1. Lexics to the text:
• biology - биология
• the living things = the living organisms - живой
• non - living - неживой
• plants - растения
• animals - животные
• to inhabit - населять
• to differ - отличать
• to take in food - поглощать пищу, питаться
• to reproduce their kinds - воспроизводить себе подобных
• activity - деятельность
• to distinguish - отличать
• a branch of science - отрасль науки
• botany - ботаника
• to be familiar with - быть знакомым с
• medical herbs and poisonous plants - лекарственные и ядовитые растения
• the means - средства
• by means of - посредством
• to value - ценить
• property (properties) - свойство /свойства/
• to be worshipped - поклоняться, обожествлять
• a gift from gods - дар бога
• to have a strong liking to - очень любить что-то
• artificially watered lands - искуственно орошаемые земли
• herbs with healing properties - растения с лекарственными свойствами
• go beyond the sphere of - пойти дальше за сферу
• in the Middle Ages - средние века
• a great abundance of - огромное изобилее
• hitherto - до сиx пор
• according to - согласно чему-либо, в соответствии c :
• had trodden the road - проложили дорогу
• blossom emits colour - цветок принимает расцветку
• purpose of the leaf - значение листа
• to penetrate into - проникнуть в
• invisible world - невидимый мир
• cellular - клеточный
• unicellular - одноклеточный
• from now - с этого времени
• marvels of tissues - таинство ткани (роль)
• substance - вещество
• hereditory - наследственный
2. Read and translate the text:
The living things around us - plants and animals which inhabit almost every part of the world differ from non - living material because they take in food, and grow, and reproduce their kind. Animals and plants have several other activities which distinguish them from non-living things. The study of plants and animals is a branch of science called biology (Greek: bios - life, logos - discourse).
Botany
Since ancient times anyone familiar with medicinal herbs and poisonous plants has been able to find in the woods the means to cure or to kill. At that time plants were valued for their utility and their medicinal properties, and besides they were worshipped as a gift from the gods.
Amongst the ancient civilized peoples the Egyptians had a strong liking for flowers and shrubs, although they had to grow their plants under a cloudless sky on artificially watered lands.
Many centuries before the Greeks they produced their flowerpictures; the names of herbs with healing properties were recorded on a long papyrus.
In Ancient Greece one of Aristotle's pupils went beyond the sphere of medicinal and practical questions: he undertook the comparison of plants.
In the Middle Ages voyages of discovery revealed to the naturalists a great abundance of plants and animals hitherto unknown. Now their task was not merely to compare or to describe them, but also to classify them systematically according to definite principles. About 1855 the scientist M.G. Schleiden scoffed at those botanists "whose entire wisdom is spent in determining and classifying". This comment came at a time when the botanists had trodden the road of deeper understanding of plant life.
By the end of the 18 th century, people had gradually, in a series of achievements, come to discover why the blossom emits colour, the purpose of the leaf and the structure of the fruit.
Then there arose for the second time a botany of the unexplored, when in the 19 th century researchers with improved microscopes penetrated into the invisible world of cellular structures.
From now the microscope led naturalists deeper and deeper into secret world, from plants without blossoms right down to unicellular bacteria, into the marvels of tissues, the growth of new substance and the operation of heredity.
3. Answer the following questions:
• What is the difference between living and non-living things?
• What does biology study?
• How were plants valued in ancient times?
• Where were the names of healing herbs recorded?
• Who undertook the comparison of plants?
• When did the researchers penetrate into invisible world of sellular structures?