English for academic and scientific purposes

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Task 10

Match an adjective (A) and a noun (B).

Task 11

Match these sentences halves (as given in the text).

Task 12

Which preposition goes with the following verbs?

Task 13

Look at the expressions below. Use a dictionary to check any words and phrases you did not understand.

1. the country suffered a brain drain

2. he is really brainy

3. can I pick your brains later?

4. we need to do some brainstorming

5. I have had a brainwave

6. he went out of his mind(with anger)

7. cast your mind back

8. he put it out of his mind

9. have/keep an open mind on difficult issues

10. put your mind to it

11. she is not in her right mind

12. he is in two minds

13. the job was completely mindless

14. I can see it in my mind’s eye

15. it was totally mindless vandalism

Task 14

Replace the phrases in bold with an expression from the previous exercise. You may need to change the form of the words or phrases to fit the sentence.

a) All the people in the office met to share their ideas.

b) He is a little bit crazy and unstable.

c) I am sure you can solve the problem if you really try hard.

d) The residents all agreed the attack on the library was without any reason whatsoever.

e) I have never seen her so angry, she completely lost control.

f) There was a huge number of skilled and professional people leaving.

g) I do not know the answer myself so I would like to get some of your ideas.

h) He decided to consider all the possibilities and not decide on one answer immediately.

i) This work is the most boring, repetitive thing I’ve ever done. I don’t have to use my brain at all.

j) She was always really clever at school.

k) The policeman asked me to remember something that happened a long time ago.

l) There are a couple of things that I am unable to decide about.

m) She’d never been there but when I described the island, she could imagine what it looke like.

n) It was taking a long time to think of something but suddenly I had a fantastic idea.

o) She couldn’t change wht had happened so she decided not to think about it any more.

Speaking:

Task 15

Answer the following questions.

1. What did you think when you read the headline?

2. What springs to mind when you hear the words “brain” and “mind”? 3. What do we keep in mind? 4. The mind is not the brain. Yes? No? 5. What are the four parts of the mind?

6. Where are our memories kept?

7. What are five sensory perceptions people possess?

8. When does brain memory disappear and why?

9. Only people have mind and brain. Yes/No

Task 16

Make a list of mind and memory functions.

Task 17

Speak on brain using the mind map.

Reading B

Task 18

Read the text, try to catch its essentials and be ready to do the tasks.

Are There Differences between the Brains of Males and Females?

Differences between the human male brain vs female brain have historically served to emphasize women’s subservient role in society. Everyone knows that men and women are different, However, aside from external anatomical, primary, and secondary sexual differences, scientists know also that there are many other subtle differences of how men and women process language, information, emotion, cognition, etc.

One of the most interesting differences appear in the way men and women estimate time, judge speed of things, carry out mental mathematical calculations, orient in space and visualize objects in three dimensions, etc. In all these tasks, women and men are strikingly different, as they are too in the way their brains process language. This may account, scientists say, for the fact that there are many more male mathematicians, airplane pilots, bush guides, mechanical engineers, architects and racecar drivers than female ones.

On the other hand, women are better than men in human relations, recognizing emotional overtones in others and in language, emotional and artistic expressiveness, esthetic appreciation, verbal language and carrying out detailed and pre-planned tasks. For example, women generally can recall lists of words or paragraphs of text better than men can.

The "father" of sociobiology, Edward O. Wilson, of Harvard University, said that human females tend to be higher than males in empathy, verbal skills, and social skills and security seeking, among other things, while men tend to be higher in independence, dominance, spatial and mathematical skills, rank-related aggression, and other characteristics.

When all these investigations began, scientists were skeptical about the role of genes and of biological differences, because cultural learning is very powerful and influential among humans. Are girls more prone to play with dolls and cooperate among themselves than boys, because they are taught to be so by parents, teachers and social peers, or is it the reverse order?

It is no secret that boys and girls are different – very different. The differences between genders, however, extend beyond what the eye can see. Research reveals major distinguishers between male and female brains.

Scientists generally study four primary areas of difference in male and female brains: processing, chemistry, structure, and activity. The differences between male and female brains in these areas show up all over the world, but scientists also have discovered exceptions to every so-called gender rule. You may know some boys who are very sensitive, immensely talkative about feelings, and just generally do not seem to fit the “boy” way of doing things. As with all gender differences, no one-way of doing things is better or worse. The differences listed below are simply generalized differences in typical brain functioning, and it is important to remember that all differences have advantages and disadvantages.

Processing

Male brains utilize nearly seven times more gray matter for activity while female brains utilize nearly ten times more white matter. What does this mean?

Gray matter areas of the brain are localized. They are information- and action-processing centers in specific splotches in a specific area of the brain. This can translate to a kind of tunnel vision when they are doing something. Once they are deeply engaged in a task or game, they may not demonstrate much sensitivity to other people or their surroundings.

White matter is the networking grid that connects the brain’s gray matter and other processing centers with one another. This profound brain-processing difference is probably one reason you may have noticed that girls tend to more quickly transition between tasks than boys do. The gray-white matter difference may explain why, in adulthood, females are great multi-takers, while men excel in highly task-focused projects.

Chemistry

Male and female brains process the same neurochemicals but to different degrees and through gender-specific body-brain connections. Some dominant neurochemicals are serotonin, which, among other things, helps us sit still; testosterone, our sex and aggression chemical; estrogen, a female growth and reproductive chemical; and oxytocin, a bonding-relationship chemical.

In part, because of differences in processing these chemicals, males on average tend to be less inclined to sit still for as long as females and tend to be more physically impulsive and aggressive. Additionally, males process less of the bonding chemical oxytocin than females. Overall, a major takeaway of chemistry differences is to realize that our boys at times need different strategies for stress release than our girls.

Structural Differences

A number of structural elements in the human brain differ between males and females. “Structural” refers to actual parts of the brain and the way they are built, including their size and/or mass.