Comprehensive check
Task
1. Match the beginning of the sentence with its end.
Innovation can be
sometimes confused with …
Innovation includes all
processes by …
One
of the roots of innovation, “novation” …
Austrian economist claimed
that …
Joseph Schumpeter said
that innovation happens …
In a social context,
innovation helps create …
|
… an important topic of
study for a number of different disciplines.
… which new ideas are
generated and converted into useful products.
… change, invention,
design, and creativity.
… which new ideas are
generated and converted into useful products.
… started appearing in
law texts.
… new
methods for joint venturing, flexible work hours, and creation of
buyers’ purchasing power.
… when
firms figure out how to craft inventions into constructive
changes in their business model.”
… invention was an act
of intellectual creativity undertaken without any thought given
to its possible economic import.
|
Task 2. Fill in the
prepositions where it is necessary.
Into, around, to, between, for, during, in, of, with
Innovation is an important
topic … (1) study … (2) a number of different disciplines,
including economics, business, engineering, science, and sociology.
The term innovation can be
sometimes confused … (3) related terms such as change, invention,
design, and creativity.
It seems obvious that a
common sense definition … (4) innovation is that it is a process
of finding novel solutions … (5) important problems.
Unfortunately, … (6) order
to make innovation palatable to business organizations, many have
tried to narrow the definition.
One
of the roots of innovation, “novation” started appearing … (7)
the thirteenth century in law texts.
The
next turning point in the life of “innovation” occurred … (8)
the industrial revolution. At the time, invention was king.
It
wasn’t until Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter drew a
distinction … (9) invention and innovation.
Innovations are divided …
(10) two broad categories: evolutionary innovations and
revolutionary innovations.
Task 3. Match the antonyms.
disruptive
important
confused
innovative
specific
useful
dynamic
discontinuous
|
inactive
steady
inessential
clear
conservative
purposive
common
invaluable
customary
|
Task 4. Read the texts
about technologies and match them with the pictures (a-e)
-a-
|
By
all accounts, nanotechnology
– the science of making devices from single atoms and molecules
– is going to have a huge impact on both business and our daily
lives. Nano devices are measured in nanometers
(one billionth of metre) and are expected to be used in the
following areas.
Nanocomputers:
chip makers will make tiny microprocessors with nanotransistors,
ranging from 60 to 5 nanometres in size.
Nanomedicine:
by 2020, scientists believe that nano sized robots, or nanobots,
will be injected into the body’s bloodstream to treat diseases
at the cellular level.
Nanomaterials:
new materials will be made from carbon atoms in the form of
nanotubes,
which are more flexible, resistant and durable than steel or
aluminium. They will be incorporate into all kinds of products,
for example stain-resistant coatings for clothes and
scratch-resistant paints for cars.
|
-b-
|
Artificial
intelligence (AI)
is the science of making intelligent machines and programs. The
term originated in the 1940s, when Alan Turing said: “a machine
has artificial intelligence when there is no discernible
difference between the conversation generated by the machine and
that of an intelligent person”. A typical AI application is
robotics.
One example is ASIMO, Honda’s intelligent humanoid robot. Soon,
engineers will have built different types of android,
with the form and capabilities of humans. Another AI application
is expert
systems –
programs containing everything that an “expert” knows about a
subject. In a few years, doctors will be using expert systems to
diagnose illnesses.
|
-c-
|
Imagine
you are about to take a holiday in Europe. You walk out to the
garage and talk to your car. Recognizing your voice, the car’s
door unlock. On the way to the airport, you stop an ATM. A camera
mounted on the bank machine looks you in the eye, recognizes the
pattern of your iris and allow you to withdraw cash from your
account.
When
you enter the airport, a hidden camera compares the digitized
image of your face to that of suspected criminals. At the
immigration checkpoint, you swipe a card and place your hand on a
small metal surface. The geometry of your hand matches the code on
the card, and the gate opens. You’re on your way. Does it sound
futuristic? Well, the future is here. Biometrics
uses computer technology to identify people based on physical
characteristics such as fingerprints, facial features, voice, iris
and retina patterns.
|
-d-
|
Ubiquitous
computing, also
known as pervasive
computing, is a
new approach in which computer functions are integrated into
everyday life, often in an invisible way. Ubiquitous
devices can be
anything from smartphones to tiny sensors in homes, offices and
cars, connected to networks, which allow information to be
accessed anytime and anywhere – in other words, ubiquitously.
In the future people will interact naturally with hundreds of
these smart
devices
(objects containing a microchip and memory) every day, each
invisibly embedded
in our environment and communicating with each other without
cables.
|
-e-
|
In
the ideal smart
home,
appliances
and electronic devices work in sync to keep the house secure. For
example, when a regular alarm system senses that someone is
breaking into the house, it usually alerts the alarm company and
then the police. A smart home system would go further, turning on
the lights in the home and then sending a text message to the
owner’s phone. Motorola Homesight even sends images captured by
wireless cameras to phones and PCs. Smart homes can remember your
living patterns, so if you like to listen to some classical music
when you come home from work, your house can do that for you
automatically. They will also know when the house is empty and
make sure all appliances are turned off. All home devices will be
interconnected over a home area network where phones, cable
services, home cinemas, touch screens, smart mirrors and even the
refrigerator will cooperate to make our live more comfortable.
|
Task
5. Read the text in Task 4 again and answer the questions.
Which unit of measurement is
used in nanotechnology?
What are the advantages of
nanotubes over regular materials?
What will doctors use expert
systems for?
What features are analysed by
biometrics?
Which trend refers to
computers embedded in everyday devices, communicating with each
other over wireless networks?
What will the alarm system do
if someone breaks into a smart home?
How will devices be
interconnected inside the smart home?
Task
6. Find words in the texts in Task 4 with the following meanings:
a
microscopic robot, built with nanotechnology (text
1) …
a
robot that resembles a human (text
2)
…
biological
identification of a person (text
3)
…
integrated;
inserted into (text
4)
…
electrical
devices, or machines, used in the home (text
5)
…
