Text B. THE TELEGRAPH

Benjamin Franklin, an American who is famous for his interesting and useful inventions, published his ideas about electricity in 1752. Scientists in many countries became interested in this wonderful form of energy. They wanted to find the answer to a very important question: Could electricity be used to develop a fast, efficient system of long-distance communication?

Experiments proved that electricity could travel instantly over a very long piece of wire. But a note that was written on a piece of paper couldn't be put into a wire! How could electricity be used to send a message?

A Danish scientist discov­ered that electricity could move a needle from left to right, and that the needle could be pointed at letters on a piece of paper. Then a Ger­man government worker made up a code system that could be used with an electric needle. In 1837, two English scientists sent a message by electric telegraph from Camden Town to Euston, a dis­tance of more than 1.6 kilometres.

In the United States, Sa­muel Morse, a portrait pain­ter, was experimenting with an electric telegraph, too. At first, he connected a pencil to an electric wire. When the electricity came through the wire, the pencil made wavy lines. Then Morse invented a code that used dots and dashes for the letters of the alphabet. The pencil wrote the dots and dashes on a narrow piece of paper. Finally, he discovered that telegraph messages did not have to be written; they could be sent in sound.

At one end of the telegraph wire, the sender pressed a key. At the other end of the wire, another key went down and made a clicking sound. The telegraph operator used a short touch for a dot and a longer one for a dash. When the receiver heard the clicking sounds, he could figure out the message.

On May 24, 1844, the first long-distance message was sent by telegraph - from Washington, D.C., to Balti­more, Maryland - 64 kilometres!

Telegraph companies were formed in many cities. By 1861, telegraph wires stretched across the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In Europe, too, Samuel Morse's system became popular.

But telegraph wirescouldn't be hung over an ocean. Messages to and from Europe had to be sent by ship — a journey of two or three weeks. A new method was needed.

The Atlantic Telegraph Company, which was organised in 1856 by Cyrus Field and other businessmen, wan­ted to try to lay a cable on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. England and the United States contributed money for this experiment.

Many attempts were made by ships from both countries. The 4000-kilometer cable broke three times. Each time, more money had to be raised, and a new cable had to be made. Finally, on July 27, 1866, the first transatlantic message was sent from New­foundland to Ireland.

Later, cables were laid to Central and South America. After 1900, transpacific cables were laid to Asia and Austra­lia. At last, news and business information could be sent instantly to almost every country in the world.

From "English for a Changing World"

I. Guess the meaning of the words given below:

distance, electricity, communication, telegraph, line, code, operator, experiment, press, popular, idea, form, energy, system, alphabet, company, ocean, method, organize, businessman, cable.

II. Translate the nouns with the suffix –er (-or) derived from the following verbs:

invent – изобретать inventor -...

use – использовать user -...

send – посылать sender -...

write – писать writer -...

receive – получать receiver -...

develop – разрабатывать developer -...

operate – работать operator -...

work – работать worker -...

paint – рисовать painter -...

report – сообщать reporter -...

III. Group the pairs of the words with the opposite meaning:

a) fast, useful, long, left, narrow, short, right, popular, slow, wavy, unknown, wide, straight, useless;

b) to find, to send, to go down, to rise, to receive, to lose.

IV. Learn the following terms:

wire – провод, проводник

message – сообщение

needle – стрелка, игла

dot – точка

dash – тире

sound – звук

key – ключ, клавиша

cable – кабель

V. Read the text ‘The Telegraph’. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following Russian phrases:

очень важный вопрос; эффективная система связи на дальние расстояния; электрический проводник; узкая полоска бумаги; код, в котором применялись точки и тире; нажать ключ; записать сообщение; телеграфные провода протянулись от Атлантики до Тихого океана; проложить кабель по дну Атлантического океана; вкладывать деньги.

VI. Find in the text ‘The Telegraph’ sentences with the predicate in the Passive Voice. Translate them.

VII. Translate the text ‘The Telegraph’. Pay attention to the sentences in the Passive Voice.

VIII. Put ten questions on the text ‘The Telegraph’.

IX. Describe the principle of action of the telegraph made by S. Morse.

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