Post-reading tasks. Choose the synonyms according to the context

Choose the synonyms according to the context.

1. To propel a) to make up

2. An artifact b) setting on fire of property

3. Incendiary c) to push forward

4. Sophisticated d) a product of prehistoric art

5. To compound e) a straight shot from bow

6. An arrow f) highly developed

Complete the following sentences.

1. The reaction principle not only contributed to the development of but also ….

2. The invention of rockets is closely ….

3. At first black powder composed of ….

4. The rocket … … by writers of fiction though ….

Join two sentences using connectives.

1. Rockets remained a minor artifact of civilization. They had been used from time to time for several hundred years.

2. Nobody associated the reaction principle with travelling through space. It was used in rockets.

3. Burning propellants produce high-speed particles. This reaction causes the rocket to move forwards.

4. The rocket range increases. It is placed in a specific position to other rocket-propelled arrows.

Put the jumbled sentences in the logical order.

1. The way a rocket operates can be compared with that of a machine gun mounted on the rear of a boat.

2. Most historians of technology credit the Chinese with the discovery of “black powder”.

3. The reaction principle has become the key to space travel.

4. It took time for the technology of rocketry to be translated into the reality of astronautics.

5. The Chinese relying on “black powder” produced incendiary projectiles of many sorts.

UNIT XXVI

Key words and expressions: breed, prevent from, species, a fly, a residue, a fertilizer, decompose, deprive of.

Pre-reading tasks

Before reading the text say if you know what the Russian equivalent of the saying “Blind as a beetle” means. Why the word “beetle” is the key word?