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Reading. In the «War of Worlds» written before the turn of the last century H

Text 1

Laser

In the «War of Worlds» written before the turn of the last century H. Wells told a fantastic story of how Martians almost invaded our Earth. Their weapon was a mysterious «sword of heat». Today Wells’ sword of heat has come to reality in the laser. The name stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Laser, one of the most sophisticated inventions¹ of man, produces an intensive beam of light² of a very pure single colour. It represents the fulfilment (исполнение) of one of the mankind’s oldest dreams of technology to provide a light beam intensive enough to vaporize³ the hardest and most heat-resistant materials. It can indeed make lead⁴ run like water, or, when focused, it can vaporize any substance⁵ on the earth. There is no material unamenable⁶ to laser treatment and laser will become one of the main technological tools quite soon.

The applications of laser in industry and science are so many
and so varied as to suggest magic⁷. Scientists in many countries are
working at a very interesting problem: combining the two big technological discoveries of the second half of the 20^th century – laser and thermonuclear reaction – to produce a practically limitless source of energy. Physicists have developed large laser installations to conduct physical experiments in heating thermonuclear fuel with laser beams. There also exists an idea to use laser for solving the problem of controlled thermonuclear reaction.

The laser beam must heat the fuel to the required temperature so quickly that the plasma does not have time to disintegrate. According to current estimates⁸, the duration of the pulse has to be approximately (приблизительно) a billionth of a second. The light capacity of this pulse would be dozens of times greater than the capacity of all the world’s power plants. To meet such demands in practice, scientists and engineers must work hard as it is clear that a lot of difficulties are to be encountered on route.

The laser’s most important potential may be its use in communications. The intensity of a laser can be rapidly changed to encode very complex signals. In principle, one laser beam, vibrating a billion times faster than ordinary radio waves, could carry the radio, TV and telephone messages of the world simultaneously. In just a fraction of a second, for example, one laser beam could transmit the entire text of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Besides, there are projects to use lasers for long distance communication and for transmission of energy to space stations, to the surface of the Moon or to planets in the Solar system. Projects have also been suggested to place lasers aboard Earth satellites nearer to the Sun in order to transform the solar radiation into laser beams, with this transformed energy subsequently (впоследствии) transmitted to the Earth or to other space bodies. These projects have not yet been put into effect⁹, because of the great technological difficulties to be overcome and, therefore, the great cost involved. But there is no doubt that in time these projects will be realized¹⁰ and the laser beam will begin operating in outer space as well.

Notes:

1. sophisticated invention – сложное изобретение

2. beam of light – луч света

3. to vaporize – испарять

4. lead [led] – свинец

5. any substance – любое вещество

6. unamenable – неподдающийся

7. as to suggest magic – можно принять за чудо

8. according to current estimates – согласно настоящим расчетам

9. to put into effect – осуществлять

10. in time these projects will be realized – со временем эти проекты будут реализованы

Answer the questions:

1.What is this text about?

2. What does the word «laser» mean?
3. What is the laser, is it a device or some phenomenon?

4. Who was the first to write about lasers?

5. What can a laser do?

6. Where can it be used?

7. What other uses of laser do you know?

VI. Укажите, какие утверждения соответствуют содержанию текста. Исправьте неверные утверждения:

1. Laser means «light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation».

2. Laser produces an intensive beam of light.

3. In the next few years laser will become one of the main technological tools.

4. Martians almost invaded the Earth before the turn of the last century.

5. Laser and thermonuclear reaction can produce a limited source of energy.

6. The laser beam heats the fuel so quickly that the plasma disintegrates.

7. There are projects to transform lunar radiation into beams.

8.The laser beam will begin operating in outer space.

VII. Составьте предложения из двух частей:

VIII. Расскажите о применении лазера, пользуясь вопросами, данными ниже, в качестве плана:

1. What is a laser? (a device producing an intensive beam of light)

2. What is its principle of operation? (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)

3. What light is produced by a laser? (light of pure single colour)

4. What can be done by means of a laser? (vaporizing the hardest materials)

5. What materials can be treated with a laser? (practically any material and any substance)

6. What is the most promising use of lasers? (the use in all kinds of communication)

7. What prevents putting into effect the projects to use lasers more widely in space? (great technological difficulties and great cost involved)

IX. Поставьте подходящие по смыслу слова:

Today, __¹ and technology are closely connected. Many modern technologies such as nuclear power and space flights __ ² on science and the __ ³ of scientific knowledge and principles. Each __⁴ in science creates new opportunities for the __⁵ of new ways of making things to be used in daily life. In turn, technology __⁶ science with new and more accurate instruments for its research.

Text 2

Optical Technology

One of the most interesting developments in telecommunication is the rapid progress of optical communication where optical fibers are replacing conventional¹ telephone wires and cables. Just as digital technologies greatly improved the telephone system, optical communication promises a considerable increase in capacity², quality, performance and reliability of the global telecommunication network. New technologies such as optical fibers will increase the speed of telecommunication and provide new, specialized in information service. Voice, computer data, even video images, will be increasingly integrated into a single digital communication network capable of processing and transmitting virtually any kind of information.

It is a result of combining two technologies: the laser, first demonstrated in 1960, and the fabrication 10 years later of ultra-thin silicon fibres which can serve as lightwave conductors³. With the further development of very efficient lasers plus continually improved techniques to produce thin silica fibres, optical systems can transmit pulses of light as far as 135 kilometers without the need for amplification or regeneration.

At present high-capacity optical transmission systems are being
installed between many major US cities at a rapid rate. The system
most widely used now operates at 147 megabits (thousand bits) per second and accommodates 6, 000 circuits over a single pair of glass fibres (one for each direction of transmission). This system will soon be improved to operate at 1.7 gigabits (thousand million bits) per second and handle 24, 000 telephone channels simultaneously⁴. A revolution in information storage is underway with optical
disk technology.

The first digital optical disks were produced in 1982 as compact
disks for music. They were further developed as a storage medium
for computers. The disks are made of plastics coated⁵ with aluminium. The information is recorded by using a powerful laser to imprint bubbles on the surface⁶ of the disk. A less powerful laser reads back the pictures, sound or information. An optical disk is almost indestructible⁷ and can store about 1000 times more information than a plastic disk of the same size. One CD-ROM disk (650 MB) can replace 300, 000 pages of text, which represents a lot of savings in databases.

The future of optical storage is called DVD (digital versatile disk). A DVD-ROM can hold up to 17 GB, about 25 times an ordinary CD-ROM. For this reason, it can store a large amount of multimedia software and complete full-screen Hollywood movies in different languages. However, DVD-ROMs are «read-only» devices. To avoid⁸ this limitation, companies also produce DVD rewritable drives.

Besides, it is reported that an optical equivalent of a transistor has been produced and intensive research on optical electronic computers is underway at a number of US companies as well as in countries around the world.

It is found that optical technology is cost-effective and versatile⁸. It finds new applications every day – from connecting communication equipment or computers within the same building or room to long-distance transcontinental, transoceanic and space communications.

Notes:

1. conventional – обычный

2. considerable increase in capacity – значительное увеличение мощности

3. lightwave conductors – проводники световых волн

4. simultaneously – одновременно

5. coated – покрыты

6. to imprint bubbles on the surface – наносит пузырьки воздуха (газа) на поверхность

7. indestructible – неразрушимый

8. versatile – многосторонний

X. Прочитайте текст «Optical Technology» еще раз, выпишите ключевые фразы и сделайте реферирование текста на английском языке.