Обучение чтению литературы на английском языке по специальности «Средства поражения и боеприпасы»

Московский государственный технический университет  
имени Н.Э. Баумана 

М. В. Маркова 
 
 
Обучение чтению литературы  
на английском языке  
по специальности  
«Средства поражения и боеприпасы» 
 
 
Методические указания 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

М о с к в а  

Издательство МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана 

2 0 1 3  

УДК 802.0 
ББК 81.2Англ-923 
 М26 
Рецензент З. А. Заболотская  

 
Маркова М. В.  
  
 М 6     Обучение чтению литературы на английском языке по 
специальности «Средства поражения и боеприпасы» : метод. 
указания / М. В. Маркова. — М.: Изд-во МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана, 2013. — 44, [4] с. : ил. 

 
 
 
ISBN 978-5-7038-3757-3 

  
 
 
В методических указаниях приведены оригинальные тексты на 
английском языке по специальности «Средства поражения и боеприпасы», упражнения на развитие навыков чтения и понимания 
научно-технических текстов, повторение грамматического материала, освоение технической лексики, а также упражнения на развитие навыков устной речи и умения вести беседу по специальности 
на английском языке  
Для студентов третьего курса факультета «Специальное 
машиностроение» МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана. 
Рекомендовано Учебно-методической комиссией Научно-учебного комплекса «Фундаментальные науки» МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана. 
 
УДК 802.0 
ББК 81.2Англ-923 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ISBN 978-5-7038-3757-3 
 
 
      © МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана, 2013 

 М26 

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ 

В методических указаниях содержатся оригинальные тексты из 
специализированных анголоязычных изданий, подготовленные 
для аудиторной и самостоятельной работы студентов, обучающихся по специальности «Средства поражения и боеприпасы»  
(V–VII семестры). 
Пособие состоит из трех разделов, в каждом представлены тексты и упражнения, целью которых является отработка навыков 
различных видов чтения (просмотрового, поискового, изучающего), упражнения на закрепление вводимого лексического материала, требующегося для понимания и перевода технических 
текстов, а также творческие упражнения, предназначенные для 
развития навыков устной речи на английском языке по специальности «Средства поражения и боеприпасы». 
 
 

UNIT 1 
INTRODUCTION TO EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS 

Text 1.1 
The Basics 

Before you read the text, imagine you need to tell your younger 
brother or sister, who is still at secondary school, what an explosion is. 
Try to write a short explanation, keeping it as simple as possible. Then 
read the text and compare it with your written sample. 
 
The fundamental concept behind explosives is very simple. At the 
most basic level, an explosive is just something that burns or 
decomposes very quickly, producing a lot of heat and gas in a short 
amount of time.  
A typical explosive charge consists of some explosive material, 
some sort of detonation device and, typically, some sort of housing. 
The explosive material undergoes a rapid chemical reaction, either  
a combustion or decomposition reaction, when triggered by heat or 
shock energy from the detonator.  
In the chemical reaction, compounds break down to form various 
gases. The reactants (the original chemical compounds) have a lot of 
energy stored up as chemical bonds between different atoms. When the 
compound molecules break apart, the products (the resulting gases) 
may use some of this energy to form new bonds, but not all of it. Most 
of the “leftover” energy takes the form of extreme heat.  
The concentrated gases are under very high pressure, so they 
expand rapidly. The heat speeds up the individual gas particles, 
boosting the pressure even higher. If the gas expands faster than the 
speed of sound, it generates a powerful shock wave. The pressure can 

also push pieces of solid material outward at great speed, causing them 
to hit people or structures with a lot of force.  
The explosion actually has two phases. The initial expansion 
inflicts most of the damage. It also creates a very low-pressure area 
around the explosion’s origin — the gases are moving outward so 
rapidly that they suck most of the gas out from the “middle” of the 
explosion. After the outward blast, gases rush back in to the partial 
vacuum, creating a second, less-destructive inward energy wave.  
In low explosives, such as the propellant in a bullet cartridge, the 
reaction occurs relatively slowly and the pressure isn’t as damaging. 
The expanding gases only serve to push a small object. High 
explosives, such as C-4 and TNT, expand more rapidly, generating 
much greater pressure. In a high explosive, the gas pressure is strong 
enough to destroy structures and injure and kill people. Explosives 
experts refer to rapid explosive reactions as detonation and slower 
explosive reactions as deflagration. 
 
Active vocabulary 
 
blast n. [blɑ:st]  
bond n. [bɔnd]  

combustion n. [kəm ʹbʌstʃən]  
compound n. [ʹkɔmpaʊnd]  

decomposition n. 
[ˏdi:kɔmpəʹzɪʃən]  
deflagration n. [ˏdɛfləʹgreɪʃən]  

detonation n. [ˏdɛtəʹneɪʃən]  
expand v. [ɪk ʹspænd]  

expansion n. [ɪkʹspænʃən]  
explosion n. [ɪkʹspləʊʒən]  

explosive adj., n. [ɪkʹspləʊsɪv] 
high explosive n. [ʹhaɪ ɪkʹspləʊsɪv] 

housing n. [ʹhaʊzɪη] 
low explosive n. [ʹləʊ ɪkʹspləʊsɪv] 

pressure n. [ ʹprɛʃə]  
product n. [ʹprɔdʌkt]  

propellant n. [prəʊʹpɛlənt]  
reactant n. [rɪʹæktənt]  

shock n. [ʃɔk]  
speed of sound n. [ʹspi:d əv ʹsaʊnd]  

Text 1.2  
How Bomb Blasts Cause Damage  

Look at the picture. Prepare a small written report, describing 
these events in as much detail as possible, using information from the 
picture and your personal knowledge. Then read the text and add any 

missing information to your report. Note if you have provided extra 
information not covered in the text. 
 

 
 
A bomb is basically some type of casing or shell that contains 
explosive material. The casing can be anything from a steel-walled artillery 
shell to a length of lead pipe that has been sealed shut. It can even be as 
ordinary as a coffee tin or an automobile. The explosive material inside the 
shell could be any type of high explosive, be it TNT or C4. 
A bomb causes damage in several different ways, depending on the 
point at which the explosion impacts. These different points include the 
blast wave, shock waves, fragmentation, heat and the blast wind. 
Blast wave: When a bomb explodes, the area around the explosion 
becomes overpressurized. This wave will dissipate over time and 
distance and will exist only for a matter of milliseconds. This initial 
blast wave inflicts the most damage on impact.  
Shockwaves: After a blast wave strikes a surface or body, highvelocity shockwaves, or stress waves, will continue to pass through. 
Shockwaves carry energy through the medium they pass through; 
they’re supersonic and transport more energy than sound waves.  

Fragmentation: When the bomb explodes, the bomb casing, as well 
as any additional shrapnel (nails, screws or other items included in the 
bomb), will be violently thrown outward. When these fragments strike 
buildings and people, they may fragment even further and cause even 
more damage. This is known as secondary fragmentation. 
Fire and heat: The explosion may also create a fireball and high 
temperatures, which may cause secondary fires or explosions, 
depending on whether any other fuel sources or flammable materials 
are located near the blast. 
Blast wind: At the explosion site, a vacuum is created by the rapid 
outward movement of the blast wave. This vacuum will almost 
immediately refill itself with the surrounding atmosphere. As this void 
is refilled, it creates a high-intensity wind that causes fragmented 
objects, glass and debris to be drawn back in toward the source of the 
explosion. 
 
Active vocabulary 
 
casing n. [ʹkeɪsɪη]  
debris n. [ʹdeɪbri:]  

dissipate v. [ʹdɪsɪˏpeɪt]  
flammable adj. [ʹflæməbəl]  

fragmentation n. 
[ˏfrægmɛnʹteɪʃən]  
impact n. [ʹɪmpækt],  
v. [ɪmʹpækt]  

shrapnel n. [ʹʃræpnl]  
shell n. [ʃɛl]  

supersonic adj. [ˏsupəʹsɔnɪk]  
site n. [saɪt]  

 
Exercise 1 
True or false? 
 
1. Explosives are materials that are capable of decomposing rapidly.  
2. Explosive reactions usually start spontaneously, without any 
external impulse.  
3. When the chemical bonds in a molecule of explosive break, most of 
this chemical energy turns into heat.  
4. The majority of products in an explosive reaction are compressed 
gases.  
5. A shock wave is supersonic.  

6. The expansion of the gaseous products creates a high-pressure area 
in the center of the blast wave.  
7. Deflagration is the fastest explosive reaction possible.  
8. A sound wave transports as much energy as a shockwave.  
9. Secondary fragmentation occurs when fragments of the bomb 
casing break up upon impact.  
10. After the explosion, there will most likely be some debris where the 
bomb used to sit.  
 
Exercise 2 
Answer the questions. 
 
1. What is an explosive?  
2. What does a detonation device do to the explosive?  
3. What is the difference between reactants and products of  
a chemical reaction? 
4. Where does the heat produced by an explosion come from?  
5. When is a shock wave generated?  
6. What is the difference between high and low explosives for the end 
user?  
7. What are the factors that cause blast damage?  
8. What factor causes the most damage?  
9. What does ‘secondary fragmentation’ mean? 
10. What is the source of the ‘blast wind’?  
 
Exercise 3 
Put these events in order: 
 
• shock waves are generated in surrounding structures 
• high-pressure gaseous products rapidly expand 
• compound molecules of the explosive break up 
• a detonation wave starts moving quickly through the charge 
• a detonator triggers the decomposition reaction in the explosive 
charge 
 

Vocabulary practice 
 
Exercise 1 
Match the words and their definitions: 
 
propellant 
combustion that rapidly propagates through a gas 
or an explosive, driven by the transfer of heat 

low explosives 
a supersonic exothermic reaction front 
accelerating through a medium  

detonation 
explosive materials that detonate 

explosion 
something that propels or provides thrust 

high explosives 
mostly solid combustible materials that 
decompose rapidly, but do not normally explode  

deflagration 
a sudden, often violent release of energy 

 
Exercise 2 
Use the correct form of the words from the box to fill the gaps. 

product / expand / blast / shock / impact / compound 

 
1. The scientists studied the effect of the … wave upon vehicles. 
2. A molecule of a … is made when two or more different atoms form 
a chemical bond. 
3. When there is an explosion underwater, the gas bubble … rapidly 
until it either reaches the surface or until the pressure inside it 
becomes smaller than the pressure of the water around it. 
4. If an asteroid hits a planet, the energy that creates an explosion 
comes from its speed on …. 
5. After an explosion, when reaction … come in contact with 
atmospheric oxygen, full combustion of the carbon occurs. 
6. The explosive did not respond to … loading. 
 
Exercise 3 
Translate from Russian into English. 
 
1. Опасность может представлять не только дробление оболочки 
взрывного устройства, но и перенесение обломков с места 
взрыва волной давления в воздухе. 

2. По мере движения ударной волны ее энергия рассеивается и 
она превращается в звуковую волну. 
3. При 
разложении 
какого-либо 
соединения 
разрушаются 
химические связи между составляющими его атомами. 
4. Следует осторожно обращаться с горючими веществами. 
5. При сгорании вещества расширение продуктов реакции 
происходит намного медленнее, чем в том случае, если бы оно 
взорвалось. 
6. Скорость выше скорости звука называется сверхзвуковой.