Московский государственный технический университет имени Н.Э. Баумана

О.М. Лосева, Т.А. Фуфурина

Обучение чтению литературы на английском языке по специальности «Нетрадиционные источники энергии»

Учебно-методическое пособие

Москва

Издательство МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана

2007

УДК 802.0 ББК81.2 Англ-923 Л791

Рецензент И. В. Стасенко Лосева О.М., Фуфурина Т.А. Л791 Обучение чтению литературы на английском языке по специ-

альности «Нетрадиционные источники энергии»: Учеб.-метод. пособие. - М.: Изд-во МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана, 2007. - 40 с.

Пособие содержит оригинальные тексты на английском языке, лекси-ко-грамматические упражнения, способствующие развитию навыков чте­ния и перевода научно-технической литературы, а также умения вести беседы на профессиональные темы.

Для студентов старших курсов, обучающихся по специальности «Нетрадиционные источники энергии» на факультете «Энергомашино­строение».

УДК 802.0

ББК 81.2 Англ-923

Предисловие

Пособие, состоящее из четырех разделов, содержит оригиналь­ные тексты из британской и американской научно-технической литературы, подобранные как для самостоятельной работы сту­дентов, так и для аудиторных занятий под руководством препода­вателя. В текстах, предназначенных для изучающего и поискового чтения, рассматриваются нетрадиционные (возобновляемые) ис­точники энергии. К основным текстам, отмеченным буквой А, да­ны словарные блоки, содержащие активную лексику, прежде все­го специальные термины. Кроме того, в пособие включены разнообразные лексико-грамматические упражнения, способст­вующие развитию и закреплению навыков понимания и перевода научно-технической литературы на английском языке, а также умения вести беседы на профессиональные темы. Ряд упражнений предусматривает овладение навыками аннотирования и рефери­рования научных текстов.

Пособие предназначено для студентов старших курсов, обу­чающихся по специальности «Нетрадиционные источники энер­гии» на факультете «Энергомашиностроение». Оно может быть также использовано аспирантами этого факультета.

©МГТУ им. Н.Э. Баумана, 2007

UNIT I

New Words and Word Combinations

/. Give opposite meanings of the following adjectives using nega­tive prefixes (im, in, un, ir).

renewable, conventional, polluting, expensive, important, effective, efficient, significant, nuclear, dangerous, sufficient, potential, avail­able, serious, definite, sustainable, successful, limited.

fossil fuels

to run out

to keep up with the demands

consumption n

harmful gases

vehicular pollution

to cause a damage

crude oil

depletion n

ultimate a

replacement n eventually adv promising a fusion n fusion energy net energy yield environmental damage global warming storage n

radioactive wastes to range from... to feasible a energy demands sustainable a available a

ископаемое топливо

заканчиваться, истощаться

удовлетворять потребности

потребление

вредные газы

загрязнение транспортом

наносить ущерб

сырая нефть

истощение, обеднение

последний, окончательный,

основной, предельный

замена

в конце концов, в конечном счете

многообещающий, перспективный

плавление, слияние, синтез ядер

термоядерная энергия

выход полезной энергии

ущерб окружающей среде

глобальное потепление

хранение

радиоактивные отходы

находиться в пределах от... до

выполнимый, возможный

энергетические потребности

устойчивый

имеющийся в распоряжении;

доступный

2. Read and translate text ia using a dictionary.

Text IA. What is Renewable Energy?

Can you imagine life without television, cars, or computers? What if you had to cook your dinner over a fire or fetch water from a river? It might be fun for a camping trip, but you probably would not want to do it every day. But that's how life was before scientists and inventors dis­covered ways to use energy to make our lives easier.

Today, most of energy we use comes from fossil fuels. Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all fossil fuels. Over millions of years, the decay of plants, dinosaurs, and other animals was formed into fossil fuels. These fuels lie buried between layers of earth and rock. The only way to get them out is to drill or mine for them. While fossil fuels are still being created today by underground heat and pressure, they are being consumed more rapidly than they are created. For that reason, fossil fuels are considered non-renewable; that is they are not replaced as soon as we use them. So, we could run out of them sometime in the fu­ture. Or, we might someday use so much fossil fuel that we won't be able to drill or mine fast enough to keep up with the demand.

In the past century, it has been seen that the consumption of non­renewable sources of energy has caused more environmental damage than any other human activity. Electricity generated from fossil fuels such as coal and crude oil has led to high concentrations of harmful gases in the atmosphere. This has in turn led to many problems being faced today such as ozone depletion and global warming. Vehicular pollution has also been a major problem.

Because our world depends so much on energy, we need to find sources of energy that will last a long time. What if there was a type of energy that never ran out? There is. It is called renewable energy.

In addition, because there are so many people on earth using fossil fuels, we create a lot of pollution. So, we should also use energy sources that produce as little pollution as possible. While all energy sources cause some pollution in their creation or their consumption, renewable energy systems generally are less polluting than fossil fuel systems. Under the category of renewable energy or non-conventional energy are such energy systems as: solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower and others.

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Renewable energy is the ultimate replacement for any non­renewable source. Certainly, the day will come when this fossil fuel era will pass and eventually fade totally into the history books. And what will life be like then? Even more important perhaps is what we will have to do - and even endure - to get there.

Despite nuclear energy's role as a significant power supply source, it is highly unlikely it will survive past the 21-st century if that long. Many people are against it, storage of its highly radioactive wastes is difficult and costly, there are not enough ores available to maintain con­tinued production of nuclear energy as it is being done today, and most of today's nuclear plants will reach the end of their life-span within the next 50 years.

While hydro, solar, wind (a very efficient energy source), geother-mal are currently our most promising forms of renewable energy to de­velop for future use, there are sources that many scientists classify in the "surprise category" that theoretically hold great promise. These sources range from the mining of methane hydrates (a fossil fuel that exists under the oceans and dangerous) and hydrogen fusion from sim­ple H₂0 - the same process that powers our Sun and all the stars of the universe, to sources we have yet to discover. The starting potential of hydrogen fusion is so great that the US government has launched an initiative to study whether it's feasible within the next 35 years to develop and use what's known as fusion energy.

And, there are other fossil fuels that some scientists believe may be able to help contribute to the current energy pressures, but these forms have a low net energy yield, are difficult to process, and have serious pollution side-effects. They are oil shale and tar sands. Still, it appears unlikely that these forms will ever be used as significant sources of energy.

The Sun, no doubt, holds the greatest potential to meet the world's energy demands. But it will take a change in the technological, political and economic landscape for it to be realized. Still, the most plausible answer for our indefinite energy needs lies in a cohesive, sensible and ecologically sustainable combination of the resources available to us. The incentives must be there to be successful — political, economic, and human intelligence - and success can be achieved only through the use of renewable energy in ways that will ensure the healthy sustainability of Earth's life systems.

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