Step by Step2000 第三册 Unit 6 Science and Technology

Unit 6 Science and Technology

Part I Warming up

A1.

1. This news item is about a kind of new bulletproof vest made of silk.

2. This news item is about research done by American and Japanese researchers to predict severe weather in and around the Indian Ocean.

3. This news item is about a chess match between a world champion and the rest of the world on the Internet.

4. This news item is about an experiment carried out by the U. S. scientists to train rats to operate a robot arms by using the electrical signals in their brains.

5. This news item is about NEC's new robot that talks and under-stands orders.

A2

1. While silk threads may be soft, they can be used to produce a stronger yarn 1 than copper 2 threads.

2. American and Japanese researchers have discovered a strong connection between extreme weather and conditions in the ocean.

3. Visitors to the site have 24 hours to vote on their counter move helped by a team of young chess experts who will suggest strategies.

4. The rats had earlier been trained to obtain a reward by pressing a lever to move the arm.

5. The robot from NEC can record and send video mail through the Internet and switch on TVs, VCRs and air conditioners.

Tapescript.

1. Thai silk is known for its beauty and elegance 3. But a research team has found a new use for it. A bulletproof vest made of silk was put to the test at a shooting range in Thailand. After several rounds of gunfire, the vest was examined. The bullets were stuck in the first layer of fifteen pieces of silk. A member of the research team says while silk threads may be soft, they can be used to produce a stronger yarn than copper threads, the material used in regular bulletproof vests.

2. American and Japanese researchers say they are a step closer to predicting severe weather in and around the Indian Ocean. Researchers have analyzed 4 weather data from the region over the past 40 years and they've discovered a strong connection between extreme weather and conditions in the ocean. A BBC science correspondent says the findings could make it easier to predict droughts or, indeed, periods of heavy rainfall.

3. The world chess champion Garry Kasparov began a match against the rest of the world on the Internet. Kasparov made his first move with a meter-high pawn 5 before an audience of chess fans at a park in New York. The move was immediately posted on a special website set up by the Microsoft corporation. Visitors to the site have 24 hours to vote on their counter move helped by a team of young chess experts who will suggest strategies.

4. Scientists in the United States have trained rats to operate robot arms using only the electrical signals in their brains. The scientists attach special electrodes to the animals' brains and link them through a simple computer to a robotic arm. The rats had earlier been trained to obtain a reward by pressing a lever to move the arm.

5. Some say it's hard to find good help these days, but a Japanese electronics firm thinks it's found the answer. It's a robot that talks and understands orders. The robot from NEC can record and send video mail through the Internet and switch on TVs and VCRs. And if it's becoming a bit warm for you, one simple command and the robot will switch on the air conditioner.

B. Tapescript:

1 .... Yes, you see, it's the force of attraction between any two objects. The strength of the force depends on the mass of the objects and the distance between them. Er... the most obvious effect is the way objects on the surface of the earth are attracted towards the center of the earth...

2 .... as it comes down it goes relatively 6 slowly 100 to 1,000 miles per hour and you can't see it, but the return stroke goes up from the earth to the cloud and it goes at over 87,000 miles per hour and that's the one you can see, you see, the one that goes back up. It's really just a very large, powerful spark. The distance in miles you are away from it is the time in seconds between it and the sound you hear...

3 .... Well, they were first discovered in 1895 and they can penetrate 7 matter that is opaque 8 to light. Some matter is more transparent 9 to them than others, which means you can see inside somebody. They are actually quite dangerous and people who work with them wear special protective clothing...

4 .... ordinary light consists of electromagnetic waves of different frequencies and phase(s). This is a bundle of waves of the same frequency and phase. You can create the beams from a ruby 10 rod or a tube of carbon dioxide that's stimulated 11 with flashes of ordinary light. The word is an acronym 12 for light amplification 13 by the stimulated emission 14 of radiation. Now, does anybody ...

5 .... they're all types of fungus 15. There are many different kinds of them but the best known are the ones used in cooking and brewing 16. When they're mixed with sugar they cause the sugar to ferment 17 and two things happen: first carbon dioxide is given off and second alcohol is formed, but when the proportion reaches 12%, it's all killed off naturally...

6 .... in contact with each other, there's a resistance to movement between them. The main reason why we use ball bearings and lubricating oil is to counteract 18 this; the main reason why rubber is used in tires and shoes is to increase the effect of it ...

7 .... No, it's the process whereby materials are used again. Normally, it is cheaper to do this because it's more energy-efficient. On the other hand, one material that's hard to deal with in this way is plastic -- there are so many types that it's very difficult to separate ...

Part II Latest breakthroughs in technology

A.

1. What is the trend for electronics in the future?

Integrated, smaller, faster, better

2. What is the theme for electronics in the future?

The combination of computers and communications and then having them disappear from our sight

B.

Tapescript:

"Everybody thinks of technology as somebody in a lab coat, you know, tinkering with computer chips, but technology is really about how we live and how we communicate."

Suzanne Cantra is the "What's New?" editor at Popular Science magazine, a magazine that has been following advances in technology for more than a hundred years.

The most fanciful dream of mankind is today a startling reality." Remember when television was considered a fad 19 of the future? "It may not be long before our news events and current world happenings will be witnessed in thousands of homes." Boy, were they wrong?

This recorder shows how far television has come. T-Bo's personal TV, an NBC investment, is one of the products that caught Cantra's eye.

"One of the benefits of having a computer recording 20 video is that the computer can read the video broadcast as it comes in so if the phone rings, you can hit pause on a live broadcast."

And not only that, this sort of smart VCR learns which TV shows and characters you like to watch and records them for you. This device is only one of a hundred items, Cantra says, best represents the future. And while we couldn't show you all of them, here are a few that reflect some of the new trends.

Like Ericsson's R380. You can make calls, browse 21 the web, check your calendar and send and receive email, all in this one device.

"This cell phone actually shows us the future of integrated devices."

And I bet you can't guess what this is? Although it looks like a watch, in fact, it's a camera. That's right. A camera.

"The P3 wrist camera sort of talks to that whole concept of miniaturization and having devices integrated into things that you wouldn't think of."

And while the pictures are pretty good, only you can decide whether they're worth two grand.

And how about this? It's a prototype computer that puts your mobile laptop to shame.

"The IBM wearable PC definitely gives you a vision into what's gonna be coming down the line. We will be carrying these kinds of computing 22 devices and you will need to only access the information somehow. Whether that's through an earpiece or whether it's just integrated into your clothing."

The PC weighs less than a pound and clips onto your belt. The monitor, about the size of a pen cap rests an inch from your eye.

But if you don't necessarily wanna work during your down time, something like the Panasonic portable DVD player might be the gadget 23 for you.

"The ability to have a very small compact device where you can watch movies or listen to CDs is something that any business traveler will tell you is a great benefit."

If you're more the adventurous 24 type, then Casio's GPS watch is a must (to) have.

"A few years down the line, instead of just having, you know, your coordinates 25, it can actually tell you where you are on a map and give you directions."

Over the past several years, we've seen electronics get smaller, faster and better and that trend is going to continue into the next century.

"The theme for electronics in the future is the combination of computers and communications and then having them disappear from our sight."

But Cantra says these new technologies are not just about bits and bites.

"When you look at new technologies, they're based on the past and what we think that we need, but a lot of times it's just sheer human inventiveness that takes it to this next step. And there's nothing more exciting than finding a new way of being able to reach out and share information."

Part III Nobel prize winners in physics and chemistry

Statements:

1. The common theme in the award-winning research is the huge advances made in electronics and information technology.

2. The physics prize is about the electronics of today and the chemistry prize is about the electronics of the future.

3. The new Nobel physics laureates have laid a stable foundation for modern information technology.

4. Kilby's invention is more pervasive 26 and more influential 27 today than any invention of the 20th century.

B. Tapescript:

Four Americans, a Russian and a Japanese scientist have won this year's Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry. The common theme in the award-winning research is the huge advances made in electronics and information technology.

The physics prize is about the electronics of today and the chemistry prize is about the electronics of the future. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards them, says the new Nobel physics laureates have laid a stable foundation for modern information technology. Marc Brodsky, the director of the American Institute of Physics, puts it another way.

"I think it's recognizing what you might call the clever physics inventions behind much of today's electronic technology."

Half the 915-thousand-dollar physics prize goes to Jack 28 Kilby of the United States. As a Texas Instruments Corporation researcher in the late 1950s, he co-invented the integrated circuit on a silicon 29 chip -- the heart of today's miniature electronics.

The other half of the money is split between Zhores Alferov of the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia and Herbert Kroemer, a German-born researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The Swedish Academy is honoring them for their inventions of fast optical and microelectronic components 30 found in compact disk players and bar code readers and which help push information through the Internet's optical fibers 31.

Of all the work, Marc Brodsky assigns the greatest importance to that of Jack Kilby for the integrated circuit.

"Clearly Kilby's is more pervasive and more influential today than perhaps any invention of the 20th century. He invented the integrated circuit along with Bob Noyce, who independently did it. Bob Noyce was one of the founders 32 of Intel. Of course, Noyce has passed away, so not eligible 33 for Nobel Prize."

The integrated circuit combines many transistors 34 on a single tiny silicon chip.

"It took transistors from being just a replacement 35 for tubes --one element in a circuit -- to (being) able to put them all together on a single chip, a single piece of silicon no bigger than a fingernail, and have millions if not billions of circuits on a single chip."

The integration 36 of transistors and further miniaturization led to more efficient packaging, allowing a flood of small, speedy electronic devices like calculators and eventually personal computers.

Meanwhile, the Nobel chemistry prize goes to Alan Heeger of the University of California at Santa Barbara, Alan MacDiarmid of the University of Pennsylvania, and Hideki Shirakawa of the University of Tsukuba in Japan.

The Swedish Academy recognizes them for their revolutionary discovery at the end of the 1970s that plastic can --- with certain chemical modifications 37 -- conduct electricity.

The result has led to lighter 38 weight, cheaper plastic versions of many electronic devices, such as the light emitting diodes that illuminate 39 digital clock numerals. In addition, the discovery provides a foundation for the development of molecular 40 computers. Transistors and other electronic components may one day consist of individual molecules 41, which will reduce the size and weight of our computers as dramatically as the integrated circuit has.