86
IN THIS UNIT
GRAMMAR
• the passive
• articles
VOCABULARY
• collocations (3)
• hazards and global threats
SCENARIO
• discussing options,
making decisions
• assessing a project
STUDY SKILLS
• participating in a group
discussion
WRITING SKILLS
• describing a process
Engineering
9.1
FROM ENGINES TO ENGINEERS
9
A scientist can discover a new star but he cannot make one. He would have to ask an engineer to do it for him.
G. L. Clegg
READING
1
What do engineers do? Do you know
any? What different types are there?
2
a
Identifying genre
Look at the text.
Where do you think it comes from? Who
is it aimed at?
2
b
Choose the most suitable heading for
each paragraph.
a
Engineers’ contribution to society
b
Origin and definition of
engineer
c
Women in engineering
d
Engineering and science
e
Types of engineer
2
c
Match these inventions with the types
of engineering mentioned in the text.
1
roads
2
aircraft
3
a washing machine
4
microchips
5
a heart pacemaker
roads – civil engineering
When you hear the word
engineer, do you think
of someone who is a) male? b)
boring? or c) dirty? Or all three?
Well, time to think again.
1
Engineering has often been seen
as a male profession. For example,
only nine percent of US engineers are
women, while in the UK it is just over
eight percent. However, there is no
reason for this: engineers are simply
talented people who make our
everyday lives easier. In fact research
shows that women make the best
problem solvers.
2
Engineers find solutions to
problems that are important to
society. They control and prevent
pollution, develop new medicines,
create advanced technologies and
help explore new worlds. They
make the world a cleaner, safer,
healthier place by inventing, building
and improving everything from
microchips to household appliances,
from skyscrapers to spacecraft.
3
Interestingly, the word ‘engineer’
does not come from the word
‘engine’ . In fact it comes from the
Latin word ‘ingeniosus’ meaning
skilled. An engineer is really a clever,
practical problem solver. Although the
fields of engineering and science are
connected, there are also differences.
4
While a scientist will ask why
a problem occurs or happens, an
engineer will want to know how to
solve the problem. As one writer
once said: scientists build in order
to learn, whereas engineers learn in
order to build.
A Man’s
World?
