Go through the worksheets and do the tasks:
http://uloz.to/xKW3njEG/travelling-and-means-of-transport-doc
http://uloz.to/xeuH7JKp/prepositions-of-place-directions-doc
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Water Closet
Describe in 10 sentences.
The Story of the Water Closet
A very brief, entertaining, and very English
perspective on
the history of the toilet
Here is a bold statement.
The WC has been described as “one of the most important inventions of the
last 1000 years.” None other than the London
Times newspaper said this in its Millenium Edition. It compared the invention
of the toilet with, amongst others, the development of the Gutenberg printing
press in 1400s, the atomic bomb, and the moon landing of 1969. Here’s
another bold statement. “One of the most
successful designs ever. It doesn’t only improve lives, it saves them.”
None other than the Independent newspaper said that in a recent morning
edition. And finally, one more bold statement. “It has done more to improve the
health of the people of the world than any pills or potions.” The origin of
this statement is due entirely to the author of this piece. It is true that the
toilet is an important invention. But in the whole history of mankind it is
relatively recent and as we shall see we had to wait for the great
entrepreneurs of the Victorian times for it to be developed into what we know
and love today.
Primitive Sanitation
Early primitives were, of
course, the first sanitarians. They knew the rules – and learned them the hard
way. They knew that they must keep their sewage away from their cooking. They
knew that they had to keep their kitchen upstream and their toilet downstream.
If they reversed this layout there would be terrible consequences. Death would
follow. Typhoid, cholera and dysentery were just a few of the terrible diseases
which thrive on poor sanitation. It is this fundamental principle that we work
with today. The toilet is part of the process of separating excreta from
drinking water.
Roman Latrines
The Romans were excellent
sanitarians. They regarded ablutions as extremely important and built elaborate
latrines in their towns and forts. Evidence remains of bath houses and toilet
blocks. Here communal latrines had been built. Users sat on marble slabs. Each
slab, with its hole, was supported above gushing water to take away excreta.
Fresh water channels in front of the slabs allowed users to wash themselves
using a natural sponge tied to the end of a twig or stick. Of course the
invention of toilet tissue was years ahead and was not available to the Romans.
The Romans left Britain
in 450AD and their civilisation and legacy of sanitary science went with them.
Their heritage disappeared and Britain
plunged into the dark ages. 1000 years unwashed.
The First WC
We had to wait till 1592
before the next milestone in sanitary science was achieved. This is when the
rather well-to-do godson of Queen Elizabeth 1st got
terribly bored with his lifestyle (he was a poet) and set about designing what
we now know to be the first ever, fully functioning and self contained Water
Closet. His invention was something we can now all recognise but not many
people of his time did. It was a major breakthrough in sanitary science and toilet
design. It was an efficient and reasonably hygienic means of disposal of human
waste. It had a cistern containing water. It had a seat and a bowl to receive
the deposit. It had a means of flushing away that deposit using a sudden rush of
the water. It was a genuine WC. A brilliant invention. Years ahead of its time.
And, like all great new products, devices and gizmos, it was very expensive. It
came in at £1 10s 8d, around £1000 in today’s money. Regrettably, it didn’t
catch on. No-one could afford it, and only two were ever constructed. Harington
made one for himself for use at his home in Kelston Manor in Bath,
Somerset, England
and the other for use by his godmother, Queen Elizabeth 1st at Richmond
Palace, on the River
Thames. (Actually, a third WC was actually constructed in 2001 and is now on display
in the magnificent sanitaryware gallery at the Gladstone
Pottery Museum,
Longton, Stoke on Trent.)
Harington was ahead of his time and we had to wait another 200 years before the
next glimpse of the sanitary future came along.
The Arrival of the Modern
Toilet
The middle of the 1800s
was the time of the ‘Great Stink’ when The Thames was an open sewer and people
like George Jennings, Edward Johns, and Thomas Twyford started the race to
develop the ‘modern’ toilet. What was needed was a freestanding, ceramic affair
which required no mechanism and was relatively cheap. Many designs were
produced and the bathroom industry was born.
Television
Describe the text in 10 sentences. Write 5 sentences about new possibilities which TV companies offer today.
The History Of Television
The
television has become such an integral part of homes in the modern world that
it is hard to imagine life without television. The boob tube, as television is
also referred to, provides entertainment to people of all ages. Not just for
entertainment value, but TV is also a valuable resource for advertising and
different kinds of programming. The television as we see it and know it today
was not always this way. Let’s take a brief look at the history of television
and how it came into being.
Timeline
of TV History
Different
experiments by various people, in the field of electricity and radio, led to
the development of basic technologies and ideas that laid the foundation for
the invention of television. In the late 1800s, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a student
in Germany,
developed the first ever mechanical module of television. He succeeded in
sending images through wires with the help of a rotating metal disk. This
technology was called the ‘electric telescope’ that had 18 lines of resolution.
Around 1907, two separate inventors, A.A. Campbell-Swinton from England
and Russian scientist Boris Rosing, used the cathode ray tube in addition to
the mechanical scanner system, to create a new television system. From the
experiments of Nipkow and Rosing, two types of television systems came into
existence: mechanical television and electronic television.
Mechanical Television History
In 1923,
an American inventor called Charles Jenkins used the disk idea of Nipkow to
invent the first ever practical mechanical television system. By 1931, his
Radiovisor Model 100 was being sold in a complete kit as a mechanical
television. In 1926, just a little after Jenkins, a British inventor known as
John Logie Baird, was the first person to have succeeded in transmitting moving
pictures through the mechanical disk system started by Nipkow. He also started
the first ever TV studio. From 1926 till 1931, the mechanical television system
saw many innovations. Although the discoveries of these men in the department
of mechanical television were very innovative, by 1934, all television systems
had converted into the electronic system, which is what is being used even
today.
Electronic Television History
The
experiments of Swinton in 1907, with the cathode ray tube for electronic
television held great potential but were not converted into reality. Finally,
in 1927, Philo Taylor Farnsworth was able to invent a working model of
electronic television that was based on Swinton’s ideas. His experiments had
started when he was just a little boy of 14 years. By the time he became 21,
Philo had created the first electronic television system, which did away with
the rotating disks and other mechanical aspects of mechanical television. Thus
was born the television system which is the basis of all modern TVs. All the
early television systems were black and white, with color television being
invented much later on. Since the early invention of television in the
beginning of the 1900s, history has seen many firsts in the area of television.
Monday, 30 March 2015
Mobile Phone
Write in 10 sentences what the article is about. Write in 5 sentences how you use a mobile phone every day.
Mobile Phone
Mobile Phones have proved
themselves to be one of the greatest gifts to the mankind. They have become an
indispensible part of our lives. But going back in time, owning a mobile phone
was confined to members of affluent class. All thanks to cost cutting
techniques and innovations over a period of time; mobile phones are now
affordable for everyone.
Origin of this gadget is quite interesting. Starting from bulky mobiles
phones which were as long and heavy as one’s forearms, to ultra thin and techno
savvy handsets, mobiles phones have covered a long way so far. It all started
with the basic telephony. Alexander Graham Bell was the first one to patent
telephone in the year 1876. This technology was developed using the equipment
designed for telegraph. Calls were connected with the help of operators. And a
pillar of the mobile telephony came into existence when Charles Stevenson
invented radio communication in early 1890s for keeping contacts with the
offshore lighthouses. Marconi transmitted signals over the distance of 2 kms in
year 1894. And Fessenden capably broadcasted music through radio by 1906.
And the following development was merger of radio telephone technology.
In 1926, first class passenger trains, running from Berlin
to Hamburg
used the technology. These radio telephones were also used for air traffic
safety as well as in the passenger airplanes. At the time of Second World War,
German tanks made great use of these radio telephones too.
Two way radios was an ancestor of the mobiles phones. These radios also
known as the mobile rigs, were fixed police cruisers, ambulances, taxicabs
before advent of handheld mobile phones. Since the mobile radios were given
connection to telephone network, one could not dial these from the home phones.
And slowly this technology gained popularity among the mobile radio users.
Later versions of these radio phones incorporated
cigarette lighter plugs and were called bag phones. Fixed in the vehicles,
these gadgets were either used as portable two way radios or mobile phones. And
then in 1940s, Motorola came with new developments in mobile phones. And this
is how Walkie Talkie was born. Large, bulky and battery operated, this Handie
Talkie soon found a way to US military.
Another turning point came in the history of mobile phones when the base
station for mobile phones came into being. Engineers from Bell Labs developed
the base stations in 1947. The same year, W. Rae Philip and Douglas H. Ring
developed hexagonal cells for these mobile phones. But an engineer, Porter from
Bell Labs, suggested positioning of the cell towers at corners of hexagons
instead of center. He also argued for the directional antennas, for
transmitting or receiving the signals in the three directions, into adjacent
hexagon cells.
In 1956, Ericsson Company released the earliest full automatic cellular
phone system called MTA in Sweden.
Though this gadget was operated automatically but due to its bulkiness, could
not really hold the users interest for long. It is surprising to hear that this
mobile phone weighed around 40 kgs back then. And then improved and lighter
version of the same phone was introduced in 1965. This was known as MTB and
used the DTMF signaling.
Soon in 1957, Leonid Kupriyanovich developed experimental model of
wearable mobile phones in Moscow,
operating with the help of base station. This young engineer had earlier
developed the radio phone known as LK-1. The battery life of the wearable
mobile phone by the young inventor lasted for around 20-30 hours. Weighing 3
kg, it worked within the distance of 20 to 30 km from the station. Later he
patented the mobile phones and also came up with a version of pocket mobile
phone that was just of 0.5 Kgs in the same year.
Then again automatic pocket mobile phone was developed in 1966 at Bulgaria.
Called RAT-0.5, phone coordinated with the base station known as RATZ-10. And
further developments in the field of the cellular phones were witnessed in
1967. It was decided that every mobile phone would be catered to a base station
throughout its life. Though this was not that novel concept, need of one base
station at least broke continuity of the automatic services to the mobile
phones. After three years, in 1970, another engineer Ames E. Joel invented
automatically operated call handoff technology. This system allowed the mobile
phones to pass through cell areas while making a phone call without any loss of
conversation. This was the time when the mobile user could use the gadget
without any disturbance.
Further in year 1971, AT&T Incorporation projected mobile phone
service that was approved by FCC later. Another development in the history of
mobile phones was registered with ARP network’s success launched in Finland. It was
the earliest commercial cellular phones and was known as Zero Generation mobile
network.
Invention of mobile phones that closely resembles today’s mobile phones
is credited to Martin Cooper, employer and researcher of Motorola. He
initially developed cellular phone named Motorola Dynatac in 1973. With 5
inches width and 9 inches length, this 2.5 pounds weighing phone carried around
30 circuit boards in it. With recharge time of around 10 hours, talk time of 35
minutes, this phone gave comfortable talking experience to the users. One could
listen, dial and talk on this mobile phone but what was missing was display
screen. With passing time, refinements were made and these mobile phones
improved by leaps and bounds.
With introduction of Global System for the mobile communications, radio
spectrum could be used effectively. The technology gave great voice quality,
international roaming facilities along with compatibility with ISDN systems.
And further for providing coverage to the remote areas that ISDN, GSM and
cellular phones could not offer, satellite phones came into being. Base station
for the satellite phones were built in the geostationary satellites. And now
there is no place on the planet that is untouched by the mobile phones.
Tasks for the week - 5th - 18th April 2015
Hello,
your tasks will be:
Texts 1, 2, 3 from the topic Homelessness, including 3 videos.
Three texts from the topic Inventions and Discoveries.
Worksheet Transport and Travelling and Prepositions and Way description.
your tasks will be:
Texts 1, 2, 3 from the topic Homelessness, including 3 videos.
Three texts from the topic Inventions and Discoveries.
Worksheet Transport and Travelling and Prepositions and Way description.
Homelessness - video
1. Watch the video about homelessness and write its brief summary in 10 sentences. 2. Add other 5 pieces of information concerning homelessness.
Sunday, 1 March 2015
Helping aids for dyslexic children
Helping aids for dyslexic children
A Approximately fifteen percent of Czech school children
are diagnosed with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a condition that is related to a
difficulty with reading. Although it has been confirmed that there is no direct
connection between IQ and dyslexia, dyslexic children are often characterised to
be problematic and slow, which
is an obstruction for them to fully use of their potential. There
are many new learning aids aiming to change that.
B Children who are somewhat different often suffer from
their dissimilarity in the classroom. It lasted many years until the Czech
education system accepted left-handers and stopped forcing them to write
with their right hand. There are about ten percent of left-handers in the
population. Children who were forced to change hands and write right-handed had
very bad effects in their later life.
C In 2010, a Czech artist, who suffers from dyslexia, published
an audio-visual primer which was produced in cooperation with
experts from Charles University. Alena Kupčíková, Czech painter, sculptor and
conceptualist, explains what the new learning technique is based on. “Children who
suffer from dyslexia tend to use their right hemisphere more than the left
which influences their perception of things. They often think in pictures, which makes it more
difficult for them to understand and read letters and written words. That’s why
this learning aid is based on using pictures to make it easier for children to
recognize letters and understand words and sentences.”
D At present, teachers understand a dyslexic child can
be as intelligent, or even more intelligent than a child without learning
disabilities. The
ability to read is an essential tool for learning. A large part of the subject
matter is taught at school. More and more children and adults need help with
learning how to read, spell, express their thoughts on paper and acquire
adequate knowledge of grammar. Many problems and traumas can be reduced by
using special learning aids, activities and games.
E Nowadays, there are lots of great tools available that can help children overcome their struggles. They can use applications which adjust types of fonts and sizes of texts to make it easier to read, special programs, educational games, spelling assistance softwares, screen reading devices, or smartpens.
1)
Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1 Alena
Kupčíková explains the principle of the new learning technique
2 Accepting left-handers
3 Learning aids for dyslexic children
4 Teachers know dyslexia does not mean low
IQ
5 Introduction
2)
Read the article and answer the questions.
1 What is the article about?
2 Who is Alena Kupčíková?
3 What is the primer based on?
4 What were problems of left-handers like?
5 What are learning aids developed for
dyslexic children mentioned in the text?
3)
Explain the following words.
1 learning aids
2 left-hander
3 primer
4 to acquire adequate knowledge of grammar
5 smartpen
Adjusted
to:
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/young-czech-artist-helps-dyslexic-children
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