Új Szó, 2008. november (61. évfolyam, 254-276. szám)
2008-11-06 / 257. szám, csütörtök
14 Angol nyelvlecke ÚJ SZÓ 2008. NOVEMBER 6. www.ujszo.com BRITISH COUNCIL Kedves Olvasó! LearnEnalish 15 Grammar Az Új Szó és a British Council együttműködésében hat héten keresztül - a SME napilapban korábban sikeresen megjelentetett - angol nyelvtanfolyamot közlünk 12 leckében. Hetente kétszer - csütörtökön és szombaton - ezen az oldalon érdekes témákat talál, melyek segítségével nemcsak szókincsét bővítheti, hanem angol nyelvtani tudását is tökéletesítheti. Minden lecke egy kvízkérdést is tartalmaz. Ha 2008. május 29-ig a quiz@britishcouncil.sk e-mail címre elküldi mind a 12 helyes választ, átruházható tanfolyamot illetve nyelvtankónyvehet és szótárakat nyerhet. A játékot 2008. június 2-án értékeljük ki. A játékszabályokról és a díjakról a www.britishcouncil.sk címen talál további információkat. A tanfolyammal kapcsolatos véleményét, észrevételeit elküldheti a www.velemeny@ujszo.com címre. A nyelvtanulás akkor a leghatékonyabb, ha olvassa és hallgatja is a szöveget. Philosophy by Julie Bray by Keith Sands Two men walk into a pub... It sounds like the beginning of a joke. Two men walk into a pub and one of them says - “We've just found the secret of life...” Well, the pub was the Eagle, in Cambridge, the date was Feb. 28th 1953, and the men were British biochemist Francis Crick and his American colleague James Watson. They worked at the Cavendish laboratories down the road. And they were not exaggerating. Soon their names were known not just to scientists, but to the wider world, and biology had changed beyond recognition. What they had found was the structure of dioxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the substance which is in every cell in our body and carries the genetic code for all living things. If not exactly the stuff we’re made of, it’s the stuff that makes the stuff we’re made of. A few months after their excited announcement in the pub, they would publish a rather more tentative article in the journal Nature. Hidden away near the end was a single, cautious sentence which scientists regard as the understatement of the century : “It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” Translated into less scientific language? Well, “We’ve found the secret of life!” might just do it. A design for life The beauty of their discovery was hidden in that modest sentence in their article. They had not just found the structure of a complex molecule, in the days before electron microscopes (Watson worked by cutting out cardboard shapes and fitting them together), but they had guessed that the form and function were linked. In finding the shape, they had discovered how DNA worked - howthe genetic code is passed on. And they were proved right The double helix of DNA (a shape famous enough to have been made into jewellery and perfume bottles) unravels into two strands and makes copies of itself. In this way, the DNA instructs our cells to produce more cells, each containing an exact copy of the original code. “It’s beautiful, so beautiful!" - as Watson was later to remark. A detective story The tale of the race to find DNA has all the ingredients of a detective story. Colourful characters, human error, false clues, 5 words/phrases from the text 1. prove: establish the truth 2. due: something that directs one to the solution of a problem 3. elusive: difficult to grasp or find 4. icon: an image that is worshipped 5. plaque: an inscribed plate placed on a monument, etc Rftplpo U Zen Learn Gnalish Z7. PR€PO£lTlOfvl5 ^ SHOULP it it in The ewp, r f»T THE end OR gy THE ENp? and that’5 just to ec&iN I WITH ?U.. and academic competition all played a part, as rival teams of scientists converged on the elusive answer. And, as in a good detective story, the answer surprised everyone with its elegance and simplicity. An unsung heroine In stories like this, we like a moment when the scientist shouts "eureka!” and the DNA story has one. In fact, this moment excites controversy to this day. At King's College, London, Watson saw anX-ray crystallography picture of DNA (“Exposure 51") taken by the brilliant English scientist Rosalind Franklin. Franklin did not mix easily in the male-dominated environment of the labs, and it was her boss Maurice Wilkins (not on good terms with Franklin) who showed Exposure 51 to Watson, without Franklin’s knowledge. Franklin's photograph was Watson's “eureka" moment, when out of many possible shapes for DNA, he narrowed it down to the double helix. He sketched the shape on a scrap of paper and headed back to Cambridge “with pulse racing” to get back to work with his cardboard. The role of Franklin and Exposure 51 was not fully credited at the time, and she is an icon for female scientists to this day who Vocabu Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the 5 words/phrases to fill the gaps in the sentences below: 1. The police are examining the crime scene, hoping to find a ....................... 2. Kylie Minogue has become an .............for gay men and women all over the world. 3. The house has a ..................... on the door saying “Wordsworth lived here”. 4. I have a photograph to I have been to London. 5. The paparazzi agreed that she was the most ...................... actress they had tried to photograph. feel that her work was undervalued by her male colleagues. Rosalind Franklin died of cancer tragically young, and so was not to share the Nobel Prize with Crick, Watson and Wilkins in 1962. Science fiction becomes science fact More than fifty years on, DNA is not only inside us, it’s all around us. Genetics is big news. Debates rage over the ethics of cloning, the safety of genetically- modified vegetables, the right of insurance companies to gather genetic data about their clients. DNA fingerprinting is already used by police. A few years ago, the British arm of the Human Genome Project won a court case preventing private companies from patenting genetic disco-ver- ies. A rogue Italian scientist and a bizarre cult were claiming that the first human clones had already been bom. We hear a lot about the dark side of genetics, but medical researchers are optimistic that our new knowledge of the human genome will bring huge medical advances. In 2003, the Eagle pub unveiled a metal plaque to celebrate that famous lunchtime in 1953. A modest marker of a moment that is still changing our world. g Comprehension imnrnwM Decide whether these statements are TRUE or FALSE according to the text. 1. DNA was discovered in the fifties. 2. The design of some perfume bottles was inspired by DNA. 3. Rosalind Franklin and Watson were colleagues. 4. Female scientists think Franklin deserved more fame. 5. Private businesses in the UK are allowed to patent genetic discoveries. Reported questions When we report what people say, we usually change the tense of the verbs to reflect that we are reporting - not giving direct speech. This pattern is followed when we report questions and there are also other important changes between direct questions and reported questions. Yes/no questions Direct question: "Do you like working in teamsi" Reported question: He asked if I like working in teams. When we report yes/no questions we use 'if or ‘whether’. Direct question: "Did you enjoy the party?" Reported question: She asked me whether I'd enjoyed the party. The tense of the verb changes as it does in reported speech but we don’t use auxiliary verbs. The word order is the same as in an affirmative sentence. Questions with a question word Direct question: “What time does the train leave 7" Reported question: He asked what time the train left. When there is a question word/what, where, why, who, when, how) we use that question word in the reported question but there is no auxiliary verb and the word order is like an affirmative sentence (‘what time the train left’ not He ashed me what time did the train leave.) Look at some more examples: Direct question Reported question “Who did you see?" She asked me who I’d seen. "Where did you go to school?" He asked me where I’d gone to school. “Why are you crying?" She asked him why he was crying. Notice that the reported questions do not have a question mark at the end. Indirect questions Similar to reported questions are indirect questions. Can you tell me what time the train leaves? NOT (Cun you tell me what time does the train leave?) I’d love to know what he said to her. NOT (I’d love to know what did he say to her.) Exercise Report the questions 1 “Where did you meet each other?” He asked them ... 2 “Why are you wearing sunglasses?” She asked him.. 3 “Who gave you the parcel?” They asked me ... 4 “Did you two go to school together?" She asked us ... 5 “Do you want another drink?” I asked him.... Quiz Question 15 Film with Hugh Grant - district of London. •}[UUp latpoUB P9JUBM JI *s ‘uaqjaSoi jooqos 0} auoS peq sm ji .....ť “po-red atp am usaiS peq oqM— •£ ‘•sassEjžuns SuueaM sem aq Aqm— Z ‘-pux peq Aaip aiaqM--\ jeoninuo as[E;i ■$ 'arux t ‘aspäj ■£ ‘arux y ‘atux • I uoisuaqajduiorj aAisnp 's 'aAOid > ‘anbEjd •£ ‘urai ~z ‘anp T AjEjnqeaoA Aa>) - jo apeui axe am jjnjs aqi Megrendelőlap Név:....................... Utca, házszám: Település:.................................................................irányltószám: .............................................................. Telefonszám: ..................................................E-mail:..................................................................................... Utánvéttel megrendelem az angol nyelvtanfolyam egyes CD-ít 49 koronáéit (1,62 €) + postaköltség* CDI ........db CD II.........db CD III.........db Aláírás:......................................................................... Utánvéttel megrendelem mindhárom angol nyelvi CD-t, összesen 147 koronáért (4,87 €) + postaköltség* *1 és 2db angol nyelvi CD megrendelése esetén a postaköltség 40 korona (1,32 €), 3 és több CD esetében 80 korona (2,65 €). A kitöltött szelvényt küldje el a következő dmre: Petit Press, a.s., edičné oddelenie, Lazaretská 12,814 64 Bratislava, vagy a 02/59 233 339-es faxszámra. BRITISH COUNCIL Nemzetközi nyelvvizsgák A British Council nemzetközi nyelvvizsgák széles skáláját kínálja. A Cambridge ESOL vizsgán kívül más brit egyetemek nyelvvizsgái közül választhat, melyeket a világ számos országának egyetemei, vállalatai és nemzeti oktatási intézményei is elismernek. Jelentkezzen a Cambridge-i nyelvvizsgák bármely fajtájára - FCE, CAE, CPE, ICFE, ILEC vagy BEC - és emelje angolnyelv-tudásának szintjét. Részletes információk a www.britishcouncil.sk honlapon. British Council, Panská 17, Pozsony, info@britishcouncil.sk
