Today, surrounds sound is an integral part of home theater and has also made its appearance in the automobile. Multichannel audio is used in the digital television broadcast, gaming gadgets, and in the Internet (through streaming codecs). High definition formats (like SA – CD Multichannel and DVD – Audio) enable the surround sound producer to allocate content without clipping and sonic compromise. This makes their advent one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of the sound production.
Essential glossary
• aimed at – нацеленный на
• allocation – расположение, расстановка
• source – источник
• ambience – окружение, обстановка, среда
• suitable – подходящий, соответствующий
• application – приложение, (прикладная) система
• proliferation – распространение
• 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 R Digital 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 SDDSTM, 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 continuous is 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