1.Lexics to the text :
• to consider - считать, рассматривать
• to hesitate - колебаться, сомневаться
• the making of starch - образование крахмала
• build them into starch and sugar - преобразовывать их в крахмал и сахар
• ivy - плющ
• vine - like plant - ползучее растение
• try an experiment - проделать эксперимент
• to fill a tube - наполнить пробирку
• using your thumb - при помощи большого пальца
• upside down - вверх дном
• a bowl of water - чаша с водой
• the mouth of the tube - отверстие пробки
• to take the thumb away - убрать палец
• to push smth . inside the tube - поместить что-то в пробирку
• to set smth. in the sun - поставить на солнце
• a vacant space - свободное пространство
• oxygen - кислород
• to be produced - образоваться
2. Read and translate the text:
If you were to ask a chemist what he considered the most important chemical process in the world, he would not hesitate to answer, "The making of starch by plants."
A green plant is nature's chemical laboratory. It is able to take carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil and build them into starch and sugar; the process is made possible by the action of sunlight on the green colouring material of the plant.
Ii you have a growing plant in your home, preferably ivy or some vine-like plant, try this experiment: fill a test tube to the very top with water and using your thumb as a stopper, turn the tube upside down in a bowl of water. Now, being very careful to keep the mouth of the tube under water, take your thumb away and push a branch of the plant up inside the tube, then set the whole arrangement in the sun.
In a few hours you will find what seems to be a vacant space at the top of the tube. This space is really filled with oxygen which was produced by sunlight acting on the leaves of the plant.
3. Answer the questions on the text:
• The making of starch by plants is the most important chemical process in the world, isn't it?
• What does a green plant take from the air and from the soil?
• How does a green plant build carbon dioxide and water info starch and sugar?
• Prove it experimentally. (Describe the experiment).