Aluminium: its history

Before you read the text, discuss in groups what you know about aluminium and see if you can guess the missing words. Then find the answers to the questions in the text below.

1. Aluminium has the following advantages – this metal is …, … and ….

2. To put aluminium to use it is necessary to … it.

Novelty (n) – нововведение, новшество

Rust (v) – ржаветь, подвергаться коррозии

Bar (n) – брусок, кусок, слиток

Harness = use (v) – использовать

At the Paris exhibition of 1855 aluminium was exhibited for the first time. It was regarded as one of the principal novelties of that year. The new metal was shown as a bar, bearing a very sensational inscription "Silver from Clay". It was regarded even at that time as the metal of the future with great practical possibilities. Scientific and non-scientific press devoted lengthy articles to its description. Special attention was paid to the advantages of aluminium – it is light, it does not rust, and it is very strong especially when mixed with other metals.

The first attempts to isolate this metal from its oxide were made in 1807 by Davy and some years later by Berzelius. But both failed to obtain any satisfactory results. Nearly fifty years passed before French and German scientists isolated aluminium in 1854. It was isolated by electrolysis. Scientists also investigated the distribution of the metal in nature. Aluminium is one of the most widely distributed of the chemical elements but it is never found in the free state. Metallic aluminium has a beautiful silver luster, but when impure aluminium has a gray or a bluish colour. The isolation of aluminium became simple and cheap only when man harnessed electricity. Only then was it possible to produce aluminium and put it to use.

1. Find 7 passive constructions in the text and make questions using them. Discuss the questions in pairs.

2. Retell the text using the following words and expressions:

to be exhibited, to be regarded, to be shown, advantages, to make attempts, to obtain satisfactory results, to be widely distributed

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Read the text and answer the questions.

What is iron

Iron is a kind of metal. It is hard. No other metal is so hard as iron. People find iron in the ground. When it is extracted from the ground, it looks like rocks – red, or brown, or black.

The rock that has iron is called iron ore. Iron in it is mixed with earth and many other things too. People have to remove all these things from it; then iron is ready for use.

Nails, horse-shoes and many other things are made of iron. Steel is made of iron. Steel is much prettier than iron. It is much brighter, but it is not so strong. Scissors, knives, forks and many other things are made of steel. And they are very useful.

a) What is iron?

b) Is it hard or soft?

c) Where do people find it?

d) What does it look like?

e) What do people call these stones?

f) What do people make from iron?

g) What do you know about steel?

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Read the text and decide which answer A, B, C, D or E best fits each space.

Water

Water is one of the _1_ of all substances, and without it life would be impossible. The seas and oceans cover about seven tenths of the Earth’s surface but water is also _2_ in the soil, in the atmosphere and in all living things. More than half of the human body consists of water, which also forms a large part of the food we eat, _3_ vegetables and fruit. Man can live as long as ninety days or more without food, but we _4_ live long without water.

Water exists as a substance in three states: ice, which melts at 0 degree Centigrade; liquid water and steam? The latter is formed when water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade. Water _5_ from other liquids in that it expands when cooled from 0^o Centigrade, contracts when heated from 0^o Centigrade to 4^o Centigrade, and reaches its maximum _6_ at 4^o Centigrade. No other liquid possesses this property.

_7_ water is rarely found in nature. This is because water is able to dissolve so many substances from the air, the soil and the rocks. The saltiness of sea water is caused by the mineral substances _8_ are dissolved from the Earth’s surface by rivers and carried down to the sea. The Sun’s heat causes the surface sea water to evaporate, or change into _9_, why the seas are so much more salty than rivers _10_ into them.

1. A. common D. the commonest

B. more common E. much common

C. most common

2. A. container D. uncontainable

B. containing E. containable

C. contained

3. A. special D. specialized

B. especially E. specializing

C. especial

4. A. could D. will be able

B. were able to E. can

C. can’t

5. A. different D. difference

B. differs E. differing

C. indifferent

6. A. density D. densest

B. dense E. densities

C. denser

7. A. Purity D. Purifying

B. Impure E. Pure

C. Purely

8. A. which D. where

B. what E. while

C. whose

9. A. vaporise D. vaporization

B. vapour E. vaporising

C. vaporiser

10. A. flowed D. will flow

B. flowing E. was flowed

C. flows

Answer the following questions:

1. How much water is there in the human body?

2. What are the three states of water?

3. What causes the saltiness of water?

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Read the text and answer the questions.