Block VII Exploration
Day I.
1. SB page 46 -47 - #2 -4, prepare a retelling of the text in about 15 sentences. Begin with " The text discusses reasons humans...."
Why do we explore space?
Why should mankind explore space? Why should money, time and effort be spent exploring, investigating and researching something with so few apparent benefits? Why should resources be spent on space rather than on conditions and people on Earth? These are questions that, understandably, are very often asked.
Perhaps the best answer lies in our genetic makeup as human beings. What drove our distant ancestors to move from the trees into the palms, and on into all possible areas and environments? It appears that we are driven to ensure the success and continuation of not just our own genes, but of the species as a whole. The wider the distribution of a species, the better its chance of survival. Perhaps the best reason for exploring space is this genetic predisposition to expand wherever possible.
Nearly every successful civilisation has explored, because by doing so, any dangers in surrounding areas can be identified and prepared for. These might be enemies in neighbouring cultures, physical features of the area, a change in the area which might affect food supplies, or any number of other factors. They all pose a real danger, and all can be made less threatening if certain preparations are made. Without knowledge, we may be completely destroyed by the danger. With knowledge, we can lessen its effects.
Exploration also allows minerals and other potential resources to be located. Additional resources are always beneficial when used wisely, and can increase our chances of survival. Even if we have no immediate need of them, they will perhaps be useful later.
Resources may be more than physical assets. Knowledge or techniques acquired through exploration, or preparing to explore, filter from the developers into society at large. The techniques may have medical applications which can improve the length or quality of our lives. Techniques may be social, allowing members of society better to understand those within or outside the culture. Better understanding may lead to more efficient use of resources, or a reduction in competition for resources. We have already benefited from other spin-offs, including improvements in earthquake prediction — which has saved many lives — in satellites used for weather forecasting and in communications systems. Even non-stick saucepans and mirrored sunglasses are by-products of technological developments in the space industry!
While many resources are spent on what seems a small return, the exploration of space allows creative, brave and intelligent members of our species to focus on what may serve to save us. While space may hold many wonders and explanations of how the universe was formed or how it works, it also holds dangers. The chances of a large comet or asteroid hitting the Earth are small, but it could happen in time. Such strikes in the past may account for the extinction of dinosaurs and other species. Human technology is reaching the point where it might be able to detect the possibility of this happening, and enable us to minimise the damage, or prevent it completely, allowing us as a species to avoid extinction. The danger exists, but knowledge can help human beings to survive. Without the ability to reach out across space, the chance to save ourselves might not exist.
In certain circumstances, life on Earth may become impossible: over-population or epidemics, for instance, might eventually force us to find other places to live. While Earth is the only planet known to sustain life, surely the adaptive ability of humans would allow us to inhabit other planets and moons. It is true that the lifestyle would be different, but human life and cultures have adapted in the past and surely could in the future.
The more a culture expands, the less chance there is that it will become extinct. Space allows us to expand and succeed: for the sake of everyone on the Earth, now and in the future, space exploration is essential.
Exercise 2. This passage is adapted from a web page of the Astronomical Data Center, which used to be a branch of the American space agency, NASA. Skim through it, and choose the best sentence A, B, C or D to summarise it.
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
Exercise 3. Questions 1–3
Choose THREE letters, A–F. Which THREE of the following reasons for exploring space are mentioned by the writer? Write the answer in capital letters in the alphabetical order (e.g. ABC).
A It is natural for us to do so.
B We may find new sources of food.
C It will help us to prevent earthquakes.
D It has side-effects that improve the quality of our lives.
E It may enable us to find alternative homes.
F We will discover whether other planets are inhabited.
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
Questions 4–11
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. One example is given.
Test spot: When you are asked to complete a summary by choosing words from the passage, you must use the exact words that are given, and must write no more than the maximum number of words. The answers usually follow the order of the passage, but may not. Read the summary before you start completing it. → The
Reasons for exploring space
One reason for exploring space is that we have a 0. genetic tendency to ensure the 4 of the species into neighbouring regions. Exploration will allow us to make suitable 5 for dealing with any 6 that we might face, and we may be able to find physical resources such as 7 , for present or future use. It is possible that new knowledge and techniques will provide social or 8 benefits. Further, exploration might one day enable us to prevent impact by a 9 or , making the 10 of the human race less likely. It will make it possible for us to live on other 11 and , should the need arise.
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
Exercise 4. In a small group, imagine that you have answered this advertisement, and been chosen for the mission.
Volunteers wanted for one-month manned mission to the moon, so that doctors can research the effects of space travel on human beings. You must have plenty of stamina, and show initiative. You should also be determined, self-confident and co-operative, and keep calm under pressure.
Beside each of the following questions, write the relevant personal quality from the advert. Then discuss whether you have these qualities.
Expressing opinions, expanding your ideas and responding to each other's comments will help you to do well in the Speaking Module.
1 Do you avoid panicking in an emergency?
2 Can you do what is necessary without being told?
3 Are you a team player?
4 Can you endure long periods of hard work?
5 Are you sure of your ability to perform well?
6 Do you make sure you achieve what you set out to do, without giving up?
2. Watch the video and retell it explaining how our planet is doomed to arduous death. Mute the video practice making its soundtracks. You can first use the captions. Then try to comment on the video without them.
Day II.
1. Write an essay: Some people think that money should be invested into space exploration, others think we should focus all our resources on solving problems and improving life here on the ground? Discuss both views and give your opnion. Draw evidence and examples based on your life experience. Write at least 250 words.
Day III.
1. SB page 48 #1-2, Test spot
Exercise 1. The Life Aquatic is a film set at sea. Would you like to travel under water, as in the poster?
Exersice 2. You are going to hear part of a lecture, as in Section 4 of the Listening Module. It is a brief history of submersibles - that is, vessels for carrying people under water.
As you listen to the first part of the lecture, answer questions 1-4. Each question should have a different answer.
Questions 1-4
What is said about the following people's underwater vessels? Choose your answers from the box and write the letters A-Fin capital letters in the alphabetical order (e.g. ABC).
A A mechanism was built into it to move it forwards.
B A supply of air was carried inside the vessel.
C Air was supplied from external containers.
D It may or may not have existed.
E It was moved forwards by human physical effort.
F Power for moving it was transmitted from a surface
1 Alexander the Great
2 Van Drebbel
3 Halley
4 Beebe and Barton
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
Now listen to the second part of the lecture, which describes Alvin, the vessel shown in the diagram below.
Test spot: There are several formats for labelling maps and diagrams. First read the instructions, then look carefully at the graphic and note works any numbers or letters on it refer to. Look at the words in the box, if any. They may be different from the ones in the reading or listening passage.
In the Listening Module the numbered questions are in the order in which you will hear the information.
When you decide on an answer, write only its letter.
Questions 5-9
Label the diagram below. Choose five answers from the bold and write each answer next to questions 5-9.
current meter vertical thruster camera sphere forward and reverse thruster hatch pressure sphere hatch current meter pressure rotation thruster stowage backet
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
2. SB page 49 Style extra , # #3-7. Formulate an answer to the questions in #7 using ideas at https://www.answers.com/Q/Why_did_ancient_people_explore
Style extra
It replacing a clause
Look at these sentences, which contain a clause (underlined) as the subject or object of the main verb in the sentence.
Holding your breath under water for more than a for more than a few minutes is impossible.
Until he met Barton, Beebe found raising enough money to construct a vessel difficult.
Although these sentences are grammatically correct, it is more usual to place the clauses later in the sentence, and to use it in the subject or object position. Notice the change from the -ing form to the infinitive.
It is impossible to hold your breath under water for more than a few minutes.
Until he met Barton, Beebe found it difficult to raise enough money to construct a vessel.
In similar structures when the object is a that-clause, if must be used, for example:
Beebe thought it unlikely that Barton's design would work.
(NOT Beebe thought that Barton's design would work unlikely.)
Structures like these are particularly common in academic writing.
Exercise 3. In each sentence, underline the clause which is acting as the subject or object of the main verb in the sentence. Then rewrite the sentence, using it, and moving the clause to the end. Make any other changes you think necessary.
1 The lack of sunlight under water makes seeing deep-sea fish without artificial lighting impossible.
2 That Alexander the Great descended in a diving hell is this (ungrammatical)
3 Early inventors found making submersibles waterlight difficult.
4 That Van Drebbel's boat was able to travel under water must have astonished the people of seventeenth century London. (ungrammatical)
5 Beebe left raising finance for the bathysphere to Barton.
6 Carrying out unmanned tests of the bathysphere took some time.
7 Because Beebe had studied deep-sea fish caught in fishing nets, he found identifying the creatures he saw from the bathysphere easy.
Possible Answers
Exercise 4. Complete the sentences in any suitable way.
1 It is never easy to ...
2 It was once thought that ...
3 It seems unlikely that ...
4 It has sometimes been claimed that ...
5 Many people find it difficult to ...
Possible Answers
Exercise 5. Unlike some other languages, in English the same written letters - particularly the vowels - can be used to represent many different sounds.
The words in the box below are all used in this unit. In pairs, decide how each word is pronounced in standard British English, then write it in the correct line, to show the pronunciation of the letter 'a'. The words damage and aquatic should be written twice, to show how the different 'a's are pronounced. Advantage has been done for you.
able advantage after aquatic also answer any because can't chance
change damage expand many prepare quality small space what
Exercise 7. In small groups, discuss these questions.
1. Can you identify ways in which human beings use the oceans?
2. Do you consider that life is less interesting, now that a great deal is known about the Earth, the oceans and space?
3. How would you account for the fact that explorers used to be willing to take great risks, by sailing across the sea without navigational instruments?
Useful Language: leisure activities deep-sea diving transportation storage underwater motives familiarity courageous endurance
3. Watch video1 , video2 and video3 and write a small essay on the topic: What's your view on why people explore.
Day IV.
1. SB page 49 - 53 - reading and listneing. Make an audio file retelling the readig passage, give your attutde to it. Prompts: The passage informs us on... It opened my eyes to... = Она открыла мне глаза на...
Sentence and note completion
(Academic Reading, General Training Reading and Listening Modules)
Notes usually focus on one part of the passage.
Sentences in the Reading Modules may relate to different parts of the passage.
The questions follow the order of information in the passage.
The sentences or notes normally use different words from the words in the passage to express the same ideas.
If you have to choose words from the passage, you will be told the maximum number of words to use for each answer.
If you have to choose words from a box, there will be more words than spaces, and they are usually different from the words in the passage. In the Reading Modules a box may contain the endings of sentences.
Words must be spelt correctly to gain marks.
Advice
Reading Modules
- Skim the whole passage before you start working
- Read the first sentence or note. Then find the relevant part of the passage, and look for something that means the same. Find the words (in the passage or box) that fit the question. Consider all the words in the box, or all the words in the relevant part of the passage. Think about both the meaning and the grammar.
- Remember that you must use the exact word(s) from the passage or box. Copy your answer carefully.
Listening Module
- You will be given time to read the sentences or notes before you listen. Consider what information is likely to fit each space. Think about both the meaning and grammar.
- Listen for each lesson in turn. If you miss one, go on to the next question or you may miss that too.
All modules
- Check that your answers fit both the meaning and grammar; that the spelling is correct, and that you haven't written during than the maximum number of words.
READING
Exercise 1. This passage is about 625 words long and is similar to those in Section 3 of General Training Reading and In Academic Reading.
Exploration through the ages
One of the key reasons for early explorations was probably the need to find food or to move away from areas where climate change caused environmental changes. While modern technology allows water to be stored so that people can stay in areas for longer periods of time, this would not have been so in prehistoric times. When the water ran out, it would be time to move on.
Many of the earliest explorations were therefore probably accidental. As the hunters followed a source of food, they may have finished in a previously unvisited area. If the new area had adequate supplies, the hunters may even have decided to stay there.
More organized exploration began in the Middle East. The first recorded voyage into unknown seas was a four-year expedition around 4,500 years ago, to search for and buy valuable goods, including gold, incense and myrrh.
Some of the earliest sea voyages were undertaken by the Polynesians. The island areas they occupied were relatively small and they also had immediate and easy contact with the ocean. As they spread from island to island, their navigational skills and knowledge of the area grew.
While the original Vikings – from Norway – were initially prepared to loot and plunder throughout Northern Europe, others soon demonstrated a desire to settle in the new lands. Settlements were soon established throughout Europe, and it was found that the previously aggressive settlers were quite the opposite once they had some land and security.
One of the areas that the Vikings explored and settled was Iceland. As they spread through the island, they came across Irishmen who had beaten them there, but who moved away, as they were not willing to share the place with the newcomers.
Although the Vikings managed to set foot in North America, they had little idea of what exactly they had achieved. They, like many others, stumbled there thinking they had in fact found just another small island.
Often the explorations of a curious traveller would open the eyes of others to new things that might then be used in their home country. Marco Polo travelled from Italy, spending a considerable period of time in Asia, and reaching as far as China. He had a head for business, and an eye for the novel and unusual while on his journeys. He encountered and reported on many unusual plants and animals as well as the use of petroleum-based oils in the Middle East. The success of his expeditions inspired many others to follow in his footsteps.
Trade has provided one of the key reasons for exploration throughout the years. Much of the exploration by Europeans in the 15th and 16th centuries was motivated by commerce and trade in exotic goods, as well as by the need to find faster trade routes. Several governments negotiated treaties so that their nationals could trade in other countries.
Massive changes were now taking place in Europe, with new ideas affecting many traditional areas of life. Politics, economics, religion and social organisation were all undergoing huge upheavals. The population grew rapidly, creating an increased demand for food. Among the workforce, there was a trend towards developing a particular expertise, which included a rapid growth in the number of merchants. With growing wealth, the old barter economy was no longer efficient. Instead, there was a demand for gold and other precious metals, some of which was turned into coins and used for buying and selling.
Probably even more prized at this time were spices, which were used for preserving and flavouring meats. This was important at a time when even fresh food, if available, could be rather tasteless. These items, such as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, were only found growing naturally in India and certain areas of the east.
Questions 1-7
Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-I from the box below. Write down only the capital letter in the answer.
A imitation by others.
B a change from warlike to peaceful behaviour.
C the people's geographical location.
D a misunderstanding of what they had found.
E settlers in the normal sense of the word.
F a lack of the basic necessities of life.
G the first people to reach the area.
H a suspicion attitude towards the local population.
I improvements in the design of boats.
J a desire for trade.
1 Prehistoric exploration often took place because of
2 Exploration in the Middle East appears to have been caused by
3 Polynesian exploration was encouraged by
4 Viking travellers illustrate
5 Viking settlers in Iceland were not
6 The Vikings of North America showed
7 Marco Polo's travels encouraged
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
Questions 8-13
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each answer:
Some factors in European exploration of 15th and 16th centuries
desire to find better 8 to use when trading
need for states to sign 9 permitting trade
need for 11 for increasing population
increasing specialisation of 11
need for raw materials for production of 12
need for various 13 to use in cooking
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
LISTENING
Exercise 2. This listening passage, which is typical of Section 4, continues the history of European exploration from the passage opposite. Complete the sentences below using words from the box.
endurance fame knowledge nationalism nature religion research ships technology wealth
1 For perhaps the first time, many explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries were interested in acquiring .
2 Exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries was helped by improvements in .
3 The 18th century saw an interest in gaining .
4 Many 18th century voyages were intended to make possible.
5 A newly significant factor in 20th century exploration was .
6 In the 21st century, exploration is often concerned with .
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
2. Prepare 2-minute talks on the the following:
|
Talk about how you prefer to get to know this world. You should mention: • what way you use • what does each way help you to learn about • what are the most modern ways you use |
|
Talk about how people in your country prefer to travel. You should mention: • where they usually travel • how they get there • why they choose these destinations and means of transport |
3. Write the description of the following chart:
