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Comparativos y Superlativos
Comparativos y Superlativos
Textos
Spread Cities
Wind instruments
Planetary data
Conduction
Melting points
Quiz
Sección Gramatical
Comparativo de superioridad. Regulares e irregulares.
Comparativo de igualdad.
Regla de diccionario.
What will 21st century cities be like? Taller? Dirtier? Noisier? Even busier than now?
Apparently not. Experts believe the opposite will happen.
SPREAD CITIES
In the 19th century, there was an industrial revolution in Europe. Millions of people left
the countryside and went to work in cities. Today it’s the reverse. In several major cities,
people are starting to move out. Why?
Because
a. they want a cleaner, greener environment.
b. thanks to modern transport and communications, it’s easier to go to work from
home or commute.
c. there are fewer jobs in “heavy” industries (e.g. shipbuilding and steel) and more
jobs in “service” industries (e.g. banking, design and tourism).
The 21st century result of this revolution will be “spread cities”. Take London, for
example. At the moment it’s already growing fast, but not upwards – outwards. More
and more people are leaving the city centre. Instead, they are choosing to live 30, 50,
even 100 kilometres away. But what does all this mean for the future? Could a huge
mega - London cover all of southeast England one day?
Well – yes. It wouldn’t be one big urban area, though. It would be a series of small
towns all connected to London itself by hi-tech transport and communication.
(Hanson, 1977. Enquiries - Pollution and Conservation)
In June 1972, 120 countries – communist, capitalist, poor, rich, white, black- sent
delegates to a United Nation Conference in Stockholm. It was the first World
Conference on the Human Environment. There seem to be two main causes of our,
present troubles. World population is increasing more and more rapidly, causing
greater pressure on water supplies, food supplies and non-replaceable resources, and
on land for building, and creating more waste or rubbish.
The second cause lies in our use of modern technology, which helps “economic
growth”: the more we want and get, the more we use of our earth’s resources and the
more waste products we leave at the end.
What will life be like when we are much older? Much will depend on the action taken
by governments. But governments represent people. Even more may depend on the
actions you are willing to take.
Texto III
The simplest answer is yes, they do. But what happens to each star depends on its
original size. When a small star reaches the end of its life, it becomes cooler and swells
up to become a red giant. After millions of years, it turns into a larger supernova. But
then it starts to shrink to a smaller size and it becomes a white dwarf. White dwarves
are about as big as the earth.
A. Complete 2, 3, 4 en español de acuerdo a la información de las líneas
1 a 4.
When a large star dies, it first becomes a super red giant. Then like its smaller cousin, it
explodes into a supernova, which shines brightly for a short time. But then, quite
suddenly, the supernova collapses into something very much smaller. Sometimes, the
result is a pulsar, which flashes on and off. While other supernovas turn into black
holes. A black hole pulls everything into it, including light. There are many black holes
in the universe, some of which are as big as our solar system.
Texto IV
PLANETARY DATA
7. Four planets have much higher densities (around 5 tonnes per cubic
metre) than the others. Which planets have this higher density?
Texto V
B. Lea el texto.
CONDUCTION
Conduction is the movement of heat through a material without carrying any of the
material with it. For example, heat from a stove causes particles in the bottom of a
metal frying pan to vibrate faster. These vibrations cause other particles higher in the
pan to vibrate. In this way heat travels through the pan and into the food in the frying
pan. Conduction can occur in solids, liquids or gases but occurs fastest in solids. When
you stand with one foot on a carpet and the other on a concrete step, the foot on the
concrete step feels colder than the one on the carpet. This is because the concrete
conducts heat away from your foot, while the carpet, being a poor conductor of heat,
tends to retain heat. Hence the carpet feels warmer.
Think of other examples: solar heating panels used to heat water in houses are made of
blackened copper metal. Copper is a very good conductor of heat, while black surfaces
absorb heat better than surfaces painted in other colors. Heat is absorbed by the
copper and conducted into the water inside the water pipes. Thus, water is heated.
The rate at which heat will flow through a slab of material, such as a brick wall or a
carpet depends on the following: the bigger the temperature difference between one
side of the material and the other, the faster is the rate at which heat flows. Also, the
thicker the material, the slower is the rate of conduction.
(Kutnell, 2005. Essentials of Physics.)
C. Responda en español.
1. What is conduction?
2. Are there any examples of heat conduction given in the text?
1. Descripción de un proceso
2. Definición
3. Explicación
4. Aplicación práctica
Picture 3. The Earth’s gravity field is 6 times stronger than the Moon´s
The strength of a gravity field is measured in terms of how much force it exerts on 1
kilogram mass. On Earth, the force of gravity on an object of mass of 1 kilogram is
about 10 newtons- or 9.8 newtons to be more exact.
If we put a more massive object in the gravity field it will have a bigger gravity acting
on it. A piece of iron with mass 2 kg has twice as much iron in it as a piece of iron with
a mass of only 1 kg, so it will be pulled towards the Earth with twice the force. A 2 kg
mass feels heavier than a 1 kg mass because it is being pulled down by a force of about
20 N, compared with only about 10 N for the 1 kg. mass. The force caused by gravity
on a mass is called its weight.
On the Moon, the gravity field is smaller than on the Earth, because the Moon is so
much less massive (picture 3). Its field strength is only 1.6 N per kg. So on the Moon
you weigh only one-sixth of your weight on Earth.
(Dobson, 1991. The Physical World)
1. The heavier the object, the bigger the gravity acting on it.
2. An object of 1 kg is pulled down with a force twice as big as the force
on an object of 2 kg.
Texto VII
MELTING POINTS
The melting point (or freezing point if you are considering the temperature at
which the solid begins to form from the liquid) is a measure of intermolecular
attracting forces between molecules; the higher the melting point, the greater
the attraction. Among compounds having the same molecular weight, the more
polar the compound and the more symmetrical its molecular structure, the
higher the melting point. Thus the melting point of a compound provides
information about one physical dimension of molecular structure.
(Maidana et al, 1993. Lectura Comprensiva y Traducción Textos-Arquitectura.)
Texto VIII
QUIZ
HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?
a. Mandarin b. Hindustani
c. Spanish d. English
a. French b. English
c. German d. Italian
3. How many different languages are there in the world?
a. 50 b. 500
c. 5,000 d. 50,000
a. Hindustani b. Hungarian
c. Chinese d. Arabic
a. set b. go
c. take d. put
a. I b. is
c. the d. you
a. 21 letters b. 28 letters
c. 36 letters d. 45 letters
a. UK b. Canada
c. Ireland d. USA
9. What is the most common letter in English?
a. E b. T
c. S d. A
Respuestas:
order.
I, o, s, h, r, d in that
9a The others are: t, a,
8d
(a disease).
picsilicovolcanokoniosis
pneumonoultramicosco
7d- The word is
6c
meanings.
has 464 different
Oxford Dictionary, set
5a-According to the
different.
languages are very
many ways. The other
similar to English in
4a- Hindustani is
3c
2b
their first language.
speak Mandarin as
billion people who
1a- There are about 1
Sección Gramatical
Comparativos y superlativos
El grado comparativo
Tanto los adjetivos como los adverbios en inglés cambian su forma en el
grado comparativo cuando se compara una persona, cosa, lugar, etc.,
con una entidad de una categoría similar y en el grado superlativo
cuando se compara una entidad con todas las otras de su clase.
Ejemplos:
The heavier materials closer to the sun formed Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Los materiales más pesados más cercanos al sol formaron Mercurio, Venus, la Tierra y
Marte.
Ejemplos:
Ejemplos:
The colder the water, the less the solubility of copper sulphate.
Cuanto más fría el agua, menor es la solubilidad del sulfato de cobre.
Pressure is directly proportional to volume; i.e. the greater the volume, the higher the
pressure.
La presión es directamente proporcional al volumen; es decir, cuanto mayor el
volumen, mayor la presión. / A mayor volumen, mayor presión.
Hay casos en los que se repite el mismo comparativo separado por and.
Esta repetición se usa para enfatizar.
Ejemplos:
Ejemplos:
As the sample becomes larger and larger, and the width of each cell becomes smaller
and smaller, the histogram approaches a smooth curve.
A medida que la muestra es cada vez mayor/ más grande, y el ancho de cada célula
se hace cada vez más pequeño, el histograma se aproxima a una curva suave.
The earth’s atmosphere gets thinner and thinner the higher you go.
La atmósfera terrestre se torna cada vez más delgada a mayor altura/cuanto más
ascendemos.
Ejemplos:
Notas:
- the former y the latter no son formas comparativas. the former
se traduce “la/el/las/los primero/a/s” y the latter “el/la/los/las
segundo/a/s; el/la/los/las último/a/s”.
Ejemplos:
Every substance has a melting point and a boiling point. The former is the temperature
at which it changes from solid to liquid. The latter is the temperature at which it
changes from liquid to gas.
Ejemplos:
The nucleus of uranium 238 is the largest nucleus of all natural elements.
El núcleo del uranio 238 es el (núcleo) más grande de todos los elementos naturales.
Hydrogen and helium are the two lightest elements that make up most of the
universe.
El hidrógeno y el helio son los dos elementos más livianos que constituyen la mayor
parte del universo.
Ejemplos:
Formas Irregulares
Algunos de los adverbios y adjetivos más comunes en inglés son
irregulares. Es decir, no agregan las terminaciones mencionadas ni
modifican la palabra base, tanto para el grado comparativo como para
el superlativo. Se buscan en el diccionario tal y como aparecen en el
texto. A continuación, se presentan algunos casos:
Ejemplos: