Exercise III. Read the following text and comment on it to show how far you agree or disagree with the author

ЧАСТЬ IV

Strange similarity of the coastlines on each side of the Atlantic Ocean? 3. What has been the basic idea underlying all the explanations of this similarity? 4. Why cannot we consider the earlier explanations to be well-grounded hypotheses? 5. What is the principal difference between the currently accepted hypothesis and the earlier ideas? 6. How long did it take the hypothesis of the Continental Drift to gain recognition?

СПЕЦИАЛЬНОСТЬ И НАУЧНАЯ РАБОТА

Третьим вопросом кандидатского экзамена является беседа с экзаменаторами на иностранном языке по воп­росам, связанным со специальностью и научной работой аспиранта / соискателя.

В качестве начала беседы с экзаменаторами рекомендуется подготовить монологическое высказывание, в котором аспирант/соискатель представит себя, расскажет о своем образовании. Целесообразно назвать тему диссертации, проблемы, которые анализируются в исследовании, назвать научного руководителя. Приблизительно фрагменты такого текста могут выглядеть следующим образом:

I. Let me tell some words about myself and my scientific research. My full name is... I graduated from the Voronezh State Technological Academy last year. I studied at the Economic Faculty.

When I was a student I got interested in the scientific research work. That’s why after the Academy I made up my mind to take up a post-graduate course at the Economic and Management Department.

The approximate theme of my thesis is «The Status of Joint Venture in the economy of the transitional period». This problem is of great theoretical and practical value. We are to deal with the following points:

socio-economic nature of a joint venture;

peculiarities of joint venture functioning in the transitional period;

joint venture classification in Russia, etc.

I carry out my investigations under the guidance of Doctor of Economy, Professor... He is a well-known specialist in his/her domain. He has a lot of scientific works.

As for me I have two articles published.

There’s mush to be done and I try to do my best to continue research and submit my thesis to public hearing in due time.

II. I graduated from the economic faculty of the Voronezh State Universi­ty. My speciality is economic mathematics. Now I work as an assistant lecturer. I teach the following subjects: the theory of risk, insurance, the system of decision making in economics.

When I was a student of the university I began to carry out my research work. Later my scientific interests brought me to a post-graduate course in North-Caucasian Academy for Pub­lic Administration. Last year I became a post-graduate. The theme of my dissertation is "Insurance in the system of eco­nomic relations".

I have already begun my research. I often work in the librar­ies of Rostov and Moscow, use Internet information. I have two articles published.

There's much to be done and I continue to work on my dis­sertation.

III. My name is N.N. I’m a part-time (full-time) post-graduate student (an applicant) of the Voronezh State Technology Academy. I combine my everyday activities with research work. I graduated from the academy in 2010. I studied at the Mechanical faculty in specialty “Machines and Apparatuses of food productions”.

After graduation I worked at the Voronezh milk factory as a mechanics engineer. Now I work as an engineer at the physical and colloidal chemistry department.

I carry out research on the problem concerned with the study of vapour-liquid equilibrium in some systems of alcohol production.

The major subject of my research is the investigation of physico-chemical properties of some mixtures containing ethanol, water, acetone, butanol and other organic substances, and so the determination of phase equilibrium data in the systems. So far the problem has not been studied. On the basis of data to be obtained new rectification apparatuses will be designed.

My scientific supervisor is Professor Doctor of Technical Sciences V.M. He got his academic degree with doctoral dissertation dealing with vapour and liquid equilibrium. He has a lot of publications in different periodicals.

As for me I have three articles published in the Proceedings of different conferences. My co-authors are A. and B.

I will pass my Master’s degree examination in Philosophy next week. There's much to be done, but I hope to defend my thesis in due time.

IV. My friend is a full-time post-graduate student of the Voronezh State Technology Academy. His name is I.V. He studied at the Mechanical faculty. The speciality he chose was mechanical engineer. After graduation from the Technology Academy he worked at the research laboratory as an engineer. For nine years he was working at the Research Institution of Semiconductors Engineering as a designer.

Now he is taking a post-graduate training course. He gets a scholarship.

The major topic of his research is membrane technology. He doubts it will find a wide application in food industry. He is working on the problem of designing a pilot installation and studying Russian and English literature.

He has some essays published in periodicals and some author certificates for the inventions. He passed his Master’s degree examination in Philosophy last week. He is going to take his Master’s degree examination in special subject in two years. He is doing his research under the guidance of professor S.L. He is a well-known specialist in this domain. My friend will try to submit his thesis to public hearing in three years.

Рекомендуем также ряд слов, выражений и речевых клише, которые помогут подготовиться к данной теме.

To graduate from - окончить высшее учебное заведение;

To graduate in economics - окончить эконом. факультет;

A full-time (a part-time) post-graduate - аспирант-очник (заочник);

An applicant - соискатель;

To take / have a post-graduate course - учиться в аспирантуре;

To carry out (conduct) research in the field of... - проводить исследования в области...

To be published in the Proceedings of the Conference - быть напечатанным в сборнике материалов конференции;

To work at one’s thesis (dissertation) under the guidance (supervision) of... - работать над диссертацией под руководством...

To work in collaboration with... - работать совместно с...

To submit one’s thesis to public hearing in due time - представить диссертацию к защите в срок;

To survey modern literature on the problem - делать обзор современной литературы по проблеме;

The problem arises in connection with... - эта проблема встает в связи с...

We turn our attention to a new and more urgent problem. - Мы обращаем внимание на новую и более насущную проблему.

The problem of studying... demands special care in using... - Проблема изучения... требует особого внимания к использованию...

We shall touch upon a question of...- мы коснемся вопроса...

The core of the problem is... - Суть проблемы заключается...

It would be instructive to examine in detail... - Было бы полезно детально изучить...

The object of our investigations is... - объектом нашего исследования является...

... is the subject of our research -... является предметом нашего исследования.

We are engaged in the study of... - Мы занимаемся изучением...

We shall make a thorough study of...- мы подвергнем тщательному изучению...

The aim of the paper is...- Цель данной работы заключается...

In the framework of... the first objective to achieve is... - В рамках... основной целью является...

The purpose of my work is to examine and investigate... - Цель моей работы заключается в изучении и исследовании...

The primary task is to study... - Первоочередной задачей является изучение...

The conventional approach to this problem is based on... - Обычный подход к этой проблеме основан на...

We shall turn to another trend. - Мы обратимся к другому направлению.

It is worth analyzing precisely... - Стоит тщательно проанализировать...

One of the most promising problems is believed to deal with... - Считается, что одной из наиболее перспективных проблем является...

The problem became more acute, it took a new form. - Проблема стала более острой, она приобрела новую форму.

It seems essential to emphasize that... - Представляется важным отметить, что...

So far we have discussed... - До сих пор мы обсуждали...

It provides a basis for - Это служит основой...

For (at) the moment... - В настоящий момент...

We are intended to conclude that... - Мы намерены заключить...

To sum up it should be noted that... - Подводя итог, следует отметить, что...

Degree of candidate of sciences; candidate's degree (less for­mal) — степень кандидата наук;

Thesis — диссертация (иногда употребляется "disserta­tion", хотя в Великобритании это работа меньшей значимости);

To do academic work / research — / выполнять научную работу / исследование;

To devote oneself to academic / research work — посвятить себя науке;

A branch of knowledge — отрасль науки;

An academic work — научный труд;

An academic approach — научный подход;

Department — кафедра;

A research worker / a researcher — научный работник.

Мы также предлагаем серию упражнений, которые помогут подготовиться к беседе по вопросам специальности и избранного научного направления.

Exercise I. Read and translate the definitions of the following words:

Science:

1) (the study of) knowledge which can be made into a sys­tem and which usually depends on seeing and testing facts and stating general laws: It was one of the great discoveries in science. Science cannot answer all our questions; 2) a branch of such knowledge. Especially: a) anything which may be studied ex­actly: Driving a car is an art_, not a science. b) any of the branches usually studied at universities, such as Physics, Economics, etc.: She was studying a science subject.

Different adjectives relating to science may be used with this word:

pure (of a science or a branch of any study) — considered only for its own nature as a skill or exercise of the mind, sepa­rate from any use that might be made of it;

applied (science) — put to practical use;

practical (science) — related to actual experience or need;

theoretical belonging to theory (= general laws and princi­ples of science or a science).

Scientist — a person who carries out new work in a science (physics, economics, etc.)

Scientific — of, being, or concerning science or its princi­ples or rules: She had a scientific education. This is a fine piece of scientific writing. The scientific spirit has an interest in exact-ness.

Scholar — a person who knows much in a particular field of knowledge (refers mainly, though not exclusively, to the humanities);

Work — 1) activity which uses effort, especially with a spe­cial purpose, not for amusement: It takes a lot of-work to do a research. 2) a job or occupation: His work is in economics, he is an economist. 3) what one is doing, especially for payment: / hear you 've changed jobs; is work difficult at the new place? I am taking some work home to do this evening. 4) what is produced by work: This picture is my own work.

It's useful to know what adjectives may be used relating to work:

Laborious —1) requiring great effort: This is a very labori­ous work; 2) showing signs of being done with difficulty: He has a laborious style of writing.

Hard-working — working hard: She is a hard-working re­searcher.

Industrious — hard-working: What industrious people they are.

Demanding — that needs a lot of attention or effort: A new job may be very demanding.

Strenuous — 1) taking great effort; needing a lot of work: It's being a strenuous day. 2) showing great activity; She is a strenu­ous supporter of women's rights.

Diligent — (of people and behaviour) hard-working; show­ing steady effort: He is a diligent worker and deserves more pay. He made a diligent attempt to learn Russian.

Painstaking — 1) careful and thorough: Producing a dictio­nary is painstaking work. 2) hard-working and thorough: He is not very clever but he is painstaking; he works hard.

Exercise II. Answer the questions:

1. What are the tendences in the science development at present?

2. What scientific discovery of recent years seems most chal­
lenging to you?

3. What important scientific discoveries may we face in the
near future?

4. We are apt to believe that research has always been the
springboard of progress. But do you think the unusually
swift development of science may have any harmful con­
sequences? Do you think there should be "taboo" areas
in scientific research as far as morality is concerned?
Whatever your answer is, give your reasons.

5. Do you think there can be valid reasons for suspending
research into a particular subject even if it has been going
on successfully? If so, what might they be?

6. Do you think that scientific work of any kind can itself
be a means of developing the moral qualities of the indi­
vidual concerned?

There are exactly as many ways of approaching the scientif­ic world as there are individuals in science; it is only because the results are expressed in the same language, are subject to the same control, that science seems to be more uniform than, say, original literature. In effect, in the end, it is more uniform; but if we could follow the process of a scientific thought through many minds, as it actually happens and not as it is convention­ally expressed after the event, we should see every conceivable variety of mental texture.

These varieties seemed to me to fall into two main types, perhaps this was a shape I imposed for myself and corresponds to nothing real; but they are types observed often enough be­fore in human affairs and I still believe that they are not en­tirely artificial. Applying them to scientific thinking, I should call the first the problem-solving type; minds which choose out of all the world round them a certain piece of experience and drive through it to an explanation. The probing, analytical, pragmatic minds, which at their best can reach the heights of Rutherford and Darwin. In everyday affairs it is probably the commoner type of mind, and so the performances of its high­est exponents seem familiar and easy to most of us, they are of the same nature as our own: which means that we underesti­mate them unduly, on the principle that what is not mysteri­ous cannot be profoundly admirable.

The second type, the abstracting mind. Gets perhaps more than its share of admiration, just because it is difficult for most of us to argue with, speaking as it does a different mental lan­guage from their own. These minds do not drive through a por­tion of experience; they wait for experience to make itself into shapes in their minds, they assimilate, correlate, find resem­blances in different things, differences in similar things. At their best, in Faraday, Einstein, they are great generalizes; at their worst they are infinitely fantastic and removed from all reality.

Exercise IV. Characterize any scientist, or scholar you know according to the types suggested by the author in the text given above. Use the following vocabulary:

a capacity for (detailed) scientific analysis / criticism; to have a scrupulous / tidy / analytical mind; to be out of one's reach; to have insight / imagination / drive, etc.; to envy somebody for the precision / rapidity / elegance of one's experiments; one's subtle / fertile mind; to be quickly / bright / slow, etc.; to be full of facts / speculations / ideas, etc.; to overflow with a sort of scientific wit; to be getting the name of a promising young scientist / scholar; to be a born scientist / scholar; to rush into work; to tackle / to solve the problem; to strike / to keep up to a useful line of one's own; there came a sudden flash of an idea; long routines; spurred by the success; to develop / to use a method of...; to have all the techniques / to lack the tech­nique; to generalize, etc.

Exercise V. Here is a difficult question for you to answer: Why do men take up science? Before considering it read the following meditations of C. P. Snow on this subject. How far do you agree with the author? Make use of the vocabulary given below:

One can do science because one believes that practically and effectively it benefits the world. A great many scientists have had this as their chief conscious reason. One can do science because it represents the truth. One selected one's data — set one's puzzle for oneself, as it were — and in the end solved the puz­zle by showing how they fitted other data of the same kind. It is rather as though one was avidly interested in all the country­side between this town and the next: one goes in for science for an answer, and is given a road between the two. One can also do science because one enjoys it. Many people like unravelling puzzles. Scientific puzzles are very good ones, with reasonable prizes. So that either without examining the functions of sci­ence, being indifferent to them or taking them for granted, a number of men go in for research as they would for law; living by it, obeying its rules, and thoroughly enjoying the problem-solving process. This is a perfectly valid pleasure, among them you can find some of the most effective of scientists. Nowadays I should allow more for accident; many men become scientists because it happens to be convenient and they may as well do it as anything else. But the real urgent drives remain.

Use the vocabulary:

to do science; to benefit the world / one'snation (to be a benefit for the world/ nation); to represent the truth; to like unravelling / solving puzzles; to go in for / to takeup research; to enjoy a problem-solving process; to be devoted to science; to be a devoted scientist; to gain enjoyment from research; to enjoy science;to examine the functions of science; to take something for granted; to have abelief in scientific values; one's dedicated search for scientific truth, etc.

Exercise VI. Read and discuss the text:

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