Ирина Борисова - English for AVT specialists. Английский для специалистов в сфере аудиовизуальных технологий. Сборник текстов и упражнений по английскому языку

• employment – использование

• commonplace – привычное явление, обычное дело

• gradually – постепенно

• to encode – кодировать, шифровать

• nascent – рождающийся, в стадии возникновения, появляющийся

• supplementary – дополнительный, добавочный

• medium (pl. media) – носитель

• a variety of – разнообразие

• integral part – (неотъемлемая) составляющая

• codec – кодек (компрессор-декомпрессор) данных

• high definition format – формат с высоким разрешением

• allocate – размещать, распределять

• content – содержание

• clipping – ограничение (сигнала), отсечение

5. Scan the article and use the words in brackets to complete the statements.

1) The document «Recommendation for Multichannel Stereophonic Sound System With and Without Accompanying Picture» was issued in 1994 as a result of the… conducted by the ITU.

2) The 1990s are characterized by development and proliferation of…

3) In the 1990s, at least three main film digital surround sound encoding formats arrived on the scene: …, Dolby RDigital TM(technically called «AC-3»), and DTS TM.

4) The DVD, which appeared in the mid – 1990s, provided the mass public with a… bringing surround sound right into their homes.

5) Today, high definition formats enable the surround sound producer to allocate content without clipping and…

(digital audio systems, Sony SDDS TM, sonic compromise, research, medium)

6. Read the article in detail to find the answers to the questions below.

1) What was the purpose of the ITU research done in the 1990s?

2) Why may the ITU recommendation not be ideal for many music applications?

3) What was one of the main characteristics of the 1990s regarding the sound production technologies?

4) What was the focus in the exploration into surround sound throughout the 1990s?

5) What event served as a springboard to a newly – born industry called home theater?

6) What fact may be considered as one of the most important achievements proving that surround sound has finally come of age?

7. Find the English equivalents of the following words and expressions in the text.

Отвечающий, ответственный за; проводить научное исследование; главным образом; исходный материал; идеально подходящий; одинаково важные; использование цифрового аудио; по меньшей мере; появились на свет; способность нести закодированный объёмный звук; цифровое телевизионное вещание; их появление; одно из самых значительных достижений.

Grammar revision: comparative and superlative adjectives

The comparative form of adjectives is — er or more… The superlative form is —est or the most

We use —er and —est for one-syllable words (short adjectives).

High-higher-the highest, cheap-cheaper-the cheapest

We use more… and the most… for longer adjectives.

Difficult-more difficult-the most difficult, expensive-more expensive-the most expensive

Some words are irregular: good-better-the best, bad-worse-the worst, and others.

8. Use the adjectives given below in the comparative and superlative degrees. Mind the grammar rules. Some of the words are irregular.

Example:suitable – more suitable – the most suitable

Important, long, successful, little, high, good, remarkable, far, modern, popular, significant, short, meaningful, advanced.

Present continuous and present perfect (simple).

The present continuousis be + verb + ing (am/is/are + verb + ing)

We use the present continuous tense.

1) To talk about an action that is happening at the moment of speaking

Don’t enter the studio. They are recording a song at the moment.

2) To describe a temporary situation

The engineers are working at the new audio scheme this month.

3) To talk about changes occurring around now

The role of this digital audio arrangement in recording studios all over the world is getting more and more important.

4) When we are irritated (with always )

He is always listening to loud music in the evenings.

5) When we talk about arrangements and plans

They are trying out the new device tomorrow.

The present perfect simpleis have + past participle.

We use the present perfect tense.

1) To talk about actions and states that started in the past and continue up to the present

He has been a sound engineer for ten years.

2) When we see the result of a past action now

Look! They’ve left a terrible mess in the laboratory.

3) When we talk about repeated actions in the past continuing in the present

The company has taken part in every exhibition so far.

4) To talk about our life experience

I have never visited Disney Land.

5) To say how many times we have done something.

That is the second time they’ve won the award.

6) With superlatives

This is the worst film I have ever seen.

Note that we often use these adverbs with the present perfect: yet, since, ever since, already, ever, never, still, before, this morning, this week, this month, this year.

9. In the following sentences, change the present continuous to the present perfect. Translate the sentences into Russian.

Example:

The scientists are conductingresearch to determine optimum speaker placement.

The scientists have conductedresearch to determine optimum speaker placement.

1) In the experiment, the researchers are describing the component as «effects» or «ambience» part only.

2) Gradually, manufacturers are accepting this recommendation as a de facto industry standard.

3) Usage of this audio digital format is becoming a commonplace.

4) Some of these technological advances are obviously maturing into meaningful improvements.

5) The laboratory engineers are making a focus on incorporating the invention into the digital audio systems.

6) The new generation audio systems are growing in number successfully.

7) Modern surround sound tools are certainly whetting the consumer’s appetite for adding extra units to their home listening environments.

8) The new device is also finding its way into gaming consoles.

Vocabulary work

10. Write a list of key words for text 3. Compare your list with the classmates’ key words. Use them in your own sentences.

TALKING AND DISCUSSING POINT

11. Explain these words and expressions from the text. Paraphrase them; give synonyms or/and antonyms to them where possible.

Conduct research, industry standard, equally important, proliferation of digital audio systems, become a commonplace, gradually, nascent industry, whet appetite, professional studio, integral part, enable.

12. Write a list of five questions to the text. Exchange your list with your classmate and answer their questions.

13. Think of a plan to the article. Make a summary of the article according to your plan.

14. What information about audio systems today would you add to the article?

15. Talk to your classmate. Express your attitude to the following quotation:

Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.

Christian Lous Lange

Report your idea to the class. Discuss, compare and contrast your points of view.

WRITING

16. You want to enter a short story competition. The rules say that your story must start or end with the words: «There is music everywhere…» The story should contain 120—180 words (FCE Writing).

17. Make a report, do an electronic presentation or a project on one of the topics:

– The International Telecommunications Union

– Development and usage of digital audio systems

– High Definition Television (HDTV)

– Home theater (home cinema). History and later development

– DVD format

– Audio systems today

CHECK POINT

18. What have you learnt from the text in Unit 1, Part 3 about the following?

– The document «Recommendation for Multichannel Stereophonic Sound System With and Without Accompanying Picture»

– Achievements in the audio and video practices throughout the 1990s

– Surround sound systems in common use today

PRE-READING

1. Name some words and expressions related to the subject.

2. What do you know about Dolby Laboratories? Can you answer these questions?

1) When and where was the company founded?

2) Who started it?

3) What does Dolby Labs do?

4) Name some of the company’s most significant achievements.

5) What Dolby formats do you know and use?

Dolby Laboratories (often called Dolby Labs for short) is an American company which specializes in audio encoding/compression and audio noise reduction. Dolby Labs was founded by an American Ray Dolby in London in 1965. In 1976, it was moved to San Francisco, the USA. The first issue it manufactured was a simple compander, Type A Dolby Noise Reduction. The compander was distinguished from the others of the kind by capability to process only the quiet sounds that would be veiled by tape noise. Henry Kloss (a prominent American engineer and businessman) persuaded Ray Dolby to produce a consumer version of his noise reduction. In 1968, Dolby Company made an introduction of a compounding system Type B.

Dolby also searched to develop film sound. The company’s history writes:

Upon investigation, Dolby found that many of the limitations in optical sound stemmed directly from its significantly high background noise. To filter this noise, the high-frequency response of theater playback systems was deliberately curtailed… To make matters worse, to increase dialogue intelligibility over such systems, sound mixers were recording soundtracks with so much high-frequency pre-emphasis that high distortion resulted.

A Clockwork Orange (1971) was the first film with Dolby sound that utilized Dolby noise reduction on all pre-mixes and masters, but with traditional optical soundtrack on release prints. Callan (1974) became the first film with a Dolby encoded optical soundtrack. In 1975 Dolby introduced Dolby Stereo including a noise reduction system as well as more audio channels (it could have additional center and surround channels matrixed from the left and right). The first film with A Dolby – encoded stereo optical soundtrack was Lisztomania (1975), but it was only made in an LCR (Left-Center-Right) encoding technique. The first movie containing the true LCRS (Left-Center-Right – Surround) encoded soundtrack was called A Star is Born in 1976. Having reworked the system a bit for home viewing, Dolby released Dolby Surround, which only extracted a surround channel, and the more advanced Dolby Pro Logic, which actually was the domestic counterpart of the theatrical Dolby Stereo.