Английский язык: Аннотирование и реферирование текста

190 was thanks to satellites that "we know how many missiles the enemy has and, it turned out, our guesses were way off. We were doing things we didn’t need to do. We were building things we didn’t need to build. We were harboring fears we didn’t need to harbor." Weather wizardry Weather satellites now give people an accurate view of threats from nature, as well as vastly improved everyday forecasts, said Keith Seitter of the American Meteorological Society. They save lives when hurricanes approach, giving days of notice instead of hours. "It’s very hard to be surprised these days with the kind of data we have available with satellites," Seitter said. "Certainly 50 years ago that wasn’t the case." In television, satellite communications let upstart networks like HBO, CNN and ESPN develop and feed cable systems via satellite. That brought world events live to people around the globe. But it also allowed people to isolate themselves with niche channels, Usselman said. Henry Lambright, a professor at Syracuse University, said satel- lites have had practical benefits, but "the more important benefits are looking at Earth as a whole and looking outward at Earth in the cosmos." Initial pictures of Earth from space, especially Apollo images from the moon, were embraced by an environmental movement to show how fragile the planet is. The orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and others have given people views of the universe that not only go trillions of miles away, but billions of years back in time. "The launch of Sputnik actually triggered heightened interest among the American people, not only in space, but in science, mathe- matics and education," said White House science adviser John Mar- burger. "It also opened up people’s eyes to the possibility that space could actually be used for something." Vocabulary To take for granted – принимать как само собой разумеющееся To flee – спасаться , избегать