Тема 2: Водные ресурсы

WATER RESOURCES

1. Прочитайте текст “Water resources”. Подберите заголовок к каждому абзацу. Один заголовок лишний.

a) Fishing resources

b) Modern fishing equipment

c) Natural gas platforms

d) Fishing as an economic activity

e) Mineral resources

f) The increasing of fish catches

g) The components of the World Ocean

2. Переведите текст, используя словарь.

Water resources

1) The ocean floor contains a variety of mineral sources. Some valuable minerals simply lie on the ocean floor. Other resources, mainly oil and natural gas, have formed in the rocks of the seafloor. Still other resources, including salt and other minerals, are found in seawater. Scientists believe that the ocean's mineral resources could supplement the decreasing reserves of non-renewable resources on land. At the same time all agree that the ocean's wealth must be conserved so that it can be used by future generations. Offshore oil fields account for about 20 per cent of the world's oil production today. All known offshore oil fields are located in waters above the continental shelf.

2) Today, there are over 100 offshore natural gas platforms, many of which are located off South Asia. One platform pumps natural gas from an offshore gas field to the refinery near Bombay, India, through a pipeline. Ocean water contains traces of all the minerals found on land. These minerals, which exist in the water in the form of salts, account for seawater's salinity, or salt content. If all the water in the world ocean were dried up, the salts would form a layer on the ocean floor 152 meters thick.

3) The world ocean makes up the largest biological environment of our planet. Marine biologists continually discover new species of life as changing technology allows them to probe deeper and deeper into the world ocean. Each form of life is a part of a complex process in which small plants and animals provide food for larger animals living in the sea. Microscopic plants and animals called plankton make up the bottom of the food chain. The best fishing grounds (banks) for many kinds offish are those rich in plankton. Large numbers of plankton concentrate in these fishing grounds because they have cooler water flowing through them or coming up from deeper levels. They are also shallower places in the sea, where sunlight can penetrate below the surface.

4) Fishing ranks among the world's most important economic activities. Over 5 million people make their livings by fishing. And even more people process, package, and sell fish. The total fish catch each year is enough to supply about 18 kg of fish for each person in the world. About half of this fish catch comes from the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean provides about one third of the total.

5) Most fishing today is done on a large scale, using fleets of ships equipped with machines that do much of the work. Some countries, Japan and Russia, for example, send out fishing fleets that often stay at sea for two hundred days at a time. The boats in these fleets are equipped with machinery that lowers and raises nets. Refrigerating equipment freezes the tons of fish, keeping them fresh for processing. Some fleets even have ships that do part of the processing at sea. Helicopters and electronic equipment are often used to locate schools of fish.

6) Using this modern equipment, most fishing nations increase their fish catches each year. In one way, this is good. More food is needed to keep up with growing populations. But in another way, it is bad. The ocean world is in danger of being overfished. Fish are being taken from the oceans faster than they can reproduce themselves.

3. Заполните пропуски подходящим словом или фразой из рамки.

biological environment, must be conserved, plankton, minerals, gas platforms

a) Ocean water contains traces of all the _____found on land.

b) The world ocean makes up the largest _______of our planet.

c) The majority of offshore natural_______ are located off South Asia.

d) Microscopic plants and animals called _____make up the bottom of the food chain.

e) The ocean's wealth ______so that it can be used by future generations.

4. Напишите, верны ли данные утверждения или ложны.

a) Ocean water contains traces of all the minerals found on land.

b) Offshore oil fields account for about twelve per cent of the world's oil

production.

c) Marine biologists continually discover new species of life.

d) Over five million people make their livings by diving.

5. Соотнесите пары.

pipeline oil equipment mineral sources natural gas continental shelf fishing seafloor offshore reproduce pump environment minerals layer rock food chain

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