Work in groups of 3. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of each idea.

17. Project 1. Work in groups of three. A Prepare a project presenting one way how to avoid urban traffic disaster.

B Present your project to your group mates.

C Listen to your partners attentively and be ready to ask questions about their presentations.

Work in small groups. Discuss the main problems of the public transport net in your city.

1) What kinds of public transport are there? 2) Which of them do you use? 3) How many routes are there in the city? 4) What are the most important routes there? 5) Are they profitable? Why? 6) Does the public transport net in your city need improving?

19. Project 2. Work in groups of three. A Work out a public transport route in your city. Prove its necessity, efficiency and profitability.

B Present your project to your group mates. Vote for the best project.

C Listen to your partners attentively and be ready to ask questions about their presentations.

Is it difficult to work out a public transport net for your city?

Work in pairs and discuss the questions.

1) What unusual means of transport do you know?

2) Which of them are used?

3) Are they popular in our country/city/every day life?

4) Can you imagine a space elevator?

5) How do you think a space elevator would work?

6) What could it be used for?

7) What technical challenges would it face?

8) How seriously do you think the concept of space elevators is being taken at present?

Read Text C and compare it to your answers in Activity 20.

Text C. SPACE ELEVATORS: PREPARING FOR TAKE OFF

In his 1979 novel, The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur Clarke wrote about an elevator connecting the earth's surface to space. Three decades later, this science fiction concept is preparing to take off in the real world. NASA has launched the Space Elevator Challenge, a competition with a generous prize fund, and several teams and companies are working on serious research projects aimed at winning it.

As its name suggests, a space elevator is designed to raise things into space. Satellites, components for space ships, supplies for astronauts in space stations, and even astronauts themselves are examples of payloads that could be transported into orbit without the need for explosive and environmental unfriendly rockets. However, the altitude of orbital space - a colossal 35,790 km above the earth - is a measure of the challenge facing engineers. How could such a height be reached?

The answer is by using an incredibly strong and lightweight cable, strong enough to support its own weight and a heavy load. The design of such a cable is still largely theoretical. This would be attached to a base station on earth at one end and a satellite in geostationary orbit (fixed above a point on the equator) at the other. Lift vehicles would then ascend and descend the cable, powered by electromagnetic force and controlled remotely.

Match the highlighted verbs in Text C to the definitions.

1) Carried (objects, over a distance); 2) hold something firmly/ bear its weight; 3) climb down; 4) provided with energy / moved by a force; 5) joining; 6) driven / have movement directed 7) fixed; 8) climb up; 9) lift / make something go up.

Complete the notes using the verbs in Activity 22.

Space Elevators

· Challenge of (1) … a satellite to earth by cable is significant.

· To (2) … its own weight and be securely (3) … at each end, cable would need phenomenal straight-to-weight ratio.

· How could vehicles be (4) into space, up cable?

· Self-contained energy source problematic, due to weight (heavy fuel or batteries required to (5) … vehicle).

Two possible ways round problem:

1. Transmit electricity wirelessly. But technique only at research stage.

2. Solar power. But would only allow vehicle to (6) … slowly. Not necessarily a problem, as car could be controlled remotely, allowing it to (7) … payloads unmanned.

24. Work in small groups. You are members of a space elevator research team. Discuss the possible ways to use this idea in modern industry.

25. Some space elevator designs propose an offshore base station. In pairs, discuss how such a system might work. What advantages might an offshore base have compared with a land base?

Try to predict the answer to the questions before reading the text about offshore base stations.

1) How would an offshore base station be supported?

2) What would the function of its anchors be?

3) How would payloads reach the base station?

4) What problem would a mobile base station help to prevent?

5) What would the procedure be if there was an alert?

Read Text D and check your answers to the questions in Activity 26.

Text D

The offshore base station would be supported by a floating structure, which could be attached to the seabed by anchors. Payloads could be carried from the shore to the station by ship before being lifted into orbit. The main advantage of a floating mobile station, rather than a fixed base on land, would be to help reduce the risk of a collision between the cable and one of the many lumps of space debris, such as redundant satellites, that litter orbital space. Based on careful monitoring of debris movements, in the case of an alert the station's anchors could be raised and the station could be moved, driven by propellers, to a new location out of harm's way.

28. Role play. A Make a speech aboutspace elevators using the notes in Activity 20. To make full sentences you can use the vocabulary: obviously, in order to, might be up to the job, there are some possible ways, first, second, so, I think.

B Prepare 5 questions to the speaker on the topic and ask your colleague.

C One student talks on space elevators (his/her opinion about the prospects), the others are to answer their questions. Give a chance to every student in the class to present his/her project.

Whose speech is the most interesting/performable?

UNIT VIII. TELECOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

1. «Telecommunications (noun) is the technology of sending signals, images and messages over long distances by radio, telephone, television, satellite, etc: technological developments in telecommunications; telecommunication (adj. [only before noun]): a telecommunication company»[1].

What other words with «tele -» do you remember?

Work in pairs and recollect some of the latest developments in the world of telecommunications.

3. Make up as many words or word combinations with «phone -» as you can.

Practice some vocabulary related to technology and telecommunications. Match a word or a word combination to its definition.

a) Telephones for use in the home that have no cables; b) the gap in access to technology between the rich and the poor; c) a portable computer; d) telephones for use anywhere – also known as cell; e) socket in a wall for a telephone; f) a metal wire for sending and receiving electronic signal; g) telephones in the street for the public to use.

Work in pairs, check if you know the following words or word combinations. Translate them into Russian and explain their meanings in English.

Telecommunication technology, connect, e-mail, access, advance, acronym, fidelity, wireless trailing, access point, special receiver, time-pressed, appear daily, hi tech toy, to narrow the «digital divide», generation, educational opportunity.

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