Famous Belarusians

Ex.3a, p. 186

The borders of Belarus were changed so many times it can be hard to know where your family really comes from: Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine or Belarus. Our lecture is not limited to persons of Belarusian ethnicity; Russians, Jews, Poles, Vikings, etc., may be found in the list.

How many of us would have guessed that the legendary Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas was born to Belarusian parents? They emigrated from Gomel to the USA when Kirk was just three years old, in 1919. Likewise, top American designer Ralph Lauren’s parents are from Belarus (his father from Pinsk and his mother from Grodno).

Belarus also has its fair share of writers. Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Vasil Bykov… Science-fiction king Isaac Asimov was born in the village of Petrovichi in the Mogilev Region of Belarus. Few know that Fyodor Dostoevsky - one of Russia’s greatest prose writers – was born into a Belarusian family. Although his parents had moved to Moscow by the time he arrived in the world, they hailed from the small Belarusian village of Dostoevo in the Ivanovo District. Last autumn, the village celebrated the 500th anniversary of the famous family.

Belarus has brought forth some of our world’s most prominent athletes. Just think of Olga Korbut – from Grodno or Max Mirnyi (nicknamed The Beast for his aggressive play). Other notable sporting heroes include Olympic medalists Yulia Nesterenko, Yekaterina Karsten, Yanina Korolchik and Ellina Zvereva. How about Stuttgart midfield Alexander Hleb? The wrestler Alexander Medved? The winner of the 2009 World Chess Cup, Boris Gelfand?

One of most famous of all people from Belarus, Marc Chagall is known around the world as a master of classic avant-garde art. The pioneer of geometric abstract art Kazimir Malevich, sculptor Osip Zadkine, Vladimir Vyshnevski also come from this land.

As far as science is concerned: Ignat Domejko was a well-known geologist who spent most of his life in Chile where he became a national hero. He is officially recognised by UNESCO for his achievements. Alexander Chizhevsky, born in the Grodno region in 1897, was a famous scientist who studied the biological effects of the sun and universe. Zhores Alferov, born in Vitebsk, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000.

Haim Weizman from the small village near Pinsk was an outstanding chemist who gave lectures in Switzerland and Great Britain. He also became the first president of Israel in 1949 and remained at this post until his death. By the way, Shimon Peres, Israel’s new President and Nobel Prize winner, was born in Belarus in the village of Vishnevo in the Minsk Region.

Petr Klimuk, the first Belarusian cosmonaut and a researcher in technical sciences was born in Komarovka village, Brest region, in 1942. He made three space flights as a member of spaceship and orbital space station missions.

Vladimir Kovalenok was born near Minsk in 1942. He trained as a pilot and became a celebrated cosmonaut in the Soviet Union. He commanded 3 space missions and was twice declared a Hero.

There are successful Belarusian artists, writers, models and businessmen all over the world. But the number one Belarusian in the world is Boris Kit. This outstanding rocket scientist and Belarusian turned 100 this year. Today he lives in Frankfurt-am-Main but remains truly devoted to his language and his motherland. Perhaps he is the man to make you feel that, in fact, you are lucky to come from Belarus.

Affixes

Ex.2, p. 182

Prefixes and suffixes are generally known as affixes. Affixes create new words, usually by changing the meaning of a root word. 

A prefix is a letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to make a new word: In the word '”UNHAPPY”, 'UN-' is a prefix added to HAPPY. UN- is a Latin word for NOT.

A suffix on the other hand is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to make another word. The suffix NESS added to the end of the word TOGETHER creates another word TOGETHERNESS. A good knowledge of English prefixes and suffixes will help students develop vocabulary without the need to always check their dictionary.

Since English is a language that has thousands of words from other languages, a brief description of commonly used prefixes and suffixes would do much good.

How Smart Is Your Home?

Unit 6, Lesson 6, Ex.4a

1. When you're not home, nagging little doubts can start to crowd your mind. Did I turn the coffee maker off? Did I set the security alarm? Are the kids doing their homework or watching television?

With a smart home, you could quiet all of these worries with a quick trip online. When you're home, the house takes care of you by playing your favorite song whenever you walk in or instantaneously dimming the lights for a movie. Is it magic? No, it's home automation. Smart homes connect all the devices and appliances in your home so they can communicate with each other and with you.

Anything in your home that uses electricity can be put on the home network and at your command. Whether you give that command by voice, remote control or computer, the home reacts.

2. Ok. Here are a few more examples of cool smart home tricks: Light a path for nighttime bathroom trips. Start warming the bedroom before you get out of bed so that it's nice and toasty when you get up. Turn on the coffee maker from bed.  And some examples of smart home devices and their functions. There are cameras that will track your home's exterior even if it's pitch-black outside. A video door phone provides more than a doorbell -- you get a picture of who's at the door. Motion sensors will send an alert when there's movement around your house, and they can even tell the difference between pets and people. Door handles can open with scanned fingerprints or a four-digit code, no need to look for house keys. While most home automation technology is focused on lighting, security and entertainment, smart appliances may be on their way as well. Ideas include: Trash cans that monitor what you throw away and generate online orders for replacement. Refrigerators that create dinner recipes based on the ingredients stored inside.

3. Smart homes obviously make life easier and more convenient. Who wouldn't love being able to control lighting, entertainment and temperature from their couch? Whether you're at work or on vacation, the smart home will alert you to what's going on, and security systems can be built to provide help in an emergency. For example, not only would a resident be woken with a fire alarm, the smart home would also unlock doors, dial the fire department and light the way to safety.

Smart homes also provide some energy savings. The devices can go to "sleep" and wake up when commands are given. Electric bills go down when lights are automatically turned off when a person leaves the room, and rooms can be heated or cooled based on who's there at any given moment. Smart home technology promises great advantages for an elderly person living alone. Smart homes could notify the resident when it was time to take medicine, contact the hospital if the resident fell and track how much the resident was eating. If the elderly person was a little forgetful, the smart home would perform tasks such as shutting off the water or turning off the oven if the cook had wandered away.

­4. A smart home probably sounds like a nightmare to those people not comfortable with computers as sometimes you may find them difficult to operate. It’s like if you try to turn on the television in your smart home, lights will start flashing, and this does happen occasionally.

Smart homes also come with some security problems. Hackers who access the network will have the ability to turn off alarm systems and lights, leaving the home open to a break-in.

Of course, there's also the question of whether an individual needs all this technology. Is our society really so lazy that we can't turn flip a light switch? It's an interesting argument, but smart homes are coming.

Nanotechnology

Unit 6, Lesson 5, Ex.4a
What’s nanotechnology?

Imagine if you climbed out of the shower only to discover you'd gone smaller by about 1500 million times! If you stepped into your living room, what you'd see around you would not be chairs, tables, computers, and your family but atoms, molecules, and cells. Down to "nanoscale," you'd not only see the atoms that everything is made from—you'd actually be able to move them around! Now imagine you started sticking those atoms together in interesting new ways. You could build all kinds of fantastic materials, everything from brand new medicines to computer chips. Making new things on this fantastic small scale is called nanotechnology and it's one of the most exciting and fast-moving areas of science and technology today.

How small is nanometer?

We live on a scale of meters and kilometers, so it's quite hard for us to imagine a world that's too small to see. Nano means "billionth", so a nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

This is all very interesting and quite impressive, but what use is it?

This is the work of nanoscience: it helps us understand why things happen by studying them at the smallest possible scale. Once we understand nanoscience, we can do some nanotechnology: we can put the science into action to help solve our problems.

How do you work on the nanoscale?

Your fingers are millions of nanometers long, so it's no good trying to pick up atoms and molecules and move them around with your bare hands. That would be like trying to eat your dinner with a fork 300 km long! Amazingly, scientists have developed electron microscopes that allow us to "see" things on the nanoscale and also work with them.

When did nanotechnology start?

Engineering on the nano-scale isn't a new thing. Animals and plants have long been using the nanoparticles and nanostructures in their shells, skins and wings.

Bacteria and viruses act just like nanorobots. For example, a common bacteria called E.coli can build itself a little nanotechnology tail that it whips around like a kind of propeller to move it closer to food.

Can we use nanotechnology in our everyday life?

It could be you're already using nanotechnology. Clothes have just got clever with nanotechnology: the materials stay clean, warm, strong and dry.

Nanotechnology is big news in sport. Tennis and golf players, skiers and mountain bikers are already enjoying the advanced technology with lighter, stronger sports equipment.

The displays on everything from iPods and cellphones to flatscreen TVs are made from plastic built on the nanoscale.

One of the most exciting areas of nanotechnology is building incredibly small machines from individual atoms. Nanomachines could be made into nanorobots (sometimes called "nanobots") that could be injected into our bodies to carry out repairs or sent into dangerous environments.

Nanotechnology can be used in the food industry right from field to table. For example, nanomaterials could help keep food fresh for longer. Scientists are already manufacturing nano-sized vitamins that are easier for our bodies to take in. In the future they hope to create 'interactive' food - food and drink that could change colour, flavour or ingredients on demand.

That’s unbelievable!

We Can't Live Without...

Unit 6, Lesson 2, Ex. 3b

A. Melissa Hu: I love music so giving up my iPod was definitely a challenge. I listen to it during car rides, when I’m eating at restaurants, and sometimes when I’m supposed to be sleeping.

The first few days were the worst. I was trying to study at the library when this guy started talking nonstop to one of his friends. I wanted to reach for my iPod so I wouldn’t have to listen to him, but I couldn’t. So I tried to do my work but finally moved to another table.

This challenge was especially difficult when I was at home. My parents were installing a floor, so they were constantly using the nail gun. The noise was terrible.

After a couple of days, it got easier. I paid more attention to the things around me and was more productive. I noticed a cat in my backyard bushes. I read books like Sybil and Dubliners.

Without my iPod, I started remembering songs that I had forgotten about. I had always skipped one of my former favorite songs, Green Day’s “Jesus of Suburbia,” after years of wearing it out.

I realized I spend too much time using my iPod and feel like I need to always have it with me. I am going to try to use my iPod less by not bringing my earphones with me everywhere I go. Hopefully I’ll be more attentive.

B. Alma Sanchez: I decided to do this challenge because I watch a lot of TV. In the summer, the first thing I did after waking up was turn on the TV in the living room. Sometimes it didn’t matter what show it was, as long as I could pass time and not be bored. I thought this challenge would help me get more done, but giving up TV for a week was harder than I thought.

On Monday as soon as I woke up I thought about the shows I’d be missing like I Love Lucy and a Spanish soap opera. I killed time by going on the Internet. In the afternoon, my mom and I went to the supermarket, where there was a TV screen in every corner of the store! “How can they do that to me, don’t they know I’m not supposed to watch TV!?” I turned away immediately but I still felt bad.

On Tuesday, I went to my aunt’s house next door and before I knew it I was staring at the video game my cousin was playing. Then I went to the bedroom where my other cousin was switching channels and I left immediately. I went home and read 1984, my summer reading. The book was full of suspense and I couldn’t put it down. I didn’t think about TV at all.

On Wednesday I even saw a TV on the bus that showed news clips, games and ads. I took a book to read on Friday to avoid watching.

On the other days, I could control not watching TV by staying in my bedroom. Instead of watching TV, I cleaned my desk, looked through college brochures and finalized my college list. I felt more productive but I wanted to watch TV with my family because I could hear them laughing.

When the challenge ended, I wanted to keep going because I did more that week than any other week in the summer. But I knew I would eventually cave and want to watch TV.  I realized that TV distracted me and that not watching it helped. Now I only watch my favorite shows and skip boring ones.

С. Elliot Kwon: I always knew that I depended way too much on my phone. But I didn’t know how much, so I decided to do this challenge to find out.

Every morning since I got a smartphone, I’ve used The Weather Channel to figure out what to wear. On the first morning I had to dress without guidance, but thankfully I was able to predict that the day would be cold and foggy by looking out my window. When was the last time I did that … eighth grade?

I also lost track of time. I haven’t worn a watch for more than a year, because my phone showed the time. So I was late picking up friends who took the bus for two hours to come from Santa Monica to Palos Verdes. I also was late for my tutoring job. And even worse, I couldn’t call people to tell them that I was running late.

Getting places was harder, too. I got lost because I couldn’t use the GPS on my phone. My driving, though, got a lot safer because I no longer had my phone in one hand checking directions while driving with the other.

But the number one problem was not having my contact list. I forgot to write down my friends’ and family members’ phone numbers before I started the challenge. It was sad to realize that I couldn’t remember my brother’s and my mom’s cell phone numbers.

In the midst of all the problems, however, I found peace not worrying about missing a text message or an e-mail.

This challenge was a great learning experience. It surprised me how I’d overlooked even the simplest things like remembering phone numbers. We all should take some time to think about how we can depend less on our cell phones.

Guernica (Pablo Picasso)