Contents

PART I

Unit1 Biology as the Science of Life Grammar: the Passive Voice

Unit2 The Natural World. Plants and Animals

Grammar: the Infinitive

Unit 3 The Classifications of Living Things

Grammar: the Gerund

Unit 4 The Cell

Grammar: the Participle

PART II Supplementary Reading

Unit 1.

Unit 2.

Unit 3.

Unit 4.

Vocabulary

Bibliography ………………………………………………………………

PART I

Unit 1 Biology as the Science of Life

Reading and Speaking

1.1 You are going to read the text about biology, check the meaning and pronunciation of the words in the dictionary.

Science, scientific, biology, biological, construction, function, information, contribution, method, to control, cure, vaccine, penicillin, sulfa, solution, value, mankind, to increase, variety, disease, prevention, microscope, laboratory, accurate, observation, experiment, explanation, solution.

1.2 State the part of speech of the following words. Translate them.

To engage, engagement.

To discover, discoverer, discovery.

To value, value, valuable.

To construct, construction, constructive.

Importance, important.

To know, knowledge.

To develop, developer, development.

To vary, variety, variation, various, variable.

Mystery, mysterious.

Biology, biological, biologist.

Science, scientific, scientist.

сontribute, contribution, contributor, contributory.

Prevent, prevention, preventive.

To acquaint ,acquaintance.

To observe, observer, observation.

To specialize, specialist, speciality, special.

1.3 Match the phrase from column a with its meaning from column b.

A 1. to be of great value 2. to keep healthy 3. to make a contribution

B a) иметь большую ценность b) сделать вклад c) быть здоровым

1.4 Read the text and make up its plan. Draw three schemes on the first paragraph of the text.

* * *

Biology is the science of living things. The word “biology” comes from two Greek words : bio-“life” and logos “discourse” or “study. Biology includes all the facts and principles which have been derived from a scientific study of living things. The special study of plants, called Botany, and of animals, called Zoology, are the two subdivisions of the science of biology. Plants and animals are called organisms, so biology can also be defined as the science of organisms.

Biology is the science of life and people who are engaged in it are called biologists. They study the secrets of living things. Their discoveries are of great value to all mankind.

Biologists have made a great contribution to science. They increase our food supply, they develop new and better varieties of plants and animals. Scientific methods of farming give us much more food.

Biology tells us about our body: how it is constructed and how it functions. It gives us important information about other living things and how their lives affect mankind .A knowledge of biology will help us to keep healthy. It will be our guide in solving many of everyday living and scientific problems.

Biologists control many diseases. They have saved millions of lives by discovering the causes of these diseases and methods of prevention and cure. Vaccines penicillin and sulfa are products of the biological laboratory.

Biologists have solved many mysteries of the body. They have discovered how blood circulates, how food is digested and many other secrets of life. They are now working in different fields of biology and their studies lead to a solution of many problems.

A biologist's laboratory is a fascinating place. There you can find a variety of plants and animals, some of which are invisible to the naked eye. There are powerful microscopes and other instruments. One of the most important tools of a scientist is his laboratory notebook. It always keeps complete and accurate records of his observations and experiments.

Carrying out their work biologists use the scientific method that is:

1. They find out everything that is known about the problem by reading or discussing the matter with others.

2. They think of several possible explanations or solutions. Some of them may be wrong. One or more of the others may be right.

3. They test all the possibilities by experiments. They repeat the experiment several times and make every effort to prevent errors.

4. When they have reached a conclusion they inform other scientists.

1.5 Read text 1.4 again, find English equivalents to the Russian words.

научный открытие знание предотвращение лечение решать увеличивать мощный инструмент усилие

запасы разнообразие болезнь причина тайна функция структура невидимый ошибка заключение