№ 11
I. 1. Read
the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.
PYTHAGORAS1
Pythagoras
is often described as a very important mathematician, yet we know little about
his achievements. What we do know is that he was the leader of a society which
was half scientific and half religious. It was a secret society and today
Pythagoras is still a mysterious figure.
It
is believed that Pythagoras was born on the Greek island of Samos. His father
was a merchant, and as a child, Pythagoras travelled with him selling their
goods. Pythagoras was well educated. He learned music and poetry and had three
philosophers to teach him who introduced Pythagoras to mathematics and advised
him to travel to Egypt to learn more about mathematics and astronomy. So in 535
BC, Pythagoras travelled to Egypt where he visited many temples and took part
in discussions with priests. Many of the customs he learnt in Egypt he came to
adopt. For example, the Egyptian priests refused to eat beans and wear animal
skins, as did Pythagoras later in his life.
In
525 BC the King of Persia invaded Egypt. Pythagoras was taken prisoner and was
transported to Babylon. It was here, taught by the Babylonians, that he reached
perfection in arithmetic and music. When Pythagoras returned to Samos he
founded there a school which was called ‘The Semicircle’. It seems that the
people of Samos did not appreciate the teaching methods of Pythagoras and they
treated him rudely and improperly. Furthermore, they wanted to involve
Pythagoras in local politics against his will. For these reasons, he went to
Italy.
Pythagoras
believed that numbers rule the universe and that numbers are present in all
things. He also connected mathematics to music and recognized the healing power
of music. He used it as a kind of therapy to help those who were ill. Another
of his beliefs was that there are three types of men: those who love wisdom,
those who love honour and those who love wealth.
Pythagoras
was a mathematician, an astronomer, and a philosopher. Today we remember him
best for his famous geometry theorem, known as Pythagoras’ theorem.2
1 Pythagoras [paɪˈθæɡərəs] Пифагор
2 Pythagoras’ theorem [paɪˈθæɡərəsɪz ˈθɪərəm] теорема Пифагора
2. Where did Pythagoras go to learn mathematics
and astronomy? Read aloud the extract which says about it.
3. Why did Pythagoras go to Italy?
4. What are the three types of men according to
Pythagoras?
II. Listen to the interview with Mr Ron Cansler
taken by the Youth Magazine and
answer the questions below.
1. How old is Mr Cansler?
2. What kind of life did he have when he was young?
3. What does he recommend listeners to do?
III. Let’s talk about mass media.
QUESTIONS:
card 11 MASS MEDIA
1)What do mass media involve? How important are they?
2) What influence does the Internet make on us?
3) What questions can you ask a friend who has bought an expensive phone?
4) How to make your parents to buy an Apple Phone?
5) People are becoming more dependent on high-tech devices. Is it good or bed?
QUESTIONS
card 12 MASS MEDIA
·
What
types of mass media do you know? Which of them are the most popular?
· Do you agree that radio is the least popular mass
medium? Why?
· What are pluses and minuses of watching TV?
· Your British friend wants to become a journalist. What
questions will you ask him/her?
·
Can
the Internet replace all the other means of mass media? What is your point of
view?
