Английский / Английский язык.1 курс

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mocratic character of education paying much attention to common human values, developing independent critical thinking instead of simple perception of information.

The current structure of the national educational system includes pre-school education, general secondary education, off-school forms of education, vocational education, secondary special education, higher education, training of scientific staff, retraining, qualification upgrading and self-education of adults.

Most children in Belarus start school at the age of 6. All pupils must follow the basic education curriculum up to the age of 15, and the vast majority of pupils stay at school until they finish their high school education at 17. At the age of 15, they can go to college or professional institutions to complete their high school education and work toward a professional certificate. Completion of a high school or professional certificate allows students to continue their education at the university level.

At present, the general secondary education system includes the following levels: primary (4 years of education), the 2nd level school (5–9 classes) and the 3rd level school (10–11 classes. Education in schools of the 2nd and the 3rd levels is finished by final examinations after which graduates of basic schools obtain certificates of basic education and those of secondary schools - certificates of secondary education.

Higher education in Belarus is prestigious due to its high quality and affordability. Belarus has one of the highest student-to-population ratios in Europe. There are four main types of higher education establishments to choose from, which can be either private or state operated: classical university, profile university or academy, institute, higher college. Most courses run for 5 years and students can choose to study full time, at evening classes or by correspondence.

Admission to specialized secondary and higher schools in Belarus is by centralized testing and undergraduates pass state exams or defend a Diploma project. Persons who have successfully completed their studies receive diplomas. The academic year is usually 9 months or 2 terms of four and a half months each. Classes usually begin in September and end in June. Students study different general and special subjects. The work is organized in the form of lectures, tutorials, laboratory work, practical training and individual project work. Grants are available for full-time students and scholarships are awarded to very gifted students. Most non-resident students live in student hostels. More than 6000 foreign students study at higher education institutions and universities in Belarus every year.

MOGILEV

Mogilev is a more than 700-year-old city. According to the Mogilev chronicles, the Mogilev castle was built in 1267. There are several legends explaining the origin of the city's name. One of them is connected with Duke Lev Danilovich Mogiy (the Mighty Lion) over whose grave a burial mound was made later nicknamed Mogilev (or the Lion's tomb). In the course of its history the city was repeatedly attacked and besieged, even burnt to the ground not once. Invaders ruined and robbed it. Mogilev survived a number of conquests - the Swedish during the Northern War in 1700–1721, the Napoleon ones during the Patriotic War of 1812 and the last one – the fascist Germany occupation of 1941–1944. The city remembers the heroic defense of 1941 and the courageous struggle of the partisan movement during the Great Patriotic War. In June 1944 the city was liberated from German invaders.

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The future of computer engineering looks very bright. Computers have really blown-up over the last decade or so and they are expected to continue to grow in popularity. So computer engineers are in demand and can pretty much expect to be in demand. Careers in computer science are great. They pay well and they are interesting jobs (for the most part). Since the popularity of computers continues to grow and will continue to grow, the need for computer engineers will exist for a very long time, if not forever. Computer engineers need to have a college education in computer engineering or a similar field.

Electrical Engineering is one of the biggest engineering fields and traditionally focuses on the generation and supply of power. Electrical engineers are experts in electricity and learn how to use and control it. They work with all power systems, circuitry, microprocessors, digital broadcasting and telephone switching systems. They create and maintain electrical devices of all kinds, from telecommunications systems to toasters. So we study electronics, digital systems, electric circuits, electric machines, etc.

Electrical engineering careers are in demand. The job will require the electrical engineer to utilize science and technology to solve problems. They design, develop, and implement products or services. There are many different jobs that can be held if you choose an electrical engineering career. And there are many different job titles for these jobs. The job titles include development engineer, project engineer, design engineer, and test engineer. Most of these job titles explain what each job entails. The electrical engineer may also do research and come up with new ideas. Some of the tasks can and will be very challenging but with the proper education an electrical engineer will be able to perfectly complete every task and solve every problem.

The future of electrical engineering looks very bright. Every industry deals with electricity and that means that electrical engineers will always be needed. So this is a great career to go into and it will continue to be for many, many years to come.

Careers in Automotive Engineering are good careers to pursue. Automotive Engineers maintain and develop public transportation systems. They may work with vehicles such as cars, buses and heavy equipment, like trucks, bulldozers, tractors or outdoor power equipment. They may be involved in sales of vehicles and parts, maintenance and repair of vehicles or engines, and specific vehicle parts. The demand for automotive engineers is high because the number of vehicles grows. There are two major areas automotive engineers work in – automaking plants and businesses that service and repair vehicles.

An automotive engineer needs to keep up to date with the new technology that comes with each vehicle. More and more electronic components are used in vehicles. The knowledge of motor vehicle engines, parts and systems, of motor vehicle electronic systems, of safety standards is important.

Continual changes in automotive technology require significant diagnostic and analytical skills. We must acquire a number of skills, like to develop new automotive technologies, to diagnose mechanical faults. We must have practical skills to use tools and equipment, also good planning and management skills. Communication skills are also important if we work with customers.

Automotive engineers may do the following: test drive and inspect vehicles to diagnose faults; diagnose what is causing these faults. They need skills in the diagnosis and repair of anti-skid braking systems, complex electronic components and onboard

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computers. Also, experience in using computer diagnostic equipment is increasingly important and now computers are widely used in automotive workshops. Automotive engineers must know how to dismantle or repair faulty engines or other parts and systems; how to change vehicle lubricants (such as oil) and coolants (such as radiator water). They may tune engines so that vehicles run smoothly and may specialize in one sector of the automotive repair industry such as wheel alignment, air conditioning, transmissions and exhausts.

Careers in Welding Engineering are very rewarding. Welding is a process very important to technical progress, though it is most often taken for granted. People seldom understand how much we depend on welding even in our everyday life. All large buildings are built with a “skeleton” of welded structural steel. Welding is a fundamental part of the process of building bridges, vehicles, houses, appliances and a lot more.

Welding has been compared to playing a musical instrument. In the same way that anyone can take a harmonica and make sounds with it, anyone with a little practice may use modern welding equipment for non-critical jobs. But to make music with the harmonica or to make good, strong, clean welds with welding equipment will take time. The more you practice, the better your results will be.

Welding has ever-increasing usage in industry and business now. Welders are employed in oil field and pipeline work, construction of buildings and bridges, automotive work, including assembly line welding at automaking plants, vehicle repair, race car fabrication and antique car restoration. Welding is used in nuclear power industry, aviation and aerospace work and defense work. And it is impossible to make household appliances without welding.

There is a real difference between a weld that looks good and a weld that performs well. The task of any welding engineer is to get a weld that will not fail in use. There are lots of welding procedures and the up-to-date equipment for them. The main procedures are oxy-acetylene gas welding and cutting, arc welding, MIG (wire-fed) welding, TIG (heli-arc) welding, plasma-arc welding and cutting, electron-beam welding. Each process requires special knowledge, special skills and special equipment. These things are essence of welding engineer training.

Careers in Quality Control Engineering. Advantages to become a quality control engineer are obvious. Many companies want to manufacture their products more efficiently, at a lower cost, and with increased quality. They need to employ quality control engineers and more jobs will become available. So this is a great career to go into and it will continue to be for many years to come.

The quality control engineer is responsible for the development and application of quality standards for industrial processes, materials, and products. He must develop standards to measure the quality of a manufactured item, analyze details that can affect its quality, and decide what the best techniques are for the optimal end results. He develops and uses standards and methods for inspection, testing, and evaluation. For this he needs knowledge in engineering fields such as chemical, electrical, or mechanical. He develops forms and instructions for recording, evaluating, and reporting quality and reliability data. He develops programs to evaluate precision and accuracy of production equipment and testing, measurement, and analytical equipment and facilities. He writes training material and conducts training sessions on quality control activities. He may specialize in such areas of quality control engineering, as process control,

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After the USSR collapse Belarus proclaimed its independence on July 27, 1990. In 1994 the independent republic had its First Presidential election. Alexander Lukashenko became the first President of the Republic of Belarus.

State System. On March 15, 1994 the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus adopted a new Constitution in which Belarus is proclaimed a unitary democratic state with the rule of law. The new version of the 1994 Constitution with amendments and additions was adopted pursuant to the referendum of November 24, 1996. According to the existing constitution the head of the state is the President. The Constitution establishes the principle of separation of power: state power in the Republic of Belarus is founded on the basis of its separation into legislative, executive and judiciary.

The National Assembly is a bicameral parliament comprising the 110-member House of Representatives (the lower house) and the 64-member Council of the Republic (the upper house). The House of Representatives has the power to appoint the prime minister, make constitutional amendments, call for a vote of confidence on the prime minister, and make suggestions on foreign and domestic policy. The Council of the Republic has the power to select various government officials, accept or reject the bills passed by the House of Representatives. The government includes a Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister. The judiciary comprises the Supreme Court and specialized courts.

Belarus is a member of the United Nations and a number of other international organizations.

Economy of Belarus. The Republic of Belarus has a developed industry, agriculture, an advanced culture, science and technology. Industry holds an important position in the republic's economy. The leading industries are machine-building and metal-working, motor industry, agricultural machinery, chemical industry, electronics and electrical engineering, radio-engineering, pharmaceutical industry, production of construction materials, consumer goods and food, etc.

Belarus specializes in the production of different kinds of trucks, including coaches and special-purpose vehicles. The enterprises of the republic produce agricultural machinery, television equipment, elevators, home electric appliances, household refrigerators and freezers, automatic washing machines, chemical yarn and fiber, potash fertilizers. The range of products includes furniture, electric motors, paper, varnishes and paints. Different new sophisticated products, such as integrated microcircuits, liquid-crystal indicators and displays and special technological equipment are produced as well. The major products of consumer goods industry are textile, knitwear and clothes, as well as footwear.

The main directions of the farming industry of the republic are meat and milk production and potatoes and flax cultivation. Cereals, vegetables, sugar beet and fodder crops are grown as well.

Belarus possesses a developed transport infrastructure, including main railways and motor-ways, oil and gas pipelines. The national airport «Minsk-2» operates regular flights to different cities and towns of Europe and Asia.

Education in Belarus. Scientific and intellectual potential is the main strategic resource of Belarus. The republic guarantees its citizens the right to universal secondary education and creates means for further professional education. It tries to preserve the de-

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nationalities have also settled in the country. Belarusian and Russian are the official languages of Belarus. Other languages such as Polish, and Ukrainian are spoken within local communities.

Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is located in the centre of the country. Today it is a modern international city. The first recorded mention of Minsk goes back to 1067. Over the course of its history, Minsk has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times, most recently after World War II, when it was almost completely destroyed. More than 1.8 million people live in Minsk today. It has excellent transport links including Minsk airport, several major train stations, the Minsk metro underground network, and a well-developed road system.

Historical Outline. The history of Belarus dates back to the Stone Age. Stone Age settlements existed approximately 26 000 years ago and they were around the basins of the Dnieper, Dvina, and Pripyat rivers. Belarus colonization by the Slavs began in the early centuries AD. Over the next few centuries they had settled over the entire region, replacing the earlier Baltic culture. In the 6th to 9th centuries East Slavs formed the first political associations – the unions of tribes. The first Belarusian national state was the Polotsk Duchy and it remained the dominating force in the region until the 13th century.

From the 13th till 16th centuries the territory of present-day Belarus was the core of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rus and Samogotia which was a powerful state spanning Belarus, Lithuania, Kiev and a few more areas of the Ukraine and western Russia from the Baltics to the Black Sea. The Grand Duchy began to lose its authority after a number of wars in the 16th century. In 1569 the Grand Duchy and the Kingdom of Poland signed the Union of Lublin. The Duchy and the Crown united in a federative state – Rzecz Pospolita on equal terms. It signified the start of a new chapter in Belarusian history. This was a very turbulent time in Belarusian history. The state was drawn into wars in Europe and with Russia, including the war with Russia (1654–1667) and the North War between Sweden and Russia (1700–1721). Wars weakened the state. In 1772 the western provinces of Belarus were annexed to the Russian Empire and in 1795 Rcecz Pospolitsa was divided between Russia, Austria and Prussia. As a result of this division, Belarus land became part of the Russian Empire. The Russian Government started to pursue a policy of russification in the new territories. Since then and up to the First World War Belarus had gone through a number of conflicts, including: Revolt under Tadeusz Kostushko’s leadership (1794), Napoleonic invasion of Russia (1812), Polish Revolt (1830–1831), Great Rebellion, headed by Kastus Kalinovski (1863–1864). During World War One Belarusian territory was the scene of bloody battles between German and Russian forces.

On the 1st of January 1919 the Declaration on the formation of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted. In 1922 Belarusian SSR became a part of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

In 1939 the Western territories joined Belarus after the outbreak of World War Two. Belarus suffered greatly during WWII. Belarus lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. In September 1941 Belarus was fully occupied by the German army. Invaders started to establish so-called «new order» based on terror. Partisan movement began in Belarus by the end of 1941 and became the biggest movement in Europe.

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product evaluation, product reliability, inventory control, metrology, automated testing, and research and development.

One more field where we can work after graduating from the University is the environment protection. This includes wastewater control, hazardous wastes and toxiс materials control, water supply protection, air pollution control, industrial hygiene, radiation protection, solid waste disposal, and public health. Here is one of the reasons why an engineering career we have chosen is a good idea. We are going to help people, which is great. Also, we will get the satisfaction of seeing that the environment we live in has become better and cleaner. It will make us feel fulfilled and good about ourselves.

V. Read/listen to the interview and answers the questions given below: Interviewer: You're doing an HND (Higher National Degree) in Civil Engi-

neering. How long does that last? Alec: It's a two-year course.

Int.: And what stage are you at now?

Alec: I'm in the second semester of the first year. Int.: How many students are in the group? Alec: There are eight, all men.

Int.: Why did you decide to do this course?

Alec: I left school at seventeen and started off as an Architectural Technician and ... .

Int.: What did that involve, being an Architectural Technician?

Alec: Doing all the technical drawings for the architects, things like that. We used a program called Autocad.

Int.: And what took you into that line of business?

Alec: Well, I was interested in architecture. My best subject at school, the one I enjoyed most, was Graphic communication. I decided to try to get a career using that. So, I went into an architect's office and was there for four years before I decided to start my HND. (Technology, Unit 2)

Questions: 1. Which stage of the course is Alec at? 2. How many women are taking the course? 3. What age was he when he left the school? 4. Which subject did he enjoy most at school? 5. What job did he do when he left school?

IV. Read/listen to part 2 of the interview: Interviewer: Tell me about your timetable.

Alec: I have classes three days a week – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and self-study on the other days.

Int: Which subject appeals to you most?

Alec: Erm, the Theory of Structures. I really enjoy it. That's twice on a Monday – Monday morning first thing and on Monday afternoon.

Int.: What do you like about it?

Alec: I like the maths and physics side of it, how the structure actually works. Int.: Is any of the work in the lab?

Alec: We've got Materials this semester. We're in the lab every week - testing concrete and that sort of thing. On Fridays, there's Project work from 11.15 for most of

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the day. I've been at a structural engineering company learning how a civil engineering project is run.

Int.: What's the company working on?

Alec: They're turning an old office building into a nightclub, restaurant, and five-star hotel. It's interesting to get on site and to speak to the engineers.

Int.: What's Complex communications on Wednesday?

Alec: Before and after lunch? It's about language. You have to pick something to do with engineering and write a report about it. Then present it to the other students.

Int.: What have you chosen?

Alec: I'm doing a project on a new bridge over the Forth, right here in Scotland. There's a lot of public opposition.

Int.: Do we need a new bridge?

Alec: Yes, the research I've done shows the present bridge is carrying ten times the amount of traffic it was designed for.

Int.: What's Fluid mechanics on Friday morning?

Alec: Er, it is how fluids behave, water pressure on pipes, and that sort of thing. It's one of the hardest subjects.

Int.: Do you find you have a lot of work to do outside the course? Alec: Yes, it's not particularly hard but it's constant.

Int.: And how is it assessed?

Alec: It's modular, continuous assessment. You have to pass all the modules. (Technology, Unit 2)

V. Read/listen to part 3 of the interview:

Interviewer: What do you hope to do at the end of your course? Alec: Well, I want to go on to do the degree.

Int.: What kind of degree will you take?

Alec: I'd like to do Structural engineering, a BEng. I've got acceptance from two universities. I can start once I've finished one year of my HND.

Int.: How long will it take? Alec: It's four years for a BEng.

Int.: When you start work as a Civil Engineer, what do you want to build - houses or big structures like bridges and roads?

Alec: I'm more interested in the big structures like bridges. Int.: You may have to go overseas for that.

Alec: That's one reason why I chose this career. That you can travel. There is a lot of opportunities to go overseas. (Technology, Unit 2)

VI. a) Answer these questions about yourself with complete sentences,

1.What are you studying? (Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Computer Engineering)

2.Where are you studying?

3.How long is your course?

4.Is it full time-time or part time?

5.What qualification do you get when you complete the course? (Civil engineer, Electrical engineer, Mechanical engineer)?

6.What are the main subjects?

7.Which subject do you find most difficult?

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8.Why do you find it difficult?

9.Which subject do you enjoy most?

10.How many classes do you have each day (each week)?

11.When do you classes start each day? When do they finish?

12.Do you have any self-study time?

13.What do you hope to do when you finish your course? Do you like your

course?

14.Have you got any labwork on your course?

VII. Using your answers to the previous questions complete the gaps:

I am studying … at … . It is a … … . When I complete the course, I will get a … . The main subjects are … . The subject I find most difficult is … . I find it difficult because … . The subject I enjoy most is … . I have … classes each week. Classes start each day at … and finish at … . When I finish my course, I hope to … .

VIII. Ask the same questions (Task YI) to your partner and discuss your University course and your future Engineering career with him.

THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

Geographical Position. Belarus is situated in the centre of Europe, and has international borders with five countries: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia.

The location has made Belarus an important trade and transport route between Europe and the CIS. The total land area of Belarus is more than 207,000 square kilometers. The population of the republic is about 10 million people. The country of Belarus is divided into six administrative districts, each centered around a major city.

Belarus has unique natural environment. There are many lakes in the northern part of Belarus, and the Polesye marshland around the Pripyat River in the south which are often called the lungs of Europe. Several areas in Belarus have the status of National Parks (there are five of them) and are protected by the State. They contain unique landscape, rare plants and huge animal and bird populations. Elks, deer, wild boar, beavers, wolves, and also, the rare European bisons, live comfortably there. Belavezhskaya Pushcha (the Brest region) is the most famous of them. UNESCO granted the park World Heritage Site status in 1992, and Biosphere Reserve status in 1993. Belavezhskaya Pushcha is home to many ancient oak trees dating back more than 500 years. Braslavskiye Ozera National Park (the Vitebsk region) was established in 1995 among the beautiful lakes in the north-west of Belarus. The ancient town of Braslav, which was founded in the 11th century, is scenically sited in the middle of the park. The climate of the republic is moderate continental with mild and humid winter, a warm summer, and a wet autumn.

The territory of Belarus includes deposits of peat, fire and refractory clay, molding sand and sand for glass production, different construction materials. There are deposits of oil, coal and lignite, iron ores, nonferrous metal ores, dolomites, potassium and rock salt, phosphorites as well.

The people of Belarus are a kind and friendly nation. The patience and peacefulness of the Belarusian people has been determined by the nation’s history that has been darkened by endless wars. The Belarusians did not start these wars, but fell victim to. Ethnic Belarusians make up more than 80% of the population. Many other