Subj. Mood vs. Future-in-the Past

1. Remember that the verb would can be also usedto form the Future-in the Past.

2. Translate the sentences paying attention to the form of predicates (the Subjunctive Mood or the Future-in-the past).

1. During the 1980s, many analysts thought industrial robotics would takeoff.

2.In 2003, Time magazine organized a "Future of Life" conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of the structure of DNA. All the speakers - myself included - were asked what we thought the next 50 yearswould bring.

3. As children, many of us were assured that we wouldone day live in a world of technological marvels. Films, television, books and World's Fairs promised that the twilight of the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st would be an era of helpful robot servants, flying jet cars, moon colonies, easy space travel, undersea cities, wrist videophones, paper clothes, disease-free lives and, oh, yes, the 20-hour work week.

4. The resulting enhancement of capabilities, combined with expanded processing power and storage, allows today’s robots to do things such as vacuum a room or help to defuse a roadside bomb – tasks that would have been impossible for commercially produced machines just a few years ago.

5. At that time one of the critics argued that it would becheaper to invest the money and use the interest to human calculators.

6. Democritus proclaimed that you would come upon what he called atoms, from the Greek for "uncuttable."

7. For example, our universe contains overwhelmingly more matter than antimatter, but a small adjustment to the parameter that controls this asymmetry is enough to ensure that the big bang nucleosynthesis would leavebehind a substantial amount of deuterium nuclei.

8. We need not assume that in order to create a mind on a computer it would be sufficient to program it in such a way that it behaves like a human in all situations, including passing the Turing test.

9. When we first proposed those experiments more than 25 years ago, I had expected that within a decade we would have the answer.

10. Any attempt to proscribe such technologies will not only deprive human society of profound benefits, but will drive these technologies underground, which would make the dangers worse.

 

 

Subj. Mood with require, suggest, insist, etc.

1. Read the sentences.

1. Einstein's general theory of relativityrequires that all forms of energy (should) exert gravity. 2.Queen Elizabeth orderedthat the good ship be carefully kept as a relic of Drake’s wonderful voyage.

3. It isespeciallyimportant that babyget enough fat.

4. The expectations for the fifth generation systems seem torequire that substantially new architectures be evolved, and that both hardware and software be freed from the limitations of the von Neumann architecture [Sharp 1985].

5. In the weakless universe, the usual fusing of protons to form helium would be impossible, because it requires that two of the protons convertinto neutrons.

6. Science is systematic rigorous and methodical, requiringthat tests be repeated so that results can be verified.

7. Some estimates suggest that this would represent a fairly large environmental release of radioactivity.

8. A deeper understanding of the structure of matter at the atomic level requires that measures be made with even greater precision.

9. Lowel suggested that weput a brunch of particles in the stratosphere.

10. This led early string theorists to propose that string theory be applied not as a theory of hadronic particles, but as a theory of quantum gravity.

11. It was supposed that there be a gravitation predicted by string theory.

2. Answer the question.

1. Do such words as:

important, suggested, essential…

require, insist, demand…

refer to real or unreal ( desirable, possible, etc.) situations?

3. Translate the above sentences .

4. Study the structure of the above sentences

Note that:

After such words as essential, important, desirable, required, demanded, etc, the Infinitive without to is used.

Modal verb should is implied but in most cases omitted.

Part II

Practice

1. Translate the sentences.

1. The first proposal for what would later become the metric system was made by a French clergyman, Gabriel Mouton, around 1670

2. The goal of Einstein's unified theory was to get a theoretical framework that would show all four forces to be distinct manifestations of a single underlying force and wouldalso establish a rationale for the presence of the particular species of apparently fundamental particles.

3. All our discoveries today are based on the ideas of men who lived before us; and without their groundwork, modern inventions would have been Impossible.

4. By the mid-1980s, a central prediction of this proposed electroweak theory – the existence of certain crucial particles, known as Ws and Zs, that would perform the same force-carrying function in weak interactions that photons do in electromagnetic interactions – had been confirmed .

5. The resulting enhancement of capabilities, combined with expanded processing power and storage, allows today’s robots to do things such as vacuum a room or help to defuse a roadside bomb – tasks that would have been impossible for commercially produced machines just a few years ago.

5. The so-called “expert systems” succeed only within strictly limited areas of competence, but they would have amazed the computer programmers of the early 1950.

6. Babbage's machine was ahead of its time, but in fact itwould not have greatly exceeded the speed of a skilled human calculator - but it would have been more reliable and easier to improve.

7. Encryption schemes such as RSA classical computers show relative inability to very large numbers, but for a quantum computer this task would be trivial.

8. If so, theorists have determined that the earliest moments of the fiery big bang could have produced these particles in precisely the abundance to account fordark matter, and their interactions with normal matter would have been weakenough to make them invisible to telescopes today.

9 So after a generation of anticipation, when the physics community heard rumors that the CDMS experiment had detected something, we tuned in to the online announcement as if it were a Beatles reunion concert.

10. The majority of data currently on computer systems is protected on algorithms whose basis is the inability to factor large numbers; quantum computers wouldrender these methods completely ineffective.

 

Writing a paper

 

1. Write 2–3 sentences about some hypothetical ideas/facts/situations in the field of science.

2. Develop one of the ideas in exercise 1 into a short paragraph (5–6 sentences).

Part III

Vocabulary

 

1. Read the following.

 

The laws of physics – and in particular the constants of nature that enter into those laws, such as the strengths of the fundamental forces – mightseem to be finely tuned to make our existence possible. Short of invoking a supernatural explanation, which would be by definition outside the scope of science, a number of physicists and cosmologists began in the 1970s to try solving the puzzle by hypothesizing that our universe is justone of many existing universes, each with its own laws. According to this "anthropic" reasoning, we might justoccupy the rare universe where the right conditions happen to have come together to make life possible. Amazingly, the prevailing theory in modern cosmology, which emerged in the 1980s, suggests that such "parallel universes" may really exist – in fact, that a multitude of universes would incessantly pop out of a primordial vacuum the way ours did in the big bang. Our universe would be but one of many pocket universes within a wider expanse called the multiverse. In the overwhelming majority of those universes, the laws of physics might not allow the formation of matter as we know it or of galaxies, stars, planets and life. But given the sheer number of possibilities, nature would have had a good chance to get the "right" set of laws at least once.

Our recent studies, however, suggest that some of these other universes – assuming they exist – may not be so inhospitable after all.

 

2. Find adequate Russian variants of the underlined words.

3. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following.

По крайней мере; на самом деле; в частности; в конечном итоге; как минимум; чуть ли не прибегая; при наличии; вне науки; всего лишь одна из многих; не более чем одна из многих; подавляющее большинство.

4. Decide on the best way to translate the word « rare» in this context.

 

5. Translate the following sentences.

1.It should be noted that the idea of falsiability as the defining characteristic of science originated with philosopher Karl Popper in the 1930s

2.It should be noted, however, that one of the goals of science is not to prove theories right, but to prove them wrong.

3. Some other improvements can be noted that really have no effect on the architecture at all.

 

6. Find Russian equivalents of the word combinations.

At least

At most

At best

1. Almost without exception, I was shown at leastone project that involved robotics.

2. To prevent this agricultural crisis would require an investment of at least$7 billion per year in the most affected countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America for increased agricultural research into, for example, drought-resistant crop varieties.

3. This blanket dismissal of evolution ignores important distinctions that divide the field into at least two broad areas.

4. As with molecular technology (and many other technologies), attempts to stop advances in one city, county, or country will at most let others take the lead. A miraculous success in stopping visible Al work everywhere would at most delay it and, as computers grow cheaper, let itmature in secret, beyond public scrutiny.

5. At most some 24 trillion metric tons of dark matter lies between Earth and the moon.

6. Those papers, however, rarely attack evolution directly or advance creationist arguments; at best, they identify certain evolutionary problems as unsolved.

7. Write a short paragraph (6 – 8 sentences) on the subject of your research.

 

Begin your sentences with:

 

In fact…

In particular…

After all…

Given…

At least…

It should be noted…

 

 

LESSON 9

Conditionals

Part I

Grammar revision

I

Sentences with real condition

(first conditional)

1. Answer the questions.

1. Can we use the verb will to refer to future in conditional sentences?

2. What verb form is used in the conditional sentence?

2. Translate into English.

 

1. But when we become able to repair cells, we will be also able to build replicating assemblers and excellent spacecraft.

2. If the reading wave has the same wavelength as a particular reference wave, and is beamed into the block at the same angle, it will pick out the data page stored using that reference wave.

3. If you're having trouble keeping track of all the forces and the particles of matter, you'll welcome the modern reformulation of Einstein's goal of a unified theory:

4. And as computers with a single processor are replaced by machines with multiple processors

and “multicore” processors software designers will need a new way to program desktop applications and operating systems.

 

3. Translate into Russian.

 

1. Если мы найдем ответы на эти вопросы, мы сможем разработать новую теорию.

2. Мы получим требуемый результат, если используем другую методику.

3. Если эксперимент пойдет успешно, мы сможем опубликовать результаты.

4. Я помогу тебе решить это уравнение, если ты дашь мне все необходимые данные.

II

Sentences with unreal condition

(second conditional)

Present

1. Read the passage.

Imagine an asteroid is racing towards Earth at a typical speed of 67,000 miles per hour. If a tungsten bullethit the asteroid at that speed, it would dig a deep hole into the asteroid’s surface, vaporizing itself in the process. If another tungsten bullet was following directly behind the first one, it would travel into the hole and dig a little deeper. And if a whole string of tungsten bullets wereproperly aligned, they would drill a hole right through the asteroid.

Now imagine hundreds of thousands of tungsten bullets strung together by lightweight fiber to form a 3-dimentional lattice. If such a structure were deployed in front of a speeding asteroid, it would slice and dice the asteroid into small, harmless rocks.

2. Study the predicates in the conditional and the main clauses.

3. Answer the questions.

1. Does the verb in the conditional clause have a present form if an unreal condition refers to the present (or future, which is sometimes difficult to distinguish)?

2. What tense is used in the conditional clause to describe the present situation?

3. What form of the Infinitive, Simple or Perfect is used in the main clause to describe the present situation?

4. Choose the correct variant of the italicized part to work out the rule for the presentunreal condition.

а) In the conditional clause the verb in the Present Simple / Past Simple tense is used.

b) In the main clause the Simple / Perfect form of the Infinitive is used.

Past

1. Read the sentences paying attention to the parts in bold.

1. This marks a profound gap in our understanding, for if the value of some of these parameters had been even slightly different, the nuclear processes that power stars would likely have been disrupted, and without stars the universe would be a very different place.

2. And in fact itwould nothave greatly exceeded the speed of a skilled human calculator – but it would have been more reliable.

3. All our discoveries today are based on the ideas of men who lived before us; and without their groundwork, modern inventions would have been Impossible.

4. The resulting enhancement of capabilities, combined with expanded processing power and storage, allows today’s robots to do things such as vacuum a room or help to defuse a roadside bomb – tasks that would have been impossible for commercially produced machines just a few years ago.

5. The so-called “expert systems” succeed only within strictly limited areas of competence, but they would have amazed the computer programmers of the early 1950.

 

2. Answer the questions.

1. What tense is used in the conditional clause to describe an unreal situation in the past?

2. What form of the Infinitive is used after the modal verb in the main clause?

3. Work out the rule for sentences, describing unreal conditions in the past.

4. Note the fillowing.

In sentences with unreal condition other modal verbs than would, such as should, could, might, can be used in the main clause (See Lesson 7, Modal Verbs).