Faculty of Engineering

Technical and Engineering English

Level B 1

UNIT 9

THE TRAGEDY OF 09.11. A FLYING MACHINE DESIGNED

FOR SKYSCRAPER RESCUES

Prof. Rodgers
 Tragedy of 09/11(part 1) Prof. Rodgers
1.The poem and the article on the engineering invention which follow are about the tragedy of 09/11 at the
Twin Towers in New York? What do you know about this tragedy? Write down a few facts.

1.

2.

3.

Spared

“That Love is all there is,

Is all we know of Love… “
-Emily Dickinson

It wasn’t you, it wasn’t me,

Up there, two thousand feet above
A New York street. We’re safe and free,
A little while, to live and love,

Imagining what might have been -

The phone-call from the blazing tower,
A last farewell on the machine,
While someone sleeps another hour,

Or worse, perhaps, to say goodbye

And listen to each other’s pain,
Send helpless love across the sky,
Knowing we’ll never meet again,

Or jump together, hand in hand,

To certain death. Spared all of this
For now, how well I understand
That love is all, is all there is.
Tragedy of 09/11(part 1) Prof. Rodgers

Reading for Specific Information

1.It wasn’t you, it wasn’t me”. In the first stanza we learn that neither the poet nor the person to whom the
poem is addressed were involved in the tragedy. In the remainder of the poem 3 different scenarios are
imagined. Which stanza is about:

-A last conversation
-Dying together
-A recorded message

2.Does the poet distinguish between the 3 imagined scenarios? Which is least or less desirable? Explain.

Inference

1.Was the poem written by a man or a woman in your view? Explain

2.What age might the poet be?
3.How close is the poet to the person to whom the poem is addressed? Are they married? Lovers?
Colleagues? Good friends?
Reading for the Main Ideas

1.Which of the statements below best sums up the poem?

-Terrorists cause great suffering to innocent people
-It is better to die with your loved one than to go on living alone
-Tragedy reminds us of the great importance of love
-Emily Dickinson(a poet of the 19th century) was right about love

Technical Points

1.One reason for using rhyme is that it helps us to remember. Do not look at the poem for the moment.
Think of words which rhyme with:

Me. Above (Stanza 1)

Been. Tower(Stanza 2)
Goodbye. Pain(Stanza 3)
Hand. This(Stanza 4)

-Does rhyme help you remember the poem?

Tragedy of 09/11(part 1) Prof. Rodgers

2.As well as rhyme, the poem has a fixed rhythm. Can you work out what it is?

3.Now read the poem as you think it should be read. Then listen to the poet read. Compare your reading with
the poet’s reading.

Discussion

1.”…..love is all, is all there is” (stanza 4)

Do you agree? Would most Italians agree? Which gender, which generation would most agree?

2.How would you rate this poem? Good? Bad? Average? Explain.

.
Tragedy of 09/11(part 2) Prof. Rodgers

Pre-Reading

1. Of the following which most contribute to commercial success for inventors?

Luck Originality Perseverance Family connections Intelligence Wealth Discipline

2. In connection with invention what do the following mean?

Scale model(para 1). Patent (para 1) Prototype(para 2)

3.In relation to helicopters and flying machines what do the following mean?

To hover(para 1) test flight(para 1)propellers(para 3) to take off(para 3) to land(para 3) blades(para 3 )

rescue platform(para 3) cylindrical ducts(para 3) pilot(para 4) shuttle(para 5)
Tragedy of 09/11(part 2)
A FLYING MACHINE DESIGNED FOR SKYSCRAPER RESCUES
1. With the world watching in horror as the
World Trade Centre burned, David Metreveli
had a particular bad feeling as he saw people
jump to their deaths while helicopters hovered
aimlessly in the distance. Just a few days earlier, the
Russian born Israeli engineer had launched a scale model
of a patent-pending aerial rescue unit called the Eagle on
its maiden test flight above the seashore of Ashod,
just south of Tel Aviv. The small, square, radio-
controlled platform flew just 15 metres but it was the
first operational step towards building a system that
may transport to safety people left in burning
skyscrapers.
2. Now, after the tragedy (0)____ New York,
Mr.Metrevelli (1)______ if anything, even
more compelled (2)_______ continue. The
International Association of Fire Chiefs has (3)
________ him to present the Eagle at a conference.
Former colleagues from Boeing (4)______
urged him to keep working on the project. And
ordinary people have(5) ________ letters to him,
wishing the (6)_________ of New York could
have had the Eagle at their disposal on the terrible
day the towers (7)_______. The wave of
encouragement (8)_______ the scale of the
tragedy have helped Mr. Metreveli land his first
investment of an undisclosed sum (9)_______a
private financier, for DM AcroSafe Group, his Israel-
registered company, which (10) _______ developing
the Eagle. Nevertheless, he is still short of the S4
million needed to complete a working protoype and
move to mass production.
3. Conceptually the Eagle is not a big technological
innovation. Like a helicopter, it relies on propeller--
power to take off and land vertically. But exposed
blades prevent helicopters from hovering close to
structures, whereas the Eagle's four horizontal
propellers, each at a corner of the square-shaped
rescue platform, are embedded inside cylindrical
ducts. This allows it to move in close to the edge of tall
buildings where stranded people can take a single
step to safety.
Prof. Rodgers
4. The Eagle can fly at a speed of up to 75km an
hour. It can carry 10 people excluding the pilot and
rescue operator, Mr.Metrevelli believes the Eagle could
conduct rescue runs up and down the tallest skyscraper
in only five minutes. He is very confident of this.
5. Mr.Metrevelli's concept dates back to his days
working in Russia in the 1980s on an emergency
rescue system for the Buran, the Soviet version of the
space shuttle. When he emigrated to Israel in 1993,
Mr.Metrevelli considered how that project could be
scaled down for civilian use. "I started thinking of
some kind of rescue vehicle, not for the space shuttle
or aerospace vehicles but for highly populated
areas," he says. "Early on I realised that high-rise
buildings seemed to be very dangerous."
6. During his first years in Israel, Mr.Metrevelli
worked at Israel Aircraft Industries, the state owned
aerospace group, and started designing the rescue
vehicle during his free time. In 1996, he moved to
the US to work for Boeing and tried to sell his ideas
for a space shuttle emergency rescue system to Nasa.
Monthly letters to the White House eventually won
him a brief audience in Washington but he failed to
persuade Nasa to take up his proposals.
7. Recognizing that an individual engineer stood little
chance of penetrating largo aerospace
organizations, he returned to Israel in 1998 and began
to work on the Eagle more seriously. His
difficulties in selling unconventional ideas to big
companies partly explains why no one has developed
a rescue platform like the Eagle before, even though it
is a fairly simple machine and not technologically
sophisticated to build. "The problem," says
Mr.Metreveli, "is that something like this should be
built by a big company like Sikorsky Aircraft or
Bell Helicopter; but big companies are fixed in a
general direction for many years ahead and they are
not flexible for projects like this."
Tragedy of 09/11(part 2) Prof. Rodgers

OPEN CLOZE
1.Read paragraph two of the text and think of the word which best fits each space.
An example has been done for you.
(0)in (1)___________,(2)_________, (3)________,(4)_________, (5)__________,
(6)____________. (7)_________. (8)____________.(9)___________,
(10)__________

Reading for the Main Ideas

1.Match the headings with the appropriate paragraphs.

Para

-The Eagle's advantages over a helicopter

-Origins of Mr.Metrevellí's idea

-Mr.Metrevelli's career since Russia

-The Eagle's first voyage

-The Eagle's speed and capacity

-Reactíon of large companies to the Eagle

-Support for Mr.Metrevelli

REFERENCE

What do the underlined words in the sentence refer to?

.... but it was the first operational step towards…..(paragraph I )

This allows it to move in close to the edge of tall buildings (paragraph 3)

He is very confident of this(paragraph 4 )

…. Mr.Metrevelli considered how that project could be ....(paragraph 5)

.... and they are not flexible for projects like this(paragraph 7)
Tragedy of 09/11(part 2) Prof. Rodgers

Question and Answer

1.Write questions which give precisely the answers below. An example has been done for
you.

Q. How high did the Eagle fly on its maiden flight?

A. Just 15 feet.
Q.
A. The International Association of Fire Chiefs
Q.
A. at a speed of up to 75km an hour.
Q.
A. In 1993
Q.
A. Israel Aircraft Industries
Q.
A. Nasa

Word Order
Put the words in the sentences 1 to 5 on teaching scientific writing into the correct
order. For each sentence the first and last word(s) are indicated.

Teaching Scientific Writing

1.Is/scientific/can/layman/position/the/be/that/material/accessible/to/made/my

My position _________________________________________________ layman

2.Form/must/in/you/linear/sentences/write/scientific/that/a/writing/sequence

In ____________________________________________________ linear sequence

Tragedy of 09/11(part 2) Prof. Rodgers

3.First/that/very/give/one/simple/is/I/assignment/a/students/to/scientific/the

The first ___________________________________________________ simple one

4.The/describe/how/works/I/ask/relatively/to/class/a/simple

I ___________________________________________________________ works

5.Forces/to/learn/students/precisely/a/process//it/works/describing/how

Describing how ________________________________________________ works