

phenomena

From Italian
spagetti
graffiti
confetti

spagetti
graffiti
confetti

From Hebrew
kibuz
genius
formula

has two plurals

has two plurals

kibbuzim
geniuses and genii
formulae (in mathematics)
formulas (general)

132

ASSIGNMENT
1. Translate into English! (AUTO-CORRECTIVE TEST)
1. Neke bakterije su bezopasne ili korisne, a od nekih se umire.
2. Fenomeni prirode nikada nee prestati ovjeka ispunjavati divljenjem i
strahopotovanjem.
3. U nekim zemljama je obiaj na karnevalima i vjenanjima bacati konfete.
4. Ono to mi trebamo su podaci, t.j. injenice i brojke a ne nejasne informacije.
5. Obje dijagnoze su bile pogrene pa je jadan ovjek umro.
6. I otac i sin su mirovni suci.
7. U knjizi ima dosta tiskarskih pogreaka. Ti ima prvo izdanje. Ja sam upravo
kupio revidirano izdanje koje ima listi pogreaka.
8. U Rimu, Pompejima a i kod nas u Rijeci moe vidjeti lijepe grafite na zidovima
nekih staroklasinih zgrada.
9. Takvi masovni mediji kao radio i televizija su mona sredstva komunikacije.
10. Jesi li napravio analize onih kemikalija?
11. Njezin je rukopis tako lo! Teko mi je , na primjer, razlikovati njezina slova a od
njezinih slova o. Zato ne stavlja toke na svoja slova i?
12. Moderne metode uenja uglavnom se baziraju na poticaje (podraaje) i odgovore.
13. Javni biljenici po tradiciji, vode biljeke (zapise) predmeta koji su vani za sud kao i
zapise privatnih transakcija i dogaaja gdje se trai slubeni ovjereni zapis ili
dokument sastavljen od osobe strune kvalifikacije i znanja.
14. Svi mi imamo svoje uspone i padove u naim ivotima. Imamo svoje uspone i
padove u naim karijerama, raspoloenjima, nivoima energije i sa naim familijama.
*FATAL implies the inevitability or actual occurrence of death or disaster
(A FATAL DISEASE, A FATAL MISTAKE); DEADLY is applied to a thing that can
and probably (but not inevitably) will cause death (a DEADLY POISON); MORTAL
implies that death has occured and is applied to the immeadiate cause of the death
(He has received a MORTAL BLOW) LETHAL is applied to that which in its nature or
purpose is a cause of death (A LETHAL WEAPON);

Auto-corrective Test
1. Some bacteria are harmless or beneficial, others are mortal (or lethal, fatal, deadly
*N.B. see explanation).
2. The phenomena of nature will never cease to fill man with amazement and awe.
3. In some countries it is customary to throw about confetti at carnivals and weddings.
4. What we need are data, i.e. facts and figures, and not vague pieces of information.
5. Both diagnoses were wrong, so the poor man died.
6. Both the father and the son are JPs (or JP's) (=justice of the peace).
7. There are quite a lot of misprints in this book. You've got the first edition. I've
just bought the revised edition containing errata slip.
8. In Rome, in Pompeii and in our Rijeka you can see fine graffiti (graffito, usu. only
plural) on the walls of some ancient buildings.
9. Such mass media as radio and television are powerful means of communication.
10. Did you make analyses of those chemicals?
11. Her handwriting is so bad! I find it difficult, for instance, to distinguish her a's from
her o's. Why doesn't she dot her i's?
12. Modern teaching methods are mostly based on stimuli and responses.
13. Traditionally, notaries public record matters of judicial importance as well as private
transactions or events where an officially authenticated record or a document drawn
up with professional skill or knowledge was required. (Instead of traditonally we
may say by tradition)
14. All of us have highs and lows in our lives. We have ups and downs in our careers,
our moods, our energy levels, and with our families.
133

Can we be discriminated against on the basis

of gender?
Can we change things from inside or
linguistically?
Accoding to the equal opportunities laws in both
England and the United States, job advertisements
cannot state the sex of the person required.
So, many women describe themselves as actors or managers.
Jobs ask for flight attendants, salespersons or person required
to help with young children. Meetings often have a chairperson,
who asks for a spokesperson to give their opinions.
In the same vein, people often prefer to use their to avoid his or
her, even when they are only referring to one person.
Masculine and Feminine Nouns
male professors and female colleagues
bachelor/spinster
widow/widower
hero/heroine
actor/actress
waitor/waitress
host/hostess
(shop) manager/manageress
prince/princess
duke/duchess
usher/usherette
sufragette
male nurse
female patient
woman driver, and the plural form women drivers
lady doctor, but lady doctors
businessman, policewoman
salesman, saleswoman, salesperson and plural forms salesmen,
saleswomen and salespersons
A noted professor charged Harward University with gender
discrimination.
Do you think that we can be discriminated against on the
basis of gender?
Do you wonder if we can change things from inside or
linguistically?
134

LECTURE 5
Section 1

Presentations from Technical English

(pages 22-33)
Conducting and Insulating Materials in
Electrical Engineering
Semiconductors

Section 2
Magnetic Materials and
Electromagnetism

Section 3
Articles

135

USEFUL BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT SOME

ENGINEERING MATERIALS
METALS
Cast iron
A general term covering a wide range of basically iron-carbon alloys (2 4 %
C), all cast to shape, but some treated to provide ductility, while others may show
high hardness, corrosion resistance, etc.
Grey irons, so-called due to the grey appearance of the fractured surface (due to
the presence of graphite), are the most widely used due to their relatively low
cost, ease of melting and excellent casting characteristics, good tensile strength,
high compressive strength, good damping capacity, high rigidity and
dimensional stability and good wear-resistance due to the presence of graphite
in the structure. Various alloy cast-irons can be used for gears, camshafts and
crankshafts and are cheaper than steel.

Steel
Steel is essentially an alloy of iron and iron carbide with small amounts of
other elements in controlled quantities. A wide range of steels is available with
properties varying considerably depending upon the alloying elements and subsequent heat treatment .

Carbon steel
The amount of carbon determines the strength of steel. The main types are: dead
mild (or low carbon), mild, medium carbon and high carbon.

Low carbon steel

The carbon content is 0.07 0.15%. It is used for pipes, wire, nails, boiler
plates, chains, etc., and it is worked when hot but does not machine easily.

Mild steel
The most widely used of engineering materials whose carbon content of 0.15
0.25% allows it to be easily worked, machined and welded. Typical applications
are ships' plates, forgings, nuts and bolts, gears and shafts.

Medium carbon steel

A type can be heat-treated to give greater strength, medium carbon steel is also easily
machined. Its uses are machine parts, forgings, castings, springs and drop hammer
dies.

High carbon steel

This type contains 0.5 1.5% carbon which gives it great strength when heat-treated. At
the lower carbon content it is used for screwdrivers, hammers, spanners, chisels, forging
and pressing dies, while the highest carbon content is used for drills, lathe tools,
hacksaws, ball bearings, taps and dies.

136

Alloy steels
The addition of alloying elements to steel makes it more responsive to heat treatment,
and this results in increased hardness, strength and toughness and greater resistance to
corrosion. The main alloying elements are nickel, chromium, manganese,
molybdenum, vanadium, tungsten, silicon and cobalt.

Nickel-chrome steel
Nickel chromium steels are among the most important alloy steels used in engineering.
Heat treatment gives a wide range of properties with good resistance to shock and
good ductility. They are used for high-tensile bolts, hardened gears, machine tools,
etc.

Stainless steel
A corrosion-resistant steel with at least 12% chromium and other elements, used for
turbine blades, and in sheet form for chemical and food containers.
Copper
A reddish, ductile metal of low strength but which is a very good conductor of heat and
electricity. It is used for making pipes, electricity cables, gaskets and washers for fluid
sealing, and is extensively alloyed with zinc, tin, aluminium, etc.
Coper nickel alloys
There is a wide range of these alloys with amounts of nickel varying from 2 70
%. Alloys with 40 45 % nickel are used for resistance wire, e. g. Constantan, and
they have a high resistivity and small resistance/temperature coefficient.
Alloys containing about 70% nickel are known as monel metal. These are as
strong as steel and have excellent resistance to corrosing by sea water, salt
solutions and organic acids. They are suitable for steam turbine blades and condenser tubes.
Brass
This is the most widely used alloy of copper. It consists of 30 50% zinc and
the remainder copper, to which a small amount of lead may be added to improve
machinability. Brasses with a low zinc content are used for cold working in the
production of condenser tubes, cartridge cases, gas and electric light fittings.
Brasses with 39 46% zinc are easily hard worked and are used for extruded
sections, pump parts, hydraulic fittings, nuts, bolts and screws.
Bronze
Bronze refers to a copper-tin alloy which is used for electrical parts,
hydraulic components, bearings and gears.
Gunmetal
This is a bronze with 2 % zinc added to improve the fluidity when casting and
increase hardness. It is used extensively for castings, particularly those of a
complicated form.

137

Lead bronze
The addition of lead improves machinability in bronzes and improves the wear
resistance of bronze bearings.
Aluminium
A light, ductile metal which is a good conductor of heat and electricity. It is used
for electrical conductors and parts of switchgear, kitchen utensils, wrapping foil,
window frames and as a base for many alloys.

Aluminium alloys
Aluminim is extremely soft but its strength can be greatly increased by the
addition of small amounts of copper, silicon, manganese, magnesium and iron
while still retaining its lightness.

Duralumin
An important aluminium alloy which contains copper, manganese, magnesium
and silicon. It is as strong as mild steel with a third of the weight and is used
for forgings, stampings, bar, sheet and rivets.

Y alloy
This is an aluminium alloy containing 4 % copper, 2 % nickel and 1.5% of each
Fe and Si. It is used extensively for castings such as cylinder heads and pistons
for IC (internal combustion) engines.

Zinc
Zinc is used as a protective coating for sheet metal, wire, nails, etc. It is also
used in alloys with aluminium, copper and magnesium. Zinc alloys are for die
castings.

Chromium
Chromium is used in electroplating to provide a surface with a high polish
and corrosion-resistance. It is alloyed with steel to give extremely high
strengths.

Lead
Lead is a heavy, soft, ductile metal
its good resistance to corrosion it
lining chemical apparatus. It is
radiation shielding and is alloyed
solders.

with little mechanical strength. Because of

is used for roofing, cable sheathing and
used extensively in nuclear work for
with other metals for bearing metals and

PLASTICS, RUBBER AND OTHER NON-METALLIC MATERIALS

The term polymeric materials (a common name for plastics and rubbers), covers a
wide range of man-made and natural materials which can be moulded to the
required shape by the application of heat and pressure.
There are two main types of plastics, thermoplastic and thermosetting.
Thermoplastic materials become soft and pliable when heated and can be
moulded into the required shape. They can be reheated and remoulded
repeatedly. Thermosetting plastics and rubber suffer a chemical change when
138

subjected to heat and pressure and they cannot be softened by reheating. Some
of the most common plastics and rubbers are:

Polyvynil Chloride (PVC)

Rigid PVC is a thermoplastic material used for pipes and ducts, flexible PVC is
used for cable covering, mouldings, fabric and flexible sheet. It is flame and
water-resistant.

Polystyrene (PS)
A thermoplastic which can be moulded into complicated shapes with fine detail.
It is an excellent electrical insulator but is not weather resistant.

Polyethylene (PE)
A thermoplastic polymer with good electrical properties, especially at high radio
frequencies, which is suitable for use as weatherproof sheeting.
Nylon (PA)
A plastic used in fibre form for fabrics and also moulded into parts requiring
light weight, low friction and flexibility. It has good self-lubricating properties
when used for bearings.

Expanded plastic
Polyethylene, polystyrene, polyurethane and PVC can be foamed by the
introduction of gas bubbles during manufacture. These foam plastics are
extremely light and are used for heat insulation, packaging and model making.

Polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE)
Marketed under the names Fluon and Teflon this is a plastic with high chemical
inertness and heat resistance used for extremely low-friction bearings and nonstick surfaces.

Epoxy resins (EP)

These thermoset polymers are widely used for structural plastics (composites),
adhesives and for encapsulation.

Glass fibre Fiber Optics

Fine threads of glass are used as reinforcement in synthetic resin mouldings for
boat hulls, pump impellers, roof lights, etc., and also as a structural material.
The use of fiber optics is expected to increase. The optical fibres used in
vehicles are usually thin strands of plastic. They carry signals in the form of
light. These signals may be used to control such items as power windows and
door locks. Signals from several controls can be multiplexed (merged or
combined) on fibres. A pair of optical fibres can replace many wires. This saves
space and weight. It also greatly simplifies the wiring system. Eventually, fiber
optics may be used to link electronic operations in engines. Howeever, the
fibers currently available cannot take the heat produced by todays engines.

139

Carbon
Amorphous carbon is used for fluid seals in pumps and steam turbines.Carbon
fibres are extremely strong and can be used to increase greatly the strength of
epoxy resin mouldings and metal components.

Synthetic rubber
A wide range of synthetic rubbers are used for flexible mountings and
couplings and oil seals, etc. In their properties they are often superior to
natural rubber.

Ceramics
This is a general name for all non-metallic, non-organic materials but usually it refers
to materials which will withstand very high temperatures. Ceramics are materials,
such as earthenware and porcelain, made from nonmetallic minerals that have been
fired at high temeratures. They are extremely hard and also wear and corrosion
resistant and can be moulded into a variety of shapes before firing. They are used
for burner nozzles, gas-turbine parts and electrical insulation.
These materials are used in spacecraft because they can withstand extreme
temperatures and because they insulate well. Ceramic materials are so hard that special
diamond-coated tools must be used to cut them. Another method is to develop special
shaping molds. Another drawback of ceramics is that they are brittle. A part with even
a small blemish may fracture (break) when put under stress.
(From: DICTIONARY OF METALLURGY by D. Birchon George Newness Ltd. London, 1965; THE STUDENT
ENGINEER'S COMPANION by J. Carvill Butterworth and Co. Ltd. London, 1974)

Words that signal classification and listing: as follows, furthermore, moreover, also,
and and, either or, neither nor, in addition, first second, next, many, the
other, various, another point, what is more.

2 COHERENCE
2.1 The list on the left hand side contains metals which are used
extensively in engineering. The list on the right hand side enumerates
their typical applications, but these two lists do not match.
According to the information in the text match both lists.

Metals
Ty pical applications
1. Pipes, wire, nails, boiler plates, chains etc.
2. Machine parts, forgings, castings, spring and drop hammer dies.
3. Roofing, cable sheathing and lining chemical apparatus. In nuclear wor it is
used for radiation shielding.
4. Turbine blades, sheet form for chemical and food containers.
5. Camshafts and crankshafts.
6. Pipes, electricity cables, gaskets and washers for fluid sealing.
7. Lower carbon content: screwdrivers, hammers, spanners, chisels, dies.Highest
carbon content:drills, lathe tools, hacksaws, ball bearings, taps and dies.
8. Most widely used in engineering materials: ships' plates, forgings, nuts and
bolts, gears and shafts.
9. Electrical conductors and parts of switchgear, kitchen utensils, wrapping
foil, window frames and as abase for many alloys.

140

a) Cast iron
b) Low carbon steel
c) Mild steel
d) Medium carbon steel
e) High carbon steel
f) Stainless steel
g) Copper
h) Aluminium
i)

Lead

141

Section 2
MAGNETISM
Part I
In 1819, Hans Christian Oersted (17771851), a Danish physicist, found that a
small compass needle is deflected when brought near a conductor carrying an
electric current. This was the first evidence of a long suspected link between
electricity and magnetism. Oersted found that the compass deflection was due to a
magnetic field established around the conductor by the current in the conductor.
Shortly after Oersted's discovery, the French physicist Andre Marie Ampere
(17751836) determined the shape of the magnetic field about the conductor
carrying a current. He had discovered that forces exist between two parallel
conductors in an electric circuit, the force being one of attraction if the two
currents are in the same direction, and one of repulsion if the currents are in
opposite directions.
These attractive and repulsive forces between current-carrying conductors are
directly proportional to the currents in the conductors, thus providing a precise
method of defining the practical unit of current, the ampere.
Ampere investigated the magnetic fields conductors to find an explanation of the
magnetic forces. Suppose a heavy copper wire passes vertically through the centre
of a horizontal sheet of stiff cardboard. When the ends of the vertical conductor
are connected to a dry cell, iron filings sprinkled over the surface of the cardboard
form a pattern of concentric circles around the conductor. See Fig 1 If a small
compass needle is placed at various points on a circle of filings, the compass
needle always comes to rest tangent to the circle.

Vocabulary
compass
to deflect
to establish
repulsion
proportional
stiff
cardboard
dry cell
iron filings
concentric circles

device with a needle that points to the magnetic north

to (cause to) turn aside
to set up
tendeny of bodies to repel each other
corresponding in degree or amount
rigid, not easy to bend
thick kind of paper used for making boxes
cell in which the chemicals are in a moist paste which does not spill
very small pieces of iron, not much bigger than pieces of dust
circles which have a common centre

142

Fig 1 The magnetic field encircling a cm rent in a straight conductor.

Exercise 1: Vocabulary practice
Find words or phrases in the text which mean the same as the following:
a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
(k)
(1)
(m)

turned aside
brought closer
information
because of
set up; formed
soon
defined
outer form
so; in this way
exact
examined
thrown over
different

Exercise 2: True or false? (3 points)

Decide which of the following statements are true and which false. Where you think a
statement is false, give the correct version.
1. The first evidence of the link between electricity and magnetism was the deflection
of the compass needle when brought near a conductor.
2. Oersted found that the deflection of the compass needle was due to the electric field
around the conductor.
3. Oersted also defined the shape of the magnetic field.
4. Ampere found out that forces exist between two perpendicular conductors in an
electric circuit.
143

5. The forces of attraction and repulsive forces between current-carrying conductors

are directly proportional to the current in the conductors.
6. We get a pattern of rectangular circles around the conductor when we sprinkle steel
filings over the cardboard.

Part II
A magnet, or a coil of wire carrying a current, is the seat of an influence which extends
outward from it and is called a magnetic field. The flux from a bar magnet or from a
straight electromagnet issues from one end of the magnet coil, bends around, and reenters at the other end. This can be exhibited by exploring the region with a compass
needle. If there is provided an iron frame or ring extending from one pole of the magnet
or coil around to the other, the magnetic flux is not only concentrated largely in the iron
but is much greater in total amount than if the induction is entirely in the air. Even a
short air gap in the iron reduces the flux considerably.
The analogy of such a magnetic path to an electric circuit is easily seen. The magnetic
flux corresponds to a current. The magnet or coil corresponds to a battery, and provides
magnetomotive force just as a battery supplies electromotive force. The amount of flux
produced by a given magnetomotive force depends upon the dimensions and material
of the magnetic circuit, e. g., the length and cross-section of the iron ring followed by
the flux and the permeability of the iron; just as the dimensions and material of the
electric conductor determine its resistance. This attribute to the magnetic circuit
(corresponding to the resistance) is called its reluctance.
This analogy is purely mathematical, not physical. In magnetism, there is no flow of
charge, as in electricity. Hence the term 'flux' tends to be misleading.
These ideas are expressed quantitatively for the purpose of practical calculations. The
magnetomotive force is commonly given in ampere-turns. Another unit of
magnetomotive force sometimes used is the gilbert. The flux is expressed in webers
(mks) or maxwells (emu). Just as the resistance of an electric current is defined as the
ratio of the electromotive force to the current, so the measure of the reluctance of a
magnetic circuit is the ratio of the magnetomotive force to the flux.
Vocabulary
(magnetic) flux energy produced by a magnetomotive force
to issue fro
to come out of
to explore
to examine problems, possibilities in order to learn about them
induction
the bringing about of an electric or magnetic state in a body by placing a
magnetized or electrified body near it
gap
space which is not filled by an object
cross-section
the shape of the end of a body which is seen when the body is cut in a line to
the long axis of the body
permeability
ability to be permeated or penetrated
attribute
additional characteristic
reluctance
the property of a piece of material to resist the passage of magnetic flux through
it
ampere-turn
the unit of measurement for the strength of an electromagnet

misleading

confusing
144

Exercise 3: Vocabulary practice

Find words or phrases in the text which mean the same as the following:
(a) stretches
(b) rod
(c) comes from
(d) curves around
(e) enters again
(f) shows
(g) examining
(h) given; supplied
(i) focused
(j) to a great extent
(k) completely
(1) makes smaller
(m) a great deal, much
(n) is similar (to)
(o) for this reason
(p) usually suggested

Exercise 4: Joining sentences

Join the sentence beginnings A with the sentence endings B:
A: 1. Magnets usually have two well-defined poles, i. e.......
2. A magnetic field exists in a region in which a magnetic force acts on ......
3. A magnetic field can be expressed as a vector because ......
4. Oersted found that the compass deflection was due to ......
5. The lines of flux in a magnetic field are ......
6. The amount of flux produced by a given mmf depends upon ......
7. The mmf is commonly given in ......
B: (a) ...... ampere-turns.
(b) ......one N and one S.
(c) ...... the dimensions and maerial of the magnetic circuit.
(d) ...... collectively called the magnetic flux.
(e) ...... it has both magnitude and direction.
(f) ...... an independent pole in the region.
(g) ...... a magnetic field established around the conductor by the current in
the conductor.

145

Exercise 5
Check your knowledge of 'Magnetic effects'

Ampere's rule for a straight conductor: Grasp

the conductor in the left hand with the thumb
extended in the direction of the electron current.
The fingers then will circle the conductor in the
direction of the magnetic flux.
Fig. 2 Ampere's rule for a straight
conductor

Fig 3 The magnetic field through a

current loop

Keeping Ampere's rule in mind, consider a loop in a

conductor carrying a current. The magnetic flux
from all segments of the loop must pass through the
inside of the loop in the same direction, that is, the
faces of the loop must show polarity.
When a current is in a solenoid the core of each
loop or turn, becomes a magnet, and the core of the
solenoid is a magnetic tube through which
practically all the magnetic flux passes.
Fig 4 The magnetic field about a solenoid

Ampere's rule for a solenoid:

Grasp the coil in the left hand with the fingers circling the coil
in the direction of the electron current. The extended thumb
will point in the direction of the N pole of the core.

Fig 5 Ampere s rule for a solenoid

146

Maglev Systems
Why would maglev trains be able to travel at much higher
speeds than trains in common use today?
Maglev systems are rail systems that operate on the scientific principle
that like poles of a magnet repel each other. The word maglev is short
for Magnetically levitated. Levitate means to rise or float in the air.
Magnets in the maglev guideway (rails) repel magnets of like polarity on
the bottom of the maglev vehicle. This action causes the train to levitate
above the guideway, creating a nearly frictionless riding surface.
Magnets are also involved in the vehicles propulsion. Changing the
polarity of the magnets on the train and the guideway at the proper
moments speeds up or slows down the train. Because there is so little
friction and the vehicles are aerodynamically designed, the trains can
easily be accelerated to speeds over 250 mph. They glide quietly,
smoothly, and swiftly along the guideway using relatively little energy.
A maglev system is very different from our present steel-wheel-onsteel- railsystem-

147

Section 3
ARTICLES (1)
OMISSION OF THE ARTICLES (ZERO ARTICLES)
The definite article denotes that the following noun refers to a particular person,
animal or thing as distinct from others of the same kind .Therefore, it is not used
before nouns in a general sense, even if they are qualified by an attribute. The article
is omitted:
1)
before uncountable nouns, i.e. verbal nouns (gerunds), abstract nouns
used in a general sense, nouns of matter, substances, colours, illnesses, etc.:
Bungee jumping is a dangerous expensive hobby.
Political freedom is essential in a democratic country.
Gold is precious, iron is useful.
1

Classical music, red wine, country-life, life at sea, and similar

combinations, though specified as compared with music, wine, life etc. without any
qualification, are sufficiently general in meaning to be used without the article
' the '.
But: The music of the 19th century, the wine of Istra, the life that you can lead in the
country or at the sea, etc.
Plastics is a product of synthetic resinous substances.
Red, white and blue are the colours of the Croatian flag.
Bob is in bed. He has got influenza *
N.B.* EXCEPTION: the plague [pleig]
2)
before plural common nouns:
In free countries, citizens have a right to demonstrate, but policemen sometimes arrest
demonstrators.
Supersonic airliners can fly at twice the speed of sound.
3)
before names of sciences and arts, sports and games:
In mathematics accuracy is essential.
Music is one of the fine arts.
In Canada ski-dooing is becoming as popular as skiing.
Cricket is the national English game.
4)
before the names of the days, months, seasons and festivals:
Sunday is a day of rest. March is the third month of the year. Winter is usually very
cold in Helsinki. Christmas falls on the 25th of December.
5)
before names of meals and foods:
I usually have milk and cereals for breakfast.
If we don't hurry, we'll be late for dinner. I don't like fish very much. I prefer meat.
6)
before personal names, even if preceded by a title or by an adjective
when this almost forms part of the name:
Mr Green is speaking to Captain Wells.
148

Queen Victoria reigned 64 years.

President Abraham Lincoln was a strong opponent of slavery.
7)
with the names of places
continents: Africa, (not the Africa), but Europe is called the Old Continent
countries, states: France, Germany, Japan
islands: Krk, Cres, Sicily
cities, towns: New York, Zagreb, Paris
mountains: Mt. Everest, Kilimanjar, Uka
lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Como
* BUT the definite article is used in names with Republic, Kingdom, States (the
United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Republic of Croatia), the
Netherlands
The Plitvice Lakes
Plural names of countries, mountains and islands, as well as names of seas,
rivers and canals, require the definite article:
The Pennines ['penainz] are the backbone of England.
The Hebrides lie off the west coast of Scotland.
The colour of the Mediterranean (Sea) is deep blue.
The Sava is the longest river in Croatia.
The Suez Canal was re-opened to traffic in 1975.
1

These are the most common exceptions: the Congo, the Transvaal, the Sudan,
the Crimea [Krai'mi], the Ucraine [)u:'krain], the Tyrol [Ti'roul], the Ruhr, the
Saar, the Vatican, the Levant, the Sahara.
2

The Cape of Good Hope, The Mount of Olives ['olivz], the Lake of Geneva etc.

8) before names + common nouns denoting streets, squares, parks, buildings,

etc. (both names and nouns are written with capital letters):
streets: Oxford Street, First Street
squares: Grosvenor Square
parks: Hyde Park
Burlington House is the home of the Royal Society and other learned societies.
The style of Westminster Abbey is closer to French Gothic architecture than any other
English church.
Kennedy Airport is one of the largest and busiest airports in the world.
The National Gallery stands on a terrace overlooking Trafalgar Square.
But in some cases it is customary to use the article:
The Albert Hall, the Victoria Embankment, the Haymarket, etc.
Note that:
a) London Road is a proper name, whereas
the London road is the road leading to London.
b) Universities named after a place usually have two forms: The University of
London (which is the official name) and London University. Universities named after
a person have one form only: Yale University.
149

9) before certain nouns like: market, bed, church, hospital, prison, college,
university, school, sea, town, court and some means of transport like: bus, car,
train, plane, etc., when we think of the use made of the building or object:
Bed is the best place to stay in, when we are tired.
She goes to church every morning, (to attend a service)
He has been at sea for twenty years, and his son wants to go to sea as well.
I usually go to town by car. (town is contrasted with the suburbs)
But the article is used when we refer to the building or object as such:
I couldn't sleep well because the bed was not comfortable.
She was in the church when it began to rain, (inside the church, perhaps visiting it
etc.
but not for the service.)
We often spend our summer holidays at the sea.
She was sleeping in the car.
to go into/enter the Church = take holy orders;
Army in the sense of the military forces of a country
be in the army = be a soldier or go into/join the army = become a soldier;
10) before Heaven God, Paradise, Hell (Inferno); Parliament, Congress
(Parliament in the U.S.); people, mankind, man, woman; personifications like
Fortune, Fate, Nature, Providence, etc.:
Man cannot live on bread alone.
Woman was struggling to achieve equality of rights.
This is a famous statue of Fortune, the blindfold goddess.
' Paradise Lost' is a famous poem by John Milton.
The bill was presented to Parliament for approval.
Congress will meet again tomorrow.
11) in a good number of prepositional phrases, like: at length
a) finally, at last: At length, he succeeded.
b) for a long time: He spoke at length.
c) in detail: He dealt with the subject at length.
at tea-time, at dinner-time, at dawn, at sunrise, at sunset, at dusk, at midnight, etc.
in case that...
(to) be at work, go to work, set to work
from North to South, from East to West (but: the North, the East, etc.)
from head to foot, from top to bottom
from beginning to end, from morning till night, etc.
12) with appositions, especially in titles
Petar Petrovi, President of the Youth Club
13) with familiar titles and names expressing relationship
Professor Brown, Uncle Petar
14) with the superlatives of adverbs, with next, most, last
Most people; Who cooks best? Next Friday

150

ASSIGNMENT
a)

Insert the definite article where necessary

_____ Technical English as used in _____ fundamentals of electrical engineering is

exemplified by _____ selection of basic original texts. ____ focus of pedagogical
attention is not so much directed to _____ subject-matter of _____ articles but more
to ___ linguistic explanation of ____ organization of ___ discourse structure as used
in _____ engineering English, _____ development, distribution and location of ____
information data, ____ rhetorical devices, all this with ___ aim of improving
students orientation and comprehension of an engineering text. ____ rhetorical
introduction given in ____ foreword indicates ____ important features of ___ text
comprehension. In ___ pedagogical materials following ____ texts an attempt is made
to embrace _____ different aspects of logical and rhetorical devices used in ___ texts
to consolidate ___ use of syntax and lexis as used in ___ context.

b)

Insert the definite article where necessary

_____ engineers creations are of ____ steel, ___aluminum, ____ glass, ____ glass
fibre, ___ plastics, ___ concrete and every other material used by ____ Man.
_____ engineer must have a deep knowledge of these materials and may be skilled at
fashioning them: but to do so is not his job. His own tools are a drawing board and
notebook, ____ pencils and pens, ____ slide rulers, ____ typewriter, ____ test
equipment, ____ computer, ____ instruments and dozens of volumes of reference
books, ____ catalogues and ____ articles from _____ technical press.

c)

Insert the definite article where necessary

1
While John was going to _____ hospital to see _____ friend, he involved in
_____ car accident and was taken to _____ hospital in _____ ambulance.
2

What is your brother going to do when he leaves _____ school? Going to

____ University?
No, he has a mind to go into _____NATO Army.

3
You know that we never stay in _____ town on _____ Saturdays and Sundays.
We leave _____ town on _____ Friday evening and spend ______ week-end in our
cottage on _____ outskirts of _____ town of Rijeka.

151

4
The use of ____ nuclear bombs would spell disaster for _____ mankind. Ever
since the terrible experience in Hiroshima and Nagasaki ______ man has been trying
to get more and more powerful bombs although he knows that _____ use of _____
nuclear bombs would spell disaster for ______ mankind.
5

Tonights concert at _____ Ivan Zajc is dedicated to _____ music of _____

19th century. Shall we go?
Yes, if only you can get _____ tickets.

6
_____ Heaven knows how much that poor old woman has been suffering. _____
life has been hard on her. If there's a person that deserves _____ Heaven, that
is her.
7
_____ Netherlands are so called because a part of their territory is below _____
sea level.
8
_____ Niagara Falls are _____ massive waterfalls on _____ Niagara River,
straddling _____ international border between _____ Canadian province of _____
Ontario and _____ U.S. state of _____ New York.
9
_____ Plitvice Lakes lie in _____ basin of _____ karstic rock, mainly _____
dolomite and limestone, which has given rise to their most distinctive feature.
10 _____ lakes are divided into _____ 12 Upper Lakes (Gornja jezera) and _____
four Lower Lakes (Donja jezera).

152

Articles 2
THE DEFINITE ARTICLE - (II)
A noun used with specific reference is preceded by the definite article. A noun
has specific reference:
1)
when it denotes a particular or a specific person, animal or thing,
already mentioned or known to the speaker or to the listener:
The teacher is going to explain a new lesson. At what time is the concert tonight? The
train was late this morning. I liked the music, but the film wasnt good at all. But
nouns mentioned in general are used without the: Could we live without music?
2)
when it is followed by a defining prepositional phrase or a defining
relative clause with actually restrictive functions:
I like the tune of this song, but not the words.
The green of the countryside in spring is wonderful.
The tea without sugar is mine.
The dinner (that) they gave me was excellent.
It is no longer the London (that) I saw some years ago.
BUT: These are reproductions of eight paintings kept in the National Gallery.
(Reproductions of which paintings? It is not specified.)
Take no notice of men who speak to you in the street. (Which men? All men
who ... - General sense.) Besides, the definite article is used:
3)
before a singular noun which stands for a whole class or species:
To the demonstrator, the delinquent youth and to the militant black a policeman may
be someone to scorn and to fear.
The donkey is an animal of burden. (The newspaper is a source of information.
Exceptions: man and woman
4)
before collective nouns, singular and plural, to denote the whole body:
Some people think that the police are tools of the Government. The country, that is to
say the nation, requests order and work. The family is regarded as a social group.
In the latest elections the Labour party defeated the Conservatives. The Puritans
struggled for civil and religious freedom. The Catholics and the Protestants.
But, as is the case with nationality nouns, the definite article is not used to denote
only a part of the whole:
In such countries as Italy, France and Spain, Catholics are the majority. Except for a
few fanatics, Puritans were not narrow-minded dogmatists.
5)
before adjectives used as nouns to denote a whole class of people
It might be a way for the wretched to escape the hard reality of life.
This is a very difficult time for the young and the unemployed, not to speak of the
homeless.
6)
To denote a single individual, however, or a group of individuals (not
the whole body), we must say: a young man, some young men, Englishmen, old
people, etc., and not a young, some young, etc.
It is also to be noted that the -s genitive (Saxon form) is not used with adjectives
functioning as nouns:
The hopes of the young, the needs of the poor, etc.

153

7)
before adjectives used as nouns to express an abstract idea or quality
(with a singular verb):
John Keats worshipped the beautiful. In modern architecture the new often mingles
with the old. America is the country of the spectacular.
8)
With personal names when they are preceded or followed by words use
in apposition and having unique reference. When the noun-apposition is
followed by the preposition ' of ', the definite article may be omitted:
The poet Dylan Thomas was only 39 years old when he died in 1953.
We owe the theory of relativity to the German scientist Albert Einstein.
King Alfred the Great was a good ruler.
Rome, (the) capital of Italy, is built on seven hills.
9) before proper names:
a) when they designate families or dynasties (the Browns, the Tudors, )
b) when they are preceded by the title ' Reverend ' or another title of British
origin (The Reverend Joseph Martin, the Emperor Napoleon, the Czi
Nicholas, etc.);
c) when they are converted into common nouns to designate ships, car famous
hotels or theatres, etc. (The Queen Elizabeth (a ship), the Michelangelo (a ship), the
Mercedes, etc.; the Savoy (Hotel), the Scala, etc.)
10) before nouns referring to a person or thing unique in their own sphere
a) The Lord = God, the King or the Queen (in their country), the House (<
Commons or of Lords), The Pope, the (Lord) Mayor, the Renaissance, the
Restoration, the river (in a definite place), etc.
b) the sun, the. moon, the sky, the stars, the universe, the world, the sea, the ocean,
the wind, the rain, the earth, etc.
11) before mind, soul and material parts of a human body used in the singular;
and in a general sense or in some idiomatic expressions:
The eye is the mirror of the soul.
Puccini's music goes straight to the heart.
She became red in the face.
He can't understand: he's weak in the head.
12) before the words the cinema, theatre, garden, country, sky, sea, ground,
country environment, radio, piano, and mountains:
Are you going to the theatre tonight?
Tom is working in the garden.
They don't like living in the country.
She's going to spend a holiday in the mountains.
13) before the names of meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
14) in superlatives
the best student; the highest mountain, the most important rule, the most exciting
event
15) with the comparative in the correlative group
The sooner the better. The more one knows the more one wants to know.
154

ASSIGNMENT
a)

Insert the definite article where necessary

Nikola Tesla was _____ inventor and _____ mechanical and electrical engineer.
Born in __Smiljan, ___Croatian Krajina, ____Austrian Empire. Tesla is often
described as ____ most important scientist and inventor of ____ modern age, a man
who "shed light over ____ face of ____Earth". He is best known for many
revolutionary contributions in the field of ____electricity and _____ magnetism in
_____ late 19th and early 20th centuries. ____ Tesla's patents and theoretical work
formed _____ basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems.
After his demonstration of ____wireless communication (radio) in 1894 and after
being ___ victor in _____ "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of
_____ greatest electrical engineers who worked in _____America. Much of his early
work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of
groundbreaking importance. During this period, in _____ United States, _____Tesla's
fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in _____ history or _____popular
culture, but due to his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and
sometimes bizarre claims about _____ possible scientific and technological
developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as _____ mad scientist.

b)

Insert the definite article where necessary

Leonhard Paul Euler was _____ pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist who
spent ___ most of his life in ___Russia and ____Germany.
Euler made _____important discoveries in _____fields as diverse as calculus and
graph theory. He also introduced much of ____ modern mathematical terminology
and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as ____ notion of a
mathematical function. He is also renowned for his work in mechanics, optics, and
astronomy.
Euler is considered to be ____ preeminent mathematician of ____ 18th century and
one of ____ greatest of all time. He is also one of the most prolific; his collected
works fill 6080 quarto volumes.
Euler was born in Basel to Paul Euler, ____ pastor of ____ Reformed Church, and
Marguerite Brucker, a pastor's daughter. He had two younger sisters named Anna
Maria and Maria Magdalena. Soon after ____ birth of Leonhard, _____ Eulers moved
from Basel to ____ town of Riehen, where Euler spent ____ most of his childhood.
Paul Euler was a friend of ____ Bernoulli familyJohann Bernoulli, who was then
regarded as Europe's foremost mathematician, would eventually be ____ most
important influence on young Leonhard. Euler's early formal education started in
Basel, where he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother. At ____ age of
thirteen he matriculated at _____ University of Basel, and in 1723, received his M.
Phil with a dissertation that compared ____ philosophies of Descartes and Newton.
At this time, he was receiving Saturday afternoon lessons from Johann Bernoulli, who
quickly discovered his new pupil's incredible talent for mathematics.
155

c)

Insert the articles where necessary.

1
This is _____ book dealing with _____ history of Croatia during _____
Middle Ages.
2
We know very little of _____ young Shakespeare, but what really
interests us is not _____ private life of _____ man, it is his genius and _____ art.
3
ear.

_____ Italian of Dante sounds musical but far-fetched to _____ modern

4
In France, before _____ Revolution, _____ commons were ' The Third
Estate ', as distinguished from _____ clergy and _____ nobility.
5
It is well-known that _____ cow is sacred in some parts of _____ India.
Did you know that it was sacred in _____ ancient Greece, too?
6
When _____ sun shines, _____ earth and _____ sea look bright and gay.
It is _____ feast for _____ eye.
7 _____ worlds population is increasingly growing. _____ cities become enormous.
8 _____ industries and _____ vehicles pollute _____ air, _____ rivers and _____ sea.
9 plants and _____ animals become extinct.
10
his words.

I think he's telling _____ truth. You can feel _____ certain sincerity in

11

We had _____ very nice dinner. What did you have for _____ dinner?

156

ARTICLES (3)
THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE
The indefinite article is used:
1) with the meaning of one or any before singular countable nouns:
Use a pen instead of a pencil, please.
A bird flies, a fish swims.
He likes smoking a pipe.
Take an umbrella if you go out. It is raining.
Can I have a single room with a bathroom?
He took a seat in the front row.
Note, however:
2) When two persons or objects naturally go together and are regarded as a unit,
the indefinite article is not repeated:
She has a father and mother who can look after her.
3) A/an is sometimes used before uncountable nouns qualified by an adjective
or another specification. In this special use, a/an often means some, a kind of...:
There is a heavy traffic in this street.
When she saw him, she felt a desire to run away.
She has a humility that makes her more attractive.
4) One is used in a numerical sense:
One man in ten. (He has one son and two daughters.
but a/an is used after not in such cases as:
Not a word shall I say in my defense.
Not a trace could be found.
Not a hair of your head shall be touched.
5) before singular countable nouns denoting a part of the human body or an
item of clothing as objects of the verb to have or of a preposition with an
equivalent meaning (in such cases, Italian uses the definite article):
She has dark hair, a tall forehead, blue eyes, a turned-up nose and thick lips. The
dress with ( having) a tall collar is very pretty. He came without (= not having) an
overcoat.
6) befoe a word used in apposition after a name or noun and denoting ' one
among others' Mr Simon, a teacher in our school, has compiled a booklet on
English idioms.
Bath, a favourite residential place in Roman times, owes its name to its mineral
springs.
Waiting for Godot, a play by Samuel Beckett, was first produced in London in
1955.

157

7) before words denoting units of measure, weight, quantity, time, etc

They came one at a time.
She has three English lessons a week.
He sells that article at 50p. a pound, a meter, a dozen, a piece, a box, etc.'
NOTE: Sometimes per or every may be used:
A hovercraft travels at about 70 miles per hour. He goes to Paris on business twice
every year.
8) before a personal name preceded by a title, in which case a/an is equivalent to
' a certain ':
A Mr Reed (or: a certain Mr Reed, one Mr Reed) wants you on the phone, He
introduced me to a Dr Arnold (or: a certain Dr A., one Dr A.)
BUT, if there is no title, English only uses:
A certain Reed (or: one Reed) wants you on the phone. He introduced me to a
certain Arnold (or: one Arnold).
9) before nouns denoting a title, profession, office, etc. He is a doctor, a
Protestant, a Chinese, etc.
BUT, no article is used in the following cases:
a) when the title or office can be held by a single person:
Frank Smith is captain of our football team.
As mayor of the town, I have the honour of welcoming you.
1
But: to sell/buy by the dozen, by the pound, by the packet, etc. when a dozen or
pound or packet etc. is the smallest quantity to be sold or bought.
b) when a person holds more than one title or office:
He spoke as director and solicitor of the company.
William Blake was book engraver and poet.
c) generally after such verbs as turn (appoint elect etc. and after such
expressions as the post of, the rank of, etc.:
He turned critic (or: novelist, Catholic, socialist, etc.) at the age of 32.
He was appointed Minister of Education.
Winston Churchill was elected member of the Royal Society for special reasons.
He obtained the post of cashier in a big department store.
10) The indefinite article a/an is also used in a great number of idiomatic
expressions.
as a punishment, a reward, a prize
at a good/low/high etc. price; at a profit; at a loss
be at a loss for sth/to do sth = be perplexed, uncertain:
He was at a loss for words.
for a change: for the sake of variety
on an average
on a large/vast/small scale
in a loud voice
be in a bad/good/cheerful etc. humour or temper
be/go on a journey/pilgrimage/visit etc.
fly into a rage or passion
158

earn a living, make a career

have a bent/gift/turn/flair for ..., have a fancy/liking for ....
have/bear one a grudge*, have/wish a merry Christmas, a happy New Year, a pleasant
journey, a good time, a happy birthday, etc.
have, eat with, an appetite, on an empty stomach
have a cold, a cough, a headache, a sore throat, a temperature
but: have flu, rheumatism, pneumonia etc.
die of an illness but: die of grief
die a natural/violent/early death
keep someone at a distance
wear/grow a beard, a moustache
work with a will
11) with few and little
a few friends = a small number, or what the speaker considers a small number and
a little time = a small amount, or what the speaker considers a small amount.
Few and little are also used without article but then they can be replaced by hardly
any
I have less and less time for entertainment and amusement.
There are fewer and fewer jobs.
*biti kivan na; zamjerati; ne moi oprostiti, imati neto protiv nekoga

ASSIGNMENT
a) Supply the indefinite article where necessary.
In fluid dynamics, Bernoulli's principle states that for ___ inviscid flow, ___
increase in the speed of the fluid occurs simultaneously with ___ decrease in pressure
or ____ decrease in the fluid's potential energy. Bernoulli's principle is named after
the DutchSwiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli who published his principle in his
book Hydrodynamica in 1738. Bernoulli's principle can be applied to various types of
___fluid flow, resulting in what is loosely denoted as ___Bernoulli's principle is
equivalent to the principle of ___conservation of energy. This states that in ___
steady flow the sum of all forms of mechanical energy in a fluid along ___ streamline
is the same at all points on that streamline. This requires that the sum of kinetic
energy and potential energy remain ___ constant. If the fluid is flowing out of ___
reservoir the sum of all forms of energy is the same on all streamlines because in ___
reservoir the energy per unit mass (the sum of pressure and gravitational potential
gh) is the same everywhere. Fluid particles are subject only to pressure and their
own weight. If a fluid is flowing horizontally and along ___ section of ___
streamline, where the speed increases it can only be because the fluid on that section
has moved from ___ region of higher pressure to ___ region of lower pressure; and if
its speed decreases, it can only be because it has moved from ____ region of lower
pressure to ___ region of higher pressure. Consequently, within ___ fluid flowing
horizontally, the highest speed occurs where the pressure is lowest, and the lowest
speed occurs where the pressure is highest.
159

b) Insert either the definite or indefinite article or leave the space blank
(zero articles).

In ___ 1950s and from their new base in Bavaria, S&H started to manufacture
___computers, ____semiconductor devices, ____washing machines, and ____
pacemakers. Siemens AG was incorporated in 1966. _____ Companys first digital
telephone exchange was produced in 1980. In 1988 ___ Siemens and ____GEC
acquired ____ UK defense and technology company Plessey. ___Plessey's holdings
were split, and Siemens took over ___ avionics, radar and traffic control businesses
as Siemens Plessey.
In ___1997 Siemens introduced ___ first GSM cellular phone with ____colour
display. Also in 1997 Siemens agreed to sell ____ defense arm of Siemens Plessey to
British Aerospace (BAe) and ___ UK government agency, ____ Defence Analytical
Services Agency (DASA). BAe and DASA acquired the British and German
divisions of ___ operation respectively.
In 1999, Siemens' semiconductor operations were spun off into a new company
known as ___ Infineon Technologies. Also, Siemens Nixdorf Information system AG
formed part of Fujitsu Siemens Computers AG in that year. ____ retail banking
technology group became Wincor Nixdorf.
In ___February 2003, ____Siemens reopened its office in Kabul.
In ___2004, Siemens took over ___ mantle of official Formula One timekeeper,
replacing ____TAG Heuer.
In ___November, 2005, Siemens signed ___ 12 year agreement with the Walt Disney
Company to sponsor attractions in its Florida and California parks.
In ___2006, Siemens announced ___ purchase of Bayer Diagnostics, which was
incorporated into ____ Medical Solutions Diagnostics division officially on 1 January
2007.
In ____March 2007 ___ Siemens board member was temporarily arrested and
accused of illegally financing a business-friendly labour association which competes
against ___ union IG Metall. He has been released on bail. Offices of ____ labour
union and of Siemens have been searched. Siemens denies any wrongdoing.

c) Insert either the definite or indefinite article or leave the space blank
(zero articles).

Shell structure of the atom

_____ formerly accepted theory as to _____ structure of _____ atom postulated that
_____ electrons move about _____ nucleus somewhat as _____ planets move about
_____ sun in _____ solar system. For _____ purposes of _____ visualization, it is still
convenient to think of _____ electron as _____ point mass, _____ nucleus. From this
standpoint _____ electrons will be found to occupy _____ quantized energy levels
(called _____ orbits or _____ orbitals) which define certain energy band. These shells
possess _____ increasingly greater "radii" measured from _____ nucleus. _____
innermost shell is designated as _____ K shell; the following are _____ L, M, N, O,
160

electrons per shell respectively of 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 8. _____ number of electrons in
_____ shell is limited according to _____ Pauli exclusion principle. As _____
elements increase in _____ atomic number Z (_____ number of _____ positively
charged protons in _____ nucleus and hence also _____ number of _____ electrons
possessed by _____. neutral atom), they generally fill _____ shells in _____ orderly
fashion but _____ discrepancies occur because _____ electrons, relatively far out
from _____ nucleus are screened from _____ charge on _____ nucleus and
effectively "see" _____ smaller nucleus charge. _____ screening causes the
discrepancies from _____ normal filling of _____ electrons.

d)

Insert the appropriate articles where necessary

1
Leonardo da Vinci, _____ Florentine artist and _____ scientist, is _____
glory of _____ Italian Renaissance.
2

Being abandoned by her parents, the poor girl has quite _____ hard life.

3
_____ man in _____ grey suit is _____ leader of the HDZ party. 'He is
_____ husband of my cousin Mary.
4
Yesterday she walked in _____ rain without _____ hat and without
_____ umbrella, and today she has _____ cold and _____ temperature.
5

They say that, on _____ average, Venice is sinking one inch _____ year.

6
If you must earn _____ living and have_____ chance of getting _____
job, regard it as _____ treat and work with _____ will. You will make _____ career!
7
That boy has _____ turn for languages, but he is _____ ass for
mathematics.
8
Good-bye! Have _____ good journey and _____ pleasant holiday in
Shotland! But don't forget to take _____ raincoat and _____ umbrella wherever you
go, as _____ weather is very unsteady over there.
9
Don't bear me _____ grudge, please. Let us shake ____ hands and make
_____ peace.
10

"Do you still bear _____ grudge against _____ Fiat?"

161

LECTURE 6
Section 1
Seminar Pair Work
Some Basic Concepts about Electrical and Electronic
Engineering

Section 2
Some Basic Notions from Technical English by Ljerka Bartoli
Pages 34-38

Section 3
Continuous Aspect, Perfect Aspect and
Passive Aspect
Revision of Present Simple and Continuous,
Past Simple and Past Continuous, Perfect
Simple and Continuous,
Past Perfect
Simple and Continuous

162

Section 1
Seminar Pair Work
SOME BASIC CONCEPTS ABOUT ELECTRICAL
AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Electrical energy is the universal servant of twentieth century civilization. We take for
granted its availability; that is, we expect that the energy obtained from distant coal
beds or waterfalls or atomic reactors will be economically and dependably transported
in electrical form wherever we need it. We are long accustomed to its usefulness for
simple but more or less strenuous tasks such as turning factory wheels, lathes,
centrifuges, and washing machines. We take for granted its versatility and its
easy conversion, not only to mechanical energy in motors, but to heat energy in ovens,
sound energy in loudspeakers, and light energy in lamps.
In addition to ease of transmission and conversion, electrical energy has another
advantage of paramount importance for present-day applications. This is the ease
with which it can be controlled one is almost tempted to say "educated".
Accurate and delicate modulation of electrical energy is the basis of high-fidelity sound
reproduction and of television. The steering of missiles, the transmission of information
from satellites, the solution of involved mathematical problems by electronic
computers, and the automatic control of complicated manufacturing processes are
some of the more intricate jobs now performed by electrical devices.
It is important to recognize at the outset that all electrical theory is based on
experiment and elaborate codification of the results. The answer to the question "How
do we know this?" is commonly "Many people tried it, and this is what happened".
Even today we do not take steps into the unknown without thorough checking in the
laboratory.
The primary concern of electrical engineering is the doing of work by the delivery
of energy in the right place, and at sufficient power for any of a multitude of
purposes.
The most elemental electrical quantity is electric charge, or quantity of electricity.
We have all heard of a variety of charged particles which are among the fundamental
building blocks of matter electrons, protons, positrons, etc. We can readily
visualize an object, such as a metal sphere or a wire, carrying a charge. We find it
difficult or impossible, however, to visualize the charge itself divorced from the particle
or object. We can obtain an intimate knowledge of electric charges and of electricity in
general only by studying their effects.
One of the first facts scientists found out by studying the effects of electric charges is
that those charges are of two different kinds. These kinds were arbitrarily called
positive and negative. As it turned out, the electron is a negatively charged
particle. We know now that an uncharged body contains is, in fact, composed of
positively and negatively charged particles, the pluses and minuses just balancing. A
body is ordinarily positively charged because of a deficiency of electrons as compared
with positive charges. A negative charge means an excess of electrons. Charge is
usually denoted by the letter Q and is ordinarily measured in coulombs. The
charge on an electron is 1.591 10-19 coulomb. That is, about 6.3 1018 (6.3
billion billion) electrons are required to form a quantity of electricity equal to
one coulomb.
163

The most significant effect of an electric charge is that it can produce a force.
Specifically, a charge will repel other charges of the same sign; it will attract
other charges of the opposite sign. Since the charge on an electron is negative,
any charge which attracts (and is attracted by) an electron is accordingly a
positive charge. The magnitude of the force between two charged bodies is
proportional to the square of the distance between them. That is, the force F
between two charged bodies having charges Q 1 and Q 2 is given by
F=k Q1Q2/d2
where d is the distance between the charges and k is a constant depending on the units
used and the medium surrounding the charges. The equation is known as Coulomb's
law. The situation that it defines can be described by saying that there is a region of
influence in the neighborhood of an electric charge wherein a force will be exerted
when another charge is introduced. The force will grow progressively weaker as the
new charge is placed in more remote positions. Such a region of influence is often
called a field. The field set up by the presence of electric charges is an electric field.
Electric current. For engineering purposes we are more interested in charges in
motion than in charges at rest because of the energy transfer which may be involved
with moving charges. We are particularly interested in those situations where the
motion is confined to a definite path formed by materials such as copper and
aluminium, which experience has shown to be good conductors of electricity. By way
of contrast, other materials, such as porcelain, mica, glass, and, under many
conditions, air, are known to be extremely poor conductors. They are called insulators
and are used to confine the electricity to the specific conducting paths by forming
barriers to departure from these paths. The paths are called circuits. The rate of
motion of charge in a circuit is called current. The unit of current is the ampere. One
ampere exists when the charge flows at the rate of one coulomb per second.
In a direct current the flow of charges is all in one direction for the period of time
under consideration. In an alternating current the charges flow first in one direction
and then in the other, repeating this cycle with a definite frequency. The practical
usefulness of an electric current is the result of the effects which it causes, effects
which have been discovered and studied in the huge mass of experimentation over
the years. Two effects which are of great practical and economic importance are the
following:
1. Heat is produced by the passage of a current through a
conductor.
2. A second type of field of force comes into being in the vicinity of a current
carryinconductor, a field which will cause forces to be exerted on other currentcarrying elements or on pieces of iron. This field, called the magnet
ic field, exists simultaneously with the electric field
caused by the charges. It is exactly the same sort of
effect that exists in the vicinity of a permanent magnet.
If we wish to measure an electric current, for example, we usually measure one of the
above effects. Thus, many current-measuring instruments, or ammeters, are based
on either the first or the second effect, with those based on the second being far more
common.
Electromagnetic energy-conversion processes involve macroscopic electro-dynamic
interactions between current-carrying conductors and electromagnetic fields. Energy
conversion occurs when coupling electromagnetic fields are disturbed. A system
164

which is provided with electromagnetic coupling fields such that the energy stored
in the fields changes with the position of some moving member of the system can,
therefore, be considered an electromagnetic energy converter. Some examples of
energy converters based on the above principle are solenoids, relays, motors, generators, etc.
Electromechanical energy conversion is in most cases a reversible process. A device
that converts energy from mechanical to electrical form and modulates in response
to an
electrical signal is a generator. When the conversion involved is from electrical
to mechanical energy and the modulating signal is electrical in nature, the
component accomplishing such conversion is a motor. Incremental-motion
electromechanical energy converters, whose main function is to process
energy, are called transducers. For example, a microphone can be
considered a transducer.
The success of any installation of electrically driven machinery is dependent
upon the proper selection and correlation of the machine, the motor, and the
controller. Each is important, and the improper application of a motor or a
controller will lower the efficiency of the installation and may cause it to be a
failure.
In order to make successful installations, it is necessary to understand the
factors which enter into the selection of the machine, motor, and controller,
and therefore to have a good working knowledge of the characteristics of the
three devices. The requirements of the machine with respect to speed, torque,
and special functions must be known. An understanding of motor
characteristics is necessary to proper selection of a motor which will
accomplish the desired results, and a knowledge of control apparatus is
required to insure the application of a controller which will cause the motor to
perform the functions required of it.
The five factors which enter into the study of a motor and control
application are:

The machine.
The power supply.
The motor.
The operator.
The controller.

(From: ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS by A. E. Fitzgerald and David E.

Higginbotham, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York 1964; ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICES
AND SYSTEMS by S. A. Nasar, Prentice-Hall, Inc. New Jersey 1970; CONTROL OF ELECTRIC MOTORS by Paisley B.
Hardwood, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York 1966)

INFORMATION TRANSFER COMPREHENSION CHECK

1.1

Give some examples of the conversion of electrical energy.

1 ...............................................................................................................................
2 ...............................................................................................................................
3 ...............................................................................................................................
4 ..............................................................................................................................
165

1.2

The principal advantages of electrical energy are:

1....................................................................................................................
2................................................. ..................................................................
3.....................................................................................................................

1.3

Electrical theory is based on:

1 ...............................................................
2 ..............................................................................................................................

1.4

State the basic purpose of electrical engineering.

1.5 Elemental electrical quantity is electric charge. Electric

charges are of two different kinds:
................................................. (called)..........................................................
................................................. (called)..........................................................

1.6

Tick the right answer. An uncharged body is composed of:

1. positively charged particles

2. negatively charged particles
3. positively and negatively charged particles

1.7

A body is normally charged:

1. positively
2. negatively

1.8

A charge is measured in:

1. ohms
2. coulombs

1.9

Charge is usually marked by the letter:

1. Q
2. k

1.10 Electrons attract:

1. negatively charged particles
2. positively charged particles

1.11 Engineering is more interested in:

1. charges in motion
2. charges at rest

1.12 Complete the sentence.

The most significant effect of an electric charge is that it ................................

1.13 State Coulomb's law.

166

1.14 Define an electric field.

1.15 Define a magnetic field.
1.19 Supply full forms for the following abbreviations.
d. c. =
a. c. =

1.20 Many current-measuring instruments (ammeters) are based

on electric effects like:
1.............................................................

2 ................................................

1.21 Define a generator.

1.22 Write down the definition of an electric motor.
1.23 Explain what transducers are.
1.24 List the deciding factors which the efficiency of any installation of
electrically driven machinery depends upon the proper selection and the
correlation of the:
1 .............................................................................................................................
2 .............................................................................................................................
3 .............................................................................................................................

2 CODE TRANSFER (English

Croatian)

coal bed

........................................................................

waterfall

........................................................................

loudspeaker

........................................................................

light energy

........................................................................

present-day applications .......................................................................................

automatic control

.........................................................................

charged particle

.........................................................................

metal sphere

.........................................................................

direct current

.........................................................................

alternating current

.........................................................................

current-carrying
conductor
electromagnetic energy

.........................................................................

conversion process

.........................................................................

energy conversion

.........................................................................

energy converter

.........................................................................
167

incremental-motion electromechanical
energy converter
.........................................................................
electrically driven
machinery

.........................................................................

working knowledge

.........................................................................

control apparatus

.........................................................................

control application

.............................................. , .........................

power supply
coupling electromagnetic
field
electromagnetic
coupling field

.........................................................................

.........................................................................
.........................................................................

Phraseology (English > Croatian)

take for granted

................................................................................

in general

................................................................................

find out

................................................................................

turn out

................................................................................

in fact

................................................................................

depend on

................................................................................

be interested in

................................................................................

in motion

................................................................................

at rest

................................................................................

in response to

................................................................................

in order to

................................................................................

with respect to

................................................................................

168

VOCABULARY EXTENSION 5.1 Fill in the table

Noun

Verb

Adjective

attract
availability
conversion
easy
expect
importance
light
perform
practical
reversible
sound
transfer
transmission

transport
versatility

Opposites

Match both columns. Write the appropriate letter beside the number.
1. advantage
a) easy
2. conductor

b) attract

3. definite

c) near

4. difficult

d)positive

5. negative

e) good

6. poor (conductor)

f) different

7. remote
8. repel

g) seldom
h) disadvantage

9. same

i) indefinite

10. often

j) insulator

169

Section 2
Some Basic Notions Concerning Energy, Electromotive
Force and Power (from Technical English by Ljerka
Bartoli, page 34-38)
Piezoelectric effect an auto corrective test
Translate into English the following texts:
1

to je piezoelektrini efekt?

Neki materijali imaju sposobnost da proizvedu elektricitet kada su izloeni mehanikom naprezanju. To se
zove piezoelektrini efekt. To naprezanje moe biti prouzroeno udaranjem ili okretanjem materijala
dovoljno da se deformira kristalna struktura bez da ju se slomi. Taj efekt isto radi i u suprotnom smjeru,
gdje se materijal lagano deformira kada mu dodamo malu elektrinu struju. Piezo elektricitet je otkriven
prije vie od 100 godina i danas se upotrebljava u razliitim podrujima. Koriste se u elektrinim satovima,
plinskim tednjacima, inkjet printerima, i mnogim drugim ureajima. Isto tako se koristi i u znanstvenim
ureajima koji zahtijevaju jako precizna mjerenja poput mikroskopa.

What is the Piezoelectric Effect?

Some materials have the ability to produce electricity when subjected to mechanical stress. This
is called the piezoelectric effect. This stress can be caused by hitting or twisting the material just
enough to deform its crystal lattice without fracturing it. The effect also works in the opposite
way, with the material deforming slightly when a small electric current is applied. Piezoelectricity
was discovered more than one hundred years ago and has many applications today. It is used in
electronic clocks, gas ovens, inkjet printers, and many other appliances. It is also used in
scientific instruments which require extremely precise movements, like microscopes.

Povijest

Piezoelektrini efekt su prvi put otkrili Pierre Curie i Jacques Curie, dva francuska fiziara koji su takoer
bili braa. Pierre Curie e kasnije dijeliti Nobelovu nagradu sa svojom enom Marie Curie i Henrijem
Becquerelom za njihov rad na radijaciji. Braa Curie su otkrili samo da piezoelektrini materijali mogu
proizvesti elektricitet , ali ne i da ih elektricitet moe deformirati. Slijedee godine, Gabriel Lipmann otkrio
je suprotni efekt. Unato uzbudljivim otkriima, praktini ureaji poeli su se pojavljivati tek poetkom 20
stoljea. Danas se zna da mnogi materijali kao to su kvarc, topaz, eer od eerne trske, rochel sol i kosti
imaju taj efekt.

History

The piezoelectric effect was first discovered in 1880 by Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie, two
French physicists who were also brothers. Pierre Curie would later share the Nobel Prize with his
wife, Marie Curie, and Henri Becquerel for their work on radiation. The Curie brothers only
discovered that piezoelectric materials can produce electricity, not that electricity can deform
them. The next year, Gabriel Lippmann discovered this converse effect. Despite these exciting
discoveries, it wasn't until the early twentieth century that practical devices began to appear.
Today, it is known that many materials such as quartz, topaz, cane sugar, Rochelle salt, and bone
have this effect.

170

Kako piezoelektrini efekt radi?

Piezoelektrini efekt se pojavljuje kada se balans naboja u kristalnoj reetki materijala poremeti. Kada
nema naprezanja materijala, pozitivni i negativni naboji su pravilno rasporeeni tako da nema potencijalne
razlike. Kada se struktura reetke malo promijeni, neravnotea stvara potencijalnu razliku, esto visoku
nekoliko tisua volta. Ipak, struja je jako mala i uzrokuje mali elektrini udar. Obrnuti piezo elektrini efekt
se dogaa kada elektrostatsko polje kreirano strujom uzrokuje da se atomi u materijalu lagano gibaju.

How Does Piezoelectric Effect Work

The piezoelectric effect occurs when the charge balance within the crystal lattice of a material is
disturbed. When there is no applied stress on the material, the positive and negative charges are
evenly distributed so there is no potential difference. When the lattice is changed slightly, the
charge imbalance creates a potential difference, often as high as several thousand volts. However,
the current is extremely small and only causes a small electric shock. The converse piezoelectric
effect occurs when the electrostatic field created by electrical current causes the atoms in the
material to move slightly.

Primjena

Mali piezoelektrini kristali mogu proizvesti dovoljan napon da kreira iskru dovoljno veliku da zapali plin.
Ovi upaljai se koriste u mnogim plinsko-pogonjenim aparatima poput pei, rotilja, grijaa soba i grijaa
vode. ak su dovoljno mali da stanu unutar upaljaa iako mnogi upaljai koriste kremen jer je jeftiniji a
samo skuplji upaljai koriste piezoelektrini kristal. Iako je bilo mnogo pokuaja generiranja elektriciteta
putem ovog efekta na iroj razini se pokazalo nepraktinim.
Piezoelektrini kristali se koriste u elektrinim satovima kako bi raunali vrijeme i za zvuk alarma. Takoer
se zovu kvarcni satovi jer je Kristal esto napravljen od kvarca. On posjeduje prirodnu frekvenciju idealnu
za kreiranje oscilacija potrebnih za odranje tonog vremena. Kvarcni se satovi takoer koriste za
organizaciju protoka informacija u raunalu. Diskovi od piezo elektrinog materijala se takoer koriste za
izradu tankih zvunika koji stanu unutar runih satova.
Sonarni pretvornik koristi elektrini puls piezo elektrinog kristala da bi kreirali val pritiska i proizveli
struju kada reflektirani val deformira kristal. Vrijeme razlike izmeu dvije struje se koristi da bi saznali
koliko je daleko neki objekt. Industrijski tintni pisai koriste pretvorbu piezo elektrinog efekta da bi
potisnuli tintu kroz stotine igala u glavama pisaa. Elektrina struja uzrokuje da se mali kristal u svakoj igli
savije kreirajui puls pritiska koji tjera tintu van. Tinta je vraena u iglu kada struja prestane i kristal se
vrati u igru.

Applications

Small piezoelectric crystals can produce enough voltage to create a spark large enough to ignite
gas. These igniters are used in many gas-powered appliances like ovens, grillers, room heaters,
and hot water heaters. They are even small enough to fit inside lighters, although most lighters
still use flint because it costs less, and only the more expensive lighters use piezo igniters. While
there have been many attempts at generating electricity from the effect, it has proven impractical
on a large scale.
Piezoelectric crystals are used in electronic clocks and watches to maintain the time and provide
the alarm noise. They are also called quartz clocks because the crystal they use is often made
from quartz. It has a natural frequency that is ideal for creating the oscillations needed to maintain
exact time. Quartz clocks are also used to organize the flow of data in computers. Discs of
piezoelectric material are also used to create thin speakers that fit inside wristwatches.
Sonar transducers apply an electrical pulse to a piezoelectric crystal to create a pressure wave,
and then produce a current when the reflected wave deforms the crystal. The time gap between
the two currents is used to work out how far away an object is. Industrial inkjet printers use the
converse piezoelectric effect to move ink through the hundreds of nozzles in their print heads. An
electric current makes a tiny crystal in each nozzle bend, creating a pressure pulse that forces the
ink out. Ink is drawn into the nozzle when the current stops and the crystal relaxes.
171

Section 3

CONTINUOUS
ASPECT
2. I am studying English

right now.

3. I was studying English

when you called.

while you were reading.
at seven o'clock last night.
for a long time.

4. I have been studying English

since September.
recently.
for a long time when he came toAmerica.

4. I had been studying English since September when he dropped

the course.
5. I will be studying English

at this time next year.

6. I will have been studying English for ten years by this time next
year.

The Continous aspect - active expresses:

1.
activity in progress
2.
temporary activity
3.
possibly incomplete activity

172

Section 3a
ASSIGNMENT 1

Revision of present simple and continouos

Present simple is used for

permanent situations,

habits and routines,

facts that are always true,

and for general situations.

It is used with the adverbs of frequency such as:
always, usually, often, from time to time, seldom, rarely, frequently, every Sunday

Present Continuous is used for

temporary situations,

activities in progress,

events happening now and for particular situation and

a fixed future arrangement.

2

Turn these infinitives into ing forms

No change in spelling before adding ing.

to talk
talking
to ski
to play
playing
to be
to hurry
hurrying
to see

skiing
being
seeing

Drop the silent e.

to live

phoning

living

to phone

Double the final consonant if this is preceded by a a single vowel in a stressed

syllable.
to get
getting
to prefer
preferring
to stop
stopping
to cut
cutting
Double the final l preceded by a single vowel.
to travel
travelling

to compel

compelling

Change the ending ie to y and add ing.

to die
dying

to lie

lying

Add a k before ing to verbs ending in c.

to picnic
picnicking

to mimic

mimicking
173

ASSIGNMENT

Repeat PRESENT CONTINOUS and PRESENT SIMPLE!

Translate into English the following sentences, text and letter!
1.

Napreduje li tvoj engleski?

2.

Svijet se mijenja.

3.

Stanovnitvo svijeta se vrlo brzo poveava.

4.

Svaki dan se stanovnitvo svijeta povea za oko 200,000 ljudi.

5.

Danas marljivo radimo.

6.

Lijepi je dan. Predlaem da idemo u etnju.

7.

Izaimo. Sada kia ne pada. Kia ne pada puno ljeti.

8.

Kako esto igra tenis? Igra li svaki dan?

9.

Sluaj one ljude. Kojim jezikom govore?

10.

Govori li njemaki?

11.

On nikada ne kasni. Uvijek dolazi na vrijeme na posao.

12.

Ne slau se. Stalno se svaaju.

13.

to obino radi za vikend?

14.

U petak prireujem zabavu. eli li doi?

15.

Jo uvijek itam knjigu koju si mi posudio.

16.

Privremeno ivim ovdje u Rijeci. Moji roditelji ive ovdje.

17.

Zato me tako gleda? Zar sam uinio neto loe?

18.

Danas ne idem na faks busom. Prijatelj e me odvesti.

19.

Imam probleme s komjutorom. Jo uvijek ga popravljam.

20.

Stalno zaboravlja kljueve od auta.

21.

Trebao bi ii na dijetu. Deblja se.

22.

- to radi?
- Radim u putnikoj agenciji.

23.

- Pa, to radi momentalno?

- Gledam TV.

174

Doruak ili ruak?

Obino ne ustajem rano nedjeljom. Ponekad ostajem u krevetu sve do ruka. Prolu
nedjelju ustao sam jako kasno. Kada sam pogledao kroz prozor bilo je vani mrano.
Kakav dan! pomislio sam. Ponovo pada kia. Upravo je tada zazvonio telefon.
Bio je to moj prijatelj.
Upravo sam doao autobusom iz Zagreba, rekao je. Dolazim k tebi vidjeti te.
Jo uvijek dorukujem, rekao sam.
to radi? upitao je.
Dorukujem, ponovio sam.
Jao rekao je. Zar uvijek ustaje tako kasno? Pa ve je jedan je sat!

Draga Ana,

Jako se dobro zabavljam ovdje u Engleskoj. Semestar na faksu mi poinje

tek na jesen tako da koristim svaku priliku kako poboljati svoj engleski.
Ja sam u gostima kod mojih engleskih prijatelja koji imaju farmu. Radnim
danom hvatam bus za London da bih pohaao nastavu iz jezika. Mislim da
dobro napredujem. Moji prijatelji kau da je moj izgovor mnogo bolji nego
kada sam stigao. Sada razumijem gotovo sve. Vikendom pomaem na
farmi. Momentalno oni sada rade na polju, anju ito i trebaju svu moguu
pomo. Teak je to rad ali ja ga volim. Jaam miie!
Hoe li me doi posjetiti za Boi? Zimske praznike u provesti ovdje na
farmi. Moji prijatelji te ele upoznati a ima i puno prostora. Ali svakako
mora donijeti svoju najtopliju odjeu. Zimi je ovdje jako hladno.
Obavijesti me im odlui. I reci mi to radi ovih dana. Je li ti
nedostajem?
Love,

Marko

175

ASSIGNMENT

Translate into English

Use Present Simple or Continuous

A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

B
11

12
13

14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Group
- Kukavice ne grade gnijezda.
- Znam. One stavljaju jaja u gnijezda drugih ptica.
- Sada ne moe vidjeti Toma. Tuira se.
- On obino pije kavu ali danas pije aj.
- to ona radi naveer?
- Obino se karta ili slua radio.
- Ne elim sada izlaziti jer pada kia i nemam kiobran.
- Uvijek kupujem loto ali nikad nita ne dobivam.
- Kako obino dolazi na posao?
- Zna li zato jabuka pada dolje a ne prema gore?
- Razumije li to govori predava?
- Zato danas tako brzo hoda? Obino ne hoda tako brzo.

Group
- Mogu li vam postaviti pitanje?
- Ovisi o pitanju.
- Tie se tvog brata.
- Odbijam odgovarati na bilo koje pitanje o mom bratu.
- To je na plan puta. Odlazimo od kue u 8.00h, stiemo u Pariz u 9.00h,
provodimo dan u Parizu, i kreemo tu no za Veneciju.
- Zvui jako interesantno. Mora mi ispriati sve o tom kad se vrati.
- to eka?
- ekam da se otvori trgovina.
- Ali ona e se otvoriti tek u 9.00 sati.
- Znam, ali elim doi rano, jer danas poinju rasprodaje.
- Zato Ana ne nosi svoju novu haljinu?
- Ne govori istinu.
- Kako zna da ne govorim istinu?
- Radi li neto ovu veer? Ne, ne radim.
- Pa, ja idem u kino. Bi li rado ila sa mnom?
- Sutra dorukujemo u 8.00h jer Tom hvata rani vlak.
- Zato tako brzo tipka? Radi puno greaka.
- Kakav je to udan miris?
- Ljudi koji stanuju vrata do nas kuhaju kupus.
- S kim ide na nogometnu utakmicu u nedjelju?

176

C
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

D
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

E
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54

Group
- to obino radi za vikend?
- Po zimi, to obino nosi?
- Danas ne idem busom na faks.
- Govore li francuski ili panjolski? Ne mogu razlikovati.
- Trebao bi ii na dijetu. Deblja se.
- Vru je dan, zato nosi debeli kaput?
- Ja vozim! Moe se sjesti otraga sa Martinom.
- Pogledaj kroz prozor! Pada kia.
- Nosim dva pulovera jer mi je hladno.
- Imam problema s tim kompjutorom.

Group
- Kako ti je u novoj koli?
- to e raditi u petak?
Rijeka Nil utjee u Mediteran.
- Kako tvoj engleski?
- Nije lo. Polako se popravlja.
- Moram ii sada. Postaje kasno.
- Razmiljam o tome da prodam auto.
- Sutra ujutro u vidjeti menedera.
- ivjet u sa svojim prijateljima dok ne naem stan.
- Imala sam obiaj piti puno kave ali ove dane vie volim aj.
- Obino uzgajamo povre u naem vrtu ali ove godine ga ne uzgajamo.

Group
- Soba zaudara. Nije mi dobro. Otvori prozor.
- Kako se osjea sada?
- Moe li me ponovo nazvati za sat vremena? Veeram.
- Treba li ti jo jedna deka ili ti je dovoljno toplo?
- uje li vjetar? Veeras jako pue.
- On uvijek nosi crno. Da, zaista stalno nosi crno.
- Tko zna odgovor?
- Jedemo ih sirove.
- Zadnji bus ide u pono.
- Ovaj se auto zaista esto kvari.
- Ona sav svoj novac troi na odjeu.
- Zato uope psi laju? Zato ovaj pas laje?
- Jede li esto enjak?
- Zar je poela padati kia? Pada li kia? Na ovim prostorima kia esto pada.

177

Section 3b
Past Simple and Past Continuous Tense
Turn these Infinitives into Simple Past Tenses:

No change in spelling before adding ed.

to work
to reveal
to ski
to play

worked
revealed
skied
played

Drop the silent e.

to live
to die

lived
died

Drop one e.
to free
to agree

freed
agreed

Double the final consonant if this is preceded by a single vowel.

to stop
to prefer

stopped
preferred

Double the final l if it is preceded by a single vowel.

to travel
to compel

travelled
compelled

Change the final y preceded by a consonant to i and add ed.

to carry
to study

carried
studied

Add a k before ed to verbs ending in c.

to picnic
to mimic

picnicked
mimicked

178

ASSIGNMENT 5
Translate into English!
The answer to a question is always in the same tense as the question
itself.

Group

1.

Kako se ponaao u kazalitu?

Ponaao se u kazalitu vrlo loe.
Kako je spavao u vlaku?
Spavao je u vlaku zdravo i mirno.
Sada mogu uti glumce. A ti?
Naravno da mogu. ujem ih savreno dobro.
Vidjela sam vlas u mojoj juhi za rukom.
Prolu no sam vani uo krik.
Nisi li vidio utrku?
Ne. Nisam mogao vidjeti. Guva je bila prevelika.
Nisi li zavrio sa rukom?
Nisam mogao. Hrana je bila preslana.
Nisi li vidio njezino lice?
Nisam mogao vidjeti. Svjetlo je bilo preslabo.

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Group

Proli tjedan iao sam u kazalite. Imao sam jako dobro mjesto.
Kazalini komad je bio veoma zanimljiv. Uivao sam. Iza mene su sjedili jedan
mladi i mlada ena. Glasno su razgovarali.
Naljutio sam se. Nisam mogao uti glumce. Okrenuo sam se.
Pogledao sam u mladia i mladu enu ljutito. Ali oni nisu obraali panju.
Na kraju nisam mogao to podnijeti. Opet sam se okrenuo.
Ne mogu uti niti rije! Rekao sam ljutito.
To Vas se ionako ne tie, odgovorio je mladi neljubazno. Ovo je privatni
razgovor!

Group

Razglednice uvijek kvare moje praznike. Prolo ljeto otiao sam u Italiju. Posjetio
sam muzeje i sjedio u vrtovima. Prijazni konobar nauio me je nekoliko talijanskih
rijei. Zatim mi je posudio knjigu. Proitao sam nekoliko redova ali nisam razumio
niti rije. Svaki sam dan mislio o razglednicama. Moj je godinji brzo proao a ja
nisam poslao niti jednu razglednicu svojim prijateljima. Zadnjeg sam dana donio
veliku odluku. Ustao sam se rano i kupio trideset i sedam razglednica. Cijeli sam dan
proveo u svojoj sobi ali nisam napisao niti jednu jedinu razglednicu.

179

Group

Marija se ozlijedila za vrijeme koncerta. Razgovarala je sa reporterom dok su je

lijeili u bolnici:
Otila sam na koncert sa prijateljem. Uspjeli smo dobiti mjesta blizu prednjih
sjedala. Bilo je OK sve dok Johny nije poeo sa zadnjom pjesmom, i tek to je
zapoeo svi su pojurili prema napred. Pjevali su zadnju pjesmu, kada je jedan ovjek
skoio na pozornicu. (ili Jedan je ovjek skoio na pozornicu dok su oni pjevali svoju
zadnju pjesmu.) Nismo mogli vidjeti nita, pa smo stali na svoja sjedala. Ne znam to
se zatim dogodilo, jer to se moralo dogoditi dok smo se penjali na sjedala. Ipak, prije
nego to smo se digli, ljudi su se pokuavali popeti na pozornicu a uvari su ih udarali
sa palicama, nosaima mikrofona, bilo ime. Johny je samo stajao tamo dok se sve to
dogaalo. Odjednom je neki idiot ugasio sva svjetla. uo sam vritanje i vikanje, a
zatim sam baen sa sjedala dok su svi odjurili sa pozornice. Nitko nije elio da doe
do problema pa ipak kad sam se probudio bio sam ovdje u bolnici. Moj je tata bio
bijesan Morali su ga nazvati prije nego to su operirali moju nogu, jer su trebali
njegovu dozvolu. Noga mi je pukla na dva mjesta i bio sam u nesvijesti dva sata.

She was driving to work when she had an accident.

She had an accident while she was driving to work.

Group

Retell a similar experience using past simple and past

continuous tenses

180

Section 3c
Perfect Aspect is used when
- the exact time of the verb action is not important and
- the action is completed BEFORE another time
BEFORE PRESENT
Have you ever been to America?

(some time before present)

BEFORE PAST
When I arrived, he had already left.

(some time before I arrived)

BEFORE FUTURE
I'll have finished the report by tonight.

(some time before tonight)

Study the following perfect aspects:

I haven't finished this boring book yet;

I've read only 22 pages so far.
By the end of last year I
and by next year I will

had read only 10 pages,

have read two more.

Study Present Perfect Simple and Continuous, Units 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, and 14;
Past Perfect Simple and Continuous, Units 15 and 16;
Future Perfect Simple and Continuous, Unit 24 from English Grammar in Use by
Raymond Murphy

181

PRESENT PERFECT
SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS
We have been reviewing English grammar since the beginning
of the semestar and we have taken up several verb forms and
verb construction but we haven't mentioned the perfect
aspects yet.
We have learned when to use the present tense. We have
written many paragraphs and we have tried to remember to
use the appropriate verb tenses but we haven't always
succeeded. When will we be able to say that we have
mastered the verb system of English?
I have been working in this field for a lot of years, as a matter
of fact.
I have tried several different approaches and methods of
teaching the verb systems but I have never tried a way that is
completely satisfactory.
I have spoken to many of my students and they have assured
me that my explanations are easy to understand but I am still
trying to make them better. Teaching the aspects of the verb
system has been the only satisfactory method so far.
- How long have you been living In Rijeka?
I have been here for a long time. I left Crikvenica 30 years ago
and I have been living here ever since.
- How long have
- How long have
- How long have
Engineering?
- How long have
- Have you been

you been making your own decisions?

you been styding English?
you been attending the Faculty of
you been working toward a degree?
learning English for quite a long time?

182

The aspects of Present Perfect Simple and Continuous

I've cut my finger.
(single action)
I've been cutting wood.
(uninterrupted and repeated
action)
She has had two operations.
(completed action)
She has been having problems with her knee. (repeated)
He has lived here all his life.
She has been living here for a few weeks

(permanent)
(temporary)

Have you seen the Picasso exhibition?

Did you see the Picasso exhibition?

(it is still open)

(it is finished)

Who has been eating my sandwich?

Who has eaten my sandwich?

(incomplete action)
(completed action)

What have you been doing at the Faculty?

I have been sitting for exams.
How many exams have you passed so far?
I've passed three of them?
What were you doing at five o'clock yesterday afternoon?
(definite time)
What should you have been doing?
Should + perfect infinitive (simple or continuous)
You should have worked harder. (But you didn't)
You should have been doing exercises.
You should have been watching the road.
You shouldn't have hit him. (But you did.)

183

Present Perfect Simple

1 The present perfect tense is a mixure of present and past and is used in

conversations, letters, radio and television reports, broadcasts and

newspapers to introduce an action which will then be described in the
simple past tense.
The Prime Minister has decided to . This decision was announced when .

2 The present perfect tense is used for past actions whose time is not given,
for recent actions when the time is not mentioned. It can be used with
so far, until now, ever, never, always, often, lately, recently, yet, already and
just.
I haven't finished yet.
Have you finished yet?
Yes, I have already (just) finished.
He has always loved you. (a state)
We have often visited England. (a repeated event)

3 It can be used with a word or phrase denoting an incomplete period of

time, when there is no clear idea of when within the period the action
happened or of how many times. E.g.: today, this week, this month, this
year
Have you seen him today (this week, this year)? The action happened at any time
today (this week, or this year).
He has phoned at 11a.m. but He phoned at 2 p.m.
He was in hospital for a short period. (he is not in hospital any more) but
He has been in hospital for two weeks. (he is still there)

4 for and since are used with the present perfect and for expresses a period
of time whereas Since expresses a point of time and means from that
point to the time of speaking.
I have known you for a long time.
Jill has worked here since January 10th.
I have been to England since last week. (a point in time about seven days ago)
I have been to England for the last week. (the period of seven days that has just
finished)

184

The present perfect continuous tense

1 The present perfect continuous tense expresses an action
which is apparently uninterrupted.
- I'm cold because I've been swimming for half an hour.
- You look dirty. What've you been doing? Have you been cleaning the garage?

2 We do not use Present perfect continuous tense when we

mention the number of times a thing has been done or the number of
things that have been done.
- I've writen an e-mail. (this job has been done)
- I've been writing an e-mail. (this is how I've spent the last five minutes)
- I have written 10 e-mails today.
- Have they been taking their exams?
- Yes, they have. They've taken five of them so far.
- Have you been attending the lectures?
- Yes, I have. I have attended five of them so far.
(five of them have been completed up till now and there are still more to take and attend.)

3 The verbs of a static nature , such as stay, wait, sit, stand, lie,
study, learn, live, rest, etc. are rarely found in simple present perfect,
because by their very nature they continue into the present.
He has been lying on the floor for two hours. (and there he is still.)
I've been studying hard for the last two months! (the action is still in progress)
- Have you been making your own wine for long?
- No, we've just started making it.

Guess where the following sentences come from!

They lit their seven candles and then saw that someone had been to visit
them.
The first said, "Who has been sitting on my chair?"
The second said, "Who has been eating from my plate?"
The third, "Who has taken a piece of my bread?"
The fourth, "Who has taken some of my vegetables?"
The fifth, "Who has been using my fork?"
The sixth, "Who has been cutting with my knife?"
The seventh, "Who has been drinking out of my goblet?"

185

ASSIGNMENT 6
Translate into English!
1.

to se dogodilo? (to je?) Zar si se porezao?

2.

Od ruka me boli glava.

3.

Nadia nije nikad vidjela kineske filmove.

4.

Putnici su umorni jer nisu spavali cijelu no.

5.

Bojim se da smo upravo razbili prozor. ao nam je!

6.

David nije dobio nagradu ovaj put, ao mi je.

7.

Jeste li ikad jeli makedonska jela, odlina su.

8.

Ovdje sam poeo raditi pred tri godine.

Interesantno! Ja takoer radim ovdje tri godine.

9.

Vidio sam tvoju prijateljicu pred nekoliko trenutaka.

Znam. I ja sam je takoer upravo vidio

10.

Jo uvijek itam ovo poglavlje.

Niti ja jo nisam gotov sa itanjem ovog poglavlja.

11.

Je li to va prvi posjet Junoj Americi?

Oprostite, nisam dobro uo? elite li znati jesam li ikad prije bio u Junoj
Americi?

12.

Je li prolo dugo vremena odkada si razgovarao sa mojom sestrom?

Da, nisam razgovarao sa tvojom sestrom dugo vremena.

13.

Spava li jo uvijek?
Da, jo se nije probudila.

14.

Jim ivi u centru grada od 2000. godine.

15.

Jesi li ikad pio ananas sok? Fantastian je.

16.

Pouri se! Zar jo nisi zavrio? Tako si spor.

17.

Mogu li dobiti drugu knjigu? Ovu sam ve proitao.

18.

esto sam proao pored ove zgrade ali ovo je prvi puta da sam u njoj.

19.

Mary radi u ovoj kompaniji pet godina.

20.

U braku smo (oenjeni smo) divnih sedam godina.

21.

Volim ju od dana kada smo se sreli.

186

ASSIGNMENT 7

Translate into English!

1.

- Tjednima se osjeam bolesno.

- Mi se takoer ne osjeamo dobro u zadnje vrijeme.

2.

Danima ju zovem telefonom, ali nije nikada kod kue.

3.

Bojim se da je zadnji vlak otiao pred sat vremena.

4.

Zahvaljujem se na tvojoj ponudi, ali odluio sam ne prihvatiti.

5.

- Avatar se daje u kinu Croatia. Jesi li ga vidio?

- Ne, jo nisam. Idemo li? Ve se dugo vremena veselim to u pogledati taj film.

6.

Ali kada smo stigli u kino vie nije bilo karata.

7.

Uivamo u naem putovanju. Do sada smo posjetili dvije zemlje.

8.

Satima stojim ovdje i osjeam se umorno.

9.

Ovo je bio naporan dan i jo nije proao.

10.

Osjeam se stvarno iscrpljeno. Otili smo na zabavu prolu no. Nisam nikad
dosad bio na takvoj dosadnoj zabavi.

11.

Momentalno radim za Zagrebaku banku ali sam odluio promijeniti posao.

12.

Satima smo ovdje. Jesi li siguran da smo stigli na pravo mjesto?

13.

Jesi li vidio moj kalkulator? Siguran sam da sam ga ostavio ovdje ranije.

14.

Nikad nisam jeo hobotnicu, ali sam jednom na godinjem jeo rioto od
liganja.

15.

Nadam se da si vegetarijanac. Skuhao sam ti povre bez mesa.

16.

Molim te doi brzo! Nick je imao nesreu i otiao je u bolnicu.

17.

Bez daha si. Zar si trao?

18.

U zadnje vrijeme mnogi mladi se bave zmajarenjem.

19.

Igram tenis od svoje desete godine.

20.

- Via li esto Susan? Ja je nisam je vidio mjesec dana.

- A kad si ti zadnji puta vidio Carol?
- Ako me pita kad sam zadnji puta vidio Carol, pa iskreno, nisam ju vidio oko
sto godina. Zaista, nisam ju vidio godinama.
- George nije nikada bolestan, zar ne?
-Nije bio bolestan od kada ga znam.

21.

187

ASSIGNMENT 8
Rewrite each of the following sentences without changing the
meaning. You may need to use the present perfect or the
simple past.
1.

Imagine that last time we went to the theater was over two years.
We have not ..

2.

I have not really enjoyed myself since your last birthday party.
Your birthday party

3.

I wonder why my father has not seen his brother for nearly ten years.
Its nearly ten years .

4.

Its ages since you tidied your room.

You have not .

5.

How long is it since you last made your own clothes?

When .

6.

I have not suffered from earache since the last time I went swimming.
The last time ..

7.

Its weeks since I played chess.

I have not .

ASSIGNMENT 9
Study the following sentence and translate into Croatian
I have not seen him since last Monday, but I believe he is writing an
essay on Bearings at present.

188

ASSIGNMENT 10
Translate the following sentences:
1.

John je strano uzrujan. Razvrgnuo je zaruke sa Marijom. Oigledno se viala s

drugim dok je bio u Africi.

2.

Moe li prevesti ovo pisamce (biljeku) iz Rima. Razumio sam talijanski kad sam
bio dijete ali sada sam ga posve zaboravio.

3.

to je ta ulupina (dent) na bonoj strani auta? Zar si imao nezgodu?

4.

ao mi je, John nije ovdje; otiao je zubaru. Imao je problema sa zubom.

5.

Cassette recorder je razbijen. Zar si se igrao okolo s njim?

6.

Tvoj je talijanski jako dobar. Jesi li ga dugo uio? Kako si ga dugo uio?

7.

Ima li neto protiv ako poistim stol? Jeste li dovoljno jeli?

8.

Ne iznenauje me to to je pao ispit. Nije puno uio u posljednje vrijeme.

9.

Oh ne! Djeca su kuhala. Pogledaj u kakvom je stanju kuhinja!

10.

Koliko je puta Wendi zakasnila na posao ovaj tjedan?

11.

Dati u onoj maki hranu. Satima sjedi na pragu. Siguran sam da skapava od gladi.

12.

Cijelo jutro radim gramatike vjebe. Zasluujem poslasticu za ruak.

13.

Nisi kupio svojoj majci poklon? To zaista nije lijepo od tebe.

14.

Juer sam vidio Katie. Radila je u Australiji cijelu prolu godinu. Jesi li znao?

15.

Gdje su mi sad pak kljuevi? Ovo je trei puta danas da sam ih izgubio.

16.

Jesi li ikada igrao ah? Trebao bi pokuati. Siguran sam da je to igra koju bi volio.

17.

Budi tih. Guna cijeli dan! (grumble)

18.

Tvoj se tenis stvarno popravio! Zar si vjebao potajno?

189

Section 3 d

Past Perfect Simple and

Continuous
Past Perfect Simple
1

The Past perfect tense is related to an action in the past

in the
same way that the Present perfect is related
to the present action, i.e. it describes an action
completed before some special past action.
He thanked me for what I had done for him.

It may not be necessary to use past perfect simple if we

use BEFORE or AFTER.
They went home after they (had) finished their work.
After I (had) heard the news, I hurried to see her.
Before help reached us, one woman (had) collapsed.
They told him they had not met him before.
He finished (OR had finished) work before I arrived.
He had already finished work before I arrived. (only one form possible)

The past perfect tense is used with REALIZE.

When I got home I realized I had lost my glasses.

190

With verbs of thinking: think, know, remember,

understand, be sure, suspect, etc
I thought Id seen the film before, but I hadnt.
Allan knew he had seen her somewhere before.

Past perfect in reported speech

The little girl asked what had happened to her ice-cream.
He refused to admit that he had stolen the book.
She said she had lost her wallet.

Pattern drills
- Why was he so angry?
- I hadnt given Mary his message.
- Did you really tear up the notice?
- It was a mistake. I realized it as soon as Id torn it up.
- Why didnt you go to the film?
- Because Id already seen it.
- Why couldnt you see the film properly?
- I hadnt taken my glasses with me.

Study the following sentence

He had been preparing for the English exam for quite

a long time before he actually sat for it.
N.B. sit for an exam pristupiti i polagati ispit

191

Past Perfect Continuous

Lucy looked very tired this morning.
I know. Shed been writing all night.
Why was he so happy when he got home?
Hed been celebrating.

Their looking tired and happy was the result of what they
had been doing for some time before.

What was Toms excuse for being late this evening?

He said hed been watching T.V.
What was Lucys excuse for being late for lunch?
She said shed been marking exam papers.

The past perfect continuous replaces the present perfect

continuous in the indirect speech.

Did you go skiing before you got engaged?

Oh yes! Id been going skiing for years before I got engaged.
Did you go camping before you got married?
Oh yes! Id been going camping for years before I got married.

The past perfect continuous with for + period of time

emphasizes the continuity of the action.
So Johns finally finished his book!
Yes, he finished it yesterday, but hed been writing it for ages!
So Johns finally sold his land!
Yes, he sold it yesterday, but hed been talking about it for ages.

Hed been writing and talking about it before he finished his

book and before he sold his farm.

192

ASSIGNMENT
Translate into English!

A Group
1

- Zato je bio tako iznenaen?

- Popravio sam njegov bicikl.

- Zato nisi mogao vidjeti izlobu?

- Nisam uzeo novac sa sobom.

- Zato nisi isprobao novi restoran?

- J er sam ga ve isprobao.

B Group
4

- Zar si zaista potroio sav svoj novac?

- Bila je to greka. Shvatio sam to im sam ga potroio.

- Zato si juer vratio alat?

- Jer ga nisam naruio.

- Jeli on uo vijest u uredu?

- Ne, uo ju je prije nego to je otiao u ured.

C Group
7

- Ponovno je izgubila svoju vozaku.

- Ponovno? Nisam znala da ju je ve prije izgubila.

- Pokazala sam mu sliku.

- Nisi trebala. Ja sam mu je ve prije pokazala.

- Jesu li mukarci ugasili vatru u jutro?

- Da, ve su je ugasili kad sam ja stigla.

193

D Group
10

- Jesi li iao na jedrenje prije nego to si se oenio?

- O da! Jedrio sam jgodinama prije nego to sam se oenio.

11

- Kako se Tom ispriao to je zakasnio poslijepodne?

- Rekao je da je radio.

12

- Marija je ovo jutro izgledala jako zabrinuto.

- Znam. Razmiljala je o ispitima.

13

- Je li platio raun kad si ga zamolio?

- Ve ga je prije platio.

E Group
14

- Zato si naruio loe vino?

- Nisam ga nikad prije naruivao pa nisam znao da je loe.

15

- Mogu li nakon tebe proitati rad?

- ao mi je. Bacila sam ga nakon to sam ga proitala.

16

- Zato je bio tako razdraljiv kad se vratio kui?

- Prepirao se.

17

- Nije trebao pasti na ispitu. (fail)

- On ne bi pao da je marljivije uio.

194

Fill in the proper verb forms active and passive ones

A History of Technology
The weight of water on the blades causes the waterwheel to turn. The wheel is
connected to millstones. As the wheel turns, the millstones grind the grain.
1

Technology ............................................. (be) around as long as the human race. When we

.................. (think) of modern technology, we ............................... (often think) of computers,
complex machines, and space shuttles. However, people ................................ (have to ) find ways of
......................................... (solve) problems and ................................ (meet) needs in other words,
.................................. (develop) technology way back in history. Back in the Stone Age
(beginning around two million years ago) people ....................... ............ .............. (use) technology
when they ................ (make) tools out of natural materials like stone, wood, and bone. In the Bronze
Age (beginning around 3000 B.C.), people .......................... (learn) how to make bronze out of
copper and tin. Using this technology, they ....................... (can) make better tools. In the Iron Age
(beginning around 1200 B.C.), people ............................ (learn) how to mine and use iron, which
.................... (be) harder than bronze, and ..................................... (improve) their tools even more.
As people ............................ (begin) to farm land to provide their food, they .............................
(develop) technologies like the plow, carts and carriages, and the waterwheel to help them to plant,
hatvest, and prepare their food. The waterwheel, which .............................................. (invent)
around 100 B.C., .............................. (use) the power of water to help people do their work. A flour
mill, for example, ............... ............ ...................... (build) on the the bank of the stream or river. A
chute ................................. (direct) the water from the stream into the blades on the wheel, and the
weight of the water on the blades ............................... (turn) the wheel. The wheel .......................
...................................(connect) by shafts (horizontal and vertical) and gears to huge millstones. As
the wheel ................(turn), it ........................... (cause) these shafts and gears to turn, which
......................... (cause) one of the millstones to turn. This movement ............................... (crush)
the grain into flour. Because of the waterwheel, people ................ ............. (not have to) grind their
grain by hand a slow, hard process. They .......................... (use) technology to help them better
................................. (meet) their need to prepare their food. Later, the waterwheel ........................
........................... (adapt) for many mechanical jobs like sawing wood or running machines.

The Product Life Cycle

All products are new when they ..................................................... (first introduce). For example,
digital watches ............................... (be) new at one time, but now they ..................... (be) quite
common. Ther are some you ........................ (can) buy for just a few dollars. When they ...........
................................................ (first introduce) , however, they ............................... (cost) over a
hundred dollars! What ........................ ........................ (happen)? The watches ......... ......................
(go) through the product life cycle.

Power elements

Not all products ......... .................... (power). Dishes and baseballs ............. ........... ..................
(not power). However, toasters, computers, mopeds and lamps are. If a product ........................
(require) some kind of power to make it work, then the power elements must ........... ..................
(engineer). Many product ............ ................... ............................... (electrically power). Some, like a
car lift, ................... .................. (power) by the force of a moving liquid. This is hydraulic power.
Still other may ...... ............................ ............................. (mechanically power), such as by one or
more springs. The size of each wire, the horsepower of each motor, and the stroke of a cylinder
.................. all ......................... (determine) by the engineer. Every detail of the power elements
must .................... .................... (plan).
195

LECTURE 7
Passive Aspect

196

Section 3
Passive aspect
[Subject or thing receiving action] +
[the verb to be in the required tense] +
[Past participle of the required verb] +
[by] + [thing doing action]
Active Form
[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]
Examples:

Petra

washes

the dishes

thing doing action

verb

object receiving action

Passive Form
Examples:

The dishes

are washed

by Petra.

Subject receiving action

action

passive verb

agent - doing

197

ASSIGNMENT 1
Study Tip

ACTIVE

PASSIVE

They often do it.

It is often done.

They are doing it now.

It is being done now.

They did it yesterday.

It was done yesterday.

They were doing it last week.

It was being done last week.

They have already done it.

It has already been done.

They had done it earlier.

It had been done earlier.

They will soon do it.

It will soon be done.

They will soon have done it.

It will soon have been done.

They have to do it at once.

It has to be done at once.

They may not have done it.

It may not have been done.

198

ASSIGNMENT 2
Use the Passive Aspect.
It is an auto-corrective test.
I am writing an e-mail

The e-mail is being written.

He often writes e-mails.

.........

I wrote him an e-mail.

.......

I was writing him an e-mail.

.....

I have already written him an e-mail. .

I had written an e-mail before we met. ....
I am going to write an e-mail to him. ..
I shall write an e-mail to him.

I must write him an e-mail.

I must have written this e-mail to him.

I should have written an e-mail to him.

............

I would have written an e-mail to him if

They may haven't done it yet.

Is it unlikely to discover intelligent life on other planets?

You have to keep dangerous chemicals in a safe place.

199

Auto - Corrective Test 2

I am writing an e-mail
An e-mail is being written.
He often writes e-mails.
E-mails are often written.
I wrote him an e-mail.
He was written an e-mail.
An e-mail was written to him.
I was writing him an e-mail.
He was being written an e-mail.
I have already written him an e-mail.
He has already been written an e-mail.
I had written an e-mail before we met.
An e-mail had been written to him
I am going to write an e-mail to him.
An e-mail is going to be written to him.
I shall write an e-mail to him.
An e-mail will be written to him.
I must write him an e-mail.
An e-mail must be written to him.
I must have written this e-mail to him.
This e-mail must have been written to him.
I should have written an e-mail to him.
An e-mail should have been written to him.
I would have written an e-mail to him if
The e-mail would have been written if .
They may haven't done it yet.
It may have not been done yet.
Is it unlikely to discover intelligent life on other planets?
Is intelligent life unlikely to be discovered on other planets?
You have to keep dangerous chemicals in a safe place.
Dangerous chemicals have to be kept in a safe place.

200

ASSIGNMENT 3
Use the Passive Aspect.
It is an auto-corrective test.
a)
indirect + direct objects
People will show the visitors the new buildings. =
The visitors
The new buildings
Somebody recommended me another doctor.
I
Another doctor ..
b)
Someone has stolen my car.
My car .
People drink wine a lot in Croatia.
Wine ..
c)
Someone has done it well. It .
Someone hurt her badly. She
d)
They are laughing at him. He .
We should do away with this practice. This practice

201

Auto - Corrective Test Assignment 3

a)
indirect + direct objects
People will show the visitors the new buildings. =
The visitors will be shown the new buildings.
The new buildings will be shown to the visitors.
Somebody recommended me another doctor. =
I was recommended another doctor.
Another doctor was recommended to me.
b)
Someone has stolen my car.
My car has been stolen.

Do not use by someone.

People drink wine a lot in Croatia.

Wine is drunk a lot in Croatia.

Do not use by people.

Nick was operated on at the hospital. Do not use by a doctor.

Three men have been arrested.

Do not use by the police.

BUT
We were taught by a different teacher yesterday.
The meal was served by a waiter in a red coat.
c)
Someone has done it well. It has been well done.
Someone hurt her badly. She was badly hurt.
d)
They are laughing at him. = He is being laughed at.
That's a practice that should be done away with.

202

ASSIGNMENT 4
Study Tip

SUBJECT

IS
ARE

REPORTED
SAID
KNOWN
ASSUMED
CONSIDERED
BELIEVED
EXPECTED
SUPPOSED

TO + INFINITIVE

a. Goethe was the greatest of all playwrights. (considered)

b. My Scotish friend has travelled widely across Croatia. (said)
c. She needs very little sleep. (said)
d. He was a member of Animal Protection Society when he was young.
(known)
e. The snow will disappear this afternoon. (expected)
f. The escaped prisoner is heading for Italy. (reported)
g. She has an income of over two hundred thousand pounds.
(supposed)
h. Three people have been killed in an avalanche. (believed)
i. They were skiing in the area when the avalanche started.
(presumed)
j. Is it true that the super powers are heading for an agreement on
nuclear weapons? (thought)
203

Auto - Corrective Test Assignment 4

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)

Goethe is considered to be the greatest of all playwrights.

He is said to have travelled widely across Croatia.
She is said to need very little sleep.
He is known to have been a member of Animal Protection Society when he was young.
The snow is expected to disappear this afternoon.
The escaped prisoner is reported to be heading for Italy.
She is supposed to have an income of over two hundred thousand pounds.
Three people are believed to have been killed in an avalanche.
They are presumed to have been skiing when the avalanche started.
Is it true that the super powers are thought to be heading for an agreement on nuclear
weapons?

ASSIGNMENT 5
Insert either Active or Passive Sentences

Active
Simple
Present
Present
Continuous

The house is
cleaned by Tim.
Right now, Petra is
writing the letter.

Simple Past
Past
Continuous

The car was

repaired by Tim.
The salesman was
serving me when
suddenly my old
friend came into
the store.

Present
Perfect
Present
Perfect

Passive

Opatija has been

visited by many
tourists.
Recently, Ella has
been doing the
204

Continuous

work.

Past Perfect

Past Perfect
Continuous

Many cars had

been repaired by
Ella before she
received her
mechanic's
license.
Chef Jones had
been preparing the
restaurant's
fantastic dinners
for two years
before he moved
to Paris.
The work will be
finished by 5:00
PM.

Simple
Future
WILL

Simple
Future
BE GOING TO

Sally is going to
make a beautiful
dinner tonight.
At 8:00 PM
tonight, the
dishes will be
being washed by
John.

Future
Continuous
WILL

Future
Continuous
BE GOING TO

Future

At 8:00 PM tonight,
John is going to
be washing the
dishes.
The project will
205

have been
completed before
the deadline.

Perfect
WILL

Future
Perfect
BE GOING TO

They are going to

have completed
the project before
the deadline.

Future
Perfect
Continuous

The mural will

have been being
painted by the
famous artist for
over six months
by the time it is
finished.

WILL

Future
Perfect
Continuous
BE GOING TO

The famous artist

is going to have
been painting it for
over six months
by the time it is
finished.

Used to
Would
Always

The bills used to

be paid by Jerry.
My mother would
always make the
pies.
I knew the work
would be finished
by 5:00 PM.

Future in the
Past
WOULD
Future in the
Past
WAS GOING
TO

I thought Sally was

going to make a
beautiful dinner
tonight.
206

ASSIGNMENT 6

Study the following pattern drills

- Who was the Hovercraft invented by?

- I think it was invented by an Englishman.
- Who was this table made by?
- I think it was made by my grandfather.

- Have the exams been set yet?

- They're being set now.
- Has the rubbish been collected yet?
- It's being collected now.

- When was the electricity bill last paid?

- It was paid a month ago.
- When was the car last repaired?
- It was repaired a month ago.

- Who invented the telephone?

- It was invented in America in 1876 that's all
I know.

- When will the car be serviced?

- I was told it would be serviced tomorrow
morning.

207

- The fault must be corrected immediately.

- Don't worry! It'll be corrected immediately.
- The house must be cleaned thoroughly.
- Don't worry! Itll be cleaned thoroughly.

- Can't that man drive?

- No, but he can be taught to drive.
- Can't that student spell correctly?
- No, but she can be taught to spell correctly.
- Has anyone checked and signed those letters
yet?
- No, they still have to be checked and signed.
- Has anyone washed and ironed his shirts?
- No, they still have to be washed and ironed.

- Someone must convince him of his mistake.

- He's already been convinced of it.
- Someone must warn her against borrowing
money.
- She's already been warned against it.

10

- Mary is late. Was she told to arrive on time?

- Yes, she was told by at least three people.
- John's late. Was he told to pick us up/ to fetch
us?
- Yes, he was told by at least four people.
208

11

- The bill hasn't been paid.

- I thought it had been paid by your secretary.
I'm sorry.
- The seats haven't been booked.
- I thought they had been booked by your
secretary.

12

- Did you get the ticket you were promised?

- Yes, I was sent two free tickets.
- Did you get the job you were promised?
- Yes, I was given a job in the bank/ factory.
- Did you get the money you were promised?
- Yes. I was paid 10 EU.

13

- They say that play's brilliant.

- It's not as brilliant as it's said to be.
- They say the film's exciting.
- It's not as exciting as it's said to be.

14

- There's been an earthquake.

- I know. At least a hundred people are said to
have been killed.
- There's been an accident.
- I know. At least 5 people have been hurt/injured.
209

15

- Did the man confess?

- Yes, but only after being arrested.
- Oh no! He confessed before being arrested.
- Did the man give up the fight and argument?
- Yes, but only after being knocked out.
- Oh no! He gave up before being knocked out.

16

- Did the man call the police?

- Yes, but only after being attacked and robbed.
- Oh no! He called the police before being
attacked and robbed.

17

- When do you want the result announced (i.e.

to be announced to the Press?
- It should be announced some time today.
- When do you want the books returned (i.e. to
be returned) to the library?
- They should be returned some time today.

18

- I'd like to question you about your latest

project.
- Not again! I was being questioned about my
latest project all day yesterday!

19

- Someone must warn John immediately.

- Don't worry. He's already been warned.
210

- Someone must burn the rubbish immediately.

- Don't worry. It's already been burnt.
20

- Have the plans been drawn up yet?

- One of them was drawn up yesterday, but the
other hasn't been drawn up yet.

21

- Why aren't the children resting?

- I don't know. They're supposed to be doing
their homeworks.
- Why isn't the plane flying to Paris?
- I don't know. It's supposed to be stopping in
Rome.

22

- When will the job be finished?

- I've no idea. It should have been finished
hours ago.

211

ASSIGNMENT 7

Pattern drill
Present perfect passive
Answer the questions by using the verb given in
brackets, in the passive.
Where's your car today? (steal)
Didn't you know? It's been stolen.
1

Why aren't you listening to your new CD? (break)

Where's the cake I bought yesterday? (eat)

Where are all the students? (send home)

Where's the book I sent you? (lose)

Where's that nice secretary? (transfer)

Why isn't Jack in the chess finals? (beat)

Did you get back the money you lost? (return)

Is the little girl still missing? (find)

Is your house still for sale? (sell)

10 Your house looks very nice. (paint)

212

ASSIGNMENT 8
GET + PAST PARTICIPLE CONSTRUCTION usually
suggests that the action described was accidental rather
than intentional
On the way home, we got delayed by fog, got lost, got caught in a
storm, got involved in an accident and finally got stopped by the
police.
- I havent broken this vase, have I?
- Well no, but it may have got broken. It might have got
damaged or shattered to pieces.

An impersonal construction can be used after agree,

allege, believe, feel, judge, know, rumour, say, think.
a

It + passive + that clause

It was said that membership fees should be raised.
It is hoped that this meeting will be successful.

Subject + passive + to infinitive/perfect infinitive

She is rumoured to have secret bank accounts in
Switzerland.
Dinamo is believed to have had a good chance of
beating Hajduk.

213

ASSIGNMENT 9
I

Put the following sentences into the passive!

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Poverty drove him to desperation.

Somebody accused him of stealing money.
They can't put you in prison if they haven't tried you. (Two passives.)
You must account for every penny.
Did anybody ever teach you how to behave?
Who is using the computer at the moment?
Have they eaten it all up?
What are we doing in favour of our Mother Earth?
I can assure you I will arrange everything in time. (Two passives.)
You needn't think your joke took me in.
I should love someone to take me out to dinner.
Nobody would have stared at him if they had told him beforehand what
clothes one had to wear in such a place. (Three passives.)
13 They gave the thief a fair trial and sent him to prison. (Two passives.)
14 They say he is making a new movie about the Civil war. (He ..)
15 When is your date of birth?

II Translate the following sentences by using passive

constructions!
1 - Je li ovaj komad komponirao Verdi ili Wagner?
- Mislim da je Wagner.
2 - Kada ste zadnji puta servisirali auto?
- Trebao je biti servisiran pred mjesec dana.
3 - Raun za struju nije plaen.
- Mislio sam da ga je platila tvoja sekretarica. ao mi je.
4 - Njegove se upute moraju ozbiljno shvatiti jer e inae biti problema.
- Ne brini! Zna da e biti shvaene ozbiljno.
5 - Nije li joj (bilo) reeno da doe na vrijeme?
- Da, barem joj je troje ljudi reklo da doe na vrijeme.
6 - Je li prestao sa svaom nakon to su ga pretukli?
- Ne, prestao je prije nego to je bio pretuen.
7 - Juer su mu cijeli dan postavljali pitanja o njegovom najnovijem filmu.
8 - Dolo je do sporazuma. (to reach an agreemnet)
- Izvanredno! Nisam oekivao da e doi do sporazuma.
9 - Reeno mi je da stavim obavijest. (=put up a notice, put it in a public place)
- Ali ve je stavljena. Bit e da ju je netko drugi ve stavio.
10 - Je li prtljaga ikad naena?
- Da. Bila je krivo oznaena. (to label)
11 - Zato avion ne leti za London?
- Nemam pojma. Trebao bi se zaustaviti u Parizu. (suppose to)
12 - Jesi li dobio novac koji ti je obean?
- Da, plaeno mi je 100 eura.

214

ASSIGNMENT 10
I

Put the following sentences into the passive!

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

II

People advised us not to go out alone.

They will ask us all several questions.
The police was questioning John.
A new company has taken the business over.
The others told the new students where to sit.
Is anybody doing the work right now?
Shouldn't they have finished it yesterday?
Someone must have taken the book.
Her beauty struck me deeply.
No one has ever taken me for an Englishman before, although someone did
once speak to me as if I were an American. (Two passives.)
You must clear up all these books and papers and put them away in the
cupboards you usually keep them in. (Three passives.)
It surprised me to hear someone had robbed you. (Two passives.)
People should tell us how much they expect of us. (Two passives.)
Lots of people believe the criminal is living somewhere else. (The criminal
)
Rijeka is my place of birth.

Translate the following sentences by using passive

constructions!

1 - Je li ovaj stol napravio tvoj otac ili nono?

- Moj nono.
2 - Kada je raun za struju zadnji puta plaen?
- Trebao je biti plaen pred mjesec dana.
3 - Mjesta nisu rezervirana..
- Mislio sam da ih je rezervirala tvoja sekretarica. ao mi je.
4 - On opet kasni. Zar mu nije reeno da nas pokupi ovdje?
- Da, barem mu je troje ljudi reklo da nas pokupi ovdje.
5 - Netko bi je morao upozoriti (opomenuti) da se kloni posuivanja. (to warn
against)
- Ve je upozorena na to.
6 - Greka se mora odmah ispraviti jer e inae biti problema.
- Ne brini! Zna da e biti ispravljena odmah.
7 - Je li ovjek pozvao policiju prije nego to je bio napadnut?
- Ne, pozvao je policiju nakon to je bio opljakan.
8 - Tvoj plan je prihvaen. (to accept the plan)
- Izvrsno! Nisam oekivao da e biti prihvaen.
9 - Reeno mi je da poaljem dokument.
- Ali on je ve poslan. Bit e da ga je netko drugi poslao.
10 - Zar sastanak jo nije dogovoren? (to arrange the meeting)
- Ne, ali oekujemo da e uskoro biti dogovoren.
11 - Zato se djeca ne odmaraju? (to rest)
- Nemam pojma. Trebala bi pisati svoje domae zadae. (suppose to)
12 - Jesi li dobio karte koje su ti obeane?
- Da, poslane su mi dvije besplatne karte.
215

Auto-corrective test - Assignment 9

GROUP A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

He was driven to desperation by poverty.

He was accused of stealing money.
You can't be put in prison if you haven't been tried.
Every penny must be accounted for.
Were you ever taught how to behave?
Who is this computer being used by?
Has it all been eaten up?
What is being done in favour of our Mother Earth?
You can be assured that everything will be arranged in time.
You needn't think I was taken in by your joke.
I should love to be taken out to dinner.
He wouldn't have been stared at if he had been told beforehand what clothes
had to be worn in such a place.
The thief was given a fair trial and was sent to prison.
He is said to be making a new movie about the Civil War.
When were you born?

216

Auto-corrective test - Assignment 10

GROUP B
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

We were advised not to go alone.

We shall be all asked several questions.
John was being questioned by the police.
The business has been taken over by a new company.
The new students were told where to sit.
Is the work being done right now?
Shouldn't it have been done yesterday?
The book must have been taken.
I was deeply struck by her beauty.
I have never been taken for an Englishman before, although I
was once spoken to as if I were an American.
All these books and papers must be cleared up and put away in
The cupboards (that) they are usually kept in.
I was surprised to hear you had been robbed.
We should be told how much is expected of us.
The criminal is believed to be living somewhere else.
I was born in Rijeka.

217

LECTURE 8
Prelim 1

218

LECTURE 9
Section 1
HYDROELECTRIC AND SOLAR POWER GENERATION

Section 2
Renewables New Power Sources

219

Section 1
HYDROELECTRIC AND SOLAR POWER GENERATION
Power plant is a means for converting stored energy to work.
Stationary power plants such as electric generating stations are located near sources of
stored energy, such as coal fields or river dams, or are located near the places where
the work is to be performed, as in cities or industrial sites. Mobile power plants for
transportation service are located in vehicles (gasoline, diesel engines in automobiles,
diesel locomotives for railroads, etc.).
Most power plants convert part of the stored raw energy of fossil fuels into kinetic
energy of a spinning shaft. Some power plants harness nuclear energy. Other
sources of energy, such as winds, tides, waves, and solar radiation have not yet
achieved greater commercial significance in the generation of power despite their
tremendous magnitudes.
Hydroelectric power is a renewable resource associated with solar energy input
and the resulting evaporation, rainfall, and runoff cycles. Hydroelectric plants
generally do not have as many adverse effects on the environment as thermal electric
plants. Because of rapid startup and loading capabilities and facility for altering the
power output quickly, hydroelectric plants are particularly suitable for satisfying
peak electrical energy demands.
Hydroelectric plants are characterized by low operating and maintenance costs, long life
times, and low outage rates. Unscheduled outages in hydroelectric plants are less
frequent than in thermal electric plants because hydroelectric machinery operates at
relatively low temperatures and speeds. Overhaul downtimes are less because of
the relative simplicity of hydroelectric equipment. Hydroelectric plants are normally
out of service about two days per year because of forced outages and about one
week per year for scheduled maintenance. This total outage time of about 3 % per year
is approximately one fourth of the average outage rate for modern steam electric
power plants.
Hydroelectric plants do have some disadvantages as compared with steam electric plants.
These disadvantages include high capital costs, remote locations and hence long distance
energy transmission requirements, dependence on variable stream and river flows, and
alteration of water quantity and quality. However, the favourable characteristics and
frequent multiple use benefits of hydroelectric projects provide strong incentives for
developing the remaining, economically viable hydroelectric potential in the world.
Solar energy utilization. The amount of solar energy that strikes the earth's
surface each day is equivalent to the energy in 684 billion tons of coal.
Solar heating has been utilized in various forms since ancient times, when the focusing
effects of lens-like materials were first learned by man. Joseph Pristley used solar
heating in 1774 to decompose HgO (mercury oxide) into Hg and oxygen. A solar
distillation unit producing up to 6,000 gallons per day of fresh water was built in 1872
and was used in the North Chilean desert for 40 years to provide fresh water for
220

miners recovering nitrate deposits. Solar heated steam boilers were demonstrated as
early as the 1878 Paris exhibition.

Serious modern technological development on solar energy utilization was not

initiated until the early nineteen fifties.
A 1972 assessment of various energy costs for space heating reproduced in Fig.
3.1, shows that solar heating was judged to be competitive with electrical
heating.
According to the results of a mid-1973 evaluation, solar energy was
expected to provide between 8 and 26 % of the total required energy by the year
2020.
1

Study the difference between electrical and electric

electrical

connected with the science or use of electricity;

an electrical engineer
electric 1 charged with or coveying electricity, an electric wire , this car
goes electric
2 producing or produced by electricity, an electric generator;
3 operated by electricity, an electric iron

Technical terminology

harness
to control so as to use the power of
chiefly
mainly
widely
to a large or full extent; fully
to convert verb
conversion noun
convertible adjective
to have the access to, to be accessible to, to be available to
tidal motion includes low tides (oseke) and high tides (plime)
salt gradient Physics the rate of change of temperature, pressure etc. of
salt water
Rankine cycle Thermodynamics. The hypothetical cycle of a steam engine in
which all heat transfers take place at constant pressure and
in which expansion and compression occur
adiabetically, i.e. without gain or lose of heat;
an adiabetic process
less visually distracting blades lopatice koje vizualno manje smetaju

English Croatian Code Transfer

low operating costs

niski proizvodni trokovi

low maintenance costs

niski trokovi odravanja

long life time

low outage rate
unscheduled outage
frequent, frequency
overhaul downtime

dugi vijek trajanja

niski postotak zastoja u radu
neplaniran prekid rada
uestao, uestalost, frekvencija
prekid rada radi remonta
221

ovehaul
downtime
simplicity
simplify
simple
forced outage
scheduled maintenance
total outage time
high capital costs

remont, generalni remont; pregledati,

rastaviti na dijelove
prekid rada
jednostavnost
pojednostaviti
jednostavan
prisilan prekid rada
planirano odravanje, remont
cjelokupno vrijeme prekida rada
visoki investicijski trokovi

N.B.overall (cjelokupni, sveukupni) Pronunciation \'-v ro:l\ but

overhaul (remont) - Pronunciation: verb \-vr-'ho:l\ and noun \'-vrho:l\

Word Families
operate
operating instructions
operation
operational life

raditi, funkcionirati, pogoniti, tjerati

radne naredbe
rad
vijek eksploatacije

to be out of service
biti izvan pogona
service behaviour/service performance
ponaanje, karakteristike pri
koritenju
serviceability
upotrebljivost
serviceable
trajan, upotrebljiv

DICTATION

Hydroelectric plants are characterized by low operating and

maintenance costs, long life times, and low outage rates.
Unscheduled outages in hydroelectric plants are less frequent than
in thermal electric plants because hydroelectric machinery operates
at relatively low temperatures and speeds. Overhaul downtimes are
less because of the relative simplicity of hydroelectric equipment.
Hydroelectric plants are normally out of service about two days per
year because of forced outages and about one week per year for
scheduled maintenance. This total outage time of about 3% per
year is approximately one fourth of the average outage rate for
modern steam power plants. However, hydroelectric plants have some
disadvantages as high capital costs, remote locations and hence
long distance energy transmission requirements.

Translate the following compound into Croatian

long distance energy transmission requirements

222

English English Code Transfer

maintenance

the work of keeping machinery in a state of

good repair

outage

an interruption, accidental suspension of

operation of (electric power)
the length of time that something lasts,
functions or is in effect
an interval or the time during which a machine or
plant is shut down for repairs or the like (during
loading, maintenance, repair or the like)
1 to go out of working order; 2 to separate into
parts
1 (of a machine) a failure to work or function
properly; 2 a separation into parts, analysis

life time
downtime
to break down
breakdown

Word Families

to oaul verb

to haul over as for examination; to check

thoroughly for needed repairs; to make the
repairs, needed to restore to to good working
order; I got the engine overhauled.
overhaul noun
an overhauling or thorough examination or
restoration to good working order
overhauling adjective
remontni; an overhauling examination or
thorough examination

Using the information in the text, fill in the table.

Energy source Advantages

Disadvantages

Hydroelectric
power

223

Energy source

Advantages

Disadvantages

224

Types of energy sources

Fig. 3.1 A 1972 assessment of relative energy costs for space heating using electrical energy, gas,
oil, or solar energy.

9.Read the text "Hydroelectric and Solar Power Generation" and find the
answers to these questions:
1 Could you define a power plant?

2. What is hydroelectric power associated with?

3. When are hydroelectric power plants particularly convenient?

4. Give the amount of solar energy that strikes the earth's surface each day.

10 CODE TRANSFER (English

Croatian)

Find the appropriate expressions in Croatian by looking at the

examples in the text "Hydroelectric and Solar Power
Generation".
power plant
electric generating

.............................................................................

stations

.............................................................................

coal fields

.............................................................................

river dams

.............................................................................

industrial sites

.............................................................................

transportation service ..............................................................................

stored raw energy

.............................................................................
225

spinning shaft

.............................................................................

solar energy input

..............................................................................

loading capabilities

..............................................................................

power output
peak electrical energy

.............................................................................

demands

.............................................................................

operating costs

.............................................................................

maintenance costs

..............................................................................

life time

.............................................................................

outage rates

.............................................................................

unscheduled outages

.............................................................................

overhaul downtimes

............................................................................

forced outages

............................................................................

average outage rate

.............................................................................

capital costs
long distance energy
transmission
requirements

...........................................................................
...........................................................................

multiple use benefits

............................................................................

solar distillation unit

solar heated steam
boilers

.............................................................................
.......................................................................... ..

226

11 SUMMARIZING
Write a summary of the texts "Energy" and "Hydroelectric and Solar
Power Generation".
Essential idea:

The most important supporting information:

(Count the words. You should not have more than 80.)

12 LANGUAGE STRUCTURE PRACTICE

For information dealing with Preterite Active or Passive please turn to page
47.

Use the verbs in brackets either in the Simple Past Active or the
Passive form according to the meaning of the sentence.
1. During the eleventh century tidal energy ......................................
(utilize) in tide mills located on the Atlantic Coast of France, Great Britain and
Spain.
2. The practice of utilizing tidal energy in coastal regions which ex
perience large tidal ranges .....................................................(continue)
throughout the early part of the nineteenth century.
3. Tidal power installations .......................................... (operate) in Great
Britain, Germany, Italy, the U. S. S. R., and the United States during this period.

227

Section 3

THERMODYNAMICS ENERGY CONVERSION

Section 4
Seminar Group Work Nuclear energy

Listening Comprehension

228

Section 3
THERMODYNAMICS ENERGY CONVERSION
Man mostly wants and needs energy to do work for him. Except for the heat required to
keep his homes and buildings comfortable and for some industrial processes, man
uses energy mostly as mechanical work to propel his various vehicles and power his
many machines. Unfortunately, it is not mechanical energy that man finds available
to him in quantity in nature. Instead he finds hydro, thermal, nuclear, and chemical
energy resources and he must convert these resource energy forms into the forms he
wants.
Man has found electricity to be a most convenient intermediate form of energy
between his natural resources and his applications, except for transportation, and he
may yet require electricity somewhere in the transportation chain before long as oil
reserves are depleted and nuclear power becomes available. The table emphasizes the
many conversion steps required for our primary sources (chemical and nuclear) to
reach their final application.
The conversion of energy along these chains from one form to another is neither easy
nor cheap and it cannot be done with an efficiency of 100%. Efficiency here means
useful output divided by the costly input, both expressed in energy units.. Thus, when
it is said that a home oil furnace is 70 % efficient, it means that 70 % of the total energy
input of the fuel is actually used to warm the air in the house and the other 30% goes
up the chimney as waste.
In Table 4.1, the numbers shown in parentheses, after several of the converters, give
approximate efficiencies for large sizes. (In general, efficiencies improve with size. A
small electric motor, for example, can be made only 50 to 70 % efficient, whereas
large motors are 90% or more efficient.) To find the overall efficiency of a
chain, one must multiply the efficiencies along the chain. For example, from
chemical energy to electricity by means of a steam turbine, the efficiency is
about 0.85 x 0.45 x 0.99 = 0.37. There are, of course, transmission and
other losses not explicitly dealt with in the table, which is intended only
to give readers aqualitative appreciation for the length and efficiencies of
the various chains. Also not shown in the table is the fact that nuclear
generated electricity is less efficient than enenergy from fossil fuels.
The efficiency of conversion devices has been increased significantly in the
past through scientific and engineering research, development, and design.
More of this can be expected but some diminishing returns are beginning to
appear in some important areas. In transportation, for example, apparently
not much more can be done about the relatively low (25 %) efficiency of the
automobile engine. The Wankelengine is even less efficient, though it may
have other benefits. Miles per gallon of gasoline (i. e., per unit of energy
consumed) has actually gone down since 1940. As noted, nuclear power
plants also have a lower efficiency than fossil fired plants. Two bright spots in
the past have been the fluorescent lamp and the diesel locomotive, both of
which improved the efficiency of their particular conversions.
(From THERMODYNAMICS I: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY by John R. Dixon Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey
1975)

Table
able 4 1

Some

energy

conversion

chains

Some energy conversion chains resource to application

229

230

Fig. 4.1 Schematic diagrams of some energy conversion systems

231

1 INFORMATION TRANSFER COMPREHENSION CHECK

1.1 Use the information from the text "Thermodynamics Energy Conversion" to complete the statements below.
1. Man mostly ................................................. to do work for him.
2. Man uses energy mostly as....................................................................

3. Instead of mechanical energy, man finds in nature .............................

resources and he must .........................................................................

4. The most convenient intermediate form of energy between,
,
except for ................................................... , is ........................................
5. The conversion of energy cannot be done with an efficiency of

....... %.
6. Efficiencies improve with ......................
7. Large motors are ........... % or more ........................................
8. From ....................................... energy to electricity by means of
a ............................ turbine, the efficiency is about .....................
9. Nuclear ....................................... electricity is ................... efficient
than energy from ....................... fuels.
10. The efficiency of conversion devices has been ....................................

........................................... through ..................................................

11. The efficiency of the automobile engine is low, about ...........%.

232

1.2 Look at the Table 4.1 containing some energy conversion

chains, and list:

1. resource energy forms: ...........................................................................

2. primary converters: ................................................................................
3. intermediate energy forms: ...................................................................
4. application energy form: ..........................................................
5. intermediate converters:........................................................................
6. final converter: .............................

2 CODE TRANSFER (English

Croatian)

2.1 Translate the following expressions into Croatian by referring to

the text. Normally, you should start with the head-noun, i. e. the
last noun on the right, although the logical meaning of the
expression may be the only general rule.

resource energy forms

conversion steps

..................................................................................
...........................................................................

primary sources

.............................................................................

home oil furnace

.............................................................................

nuclear generated
electricity

.............................................................................

fossil fuels

.............................................................................

conversion devices

.............................................................................

nuclear power plant

.............................................................................

fossil fired plant

.............................................................................

233

SUMMARIZING
3.1 Write a summary of the text "Thermodynamics ...".
Essential idea:

The most important supporting information:

(Count the words. You should not have more than 80.)

Phraseology (English Croatian)

before long

............................................

neither ... nor ..............................................

by means of

.............................................

of course ........................................................
deal with ........................................................

234

4 VOCABULARY EXTENSION - Word families

Fill in the table where possible.
Noun

Verb

Adjective

application
benefit
chain
consume
convert
deplete
design
development
divide
efficiency

expect
fire
form
generate
heat

improve
increase
input

long
machine

need
output

power
process
research

variable
warm
waste

235

Seminar Work
NUCLEAR ENERGY
BETTER ACTIVE TODAY THAN RAIOACTIVE TOMORROW
With the price of oil and natural gas escalating, concerns about
global warming rising and electricity markets deregulating,
these onetime white elephants are starting to look more like
cash cows and hotly debated national energy plan.
Is nuclear energy a major component of any solution?
Is the comeback of this industry a step in the wrong direction
that will threaten the environment as well as public health and
safety?
Despite the fact that no new plants have been ordered in almost
a qarter- century, the nuclear power sector still accounts for 20%
of the nations electricity supply. During the past decade, output
has increased 25%, equivalent to building 23 new 1,000megawatt plants. As for new plants, Exelon is already working
on the next generation, exemplified by a helium-cooled, pebblebed test reactor that, theoretically at least, wouldnt ever need to
be shut down for refuelling and is practically meltdown-proof.
Nuclear power plants may not emit greenhouse gases, but they
carry with them their own, very real environmental risks. Most
important, there is the the matter of where to put all that spent
fuel 40,000 metric tons that has to be stored for thousands of
years. Radioactive waste is still the Achilless heel of the
industry. Nuclear power generated in France accounts for 80%
of the electricity and nuclear power plants have so turned into
gold mines.

236

NUCLEAR FISSION
Nuclear power is one possible source of future energy. Atoms of a radioactive material, such as
uranium 235, are not stable. This means that these atoms can be split by hitting them in a particular way
with a neutron. When the atom splits, it breaks into smaller atoms and free neutrons, and energy is
released. The free neutrons hit and split other atoms, and so a chain reaction is set up. The neutrons leave
the uranium atoms at high speed, so the uranium has to be enclosed in a moderator. This moderator slows
down the neutrons and directs them at the other atoms. The energy is released as heat, so a coolant is also
necessary, to prevent over-heating.
In a pressurized water
reactor, the fuel elements are
uranium 235 and the
moderator is water. This
same water is also used as
the coolant. The water is
heated by the nuclear
reaction, but it cannot be
used as it has been in contact
with the radioactive uranium.
This radioactive water is
pumped
through
a
pressurizer and a steam
generator then back into the
reactor. A completely separate system pumps clean water into the steam generator. This water is boiled by the
heat from the radioactive water, though it does not come into direct contact with the radioactive water. The
steam produced by the clean water is used to drive a turbine which generates electricity.
If the heat extraction equipment breaks down, the pressure vessel can rupture as the pressure builds up
inside it, or the reactor could overheat and catch fire. To avoid this, control rods of inert material are placed in
the reactor. The free neutrons hit these and are absorbed into them. This slows down the fission reaction.
Graphite can be used as a moderator instead of water, and plutonium is used instead of uranium as the fuel in
fast reactors. In a fast reactor, the plutonium is so concentrated that the neutrons do not need a moderator to
keep the reaction going. As there is no moderator, the reactor is more compact. A very efficient coolant is
needed to transfer the heat, and so liquid sodium is used. The sodium in contact with the reaction transfers the
heat to a second circuit of sodium which, in turn, transfers the heat to water in a steam generator. The steam
is used to drive the turbines and produce electricity.
Nuclear reactors contain
radioactive material. People
directly exposed to this
material can die. If the
pressure vessel is ruptured,
radioactive spray or dust can
be released into the air. Wind
can carry this for several
miles. If it falls on people
they may breathe radioactive
dust into their lungs. They
could develop cancer or
suffer genetic damage which
would not be known till
years later. Future generations could pay the price for our nuclear energy supplies. Tom Watling

Accident at the Chernobyl Plant

Listen to the tape and jot down key words!

237

Assignment
Write subtitles to the paragraphs!

On April 26, 1986, Unit 4 at Chernobyl, a nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, exploded,
causing the reactors 1,661 fuel rods to blast masses of radioactive material into the air. To
date, the human toll of the disaster has been approximately 6000 deaths and 30,000 injured.
This explosion at the Chernobyl plant was the worst accident ever at a nuclear power facility.
The accident occurred during a test to determine how long the turbines would continue to
produce electricity when cut off from the steam supply produced from the nuclear reactions
in the core. A comprehensive Soviet report of the disaster concluded that operator error was
the root cause of the disaster. Operator error led to violations of the established order in the
preparation of tests, violations of the testing program itself, and inadequate
understanding on the part of personnel of the operating processes in a nuclear reactor .

The plant used a type of reactor knovn as the RBMK-1000. In the reactor core, uranium fuel
rods produced a self-sustaining fission reaction that could create up to 3,200 megawatts of
thermal energy. Heat in the core turned water from the cooling system to steam which
powered the turbines. An unusual accumulation of steam around the fuel rods could quickly
increase the nuclear reaction to dangerously high levels. Clusters of control rods were lowered
into the core to slow the reaction or raised to increase it. These rods had tips made of graphite
which caused the reaction to increase slightly as they entered the core. Graphite blocks placed
between the fuel rods were also used to moderate the nuclear reaction.

At midnight on April 26, 1986 the number four reactor was scheduled for a partial shutdowm.
The operators were to test whether the turbines would continue to produce enough electricity
to run the cooling pumps in the event of a loss of the main power supply. The lessexperienced night shift was unaware that the design of the reactor made it unstable and
difficult to control below 700 megawatts.

They started the test by slowly reducing power to about 500 megawatts using an automatic
system to lower control rods into the reactor. Due to an operator mistake or a failure of the
automatic system the power level suddenly dropped to around 30 megawatts making it
difficult to sustain the fission reaction. Startled by the loss in power the operators violated
safety procedures and removed nearly all of the control rods to restore power. Reactor power
appeared to slowly increase to 200 megawatts. At the same time, the instability of the reactor
forced the operators to take manual control of the cooling system and to shut down a number
of automatic warning systems in order to continue the test.

They did not know that steam was starting to form in the lower part of the core making the
reactor even harder to control. Returning to the test procedure the operators shut down steam
to the single operating turbine generator. As the generator slowed, so did the cooling pumps.
Inside the core, a buildup of steam was rapidly increasing the fission reaction. This generated
yet more steam which in turn generated more power. The reaction was now out of control.

238

Following an emergency shutdown procedure, the operators began lowering all the control
rods into the reactor to stop the nuclear reaction but as the rods were lowered the graphite tips
briefly increased the reaction and intensified it at the bottom of the core. Power instantly rose
to 100 times the level for which the reactor was designed. The intense heat began to break up
the fuel rods at the bottom of the core.

Exactly what happened next is not clear but there were two recorded explosions. Probably a
steam explosion first blew off the lid of the reactor. (Explosion followed by steam hissing)
Air entering the reactor mixed with hydrogen from the superheated steam and vapor from the
overheated graphite blocks to create a second, bigger explosion. (Large explosion rumbles)
The graphite blocks also caught fire and the smoke sent radioactive particles from the
damaged reactor into the atmosphere. What was left of the core continued to heat melting the
lower parts of the building into a lava-like substance. The fires took about two weeks to put
out. A concrete containment building called the sarcophagus was constructed over the reactor
site to prevent additional radioactive materials from escaping.

Serious questions still remain, not only about the containment of the radioactive debris but
about the safety of the remaining three RBMK-1000.
The failure at Chernobyl demonstrates the complex interaction between operator error and
other factors.
In addition to obvious operator errors, three principal design defects of the RMBK (Russian
Graphite-moderated Reactor) greatly exacerbated the problem. They are:
(1) the fact that the reactor tends to gain power rather than slow down as water is lost or
turned to steam;
(2) inadequate containment surrounding the reactor core; and
(3) the design of the system does not provide protection against operator interference with the
safety systems.

As the SovietUnion was forced by the world community to release publications about
Chernobyl, ironically, this disaster had the unintended consequence of strengthening the
movement of glasnost (greater freedom of speech and information).
One final note to the Chernobyl disaster was the announcement by Russian officials that the
entire Chernobyl nuclear power plant was officially shut down as of December 15, 2000. The
total cost to shut down the plant was projected to be as high as $5 billion.

Assignment
1 Complete the following:
The Chernobyl disaster may not have happened if

239

Discuss the following argument:

Nuclear power plants have a lower efficiency than fossil fired plants.
Include the following wordlist into your discussion:

low and high fuel, operating and maintenance costs

average investment costs
the annual maintenance expenses are significantly lower than those
of ..
long and short life times
low or high outage rates
average outage rate
unscheduled, scheduled and forced outages and maintenance
less or more frequent overhaul downtimes
relative simplicity or delicacy of equipment
economically viable potential

3
What is your attitude to Mega-reaction to planned
reactor?
Hong Kong's 5.5 million residents are alarmed by the news that a nuclear power plant is to be built
less than 20 miles away on the Chinese coast at Daya Bay. Chinese government officials and their
Hong Kong partners in the joint venture plan to spend $ 3.5 billion constructing two Frenchdesigned reactors. Safety will be a priority, they claim, and Hong Kong will benefit from power
supplies, as well as the Chinese province of Guangdong.
Critics in the British Crown Colony - due to revert to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 - are not
convinced the 1,800-me-gawatt plant will be safe. They say local standards of work and quality
control are poor. The prospect of nuclear fallout enveloping Hong Kong within two to three hours
has scared more than 200,000 residents into signing a petition against the proposed scheme.

A Group
The Chernobyl Sarcophagus
On April 26th 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded, creating a huge radioactive plume that
contaminated large parts of Belorussia and Ukraine. To minimise the inevitable contamination, a protective
sarcophagus , the plutonium dust-filled tomb was built over a period of three months during which a
quarter of a million workers were exposed to their lifetime radiation limit.

Just imagine none of us will be here, not even our great-great-great granchildren.
All our cities will have gone Even the pyramids of Egypt will be just a handful of
dust, yet the sarcophagus around this reactor will be standing. The pyramids of the
Pharaohs have been there for a mere five thousand years. But to contain the
radiation, your nuclear pyramid must remain for at least a hundred thousand years.
Thats some monument to leave our descendants, isnt it?

240

What an artistic monument to humanity!!! Some five years from the catastrophe at No 4 reactor of
the Chernobyl nuclear power station, BBC World Service repeats this moving play by Pravdas
Science Editor Vladimir Gubarayev, the first journalist on the scene. Set in an isolation clinic to
which victims of the explosion were being sent, the two-part play takes us to the heart of the disaster
and terrible consequences of human error. What else could be said?

Grim Fallout from Chernobyl

Sooner than expected, cancer begins to hit children who were downwind
ONE OF THE MOST DISTURBING PREDICTIONS FOLlowing the near meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power
plant on April 26,1986, was that cancer cases would eventually begin to rise in areas where fallout
from the accident landed. What no one suspected was that it would happen so soon, or that many of
the first victims would be children. Two reports in Nature, one by the World Health Organization and
one by health officials in Belarus, the ex-Soviet republic immediately downwind from Chernobyl,
indicate that childhood thyroid cancer has iumped from an average of four cases a year to about 60.
[n the Gomel region, hit first by the radiation, the thyroid cancer rate is now about 80 times the world
average. 'The only reasonable explanation," write the Belarus officials, "is that it is a direct
consequence of the accident it Chernobyl."
In retrospect, the phenomenon makes sense: the thyroid gland tends to concentrate iodine ingested by
the body, and radioactive iodine was released in bulk during the accident.

241

242

B Group
The Shadow of Hiroshima
Victims' children may have been spared
When the atomic bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki they killed some 150,000 people
instantly, literally vaporizing many of them. In the weeks immediately after, an estimated
60,000 others died from radiation sickness, which roasted their skin into a moonscape of
encrusted sores. The tragedy was only beginning, scientists thought. The legacy of exposure to
the bomb was believed to be radiation-induced mutations in eggs and sperm that would
condemn the survivors' childrennot even conceived at the time of the horrorto birth
defects, mental deficits and cancers. But if there is any bright spot in the fallout from Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, it is that not all the auments of the parents will be visited upon the children. Tests
on 72,216 children, who were not conceived at the time but whose parents felt the bomb's
radiation, have not found an increase in birth defects, in chromosomal abnormalities in white
blood cells or in cancers. There was one class of unborn children badly scarred by the bomb:
those already in their mothers' wombs. Many were born with abnormally small heads. Others,
particularly those irradiated during the eighth to the 15th week of gestation, suffer mental
retardation. It is during these critical eight weeks that neurons proliferate and migrate to their
rightful place in the brain's complex circuitry; any disruption apparently can leave neurological
scars that never fade. In addition, just as people blasted by the bomb's radiation have an added
risk of leukemia, even those who felt the rays through the shelter of their mother's womb seem
to run some extra cancer risk.
The stigma of being a bomb survivor is so great that thousands of them do not register for the
special government health benefits to which they're entitled. The new assessment of radiation's
effect may change that. "We know from animal studies that radiation does cause heritable
effects," says Boice. "Humans may simply have more effective repair mechanisms that are able
to undo the damage."
Genetic mark: But while the post-bomb generation seems to have escaped major genetic injury,
it cannot be sure that it has outrun the shadow of August 1945. They may indeed face an
increased cancer risk, but not until they are older.
The finding that radiation might.not leave its mark on the genes has significance' far beyond the
bomb survivors and their children. Over the last 40 years, epidemiology studies of bomb
survivors have provided the benchmark against which the consequences of all other exposures
to radiation are gauged. If the latest evaluation is correct, the children born to Ukrainians more
than nine months after Chernobyl might not face a lifetime of medical problems. The new
results might also shed light on less horrific cases of radiation exposure. This year, for instance,
British researchers reported that children of fathers working at the Sellafield nuclear power
plant in England suffer high rates of leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The scientists
suggest that radiation of the sperm-producing cells six months before conception can plant the
seeds of cancer in a child-to-be. That theory is being tested at other nuclear sites. But in light of
the findings from Hiroshima and Nagasaki it appears that in the realm of human health, at least,
the legacy of the bomb does not last forever.
NEWSWEEK/AUGUST 1.1. 1990

243

C Group
Discuss the following texts and write an abstract in English!

Povratak nuklearne energije

Sve vie zemalja kree u gradnju nuklearnih elektrana kao

izvora jeftinije i iste energije
Globalno zatopljavanje i podivljale cijene nafte ponovno su u modu dovele nuklearnu energiju,
izvlaei nekad demoniziranu industriju iz sjene ernobilske katastrofe kao mogueg viteza iste
energije, pie Wired.
Zatakavanje i korupcija
Velika Britanija je posljednja u nizu drava koje su se ponovno okrenule tom izvoru energije
nakon to je tamonja vlada objavila potporu izgradnji novih nuklearnih elektrana. Postojee
nuklearke daju 20 posto britanske elektrine energije, ali sve osim jedne trebale bi se zatvoriti do
2023. godine.
Meutim mnoge zemlje koje se ele ukljuiti u nuklearni vlak imaju problematinu sigurnost i
jaku korupciju, to mnoge zabrinjava.
Kina ve ima 11 nuklearnih elektrana i planira do 2020. pustiti u rad njih jo 30. Od nekih 100
nuklearnih reaktora koji se upravo grade, planiraju ili naruuju, otprilike polovica je u Kini,
Indiji i drugim zemljama u razvoju. Argentina, Brazil i Junoafrika Republika planiraju proiriti
postojee programe, a Vijetnam, Tajland, Egipat i Turska su meu zemljama koje grade svoj prvi
reaktor.
Premda bi novi reaktori trebali biti sigurniji, ak ni njihovi pobornici nisu sigurni u to.
Zabrinutost nije rezervirana samo za zemlje u razvoju. Japanska nuklearna industrija jo
se mora oporaviti od otkria prije pet godina o desecima sluajeva krivotvorenja izvjea o
problemima nuklearnih reaktora. vedski upravitelj njemake elektrane prolog je ljeta
odugovlaio s obavijeu o poaru koji je izbio, a potencijalno razoran kvar nuklearke u
Bugarskoj 2006. dva je mjeseca uspjeno skrivan od javnosti.
Nuklearna transparentnost bit e jo problematinija za zemlje poput Kine koja ima vrstu
kontrolu informacija. Oni sumnjiavi prema oivljavanju nuklearne energije jo uvijek se sjeaju
ernobilske katastrofe i sovjetskih pokuaja da skriju razmjeri nesree, kao i kvara u amerikoj
nuklearki Three Mile Island u Pennsvlvaniji koji se dogodio jo 1979.
Ovaj revival, prema Meunarodnoj agenciji za atomsku energiju (IAEA), znai da bi se
nuklearna energija mogla udvostruiti u sljedea dva desetljea na 691 gigawatt ili 13,3 posto
sve elektrine energije.
Renesansa i strah
Ovo je nuklearna renesansa. Nuklearno vie nije sotona. Sotona je sada ugljen - kae Anne
Lauvergeon, elnica francuske tvrtke za nuklearnu energiju Areva.
Zemlje u razvoju kau da su spremne za izazov, ali Philip Jamet, direktor za sigurnost nuklearnih
instalacija u IAEA-i strahuje da e one uiti na vlastitim grekama. Usto, i dalje ostaje nerijeeno
pitanje nuklearnog otpada i zatvaranja starih nuklearki.
MEX

D Group
Discuss and write a short abstract of the following text
244

JAPAN

In Nukes We Trust
Public concerns haven't slowed the industry
BY GREGORY BEALS AND HIDEKO TAKAYAMA
WHEN TORU OGAWA WAS CALLED to

a uranium-processing plant in Tokaimura, Japan, on Sept. 30,

1999, the young firefighter assumed it was a minor emergency. According to the initial call, a
worker at the facility, located just outside Tokyo, had fainted. But what Ogawa encountered was
a major disasterthe worst nuclear accident in Japan's history. Workers at the plant had
mishandled uranium-235, causing high levels of radioactivity to spread throughout the site and
into the town itself. Two plant workers died from radiation sicknessand Ogawa, among others,
was exposed. Ogawa, 28, says he feels healthy, but frets that the radiation may affect his health
and perhaps that of his familyin the future.
Japanese in general are growing uneasy about nuclear power. In a poll released last February, 90
percent of the respondents said they were "anxious" about safety issues. But such concerns have
done little to slow Japan's commitment to nuclear technology. Japan has 51 nuclear plants that
generate36.8 percent of the country's electricity. And with Japan's energy needs on the rise, says
Hajime Furuya, deputy director for nuclear energy at Japan's Ministry of International Trade and
Industry, "nuclear power will continue to play a role in Japan's overall energy policy." A big role:
four new plants are now under construction, and an additional nine will be built by 2010.
Japan has a fairly good nuclear-safety record. Still, the government has moved to toughen
standards. After Tokaimura, the Nuclear Safety Division doubled the number of safety inspectors
and gave them more authority. Before last year's disaster, plant inspections took place only with
the consent of the power companies themselves, and they weren't very thorough. "We assumed
that the industry obeyed the rules," said Shigeaki Shiraishi, director of the Nuclear Safety
Division. "Now we don't."
Critics argue that Japan's nuclear fancy has more to do with pork-barrel politics than the country's
energy needs. For towns that don't mind the risk, the plants are an economic bonanza. Tokyo
spends heavily to subsidize community projectsa powerful incentive for areas languishing in
recession. In the remote coastal village of Higashidoori, in Aomori prefecture, many of the
fishermen used to leave town during the off season to find work. But now a new nuclear plant is
going up, and Higashidoori is flush with cash. The village is currently receiving $50 million in
development money from the governmenta huge sum for a town with 8,000 residents. At the
construction site, engineers say they've prepared for anythingpotential leaks and also
earthquakes. "We're very confident about the plant's [safety]," says assistant manager Noboru
Murakami. "Tokaimura doesn't apply to us." Everyone in Higashidoori, and throughout Japan,
hopes he's right.

Newsweek, October 2, 2000

245

E Group
Discuss waste depository and nuclear dump

Disposing of the Nuclear Age

The cold war has left the U.S. with mountains of hot garbage and no
permanent site for storing it
By the latest calculation, there are over 3,000 warheads headed for early retirement, containing
about 23 tons of enriched uranium and 9 tons of plutoniumboth radioactive and both difficult
to dispose of. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Energy's Pantex bomb-assembly facility near
Amarillo, Texas, which was expecting to build some 3,500 warheads over the next few years,
suddenly has to reverse gears and begin dismantling weapons. Technically speaking, the process
of decommissioning nukes is not very complicated and in fact some 40,000 of the 60,000
weapons built since 1945 have already been retired, mostly because of obsolescence. After
deactivation of their electronic triggers, the warheads are loaded back into their original,
customized packing crates and, if overseas, flown back to the U.S. Under heavy guard, they are
then shipped to Pantex by truck or train, along routes that are constantly changed and always kept
secret. The most sensitive part of disassembly comes not in handling the uranium and highly
toxic plutonium, which are shielded in metal, but in dealing with the conventional explosives
needed to trigger a nuclear chain reaction. Disassembly therefore takes place in underground
bunkers known as "Gravel Gerties," whose roofs are mounded with gravel to contain any
accidental blasts.
Once disassembly is complete, the real question arises. What to do with the leftover radioactive
material from the bombs? When nuclear weapons were a growth industry, their parts could be
recycled into new nukes. Now, however, the most readily reusable weapons ingredient is tritium,
a radioactive gas used in some warheads to increase the power of the nuclear reaction. Tritium
decays rapidly, so existing bombs must be periodically replenished. This tritium windfall may even keep the U.S. Department of
Energy from reactivating the accident-prone Savannah River plant near Aiken, South Carolina,
where the gas is manufactured. But aside from some uranium that will be recycled for use in
nuclear-powered submarines, most of the fuel will have to be stored or dumped as waste.
Unfortunately, the U.S. does not have a reliable, long-term plan for disposing of this deadly
material. Most will probably be stockpiled at weapons plants, but there is a danger of loss, theft
and environmental damage from mishandling.
A far bigger problem, from an environmental standpoint, is what to do with the tens of thousands
of tons of hot waste left over from 46 years of weapons productioneverything from gloves to
ball bearings. This material will remain radioactive for millenniums. The U.S. has only one
facility designed to store this production waste, but the opening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant,
655 m underground in massive salt domes near Carlsbad, New Mexico, has been stymied by
political wrangling and safety concerns. Last week the U.S. Department of Energy attempted to
sidestep congressional deliberations on the matter and ship the first load of waste to the plant. It
was halted after New Mexico filed a federal lawsuit, and the DOE agreed to postpone the
shipment. For the time being, 1 million bbl. of the deadly stuff continue to sit in temporary
storage, as they have for decades. By Michael D. Lemonick. Reported by Nancy
Harbert/'Albuquerque and Bruce van Voorst/Washington

Vocabulary list
dispose of
dismantle

to get rid of, throw away

disassemble, to take apart
246

dismantlement
disassembly
doable
that can be done
decommission
to put out of service
obsolete
no longer in use; discarded, out of date; pass
mound to enclose or fortify with a heap of earth, sand, gravel
blast
an explosion as of dynamite
replenish
to make full or complete again
windfall
any unexpected acquisition
stymie
to block; impede
wrangle
quarrel angrily, dispute
lawsuit
tuba sudu, case before a civil court

There is no home for hot trash

Where is a waste repository for nulear waste from the nuclear power
plant Krko?
Nuclear waste is nasty stuff. The inevitable by-product of all atomic-power plants remains
radioactive for up to 3 million years. The U.S. Congress believed it had conquered the problem of
where to put such waste when in 1987 it ordered the department of Energy to focus on building a
national dump site in Nevada. By 2003, the Government promised, spent fuel from the countrys
110 commercial nuclear reactors could be safely buried deep within Yucca Mountain, an isolated
peak about 100 miles nothwest of Las Vegas. It is evident that the revised schedule is necessary
to satisfy scientific and environmental concerns. But to critics, it is yet another sign of
bureaucratic bungling. Nevada citizens and scientists are adamantly opposed to the Yucca site.
They contend that the area is geologically insecure: Lathrop Wells volcano is twelve miles away,
and Nevada has relatively frequent earthquakes. As a result, Nevada has refused to issue the
environmental permits needed for a study of the site.

Write the essential idea of the text in one or two sentences.

247

Close Sellafield now; Investigation: Fury follows shock report

claiming the Irish Sea is a nuclear dump
THE IRISH SEA has been turned into a massive nuclear dump by the Sellafield nuclear plant, a
shock new report has claimed.
Environmental watchdog Greenpeace yesterday issued the most damning indictment yet on the
impact the plant has had on the sea.
The lobby group revealed that vast tracts of the sea floor are so toxic that they register as raw
nuclear waste under EU standards.
It also claimed marine life is saturated with radiation. Shellfish and lobsters that were analysed
contain 62 times more toxins than the accepted safe level for consumption ..
Reports Leslie, Neil, in The Mirror (London, England), May 28, 1998

China Syndrome
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The China Syndrome is a hypothesis of a possible extreme result of a nuclear meltdown in

which molten reactor core products breach the barriers below them and flow downwards through
the floor of the containment building. The origin of the phrase is the concept that molten material
from an American reactor may melt through the crust of the Earth and reach China.[1]
The large size of nuclear power plants ordered during the late 1960s raised new safety questions
and created fears of a severe reactor accident that would send large quantities of radiation into the
environment. In the early 1970s a contentious controversy over the performance of emergency
core cooling systems in nuclear power plants, designed to prevent a core meltdown that could
lead to the China syndrome, was discussed in the popular media and in technical journals.[2]
In 1971, nuclear physicist Ralph Lapp used the term "China Syndrome" to describe the burnthrough of the reactor vessel, the penetration of the concrete below it, and the emergence of a
mass of hot fuel into the soil below the reactor. He based his statements on the report of a task
force of nuclear physicists headed by Dr. W.K. Ergen, published in 1967.[3] The dangers of such a
hypothetical accident were publicized by the 1979 film, The China Syndrome.
Despite several meltdowns in both civilian and military reactors, such an extreme meltdown has
never taken place.
Once alone and secured inside the control room, he brings the power down to a safer level around
75% of full. He also tells the plant's managers that if anyone attempts to take control of the
reactor from the outside or break in, he'll open valves and flood the containment building with
radiation, essentially ruining the plant. He then demands to be interviewed live on television by
Wells.

248

Additional reading

Nuclear safety
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also: Nuclear debate

This diagram demonstrates defense-in-depth in modern nuclear power plants. Current plants may
have some or all of these defenses, the defenses vary depending on the type of plant, the nation
constructing them, the use (civilian, military, naval vessels) and the generation the plant is from.
1st layer of defense is the inert, ceramic quality of the uranium oxide itself.
2nd layer is the airtight zirconium alloy of the fuel rod.
3rd layer is the reactor pressure vessel made of steel more than a dozen centimeters thick.
4th layer is the pressure resistant, airtight containment building.
5th layer is the reactor building or in newer powerplants a second outer containment building.
Nuclear safety covers the actions taken to prevent nuclear and radiation accidents or to limit
their consequences. This covers nuclear power plants as well as all other nuclear facilities, the
transportation of nuclear materials, the use and storage of nuclear materials for medical, power,
industry, and military uses. In addition, there are safety issues involved in products created with
radioactive materials. Some of the products are legacy ones (such as watch faces), others, like
smoke detectors, are still being produced.
Nuclear power plants are some of the most complex systems ever devised, although much of that
complexity is due to redundancy of systems, extensive backups, and the defense in depth strategy
of design.
Operating nuclear reactors contain large amounts of radioactive fission products which, if
dispersed, could pose a direct radiation hazard, contaminate soil and vegetation, and be
ingested by humans and animals. Human exposure at high enough levels can cause both shortterm illness and death, and longer-term deaths by cancer and other diseases.[4]

249

Three Mile Island accident

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station consisted of two pressurized water reactors
manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox each inside its own containment building and connected
cooling towers. TMI-2, which suffered a partial meltdown, is in the background.
The Three Mile Island accident of 1979 was a partial core meltdown in Unit 2 of the nuclear
power plant (a pressurized water reactor manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox) of the Three
Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg. It
was the most significant accident in the history of the American commercial nuclear power
generating industry, resulting in the release of an estimated 43,000 curies (1.59 PBq) of
radioactive krypton,[1] but under 20 curies (740 GBq) of the particularly hazardous iodine-131.

Lessons learned
Three Mile Island has been of interest to human factors engineers as an example of how groups
of people react and make decisions under stress. There is consensus that the accident was
exacerbated by wrong decisions made because the operators were overwhelmed with
information, much of it irrelevant, misleading or incorrect. As a result of the TMI-2 incident,
nuclear reactor operator training has been improved. Before the incident it focused on
diagnosing the underlying problem; afterwards, it focused on reacting to the emergency by
going through a standardized checklist to ensure that the core is receiving enough coolant
under sufficient pressure.

250

Simplified Schematic Diagram of the TMI-2 plant.[1]

The problems were complicated by the failure of the backup system. Following the loss of the
main feed pumps, three emergency feedwater pumps had started automatically, but two valves
on the emergency feedwater lines were closed, preventing the feedwater from reaching the steam
generators. The emergency feedwater system had been tested 42 hours prior to the accident; as
part of the test, these valves were closed. They should have been reopened at the end of the test,
but they were not, through an administrative or human error. The President's Commission
requested that the FBI investigate whether these valves were closed by an act of sabotage.[8] The
valves were discovered closed about eight minutes into the accident. Once they were reopened,
emergency feedwater was restored to the steam generators.
This lack of emergency feed water for eight minutes did not have a significant effect on the
outcome of the accident, but did add to the confusion faced by the operators.[4][7] The restoration
of feedwater did not return cooling capability, however, as steam voids (areas where there is no
water present) had formed in the primary loop and prevented heat transfer from the reactor to the
secondary loop via the steam generator. This problem hampered efforts to cool the reactor for
days.

251

Aftermath

Global history of the use of nuclear power. The Three Mile Island accident is one of the factors
cited for the decline of new reactor construction.

Viewed from the west, Three Mile Island currently uses only one nuclear generating station,
TMI-1, which is on the left. TMI-2, to the right, has not been used since the accident. Note that
this is a pre-accident photo taken when TMI-2 was in operation.

252

Section 2 Seminar Work

Renewable energy
If we were to cover 3% of the Croatian teritory with Solar panels we would get more than
8% of todays Croatian energy consumption. Dr.sc. Natko Urli
Renewable energy effectively utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and
geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range
from solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity to biomass and biofuels for
transportation. About 13 percent of primary energy comes from renewables, with most of
this coming from traditional biomass like wood-burning. Hydropower is the next largest
source, providing 2-3%, and modern technologies like geothermal, wind, solar, and marine
energy together produce less than 1% of total world energy demand. The technical
potential for their use is very large, exceeding all other readily available sources.
Renewable energy technologies are sometimes criticised for being unreliable or unsightly,
yet the market is growing for many forms of renewable energy. Wind power has a
worldwide installed capacity of 74,223 MW and is widely used in several European
countries and the USA. The manufacturing output of the photovoltaics industry reached
more than 2,000 MW per year in 2006, and PV power plants are particularly popular in
Germany. Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of
these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert. The world's largest
geothermal power installation is The Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750
MW. Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving
production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the
country's automotive fuel. Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA.
While there are many large-scale renewable energy projects, renewable technologies are
also suited to small off-grid applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where
energy is often crucial in human development. Kenya has the world's highest household
solar ownership rate with roughly 30,000 small (20-100 watt) solar power systems sold per
year.
Climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices, peak oil and increasing government
support are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and
commercialization. EU leaders reached agreement in principle in March that 20 percent of
the bloc's energy should be produced from renewable fuels by 2020, as part of its drive to
cut emissions of carbon dioxide, blamed in part for global warming. Investment capital
flowing into renewable energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in
2006.Some very large corporations such as BP, GE, Sharp, and Shell are investing in the
renewable energy sector.

253

Biofuel

Plants use photosynthesis to grow and produce biomass. Also known as biomatter,
biomass can be used directly as fuel or to produce liquid biofuel. Agriculturally produced
biomass fuels, such as biodiesel, ethanol and bagasse (often a by-product of sugar cane
cultivation) can be burned in internal combustion engines or boilers. Typically biofuel is
burned to release its stored chemical energy. Research into more efficient methods of
converting biofuels and other fuels into electricity utilizing fuel cells is an area of very
active work.
Liquid biofuel is usually either a bioalcohol such as ethanol or a bio-oil such as biodiesel
and straight vegetable oil. Biodiesel can be used in modern diesel vehicles with little or
no modification to the engine and can be made from waste and virgin vegetable and
animal oil and fats (lipids). Virgin vegetable oils can be used in modified diesel engines.
In fact the Diesel engine was originally designed to run on vegetable oil rather than fossil
fuel. A major benefit of biodiesel is lower emissions. The use of biodiesel reduces
emission of carbon monoxide and other hydrocarbons by 20 to 40%. In some areas corn,
cornstalks, sugarbeets, sugar cane, and switchgrasses are grown specifically to produce
ethanol (also known as grain alcohol) a liquid which can be used in internal combustion
engines and fuel cells. Ethanol is being phased into the current energy infrastructure. E85
is a fuel composed of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline that is sold to consumers.
Biobutanol is being developed as an alternative to bioethanol.
In the future, there might be bio-synthetic liquid fuel available. It can be produced by the
Fischer-Tropsch process, also called Biomass-To-Liquids (BTL).
Direct use is usually in the form of combustible solids, either wood, the biogenic portion
of municipal solid waste or combustible field crops. Field crops may be grown
specifically for combustion or may be used for other purposes, and the processed plant
waste then used for combustion. Most sorts of biomatter, including dried manure, can
actually be burnt to heat water and to drive turbines.
Sugar cane residue, wheat chaff, corn cobs and other plant matter can be, and are, burned
quite successfully. The net carbon dioxide emissions that are added to the atmosphere by
this process are only from the fossil fuel that is often currently consumed to plant,
fertilize, harvest and transport the biomass.
Processes to harvest biomass from short-rotation poplars and willows, and perennial
grasses such as switchgrass, phalaris, and miscanthus, require less frequent cultivation
and less nitrogen than from typical annual crops. Pelletizing miscanthus and co-firing it
with coal for generating electricity is being studied and may be economically viable. The
higher heating value of cellulose is about 17.4 MJ/kg. The estimated yield of ethanol
from dry cellulose is about 0.2 kg of ethanol per kg of cellulose (60 gal/ton). Since the
higher heating value of ethanol is 29.7 MJ/kg of ethanol it would be 5.94 MJ/kg of the
cellulose that it is made from. Thus the ethanol contains only about 1/3 as much energy
as the cellulose that it was made from. Co-firing cellulose with coal would replace about
three times as much fossil fuel as using the cellulose to make ethanol.

254

Biogas

Biogas can easily be produced from current waste streams, such as: paper production,
sugar production, sewage, animal waste and so forth. These various waste streams have
to be slurried together and allowed to naturally ferment, producing methane gas. This can
be done by converting current sewage plants into biogas plants. When a biogas plant has
extracted all the methane it can, the remains are sometimes better suitable as fertilizer
than the original biomass.
Alternatively biogas can be produced via advanced waste processing systems such as
mechanical biological treatment. These systems recover the recyclable elements of
household waste and process the biodegradable fraction in anaerobic digesters.
Renewable natural gas is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to natural
gas. By upgrading the quality to that of natural gas, it becomes possible to distribute the
gas to the mass market via gas grid.
Is it all as good as it sounds? Could it be this simple? We just burn some corn and we get
fuel?
This article explains why biofuel could be the downfall of humanity at this time
Shoud we really convert food into fuel while we have almost a billion starving people in
the world?
255

Biofuels 'crime against humanity'

By Grant Ferrett
BBC News
Food prices have risen as more land is used to produce biofuels
A United Nations expert has condemned the growing use of crops to produce biofuels as
a replacement for petrol as a crime against humanity.
The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said he feared biofuels
would bring more hunger.
The growth in the production of biofuels has helped to push the price of some crops to
record levels.
Mr Ziegler's remarks, made at the UN headquarters in New York, are clearly designed to
grab attention.
He complained of an ill-conceived dash to convert foodstuffs such as maize and sugar
into fuel, which created a recipe for disaster.
It was, he said, a crime against humanity to divert arable land to the production of crops
which are then burned for fuel.
He called for a five-year ban on the practice.
Within that time, according to Mr Ziegler, technological advances would enable the use
of agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and banana leaves, rather than crops themselves
to produce fuel.
The growth in the production of biofuels has been driven, in part, by the desire to find
less environmentally-damaging alternatives to oil.
The United States is also keen to reduce its reliance on oil imported from politically
unstable regions.
But the trend has contributed to a sharp rise in food prices as farmers, particularly in the
US, switch production from wheat and soya to corn, which is then turned into ethanol.
Mr Ziegler is not alone in warning of the problem...

Wind power

Introduction
We've used the wind as an energy source for a long time. The Babylonians and Chinese
were using wind power to pump water for irrigating crops 4,000 years ago, and sailing
boats were around long before that.
Wind power was used in the Middle Ages, in Europe, to grind corn, which is where the
term "windmill" comes from.
Airflows can be used to run wind turbines. Modern wind turbines range from around
600kW to up to 5 MW of rated power, although turbines, with rated output of 1.5-3 MW,
have become the most common for commercial use; the power output of a turbine is a
function of the cube of the wind speed, so as wind speed increases, power output
increases dramatically. Areas where winds are stronger and more constant, such as
offshore and high altitude sites, are preferred locations for wind farms.
256

Wind power is the fastest growing of the renewable energy technologies, though it
currently provides less than 0.5% of global energy. Over the past decade, global installed
maximum capacity increased from 2,500 MW in 1992 to just over 40,000 MW at the end
of 2003, at an annual growth rate of near 30%.As wind power has become more
prominent and viable, several public schools are incorporating sustainable wind power
into the energy grid of their school in order to cut power costs. Due to the intermittency
of wind resources, most deployed turbines in the EU produce electricity an average of
25% of the hours in a year (a capacity factor of 25%),but under favourable wind regimes
some reach 35% or higher. Capacity factors are a function of seasonal wind fluctuations
and may be higher in winter. It would mean that a typical 5 MW turbine in the EU would
have an average output of 1.7 MW.
Globally, the long-term technical potential of wind energy is believed to be five times
total current global energy production, or 40 times current electricity demand. This could
require large amounts of land to be utilized for wind turbines, particularly in areas of
higher wind resources. Offshore resources experience mean wind speeds of ~90% greater
than that of land, so offshore resources could contribute substantially more energy. This
number could also increase with higher altitude ground-based or airborne wind turbines.
Wind strengths near the Earth's surface vary and thus cannot guarantee continuous power
unless combined with other energy sources or storage systems. Some estimates suggest
that 1,000 MW of conventional wind generation capacity can be relied on for just 333
MW of continuous power. While this might change as technology evolves, advocates
have suggested incorporating wind power with other power sources, or the use of energy
storage techniques, with this in mind. It is best used in the context of a system that has
significant reserve capacity such as hydro, or reserve load, such as a desalination plant, to
mitigate the economic effects of resource variability.
Wind power is renewable and produces no greenhouse gases during operation, such as
carbon dioxide and methane.

How it works
The Sun heats our atmosphere unevenly, so some patches become warmer than others.
These warm patches of air rise, other air blows in to replace them - and we feel a wind
blowing.
We can use the energy in the wind by building a tall tower, with a large propellor on the
top.

257

The wind blows the propeller round, which turns a generator to produce electricity.
We tend to build many of these towers together, to make a "wind farm" and produce
more electricity.
The more towers, the more wind, and the larger the propellors, the more electricity we
can make.
It's only worth building wind farms in places that have strong, steady winds, although
boats and caravans increasingly have small wind generators to help keep their batteries
charged.
More details
The best places for wind farms are in coastal areas, at the tops of rounded hills, open
plains and gaps in mountains - places where the wind is strong and reliable.
Isolated places such as farms may have their own wind generators. In California, several
"wind farms" supply electricity to homes around Los Angeles.

A wind tower:
Advantages
Wind is free, wind farms need no fuel.
Produces no waste or greenhouse gases.
The land beneath can usually still be used for farming.
Wind farms can be tourist attractions.
Disadvantages
The wind is not always predictable - some days have no wind.
Suitable areas for wind farms are often near the coast, where land is expensive.
Some people feel that covering the landscape with these towers is unsightly.
Wind farms can kill birds - migrating flocks tend to like strong winds. Splat!
Can affect television reception if you live nearby.

258

Wind Power in Croatia

If we observe the wind characteristics in Croatia we can conclude that our homeland has
a great potential, which doesn't mean that the entire Croatian landscape is suitable for
Wind Turbines. Croatia has a lot of windy areas and, even though the winds are not of
constant strenght, they do vary a lot. (For example the winds in Senj are a great example
of this). That kind of wind is not suitable for energetic usage. But the Croatian territory
has a lot of suitable areas where we could use this technology, the most suitable ones
determined by scientists are the continental regions of Jadran, so the first Croatian wind
turbines were built in Pag and ibenik. There are hundreds of other places where wind
turbines could be placed, but what I personally don't understand is, if scientists have
determined hundreds of places where wind turbines could be built, why are we
constructing them in Senj where it has been determined not to be suitable?
The usage of wind energy has great potential in Croatia, we have the knowledge, we
have locations, and this is a chance we cannot allow not to explore.

259

Solar energy

Introduction
We've used the Sun for drying clothes and food for thousands of years, but only recently
have we been able to use it for generating power.
The Sun is 150 million kilometres away, and amazingly powerful.
Just the tiny fraction of the Sun's energy that hits the Earth (around a hundredth of a
millionth of a percent) is enough to meet all our power needs many times over.
In fact, every minute, enough energy arrives at the Earth to meet our demands for a whole
year - if only we could harness it properly.
Solar energy is energy from the Sun. This energy drives the climate and weather and
supports virtually all life on Earth. Heat and light from the sun, along with solar-based
resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for over
99.9 percent of the available flow of renewable energy.[
Solar energy technologies harness the sun's energy for practical ends. These
technologies date from the time of the early Greeks, Native Americans and Chinese, who
warmed their buildings by orienting them toward the sun. Modern solar technologies
provide heating, lighting, electricity and even flight.
Solar power is used synonymously with solar energy or more specifically to refer to the
conversion of sunlight into electricity. This can be done either through the photovoltaic
effect or by heating a transfer fluid to produce steam to run a generator.

A solar field

How it works

260

There are three main ways that we use the Sun's energy:
Solar Cells (really called "photovoltaic" or "photoelectric" cells) that convert light
directly into electricity.
In a sunny climate, you can get enough power to run a 100W light bulb from just one
square metre of solar panel.

Solar water heating, where heat from the Sun is used to heat water in glass panels on
your roof.
This means you don't need to use so much gas or electricity to heat your water at home.

Water is pumped through pipes in the panel.

The pipes are painted black, so they get hot when the Sun shines on them.
This helps out your central heating system, and cuts your fuel bills. Solar heating is
worthwhile in places like California and Australia, where you get lots of sunshine.
Solar Furnaces use a huge array of mirrors to concentrate the Sun's energy into a small
space and produce very high temperatures.
There's one at Odellio, in France, used for scientific experiments.
It can achieve temperatures up to 33,000 degrees Celsius.

261

Solar energy in Croatia

Solar energy is a very valuable natural resource. The applications of solar energy alter
from very simple black painted hot water tanks to photovoltaic concentrators with two
axis solar tracking. However, designers of the systems for conversions of solar energy
need accurate knowledge of this resource.
To determine the value and potential of Solar radiaton we need to measure the radiation
paramaters, which we began doing in Croatia after WW2, on the observatory in Zagreb
with the Robitzche actinograf. Later on, measurements were made in Sljeme, Split,
Krizevci, etc. Since 1957 we have had very regular measurements and processing of data
about solar radiation.
However, since 1989 the complete Solar radiaton hasn't been measured in any
meteorological station in Croatia, thus the correct determination of our energy potential
has been greatly limited.
But he way I see it, we have a tremendous amount of sunny days, we should invest
more money and time into research and the implementaiton of solar energy into our
homeland.
According to an estimation by EIHP [interner LINK administration, energy institute
hrvoje pozar], 12-15.000 m2 solar thermal collectors are in operation. Most of the PV
systems in place are off-grid. The three grid connected systems with a total capacity of
48,84 kW are all located in the north of the country. There are two factories producing
monocrystalline and amorphous solar cells in Novigrad, and Split, resp. The solar thermal
market is dominated by imports from Germany and Turkey.

READ THE FOLLOWING TEXT

SOLAR CELLS AT

$1 A WATT?

262

263

4. 1

CODE TRANSFER

the ultimate green technology

far too expensive
tax subsides
venture capitalists
photovoltaics
pure silicon wafers
ordinarily expensive
it exercerbates the problem
CIGS solar cells and CIGS layer
vacuum deposition technique
turn a profit

4.2 Translate into Croatian the following sentences from the text:
The most cost effective conventional silicon solar cells cost about three times as much.

Other companies are also pursuing CIGS thin films.

Backed by hundreds of millions in investor capital, the solar cell industry may be well on its
way to transforming free sunlight into affordable electricity.

264

Hydropower

Hydropower or hydraulic power is the force or energy of moving water. It may be

captured for some useful purpose.
Prior to the widespread availability of commercial electric power, hydropower was used
for irrigation, and operation of various machines, such as watermills, textile machines,
and sawmills. The energy of moving water has been exploited for millennia. In India,
water wheels and watermills were built; in Imperial Rome, water powered mills produced
flour from grain, and in China and the rest of the Far East, hydraulically operated "pot
wheel" pumps that raised water into irrigation canals. In the 1830s, at the peak of the
canal-building era, hydropower was used to transport barge traffic up and down steep
hills using inclined plane railroads. Direct mechanical power transmission required that
industries using hydropower had to locate near the waterfall. For example, during the last
half of the 19th century, many grist mills were built at Saint Anthony Falls, utilizing the
50 foot (15 metre) drop in the Mississippi River. The mills contributed to the growth of
Minneapolis. Today the largest use of hydropower is for electric power generation, which
allows low cost energy to be used at long distances from the water source.
Types of water power
There are several forms of water power:
-Waterwheels, used for hundreds of years to power mills and machinery
-Hydroelectricity, usually referring to hydroelectric dams or run-of-the-river setups.
-Tidal power, which captures energy from the tides in horizontal direction
-Tidal stream power, which does the same vertically
-Wave power, which uses the energy in waves
In the structure of the electricity system, hydro power plants account for more than a half
of the sources. Croatia is thus among the leading countries in energy production from
renewable sources.
There are 25 hydro power plants in operation in Croatia today, of reservoir or natural
flow type, grouped in three production areas (Dubrovnik HPP is an independent
operational unit).
All of HEPs hydro power plants have been issued certificate for electricity production
from renewable sources, and those of production areas North and West have additionally
received certificate for quality assurance (ISO 9001) and environmental protection (ISO
14001).

265

Hydro power plants in Croatia

Hydro power plant on the river Dobra:

Wave power

Introduction
Ocean waves are caused by the wind as it blows across the sea. Waves are a powerful
source of energy.
266

The problem is that it's not easy to harness this energy and convert it into electricity in
large amounts. Thus, wave power stations are rare.

How it works
There are several methods of getting energy from waves, but one of the most effective
works like a swimming pool wave machine in reverse.
At a swimming pool, air is blown in and out of a chamber beside the pool, which makes
the water outside bob up and down, causing waves.
At a wave power station, the waves arriving cause the water in the chamber to rise and
fall, which means that air is forced in and out of the hole in the top of the chamber.

We place a turbine in this hole, which is turned by the air rushing in and out. The turbine
turns a generator.
A problem with this design is that the rushing air can be very noisy, unless a silencer is
fitted to the turbine. The noise is not a huge problem anyway, as the waves make quite a
bit of noise themselves.
More details
Once you've built it, the energy is free, needs no fuel and produces no waste or pollution.
One big problem is that of building and anchoring something that can withstand the
roughest conditions at sea, yet can generate a reasonable amount of power from small
waves.
It's not much use if it only works during storms!

267

Conclusion
As we realise more and more that fossil fuels are going to run out, we're trying harder to
develop other means of generating the electricity on which we depend. Renewable
sources, such as solar, wave and wind power are particularly attractive, although they do
have drawbacks.

Geothermal energy

Geothermal energy is energy obtained by tapping the heat of the earth itself, usually from
kilometers deep into the Earth's crust. It is expensive to build a power station but
operating costs are low resulting in low energy costs for suitable sites. Ultimately, this
energy derives from heat in the Earth's core. The government of Iceland states: "It should
be stressed that the geothermal resource is not strictly renewable in the same sense as the
hydro resource." It estimates that Iceland's geothermal energy could provide 1700 MW
for over 100 years, compared to the current production of 140 MW. The International
Energy Agency classifies geothermal power as renewable.
Three types of power plants are used to generate power from geothermal energy: dry
steam, flash, and binary. Dry steam plants take steam out of fractures in the ground and
use it to directly drive a turbine that spins a generator. Flash plants take hot water, usually
at temperatures over 200 C, out of the ground, and allows it to boil as it rises to the
surface then separates the steam phase in steam/water separators and then runs the steam
through a turbine. In binary plants, the hot water flows through heat exchangers, boiling
an organic fluid that spins the turbine. The condensed steam and remaining geothermal
fluid from all three types of plants are injected back into the hot rock to pick up more
heat.
The geothermal energy from the core of the Earth is closer to the surface in some areas
than in others. Where hot underground steam or water can be tapped and brought to the
surface it may be used to generate electricity. Such geothermal power sources exist in
certain geologically unstable parts of the world such as Iceland, New Zealand, United
States, the Philippines and Italy. The two most prominent areas for this in the United
268

States are in the Yellowstone basin and in northern California. Iceland produced 170 MW
geothermal power and heated 86% of all houses in the year 2000 through geothermal
energy. Some 8000 MW of capacity is operational in total.
There is also the potential to generate geothermal energy from hot dry rocks. Holes at
least 3 km deep are drilled into the earth. Some of these holes pump water into the earth,
while other holes pump hot water out. The heat resource consists of hot underground
radiogenic granite rocks, which heat up when there is enough sediment between the rock
and the earths surface. Several companies in Australia are exploring this technology.
Geothermal energy in Croatia
Croatia has geothermal reservoirs in the northern part of the country, characterized by
high value geothermal gradients. At present, thermal water is used for space heating,
heating of swimming pools, and in balneology. In 2000, the total installed capacity was
36.7 MWt.

Geothermal Energy Resource Potential

According to National Energy Program GEOEN (see: Energy Institute "Hrvoje Pozar"
Ltd), total potential is estimated at 839 MWt. The potential of binary GeoPP constitutes
about 48 MWe.

Fossil fuels

Introduction
Coal, Oil and Gas are called "fossil fuels" because they have been formed from the
fossilised remains of prehistoric plants and animals.
269

They provide around 66% of the world's electrical power, and 95% of the world's total
energy demands (including heating, transport, electricity generation and other uses).
How it works
Coal is crushed to a fine dust and burnt. Oil and gas can be burnt directly.

More Details
Coal provides around 28% of our energy, and oil
provides 40%.
Burning coal produces sulphur dioxide, an acidic
gas that contributes to the formation of acid rain.
This can be largely avoided using "flue gas
desulphurisation" to clean up the gases before
they are released into the atmosphere. This
method uses limestone, and produces gypsum for
the building industry as a by-product. However, it
uses a lot of limestone.
Crude oil (called "petroleum") is easier to
get out of the ground than coal, as it can
flow along pipes. This also makes it
cheaper to transport.
Natural gas provides around 20% of the world's
consumption of energy, and as well as being burnt in power stations, is used by many
people to heat their homes.
It is easy to transport along pipes, and gas power stations produce comparatively little
pollution.
Other fossil fuels are being investigated, such as
bituminous sands and oil shale.
The difficulty is that they need expensive processing before
we can use them.
The steam that has passed through the power station's
turbines has to be cooled, to condense it back into water
before it can be pumped round again. This is what happens
in the huge "cooling towers" seen at power stations.
Some power stations are built on the coast, so they can use
sea water to cool the steam instead. However, this warms
the sea and can affect the environment, although the fish
270

seem to like it.

Advantages
Very large amounts of electricity can be generated in one place using coal, fairly

cheaply.
Transporting oil and gas to the power stations is easy.
Gas-fired power stations are very efficient.
A fossil-fuelled power station can be built almost anywhere, so long as you can get

large quantities of fuel to it. Didcot power station, in Oxfordshire, has it's own rail link to
supply the coal.
Disadvantages
Basically, the main drawback of fossil fuels is pollution.

Burning any fossil fuel produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to the "greenhouse
effect", warming the Earth.
Burning coal produces more carbon dioxide than burning oil or gas.

It also produces sulphur dioxide, a gas that contributes to acid rain. We can reduce this
before releasing the waste gases into the atmosphere.
Mining coal can be difficult and dangerous. Strip mining destroys large areas of the

landscape.
Coal-fired power stations need huge amounts of fuel, which means train-loads of coal

almost constantly. In order to cope with changing demands for power, the station needs
reserves.
This means covering a large area of countryside next to the power station with piles of
coal.

9 Nuclear power
Introduction
Nuclear power is generated using
Uranium, which is a metal mined in
various parts of the world.
The first large-scale nuclear power station opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England, in
1956.
Some military ships and submarines have nuclear power plants for engines.
Nuclear power produces around 11% of the world's energy needs, and produces huge
amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel, without the pollution that you'd get from
burning fossil fuels.
271

How it works

Nuclear power stations work in pretty much the same way as fossil fuel-burning

stations, except that a "chain reaction" inside a nuclear reactor makes the heat instead.
The reactor uses Uranium rods as fuel, and the heat is generated by nuclear fission.
Neutrons smash into the nucleus of the uranium atoms, which split roughly in half and
release energy in the form of heat.
Carbon dioxide gas is pumped through the reactor to take the heat away, and the hot gas

then heats water to make steam.

The steam drives turbines which drive generators.

Modern nuclear power stations use the same type of turbines and generators as
conventional power stations.
In Britain, nuclear power stations are built on the coast, and use sea water for cooling the
steam ready to be pumped round again. This means that they don't have the huge "cooling
towers" seen at other power stations.
The reactor is controlled with "control rods", made of boron, which absorb neutrons.
When the rods are lowered into the reactor, they absorb more neutrons and the fission
process slows down. To generate more power, the rods are raised and more neutrons can
crash into uranium atoms.
More details
Natural uranium is only 0.7% "uranium-235",
which is the type of uranium that undergoes
fission in this type of reactor.
The rest is U-238, which just sits there getting in
the way.
Modern reactors use "enriched" uranium fuel,
which has a higher proportion of U-235.
The fuel arrives encased in metal tubes, which are
lowered into the reactor whilst it's running, using
a special crane sealed onto the top of the reactor.
Carbon dioxide gas is blown through the reactor to carry the heat away. Carbon dioxide is
chosen because it stops the reactor catching fire (it's around 600 degrees Celsius in there)
and it doesn't turn into anything nasty when it's bombarded with neutrons.
You have to be very careful about the materials you use to build reactors - some materials
will turn into horrible things in that environment.
Uranium itself isn't particularly radioactive, so when the fuel rods arrive at the power
station they can be handled using thin plastic gloves. A rod can last for several years
before it needs replacing.
272

It's when the "spent" fuel rods are taken out of the reactor that you need the full remotecontrol robot arms and Homer Simpson equipment.
Nuclear power stations are not atomic bombs waiting to go off, and are not prone to
"meltdowns".
There is a lot of U-238 in there slowing things down - you need a high concentration of
U-235 to make a bomb.
If the reactor gets too hot, the control rods are lowered in and it cools down.
If that doesn't work, there are sets of emergency control rods that automatically drop in
and shut the reactor down completely.
With reactors in this country, the engineers cannot stop the emergency systems from
shutting it down if things get out of hand - although at Chernobyl, in Ukraine, they turned
off this automatic system to try something out, got it wrong, and the whole thing
overheated, melted and blew up before they could stop it.
Advantages
Nuclear power costs about the same as coal, so it's not expensive to make.
Does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it does not contribute to the greenhouse

effect.
Produces huge amounts of energy from small amounts of fuel.
Produces small amounts of waste.
Nuclear power is reliable.

Disadvantages
Although not much waste is produced, it is very, very dangerous.
It must be sealed up and buried for many years to allow the radioactivity to die away.
Nuclear power is reliable, but a lot of money has to be spent on safety - if it does go

wrong, a nuclear accident can be a major disaster. Poeple are increasingly concerned
about this - in the 1990's nuclear power was the fastest-growing source of power in much
of the world. Now, in 2005 it's the second slowest-growing.
Vedran Mioi

273

REFERENCES
1. Project NatureConnect WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO THESE FINDINGS?
www.ecopsych.com/2004introverview.html - 119k - 2009.
Spremljeno u privremenu memoriju
2. Speak up, studeni 1987. Br 1, The World of Eglish
3. Newsweek, February 10, 1992, The Science Behind the Games
4. Shipp, H.: adapted from Ideas that moved the world, Evans Brothers Ltd. Of
London
5. Time, December 23, 1991
6. Time, February 5, 2001
7. BBC Modern English, published by Modern English Publications Ltd, England
8. Newsweek, January 20, 1992
9. Time, February 24, 1992
10. Spotlight 9, 1986, N.28
11. Newsweek, October 30, 1989
12. OConnell, S: Focus on Advanced English C.A.E., with additional Grammar and
Listening material by Mark Foley and Russel Whitehead, Longman 2006
13. Basic English for Science, 1978, Oxford University Press
14. Newsweek, March 13, 1989
15. Newsweek, October 30, 1989
16. Johansen, Bruce E.: The Relationship of Ozone Depletion and the Greenhouse
Effect www.ratical.org/ratville/ozoneDepletion.html - 37k Spremljeno u privremenu memoriju - Sline stranice
17. Websters Encyclopedicc Unabridged Dictionary of the English language, New
Rewised Edition, 1996
18. The United States Information Agency, 1986
19. About. Com.: English as a Second Language
20. Curry, D: Illustrated American Idioms,English Teaching Division educational and
Cultural affairs U.S. Information Agency, Washington, D.C., 1982

Additional reading
Group A - Presentation Renewable
Sea Power

274

275

276

277

278

We Must Combat Pollution

Is the Common market still bitterly divided over the problem of automotiveexhaust standards?
It were West Germans, who wanted to adopt strict antipollution requirements
without delay. Some thirty years ago the West Germans were also leading in
assessing the threat to Europes environment. Especially, they were leaders
in adjusting their cars and their auto industry to reduce pollution from exhaust
fumes. The Dutch were a close second, followed by the Danes, the Swiss and
the Austrians. But the French, Italian, and British auto industries used a highcompression engine that was more difficult to adapt to new antipollution
standards. Heavy investment is required to retool industries to combat
pollution, and the French, Italian and British auto industries were not doing so
well. Has the situation changed? Do we know, what is being done at present to
tackle this problem of automotive exhaust?
A lot of cars are turning to automobiles that have been tooled to use unleaded
fuel, which is cheaper than leaded fuel. The taxes on automobiles that use
unleaded fuel are being reduced. The emission standards for nitrogen oxides
have been strengthened, which forces the European automobile industry to
speed up the development of a cheaper, low-energy engine. Within some short
time lean-burn technology will be in use all over Europe. The public realizes
very much what exhaust from cars is doing to our forests, our buildings and now
even our agriculture. We wonder what it will cost Europe to solve the problem of
acid rain. Billions? Maybe more. Most of the damage is done by the emission of
sulphur dioxide from the chimneys of power stations, refineries, automotive
exhaust and so on. Obviously, it has to be solved in the steel mills, the power
stations and the refineries themselves. But the question is how much the
machinery needed to purify the emissions could cost for each unit. Is there still
time to keep our forests alive? For some forests it is almost too late. The costs of
desulfurization units are very high, but they must be installed, there is no
choice if we are to save the forests.
Additionally, we wonder what action can be taken in the field of animal
husbandry to reduce the output of ammonia that pollutes water supplies.
The crucial issue is to take combined measures against industrial emissions.
And although these antipollution devices are very costly, we must afford them.
There is no choice.

279

Group B
A Drastic Plan to Banish Smog
Los Angeles seeks to clear its smudged skies
What has been done and what is still being doing in favour of the
programs to banish smog? Discuss.
By the mid-'50s, Los Angeles' smog, as the noxious vapour had been dubbed, was sufficiently thick
and persistent to wilt crops, obstruct breathing and bring angry housewives into the streets waving
placards and wearing gas masks. Oil companies were urged to cut sulphur emissions. Cars were
required to use unleaded gas, and exhausts were fitted with catalytic converters. But as the city
continued to grow unabated, so did its choking smog.
Now, after more than 30 years of struggling to clean up what has become the nation's No. 1 airpollution problem, California officials have taken decisive action against the primary source of the
trouble: the unfettered use of fossil-fuel-burning private vehicles in a city that has long been in love
with the automobile. By a vote of 10 to 2, the directors of the south coast air-quality-management
district, a regional agency with authority over Los Angeles, last week adopted a sweeping 20-year
antipollution plan. It will not only drastically curtail automobile use in the Los Angeles basin but also
convert virtually all vehicles to the use of non-polluting fuels by 2009. "The public is ready for
change," declares Jim Lents, executive officer of the management district. "This plan signals the
beginning of that process."
The proposal, referred to simply as the L.A. plan, is calls for elimination of 70% of smog-producing
emissions in the Los Angeles area by the year 2000. In the plan's first five-year phase, 123 separate
regulations will ban the use of aerosol hair sprays and deodorants and require companies, regardless
of the cost, to install the best antismog equipment available. But one of the plan's primary objectives
is to break the city's addiction to the internal-combustion engine. First, it imposes stricter emission
standards and forces employers to encourage car pooling. Then it calls for conversion of most
vehicles to methanol and other cleaner burning fuels. Finally, in a Buck Rogers phase that assumes
rapid advances in fuel-cell technology, it calls for a massive switch to cars, buses and trucks powered
by electricity.

Life in the fast lane may never be the same

"It's quite a remarkable achievement," says David Howekamp of the Environmental Protection
Agency. Adds Richard Ayres, chairman of the National Clean Air Coalition: "It's a bold attempt to
grapple with the real pollution problems." The EPA is expected to approve the Los Angeles plan and
use it as a blueprint for a federal program that will include cities like Chicago and New York.
The plan still faces several bureaucratic hurdles. But the real test will come when Los Angeles' 8
million car lovers begin to feel the pinch. This is, after all, the city synonymous with freeways, drag
races and even the drive-through church. As a former resident puts it, In L.A. the first question is not
what you do, but what you drive. Will Angelenos really trade their Ferraris for car pools and their
fuel-injected Chevy V-8s for electric roadsters? That remains to be seen. "We're for cleaner air, for
damn sure," says Robert Harnar, a public relations executive at Ford. "But the old adage is that people
in L.A. want buses and mass transit so all these other guys will get off the freeway."
By
Philip Elmer-De Witt.
Reported by Gisela Bolte /Washington and Sylvester Monroe/Los Angeles
TIME, MARCH 27, 1989

280

Group C
The Central Japan Railway magnetic levitation railroad, still in the test stage, is the worlds only one
to use superconductive magnets like the one shown on the opposite page. The first commercial use of
maglev, using high-temparature superconductors will be completely different.

281

282

283

Group D
Hydrogen
When the first energy crisis was looming on the horizon at the beginning
of the 70s scientists stepped up their efforts to find out which substances
could be used to drive cars in the future. Experiments are now focusing on
hydrogen.
scala 1/Jan. - Feb. 1989 A PERIODICAL FROM THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
The vision is enticing: in countries with a high incidence of sunlight huge plantations of solar
cells generate electrical energy, which in turn is used to produce hydrogen from water, a raw material
which is available in almost unlimited quantities. This hydrogen is transported in pipelines to
countries with a high consumption of energy, such as, for example, the Federal Republic of Germany,
where it is offered as a fuel to all groups of consumers by means of supply networks extending
throughout the country. Thus hydrogen not only relieves us of worries about energy; as a clean source
of energy which, when burnt, produces nitrogen oxides as the only pollutants, this volatile element
also solves many of our environmental problems. It goes without saying that the car is integrated into
this 'hydrogen world' of tomorrow.

What do we know about hydrogen?

Hydrogen is the commonest element in the universe. The stars radiate because they
convert hydrogen into helium by nuclear fusion. One kilogram of hydrogen, when burnt,
releases 33 kilowatt hours of electrical energy, three times more than petrol. The current
consumption of hydrogen amounts to 32 million tons worldwide. Almost half goes into the
synthesis of ammonia to produce fertilizers. Methanol, a low form of alcohol used for the
manufacture of plastics, is also synthesized from the rest. And with hydrogen liquid soya
bean oil is hardened to be sold as margarine. But it is also easy to produce power, heat and
electricity from hydrogen. In short: the lightest of all elements, the basic material of nature
for billions of years, makes possible a perfect recycling in man's energy economy.
Even that who cannot allow their expectations to go quite so far have to admit that hydrogen
is an alternative to fossil fuels and thus in particular to petroleum.
Describe the catalytic convertor
The automobile industry recognized the signs of the times back in 1973, immediately
after the first oil crisis and displayed great activity with regard to new propulsion systems.
The car of tomorrow will have to use considerably less fuel and emit fewer pollutants than
even the most advanced car of today. The results of these efforts are already on the road in
the form of the catalytic converter.

284

Cars running on hydrogen and a mixture of hydrogen and petrol are being
tested on the streets of Berlin by Daimler-Benz Company, using special storage
modules
Major innovations in engine design are, admittedly, still being tested. Since 1973
Daimler-Benz have been working on hydrogen as a secondary energy source for cars. In
1984, in West Berlin, a programme "with positive results" was launched, as the head of the
project, Dr. Rolf Povel, reports. Cars running on hydrogen and a mixture of hydrogen and
petrol are being tested on the streets of Berlin. The company has developed storage modules
from a very expensive alloy of titanium, vanadium and manganese for this purpose. Gaseous
hydrogen is sucked up by metal powder like a sponge, resulting in so-called hydrides. An
additional water cooling system in the tank is necessary to dissipate the heat which is
produced when the tank is filled. When, on the other hand, hydrogen has to leave the tank to
enter the engine a heater is required. The disadvantage of this tank is that it weighs 320
kilograms. Cars equipped in this way can go no further than a modest 120 to 150 kilometres,
and any additional loading is strictly limited -by the space required for storing fuel, which is
seven times larger than a con- ventional tank. Filling the tank has so far proved to take quite
a while, as you cannot pour the gaseous hydrogen into it like petrol. Daimler channels the
hydrogen mixed with air into the combustion chamber and, in order to avoid backfiring, has
to inject liters of water for cooling purposes.
BMW is backing liquid hydrogen
Daimler's competitor, BMW, refuses to be left behind on the road into the next century.
Whereas Daimler prefers hydride storage, BMW is backing liquid hydrogen, which is stored
in super insulated containers at minus 253 degrees centigrade. But it is essential to maintain
this temperature - otherwise the hydrogen evaporates into the atmosphere and is lost. In all
other respects the combustion process is similar to that in a petrol engine. The hydrogen is
injected by an injection system into the cylinder, where it is ignited. The result so far: the considerably more expensive - hydrogen cars cannot yet compete with petrol and diesel oil at
the present state of hydrogen technology. Nevertheless they do represent an option for the
future, and if all goes well, the volatile element will give its name to a whole era. "The 21st
century will be the age of solar hydrogen", prophesies, for example, the 77-year-old former
aviation pioneer and ex-head of Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm MBB, Dr. Ludwig Bolkow.
Mercedes also keeps pace with hydrogen technology
Another pioneer to give thought to hydrogen technology is Dr. Hans May, Professor for
Powered Machines at the University of Kaiserslautern. Together with other highly qualified
scientists and with financial support from the Federal Ministry of Research, he has spent
twelve years working on the special mixture of hydrogen and petrol which allows the West
Berlin Mercedes fleet to be put through its paces. This was made possible by a propulsion
concept for 2.8-6 cylinder injection engines in which hydrogen and petrol are passed into the
engine at the same time by an electronic control unit. Comparative figures show what little
harm they cause to the environment. The nitrogen oxides, which are thought responsible for
the death of the forests and the carbon monoxide in the exhaust fumes of the experimental
cars are far be- low the levels allowed by the strict American regulations.
"We have no carbon monoxide in the fumes, no unused hydrocarbons, and, on account
to the great surplus of air, the nitrogen oxide emissions are one hundred times lower than in
the case of the normal internal combustion engine", is how Professor May sums up the
outcome. And the cars owe these results to their most important construction principle: the
vehicles drive in urban traffic with a large proportion of idling using low emission hydrogen.
285

Only when the engine has to produce more power and the car drives at a high speed is petrol
added. Owing to the addition of petrol the cars attain normal horsepower output at full speed.
The May design works so smoothly that now the next step can follow: the transition to pure
hydrogen operation with direct injection into the cylinder.
Additional safety facilities hydride storage
What are perhaps the smallest difficulties are caused by additional safety facilities.
Their main purpose is to prevent a detonation, resulting from an accident for example, which
is possible on account of the high combustion rate of the hydrogen. "It is all only a question
of the construction and the arrangement of the tank", says Professor May confidently. "If
they are designed properly there is little risk of an explosion, even in the case of a collision."
To illustrate the safety of hydride storage he compares it to a sponge. As the metal powder
becomes soaked with the gas, like a sponge, it combines with it chemically and then releases
it when heated. "As long as the engine stands still, we get no more heat -nothing comes out
any more." Whatever the "clean hydrogen car" may look like, whether it works with liquid or
metal storage - its price will be determined by the number produced. But it is precisely the
price that is the most convincing argument for or against something for many people. In spite
of all the advantages, the crucial hurdles on the way to a less polluted "hydrogen world" are,
however, to be found on the production side rather than on the side of the consumer. How
hydrogen liberated from water with the help of electrical energy can be produced more
cheaply, therefore, remains one of the cardinal questions in the foreseeable future. For the
problem with hydrogen is that, to obtain it, for example from water, a lot of energy is
required. That is why in the long term hydrogen will certainly be obtained where energy is
still to be had "free of charge", for example from solar energy and wind power. But in fact up
to now more than 90 per cent of hydrogen requirements have been obtained from fossil
sources: petroleum as well as natural gas and coal gas are made to react with hot steam,
causing hydrogen to separate off. But even using the cheapest process - the so-called "steam
reforming" of natural gas - hydrogen turns out to be three times as expensive as a comparable
quantity of petrol with regard to its energy production. Some scientists, however, regard this
as a naive fallacy, for example Professor Peschka of the German Aerospace Research and
Experimental Centre (DFVLR), who says, "The higher price for hydrogen pays off because
of its complete lack of pollutants. If you add to the present price of petrol the development
and follow-up costs for catalytic converters and the costs of repairing damage to nature,
hydrogen would be cheaper today than petrol."
Will hydrogen be the energy of this millennium?
Will the benefit be even greater in the future?
While opinions still differ in the car industry, space travel has profited from hydrogen as a
fuel. And for good reason: in space the greater thrust hydrogen produces easily compensates
for the larger volume of the tank. So it is not surprising that the aircraft industry is toying
with the idea of hydrogen engines, or, more precisely, with "Tran atmospheric vehicles".
They are aircraft which land and take off like conventional planes -but which can dash from
one point on the earth to another in the high flight path of a rocket. On the basis of the
current costs of hydrogen the energy consumption per seat kilometre would be 15 per cent
below the costs of kerosene, without additional investments being necessary.
Hydrogen technology even opens up interesting prospects for track vehicles. In Canada the
National Railway Company recommended the conversion of diesel locomotives to hydrogen
propulsion some time ago. In Japan there is a similar development. Not even Hans May can
predict for certain when the big breakthrough for hydrogen will come. E. A.
286

"We have no carbon monoxide in the fumes, no unused hydrocarbons, and, on account to the
great surplus of air, the nitrogen oxide emissions are one hundred times lower than in the
case of the normal

HOMEWORK
What are the advantages of hydrogen cars?

What are the drawbacks of hydrogen cars?

287

Group E
HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS

Summary: This paper gives an objective analysis of hydrogen fuel cells, taking into account the
positive and the negative sides of this solution. Hydrogen fuel cells are one of the most popular
options for an alternative and environment-friendly power source.
Key Words: hydrogen fuel cells, environment, new power sources
1. INTRODUCTION

Today we are more and more aware of the great problem that exhaust emissions afflict to our
living. As they are very dangerous, they have the potential to change the planet's climate.
And although the auto industry has cut exhaust emissions substantially since the unregulated
1960s, the continued production of carbon dioxide from exhaust emissions causes concern.
The emissions according to the International Energy Agency are some 3.7 billion tons of
carbon dioxide. [3] Furthermore, the petroleum-fuelled internal-combustion engine is
reaching its limits. Despite all the improvements that were made, it's only 20 to 25 percent
efficient in converting the energy content of fuels into power. [2] Another big issue is the
foreseeable exhaustion of our planet's petroleum reserves, and petroleum is needed for the
engines that are used today. When we take all these factors into account we can see that it's
increasingly likely that we change petroleum-fuelled internal-combustion engines with new
engines that use environment-friendly and reusable power sources.Some options for these
alternative engines are hydrogen fuel cells.

2. DESCRIPTION OF HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS

A fuel cell (see Figure 1) is basically a simple device, consisting of two electrodes (an anode
and cathode) that sandwich an electrolyte (a specialized polymer or other material that allows
ions to pass but blocks electrons). A fuel containing hydrogen flows to the anode, where the
hydrogen electrons are freed, and leaving positively charged ions. The electrons travel
through an external circuit while the ions diffuse through the electrolyte. At the cathode, the
electrons combine with the hydrogen ions and oxygen to form water, a by-product. To speed
the reaction, a catalyst such as platinum is frequently used. Fuel cells and batteries are similar
in that both rely on electrochemistry, but the reactants in a fuel cell are the hydrogen fuel and
oxidizer, whereas in a battery they are the materials (for example, nickel oxhydroxide and
cadmium) used in the electrodes. [3]

288

3. ADVANTAGES

Hydrogen clearly provides the

potential for huge energy and
environmental improvements
and no other long-term option,
with the possible exception of
battery-powered
electric
vehicles,
approaches
the
breadth and magnitude of
hydrogen's
public
good
benefits. [1] One of the main
advantages of hydrogen fuel
cells is that its only by-product
h d
f l ll
is pure water, thus creating a zero-emission vehicle that has a better efficiency than the
current internal-combustion engines. The current achievable efficiency of fuel cells is 45-60
percent, while under ideal conditions internal-combustion engines can reach only 35 percent
efficiency, while some realistically achieve only 15 percent. The main reason for better
efficiency is that fuel cells do not have to idle when a vehicle is stationary. [2] Fuel cells are
also better then batteries, which have only a fixed amount of energy, while fuel cells can run
as long as fuel and oxidant are supplied, or at least until components in the cells degrade.
Many researches have been made on fuel cells, and one of the most important is the 2004
National Academies report on hydrogen fuel cells. The report says that Fuel cells are
superior environmentally and provide extra value to customers. They have the potential to
provide most of the benefits of battery-electric vehicles without the short range and long
recharge time. They offer quiet operation, rapid acceleration from a standstill due to the
torque characteristics of electric motors, and potentially low maintenance requirements.
They can provide remote electrical power and even act as distributed electricity generators
when parked at homes and offices. [1] Another strong cause for fuel cells is that they are
very attractive to the automobile industry. If cars would use fuel cells the bulky hydraulic
subsystem and conventional steering wheel, the engine compartment and awkward centre
cabin hump could all be removed, thus creating the possibility for great design flexibility and
more efficient manufacturing approaches. One of the strongest supporters of hydrogen
vehicles is General Motors. They created a concept for a future hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle
called AUTOnomy. [2] Their concept, in combination with the use of compact electronic
drive-by-wire technology for steering, braking and throttling could create a revolution in
vehicle design. Vehicles would have a skateboard chassis and the owners could just plug-in
a body of their choice. The bodies would be easily changeable, so a person could easily
change, for example, a family car body for a sports car body. All these advantages could be
exploited if fuel cell costs become competitive and if hydrogen fuel can be made widely
available at a reasonable cost.
4. DISADVANTAGES

One of the first disadvantages that engineers developing fuel cells encounter is that the best
catalyst is platinum. However, platinum is very expensive. While many improvements have
been made fuel cells are still too expensive for the mass-market because of platinum. There
are also many people questioning the future of hydrogen fuel cells. Joseph Romm, in his
book The Hype about Hydrogen, says that a major effort to introduce hydrogen cars before
2030 would actually undermine efforts to reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse
gases such as CO2. [1] Paul MacCready and John DeCicco argue in Hydrogen Transitions
that improved battery technology will trump hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles, and that
289

hydrogen transition is premature. [1] Another problem can be energy losses and economical
factors of a hydrogen distribution network. It has been proposed to use present pipelines
designed for natural gas, but this option has safety issues because of potential leaking of
hydrogen through the valves. For hydrogen we have to triple the volume to supply the same
energy as natural gas, therefore we need to triple the velocity. [4] This increases energy
losses during transport. Building a completely new distribution would be very costly and
unpractical, so a solution for this problem must be found. Safety issues must also be taken
under consideration. Like nitro-glycerine, hydrogen does not explode by itself. It needs
energy release (a spark, for example) to ignite or explode. However, the minimum energy
required for hydrogen is very small. The flammability or explosion limits of hydrogen are
much wider than for any other fuel, and the energy required for ignition or explosions is by a
magnitude lower than for other gases. This limits the maximum amount that can be safely
stored and demands special expertise of the personnel handling it. There is also another big
risk. A hydrogen car, as presently envisioned, is a potential suicide bomb that cannot be
detected by any of the standard methods that detect explosives. [4] With these disadvantages
hydrogen will find it difficult to compete with the century-long investments in petroleum
fuels and internal combustion engines without resolving these problems. But with research
and development these obstacles can be overcome.

5. SWITCHING TO FUEL CELLS

Switching to fuel cells has the chicken-and-egg problem: large numbers of fuel cell
vehicles require adequate fuel availability to support them, but the required infrastructure is
hard to build unless there are significant numbers of fuel cell vehicles on the roadways. [3]
To successfully switch to hydrogen a definitive solution for making and delivering it should
be made. Of course the solution can't be universal but it will different based on geographical
location and on local resources, since hydrogen can be made from virtually any energy
feedstock, including coal, nuclear, natural gas, biomass, wind and solar. [1] The abundant
reserves of coal in many regions are a particularly attractive option for producing hydrogen,
but a very good carbon dioxide sequestration process must be used for very low emission
with this method. The first vehicles that should be switched to hydrogen fuel cell power are
those that return to the garage every day, like buses, mail trucks and delivery vans, since they
can be supplied by centrally located hydrogen stations. The next step would be to arrange
collaboration between the government, the car industry and the oil industry, so that hydrogen
fuelling stations can be built, and hydrogen vehicles can be produced for the mass market.
This collaboration is of course difficult, and the disadvantages of hydrogen use must be
solved before switching can become realistically achievable and profitable for the automobile
and oil industries.
6. ALTERNATIVES

Currently the only viable and serious long-term options are electricity, bio fuels and synthetic
fuels. Electricity is a very good alternative because it's already available and has zero
emissions. Despite that, it has been abandoned by almost every major automaker because of
long recharge times and much lower performance and speed of battery powered vehicles. The
second option is bio fuel, made from cellulosic materials, such as trees and grasses that can
be grown and converted into ethanol and methanol fuel for use in combustion engines. While
this energy option is renewable, the environmental effects of intensive farming are not trivial,
and the land areas involved are massive. [1] The third option are synthetic fuels, but the
production methods are still very expensive, and this type of fuel currently has a far lower
energy efficiency.
290

7. CONCLUSION

Even if they are still heavily discussed and criticized by some, hydrogen fuel cells are
probably the best option for an alternative and clean energy source. They have the strongest
potential to replace internal-combustion engines, and they are also the most likely to be
embraced by the automobile and oil industries. Hydrogen fuel cells offer superior
performance and efficiency, and can revolutionize the car industry and design. With
continuous, technological and economical support, hydrogen fuel cells can gain public and
private support, thus replacing internal-combustion engines as a clean and emission-free
alternative power source.

8. REFERENCES

[1]

Sperling, D., Ogden, J.: The bumpy road to hydrogen, Institute of Transportation

Studies, University of
[2]

California, Davis (June 15, 2006)

Burns, L.D., Byron McCormick, J., Borroni-Bird, C.E.: Vehicle of change, Scientific

American (October 2002), Pages 42-49

[3]

Appleby, A.J.: The electrochemical engine for vehicles, Scientific American (July

1999), 56-63
[4]

Shinnar, R.: The hydrogen economy, fuel cells, and electric cars, Technology in

Society, Volume 25 (2003),

Issue 4,

Pages 453-576

291

Group F
HYBRID POWER
Honda's Insight and Toyota's Prius are quiet, efficient and the first in
a new green wave
By MARGOT ROOSEVELT LOS ANGELES

HOW IT WORKS
A hybrid car combines two power systems: an electric motor, powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries, and a
highly efficient gas engine

CITY DRIVING
The Prius uses pure electricity for starting up, travelling slowly or idling. Its gas engine
kicks in for more power. The Insight drives mostly on gasoline, with a small electric boost
HIGHWAY DRIVING
BAt high speeds, the gas engine is the primary power source; the electricity provides a
boost. The Insight's aerodynamic aluminium body accounts for much of its fuel economy
REGEN BRAKING
During coasting or braking, the wheels drive the electric motor, which acts as a generator
to charge the batteries back to full
strength
TECHNOLOGY
Computers regulate the two power systems. When the cars idle, the engine stops too,
cutting back on noxious emissions and saving gas .

WARNING TO ALL WHO DRIVE GAS guzzlers while fretting about the melting ice cap
and the diminished rain forest: Your bluff is called. Finally. Just as the U.S. is grappling
with the problem of how to meet its international promise to reduce global warming, the
first hybrid gasoline-electric cars are hitting the U.S. market. Though these green machines,
a major advance in automobile engineering, are getting off to a slow start, down the road
they may yet compete bumper to bumper with gas-only cars.
Honda's peppy two-seat Insight travels 600 miles on a tiny tank, a boon to the greenhousegassed planet. Toyota's Prius, a sleek five-seater, gets 52 m.p.g. in city driving and is up to
90% cleaner than the average car. U.S. carmakers, reluctant latecomers, have been shamed
into promising hybrid models. But will these fuel sippers sell to a pollutants-be-damned
nation enraptured by showy sport utes?
If the new technology catches on, it could go a long way toward compensating for last
week's stalled progress on the 1997 international treaty, originally negotiated in Kyoto,
292

Japan, to cut carbon dioxide emissions. So far, Toyota has a five-month waiting list for its
Prius (Latin for "to go before"), and it has logged 7,300 orders since the car's July launch. It
will easily sell out this year's small production run of 12,000 cars. Sales of the Insight,
introduced last December, are slowerabout 3,500partly because many dealerships can't
get the cars, and partly because the two-seater isn't as practical as the Prius. Measured
against the 17 million cars and trucks sold yearly in the U.S., it is a modest beginning. A
major obstacle: the price trade-off for being green. Savings at the pumpmagnified by this
year's gasoline-price jumpsare offset by the $20,000 cost of either car. That's several
thousand dollars more than similar-size conventional models. If proposed federal tax
incentivespushed by an unusual alliance of automakers and environmentalistsultimately pass, "there could be a hybrid in every garage," says Roland Hwang, a transportation expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council. That is surely a green dream,
but rigorous new laws in several states, including California and New York, are forcing
manufacturers to sell cleaner cars, setting what is expected to be a national trend.
The promise of the hybrids is that consumers won't have to make sacrifices in style,
performance or comfort to drive them. Unlike battery-electric vehicles, which are plugged
into the power grid, hybrids combine a small gasoline engine with an electric motor and
travel under their own power. When the Prius advances slowly or idles in traffic, the
electric motor takes over, thus minimizing the pollution caused by stop-and-go driving. The
gasoline engine powers the battery and kicks in for acceleration. When the car coasts or
brakes, the motor becomes a generator, capturing the energy that would normally be lost
and transforming it into electricity. In the Insight, a lightweight but super-efficient threecylinder, 63-h.p. gas engine supplies most of the oomph, and the electric motor offers a 10h.p. boost when needed.
Techno-sawy fans have embraced the hybrids, flooding Internet chat rooms with talk of
torque and throttle response, boasting about mileage. "Kick Some Gas!" urges one site,
Priusenvy.com. Senator Robert Bennet of Utah, chairman of the Republican High-Tech
Task Force, fills his Insight's gas tank once a month. "It's the ideal commuter car," he says.
But he has yet to persuade his fellow legislators to make the switch.
The size of the Insight and Prius is a potential turnoff for consumers, who fear collisions
with gargantuan suvs. "I'd like to use less gas," says Laura Blalock, a Memphis, Tenn.,
chemist. "But I can't enjoy saving Mother Earth if I'm worrying about getting squashed like
a bug." Customers like Blalock won't have long to wait for heftier hybrids. In 2003, Ford
will produce a hybrid version of its Escape sport utility, expected to get 40 m.p.g. By then,
Toyota's hybrid minivan, the Estima, will probably have reached the U.S. market, along
with a hybrid Honda Civic. Proving that hybrids are not necessarily environmentally
virtuous, DaimlerChrysler has announced a hybrid version of its monster Durango truck
that would get only 18 m.p.g.a hybrid muscle car.
One constituency that isn't revved up about the cars is the car dealers. So far, they have
little incentive to push hybrids because profit margins are higher on bigger, gas-only
vehicles. Honda and Toyota dealers' splashy newspaper ads rarely if ever mention hybrids.
Prospective Prius customers complain that since only trained salesmen are permitted to sell
them, the untrained ones steer them away from the cars. Would-be Insight customers say
they can't even find one to test-drive. "We don't direct people to the hybrid," allowed
Honda salesman Neil Perlmutter at a North Hollywood, Calif., dealership. "It is for people
who want high gas mileage, not for the masses." Juan Capdet, a salesman at Sheridan
Toyota in Santa Monica, Calif., is an enthusiast, but he acknowledges, "There is a lot of
misinformation. You have to explain the new technology."
293

Whether they like it or not, automakers have no choice but to produce more hybrids.
Skyrocketing suv sales mean the companies' average gas efficiency is declining, so to meet
federal rules the manufacturers need ultra-high-mileage vehicles to compensate. Ford's
chairman, William Ford, has predicted that hybrids could account for 20% of he U.S.
market in a decade. Beyond the need for fuel economy, however, looms the urgency of
curbing greenhouse gasesa quarter of which result from car and truck emissions.
"Hybrids allow people to feel they are doing the right thing for the planet," says Michael
Feinstein, a Santa Monica councilman who just bought a Prius for his mother. That's nice,
but the breakthrough is that Americans finally have green cars that are convenient enough
and cool enough to drive.
HONDA INSIGHT
BASE PRICE $19,295
FUEL EFFICIENCY 61 m.p.g. in city driving; 70 highway
COOL FEATURE Digital dashboard displays current and long-term fuel economy
WEB FANS lnsightCentral.net; lnsightman.com
TOYOTA PRIUS
BASE PRICE $19,995
FUEL EFFICIENCY 52 m.p.g. in city driving; 45 highway
COOL FEATURE Readout of fuel consumption and dual energy systems
WEB FANS Priusenvy.com; c/ubs.yahoo.com/ clubs/toyotaprius

294

LECTURE 10
Section 1
Seminar Group Work or Presentations

New Scientific Ideas Can Never Be

Readily Accepted by Those Who Cling
to Old Beliefs
Fourier and other scientists

Section 2

Capacitance
The Film Visions of the Future
Section 3
Expressing the Future

295

Section 1 Seminar Work

New Scientific Ideas Can Never Be Readily
Accepted by Those Who Cling to Old Beliefs
A successful scientist is full of curiosity he wants to find
out how and why the universe works. He is a good observer,
accurate, patient and objective and applies persistent and
logical thought to the observations he makes. He utilizes the
facts he observes to the fullest extent. He is sceptical and he
always checks statements and makes experiments carefully
and objectively to verify them. He is also highly imaginative
since he often has to look for relationships in data.
Furthermore, he needs imagination to make hypotheses of
how processes work and how events take place. Sure, there
are strange scientific facts gleaned from the natural world.
So, we all know what the Greek mathematician Archimedes
was doing with a bath full of dirty water and a gold crown.
But very few people know which scientific principles link the
19th century engineer Brunel with a bear who adores
marmalade sandwiches.
Recent developments in science seem to be governed by
two complementary processes: a steady increase in
disciplinary specialisation on the on hand and growing
transdisciplinary integration on the other. New research
approaches often emerge at the interface of overlapping
disciplines. They frequently call for research efforts
exceeding the scope of individual projects and hence can be
only realised through cooperation of several research
groups as joint undertakings for example.
Assignments:
1
Read the following texts and afterwards
2
Watch the film Visions of the Future

296

Group

1 Galileo Galilee, born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa, Italy, was the first modern scientist
to pioneer experimental scientific method and the first to use a refracting telescope to
make important astronomical discoveries. Galileo made a series of profound discoveries
using a new telescope, including the moons of the planet Jupiter and the phases of the
planet Venus (similar to those of Earth's moon). As a professor of astronomy at
University of Pisa, Galileo was required to teach the accepted theory of his time that the
sun and all the planets revolved around the Earth. Later at University of Padua he was
exposed to a new theory, proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus, that the Earth and all the
other planets revolved around the sun. Galileo's observations with his new telescope
convinced him of the truth of Copernicus's sun-centred or heliocentric theory.
2 Galileo's support for the heliocentric theory got him into trouble with the Roman
Catholic Church. In 1633 the Inquisition convicted him of heresy and forced him to
recant (publicly withdraw) his support of Copernicus. They sentenced him to life
imprisonment, but because of his advanced age allowed him serve his term under house
arrest. In his own lifetime Galileo was
the centre of violent controversy; but the scientific dust has long since settled, and today
we can see even his famous clash with the Inquisition in something like its proper
perspective.
Galileo's originality as a scientist lay in his method of inquiry. First he reduced problems
to a simple set of terms on the basis of everyday experience and common-sense logic.
Then he analyzed and resolved them according to simple mathematical descriptions. The
success with which he applied this technique to the analysis of motion opened the way
for modern mathematical and experimental physics.
3 Galileo was the first to crystallise the ideas into a single theory. His theory of
kinematics was based upon four operational definitions, time, distance, velocity and
acceleration. From this beginning he developed the concepts of average or uniform
velocity, average acceleration and instantaneous velocity.
It is of vital importance that there is a frame of reference in order to define motion. The
old view of Galileo was delightfully uncomplicated. He was, above all, a man who
experimented: who despised the prejudices and book learning of the Aristotelians, who
put his questions to nature instead of to the ancients, and who drew his conclusions
fearlessly.
As a professor of astronomy at University of Pisa, Galileo was required to teach the
accepted theory of his time that the sun and all the planets revolved around the Earth.
Later at University of Padua he was exposed to a new theory, proposed by Nicolaus
Copernicus, that the Earth and all the other planets revolved around the sun. Galileo's
observations with his new telescope convinced him of the truth of Copernicus's suncentred or heliocentric theory.

297

4 He had been the first to turn a telescope to the sky, and he had seen there evidence
enough to overthrow Aristotle and Ptolemy together. He was the man who climbed the
Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped various weights from the top, he was the man who
rolled balls down inclined planes, and then generalized the results of his many
experiments into the famous law of free fall. He abstracted from a moving body those
qualities which he considered to be secondary such as colour and odour and he thought of
such a body as a moving mathematical point. He thought of this motion as occurring in
an idealized world, free from air friction. His theory of kinematics was based on four
operational definitions, time, distance, velocity and acceleration.
His telescopic observations are justly immortal; they aroused great interest at the time,
they had important theoretical consequences, and they provided a striking demonstration
of the potentialities hidden in instruments and apparatus. But can we blame those who
looked and failed to see what Galileo saw, if we remember that to use a telescope at the
limit of its powers calls for long experience and intimate familiarity with one's
instrument?
Galileo died at Arcetri in 1642the year Isaac Newton was born.

Group

5 While Galileo was concerned with an abstract system which he analysed in an abstract
world using algebra, Sir Isaac Newton studied a more concrete world and was interested
in kinetics, as he took mass and force into consideration as well as velocity and
acceleration. Newton's laws are applied to physical objects on or around the earth.
Newton formulated three laws of motion which describe the relationship between force
and motion. Isaac Newton used one of Galileo's mathematical descriptions, "The Law of
Inertia," as the foundation for his "First Law of Motion." Newton's Laws are applied to
physical objects on or around the earth. Newton formulated three laws of motion which
describe the relationship between force and motion.
The first law states that:
In the absence of a net force, a body at rest will remain at rest and a body in motion will
continue in motion in a straight line at constant speed.
The second law of motion states that:
When a net force acts on a body it will be accelerated in the direction of the force with
acceleration proportional to the magnitude of the force.
The third law of motion states that:
When a body exerts a force on another body the second body exerts a force on the first
body of the same magnitude but in the opposite direction.

298

6 If most of us were asked what we knew about Isaac Newton, we should probably reply
that he discovered the laws of gravity through watching an apple fall from a tree in his
garden. So far as it goes the answer would be true; for years after that charming story had
gone into circulation his niece, who was also his housekeeper, confirmed the truth of that
incident in the garden of the old house at Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire. His mind was one
of the most remarkable in the history of human thought; His discoveries marked the end
of one period of mankind and the beginning of another; and his genius in mathematics
laid the foundation for the scientific discoveries of the ages of mechanical triumph which
followed.
7 Isaac Newton seems to have had no friends, no emotional life at all. He had a power of
concentrating his mind on any abstract problem with such intensity that he might almost
have been in a trance. In that state the answers to the most difficult problems of
mathematics were arrived at or at least the sure method of arriving at them was found.
Newton reluctantly published the results of his discoveries, and then as though by
accident. The book which gave to the world his great findings about gravitation was held
up for twenty years after he had in fact made those discoveries, and its appearance even
then depended upon a chance visit of the astronomer Halley. Strangest of all, for the last
forty years of his life he took no further interest in any of these subjects.
8
He was born on Christmas Day, 1642, the same year that Galileo died. Galileo
had himself been concerned with precisely the problems which were to occupy the mind
of this yeoman farmer's son in Lincolnshire. Galileo had been studying the force which
caused balls to run down sloped wooden planks, and calculating how far they would go
up a plank inclined the other way. Why do things move? What force is at work in each
instance: the wind moving the sails of a mill, the balls rolling down the boards, the stars
swirling round the sun? For Galileo knew that the stars did move through the heavens.
Why do things move?
9
Young Isaac Newton seems to have taken up the quest. As a schoolboy there are
stories of his mechanical creations, kites and a little mill whose motive power was a
mouse on a treadmill inside. Record has it that he was not a particularly bright boy at
school; and just when his mind sprang into activity his mother took him away from
school to run the farm, for his father had died just before Isaac was born. He was a poor
farmer, his mind never on the farm work but invariably on some new "gadget" which
intrigued him. After four years, at the advice of friends, Mrs. Newton sent him to
Cambridge. Isaac Newton was then nineteen.
10
By the time he had just turned twenty, that astonishing mind was already set on
its task of the discovery of natural laws. In 1664, he made his famous experiment with a
prism which revealed to him the nature of light. This had long puzzled the scientists. He
used to spend months in a darkened room doing experiments Newton made a small hole
in the shutter of his room, allowed one beam of sunlight to strike through it on to a prism,
and saw that the rays of the different colours were bent at different angles, thus splitting
up the pure white light into the seven colours of the rainbow. So, something that appears
green, such as grass, looks green because it reflects the green light in the sun and absorbs
most of the other colors. Through another prism he was able to rejoin them into white
light again Some of his experimenting was dangerous because he would look at the sun,
(something his mother had told him never to do), and stare at the reflection of the sun in a
mirror

299

until he lost his sight. Then he shut himself up in a dark room for several days until his
vision finally returned.
*The Law of Reflection. Light is known to behave in a very predictable manner. If a ray of light
could be observed approaching and reflecting off of a flat mirror, then the behaviour of the light
as it reflects would follow a predictable law known as the law of reflection. The diagram below
illustrates the law of reflection.

In the diagram, the ray of light approaching the mirror is known as the incident ray
(labeled I in the diagram). The ray of light which leaves the mirror is known as the
reflected ray (labeled R in the diagram). At the point of incidence where the ray strikes
the mirror, a line can be drawn perpendicular to the surface of the mirror; this line is
known as a normal line (labeled N in the diagram). The normal line divides the angle
between the incident ray and the reflected ray into two equal angles. The angle between
the incident ray and the normal is known as the angle of incidence. The angle between
the reflected ray and the normal is known as the angle of reflection. (These two angles
are labeled with the Greek letter "theta" accompanied by a subscript; read as "theta-i" for
angle of incidence and "theta-r" for angle of reflection.) The law of reflection states that
when a ray of light reflects off a surface, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of
reflection.
11
Dissatisfied with the type of telescope which had served Galileo, and using his
new knowledge of the nature of light and the laws of the bending of light rays through
lenses, Newton invented a telescope, the system of which governs its construction today.
Out of Newton's studies in the analysis of the spectrum has come the whole technique of
modern spectrum analysis which is the basis of research in present-day astronomy. One
result of the invention was that the young man was invited to become a Fellow of the
recently formed Royal Society. Another was his book on Optics.*
12
The next year Cambridge suffered from an epidemic and the twenty-three-year
old Newton went home to Woolsthorpe for nearly two years. It was during that period
that he made his greatest discoveries, his marvellous mind seeming to blossom into the
utmost brilliance. It was then that he established the mathematical laws of gravitation
which governed our knowledge until Einstein built upon them his superstructure of
relativity.

300

Group

13
The rough fact of gravitation had already become a subject of investigation, as
we have seen, to such minds as that of Galileo. Newton reduced it to mathematical law.
Indeed, the particular contribution which Newton made to human progress was that he
used mathematics in every situation to solve every problem he found. Everything, he
believed, had a mathematically measurable cause which would give a mathematically
predictable effect. It was not, therefore, that he was- only concerned with an apple falling
from the tree in his sunlit Lincolnshire garden, but that he worked out exactly how
quickly it fell; and from the measurement of time and space deduced the whole law of
measuring the movement between bodies, which governs the movement of the earth, the
moon, and the stars.
14
And also he showed us the fundamental fact of mechanics, in his passion for
exact measurement. For two hundred and fifty years since, the whole of science has
accepted that basis for its method. Newton stood at a parting of the ways: behind him was
guesswork, the acceptance of all manner of mystical explanations or evasions of
problems; after him, along the way he pointed, was the belief that Nature's laws were
measurable and calculable. With Newton, "the greatest genius that ever lived," we move
into the age of mechanics.
15
It was during those years at Woolsthorpe, too, that he invented that complicated
piece of mathematics, the differential calculus, to give him power to make measurements
of things which could not have been measured before. He invented it, as he had invented
his telescope, because he wanted an instrument.
16
During those years in his early twenties Newton thus made three revolutionary
discoveries: the laws of optics and of the composition of light; the laws of dynamics and
of gravity; and the mathematical method of the differential calculus which enabled later
scientists to continue his vast work of exact measurement of speed and acceleration. It is
part of the strangeness of this man that he made no effort to exploit these discoveries or
to gather fame or reward by publishing them. None of them was revealed until many
years afterwards. He went back to Cambridge, continued his investigations and
calculations, and put aside the results for years.
17
In respect to gravitation, he was first put off by the false idea which existed about
the dimensions of the earth, for it was the essential basis of his theory that the size of one
body in relation to another governed its power of attraction. Many years later the correct
diameter of the earth was made known, and forthwith Newton's observed measurements
of its pull upon the moon were correct. Still he made no effort to publish his discovery.
18
In 1687, twenty years after Newton had made his calculation, Halley the
astronomer visited him to question him about the path of the planets round the sun.
Newton assured him that this path was an ellipse and not a circle. He had calculated it

301

but had lost the papers, so he worked it all out again for Halley's benefit. In that
conversation he revealed his manuscript, the Principia, which embodied his laws of
gravity, and Halley determined that it must be published.*
19
As the Royal Society had used all their available funds to issue a book on fish,
Halley himself paid the costs, for Newton had so often given large sums to assist the
publication of the work of other scientists that he had no money of his own. So, almost by
chance, this enormous discovery was made known to the world in 1687.
20
Newton, although he was still only forty-four years old, had almost lost interest
in this whole subject. In the quiet of Cambridge he pursued curious studies in biblical
affairs. For the second half of his long life he carried on his duties as Master of the Mint
to which he had been appointed, and wrote dull (and completely erroneous) studies of
biblical chronology based on the idea that the world was created in the year 4004 B.C. So
this greatest genius in the vast field of mathematics, this man whose concentrated thought
as a youth of twenty-three had altered the whole of our conceptions of the universe,
turned his back on his own noble speculations.
21
Though familiar as a falling apple, gravity remains the least understood force in
nature. Dropping through a vacuum, a feather and an apple fulfil Galileo's bold prediction
of 1638: All objects fall at the same rate of acceleration. Or do they? Gravity, in a sense
discovered by Newton is a cornerstone of modern science. Newton's Principia, often
called the greatest scientific book of all time, laid out the mechanics of gravity and,
consequently, of the entire known universe.
22
Of the four known natural forces, gravity was the first seen but is the least
understood. The others are electromagnetism, which we know as electricity, magnetism,
and light, the strong force binding atomic nuclei; and the weak force causing radioactive
decay.
23
Though gravity rules the universe, the other forces are trillions of times
stronger. Earth's gravity field is so weak that when you pick up a rock, your muscles are
easily overcoming the pull of the planet's entire 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
kilograms (6.6 sextillion tons). Gravity, too, is the only force man cannot control. We can
increase, decrease, and sometimes even reverse the others. But not gravity. It cannot be
reflected, stopped, or slowed. It always attracts, never repels.
24
Gravity has always occupied the best minds, including Galileo Galilee, the
extraordinary 17th-century Italian who was the first modern scientist. Before Galileo, it
had been assumed largely from a dictate of Aristotle that gravity causes a heavy
object to fall faster than a light one. Aristotle had confused the effects of gravity's pull
with the distance something could be propelled. You can throw a small rock farther than
a big one, so the big one must fall faster. Galileo decided to see what actually happens,
but he probably never dropped cannon balls or anything else from the tower of Pisa.
Instead, he rolled balls of different weights down and up inclined planes. Galileo found
that all objects, no matter what they are made of, fall at the same ever increasing rate.
Thus, if air resistance is ignored, a cannonball and a wooden ball dropped simultaneously
will strike the ground at the same time.

302

Newton's law of gravitation, universally accepted by scientists showed that any two
objects attract each other at a rate directly proportional to their mass and inversely
proportional to the square of their distance apart. An object ten times closer feels a pull
not ten times but a hundred times greater. And his mathematical invention, calculus,
explained why the apple falls straight down instead of, say, sideways toward a nearby
mountain or building: All the gravitational mass of the earth pulls toward a single point at
the planet's centre, overwhelming the minuscule pull of other objects.
25
The Etvs tests actually showed that objects fall at slightly different rates
according to their atomic makeup the more tightly packed the atomic nucleus, the
slower the fall.

Group

26
Every list of the 20th century's most outstanding figures must include Albert
Einstein because that eraand our ownis unimaginable without him and his influence.
Even today, a century after his earth-shaking 1905 papers on relativity, quantum theory
and molecular theory, the questions that preoccupied Einstein remain at the forefront of
science. Albert Einstein baffled people with his claims that both time and space are not
absolute but relative. He argued that space-time is curved: and that matter and energy are
the same thing.
27
In 1905 Albert Einstein was developing his special relativity theory equating
energy and mass. That was also the year when he proposed that light was itself quantized,
or particle-like to explain how electrons were emitted when light hit certain metals.
According to Einsteins equation, E=mc2, where E is energy, m is mass, and c is the
unvarying speed of light, we have come closer to the inner world of an atom, to a world
where matter and energy are interchangeable, because this equation states that mass and
energy are merely different versions of the same thing. Energy is matter and matter is
energy. Thus, our reality, material life is relative or that relativity of the matter is reality.
Gravity is overwhelmed by far stronger forces that bind together matter.
28
In 1916 Einstein modified Newtons Principia with general relativity. While
Newton's universe was clocklike and stately, Einsteins was strange and unsettling.
Gravity was not a simple pull, but the very architecture of the universe itself.
According to Einstein, in a perfectly uniform universe one containing no matter
there would exist only time and a vast sheet of space, representing the possibility of
gravity. Gravity would not yet exist. But if you put matter, say a star, into this universe,
you would distort the sheet of space-time, like setting a cannonball on a taut sheet of
canvas. This dimpling effect is gravity.

303

29
From the point of Einsteins general relativity, it is easy to say that gravity is not
a force at all. It is simply the normal behaviour of matter in space-time. In terms of
general relativity, then, gravity is simply a curvature caused by material objects in spacetime. The universe itself,
fuelled by gravity, is a consortium of the curvatures caused by all celestial objects
pushing against the canvas of space and time. It is a difficult mental image. According to
Einstein, gravity, when strong, slows time and bends space. In 1919 astronomers found
that the tremendous mass of the sun curves space just enough to slow light travelling
through it, thus accounting for the apparent displacement of a star on the far side of the
sun as an oar seems to bend in water.
Some physicists think gravity ultimately could cause the end of the universe, too, if its
current expansion eventually reverses itself in a massive gravitational contraction.
30
A black hole is a creation of gravity, says Stephen W. Hawking, a general
relativist who holds Newtons old chair at Cambridge University.
Newton first posited the idea of escape velocity, and a black hole is an object so dense
that the speed required to escape its gravity is greater than that of light. This was said by
Stephen W. Hawking, the Cambridge astrophysicist and author of A Brief History of
Time and also the author of "cosmic inflation," a theory that modifies the Big Bang
explanation of the creation of the universe. Hawking has Lou Gehrig's disease, a
degenerative neurological condition that has left him nearly paralyzed. He can speak only
with the help of a computer that he operates with minute finger motions. He doesn't claim
to know the absolute truth. Like other scientists, he collaborates with his peers to try to
answer questions that seem to defy human intelligence. He is living proof of the power of
the human mind.
31
According to Einstein, during a cataclysmic event in space like the birth pangs
of a black hole, waves of gravity should swarm back and forth across the field of spacetime as an earthquake sends shock waves through the earth.
Because of Newton and Einstein, scientists today can measure gravitys effect with
precision. Still, nobody knows exactly what drives gravity what makes it happen, do
they?
Einstein never accepted quantum mechanics because he felt that randomness could not be
the ultimate reality saying that God does not play dice and so he debated the point
with Danish physicist Niels Bohr. Although on this point Einstein has been proved wrong
today his special relativity theory is put to work in accelerators (CERN, and others),
where energy is transformed into short-lived subatomic particles that fly wildly in all
directions.
32
Western scientific viewpoints try to identify subatomic particles. Nearly all the
several hundred known subatomic particles are made of qurks, bound together by the torn
nuclear force.
Electrons can only show clouds od probability, where electrons are statistically most
likely to be. An electron could be anywhere in or near the cloud. Electrons do not orbit
the nucleus in a two-dimensional plane as planets orbit about the sun. Orbit is a term left
over from what has become an outdated view of atoms.

304

Group

33
Niels Bohr stated that electrons behaved in quantum fashion. They remained in
fixed orbits and moved from one orbit to another in quantum leaps, jumps when they
emitted or absorbed energy. Niels Bohr was the first scientist to highlight the fact that
the quantum theory discovered the wholeness of nature and thereby its integrity,
inseparability or indivisibility.
34
In 1925 Heisenberg created the new quantum mechanics, and in 1927 he
formulated the uncertainty principle: it is impossible and technically difficult to measure
simultaneously both the precise momentum and position of a subatomic particle. As
described by the Heisenberg unsertainty principle and the whole of quantum theory, the
kind of objects they seem to be depends on how we observe them. By our observation we
alter their states. The strangest of quantum reality has led us to speculate that reality is a
meaningless idea.
35
In the exclusion principle that no two like electrons could occupy the same
orbit, Wolfgang Pauli proposed a theory necessary to understand the chemical bonds
between atoms. Erwin Scgrdinger suggested that electrons were actually waves. Pauli
confirmed the correctness of quantum mechanics by employing the theory of hydrogen
atom. Taken together, these aspects of quantum theory postulated that observation not
only affects reality but in a way creates it we can choose to measure light as particles or
as waves. Learning about the ultimate nature of matter is of utmost importance to the
human race. The answer to the question what the matter and energy is, gives us a vision
of ourselves, the vision of the universe, and man. It is a vision of who we are, where we
are going to, and where we come from. The understanding of the universes deepest
secrets leads us to a new concept of reality, a new period of human history.
Matter is bound energy, particles and waves are one, and reality is a kind of
unscertainty. Everything in the cosmos has been composed of these particles.
36
James Maxwell discovered that electricity and magnetism are two aspects of
the same force. The weak force, the strong force, the electromagnetic force and
gravitational force are just aspects or entities of a single underlying interaction, one
grand unified theory, all four forces may be unified as one. This unifying unity is
obscured but however there is one that can be felt in other fields such as philosophy,
communications, physics, linguistics, natural sciences and that is the inner force of
communication, the inner law of communication, the inner force called also spirit, Geist,
dah, duh, the whole that exists in everything. The visible world is the invisible
organization of energy said physicist Heinz Pagels .
37
Quantum mechanics merely makes statistical predictions for the behaviour of
subatomic matter. Einstein could not abide the randomness of quantum mechanics. God
does not play dice with the world, he declared. So, he spent his last 30 years

305

trying to find a single theoretical statement that would explain the behaviour of both
subatomic particles and the curved geometry of gravity.
38
The secret of this theory of everything, as physicists only half-jokingly call it,
may lie at the beginning of the universe. When it was just a point of infinite heat, density,
and pure energy, all four forces may have existed as one in a state of symmetry.
As the universe exploded outward, symmetry was broken and the forces split off from
one another. Three of the forces went to work inside atoms, employing tiny force carriers
known as bosons. These short-lived subatomic particles zip back and forth between
protons, neutrons, and electrons, binding them together or pushing them apart. Could
gravitons do the same job for gravity?
Albert Einstein baffled people with his claims that time and space are not absolute but
relative. He argued that space-time is curved: and that matter and energy are the same
thing.
39
Would you like to investigate the work of the scientists and inventors who
helped to establish the modern world?

Scientists claim they have broken the ultimate speed barrier: the
speed of light.

40
In research carried out in the United States, particle physicists have shown that
light pulses can be accelerated to up to 300 times their normal velocity of 186,000 miles
per second.
Exact details of the findings remain confidential because they have been submitted to
Nature, the international scientific journal, for review prior to possible publication. The
work was carried out by Dr. Lijun Wang, of the NEC research institute in Princeton,
who transmitted a pulse of light towards a chamber filled with specially treated cesium
gas.
Wang said he could not give details but confirmed: "Our light pulses did indeed travel
faster than the accepted speed of light. I hope it will give us a much better
understanding of the nature of light and how it behaves."
41
Dr. Raymond Chiao, professor of physics at the University of California at
Berkeley, who is familiar with Wang's work, said he was impressed by the findings.
"This is a fascinating experiment," he said.
"The most likely application for this is not in time travel but in speeding up the way
signals move through computer circuits," he said.
Wang's experiment is the latest and possibly the most important evidence that the
physical world may not operate according to any of the accepted conventions.
In the new world that modern science is beginning to perceive, sub-atomic particles can
apparently exist in two places at the same time making no distinction between space
and time.
Wang emphasizes that his experiments are relevant only to light and may not apply to
other physical entities. But scientists are beginning to accept that man may eventually
exploit some of these characteristics for interstellar space travel.

306

42 David Bohm called the Implicate order: indivisible and mirror image of our reality.
This is the domain of the delta level: less than 4 Hz (vibrations per second) of the cortical
region.
The spiritual aspect and the comprehension of what is happening is within every
human being. Each and everyone have access to it. Quantum physics has only brushed
experimentally the big question: has matter created mind or mind created matter? Even
though the later is strongly hinted at, the real proof is within the laboratory of one's own
mind. Not within an external technological laboratory apparatus. Although time and
space have been experimentally bridged within major research physics labs recently, the
implications have yet to seep through mankind's psyche.
43 Undoubtedly, the most important realization about the nature of reality in the history
of mankind was made and proven through a series of experiments conducted at the
University of Paris-south in 1982 by a team of optical physicists led by Alain Aspect.
These experiments, using high speed switching mechanisms and photons (particles of
light) produced by mercury vapour, proved without the shadow of a doubt that the
famous mathematical inequality of the theorem of John Bell published in 1964 had
indeed been violated. This expressed for the average person, not versed in the highly
complex world of quantum mechanics which gave us the transistor, computers ,
superconductivity etc...., that space is "non-local" which means that it is illusory and the
world is not composed of objects that added together form the Universe. Rather, the
"subject" viewing the "object" form an indivisible whole where everything is related, and
everyone influence everyone and everything else. In other words, there exists a realm
outside of space/time where all events of the fundamental processes of nature and life per
se operate outside of space/time but generate perceived realities within space/time. Nonlocality means that this domain is everywhere and nowhere in particular, everywhen and
nowhen. It is nowhere and now&here.

ASSIGNMENT
Who else is behind the new wind of change, where is it blowing, who
is standing against it? Watch the film Visions of the future and
research new scientific ideas!
Write a composition on the following subject:
'New ideas can never be readily accepted by those who cling to old
beliefs.' Argue in favour of this statement.
Some points for discussion:

Why are new ideas resisted when they first make their appearance?
Why did the views of Aristotle and Ptolemy persist for such a long (Examples:
The observation of Copernicus that the earth goes round the sun; the views of Galileo:
the scientific method; Kepler's ideas on planetary motions; Freud's ideas on
psychology ;)
There are, however, exceptions and some ideas have been accepted almost
without question: Newton's ideas on gravitation were acclaimed in the
eighteenth century just as Einstein's ideas on relativity were acclaimed in the
twentieth.
And also you may investigate other issues, the invention of the jet engine, for
example, the greatest engineering achievement of the century. And yet its
inventor, Frank Whittle initially met with hostility, indifference and dramatic struggle
307

to get the first jet engine built. No one would help him at first, and he had to found his
own company and build test engines himself. So dangerous was this that his team
often had to flee for cover.
Investigate the work of the scientists and inventors who helped to establish the
modern world and research new scientific ideas!
Who else is behind the new wind of change, where is it blowing, who is standing
against it? Some of the names should be mentioned like:
Bakelite, the first totally synthetic plastic, was named after its inventor Leo
Baekelend.
Mathematician Alan Turings ideas on thinking and logic helped to create some of
the first computers. They remain relevant to work on artificial intelligence today.
We could reveal how Ernest Rutherford discovered what atoms are alike inside and
how one element can change into another.
What do we know about Leonardo da Vinci?
What is the golden number? Why is our time too short even to say what
Grahams number is? It would be interesting to probe the nature of numbers
whether they are old or new, named or unnamed.
Have you known that every year thousands of researchers gather at the American
Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Atlanta to compare notes on
the most exciting discoveries of the previous 12 month? With almost 100 talks
covering everything from sub-atomic particles to life-threatening superbugs, there is
bound to be plenty interesting issues to discover. Every year a similar meeting is also
organized in Rijeka.
There is a new field that is transforming material technology, in chemistry labs,
architects offices, hospitals and fashion houses across the world, the science of
smart materials is emerging. A smart material transforms its properties in response
to changes in its environment. Drawing on nature for inspiration, the smart
technologists talk of aircraft wings inspired by the flight patterns of the locust,
energy-saving architecture based on the properties of a sea cucumber and even of
plans to make a biological brain by replacing inanimate printed circuit boards of
conventional computers with soft neural networks that can think. Interesting?
Can you provide the science answers to some interesting questions that perplex you
as for example how cicadas make so much noise, and when we see the rainbow
colours, and if sneezing damage our heart?
Baff puzzle, confuse so as to keep from understanding

308

 Quantum field theory

Is a body of physical principles designed to account for subatomic phenomena? The
theory also has found applications in other branches of physics. The theory arises from the
attempt to combine the principles of quantum mechanics with those of relativity in an effort
to describe processes such as high-energy collisions in which particles may be created or
destroyed.
The prototype of quantum field theories is quantum electrodynamics (QED), which
describes the interaction of electrically charged particles via electromagnetic fields. Here,
electric and magnetic forces are regarded as arising from the emission and absorption of
exchange particles or photons. These can be represented as disturbances of electromagnetic
fields, much as ripples on a lake are disturbances of the water. Under suitable conditions,
photons may become entirely free of charged particles; they are then detectable as light and
other forms of electromagnetic radiation. Similarly, particles such as electrons are
themselves regarded as disturbances of their own quantized fields. Numerical predictions
based on QED agree with experimental data to within one part in 10,000,000 in some
cases.
There is a widespread conviction among physicists that other forces in naturethe
weak force responsible for radioactive beta-decay; the strong force, which binds together
the constituents of atomic nuclei; and perhaps also gravitational forcescan be described
by theories similar to QED. These theories are known collectively as gauge theories. Each
of the forces is mediated by its own set of exchange particles, and differences between the
forces are reflected in the properties of these particles. For example, electromagnetic and
gravitational forces operate over long distances, and their exchange particles (the photon
and the graviton) have no mass. The weak and strong forces operate only over distances
shorter than the size of an atomic nucleus. They are mediated by massive particles, which
can travel only short distances during the exchange process.
It is also hoped that all the forces can be encompassed in a single gauge field theory. In
such a unified theory, all the forces would have a common origin and would be related by
mathematical symmetries. The simplest result would be that all the forces had identical
properties. A mechanism called spontaneous symmetry breaking is used to account for the
observed differences.
A unified theory of electromagnetic and weak forces already has considerable
experimental support; it is likely that this theory can be extended to include the strong
force. There also exist theories that include the gravitational force, but these are more
speculative.
How about this one? Well, right now Scientists at Los Alamos have developed a new
unbreakable cryptography code that uses the "quantum entanglement " ( non-locality, i.e.
outside of space) property of twin photons to always follow instantly each other's
polarization direction, no matter how far they are separated from one another. This means
that they transcend any notion of space/time as they communicate with each other across
infinite space using the fabric of the Matrixwhich is thought. Remote Viewing par
excellence! This is what Alain Aspect proved experimentally in Paris in 1982. And this
realization is being applied in the year 2000 to cryptography. We are really now exploring
and decoding the world of the fabric of the Universe or the invisible "Matrix of Life."
(http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/20/physics.unhack.idg/index.html)

309

ranslate into English

Speed i velocity obino imaju isto znaenje. U fizici, speed i velocity imaju
odreena razliita znaenja. Speed jednog predmeta pokazuje kako se ono brzo
kree, t.j. udaljenost koju e predmet prijei u dato vrijeme. Ona nam meutim
nita ne kazuje o smjeru u kojem se predmet kree. Speed je skalarna kvantiteta koja
se odnosi na kako se brzo jedan objekt kree.
Kvantiteta u fizici koja kombinira brzinu tijela sa smjerom u kojem se kree naziva
se velocity. Velocity se definira kao relativna brzina (rate) premijetanja sa mjesta,
t.j. relativna brzina gibanja u posebnom smjeru.
Velocity je kvantiteta vektora koja se odnosi na brzinu kojom jedan objekt mijenja
poziciju.

Correct your translation

Speed and velocity are commonly given the same meaning. In physics, speed and velocity
have definite separate meanings. The speed of an object indicates how fast it is moving,
that is, the distance the object will travel at a given time. It tells us nothing, however,
about the direction in which the object is moving. Speed is a scalar quantity that refers to "how
fast an object is moving
The quantity of physics which combines the speed of a body with the direction in which it
moves is called velocity. Velocity is defined as the rate of displacement, that is, the rate of
motion in a particular direction. Velocity is a vector quantity that refers to the rate at
which an object changes position .

Are the nouns below in plural or singular form?

mathematics .................................................
dynamics

.................................................

kinetics

...............................................

physics

...............................................

Write singular forms of the following nouns:

axes, data, formulae, maxima, media, phenomena
Write the verb and adjective form of the following nouns:
variability, prediction, result, validity, acceleration, act, behaviour, cause, change,
definition, form, investigation, motion, occurance, performance, precision
Auto-correction.
verb forms: vary, predict, result, validate, accelerate, act, behave, cause, change,
define, form, investigate, move, occur, perform, state precisely
adjective forms: variable, predictive, resultative, valid, accelerative, active, behavioral,
causative, changeable, definite, formal, investigative, motional, occurent, performable, precise

Translate into Croatian and explain the following logic elements:

proposition, statement, postulate, principle, axiom, and law.

310

Is this mathematican the true father of modern engineering?

by Eugene F. Adiutori

FOURIER
oncepts that engineers use ev ery
dayas fundamental
as the homogeneity of
equations and the heat transfer
coefficientwere pioneered by
a French thinker who died in
1830. His name was Joseph
Fourier. He is better known
for his career in mathematics,
but his contributions to
engineering science are so
important that a case can be
made for calling him the father
Joseph Fourier
of modern engineering.
Fourier's contributions to engineering
science, many of which were presented in his
1822 book, The Analytical Theory of Heat,
include the original view of dimensional
homogeneity. The heat transfer science it
presented has been handed down to us
virtually unchanged, and has served as a
model for other branches of engineering.
The book also presented his concept of
"flux" (that is, a flow of something per unit
area and time), his view of homogeneity, and
his original methods for solving engineering
problems, all of which are used today in
many branches of engineering and science.
In short, this treatise by Fourier
presented the groundwork, as well as
some of the finish work, for modern
engineering. Fourier conceived the view
that scientifically rigorous equations must be
dimensionally identical-that is, each term
in an equation must have the same
dimension. For example, if the left side of an
equation is pounds per cubic foot, the
dimension of the right side must also be
pounds per cubic foot. If the left side is
measured in pounds per cubic foot and the
right side feet per second, the equation is
irrational.
Fourier's view of homogeneity is now
considered almost self-evident, but in the
early 19th century, it was revolutionary. It
required the multiplication and division of
dimensions -mathematical operations that
had been deemed irrational for more than
2,000 years. For example, Hooke' s law says
that stress is proportional to strain.

Newton's second law holds that the

change of motion is proportional to the
impressed force.
But Fourier was not satisfied with
proportional expressions. He wanted to
arrive at laws in the form of equations
that could be used quantitatively to
describe and predict natural behavior,
specifically of heat transfer. To do it,
Fourier had to create a new kind of
parameter.
During his years at Grenoble, he
conducted heat transfer experiments. In
the manner of his predecessors, he
could have considered his work
finished when he observed that
convective heat flux is proportional to temperature difference and that conductive heat
flux is proportional to temperature gradient.
Neither expression will yield a homogeneous
equation.
The proportional expression for convective
heat transfer is qconv a T, where a is a pure
number generally referred to as the constant of
proportionality. Fourier would not accept that
as a law because q and T have different
dimensions: The left side is energy flow per unit
time and area, and the right side is temperature.
He solved the dilemma by stating that a is a
parameter with the same dimension as q/T,
which makes the equation homogeneous.
Rather than retain a generic name and symbol
for the new parameter, he called it "heat
transfer coefficient" and gave it the symbol h.
The end result is Fourier's law of convective
heat transfer, qconv h T. (American heat
transfer texts call this equation "Newton's law
of cooling," but it should be attributed to
Fourier.)
By a similar process, Fourier arrived at the law
of conductive heat transfer, qconij k dT/dx,
where the constant of proportionality has been
assigned the name "thermal conductivity," the
symbol k, and the same dimension as q/(dT/dx).
Fourier's view of homogeneity makes it
necessary to create parameters such as
resistances and coefficients because without
them, engineering phenomena cannot be
described by homogeneous equations.
Engineering phenomena are cause-andeffect processes: electromotive force causes
electric current; temperature difference causes
heat flux; stress causes strain.

311

Because cause and effect generally have

different dimensions, a third parameter is
necessary to obtain a homogeneous equation.
Ohm's law underwent a transformation from its
original form to make it homogeneous. Georg
Ohm published his treatise, The Galvanic
Circuit Investigated Mathematically, in 1827.
He originally expressed his famous law as:
"The force of the current in a galvanic circuit is
directly as the sum of all the tensions, and
inversely as the entire reduced length of the
circuit." Reduced length is the equivalent
length of a copper wire of a standard diameter.
As an equation, it was I = E/L, which does
not conform to Fourier's view of
homogeneity. To render it homogeneous, a
parameter was later assigned the dimension
"ohm" (a synonym for volts per ampere), and
it is now called "electrical resistance." The
homogeneous form of the equation is E - IR.
Hooke's law, that "stress is proportional to strain,"
also was transformed into a homogeneous
equation in the manner pioneered by Fourier.
It was stated that the proportionality constant
between stress and strain was a parameter.
The parameter was assigned the same dimension
as stress, since that would make the equation
VOCABULARY LIST
homogeneity, composition from like parts
homogeneous and heterogeneous
homogeneous - composed of parts all of
the same kind; not heterogeneous; of the
same kind or nature; essentially alike
heat
transfer
coefficient-koeficient
pretvorbe topline
a case could be made parnica
to have a strong case imati jake
argumente
treatise rasprava
virtually- for the most part; almost wholly;
hand down transmit
flux- tok
conceive to form a notion, opinion
rational and irrational
deem judge, regarded as
stress - naprezanje
strain- napetost
predecessor- prethodnik
yield dati (rezultata)

homogeneous. "This parameter is now called

"material modulus." The homogeneous equation
based on Hooke's law is called "Young's law.
Fourier's contemporaries forestalled the general
publication of his work for 15 years while they
claimed to find fault with it. For example,
they strongly objected to his concept of flux, a
concept that now seems so simple and
straightforward as to border on the obvious.
They ultimately accepted his revolutionary
view of homogeneity, solely because he was
able to solve many practical and theoretical
problems that had never been solved. He
attributed his success to the homogeneity in
his equations.
Is this French mathematician the true father of
modern engineering?
Editor's Note: A fuller discussion of Fourier, on which this
article is based, is available at www.memagazine.org.
Eugene F. Adiutori is the author of The New Heat Transfer, which
was published in the 1970s in English and Russian. His article, "Origins of the Heat Transfer Coefficient," appeared in Mechanical Engineering magazine in August 1990.

30 August 2005 mechanical engineering

convection Physics, the transfer of heat

by the circulation or movement of the heated
parts of a liquid or gas; the act of conveying
or transmitting,
convective activity in Meteorology- any
manifestation of convection in the
atmosphere as hail, thunderstorms
it does not conform to nije usklaen sa
to undergo a transformation
entire having all the parts or elements;
whole; complete
forestall osujetiti, sprijeiti
straightforwarddirect,
free
from
crookedness (iskrivljenost)
attribute pripisivati
to find fault with sth criticize, to seek
and make known defects or flaws
He constantly finds fault with her cooking.
ultimately- konano, nakon svega
solely
merely

312

5.1. ASSIGNMENT
Why is this French mathematician the true father of modern engineering?
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
The essential idea is
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................
The supporting idea is
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................
Explain the Fourier's law of convective heat transfer
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................
Translate the following:
"The force of the current in a galvanic circuit is directly as the sum of all the tensions,
and inversely as the entire reduced length of the circuit."
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................
In what way was Hooke's law, that "stress is proportional to strain," transformed into a
homogeneous equation in the manner pioneered by Fourier?
...............................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................

Do you think that new scientific ideas can never be readily accepted by those
who cling to old beliefs?
Yes, I do because

313

Section 3
Expressing the Future
Going to
1
in

Is used to express personal intention. The action has usually been considered
advance and some arrangements may have been made.
Im going to invite Mary.
Were going to buy a new car.

It is used to make prediction based on what you know, feel or can see.
Look at the clouds! Its going to rain.
Look at him! Hes going to faint.

Future simple
1

expresses a future fact or prediction.

Ill be fifty in January.
Georgell be here this evening.
The concertll begin at eight. Whenll it begin?

expresses a sudden decision.

Ill phone for help.
Ill come to your house tomorrow. (=deliberate intention or promise)

expresses an offer or request.

Shall I give you a lift?

expresses a threat or a promise.

Ill help you if you ask me to.
I wont do that again.
You wont eat too much, will you?
Dont worry, we shant eat much.

expresses an opinion about the future after verbs like think, suppose, expect,
doubt if and also with probably.
I suppose hell come on time.
Hell probably be back at six.

expresses strong probability.

There is a car pulling up. Itll be John.

314

Present continuous
expresses a pre-arranged future action. It is similar in meaning and use to
going to but has less sense of personal intention.
We are giving a party tomorrow, will you come?
The break down is being repaired tomorrow.
Im seeing her tomorrow. (=Im going to meet her)

Present Simple
expresses the certain future, a fixed future event usually based on a timetable
or programme.
What time does the train arrive?

Is to
1

expresses an instruction or order.

You are to study tenses expressing the future.

talks about an action or event which has been arranged, often officially.
Im to translate this into English.

About to/due to
talks about actions or events which are expected to happen, usually very soon.
Shet is about to have a baby. The baby is due to arrive in January.

Future continuous
1

2
3
4
5

talks about an action which will be in progress at a point in the future. It asks
about facts, not about intention.
What will you be doing this time next year?
Ill be taking my final exams.
Ill be lying on the beach this time next week.
Ill be starting a job.
talks about an action which will happen as a matter of course.
Benetton will be having its winter sales soon.
I shall go to the station tomorrow. Ill be seeing you then.
expresses a request for information rather than a request for action.
Will you be designing this part today?
expresses strong probability and fact
Well be seeing us somewhere at the cafeteria.
What a lot of tests to correct! Ill probably be correcting them all day.
expresses future without intention
Ill be coming to your house tomorrow.

315

Future perfect simple and continuous

The duration or completetion of an action or state of affairs up to a
specified moment as seen from a point in the future is expressed in English by
the Future Perfect, Simple or Continuous, with for. Since is not used because,
as a rule, the time when the action or state started is not indicated. Croatian
uses impersonal construction biti e (vrijeme) da (ili kako) + Simple Present.
- Koliko su dugo u braku?
- How long have they been married?
- Prvog srpnja bit e 5 godina da su oenjeni, a u prosincu e biti dvije godine
kako
ive u Rijeci.
- On July 1st they will have been married for five years, and in December
they will have been living in Rijeka for two years.
- Sutra e biti tri tjedna kako imam ovaj posao.
- By tomorrow I will have had that job for three weeks.
- Krajem oujka bit e dva mjeseca kako traim posao.
- By the end of March I shall have been looking for a job for two months.
- Krajem srpnja bit e dvije godine kako studiram u Rijeci.
- At the end of July I shall have studied in Rijeka for two years.

Future perfect simple

Future perfect talks about a future event which will be complete by a time
which is in the future.
I shall have done this by tomorrow.
Will you still be ironing the clothes at nine?
No, Ill have ironed them by then.
You havent ironed my shirt yet! Dont worry! Ill have ironed it by
eight.
Well have been engaged for a year next August.

Future perfect continuous

Future perfect continuous talks about duration of an action or state of affairs
which wont be complete.
Have you been illustrating books for long?
By the time Ive completed this book, Ill have been illustrating them
for five years. (I shall continue illustrating them.)
Ill have been working at this Faculty of Engineering for 25 years next
September. (I wont quit, I shall continue working here.)

316

Future Perfect Tense Simple and Continuous

II.

Pair Work

- Will you still be mending your car at five?

- No, Ill have mended it by then.
- Theyve started to build the outdoor handball playground.
- I hope theyll have finished it in time for the Games.
- You havent repaired the car yet.
- Dont worry! Ill have repaired it by this evening.
- Have you been designing boats for long?
- By the time Ive designed this one, Ill have been designing them for a
year.
- How many boats have you designed now?
- When I design this one, Ill have designed three altogether.
- We cant visit the Petrovis now. Theyll be having a rest.
- Theyll have had a rest by now, surely?
- Shall we visit the Petrovis tonight, or will they still be packing?
- If they are, theyll have been packing the whole day.

317

LECTURE 11
Revision

318

Section 1
Seminar Group Work the Sience behind the Games

Section 2
Seminar Group Work Sport

Section 3
Ing- Forms

319

Section 2 Seminar Work

The Science behind the Games
When the speed skater whips through the turn, and the
grand-slalom skier attacks the mountain, and the ice
ballerina nails the triple axel, they are not just competing
against extraordinary human opponents. The athletes of the
Winter Olympic Games are also competing against the
every laws of nature. Gravity, friction and air resistance all
inspire against grace, agility and strength. Physicists like
Peter Brancazio of Brooklyn College and Richard Brandt of
New York University have analyzed the forces that operate
during athletic events, deriving equations of motions for ski
jumpers and force vectors for speed skaters. Now the
athletes are not powerless against the equations of
physics. At Albertville, sports science means more than
loading up on carbohydrates.
Science has proved to be a swimmers best training
partner. For years Australian and Russian coaches have
been analyzing computer data on turn rate, stroke
efficiency and underwater velocity. During the Olympics in
Sydney, seven videocameras trained on the pool produced
computer readouts available to competitors. Another study
is analyzing whether the new bodysuit, which has waterrepellent fabric, really reduces drag or just increases hype.
One of the few sportsmen who wore the ankle-to-wrist
model swore by it. Speed in sport is contagious. Once
barriers are broken, it opens up peoples mind.
Newsweek, February 10, 1992

320

A Group
1

How Do Skiers Go So Fast?

By minimizing air resistance. Friction between ski and snow is very small, so the main drag
on speed is the wall of air in front of the skier. Skiers can cut air resistance by decreasing their
frontal area: maintaining a tight tuck, having boot buckles flush with the boot and using poles
that curve around the body so the baskets hide behind the back. Other factors being equal, a
heavier skier is faster than a lighter one because his air resistance is lower. So a skier can go
faster by increasing mass becoming as heavy as possible for his frame. Only at about 200
pounds does the advantage of extra weight get wiped out by the increased friction with the
snow.
Are longer skis faster? The length is a compromise between one that will exert the least
pressure on the snow and one that can still be turned. A longer ski exerts fewer pounds per
square inch of pressure, and so is less likely to wind up plowing rather than gliding. But a
longer ski is also more difficult to whip around for a downhill turn or a slalom gate. Downhill
racers are choosing 220- to 225-centimeter skis (about 87 inches); slalom competitors, 204 to
207s (about 81 inches).

VOCABULARY LIST
downhill racing
downhill ski
ski jumping
slalom
cross-country
downhill
racing pole
gate pole
cross-country
stretch-suit
racing suit
ski jumping boots
skiing goggles
crash halmet
boots with safety binding (release binding)
whip through the turn move, pass quickly and suddenly jurnuti kroz zavoj
conspire against
work together against, urotiti se protiv
load up on carbohydrates
to burden, supply carbohydrates in large quantities; nabijanje
ugljikohidratima
drag
pull
koenje, zatega, otpor koji zaustavlja
tight tuck
to sew a fold or folds in a suit tightly
zategnuti, napeti naiveni nabor
boot buckles
to fasten or join with a buckle
kope na skijakim cipelama
poles
ski sticks tapovi
the pole or (ski stick) consists of the basket, grip and loop
flush with
making an even or unbroken line or surface
u istoj razini, neizboen
get wiped out
get removed , erased, cancelled out; ponitavati se
(get +past participle, i.e. get lost, get broken etc.
izgubiti se, slomiti se))
exert the least pressure, the force, strength, influence etc. on
put into action or use on
djelovati najmanjim pritiskom, silom, snagom, utjecajem na
neto
plough (AE plow )
orati, izbrazdati
wind up plowing rather than gliding zavriti tako da zaoija u snijegu a ne da klie
downhill
spust kao skijaka disciplina
lean forward
nagnuti se naprijed
train on, upon
to aim at, usmjeriti na, naciljati na
contagious
tending to spread easily from person to person;
zarazan, priljepiv
crouch
to stoop or bend low with the limbs drawn close to the body

321

B Group
2

How Do They Defy Gravity?

To maximize lift, jumpers can arch their backs to turn themselves into airplane wings.
The greater the curvature, the greater the difference in pressure at the belly and the
back, and the greater the lift. The same principle explains why airplanes stay aloft. "If
you hit it right you feel a big suction into the air," says engineer Mike Holden of
Calspan, Inc., an aerospace company that lent its wind tunnel to the ski team. In fact,
ski suits that are pervious in front, but airtight behind, round the back so much that the
skiers are practically sucked into the stratosphere.
To maximize horizontal speed, jumpers lift out of the back of their bindings on
takeoff. They lean forward so that their bodies are almost parallel to their skis. That
minimizes the size of their frontal area and therefore air resistance, or drag, enabling
them to sustain much of their initial takeoff speed.
The position of the skis during a jump is controversial. Some jumpers swear by the V
position, which is thought to simulate a delta wing, in which swirling air coming off
the wing increases lift. Others believe in offsetting the skis relative to the body to
increase the effective "wing area" and increase lift. Holden says he has found little
difference between the two positions.
VOCABULARY LIST
defy
arch their backs to turn themselves into
stay aloft
pervious and airtight
airtight
sucked into the stratosphere
bindings
sustain much of their initial speed
swear by the V position
poziciju
swirling air
offsetting
relative to the body

resist or oppose; opirati se

curve or bend;
saviti svoja lea tako da se pretvore
stay in the air, flying; ostati u zraku, u
letu
allowing passage through and too tight
for air to enter;
propustan i nepropustan za zrak
too tight for air to enter
draw in by creating a partial vacuum
usisan u stratosferu
the fastenings on a ski for the boot
vezovi
maintain or prolong;
odrati dosta od svoje poetne brzine
have great faith or confidance in the V
position; duboko vjerovati u V
a swirling motion, whirl, eddy;
vrtloni zrak
counteracting, balancing, compensating
for; izravnavanje
in proportion to, corresponding
u odnosu na tijelo

322

C Group
3

How Do You Build a Faster Luge?

By making it stay in contact with the ice. Engineers at 3M, whose

contributions ranged from research on the basics of ice friction to space-age materials
for the sled's suspension, mounted a high-speed camera on the luge. The thing was
practically bouncing down the course. This was bad. The luge runs fastest when it is
gliding on melt water, formed by friction between the leading edge of the blades and
the ice. The blades can melt ice only when they're touching it, and they melt ice most
efficiently when they've been warmed by friction. After every bounce, the blades land
cold (from exposure to the frigid air) and glide a few feet before they can melt ice
again, explains 3M's Mark Reeves.
Solution: get the athletes to relax so they absorb shocks and minimize
pounding. A relaxed luger can slice 7 seconds from his time. Second: then design the
suspension as a single system to damp bouncing.
Spike gloves provide for better traction during launch, and unbent wrists give
the strongest push-off. One tenth of a second saved at the top shaves 3 seconds off the
total time.
VOCABULARY LIST
luge
led AE or sledge BE
sled's suspension
bounce, bouncing

a racing sled for one or two persons, a small

toboggan; saonice (skeleton), small toboggan
saonice
a supporting device or framework upon or from
which something is suspended; the system of
springs, supporting a vehicle; ovjes saonica
hit against a surface so as to spring back (to
bounce a ball); odskakivati,

odskakivanje
blades
shock
pounding

the metal runner of an ice skate; otrice saonica

the impact of forces; udar
to strike or drive with repeated heavy blows
udaranje
damp bouncing
to reduce the amplitude of oscillations, waves, to
deaden the vibrations; priguiti odskakivanje
spike gloves
rukavice sa iljcima
provide for better traction during launch osigurati bolju vunu silu na poetku
traction
a pulling or drawing of a load, vehicle over a
road, the state of being pulled or drawn ;
vuna sila

323

D Group
4

What Is the Slingshot Effect?

It's the extra push a speed skater gets coming out of a turn. Because ice has
very little friction, a skater can get traction only by pushing outward and backward
with the blades of the skate. The right skate pushes back and to the right, the left
pushes back and to the left; the right-left pushes cancel out and leave only the
backward push.
Since every action provokes an equal and opposite reaction, the skater's body
goes forward.
On a turn, however, both skates push outwardto the right. The sideways
pushes do not cancel out, but add up, producing a net force inward. When the skater
comes out of the turn and barrels into the straightway, she can translate that net force
into an increase in forward speedthe slingshot.
Sideways and backwards forces are translated into a forward thrust on the
straghtaway.

VOCABULARY LIST
slingshot effect or AE catapult
barrels into or along
sling shot
upper tips
catapult
a forward thrust
on the straight(a)way

the effect of catapult; efekt katapulta

to go at high speed ; juriti
a Y-shaped piece of wood, metal, etc. with an
elastic band or bands atteched to the
for shooting stones, etc.
a slingshot, a device for launching something at
very high speed
potisak prema naprijed
adv. ravno

324

E Group
VITRUVIAN MAN
The image of Vitruvian Man exemplifies the blend of art and science during the
Renaissance and provides the perfect example of Leonardo's keen interest in
proportion. In addition, this picture represents a cornerstone of Leonardo's attempts to
relate man to nature. Encyclopaedia Britannica online states, "Leonardo envisaged the
great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings
and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the
microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the
workings of the universe." It is also believed by some that Leonardo symbolized the
material existence by the square and spiritual existence by the circle. Thus he attempted
to depict the correlation between these two aspects of human existence.[4] According to
Leonardo's notes in the accompanying text, written in mirror writing, it was made as a
study of the proportions of the (male) human body as described in Vitruvius, who wrote
that in the human body:

a palm is the width of four fingers

a foot is the width of four palms (i.e., 12 inches)
a cubit is the width of six palms
a man's height is four cubits (and thus 24 palms)
a pace is four cubits
the length of a man's outspread arms is equal to his height
the distance from the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of a man's
height
the distance from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin is one-eighth of
a man's height
the maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of a man's height
the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is one-fifth of a man's height
the distance from the elbow to the armpit is one-eighth of a man's height
the length of the hand is one-tenth of a man's height
the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose is one-third of the length
of the head
the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is one-third of the length of the
face
the length of the ear is one-third of the length of the face

This derivation of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, depicts nine historical
units of measurement: the Yard, the Span, the Cubit, the Flemish Ell, the English Ell,
the French Ell, the Fathom, the Hand , and the Foot. The Vitruvian man was drawn to
scale, so the units depicted are displayed with their proper historical ratios.
There is no such thing as a universal set of proportions for the human body. The field of
anthropometry was created in order to describe these individual variations. Vitruvius'
statements may be interpreted as statements about average proportions. Vitruvius goes
through some trouble to give a precise mathematical definition of what he means by
saying that the navel is the center of the body, but other definitions lead to different

325

results; for example, the center of mass of the human body depends on the position of
the limbs, and in a standing posture is typically about 10 cm lower than the navel, near
the top of the hip bones. Note that Leonardo's drawing combines a careful reading of
the ancient text with his own observation of actual human bodies. In drawing the circle
and square he correctly observes that the square cannot have the same center as the
circle, the navel, but is somewhat lower in the anatomy. This adjustment is the
innovative part of Leonardo's drawing and what distinguishes it from earlier
illustrations. He also departs from Vitruvius by drawing the arms raised to a position in
which the fingertips are level with the top of the head, rather than Vitruvius's much
lower angle, in which the arms form lines passing through the navel.The drawing itself
is often used as an implied symbol of the essential symmetry of the human body, and
by extension, to the universe as a whole.
Is the Vitruvian Man the first free body diagram?
Biomechanics is a blend of various areas of science. Applied mechanics, most notably
thermodynamics, continuum mechanics, and mechanical engineering disciplines such
as fluid mechanics and solid mechanics, play prominent roles in the study of
biomechanics. By applying the laws and concepts of physics, biomechanical
mechanisms and structures can be simulated and studied.
A free body diagram is
.
Mid-weighted point is
..
Forces acting on a moving body are
..

326

Wikipedia

F Group
Bioengineering

327

328

CODE TRANSFER
shove
rebound effects
heir
verterbra
damper
frailty
approximate
supplement
water cavity
mimic
mime

gurati
efekti odskoka, odraza, odboja
oponaati, batinik
kraljenjak
priguiva
krhkost, slabanost
priblino iznositi
nadopuniti
vodena trbuna upljina
koji oponaa
oponaati

Translate the following into Croatian:

a crash test dummy
the dummys almost - human appearance
biofidelic rear impact dummy
pretension load on the neck
an articulated human-like spine with the requisite two dozen verterbree
Summerize the text by answering the questions!
Why are the crash scenarios tested in computer simulations?
Why do manufacturers use crash test dummies?
What is the purpose of the virtual crash test dummy?
How are ideas tested?
Why do computer models mime dummies instead of trying to represent a living
human?
The Abstract

329

Section 3a
ING FORMS
How do you learn and improve your English?
How can you keep yourself well informed with so much being
published?
1 When a how question asks about an action, the response
begins either with by or with without followed by an ing
form. Answer the following questions. Use an ing form in
your answer.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

How do some people become rich?

How did Columbus discover America?
How do skiers go so fast?
How can skiers cut air resistance?
How can skier go faster?
How do ski jumpers defy gravity?
How do ski jumpers maximise horizontal speed?
How do ski jumpers minimize air resistance or drag?
How can their lift be increased?
How can we build a faster luge?
How can a speed skater get traction?
How can the slingshot, i.e. a forward thrust be affected?
How can the free-surface effect be limited?
How can dynamic stability be achieved?
How can you hold your boat upright?

2 Like the infinitive, the gerund may be the subject or object of

a verb as well as the complement of to be, it may take an
object and be used in passive and perfect forms:
He was killed in the fighting.
Is swimming your favourite sport?
Take the washing out please!
Studying languages is important.
I rested for an hour before I went on with my task.
I rested for an hour before going on with my task.
They left them so that they didnt greet.
They left them without greeting.
She remembers that you asked her that.
She remembers your asking her that.

330

3 A gerund depending on a preposition is preceded by a

possessive form when its subject is different from that of the
main verb.
I went there without you/your knowing.
He objects to me/my going.
I am tired of John complaining about the weather. (rather than Johns complaining)

4 After the preposition on introducing a time clause, the

gerund is preceded by a possessive only if its subject is
different from that of the main verb:
On his entering (=When he entered) the shop, we were astonished.
On my approaching (=As soon as I approached) the house, the dog started barking.

5 No possessive is used before the gerund when the subject

is the same in the two clauses:
On entering (=When I entered) the shop, I saw her.
On approaching (=As soon as I approached) the house, I saw a dog.
On hearing (=As soon as I heard) his voice, I immediately remembered my/me
meeting him before.

Instead of saying:
While he was running to meet his mother, the little boy fell and bruised
his knee,
We can say:
While running to meet his mother, the little boy fell and bruised his knee.
6 When there is a time difference between two actions, the
perfect participle is used

Having finished the assignment, she went for a walk..

Having read an array of books concerning this issue, I know a lot about this culture.

331

Lenz's law
Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz was a Russian physicist who lived from 1804 to 1865.
He discovered a simple way to find the direction of the induced electric currents
predicted by Faraday's law.
An electric current that is induced by a changing magnetic field will in turn induce its
own magnetic field. According to Lenz's law, the induced electric current must be in
such a direction that the magnetic field induced by the current opposes the original
cause of the induced current.
There is a common trap here. The induced magnetic field does not necessarily oppose
the original magnetic field as many people tend to think. The original magnetic field
does not cause the induced electric current. Rather the change in the magnetic field, or
more correctly the magnetic flux, induces the electric current. So the induced
magnetic field will oppose the change in the original magnetic field rather than the
field itself. If, for example, the original field is decreasing, then the induced magnetic
field must be in the same direction as the original field to oppose the decrease.
Magnetic flux is a way of measuring the total amount of perpendicular magnetic field
passing through an area or a surface. According to Faraday's law an electric current
will be induced in a coil of wire when the magnetic flux through the coil changes.
This flux can change when the magnetic field changes, when the area of the coil
changes, when the source of magnetic field moves, or when the coil moves or rotates.
In all these cases the current will be induced in such a direction that it in turn induces
a magnetic field that opposes this change in magnetic flux.

332

Explanation of Lenz's law

If the magnetic field associated with the current in a conductor were in the same
direction as the change in magnetic field that created it, these two magnetic fields
would combine to give a net magnetic field which would in turn induce a current with
twice the magnitude. This process would continue creating infinite current from just
moving a magnet: this would be a violation of the law of conservation of energy.
Taking a permanent magnet and putting a coil in front of it, with the North Pole
nearest the coil, as the magnet is brought closer to the coil, this will increase the flux
through the coil. Then, by Lenz's law, the current will be in counterclockwise
direction from the north end of the magnet when looking into the coil from the north
pole of magnet. If the magnet is brought away from the coil, this will decrease the
flux through the coil. Therefore, the current should be induced in the clockwise
direction from the north end of the magnet. By keeping at rest but increasing the field
strength of the magnet, the flux through the coil will be increased: thus the induced
current should be in the counterclockwise direction from the north end of the magnet.
This case is analogous to the case where we moved the magnet towards the coil.
Similarly, if the magnet is kept at rest but the field strength of the magnet decreases,
the current will be induced in the clockwise direction from the aforementioned
position.
Another possible situation is increasing the area of the coil. In this case, the flux
through the coil is increased, so that a current is induced by Faradays law. Increasing
the area of the coil is in fact equivalent to bringing the magnet closer to the coil; both
cases effectively increase the magnetic flux through the coil. Therefore, the current
will be induced in the counterclockwise direction from the north end of the magnet.
Decreasing the area of the coil is equivalent to bringing the magnet away from the
coil since both cases effectively decrease the flux through the coil. Therefore,
decreasing the area of the coil will induce a current in the clockwise direction.

Connection with law of conservation of energy

Lenz's law is a consequence of the law of conservation of energy. According to the
law of conservation of energy the total amount of energy in the universe must remain
constant. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed; it may only be converted from
one form to another. Hence it is impossible to get free energy from nothing.
The law of conservation of energy relates exclusively to conservative forces. Lenz's
Law extends the principles of energy conservation to situations that involve nonconservative forces in electromagnetism. To see an example, move a magnet towards
the face of a closed loop of wire (e.g. a coil or solenoid). An electric current is
induced in the wire, because the electrons within it are subjected to an increasing
magnetic field as the magnet approaches. This produces an EMF (electro-motive
force) that acts upon them. The direction of the induced current depends on whether
the north or South Pole of the magnet is approaching: an approaching pole will
produce a counter-clockwise current (from the perspective of the magnet), and South
Pole approaching the coil will produce a clockwise current.

333

To understand the implications for conservation of energy, suppose that the induced
currents' directions were opposite to those just described. Then the north pole of an
approaching magnet would induce a south pole in the near face of the loop. The
attractive force between these poles would accelerate the magnet's approach. This
would make the magnetic field increase more quickly, which in turn would increase
the loop's current, strengthening the magnetic field, increasing the attraction and
acceleration, and so on. Both the kinetic energy of the magnet and the rate of energy
dissipation in the loop (due to Joule heating) would increase. A small energy input
would produce a large energy output, violating the law of conservation of energy.
This scenario is only one example of electromagnetic induction. Lenz's Law states
that the magnetic field of any induced current opposes the change that induces it.
For a rigorous mathematical treatment, see electromagnetic induction and Maxwell's
equations.

Conservation of energy
The law of conservation of energy is an empirical law of physics. It states that the
total amount of energy in a closed system remains constant over time (are said to be
conserved over time). A consequence of this law is that energy cannot be created nor
destroyed. The only thing that can happen to energy in a closed system is that it can
change form, for instance chemical energy can become thermal energy.
Albert Einstein's theory of relativity shows that energy and mass are the same thing,
and that neither one appears without the other. Thus in closed systems, both mass and
energy are conserved separately, just as was understood in pre-relativistic physics.
The new feature of relativistic physics is that "matter" particles (such as those
constituting atoms) could be converted to non-matter forms of energy, such as light;
or kinetic and potential energy (example: heat). However, this conversion does not
affect the total mass of systems, since the latter forms of non-matter energy still retain
their mass through any such conversion.
Today, conservation of energy refers to the conservation of the total system energy
over time. This energy includes the energy associated with the rest mass of particles
and all other forms of energy in the system. In addition the invariant mass of systems
of particles (the mass of the system as seen in its center of mass inertial frame, such as
the frame in which it would need to be weighed), is also conserved over time for any
single observer, and (unlike the total energy) is the same value for all observers.
Therefore, in an isolated system, although matter (particles with rest mass) and "pure
energy" (heat and light) can be converted to one another, both the total amount of
energy and the total amount of mass of such systems remain constant over time, as
seen by any single observer. If energy in any form is allowed to escape such systems
the mass of the system will decrease in correspondence with the loss.
A consequence of the law of energy conservation is that perpetual motion machines
can only work perpetually if they deliver no energy to their surroundings. If such
machines produce more energy than is put into them, they must lose mass and thus
eventually disappear over perpetual time, and are therefore impossible.

334

LECTURE 12
Section 1
Ohm Law

Section 2
Vicious Circle

335

Vicious Circle
of Ozone Depletion and the Greenhouse Effect

We could be reminded of Chief Seattle's words about

the delicate web of nature to the U.S. government in
1852:

This we know. The earth does not belong to

man, - man belongs to the earth. This we
know. All things are connected like the blood
which unites one family. All things are
connected.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons
of the earth. Man did not weave the web of
life; - he is merely a strand in it. Whatever
he does to the web, he does to himself.
Chief Seattle

characteristic of the greenhouse effect.

336

"The crash course to save the environment

from the threat of ozone destruction must begin NOW!"

337

Lorraine Lindahl-Constans Sebastopol, California

As a member of the younger generation, I feel scared when I think about life
in a world destroyed by war and pollution. We should all pause to think
about what each of us in our own way can do to help improve the global
situation. In the end, we are the ones with the power to decide whether our
world will survive or whether we will just continue to pollute it for selfish
economic reasons.
Henrike Thiemann Albersloh, Germany

The depletion of the ozone layer is just one of the many environmental
travesties that will be associated with this century. We Americans, as
members of the world community, must act swiftly to reverse the tide of our
destructive ways. Should we buy a cup of coffee from a vendor who sells it
in a foam container, or should we buy it from someone who encourages
people to bring their own coffee mugs? We do not have to give up anything
except some wasteful habits.
One impending tragedy: the possible blinding of almost all non-nocturnal
animals and insects outside the darkest jungles. While humans can protect
their eyes, most other forms of life cannot do so.
JohnR. Watt Atlanta

Isn't there some smart scientist or enthusiastic entrepreneur out there who
can find a way to pump up massive quantities of ozone to plug the hole?
Mary Bowden Dorval, Canada
The fact that "the best the world can hope for is to stabilize ozone loss
soon after the turn of the century" underscores our reliance on selfdestructive technology. When will wedeveloped and less developed
nations alikelearn that when it comes to the global environment, there is
no escaping the consequences of our actions?
McClellan Stevensville, Maryland
Time, March 9, 1992

338

For Earths climate to be stable, the solar energy input must be balanced
by energy Earth returns to outer space.
Our Earth receives most of its energy, called radiation, from the Sun.
This energy is electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum, with small amounts of IR
and UV radiation. The incoming solar energy has a very short wavelength and passes
through the atmospheric gases unaffected to reach the Earth's surface.
The Earth's surface absorbs the solar energy and releases it back to the atmosphere as
infrared (IR) radiation, some of which goes back into space.
Some of the IR radiation emitted by the earth is absorbed by gases in the atmosphere that
re-emit the energy as heat back toward the earth's surface.
Three main gases in our atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect are carbon
dioxide CO2, methane CH4, and water vapour. These gases absorb the infrared radiation
emitted by the earth and re-radiate the energy as heat back towards the Earth, causing a
warming known as the Greenhouse effect.
With increasing carbon dioxide emissions from humans, the greenhouse effect has
become drastically exaggerated. This has caused a dangerous global warming process that
is threatening our current environment by melting polar ice caps and raising sea levels
around the globe. The earth reflects about 30% of the incoming solar radiation. The
remaining 70% is absorbed, warming the land, atmosphere and oceans.
Wikipedia says that the Earth receives energy from the Sun in the form of radiation. Most of the
energy is in visible wavelengths and in infrared wavelengths that are near the visible range (often
called "near infrared"). The Earth reflects about 30% of the incoming solar radiation. The
remaining 70% is absorbed, warming the land, atmosphere and oceans.
For the Earth's temperature to be in steady state so that the Earth does not rapidly heat or cool, this
absorbed solar radiation must be very closely balanced by energy radiated back to space in the
infrared wavelengths. Since the intensity of infrared radiation increases with increasing
temperature, one can think of the Earth's temperature as being determined by the infrared flux
needed to balance the absorbed solar flux. The visible solar radiation mostly heats the surface, not
the atmosphere, whereas most of the infrared radiation escaping to space is emitted from the upper
atmosphere, not the surface. The infrared photons emitted by the surface are mostly absorbed in
the atmosphere by greenhouse gases and clouds and do not escape directly to space.
The reason why this warms the surface is most easily understood by starting with a simplified
model of a purely radiative greenhouse effect that ignores energy transfer in the atmosphere by
convection (sensible heat transport) and by the evaporation and condensation of water vapor
(latent heat transport). In this purely radiative case, one can think of the atmosphere as emitting
infrared radiation both upwards and downwards. The upward infrared flux emitted by the surface
must balance not only the absorbed solar flux but also this downward infrared flux emitted by the
atmosphere. The surface temperature will rise until it generates thermal radiation equivalent to the
sum of the incoming solar and infrared radiation.
A more realistic picture taking into account the convective and latent heat fluxes is somewhat
more complex. But the following simple model captures the essence. The starting point is to note
that the opacity of the atmosphere to infrared radiation determines the height in the atmosphere
from which most of the photons are emitted into space. If the atmosphere is more opaque, the
typical photon escaping to space will be emitted from higher in the atmosphere, because one then
has to go to higher altitudes to see out to space in the infrared. Since the emission of infrared
radiation is a function of temperature, it is the temperature of the atmosphere at this emission level
that is effectively determined by the requirement that the emitted flux balance the absorbed solar
flux.

339

But the temperature of the atmosphere generally decreases with height above the surface, at a rate
of roughly 6.5 C per kilometer on average, until one reaches the stratosphere 10-15 km above the
surface. (Most infrared photons escaping to space are emitted by the troposphere, the region
bounded by the surface and the stratosphere, so we can ignore the stratosphere in this simple
picture.) A very simple model, but one that proves to be remarkably useful, involves the
assumption that this temperature profile is simply fixed, by the non-radiative energy fluxes. Given
the temperature at the emission level of the infrared flux escaping to space, one then computes the
surface temperature by increasing temperature at the rate of 6.5 C per kilometer, the
environmental lapse rate, until one reaches the surface. The more opaque the atmosphere, and the
higher the emission level of the escaping infrared radiation, the warmer the surface, since one then
needs to follow this lapse rate over a larger distance in the vertical. While less intuitive than the
purely radiative greenhouse effect, this less familiar radiative-convective picture is the starting
point for most discussions of the greenhouse effect in the climate modeling literature.

The Earth's atmosphere acts much like the glass panes of a greenhouse: it allows sunlight,
particularly its visible range, to reach and warm the Earth, but it largely inhibits the
infrared radiation emitted by the heated terrestrial surface from escaping into space. Since
the atmosphere becomes thinner and thinner with increasing altitude above the Earth,
there is less atmospheric absorption in the higher regions of the atmosphere. At an altitude
of 100 kilometres, the fraction of atmosphere is one 10-millionth of that on the ground.
Below 10 million hertz (107 Hz), the absorption is caused by the ionosphere, a layer in
which atoms and molecules in the atmosphere are ionized by the Sun's ultraviolet
radiation. In the infrared region, the absorption is caused by molecular vibrations and
rotations. In the ultraviolet and X-ray regions, the absorption is due to electronic
excitations in atoms and molecules.
Without water vapour and carbon dioxide (CO2), which are, together with certain
industrial pollutants, the main infrared-absorbing species in the atmosphere, the Earth
would experience the extreme temperature variations between night and day that occur on
the Moon. The Earth would then be a frozen planet, like Mars, with an average
temperature of 200 K, and not be able to support life. Scientists believe that the Earth's
temperature and climate in general will be affected as the composition of the atmosphere
is altered by an increased release and accumulation of carbon dioxide and other gaseous
pollutants.
The temperature of the terrestrial surface environment is controlled not only by the Sun's
electromagnetic radiation but also in a sensitive way by the Earth's atmosphere.
A few years ago, terms such as CFCs, ozone, rain forest, deforestation and climate control
would probably not be used frequently in the vocabulary of the common American
teenager. However, in recent years, due to the growing emphasis on environmental
awareness, words like these are being taken very seriously by both teens and adults.
High above the earth's atmosphere there is a thin veil in the stratosphere called the ozone
layer, which protects the earth from the sun's destructive ultraviolet (UV) rays. This
protective layer is being damaged by chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),
one
of the greatest environmental concerns in present-day society. They are released into the
atmosphere by the daily use of such industrial and household products as refrigerators, air
conditioners, foam insulation, cleaning chemicals, and found in the forms of fast food
packages, refrigerator and air conditioning coolants, and especially aerosol spray cans.
The CFCs rise into the ozone layer where the sunlight decomposes them, releasing

340

chlorine. The chlorine attacks the ozone molecules, thinning or even making a "hole" in
the ozone layer. This "hole" allows more UV rays to penetrate to the earth.
These CFCs are 14,000 times more dangerous than excess carbon dioxide to the ozone
layer, because once in the atmosphere they break chemical bonds and tear apart the
molecules that form ozone. Ozone is a gas present in the protective layer of the Earth's
upper atmosphere. This layer of the atmosphere protects living things on the planet from
the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. As ozone is slowly washed away by man-made
products, it becomes more dangerous for humans to be exposed to the sun.
Overexposure to UV rays can increase the risk of skin cancer, weaken the immune system,
and damage the retina. It is estimated that in the United States alone one in six Americans
will develop skin cancer as a result of overexposure to UV rays.
The rain forests are being deforested at a rate of 20 million acres every year. The rain
forests hold a natural abundance of both plants and animals, and they also account for a
great deal of our oxygen. If rain forests are burned, it could actually hurt the environment.
Air pollution caused by acid rain, excessive use of fossil fuels, and toxic wastes and
garbage all remain very difficult problems. It is, however, very important to solve them
because of the growing concern with global warming, otherwise known as the greenhouse
effect. Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is trapping in heat and causing the
temperature to rise at the North and South Poles. If these areas become too hot they will
melt and cause rising seas and coastal flooding.
Organic farming is a new and helpful means of restoring the environment. When food is
grown with the use of natural fertilizers instead of man-made herbicides and pesticides,
drainage is safer and the food itself won't harm those who eat it.
Our planet can be saved or improved by a few simple actions that can be performed by
anybody. By setting up recycling programs at home or school, conserving on water and
power, eating organically grown foods, using ozone-friendly products, becoming aware of
industrial pollutants, or even buying a tree in a rain forest, any environmentally-conscious
person can help our environment and environmental recovery. Not only are humans at
risk; so, too, are animals, plants, and the environment in general. With the thinning of the
ozone layer, UV rays can penetrate the oceans, seriously impairing the growth of
plankton, an essential part of the marine-life food chain, and can reduce the yields of
economically important crops such as soybeans, cotton, and rice.

341

342

Group G
The Relationship of Ozone Depletion and the
Greenhouse Effect explained by Bruce E. Johansen
During the 1930s chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were marketed under the
trade name Freon, asbestos was used as a material for clothing and radium
was being built into timepieces without raising any environmental
questions.
Only 40 years later these materials have been creatively and widely used
throughout the USA as propellants in aerosol sprays, solvents used to clean
silicon chips, in automobile air conditioning, and as blowing agents for
polystyrene cups, egg cartons, and containers for fast food. They were
loved because they were useful, cheap, non-toxic, non-inflammable and
for many other reasons.
It was only after this industry had become a $28-billion-a-year industry,
that scientists discovered the harmful influence of CFCs. For forty years
they have been thinning the ozone layer over the Antarctic. They were
used in 90 million car and truck air conditioners, 100 million refrigerators,
30 million freezers, and 45 million air conditioners in homes and other
buildings.
However, banning them does not entirely solve the problem, since CFCs
remain in the stratosphere for up to 100 years and will deplete the ozone
for a long time to come.
The ozone shield is important because it protects plant and animal life on
land from sun's ultraviolet rays, which can cause skin cancer, cataracts,
and damage to the immune system. Thinning of the ozone layer also may
alter the DNA of plants and animals.
These human-created chemicals do more than destroy stratospheric
ozone. They also act as greenhouse gases, with several thousand times the
per-molecule greenhouse potential of carbon dioxide. What's more, the
warming of the near-surface atmosphere (the lower troposphere) seems to
be related to the cooling of the stratosphere, which accelerates depletion
of ozone at that level. An increasing level of carbon dioxide near the
Earth's surface "acts as a blanket," said NASA research scientist Katja
Drdla. "It is trapping the heat. If the heat stays near the surface, it is not
getting up to these higher levels." (Borenstein).
During the middle 1990s, scientists were beginning to perceive a
relationship between global warming and ozone depletion. The first
atmospheric simulation to include ozone chemistry was created. Results
proved that the greenhouse effect was responsible not only for heating the
lower atmosphere, but also for cooling the upper atmosphere. That poses
problems for ozone molecules, which are most unstable at low
temperatures. Based on the team's model, the buildup o f greenhouse gases

343

could chill the high atmosphere near the poles by as much as 8 degrees C.
to 10 degrees C. The model predicted that maximum ozone loss would
occur between the years 2010 and 2019. (Shindell, et. al., 589)
At about the same time, scientists were wondering why the ozone layers
over the Arctic and Antarctic were failing to repair themselves as expected
following the international ban on production of CFCs. They began to
suspect that global warming near the surface might be related to ozone
depletion in the stratosphere. In 1998, the Antarctic ozone hole reached a
new record size roughly the size of the continental United States. Some
researchers came to the conclusion that, as Richard A. Kerr describes in
Science:

Unprecedented stratospheric cold is driving the extreme ozone

destruction.... Some of the high-altitude chill...may be a counterintuitive
effect of the accumulating greenhouse gases that seem to be warming the
lower atmosphere. The colder the stratosphere, the greater the destruction
of ozone by CFCs. (Kerr, 1998, 291)

"The chemical reactions responsible for stratospheric ozone depletion are

extremely sensitive to temperature," Shindell, et. al. wrote in Nature.
"Greenhouse gases warm the Earth's surface but cool the stratosphere
radiatively, and therefore affect ozone depletion." (p. 589).

During the middle 1990s, ozone depletion in the Arctic was detected after
a decade of measuring a growing ozone "hole" over the Antarctic. By
2000, the ozone shield over the Arctic had thinned to about half its
previous density during March and April. Ozone depletion over the Arctic
reaches its height in late winter and early spring, as the Sun rises after the
midwinter night. Solar radiation triggers reactions between ozone in the
stratosphere and chemicals containing chlorine or bromine. These
chemical reactions occur most quickly on the surface of ice particles in
clouds, at temperatures less than minus 80 degrees C. (minus 107 degrees
F.)
Space-based temperature measurements of the Earth's lower stratosphere,
a layer of the atmosphere from about 17 kilometers to 22 kilometers
(roughly 10 to 14 miles) above the surface, indicate record cold at that
level as record surface warmth has been reported during the 1990s.

344

Clouds form more frequently in the stratosphere at lower temperatures.

Ice crystals, which form as part of polar stratospheric clouds, assist the
chemical process by which ozone is destroyed. CFCs' appetite for ozone
molecules rises notably below minus 80 degrees C. (minus 107 degrees
F.), a level that was reached in the Arctic only rarely until the 1990s.
During the winter of 1999-2000, temperatures in the stratosphere over the
Arctic were recorded at 118 degrees F. or lower (the lowest on record),
forming the necessary clouds to allow accelerated ozone depletion.
As Dennis L. Hartmann, et al. explain:
The pattern of climate trends during the past few decades is marked by
rapid cooling and ozone depletion in the polar lower stratosphere of both
hemispheres, coupled with an increasing strength of the wintertime
westerly polar vortex and a poleward shift of the westerly wind belt at the
Earth's surface....[I]nternal dynamical feedbacks within the climate
system...can show a large response to rather modest external
forcing....Strong synergistic interactions between stratospheric ozone
depletion and greenhouse warming are possible. These interactions may
be responsible for the pronounced changes in tropospheric and
stratospheric climate observed during the past few decades. If these trends
continue, they could have important implications for the climate of the
twenty-first century. (Hartmann, et al., 1412)

Since ozone depletion has been measured only for a few

decades, scientists are not completely sure if rapid warming at the surface
is caused by natural variations in climate, which is powerfully influenced
by the interactions of oceans and atmosphere. "However," they conclude,
"It seems quite likely that they are at least in part human-induced."
(Hartmann, et al.,1416) Hartmann and associates also raise the possibility
that the poleward shift in westerly winds may be accelerating melting of
the arctic ice cap, part of what they contend may be a "transition of the
Arctic Ocean to an ice-free state during the twenty-first century."
(Hartmann, et al., 1416). A continued northward shift in these winds also
could portend additional warming over the land masses of North America
and
Eurasia,
they
write.
(Hartmann,
et
al.,
1416)
The connection between global warming, a cooling stratosphere, and
depletion of stratospheric ozone was confirmed in April, 2000, with
release of a lengthy report by more than 300 NASA researchers as well as
several European, Japanese, and Canadian scientists. The report found that
while ozone depletion may have stabilized over the Antarctic, ozone levels
north of the Arctic circle were still falling, in large part because the
stratosphere has cooled as the troposphere has warmed. The ozone level
over the some parts of the Arctic was 60 per cent lower during the winter
of 2000 than during the winter of 1999, measured year over year.
In addition, scientists learned that as winter ends, the ozone-depleted
atmosphere tends to migrate southward over heavily populated areas of

345

North America and Eurasia. "The largest ultraviolet increases from all of
this are predicted to be in the mid-latitudes of the United States," said
University of Colorado atmospheric scientist Brian Toon. "It affects us
much more than the Antarctic [ozone `hole']." (Borenstein)
Ross Salawitch, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. said that if the pattern of extended cold
temperatures in the Arctic stratosphere continues, ozone loss over the
region could become "pretty disastrous." (Scientists Report, 3-A)
Salawitch said that the new data has "really solidified our view" that the
ozone layer is sensitive not only to ozone-destroying chemicals, but also to
temperature. (Stevens, A-19) "The temperature of the stratosphere is
controlled by the weather that will come up from the lower atmosphere,"
said Paul Newman, another scientist who took part in the Arctic ozone
project. "If we have a very active stratosphere we tend to have warm years,
when stratosphere weather is quiescent we have cold years." (Connor, 5)
New research indicates that global warming will continue to cool the
stratosphere, making ozone destruction more prevalent even as the volume
of CFCs in the stratosphere is slowly reduced. "One year does not prove a
case," said Paul Newman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland. "But we have seen quite a few years lately in which
the stratosphere has been colder than normal." (Aldhous, 531)
"We do know that if the temperatures in the stratosphere are lower,
more clouds will form and persist, and these conditions will lead to more
ozone loss," said Michelle Santee, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and co-author of a study on the subject
in the May 26, 2000 issue of Science. (McFarling, A-20) The anticipated
increase in cloudiness over the arctic could itself become a factor in ozone
depletion. The clouds, formed from condensed nitric acid and water, tend
to increase snowfall, which accelerates depletion of stratospheric nitrogen.
The nitrogen (which would have acted to stem some of the ozone loss had
it remained in the stratosphere), is carried to the surface as snow.
The ozone hole has been also explained in the way that
o
whereas in most parts of the world horizontal winds keep
chemicals in the air well mixed, the air over the poles gets trapped every
winter in a freezing vortex. The vortex over the North Pole is warmed by
currents from hotter continents. But the comparative lack of land in the
southern hemisphere leaves the Antarctic vortex undisturbed. Every
September, when spring arrives, up to 40 per cent of ozone disappears. As
winds from warmer latitudes gradually penetrate the vortex, ozone levels
recover - by around November.
o
Chlorine atoms released by UV radiation set off a chain reaction
that destroys ozone molecules.

346

Group H
Saving the Ozone, One Step at a Time
New ways to capture CFCsand limit the use of auto air
conditioners
Do you want to be hotor dead?" With that question, California State Assemblyman John
Vascocellos introduced a bill that would ban the sale of most automobile air conditioners in
California within two years. Air conditioners contain refrigerants that contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), elusive chemicals that eat away at the ozone layer which protects the earth
from the sun's ultraviolet rays. CFCs leak out of car air conditioners during normal operation, and they escape into the atmosphere when the coolant is discharged during repair.
Prompted by international environmental agreements that mandate a complete ban on CFC
production by the year 2000, chemical companies are moving to reduce their production of
CFC-12, the most well-known refrigerant. As a result, prices of the refrigerant have doubled
in the past year and are expected to double again during the next 12 months. To lessen the
impact of these price increasesand to help save the ozone layersome companies are
working to limit the use of CFC-12 refrigerantsand auto air conditioners themselves in
several ways:
Recycling
Four U.S. manufacturers are now selling refrigerant-recycling machines that have been
approved by the federal government. With the machines there is no need to release the coolantand CFCsfrom systems before repairs are made. The machines, which cost between
$2,500 and $7,000, pull the refrigerant out of a car air conditioner and remove unwanted oil,
moisture and noncondensable gas from the coolant. Afterward, the recycled refrigerant can
be stored or put back into the air conditioner.
Windshield Coating
Southwall Technologies of Palo Alto, California, takes a different approach to the problem.
It has developed a thin metallic coating that is supposed to lessen the amount of heat that
compel them to buy the machines, he says, new laws will. (Vermont and California have
passed laws mandating use of the recycling machines in auto-repair shops, and other states
are considering similar legislation.) Last August General Motors announced that it would
encourage its 10,000 authorized dealers in North America to buy refrigerant-recycling
equipment. As part of their equipment agreements with General Motors, the dealers must
enter automobiles through windshields. Some car manufacturers are using more glass in
their designs, which raises the temperature inside automobiles and would normally induce
car owners to use their air conditioners more. If, South-wall's coating, called Heat Mirror
XIR, does its job properly, that will not be necessary.
According to Thomas Hood, a vice president of Southwall, Heat Mirror XIR reflects 30
percent of the sun's radiation while letting in 71 percent of the sun's light. (By law, U.S.
automobile windshields must transmit at least 70 percent of sunlight.) Conventional tinted

347

glass reflects only 6 percent of the sun's heat. Monsanto Co., which is commercializing the
product for Southwall, will place the film between two sheets of its automotive safety glass
and try to sell it to automobile-glass manufacturers. The problem is that some glass
manufacturers have also invested in solar coatings that would be applied directly to
windshields.
Recovery Rags
There has been progress in home refrigeration as well. Whirlpool Corp. of Benton Harbor,
Michigan, the world's leading manufacturer of major home appliances, recently announced
the development of a plastic bag that catches refrigerants released during the servicing of
home refrigerators and freezers. As with automobile air conditioners, CFCs from
refrigerators typically have been discharged into the atmosphere because there has been no
way to capture them.
The bags, made of seven different layers of plastic, are roughly the size of large pillows and
hold the vaporized refrigerant from two or three refrigerators. When a bag is filled, the
vapor is suctioned out and discharged into a storage tank. The bag may be filled and emptied four times before being discarded.
Whirlpool plans to give the bags to its authorized servicers during the first half of 1990 and
ultimately to sell them to whoever is interested. "Thebagsare simple, clean and efficient,"
says company spokeswoman Carol Sizer. The volume of CFCs released from home
refrigerators is much less than that from auto air conditioners, prompting Sizer to describe
the bags as "a small environmental step, but an important one."
RICHARD ERNSBERGERJR.
Newsweek /October 30. 1989

348

Group I
The Benefits of Dirty Air
Pollution may negate the greenhouse effect
Scientists discovered that purported scourges, air pollution, for instance,
may be useful after all. Pollutants that cause acid rain got nothing but bad press in
the 1980s. Now, in the current issue of the journal Science, atmospheric
researchers from seven universities and federal agencies report that these same
particles may help ward off a much more serious environmental threat: global
warming.
The pollutants are sulfate aerosols, tiny particles that help form acid rain
and are also unhealthy to breathe. They come from smelting metal and burning
fossil fuels such as coal and oil. They reflect sunshine and seed clouds, which in
turn bounce sunlight back to space. In both cases the result is a colder planet. That
much had been known, in a general way, for years. But according to the latest
research, this cooling just about equals the heating effect from "greenhouse gases"
such as carbon dioxide (C02) and so "has likely offset global greenhouse warming
to a substantial degree." In other words, as a result of sulfates, there has been less
warmirig than simple greenhouse models predicted. Last week's report follows
another discovery: that the same sulfates may be the planet's best defense against
the vanishing ozone layer. In December, Shaw Liu of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration suggested why the thinning ozone layer the
envelope of gas that screens out cancer-causing ultraviolet rays from the sun
hasn't given us all melanoma yet. Writing in Geophysical Research Letters, he
noted that the tiny sulfate particles scatter ultraviolet radiation. That's why, despite
a 5 percent loss of wintertime ozone in the Northern Hemisphere in the last
decade, there is not much more UV reaching the ground, he concludes. Sulfates act
like little lead umbrellas.
If all these interactions among pollutants and the atmosphere sound
complicated, that's because they are. It was just last autumn that the first
complexity got pinned down: a diminishing ozone layer indirectly cools the Earth,
arid so partially counters greenhouse warming (NEWSWEEK, Nov. 4). While we
might get cataracts and skin cancer from the extra UV streaming in, we won't have
to dike Manhattan quite yet.
Earth Summit: What does all this mean for environmental policy? Officials of all
166 members of the United Nations have been invited to meet in Rio de Janeiro at
the first Earth Summit. A chief goal will be an agreement on greenhouse gases,
similar to the 1990 pact phasing out gases that destroy the ozone layer. The United
States is expected to argue that scientists don't know enough about global warming
to justify expensive C02 controls; as evidence, negotiators can point to the twofold
discrepancy between how much warming greenhouse gases should have produced
by now and how much they actually have. But what if that gap is due to sulfates
having damped down the warming? The new Clean Air Act will sharply reduce
sulfates; some of the offset against the greenhouse effect will thus disappear, and
the need to control C02 will be greater than ever. By throwing all sorts of trash
into the air, humans have begun the biggest experiment in atmospheric chemistry
349

since physicists wondered whether the first atomic-bomb test would ignite the
planet's atmosphere. The physicists at Alamogordo were smart and lucky. This
experiment might not turn out so well.

Group K
No Home for Hot Trash
A U.S. nuclear dump is delayed
Nuclear waste is nasty stuff. The inevitable by-product of all atomic-power
plants, it remains radioactive for up to 3 million years. The U.S. Congress
believed it had conquered the problem of where to put such waste when in 1987 it
ordered the Department of Energy to focus on building a national dump site in
Nevada. By 2003, the Government promised, spent fuel from the country's 110
commercial nuclear reactors could be safely buried deep within Yucca Mountain,
an isolated peak about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. But that forecast, like an
earlier one predicting a national dump site by 1998, proved too rosy. Last week
energy officials pushed back the opening to at least 2010.
Deputy Energy Secretary Henson Moore claims that the revised schedule is
necessary to satisfy scientific and environmental concerns. But to critics, it is yet
another sign of bureaucratic bungling. Two years and $500 million into the
Yucca project, the federal agency appears to have accomplished little.
Nevada citizens and scientists are adamantly opposed to the Yucca site. They
contend that the area is geologically insecure: Lathrop Wells volcano is twelve
miles away, and Nevada has relatively frequent earthquakes. As a result, Nevada
has refused to issue the environmental permits needed for a study of the site.
The DOE announced last week that it has asked the Justice Department to file suit
against the state. For the nuclear-power industry, the DOE'S latest postponement
appears to be a heavy blow. But the industry professes to be unfazed. The Nuclear
Regulatory Commission has said it will not delay licensing future nuclear plants as
long as it looks as if a waste repository will be in operation within the first quarter
of the next century. Given the Government's record so far, even that target may
prove to be a problematic one.
Time, December 11, 1989

Write the essential idea of the text in one or two sentences.

350

LECTURE 13

351

OhmsLaw Resistance

R=U/I [] Ohms
resistanceoftheconductor coefficientofproportionality
thevalueofthevoltageU betweentheterminalsofthe
resistorproportionaltothecurrentI
G=I/U[S] Siemens
conductanceoftheconductor,inverselyproportionaltothe
resistance

352

KIRCHHOFF'S CIRCUIT LAWS

In complex circuits such as bridge or T networks, we can not simply use
Ohm's Law alone to find the voltages or currents circulating within a circuit. For these
types of calculations we need certain rules which allow us to obtain the circuit
equations and for this we can use Kirchoffs Circuit Laws.
In 1845, a German physicist, Gustav Kirchoff developed a pair of rules or laws
which deal with the conservation of current and energy in electrical circuits, one
which deals with current flow, Kirchoffs Current Law, (KCL) and one which deals
with voltage, Kirchoffs Voltage Law, (KVL). The laws were generalized from the
work of Georg Ohm. These laws can also be derived from Maxwells equations, but
were developed prior to Maxwells work.
The following descriptions of Kirchhoffs Laws assume a constant current. For
time-varying current, or alternating current, the laws must be applied in a more
precise method.
Kirchhoff's first law
This law is also called Kirchhoffs point rule, Kirchhoffs junction rule (or
nodal rule), Kirchhoffs first rule, Kirchhoffs first law and The current Law.
Kirchoffs first law states that the "total current or charge entering a junction
or node is exactly equal to the current/charge leaving the node.
This fundamental law results from the conservation of charge. It applies to a
junction or node in a circuit -- a point in the circuit where charge has several possible
paths to travel.

Example 1 Possible node (or junction) in a circuit

In Example 1, we see that IA is the only current flowing into the node.
However, there are three paths for current to leave the node, and these currents are
represented by IB, IC, and ID. Once charge has entered into the node, it has no place to
353

go except to leave (this is known as conservation of charge). The total charge flowing
into a node must be the same as the the total charge flowing out of the node. So,
IB + IC + ID = IA
Bringing everything to the left side of the above equation the sum of all the currents is
zero:
(IB + IC + ID) - IA = 0
Note the convention we have chosen here: currents flowing into the node are taken to
be negative, and currents flowing out of the node are positive. It should not really
matter which you choose to be the positive or negative current, as long as you stay
consistent.
This can be generalized as follows:

where n is the total number of branches with currents flowing towards or away from
the node.
Kirchhoff's second law
This law is also called Kirchhoffs loop (or mesh) rule, Kirchhoffs voltage
rule and Kirchhoffs second rule.
Kirchoffs second law states that "in any closed loop network, the total voltage
around the loop is equal to the sum of all the voltage drops within the same loop"
which is also equal to zero. If this were not the case, then the potential at the start/end
point would have two different values.
This law is a result of the electrostatic field being conservative. It applies to
any closed electrical circuit loop or network.

Example 2 Possible closed loop in a circuit

If we advance clockwise along the loop, the Voltage Law yields the equation:
U1 U2 = I (R1+R2+R3)
In other way written:
354

U1 U2 = UR1 + UR2 + UR3

Bringing everything to the left side of the above equation, we get:
U1 U2 (UR1 + UR2 + UR3) = 0
At this point we can see that the summ of all voltages around a closed loop is zero.
This can be generalized as follows:

where n is the total number of voltages measured.

It is important to say how to determine Positive and Negative Signs in
Kirchhoff's Voltage Law:
Using the Voltage Rule requires some sign conventions, which aren't
necessarily as clear as those in the Current Rule. You choose a direction (clockwise or
counter-clockwise) to go along the loop.
When travelling from positive to negative (+ to -) in an emf (power source) the
voltage drops, so the value is negative. When going from negative to positive (- to +)
the voltage goes up, so the value is positive.
When crossing a resistor, the voltage change is determined by the formula I*R,
where I is the value of the current and R is the resistance of the resistor. Crossing in
the same direction as the current means the voltage goes down, so its value is
negative. When crossing a resistor in the direction opposite the current, the voltage
value is positive (the voltage is increasing).

355

The A-C Cycle

Ever since Volta first produced a source of continuous current, men of science have been forming
theories on this subject. For some time they could see no real difference between the newlydiscovered phenomenon and the former understanding of static charges. Then the famous French
scientist Ampere (after whom the unit of current was named) determined the difference between
the current and the static charges. In addition to this, Ampere gave the current direction: he
supposed the current to flow from the positive pole of the source round the circuit and back again
to the negative pole. The flow of current is now known to be in the direction opposite to what he
thought.
The current which flows along wires consists of moving electrons. In other words, the flow of
moving electrons is one form of the electric current. What can we say about the electron? We
consider the electron to be a minute particle having an electric charge. We also know that that
charge is negative. As these minute charges travel along a wire, that wire is said to carry an
electric current.
In addition to travelling through solids the electric current can flow through liquids as well and
even through gases. In both cases it produces some most important effects to meet industrial
requirements. Some liquids, such as melted metals for example, conduct current without any
change to themselves. Others, called electrolytes, are found to change greatly when the current
passes through them.
When the electrons flow in one direction only, the current is said to be to be d. c., that is, direct
current. The simplest source of power for the direct current is a battery. It pushes the electrons in
the same direction all the time (i.e. from the negative charged terminal to the positively charged
terminal).
The letters a.c. stand for alternating current. The current under consideration is known to flow
first in one direction and then in the opposite one. The a.c. used for power and lighting purposes is
assumed to go through 50 cycles in one second.
Originally, electric current that was used for commercial purposes was generated as direct current.
But alternating current supply systems rapidly replaced direct current ones. Today electrical
energy is practically always generated and transmitted as alternating current. The change-over is
fundamentally due to the facilitating the transmission of higher power or lower voltages, thereby
facilitating the transmission of high power over a considerable length of line and reducing costs.
Moreover, a.c. can be generated more cheaply than d.c. with large units, and a.c. motors are
usually preferred to d.c. motors for constant speed work. When d.c. is necessary, as for example
in traction, electrolytes processes, variable speed units etc., it is usual to convert a.c. to d.c. by
means of rectifiers.
An alternating current is a rate of flow of electricity which does not have a constant value in time
but grows to a maximum value, decreases, changes its direction, reaches a maximum value in the
new direction, returns to its original value and repeats this cycle an indefinite number of times.
The graphical representation of this variation of an a.c., plotted as a function of time is called the
waveform of that current. Generally the period is represented by Tand measured in seconds.
The reciprocal of this value T is called the frequency and is defined as the number of periods
occurring in the unit of time. We often express frequency in hertz or cycles per second. A cycle is
that complete series of changes which takes place in one period of a periodically varying quantity.
The choice of the frequency value of a power system is both a technical and economic
consideration. With the building of large transmission systems, it has been necessary to
standardize frequencies. In Europe a frequency of 50 Hertz has been widely adopted, whereas in
most of America 60Herz is used.

356

LECTURE 14
Section 1
WHAT IS SPORT AND SPORTING SPIRIT TO
YOU?

Section 2
Seminar Group Work

Section 3
Grammar Revision

357

WHAT IS SPORT AND SPORTING SPIRIT TO

YOU?

Various aspects of sport and sporting spirit

Let us not deceive ourselves. Any talk of the sporting spirit is
sheer hypocrisy. For some participants sport is one method of
maintaining visions of perfection. For others it represents simply a
method of keeping physically and mentally fit, whereas for more
and more sportsmen it represents a career, fame, popularity,
policy and politics, science, technicality, cutting edges, medicine,
doping, drugs, business and fortune. When the Croatian lady
skiers win several medals it is not only a good thing for our tourist
industry, it also helps to sell mobiles. There is a more scientific,
complete approach to the sport than ever before.

358

Introduction
Write a subtitle and paraphrase the main idea of the following text

George Orwell says in This Sporting Spirit that he is always amazed

when he hears people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and
that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or
cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didnt
know from concrete examples* (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that
international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from
general principles. G. Orwell thinks that nearly all the sports practised nowadays
are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do
your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of
local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise. But
as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some
larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are
aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the
international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the
behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators,
of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and
seriously believe at any rate for short periods that running, jumping and kicking
a ball are tests of national virtue.
- Give some examples for the statement that international sporting
contest lead to orgies of hatred. What happened during 1936
Olympic Games?
- Does Orwells passage pose the problem of the relationship
between aggression and sport?
- From the description of the sport which it gives, what other
problems does the passage pose?
- Do we agree with the author?
- How could we explain that international sporting contests lead to
orgies of hatred?
- Why do spectators believe when they watch international
sporting
contests that kicking a ball is a test of national
virtue?
So, when the Croatian or the English football team loses a match it is a
national disaster. With the result so important and competition so intense and fierce
it is not surprising that sport and violence often go together. Some might say that
man must satisfy his aggressive instinct. But does that mean that he must fight in
vicious and dangerous sports? Must there be wars and vicious, aggressive and
dangerous sports?
*

Fast and fierce Jesse Owens sprinted his way into the history books when he
achieved four gold medals at the 1936 Hitlers Olympics.

359

- Does aggression which sport produces in both players and

spectators make people more aggressive in general and so help
to encourage war and all brutalities? Or perhaps, it helps men to
satisfy their aggressive instinct without fighting, so helping to
stop war?
- Is a football match a sort of mini-war, which last two hours?
- Could the games help to stop the wars or do some players and
spectacles simply want excitement?
- What are sports that do well to community and help to get
violence out of our systems?
- Are the players really proud of their country or do they want their
country to be proud of them?
- Why do sport and violence often go together?
- Do they go together because football is a brutal game and the
crowd likes brutality or because the result is the most important
thing?
- Do you think that violence seen on television or at the cinema
makes children more violent? What sorts of things make us react
violently?
A world heavyweight championship match is front page news. Spectators are
willing to pay vast sums of money to see violence and if a big fight is over in two
rounds instead of ten they feel disappointment because they have been deprived of
the exquisite pleasure of witnessing torture.
- Isnt this fact degrading and unworthy of human beings?
- Why do men fight?
- Can sport control the human aggressive instinct and keep world
peace?
- Dont the contacts which international sport makes possible help
the people of one country to understand the people of another
country?
- Does international sport help to create friendship and
understanding between people of different countries? Is the
answer the same for both amateur and professional sport?
- What do you think of the definition that nationalism means being
proud of your country?
- Or do they simply encourage competition and make nationalism
and chauvinism more important and more dangerous?
- At the beginning of the game, the anthems are played. Are
anthems an innocent inspiration or a spur to xenophobia?
- Will they survive into the next era or could we all by then be
humming the same tune of global society, where there wont be
patriotic sweet songs, representing existence of states?
Because the words risk being overtaken by time.
We must not confuse nationalism and chauvinism, because chauvinism means
militant, unreasoning and boastful devotion to ones country, fanatical patriotism with

360

contempt for others (by Chauvin, a soldier of Napoleon I, notorious for his bellicose
attachment to the lost imperial cause) whereas nationalism applies to patriotism,
devotion to ones nation, and suggests the doctrine that national interest and security
are more important than international considerations. Chauvinism means also
devotion to ones race and sex with contempt for other races, the opposite sex.
Nationalism also may apply to the desire for or advocacy of national independence.
Webster says that nationalism means 1. national spirit or aspirations, 2. devotion to
the interests of ones own nation; 3. desire for national advancement or independence;
4. the policy of asserting the interests of ones own nation, viewed as separate from
the interests of other nations or the common interests of all nations; 5. an idiom or
trait peculiar to a nation.
We may speak contemptuously of our past and other cultures. We may despise
undeveloped nations. We may forgive them condescendingly because they knew no
better. We may admire our technological progress and ingenuity. However, are our
feelings of superiority really justified? Because its amazing how little we have
developed in other respects.
Whats important in sport today?
- Is it important to win, to play honestly, and to lose with a smile, to
defend national prestige or to implement the newest scientific
researches?
- Do we take sport too seriously?
- Is the truth about us too frightening?
- Can we ever obtain and get correct information about war and
play?
- Does it mean that if you had learned to play hard for your
university
or school you are capable of fighting hard for your
country?
These are not perhaps the questions which we wanted us to ask about sport. But
they are questions which we ought to try to answer for they will perhaps help us to
understand better why men fight, why is so difficult to end war, why more people
have died in wars since 1945 in a period of peace than died in the second world
war.
Traditionally, British schools and universities have always taken sport very
seriously and yet never considered that their first goal is to produce intelligent
students. They have always been more interested in character than cleverness and
have always thought that sport was one of the best forms of moral education and
moral endurance. Team games teach discipline, concentration, co-operation,
unselfishness and a sense of fair play. They also test the courage and stamina.
This attitude has been typical of British education since the end of the 18th
century when a model for the English Public school was created which has stayed
almost the same for over 200 years but now times are changing rapidly. As a matter of
fact, today sport is big business and a question of national prestige and there is a
strong chance that all international sport will soon be professional. The important
thing is not to play, not even to play well or honestly, but to win. However, the
important thing should be to bring sport within the reach of middle class and within
the reach of all.

361

VOCABULARY AND SYNONYMS

sheer hypocrisy
absolute, pure, (sheer nonsensense; a sheer waste of time)
hypocrisy, hypocrite, hypocritical
surprise
to feel wonder or astonishment by being always unexpected,
unusual
amaze
fill with great surprise; cause wonder in; amazing = causing
great surprise or wonder
astonish
implies a surprising with something that seems unbelievable
amaze
is astonishing that causes bewilderment or confusion
astound
is a shocking astonishment when you are helpless to act or
think (I was astounded by his proposal)
goodwill
kind feelings towards or between people; benevolence; a
friendly or kindly attitude
common
not of upper classes; of the masses; ordinary; not refined
to do your utmost
do the most or the greatest that is possible
side
one of the parties in a contest
combative
fond of fighting or struggling, ready or eager to fight,
pugnacious
arouse, aroused, aroused
to incite, stir, evoke or excite (some action or
feeling)
arise, arose, arisen
to come into being; to result or spring (from something)
mimic
simulated; suggests close imitation, imitative, copying
fierce
savage, wild, violent, uncontrolled, intense
deprive someone of take something away from forcibly
boastful
inclined to brag; brag suggests overstatement
contempt
lack of respect or admiration; contemptuously showing or
feeling contempt, disdain

What is sport and sporting spirit according to you?

362

The right phrases for the 'right' times

Between 100 and 150 thousands supporters from Croatia have come to Wienna to
support our vatrene the fiery Croats; about 15.000 fans have gone down to the
football ground to watch a match between Croatia and Austria, two teams from the
Euro Division. Austria are playing at home, and Croatia away.
- Perhaps we should have got seats in the stands - it wouldn't have been so
crowded.
- Oh, I think the atmosphere's always better on the terraces. That's where the
real fans
stand - and I like the singing and the atmosphere. I should think it's a
capacity crowd
here today .
- What are Austria like at the moment? Are they on good form?
- They're strong at the back but their strikers are weak, except Davor uker.
- How long is it till kick-off?
- Not long - here they come. Croatia are in the red white jerseys, in white red
squares, square-marked, and Austria in the red.
- It is said that Austria don't have much of a chance against Croatia, although
some say
that Croatia has little chance in an away game.
- Wasnt it a foul, he wasn't even trying to play the ball. The referee's given a
free kick. Pity it hit the bar, but that was a good shot.
- Look, they've got a corner, now they'll be dangerous. Goal! That was a
beautiful
header from Niko Kova, just inside the post, the goalkeeper was
completely wrong- footed.
- Now things are warming up. The visitors will have to put up a fight.
They're moving
up into the attack already -that was a lovely pass from Srna.
- That striker, can really move - goal! They've scored the equalizer! The
referee's
blowing his whistle - it must be half-time.
- I hope the second half's as good as the first. Austria will have to get more
than a draw if they don't want to be relegated to the Third Division. Anyway, their
defence is
too weak. You see Croatia have got possession again. Their
marking and ball
control are much better.
Another foul - that's a clear penalty, plaid by Luka Modri. I hope this isn't
going to
turn into a dirty game.
- Have a look, Croatia have the chance to score the deciding goal - but he's
missed!
They've had it now, there are only a few minutes left to play. Now
Austria is on the
attack again. What a powerful shot - but a beautiful save by
the goalkeeper too. But
that was the final whistle - it's a draw.
Explain some words:
terraces
kick-off
kick-off
striker
bar
header
wrong-footed
draw
to be relegated
marking
make a save

wide, shallow steps for spectators at a sporting event

start the game;resume after half-time, by making the first
footballplayer in an attacking position
wood across a gate
act of striking the ball with head
caught on the wrong foot
The game ended in a draw neither side won.
dismiss to a lower position (League football)
pokrivanje
uhvatiti loptu

363

Our players are out of form, Austrians were on form, in good condition of health
and training, whereas spectators were in great form in great spirits and lively.

Here's a football pitch, with the names of the players

Look at this newspaper report of a football match between

Nottingham Forest and Sunderland:
Forest managed to win some corners, and Christie, given a chance as a result of a
half-clearance by the Sunderland defence, hit the bar from 30 yards. That effort
helped Forest briefly to develop a pattern and Gunn gave Davenport a perfect through
pass which caught the Sunderland defence square. Davenport went on to score easily.
Sunderland soon drew level, as West converted a penalty awarded after Wylde had
been brought down by the goalkeeper.
Forest began the second half in a quite different fashion. Christie made a lovely
opening for Davenport, who missed an easy chance. Metgod fell down in the box in
the hope of a penalty, but without impressing the referee. Then Davenport scrambled
home Wigley's corner to restore their lead. Forest's third goal was a classic. Bowyer
found Metgod out on the right with plenty of space; the centre was perfectly timed,
and there was Davenport in the middle to meet the ball on the half-volley and sweep it
past the goalkeper.
Have you found out who won this match and what the final score was?
Spotlight Magazine

364

Section 2
A

Group

Are We Fit for Life?

The important thing is to bring sport within the reach of middle class and within
the reach of all, to bring into reality the Sports Councils slogan: Sport for All. We
should make sport more widely available and administer large sums of money! One of
the main reasons for the universal appeal of sport lies in the fact that it is often viewed
as a means of keeping fit, keeping in good physical condition and toned-up.
Researchers say that exercise does not necessarily increase longevity, but it improves
the quality of life by keeping people independent. But it has, of course, a deeper,
psychological appeal. Sport and sporting spirit means that fittest and the best win the
race or match for survival. Chronological age, the experts now tell us, is a mere
technicality. A 60-year-old who smokes and drinks heavily may be a lot older, for all
practical purposes, than, say, a 85-year-old who runs 50 miles a week. By the same
token, some 40-and-older athletes can compete against 29-year-olds because they have
lowered their functional age to roughly that of their opponents. Its all part of the
physical fitness fad which has hit with a bang not only America, but also our country.
Like genius, functional youth is nine-tenths perspiration.
Elderly people can train diligently, run a few miles most days, spar, pedal their
exercise bike and lift weights. We are more conscious of our health and physical
fitness these days. More and more people are putting on tracksuits, joggers (running
shoes) and going jogging in the morning before work, going to a gym for a workout
(i.e. a programme of physical exercise) in the lunch hour or to the pool for a swim.
Done consistently, it leads to lasting weigh loss. Doctors urge their overweight
patients to get out and exercise. They reported that excess weight leads to heart
trouble, breathing problems, arthritis and back pain. Moreover, heart disease was on
the rise and pointed to inactivity as the cause. Yet the experts say that half of the
people are still overweight. And the physical fitness trend was just beginning. A few
years ago, early risers may have felt nervous about jogging along, at the crack of
dawn, in an empty city park. It requires no particular training and it costs practically
nothing. Middle-aged joggers today swear that running cures weight problems,
insomnia, depression, anxiety, tension, lungs and circulatory system. It is known that
Central Park, the one-and a half mile track is one of the most popular places for a
good jog. Jogging a regular run at a slow, steady pace is a very popular way of
keeping fit. Twelve thousand joggers set off from Londons Hyde Park for a National
Fun Run organized each year by a national newspaper.(Fun run is a run or a race that
people take part in for enjoyment rather than to win a prize). Do we also readily take
up jogging like the British in our National Fun Run?
People are also buying barbells weights used in lifting exercises, exercise
belts, balls and stationary bicycles which are called exercycles. Exercise salons and
health clubs with all the latest in exercise machines including stationary tracks
(treadmills which move while you jog in place), exercycles, and vibrating belts are
making the most of the fitness fad. These you strap to your body, and patiently wait,
while the vibrations shake up your fat cells.They are getting more and more crowded,
365

although old-fashioned gyms still exists. Membership fees are generally not high. But
a person interested in health, as opposed to headline-grabbing athletic performance,
neednt be at all that dedicated. Moderation is the buzz word of the moment. Experts
say that a half hour of running or brisk walking, three times a week, is enough to
decrease the average persons chances of dying from heart disease, cancer, stroke and
other chief causes of death by about 50 percent. As heart attacks do not only happen to
old people, unfortunately we all run a risk of getting a heart attack in middle age or
even earlier than ever before. But the risk would be less if we ate and drank sensibly
and took more exercise.
Even though people can improve their race times by working out more, they will
not significantly lessen the risk of dying prematurely. Certainly, the fastest route to
self-destruction is a sedentary lifestyle. It is now clear that exercises strengthen the
heart and lungs, lower blood pressure, cholesterol and thicken bones and tones
muscles.
As startling as the idea sounds, it is not the passage of years that causes people to age.
We now understand that what we have ascribed to aging is simply for the most part
due to inactivity. But we are made for action. Most people who take up some kind of
exercise soon really get to like it. If we dont stress our skeleton, we are going to lose
it. Although we are going to lose it anyway at some point because the human body,
after all, has its limits. What we are talking about here is improving the quality of life.
Looking after yourself can be great fun and by keeping yourself in good shape you
can get more satisfaction out of life.
True physical fitness is something more than simply being able to cope with
the strains of everyday life. It consists of three important ingredients STAMINA,
SUPPLENESS AND STRENGTH.
STAMINA is the ability to keep going without gasping for breath; it's called
'staying power' For stamina, you need good circulation in the heart and lungs, so that
plenty of oxygen gets to your working muscles. With stamina, you have a lower, more
powerful heartbeat. You can cope with hard physical work and you'll be less likely to
get heart disease.
Next is SUPPLENESS. Suppleness means that your body can bend and move
easily. You need to develop maximum range of movement of your neck, spine and
joints. If your body is supple, you won't suffer so much from aches and pains. You
won't strain or pull muscles in your body.
Finally, STRENGTH. This is extra muscle-power. Lots of people need to do
heavy work now and then; lifting things needs strong shoulders, stomach and thigh
muscles. Good strong tummy muscles help to take the strain and to keep your waist
slim.
Discuss.
Assignment.
Read the text and write a short summary

366

367

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

What do we do to keep fit and in shape, active, or in good condition?

When did you last walk more than one mile or run more than 50
yards?
How did you first come to take up jogging or swimming?
Who introduced you to the sport?
What is it that attracts you to jogging?
What would you recommend a would-be starter to do?
It is as simple as that.. Find out where the nearest club is, go along
and have a try. Are there any drawbacks? We trend to be a fanatical
breed
Would you be able to take this in your stride, since machines are
making us lazy and we are on the other hand made for action?
Ought there to be more organized sport in our country? Do we think
that team games help to create a good atmosphere in a school?
Ought we to have more of them in our universities?
Why is international sport almost entirely professional now? Is this a
good thing?
If corpulent people had ever been on the verge of heart attack what
sport would you recommend?

VOCABULARY AND SYNONYMS

keep in shape
fad
hit with a bang
administer
toned-up
longevity
technicality

stay healthy
craze
hit with impact and success
to put into operation; make work
become stronger, ( tone up your body!)
long life
the state or quality of being technical; tehniki izraz ili pitanje
(on a technicality = zbog proceduralne greke)
token
a sign or symbol; a distinguishing mark or feature
mere
not more than
spar
to box with jabbing or feinting movements
brisk
quick in movement; energetic; active
sedentary
marked by much sitting and little travel
lessen
make less; decrease; minimize
startling
causing a shock of fright or surprise
ascribe
to assign to, impute, attribute
perspire
sweat
perspiration
sweating
heart attack
heart failure
get/come/ grow to like (it) zavoljeti, come to like very much (jako)

stamina suppleness

368

Group

3 We Wonder Why We Persistently and Stubbornly Defend Sports

Which Should Have Been Banned Long Ago.
If you take up a dangerous sport such as hang-gliding, bungee jumping, mountaineering
or deep-see diving, you know there is risk involved, even if you take the best safety precautions.
When a bungee jumper takes the plunge he examines the impulse to do daring deeds, and the
adrenaline flows, thats what they say the pleasures and perils of the world of sport. But how
do we assess that risk and the consequences of doing them? We court danger every time we get
into our cars for even a short journey but that is a risk most people find acceptable.
But if we are the sort of driver who breaks the speed-limit what do we perceive as the
greater risk: being killed in a high-speed crash or being caught for speeding and possibly losing
our driving license?. Is sport nowadays science, money, advertising and business,

sometimes even multi-million dollar multinational business as Grand Prix racing?

Sports which are uncivilised, vicious, dangerous and barbarous as gladiatorial
boxing matches, humiliating bull fighting and racing cars crashing and bursting into
flames still attract an enormous universal interest. Why? Why is it thrilling to watch these
sports?
- Dont the spectators who attend them hope they will see some violence and
death?
- Do human beings remain as bloodthirsty as ever they were?
- Is ghoulishness a dark side of our personality?
- Why do we find all sorts of sophisticated arguments to defend sports
which should have been banned long ago?

You may say that car-racing is not violent. It simply explores limits of human
skill and endurance. We dont even think whether our bodies would withstand the
impact. It simply explores high threshold for fear and exceeds conventional challenges,
looks for thrills and it is a supreme test of human skill. You push it beyond normal
limits; you stand out from the crowd.
Who can explain this philosophy of pushing it to the limit, of jeopardizing our own lives
and of danger as a vital element to extreme or violent sport?
Some may say that there is a physical beauty in simple technicality. Speed, not
style, is what counts in most Alpine contests. But for a new medal event, competitors
must show plenty of creativity and flair as they snake down a 280-m course. To reduce
wind resistance, racers tuck into a fetal-like position, their noses a mere 30 cm from the
ground. They dont even breathe during the 13-to15-sec. run, since doing so would relax
their muscles. It is a fight against air, which feels more like concrete at that speed. Drag
racing or speed skiing on snow has its kamikaze reputation.
Some might say that dangers got to be in there because there has to be something
that limits the number of people that participate in an extreme or violent sport. If there were
no danger then, in theory, a lot of people would do the sport and it would no longer be
extreme, popular with spectators, it would be very run-of-the-mill. However, elements of
real danger in all sports have been slowly removed, boxing matches are stopped, and crashes
on race tracks are also fairly rare. When a sport is pushed to its natural limit, theres quite a
high element of danger and instinct in it. We may think that to be an extreme athlete and to do
dangerous sport has to be something thats almost built-in from birth, that we have it within
us. A new multi sport endurance event called the Eco-Challenge sent at least six competitors
369

to the hospital, several with life-threatening problems ranging from dehydration to exeptional
rhabdomyolysis an unpleasant condition in which the body begins digesting its own muscle
tissue. World Extreme Skiing Championships (WESC) are so full of aggressiveness, form and
difficulty that skiers must wear avalanche beacons, which help rescuers locate and save them.
Scary but fun, for the fun and in good fun.
Formula 1 is motor sport at its most sophisticated and cosmopolitan. The keys to
success in Formula 1 racing are high technology, technological innovation, ever more
competitive machines, big sponsorship money and of course the breathtaking control of the
car, talent, good judgment and gladiatorial combat. This sport combines all the elements of
the glamorous life-style speed, excitement, money, travel, celebrity and fame. The media
coverage is intense: grand prix races attract the third largest audience in the world after the
Olympics and World Cup soccer.
From the drivers the sport demands skill, courage and physical stamina, endurance,
challenge; the slightest error can mean mutilation or death. The drivers race for up to two
hours and change gear some 2,200 times being cocooned inside multi-layer overalls to repel
200C petrol flames. To stay in command and cope with cornering forces of 1.5g or more,
they must think at least six times faster than a normal driver.
The racing cars are designed to give the most contact area with the track and hence
the most grip and upside-down wings to press the car downwards. The cars themselves are
highly-engineered, precision machines which leave behind even the most splendid of roadgoing super cars. Consider, the Jaguar XJ-S HE coupe, which has a 5345 cc V12 engine and
is one of the worlds fastest road cars. A typical Formula 1 car, with its V6 turbo-charged
1500cc engine, has more seven times the power-to-weight ratio of the Jaguar, and the engine
gives nearly ten times more bhp per litre. However, over the next years drastic rule changes,
culminating in the banning of turbo engines, will limit the power and fuel capacity of F1 cars.
These moves will also open the field to normally aspirated cars, which can seldom challenge
the dominance of the turbos. On the technology front, we can see the so-called active
suspension which is being developed by the team. In the place of conventional springs and
dampers, hydraulic pumps maintain the car in an ideal aerodynamic attitude by means of
micro-electronic adjustments of pressure. When a car accelerates, the nose springs up. While
cornering, it tilts to the side. When it brakes, the nose dips. The aim of active suspension is to
reduce these changes and thus make the speeding car more stable. The rival teams are
working all on similar ideas, so the race is on to see who can perfect the system first.
Even if we never take part in the sport, some sports attract an enormous audience
and one that makes good business sense to the sponsors. Whether they make clothes,
cigarettes or cameras, the sponsors are using the powerful and emotive image of sporting
events to sell more of their products.
- Do extreme virile sports tend to attract extreme personalities?
- Does sport we go in for reveal our personality?
- Would you take up a virile sport, the sort of thing girls dont usually go
in for?
- Are virile sports like rugby for people who have strong frame and
constitution?
In short, we stubbornly and persistently defend sports which should have been banned long
ago because

hang-gliding

zmajarstvo

370

Lets discuss mountaineering

Dangers in mountaineering and attempts to reach the highest point of
unclimbed mountains are also front page news.
Climbing up mountains has elements of triumph very often followed by
tragedy, subjective hazard as mistaken judgment, equipment failure and falls due to
inattention, fatigue or inadequate technique and great endurance, it has elements of
muddle and ambition, and partnership lovingly recalled. Also, there is a high level of
objective danger as avalanches and storms.
It is an axiom of mountaineering that the good climber knows when to turn
back, implying that it is not worth sacrificing ones life simply to reach the summit.
Yet mountaineering is studded with examples of climbers who let their ambition or
their obsession overcome their reason. It is especially likely to happen at very high
altitude, where the lack of oxygen slows down the brain as well as the body.
Dangers in mountaineering are sometimes divided into two categories:
objective hazards that exist without regard to the climber's presence, like rockfall,
avalanches and inclement weather, and subjective hazards that relate only to factors
introduced by the climber. Equipment failure and falls due to inattention, fatigue or
inadequate technique are examples of subjective hazard. A route continually swept
by avalanches and storms is said to have a high level of objective danger, whereas a
technically far more difficult route that is relatively safe from these dangers may be
regarded as objectively safer.
In all, mountaineers must concern themselves with eight chief dangers:
falling rocks, falling ice, snow-avalanches, the climber falling, falls from ice slopes,
falls down snow slopes, falls into crevasses and dangers from weather. To select and
follow a route using one's skills and experience to mitigate these dangers is to
exercise the climber's craft.

371

C Group
4

Why Has Doping Become a Dark Side of Sport?

Thrills are addictive, but addiction has its price.

Once the worst-kept secret in sport, doping has become so common that many
fans now see it as inevitable. Sadly, drug abuse has also been a serious problem too
long for such deaths to be particularly notable. But these deaths produced headlines
such as L.J. died of an overdose of cocaine and N.N died of a heroin overdose.
American sports have for years been plagued by controversies surrounding the use of
drugs and doping. In the past, these controversies have centred on legal drugs used
improperly as, for example, pain killers or muscle-builders to help athlete perform.
Many athletes come from poor neighbourhoods where drug dealing is common. The
young athletes are prominent figures in the area and obvious target for dealers. But
behind the casual use of drugs designed to improve athletic performance is a tragedy
carefully hidden from view: the transformation of many athletes into drug addicts.
Nobody knows how many develop dependencies that continue after their careers end.
But the numbers at risk are probably larger than fans or even athletes realize.
Although full-blown addiction among active athlete remains rare, experts say
use of drugs for improving performance vastly increases the threat of substance abuse
and dependency when a doping athlete is sidelined by injury or forced to retire from
sports. Doping requires athletes to defy social aversions for using drugs and syringes
for non-medical purposes, says once the director of the French Olympic Committees
anti-doping mission. Because that taboo has been broken during their careers, athletes
who have doped are often less inhibited about using drugs in normal life than clean
athletes or non-athletes. That risk is confirmed by officials at the Monte Cristo Clinic,
where 20% of patients seeking methadone treatment for heroine addiction report a
background in high-level sports. Even when clean, many athletes suffer a heavy
psychological blow when forced to leave the athletic elite and they are going to feel
lost, anonymous and often severely depressed. When such competitors also have a
history of doping and drug use, the risk of addiction and unwillingness to recognize it
as a severe problem can complicate matters. The continued use of drugs can, in the
athletes mind, constitute a link to the sporting past. Even after abuse is recognized as
destructive, the psychological associations remain very hard to break down.
Also difficult to undermine is the fan-assisted denial that doping is somehow
different from drug abuse; that it involves only euphoria-free, high-tech products like
muscle-building steroids and blood oxidizing agents administered by attentive medical
experts. Sports fans protect the heroic image of athletes by using the term doping rather
taking drugs in sports. In reality, the drugs of choice for athletes today are
amphetamines, cocaine, heroin and huge doses of caffeine substances experts say
often escape detection through a combination of masking agents, passage of time and
connivance by officials. A popular injectable cocktail of those substances known as a
pot belge contains drugs that are purer and far more addictive than those sold on the
streets. The non-stars usually improvise with drugs and doses often even sharing
syringes, despite the AIDS threat. When you see what these people are doing to
themselves you understand the darker meaning of winning at any cost.
Because the biggest stars-turned addicts can afford the luxury and privacy of
exclusive detox clinics in Switzerland, the public rarely learns the risk of dependency
posed by doping.

372

Officials in professional sport have tried to take stronger action. National Football
League announced plans to curb drug use by testing athletes at random, unannounced
times during the season. Three positive tests would mean being banned from the league.
The National Basketball Association (NBA), the top professional basketball league in
the US, has a program of testing suspected drug users. And if a players tests come up
positive three times, he is banned from the league.
A society without national and sporting heroes is unimaginable. Who are
sporting heroes? If we sum up some of the psychological intensity involved in
competitive sport we can say that the inner game is played against such obstacles as
lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt, and self-condemnation and insecurity.
Winners dont think about winning. They expect to win, and they are genuinely
surprised when they dont. All the winners possess steely self-discipline, are highly
motivated, fiercely competitive, mentally indestructible and unable to contemplate
losing, they play with their minds. Navratilova had a special psychology coach for
many years who trained her mind and prepared her psychologically to hate all her
opponents before a match. The need to win often involves very real physical violence.
Is that a sporting spirit?
Amid the cheers for all the record smashing, there have been some darker
murmurs of suspicion. What made so many swim or run so fast? Australia may be a
nation where kids dream of setting swimming records the way some American kids
imagine themselves in the NBA, and Croatian kids in Dynamo, but enthusiasm alone
did not seem to explain such astonishing times and results. New technology in suits and
pools gets some of the credit. So do better training techniques. But speed and perfection
are coming out of laboratories. We are not pointing any fingers at anyone or any nation,
but sport is definitely not drug-free. At the Atlanta Games Irelands Overnight phenom
Michelle Smith won three gold medals. Two years later she was banned from the sport
for sabotaging a drug test.
Coaching in the United States has always been based on a hodgepodge of
styles and theories, but it is slowly moving in the direction of standardized methods.
Bottom has started a training camp called Sprint Team 2000, an all-inclusive approach
to sprinting. His athletes take a horse bar the same dietary supplement used by the
winner of the Kentucky Derby (the horse, not the jockey). They box with heavy bags.
And as part of their mental prep, they put on dark glasses with flashing lights while
they listen to a positive thinking audio.

Why Has Doping Become a Dark Side of Sport?

VOCABULARY AND SYNONYMS

abuse
connivance
lapse
relegate
aftermath
brawl
feat

to use wrongly, misuse, mistreat

the act of conniving, esp. passive cooperation
slip into a specified state
to assign to an inferior position, classify
a result or consequence, esp. an unpleasant one
a rough and noisy fight
sth. difficult well done, esp sth showing skill, strength, endurance, etc.
remarkable deed

373

D Group
4

Sport and Hooliganism

Even if some of us are not interested in sport itself, it is useful to know

something about this most important irrelevant part of our everyday life. But even
though there is violence on and off the field, even though players and spectators
tackle each other very hard and get into fights and even clubs are always in financial
trouble, football has not been getting less popular. So, some like nothing better than
to watch a good First Division side on TV, whereas others like nothing better than to
go to a match. Its only when youve played the game yourself, that you can
appreciate the skills. In the same vein, its only when youve gone to a match
yourself, that you can understand the atmosphere. Professional teams are in fact,
organized into four divisions in England and Wales. Scotland has its own two
divisions. The bottom three teams or clubs of the First Division at the end of the
season go into the second Division, namely, they are relegated. The top three
teams of the second Division go into the First. They are promoted. Anyway, great
interest is shown in the result.
The audience has always been a vital part of the performance. The crowd as a
whole reacts to the performances of individuals or teams, and this mass reaction of
the spectators and the atmosphere it produces are thrilling, especially when
spectators identify themselves with the feats of their heroes.
Sporting spirit reveals a great appeal of sport whether being individual or team
along with the atmosphere and special fluid between sportsman and crowd.
Nevertheless, another problem to be tackled is a violent behaviour of their
supporters hooligans, also called thugs, or louts.
They have battles in the streets and on the terraces, appear in photos in the
newspapers with bloody faces, with iron bars, clubs, knives, chains and darts, being
arrested, or being carried out of the ground unconscious. These armies of the
football war games are thus frightening people away from football matches on
Saturday afternoons.
Year by year, football war games have been a topic of debate among
sociologists psychologies and the press. The aftermath of a violent performance
abroad is usually grovelling apology by British Government of the day and a brief
period of soul-searching by the press and television, and by the famous sociologists
and psychiatrist alike about the social causes of football hooliganism. Isnt it just
another outlet of super-abundant energies and an outlet of frustrations due to
unemployment? Both in Croatia and in England it provides hot topic and buzztheme for round tables by the press, television and radio; the unruly crowds are in
the spotlight for some short period and then this ritual will be repeated as a sad side
of the football game. This problem grows steadily, but the psychologists say there is
little that can be done about it. Apparently, it is necessary for frustrated young adults
to identify with something and to release their tension in violence. Our closer look
can reveal that the terraces are places of tribal gatherings, territories claimed by the
tribes of football supporters. Sociologists and psychologists say that a football match
can be viewed as a war, between the home supporters and the away supporters the
invaders, who have come with the visiting team. The footballers on the pitch are
merely war champions of the two opposing armies. So, whenever it is a game of
league football, the game is a miniature war.

374

But is this violence really as great an evil as people make out?

John Aizlewood analyzes football violence as something of a sub-culture with
its own tribal laws and codes of conduct. Each teams group of hooligans are
referred to as Service Crews, this is because they tend to travel on service trains
rather than specially chartered ones. If the team has an away game, then the
members of the Service Crew will meet at the local railway station early on Saturday
morning so that they can arrive in opposition territory by opening time. The numbers
vary from about 60 (smaller teams like Cardiff City) to a few hundred (Chelsea,
Manchester United). Many of the members dress in expansive brand name clothes
which would be more appropriate on the tennis court or on the golf course. This high
fashion element is another source of rivalry among the Service Crews.
Having arrived at the intended destination, there is usually a reception
committee of home team supporters. They subsequently report their findings to their
friends who have been steadily gathering throughout the morning. Fighting now
breaks out and this will continue on and off until the game, when there is usually
strict and effective police segregation. The role of the police during the war period is
to intervene when the going gets too rough and to arrest some of the leading troublemakers if the numbers are not too great. After the game the visiting Service Crews
are often given a police escort back to the station, but fighting can break out again
when the police leave.
This ritual is repeated every Saturday of this football season and usually
nobody gets hurt too badly. Nevertheless, after some matches stadiums are left
damaged and demolished, shop windows near the grounds are smashed up. So are
some trains or buses that carry football crowds. The situation has, however, changed
with the recent introduction of the Stanley Knife or Swiss Knife, vicious weapons
which cut deeply and remove chunks of skin: this has lead to one or two deaths. The
Dutch custom of throwing petrol bombs also rears its oily head from time to time.
When the English national team travel abroad, they are joined by top hooligans
from all over the country. When English club sides go to the continent for cup
matches they are sometimes infiltrated by other crews or political groups.
Going abroad is quite an achievement in the career of a football hooligan. The
majority of hooligans come from a poor background and the expense of travelling to
away games by British Rail and buying fashionable clothes is already considerable.
There are greater risks involved in going to matches on the continent. The police
tend to be stricter than their British counterparts; the continental hooligans often
carry weapons as a matter of course. And the language and dress differences make
the British hooligans stick out in cities which they dont know. Furthermore the
continental bars are open all day. When one considers all these factors, the outbreak
of violence seems inevitable.
Do you think theres any way we can stop the violence?
Do you agree with the fact that people really get fed up, and there
used to be real wars for them. For the time being, theres only football.

375

Discuss the following questions:

1. How are professional teams organized in Croatia?
2. Do we prefer team sports to individual sports
3. What do we think about unruly crowds? How can the problem of hooliganism
be solved?
4. Is it true that most football supporters come from underprivileged
backgrounds, where theres a lot of unemployment?
5. Have you ever experienced any real violence? What did you do?
6. Dont we ever start the violence by ourselves?
7. Is it true that you dont need to be violent if your team is always winning, for
your team speaks for you?
8. If you see any of your supporters being attacked, will you, if you can, go and
help them?
9. When you all are gathered there as supporters, do you feel like an army?
10. Whats the purpose of the violence? Is it because people feel fed up and they
suppose they can get rid of their frustration on a Saturday afternoon?
11. When you go to a football match, arent you frightened you might get
seriously hurt?
12. Is football in a state of crisis increasingly disappearing from the public regard
because of a minority of hooligan fans?
13. Should the money be spent on small scale schemes, on middle-class sports like
swimming, golf, bowls and diving?
14. What do we virtually appreciate about the game?
15. What it is in the sports we enjoy that attracts us, and what it is that repels us?
16. What is actually happening when the ball goes in the net? Is it like when we give
vent to all our tension weve built up? What happens to the tension we have built
up when a goal is scored?
17. If people were not violent and unruly and undisciplined at football matches,
they would be violent somewhere else, which is even worse.
18. Have British football crowds a reputation for being rather violent, brawl,
aggressive, tense, unruly and very noisy?
19. Why does the press report brawls and violence at football matches?
20. Whats it like being at a football match? Describe such an atmosphere
vocatively?
21. How tiring is it being a supporter? Is it almost as tiring being a supporter as
it is playing the game?
22. Can you tell the difference between rugby and cricket? What do you know
about polo?

376

E Group
5

Is Man HOMO LUDENS?

Read the following text, complete the sentences, and
answer the question.

What we like about participating in sport is

What we appreciate about the game is sheer tactics, playing

We might briefly highlight the potentially creative aspect of sport and the aspect of
sheer play. Johan Huizingas Homo Ludens, virtually, tries to define the nature and
significance of play and tries to answer the question how play has always been
explained. He says that by some the origin and fundamentals of play have been
described as discharge of superabundant vital energy, by others as the satisfaction of
some imitative instinct, or again as simply a need for relaxation. According to
one theory, play constitutes a training of the young creature for the serious work that
life will demand later on. According to another, it serves as an exercise in restraint
needful to the individual. Some find the principle of play in an innate urge to exercise
a certain faculty, or in the desire to dominate or compete. Yet others regard it as an
abreaction (i.e. an outlet for harmful impulses), as the necessary restorer of energy
wasted by one-sided activity; as wish-fulfilment; as a fiction designed to keep up
the feeling of personal value, etc.
- What else do scientists assume about play?
- Mention some other theories which could account for play. Are
these theories mutually exclusive?
- However, play might be also explained as profoundly aesthetic
quality. What do we mean by the following expressions?
- a discharge of superabundant vital energy,
- imitative instinct,
- an outlet for harmful impulses,
- the power of maddening or
- compensating for unfulfilled longings,
- need for relaxation, and
- an exercise in restraint needful to the individual,
- an innate urge to exercise a certain faculty or
- the desire to dominate or compete, an
- abreaction,
- the necessary restorer of energy wasted by one-sided activity,
377

- wish-fulfilment etc.?
- What are the most significant elements of play?
Huizinga explains further in his book that all the hypotheses have one thing in
common: they all start from the assumption that play must serve something which is
not play, that it must have some kind of biological purpose. They all inquire into the
whys and wherefores of play. The various answers they give tend rather to overlap
than to exclude one another. .. Most of them only deal incidentally with the
question of what play is in itself and what it means for the player. They attack play
direct with the quantitive methods of experimental science without first paying
attention to its profoundly aesthetic quality. As a rule they leave the primary quality
of play, as such, virtually untouched.
Huizingas opinion is that nature gave us play, with its tension, its mirth, and
its fun.
The intensity, frenzy, absorption and the passion of the play are well-known to
all sportsmen and women. By introducing elements of pure play, some sportsmen
have changed the image of sport. But if we try to recall the names of such sportsmen
and if we want to describe their expressiveness we will find this task extremely
embarrassing.
- What, according to you are the most significant elements of
sport?
- Can we, consequently, suggest that sport counteracts futility and
that it provides tension, mirth and fun?
- Lay out your own ideas and complete the following sentence.
- Complete the following idea:
Sport provides not only tension, mirth and fun but also
.............................................................................
...............................................................................................................................

VOCABULARY AND SYNONYMS

sheer play
restraint
innate urge
abreaction
faculty
frenzy
mirth

absolute, pure, not mixed with anything else

control of emotions and impulses
to have been in one from birth; innate and inborn are often
interchangeable, but innate has more extensive connotations
whereas inborn qualities are part of ones nature
abreacting and relieving a repressed emotion
talent
wild or frantic outburst of feeling or action; mania
being merry, happy and bright; laughter

378

F Group
6

Is the Inner Game a solution to all sport problems?

Give your own pro and contra arguments.

The concept of the Inner Game was developed by Tim Gallwey as a way of
helping people to achieve excellence in various sports, e.g. tennis, golf and skiing, and
also in music. More recently he has extended his ideas into business and management
training, and they are clearly also highly relevant in all learning situations. The concept
is quite simple. If we consider tennis, for example, people trying to develop their skills
in tennis can spend considerable time concentrating on their 'Outer Game', e.g. how to
stand, how to hold the racket, how to serve. He doesnt even tell the student to hit the
ball accurately. All this effort can cause considerable anxiety and tension for the
player, and as a result performance suffers. By contrast, Gallwey proposes that the
secret of success lies in a new system of teaching sport, in one's Inner Game, i.e. one's
whole mental approach, and that by progressively refining this, one's game will be
transformed. His approach therefore rests on the idea that the harder we try to do
something, the harder it is for us to achieve it.
Gallwey believes that the body and unconscious mind can quickly discover
the best way to perform in sport if we allow them to. The trouble is that usually our
conscious mind is busy trying to control the body, and this prevents us from doing our
best. The Inner Game method aims to free the body from interference by the conscious
mind and to establish and restore close interconnectedness of mind and body.
Here are key elements of the Inner Game:
If you wish to win your 'Inner Game', Gallwey recommends that you should:

develop the art of relaxed concentration

not try too hard

The basic theory is that our bodies can naturally achieve excellence in many
things, but that when we move into 'trying mode' we interfere with this natural ability
and performance suffers. Instead, Gallwey recommends that we become very relaxed,
let go and move into 'awareness mode', in which we can visualise our performance.
And so instead of having a busy mind - worrying, calculating, controlling - we achieve
a quiet mind - focused, aware and centred. Such a state of mind has much in common
with meditation and with the R-mode (right brain) consciousness. Some other
indicators and distinctive features of a mind in 'awareness mode' and the Inner Game
are as follows:
A feeling of confidence and the absence of anxiety and self-doubt
No obsession with success and no fear of failure
An absence of competitiveness, the focus being on playing beautifully and
excellently
One's peak performance comes without effort and when not thinking about
it
It changes the emphasis in sport from competing against other people to
competing against your own mind.
It offers those with average sporting abilities the opportunity to reach a
high standard of performance in comparatively short time
It brings a feeling of effortlessness and enjoyment

379

Top sports people experience very deep emotional and spiritual feelings
through their sport very similar to discoveries reported in recent
psychological research, that is, feelings of complete oneness with the sport,
an overwhelming feeling that cannot be lost, a feeling of complete power
of being able to do anything we want to.
Ian Thomson, a British long-distance runner, who won the 1974 European
Marathon in Rome, said that though he didnt go to church, running gave him a feeling
that could only be described as being close to God.
This Inner Approach or inner Game method and more knowledge about
these deep experiences will change our attitude to sporting competition and to any
sport.
Taking as a whole, we can say that a new emphasis on competing with our
own mind might help to get rid of the obsession with winning which has come to
dominate international sport and everything that stand in connection with it at the
moment. It goes beyond saying that recent research in psychology and a new approach
to tennis coaching will revolutionise our attitudes to sport and sporting spirit.
VOCABULARY AND SYNONYMS
thrilling
flair
chic
stamina
aspirated
dip
virile

emotionally excited
a natural talent or ability, aptitude
smart elegance of style and manner
resistance to fatigue, illness, hardship; endurance; izdrljivost
to remove fluid or gas by suction from a body cavity
to plunge into a liquid and quickly come out
having manly strength or vigour; forceful

We wonder if we could name sportsmen in the top ten world

ranking who have put into practice the inner game.
Is the Inner Game a solution to all sport problems?
Give your own pros and contras.
............
.
.......................
............
............

........................
............
............

380

G Group
7

What should The Olympics advocate?

Now that the games no longer stand as a contest between political
systems, they symbolize more personal battles

The Olympic Games opening ceremonies have always been all that we
would expect from a Hollywood-style spectacular. Is filming one-sided? Cut and
shaped for the needs of business and politics? The TV cameras roll, sending live colour
broadcasts of events. Cameras go sometimes to extremes to emphasize great success of
teams and athletes. You can spectate the winners of the gold, silver and bronze medals
in one shot. Some have realized their dream they are Olympic champions. Standing
atop the gold medal podium, they hear their national anthem, and touch the medal
around their necks. To an athlete, the Olympics are the standard by which an entire
career can be measured. TV coverage is professional, although there are some sports
like judo, volley-ball and wrestling that are difficult to film. While TV is trying to keep
everyone happy, right up to the opening ceremony, there have been widespread
expectations of heavy Olympic tourist business.
As we already know, to prevent wars and political disagreements from
disrupting the games, in ancient Greece a special truce, an agreement between enemies
to stop fighting for a period was arranged, so that athletes who came from all over the
Mediterranean world could travel to compete in events where sportsmanship and the
method of winning were as important as the final victory.
In 1896 Baron Pierre Coubertin arranged the first modern Olympics in Paris,
believing that nothing but good could come of reviving the ancient Olympic ideals.
Unfortunately, he was very wrong. Though the Olympics have become a major world
event, enjoyed by a huge worldwide TV audience, they are in danger of becoming
hopelessly mixed up with politics, science, doping, profit and business. The size and
importance of the Olympic Games are thus threatening the ancient Olympic principles.
The great importance of the Olympics and the huge TV audience watching
them, make them i n e s c a p a b l y p o l i t i c a l. During the 1968 Games in Mexico
there were violent clashes between the government and student protestors. At the 1972
Olympics in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes were killed during a terrorist attack on the
Olympic village. Consequently, the thought of ancient Greek ideals is unlikely to
influence those who see the chance of making important political points through the
Olympics. Thats where the rub is.
As a matter of fact, it was Hitler who first tried to exploit the Olympics for
propaganda. Winning Olympic medals has become politically important. Governments
spend a great deal on sport because they feel that success in international competitions
is a good advertisement for their political beliefs and way of life. The superpowers
have looked on the Olympics as a way to show off their systems to the world - an
extension of war by other means. On the field, it meant the contest between nations
became a competition between systems. The East Bloc called upon the efficiency and
single-mindedness of its cradle-to grave training programs; the West countered with the
fruits of affluence and freedom. The Olympics were the one battleground on which the
two enemies could meet and have it out. Their rivalry was seen as a war of the worlds
especially in a sport where medals are decided by judges and where whispers persisted
381

that East Bloc judges favoured East Bloc athletes and Western judges Western. What
held the world spell-bound was an age-old contest of coquetry against industry, art
against craft, style, in a sense, against sincerity. Suddenly the confrontations over.
a bipolar world is now multicultural. It seems, that the real cold war has always been
internal and that inside the heart the walls have not come down, and one side is still
fighting the other. ... said Time, February 10, 1992.
What happened at Sydney Olympics 2000? By an astonishing error the horse
had been set at 120 centimeters (about 47 inches) off the ground five centimeters too
low. The mistake, which apparently was made when the equipment was lowered for the
women after the mens competition, threw off Khorkinas routine and rattled her so
badly that she fell during one of her signature moves on the uneven bars. In the end
there was no medal for Khorkina, and by the weekend none for the Americans, either.
Next to Khorkina, who was favored for a gold medal, the most visible victim
of the vault foul-up may have been American Elise Ray, who fell on her back in her
warm-up and then twice more in competition. Britains Annika Reeder was taken off
the floor in a wheelchair after injuring her ankle in a fall and withdrew from
competition. As dismay and bewilderment spread over the faces of the watching
athletes, no one seemed to consider the possibility of an equipment problem until a
question was raised by Australian gymnast Allana Slater. The 18 women in the first two
rotations were given a chance to redo their routines, but only five took up the offer
not including the thoroughly disgusted Khorkina, whose score by then was beyond
repair. To the surprise of many viewers, Olypics officials offered no formal apology
and apparently never considered stopping and rescheduling the event. We know that
stuff happens all the time, and that the Olympics are not about protests but two inches
short meant for Russias favored Svetlana Khorkina four years wasted, because she was
unable to recover her composure after she stumbled badly off the mismeasured vault.

Discuss the following questions:

- What do we think of ancient Olympic Games founded on noble ideals?
- How could we keep politics out of sport?
- Should a new sort of Olympics be created so as to bring back the original spirit of
the Games?
- Should international boycotts be arranged?
- Which countries should be excluded?
- Do you agree with the statement that the size and importance of the Olympic
Games are threatening the ancient Olympic principles?
- What about the costs of the games which have to be paid by the country in which
they are held?
- As the bills are so enormous that only the developed countries can afford them,
are the developing countries unprivileged?
- Should the permanent site of the Games be in Greece?
- If the Olympics were always held there, might it help to bring back the original
spirit of the Games?
- Since the Human Rights situation is unfortunately bad in many countries, should
the athletes use every chance to make peaceful protests in front of the TV
cameras?
- And why do Olympic athletes run distances such as 400 and 800 metres?

382

SECTION 3
1 Grammar Revision Exercises
A Consciousness-Raising Task for English
Tenses

2 Terminology Revision Exercises

3 Translate into Croatian and English

383

A Consciousness-Raising Task for English Tenses

Using Grammar Translation Techniques Effectively
Translate into English the following dialogues using the
proper present, past and future tenses
ASSIGNMENT 1

Test

- Jeli se juer loe ponaala u kazalitu?

- Moe li sada uti radio?

- Naravno da mogu. Mogu ga uti savreno.

- Kome si kupila knjigu? Tomici ili njegovom prijatelju?

- Kupila sam ju naravno njemu.

- Ide li uope ikada u kazalite?

- Da, otiao sam na dramu proli tjedan.

- Jesi li ve vidio najnoviji film?

- Da, upravo sam ga vidio.

- Zato ne narui juhu?

- Jer sam ju ve naruio.

- Je li stigao taksi?
- Da, upravo je stigao. Stigao je pred minutu.

- Jesi li ikad dobio nagradu?

- Da, dobio sam kolsku nagradu pred mnogo godina.

- Kako si ozlijedio svoje stopalo? - Ozlijedio sam ga dok sam se penjao.

384

10

- Gdje si bio kad su se svjetla ugasila?

- Veerao sam kad su se svjetla ugasila.

11

- to e raditi slijedei tjedan u ovo vrijeme?

- Skijat u se na Pohorju.

12

- Zato je bio tako uzrujan?

- Nisam predala obavijest Mariji.

13

- Imam vie odijela od tebe.

- Dobro, ali moja su ljepa od tvojih.

14

- Koju kuu voli vie?

- Vie volim stariju.

15

- On je paljiv voza, zar ne?

- Da, on je najpaljiviji voza kojeg sam ikada sreo.

16

- Kad je roendan tvog oca?

- etvrtog kolovoza.

17

- Petar stie slijedeeg ljeta a ja sam mislio da stie u jesen.

18

- Jesi li vidio Petra?

- itao je u knjinici kad sam ga zadnji puta vidio.

19

- Kada je poelo puhati?

- Poelo je upravo puhati kad sam zavrio sa poslom.

385

20

-Koliko dugo se poznajete?

-Poznajemo se od prole godine.

21

- Koliko si puta iao na taj ispit?

- Iao sam tri puta do sada.

22

- Je li ti dugo vremena trebalo da napravi projekt?

- Napravio sam ga za tri sata, nisam nikada prije tako brzo napravio projekt.

23

- On obino odsjeda u hotelu ali danas e odsjesti kod svog prijatelja.

24

- Zar si zaista bacio novine?

- To je bila pogreka. Shvatio sam to im sam ih bacio.

25

- Nikad te nisam vidio da igra ah.

- Ali ja esto igram ah. Pa juer sam ga igrao!

26

- Oni opet bue cestu. Nadam se da sutra nee vie buiti cestu.

27

- Radi li ve dugo svoje vlastito vino?

- Ne, upravo sam ga poeo raditi.

28

- Je li ih sreo na zabavi?
- Ne, vidio ih je prije nego to je otiao na zabavu.

29

- Jesu li polagali ispite?

- Da, jesu. Do sada su ih poloili osam.

30

- Vru si. to si radio?

- Trao sam.

386

31

- Koliko si projekata nacrtao?

- Kad napravim ovaj projekt biti e ih zajedno tri.

32

- Ja sam mu poslao mail.

- Nisi trebao! Ja sam mu ve poslala jedan.

33

- Je li uo istinu na sastanku?
- Ne, uo ju je prije nego je otiao na sastanak.

34

- Jo nisi popravio Nokia-u?

- Ne brini! Popravit u je do veeras.

35

- Koliko krumpira za olupit!

- Bojim se da je tako. Vjerojatno emo ih lupit cijeli dan.

36

- Ima li jo vijesti od Petra?

- Ne, dao sam ti sve vijesti koje postoje.

37

- Stefan me zove cijelo jutro.

- Ne pretjeruj! Zvao te je samo dva puta.

38

- Zato si vozio tako opasan auto?

- Nikad ga prije nisam vozio, pa nisam znao da je opasan.

39

- Sutra u ruati u kantini.

- Onda emo se vidjeti. I ja u ruati tamo takoer.

40

- Kada e imati vremena poslati estitke?

- Poslati u ih za vrijeme ruka.

41

- Jesi li ikad prije imao slinu nesreu?

- Nikad nisam imao niti jednu nesreu sve dok mi se nije dogodila ova.

387

TEST A
AUTO CORRECTION
MANNER
PLACE
TIME
1
- Did you behave rudely/badly at the theatre yesterday ? ( T)
S/V/O/M/P/T
2

- Can you hear the radio now?

- Of course I can. I can hear it perfectly well.

- Who did you buy the book for? Tom or a friend of his? (one of his friends?)
- I bought it for Tom, of course.

- Do you ever go to the theatre?

- Yes, I do, I went to a drama last week.

- Have you seen the newest film yet ?

-Yes, I have, I have just seen it.

- Why don't you order the soup?

- Because I have already ordered it.

- Has the taxi arrived yet?

- Yes, it has just arrived. It arrived a minute ago.

- Have you ever received a reward?

- Yes, I received a reward many years ago.

- How did you hurt your foot?

- I hurt it while I was climbing.

10

- Where were you when the lights went off?

- I was having supper when the lights went off.

11

- What will you be doing at this time next week?

- I shall be skiing on Pohorje.

12

- Why was he so upset?

- I hadn't given Mary the note (or his message). OR
( I hadn't given the note or his message to Mary.)

13

- I have more suits than you have.

- Well, mine are prettier than yours.

14

- Which house do you prefer?

- I prefer the older one.

388

15

- He is a very careful driver, isn't he?

- Yes, he is the most careful driver I've ever met.

16

- When's your father's birthday?

- It's on August 4th.

17

- Peter's arriving next summer and I thought he was arriving in the autumn.

18

- Have you seen Peter?

- He was reading in the library when I saw him last.

19

- When did it begin to get windy?

- It was just beginning to get windy when I finished work.

20

- How long have you known each other?

- We've known each other since last year.

21

- How many times have you taken the exams?

- I've taken them three times so far.

22

- Did it take long to design the project? - I designed it in three hours, I've never designed a project so quickly
before.
23

- He usually stays at a hotel.

- Well, he's staying at (the house of) his friend today.

24

- Did you really throw away the papers?

- It was a mistake. I realized it as soon as (the moment) I had thrown them

away.
(I'd thrown them away).
25

- I have never seen you play chess.

- But I often play chess! I was playing it only yesterday!

26

- They' re drilling the road again.

- I hope they won't still be drilling the road tomorrow.

27

- Have you been making your own vine for long?

- No, I've only just started making it.

28

- Did you meet them at the party?

- No, he had seen them before he went to the party.

389

29

- Have they been taking their exams?

- Yes, they have. They've taken eight of them so far.

30

- You look hot. What've you been doing?

- I've been running.

31

- How many projects have you designed now?

- When I've finished this one I'll have designed three altogether.

32

- I've sent him an e-mail.

- You needn't have done that. (You shouldn't have done that).
I'd already sent him one.

33

- Did you hear the truth at the meeting?

- No, he'd heard it before he went to the meeting.

34

- You haven't repaired your Nokia yet?

- Don't worry! I'll have repaired it by midnight.

35

- What a lot of potatoes to peel!

- I'm afraid so. We'll probably be peeling them all day.

36

- Have you any more news of Peter?

- No, I've given you all the news there is.*

37

- Steven's been telephoning me all morning.

- Don't exaggarate! He's only telephoned you twice.

38

- Why did you drive a dangerous car like this?

- I'd never driven a car like this so I didn't know it was dangerous.

39

- I'll be having lunch at the canteen tomorrow.

- We'll be seeing us there. I'll be having lunch there, too.

40

- When will you have time to send the cards?

- I'll send them at lunch- time.
- Have you had an accident like this before?
- I'd never had an accident at all

41

390

ASSIGNMENT 2
Translate into English the following dialogues using the
proper present, past and future tenses

Test B
1

- Jesi li juer ula dobar razgovor na radiju?

- Gdje je Petar?
- Bit e da jo spava.

- Kome si posudila novac? Petru ili njegovoj sestri?

- Posudila sam ga naravno njoj.

- to si juer donio Mariji?

- Donio sam joj ruu.

- Otiao je u Junu Ameriku. Nikada prije nije bio tamo, zar ne?

- Zato ne posjeti taj grad?

- Jer sam ga ve posjetio.

- Je li Marija nazvala?
- Da, upravo je nazvala. Nazvala je pred minutu.

- Jesi li se ikad penjao na planinu?

- Ne, ali sam se popeo na drvo kad sam bio dijete.

- Kako si sreo svoju suprugu?

- Sreli smo se dok smo bili u Rimu.

391

10

- Gdje si bio kad je dola susjeda?

- Kosio sam travu kad je dola susjeda.

11

- Vi ne elite jesti previe, zar ne?

- Ne brinite! Ne emo jesti puno.

12

- to e raditi slijedee godine u ovo vrijeme?

- Poet u raditi na fakultetu.

13

- Zato je bio tako ljut?

- Nisam mu pripremila ruak.

14

- Imam vie roaka od tebe.

- Dobro, ali moji su bogatiji nego tvoji.

15

- Koju haljinu vie voli?

- Volim vie duu.

16

- On je rano ranilac.
- Da, on se ujutro budi najranije od svih koje sam ikad sreo.

17

- Kad je roendan tvog strica?

- Dvanaestog svibnja.

18

- Oni stiu u subotu uveer a ja sam mislila da stiu u podne.

19

- Vi ste neko slikali portrete, zar ne?

- Da, ali sada slikam pejzae.

20

- Kada je poela padati kia?

- Poela je padati kia ba kad sam se vratio sa posla.

21

- Koliko dugo studira na ovom fakultetu?

- Studiram ovdje ve dvije godine.

392

22

- Koliko si puta sanjao taj san?

- Sanjao sam ga tri puta do sada.

23

- Je li ti je trebalo dugo da napravi taj posao?

- Napravio sam ga za tri sata, do sada nisam nikad prije tako brzo napravio posao.

24

- On obino putuje vlakom ali danas e putovati avionom.

25

- Zar si uistinu pustio van pse?

- To je bila greka. Shvatio sam to im sam ih pustio.

26

- Nikad te nisam vidio da nosi make-up.

- Ali ja esto nosim make-up. Pa juer sam nosila make-up.

27

- Ona ga opet eka. Nadam se da ga sutra vie nee ekati.

28

- Koristi li se dugo ovom bankom?

- Ne, upravo sam ju poela koristiti.

29

- Je li izgubio naoale u kazalitu?

- Ne, izgubio ih je prije nego to je otiao u kazalite.

30

- Jesu li posjeivali muzeje?

- Da, jesu. Do sada su ih ve pet posjetili.

31

- Mokar si. to si radio?

- etao sam po kii.

393

32

- Koliko ste sada napisali knjiga?

- Kad napiem ovu biti e sve zajedno pet knjiga koje sam napisao.

33

- Kupila sam ti novine.

- Nisi trebala. Ja sam ih ve kupio prije.

34

- Jo nisi prevela to pismo?

- Ne brini! Prevest u ga do veeras.

35

- Koliko testova za ispravit!

- Bojim se da je tako. Vjerojatno u ih ispravljati cijeli dan.

36

- Ima li jo informacija o nesrei?

- Ne, dala sam ti sve informacije koje postoje.

37

- Ona vie na mene cijelo jutro.

- Ne pretjeruj! Povikala je na tebe samo dva puta.

38

- Zato razgovara sa tako neuljudnim ljudima.

- Nisam s njima nikad prije razgovarao pa nisam znao da su neotesani.

39

- Sutra u ruati u kantini.

- Onda emo se vidjeti. I ja u ruati tamo takoer.

40

- Kada e imati vremena napraviti vjebe?

- Napravit u vjebe noas.

41

- Jesi li ikad prije koristio slian mobitel?

- Nikad nisam koristio nikakav mobitel sve dok nisam koristio ovaj!

394

AUTO CORRECTION
B TEST
1

- Did you hear a good talk on the radio yesterday? (T) S/V/O/M/P/T

- Where's Peter?
- I expect he is still sleeping.

- Who did you lend your money to? Peter or his sester?
- I lent it of course to her. (N.B. borrow from but lend, lent, lent to)

- What did you bring to Maria yesterday?

- I brought her a rose.

- He has gone to South America. He has never been there before, has he?

- Why don't you visit this town?

- Because I've already visited it.

- Has Maria telephoned?

- Yes, she has telephoned. She telephoned a minute ago.

- Have you ever ridden a donky?

- Yes, I rode one last week.

- How did you meet your wife?

- I met her while I was staying in Rome.
N.B I met her when I was in Rome.

10

- Where were you when your neighbour came?

- I was mowing the lawn.

11

- You won't eat too much, will you?

- Don't worry! We shan't eat much.

12

- What will you be doing this time next week?

- I'll be starting a job at the university.

13

- Why was he so angry?

- Because I hadn't prepared the lunch for him.

395

14

- I have more relatives than you have.

- Well, mine are richer than yours.

15

- Which dress do you prefer?

- I prefer the longer one.

16

- He is an early riser.
- Yes, he is the earliest riser I've ever met.

17

- When is the birthrate of your uncle?

- On July 12th.

18

- They're arriving on Saturday evening and I thought they were arriving at

midday.

19

- You once painted portraits, didn't you?

- Yes, but I'm painting landscapes now.

20

- When did it begin to rain?

- It was just beginning to rain when I returned from work.

21

- How long have you been studying at this university?

- I have been studying here for two years

22

- How many times have you dreamed this dream?

- I have dreamed it twice so far.

23

- Did it take you long to finish this job (to do this job)?
- I did it in three hours, I've never done a job so quickly before.

24

- He usually travels by train, but he's travelling by plane today.

25

- Did you really let out the dogs?

- It was a mistake. I realized it as soon as (the moment)I'd let them out.

26

- I have never seen you wear make-up.

- But I often wear make-up. I was wearing it only yesterday

27

- She's waiting for him again.

- I hope she won't still be waiting for him tomorrow.

396

28

- Have you been using this bank long?

- No, I've only just started using it.

29

- Did he lose his glasses at the theatre?

- No, he had (he'd) lost them before he went to the theatre.

30

- Have they been visiting museums?

- Yes, they have. They have visited five of them so far.

31

- You look wet. What have you been doing?

- I have been walking in the rain.

32

- How many books have you written now?

- When I have written this one I'll have written five books together.

33

- I've bought you the newspapers.

- You needn't have done that. (You shouldn't have done that).
I'd already bought one.

34

-You haven't translated this letter yet?

- Don't worry! I'll have translated it by this evening.

35

- What a lot of tests to correct!

- I'm afraid so. I'll probably be correcting them all day.

36

- Have you any more information on accident?

- No, I've given you all the information there is.*

37

- She has been yelling (shouting) at me all morning.

- Don't exaggerate! She's yelled (shouted) at you only twice.

38

- Why did you speak to such rude people?

- I hadn't spoken to them before, so I didn't know they were rude.

39

- I'll be having lunch at the canteen tomorrow.

- We'll be seeing us then I'll be having lunch there, too.

40

- When will you have time to do your exercises?

- I'll do them tonight.

397

41

- Have you had a mobile like this before?

- I'd never had a mobile at all until I had this one.

* N. B.
Have you any more news of John?
No, Ive given you all the news there is.
Have you any more work, mending to give me?
No, Ive given you all the work/ mending there is.
Have you any more proof/ evidence of his guilt?
No, Ive given you all the proof/evidence of his guilt there is.
Have you any more information about the accident?
No, Ive given you all the information there is.
Have you any more washing/ironing to be done?
No, Ive given you all the washing/ironing there is.
All the news that there is = the noun is defined by a relative clause and note the
omission of that

398

LECTURE 15
Prelim 2
Writing an essay:
Is the Environmental Rethoric
overblown?
Visions of Future

Visions of Engineering

399

ASSIGNMENT 1
PRO AND CONTRA ARGUMENTS
A

The environmental rhetoric is not overblown

Read the following PRO arguments and write subtitles for each
paragraph

While overpopulation in poor nations tends to keep them poverty-stricken,

overpopulation in rich nations tends to undermine the life-support capacity of the
entire planet, says Paul R. Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford
University.
................................
.........................................
Now the population exceeds six billion. In a sense, today's six billion people represent a
triumph of our species. By all measures we have become dominant on the planet. Through a
series of technological innovations that include farming, sanitation, and the control of many
epidemic diseases, we have found ways to reduce the rate at which we die, creating a
population explosion. Biologically this is the very definition of success.

But there is a dark side to our triumph. We live on a finite planet, and yet we act as if its
resources were infinite. Because of overpopulation and over consumption, humanity is
incapable of supporting itself on its "income," the energy arriving continuously from the sun.
Instead Homo sapiens is consuming its "capital," a onetime bonanza of non-renewable fossil
fuels and other mineral resources that formed over eons and are now being destroyed and
dispersed in decades. We are doing the same with vital resources not usually thought of as
being non-renewable: deep, fertile agricultural soils, groundwater, and biodiversity the
untold millions of other species that share Earth with us.

The mechanisms that supply us with income are ecosystems - plants, animals, and microorganisms interacting with each other and their physical environments. The energy that flows
through these ecosystems and the oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and other materials they recycle
are the essence of the life-support system within which six billion people are inextricably
embedded.

Ecosystems supply civilization with public services both free and irreplaceable. They include
regulation of climate and the makeup of the atmosphere, generation and maintenance of soils,
control of potential crop pests and carriers of human diseases, pollination of many crops, and
provision of food from the sea. Ecosystems supply the nutrients without which we could not
survive, and in the process they dispose of our wastes.

The vast array of organisms that ecosystems support can be thought of as a giant genetic
library. Humanity has already withdrawn from that library the very basis of its civilization in
400

the form of crops, domestic animals, industrial materials, and medicines. And its potential has
barely been scratched.

Understanding ecosystems and how civilization is living on capital provides the appropriate
context for analyzing the population problem. It immediately exposes the myth that the impact
of the population explosion stems primarily from poor people in poor countries who do not
know enough to limit their reproduction. Numbers per se are not the measure of
overpopulation; instead it is the impact of people on ecosystems and non-renewable resources.
While developing countries severely tax their environments, clearly the populations of rich
countries leave a vastly disproportionate mark on the planet.

The birth of a baby in the United States imposes more than a hundred times the stress on the
world's resources and environment as a birth in, say, Bangladesh. Babies from Bangladesh do
not grow up to-own automobiles and air conditioners or to eat grain-fed beef. Their life-styles
do not require huge quantities of minerals and energy, nor do their activities seriously
undermine the life-support capability of the entire planet.

For example, tropical forests are known to be the major reservoirs of biodiversity of species
that can supply humanity with many direct benefits and are working parts of ecosystems. The
clearing of tropical forests is usually an attempt (often unsuccessful) to provide farms for
rapidly growing populations of poor people. But it also results from the affluence of people in
rich countries. Central American forests are destroyed in part for pastureland to make pet food
and convenience food in the United States slightly cheaper; in Papua New Guinea forests are
destroyed to supply cardboard packaging for Japanese electronic products. Thus a rich person
thousands of miles away may cause more tropical forest destruction than a poor person living
within the forest itself.

The connection of population growth in wealthy nations to global environmental problems can
most readily be seen in the rise in atmospheric levels of the gases carbon dioxide and methane.
These "greenhouse" gases trap heat near earth's surface and thus alter the climate. Major
sources of increased CO2 are the burning of fossil fuelsclearly related to affluenceand the
destruction of forests. Major sources of methane include not only intensive wetland cultivation
of rice but also large populations of cattle, whose digestive tracts give off methane at both
ends.

In short, while rapid population growth in poor countries impedes the escape from poverty and
often leads to local environmental deterioration, overpopulation and resource consumption in
rich nations threatens earth's capacity to sustain us all.
From National Geographic

401

II
STUDY THE FOLLOWING VOCABULARY LIST OF THE
A TEXT
poverty-stricken
overpopulation
undermine
exceed
proliferate
roughly
finite
infinite
bonanza
disperse
eon
continuously
continually
inextricable
embed
irreplaceable
pollinate
provision
an array of
giant
impact
effect
affect
affluence
be affluent
impede
sustain
deterioration
in essence
stem
to tax

III

Write synonyms for the following nouns:

degradation =
result
=
affluence
=

IV

violent collision
=
a long period of time =
bonanza
=

Write synonyms for the following adjectives.

very poor
untied
abundant

= very poor indeed

= population explosion, population proliferation
= to weaken or destroy by stages
= be greater than; to surpass, go beyond
= multiply rapidly
= about, more or less but not exactly
= limited
= without limits
= any source of wealth or prosperity; something profitable
= go in different directions
= period of time too long to be measured
= without interruption
= repeatedly
= so that one cannot extricate himself from; that cannot be
untied
= to set or fix firmly in a surrounding mass
= not replaceable
= to transfer pollen
= providing
= a lot of
= very large
= the force of an idea, violent collision
= a result
= to cause some results
= great plenty, abundance
obilje
= (affluent circumstances); rich; wealthy; well-to-do
= to get in the way of; hinder
= to provide for the support of; support
= becoming worse, degradation
= in its (ones) nature
= originate
= to impose a burden on; burden

=
=
=

limited
not replaceable
very large

=
=
=

Write synonyms for the following verbs:

weaken; surpass, proliferate; hinder, deteriorate; stem; sustain; burden;

disperse

402

The End Is Not at Hand

B

The environmental rhetoric is overblown.

VI
Read the following COUNTER arguments and write subtitles for each
paragraph

Whoever coined the phrase "save the planet" is a public-relations genius. It conveys the sense of
impending catastrophe and high purpose that has wrapped environmentalism in an aura of moral
urgency. It also typifies environmentalism's rhetorical excesses, which, in any other context, would be
seen as wild exaggeration or simple dishonesty.

Up to a point, our environmental awareness has checked a mindless enthusiasm for unrestrained
economic growth. We have sensibly curbed some of growth's harmful side effects. But
environmentalism increasingly resembles a holy crusade addicted to hype and ignorant of history.
Every environmental ill is depicted as an onrushing calamity thatif not stopped will end life as
we know it.

Take the latest scare: the greenhouse effect. We're presented with the horrifying spectre of a world
that incinerates itself. Act now, or sizzle later. Food supplies will wither. Glaciers will melt. Coastal
areas will flood. In fact, the probable losses from any greenhouse warming are modest: 1 to 2 percent
of our economy's output by the year 2050, estimates economist William Cline. The loss seems even
smaller compared with the expected growth of the economy (a doubling) over the same period.

No environmental problem threatens the "planet" or rates with the danger of nuclear war. No oil spill
ever caused suffering on a par with wars throughout the world, which is a minor episode in human
misery. World War II left more than 35 million dead. Cambodia's civil war resulted in 1 million to 3
million deaths. The great scourges of humanity remain what they have always been: war, natural
disaster, oppressive-government, crushing poverty and hate. On any scale of tragedy, environmental
distress is a featherweight.

This is not an argument for indifference or inaction. It is an argument for perspective and balance.
You can believe (as I do) that the possibility of greenhouse warming enhances an already strong case
for an energy tax. A tax would curb ordinary air pollution, limit oil imports, cut the budget deficit and
promote energy-efficient investments that make economic sense.
.
But it does not follow that anyone who disagrees with me is evil or even wrong. On the greenhouse
effect, for instance, there's ample scientific doubt over whether warming will occur and, if so, how
much. Moreover, the warming would occur over decades. People and businesses could adjust. To take
one example: farmers could shift to more heat-resistant seeds.

.
Unfortunately, the impulse of many environmentalists is to vilify and simplify. Critics of
environmental restrictions are portrayed as selfish and ignorant creeps. Doomsday scenarios are
developed to prove the seriousness of environmental dangers.

403

The rhetorical overkill is not just innocent excess. It clouds our understanding. For starters, it
minimizes the great progress that has been made, especially in industrialized countries. In the United
States, air and water pollution have dropped dramatically. Since 1960, particulate emissions (soot,
cinders) are down by 65 percent. Lead emissions have fallen by 97 percent since 1970. Smog has
declined in most cities.

What's also lost is the awkward necessity for choices. Your environmental benefit may be my job. Not
every benefit is worth having at any cost. Economists estimate that environmental regulations depress
the economy's output by 2.6 to 5 percent, or about $150 billion to $290 billion. (Note: this is larger
than the estimated impact of global warming.) For that cost, we've lowered health risks and improved
our surroundings. But some gains are small compared with the costs. And some costs are needlessly
high because regulations are rigid.

Balance: The worst sin of environmental excess is its bias against economic growth. The cure for the
immense problems of poor countries usually lies with economic growth. A recent report from the
World Bank estimates that more than 1 billion people lack healthy water supplies and sanitary
facilities. The result is hundreds of millions of cases of diarrhoea annually and the deaths of 3 million
children (2 million of which the World Bank judges avoidable). Only by becoming wealthier can
countries correct these conditions.

Similarly, wealthier societies have both the desire and the income to clean their air and water.
Advanced nations have urban-air-pollution levels only a sixth that of the poorest countries. Finally,
economic growth tends to reduce high birth rates, as children survive longer and women escape
traditional roles.

Yes, we have environmental problems. Reactors in the former Soviet Union pose safety risks.
Economic growth and the environment can be at odds. Growth generates carbon-dioxide emissions
and causes more waste. But these problems are not as environmental rhetoric implies the main
obstacles to sustained development. The biggest hurdle is inept government. Inept government
fostered unsafe Soviet reactors. Inept government hampers food production in poor countries by, say,
preventing farmers from earning adequate returns on their crops.

By now, everyone is an environmentalist. But the label is increasingly meaningless, because not all
environmental problems are equally serious and even the serious ones need to be balanced against
other concerns. Environmentalism should hold the hype. It should inform us more and frighten us
less. From Newsweek, by ROBERT J. SAMUELSON

404

VII

STUDY THE FOLLOWING VOCABULARY LIST OF THE

B TEXT
at hand = near, close by
blizu
to be overblown = pompous and bombastic
prenapuhan,
coin = introduce a new expression, make up, invent a new word or phrase izmisliti
convey = make known, communicate in words, actions
nagovijeivati
impending = be about to happen, threatening (catastrophe)
neminovan
mindless = stupid
excesses = acts beyond the limits of good behaviour
krajnosti
exaggeration = overstatement
exaggerate = overemphasize, overstate, magnify beyond the fact pretjeranost
environmental awareness = ecology consciousness
ekoloka svijest
unrestrained = not controlled
neobuzdan
curb = restrain, prevent from getting out of control
obuzdati
hype = misleading and exaggerated publicity
napuhivanje
hype = stimulate, incite
napuhivati
onrushing calamity =
nesrea koja se obruuje
onrush = a strong onward rush
calamity = a grave misfortune that brings deep distress
nesrea
(disaster results in loss of life, catastrophe has a disastrous end or outcome whereas cataclysm
means a great upheaval or suffering a political or social one)
spectre (US specter) = unpleasant and frightening image of possible future avet
incinerate = destroy by burning
spaliti
sizzle = to make a hissing sound when in contact with heat
cvrati
wither = dry up (of a plant)
osuiti
on a par with = equal in importance to
jednak
scourges = things that cause suffering
pokora
distress = great pain , sorrow
velika bol i patnja
perspective = a view stretching far into the distance and future
enhance = to increase
poveati
shift to = to replace by other (seeds)
ample doubt = adequate, large
velika sumnja
vilify = defame
ocrniti
creep = a person regarded as very annoying
groza
doomsday = day of the Last Judgment, the end of the world
sudnji dan
akin to = similar to
slian
overkill = something that causes harm by going beyond the desirable limits
soot =
aa
cinders = any matter (coal or wood) burned out or partly burned ljaka
bias = prejudice, bias is a mental leaning of any kind
pristranost
prejudice = unreasonable judgment
and intolerance
predrasuda
be at odds = be disagreeing
biti u raskoraku
hurdle = obstacle
prepreka
be at odds (with) = in disagreement (with)
ne slagati se
inept government = inefficient
nesposoban
foster = encourage and promote
stimulirati, poticati
hamper = hinder, impede
spreavati
to hold the hype = to consider this misleading publicity
rate with = be regarded similar or equal to
usporediti

405

VIII

Questions to consider:

1.
2.

How do we impact the global environment?

Are radioactivity, chemical contamination, and the threat of biochemical and nuclear
war risks of our civilization?
Are the risks now confronting humanity global in nature?
Are tehnological disasters rooted in ecologically destructive industrialization?
Are technological disasters global, pervasive, long-term and incalculable?
The risks stemming from nuclear plant explosions spread across national boundaries,
and their adverse consequences may be affecting future generations. Discuss.
Risks that are imperceptible but no less hazardous are also global warming and ozone
depletion. Can you describe the vicious circle of global warming?
As the process of globalization continues accompanied by the transfer of
technologies from developed to developing economies we might witness a rising
incidenceof technological disasters both in developing and developed nations.
Is the environmental rhetoric overblown?
Doomsday scenarios are developed to prove the seriousness of environmental
dangers.
Should the word balance be the key word of Mother Earth?
What are the most important issues and questions of these texts?
What are your arguments pro and contra ecology consciousness?

3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

IX
Write an essay using the ideas from the texts with the
title EARTH 2009
Questions to consider:
1.
2.

How do we impact the global environment?

Are radioactivity, chemical contamination, and the threat of biochemical and nuclear
risks of our civilization?
3.
Are the risks now confronting humanity global in nature?
4.
Unlike the risks of previous civilizations, are technological disasters rooted in
ecologically destructive industrialization global, pervasive, longterm an
incalculable?
5.
The risks stemming from nuclear plant explosions spread across national boundaries,
and their adverse consequences may be affecting future generations.
6.
Risks that are imperceptible but no less hazardous are also global warming and ozone
depletion.
7.
As the process of globalization continues accompanied by the transfer of
technologies from developed to developing economies we might witness a
rising
incidence of technological disasters both in developing and
developed countries.

406

References
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

15

Hercezi Skalicki M.:Reading Technical English for Academic

Purposes,
kolska knjiga, Zagreb 1993
Murphy R.: English Grammar in Use, Third Edition, Cambridge
University Press 2004
Vince M.: Intermediate Language Practice with key, Macmillan
Education Between Towns road, Oxford OX4 3PP, 2003
Caselli E. : In English, Please!, VII edizione, 1986, Stampa Officine
Grafiche La Scuola Brescia
Sue OConnell: Advanced English C.A.E., with additional Grammar
and Listening material by Mark Foley and Russel Whitehead, Longman
2006
Allen W.S,: Living English Structure, B.A. Longman 1959
Thomson A.J. and Martinet A.V.: A Practical English Grammar,
London Oxford University Press 1970
Hornby A.S. : A Guide to Patterns and Usage in English, Oxford
University Press 1970
Hashemi L. and Murphy R. : English Grammar in Use, Supplementary
Exercises, with, Cambridge University Press 1955
Alexander L.G.: Practise and Progress, Longman Group llmited, 1978
Alexander L.G. : Practice and Progress, Teachers book, Longman,
1977
OConnell, S.: Focus on Advanced English C.A.E., revised and
updated, Longman, 1999
Viney P.: Streamline English, Workbook A, Oxford University Press,
1985
About.com. A reference guide to commonly used English phrasal
verbs.
esl.about.com/.../aa011198.htm - Spremljeno u privremenu memoriju Slino
Basic English for Science; Oxford University Press, Walton Street,
Oxford OX2 6DP; 1978

407