1595

134

2. Прочтите и переведите текст:

HAZARDOUS WASTE PROBLEM

The most desirable options for handling hazardous wastes are in-plant options. That means the changes that can be made to reduce hazardous waste production. Industry, for example, can change the raw materials or components it uses, substituting a non-toxic or less toxic substance for highly toxic materials. In some instances wastes can be separated and purified, yielding saleable or reusable chemicals. The recycling and reuse option also eliminates the cost of waste disposal, cuts down on potential environmental and health damage, and saves valuable raw materials, including energy.

Not every waste product can be used, however. Therefore, some waste can be destroyed or detoxified, converted to less hazardous materials. Detoxification can be accomplished for certain types of waste by applying them to land and mixing them with the top layer of soil, where they are broken down by chemical reactions, oxidation by sunlight, or by bacteria or other organisms in the soil. Land treatment is an expensive option, requiring care to avoid polluting ecosystems, poisoning cattle and other animals, and contaminating ground water.

Destroying hazardous wastes by incineration is a questionable option. High-temperature furnaces at stationary waste disposal sites, on ships that can burn organic wastes at sea, and on mobile trailers can all burn organic wastes. Oil or natural gas is used as a fuel. Hazardous substances are injected, into the furnace or mixed with the fuel before combustion; they may not burn so efficiently. Therefore, communities often object to incinerators, fearing environmental contamination.

Low-temperature decomposition of cyanide and toxic organics such as pesticides offers some promise. In this technique wastes are mixed with air and maintained under high pressure while being heated to 450 to 600 ºC; during the process organic compounds are broken into smaller biodegradable molecules. Valuable materials can be extracted and recycled. This process uses less energy than incineration.

Chemical, physical and. biological agents can be used to detoxify or neutralize hazardous wastes. For example lime can neutralize sulphuric acid. Ozone can be used to break up small organic molecules, nitrogen compounds, and cyanides. Many bacteria can degrade or detoxify organic wastes and may prove helpful in the future.

Wastes that cannot be destroyed entirely and detoxified wastes as well must be stored. Residual waste can be dumped in secured landfills,

135

excavated pits lined by synthetic liners and thick, theoretically impermeable layers of clay. Landfills are one of the cheapest waste disposal practices in use today and are favoured by industry. But this option must be considered as a temporary solution, because any landfill will eventually leak.

Other methods of perpetual storage include: 1) use of surface impoundments and specially built warehouses that hold wastes in ideal condition and prevent any material from leaking into the environment, 2) deposition in geologically stable salt formations, and 3) deposition deep in the ground in arid regions where groundwater is absent.

3.Ответьте на вопросы по тексту:

1)What three main options for handling hazardous wastes can you name?

2)What is meant by in-plant option?

3)Define the terms recycling and reuse. Which is cheaper? Which is more preferable?

4)What methods convert hazardous wastes to nonor less hazardous?

5)How can detoxification be accomplished?

6)Can you give the pros and cons of incineration?

7)What in your view is low-temperature decomposition?

8)What agents are used to neutralize hazardous wastes?

9)What is residual waste? What option is used for residual waste?

10)What other methods of perpetual storage do you know?

11)What regions are arid? Can you give any examples?

4.Прочтите, переведите однокоренные слова и составьте с ними предложения:

5. Найдите в тексте словосочетания, соответствующие русским:

желательный вариант, внутризаводской вариант, в некоторых случаях, вариант повторного использования, обработка почвой,

136

мусоросжигательная, печь, низкотемпературное разложение, являться перспективным, разрушать органические отходы, оказаться полезным, подход к решению проблемы опасных отходов, поглощающие прослойки из синтетического материала, самый дешевый способ устранения отходов, ценное сырье, временная мера, постоянное хранение, биологический реагент, удерживать под высоким давлением.

6. Найдите в тексте синонимы к следующим словам:

to replace, to degrade, to regard, reagent, fixed, choice, to keep, in some cases, to save, method, hermetic, to escape.

7. Найдите в тексте антонимы к следующим словам: swampy, treated, perpetual, hill, additional, portable, high temperature, to reject, to separate, leaking.

8. Переведите пары похожих слов и укажите, которые из них встретились в тексте:

stationery-stationary, promise-premise, impenetrable-impermeable, incarnation-incineration, lick-leak, maintain-mountain, save-safe, optionoptimum, residual-residential, deposition-disposition, clay-claw.

Грамматика. Условные предложения.

Тип 1. Реальное условное предложение

9.Откройте скобки, используя нужную форму глагола:

1)If I (go) to England next summer, I (visit) their natural reserve in Surrey.

2)If he (return) early, I (ask) him to call you. 3) You (not to catch) your bus if you (stay) any longer. 4) If we (not be careful), we (lose) our planet soon. 5) They (not to know), when she (come) back. 6) When the snow (melt) away, there (be) puddles everywhere. 7) They (go on) making experiments till the result (be) positive. 8) Wait here, until I (come) back.

9)He (not know), when they (arrive). 10) We (be) still here if she (decide) to ring.

137

10.Продолжите предложения, пользуясь глаголами, данными

вскобках:

1)The polar bears will have nowhere to live if ... . (polar ice)

2)We will save the planet's wildlife if ... . (habitats)

3)If there is little oxygen in the lake or river water, ... .(the fish)

4)If we continue to pollute rivers with industrial wastes, ... . (poisonous)

5)Rich farm lands will become deserts when ... . (temperature)

11.Составьте диалог-интервью на основе текста, опираясь на следующие положения:

 Пестициды (ядохимикаты) (от лат. pestis – зараза и caedo – убиваю) – химические препараты для борьбы с сорняками (гербициды), вредителями (инсектициды, акарициды, зооциды и др.), болезнями (фунгициды, бактерициды и др.) культурных растений.

 В группу пестицидов включают дефолианты, десиканты, регуляторы роста растений.

 Большинство пестицидов – синтетические органические вещества.  При систематическом применении стойких высокотоксичных пестицидов, особенно в завышенных дозах, наблюдается загрязнение ими окружающей среды, что приводит к уничтожению полезных насекомых, птиц, рыб, зверей, а также отравлению людей непосредственно пестицидами или продуктами, в которых они способны накапливаться.

 Использование пестицидов регламентируется законодательством во всех странах.

12.Тест. Подберите слова к определениям:

138

139

13. Пользуясь приведенной схемой, сделайте сообщение по теме «Ядовитые отходы»:

IN-PLANT OPTIONS

14. Письменно изложите свои рассуждения по следующему вопросу, используя реальные условные предложения:

Imagine that local authorities decided to store hazardous waste in your region for financial reasons. What consequences will it evoke? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

140

УРОК 14

1. Прочтите данные из текста слова по транскрипции:

141

2. Прочтите и переведите текст:

THE CAR AND THE ENVIRONMENT

CO2 is held to be accountable for approximately 50 percent of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. Industry, power stations, domestic households and small consumers are responsible for approximately two thirds of total worldwide anthropogenic CO2 emissions, while road transport as a whole accounts for approximately 12 percent. Passenger cars in isolation generate approximately 5.5 percent.

The use of passenger cars impacts the biosphere in a number of ways. In order to minimize the consequences for mankind and the environment, legal standards to limit passenger car emissions have been in force in Europe since 1970. Carbon monoxide (CO) limits were followed by limits for overall hydrocarbon emissions (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and – for diesel vehicles – particulate matter.

To comply with the EU standards introduced in 1992 (Euro 1), petrolengined cars require a closed-loop three-way catalytic converter. In 1996 stricter, second-stage limits were introduced (Euro 2), and with the introduction of the Euro 3 and Euro 4 limits in 2000 and 2005 respectively, maximum permissible emissions will in each case be approximately halved.

A lasting improvement in air quality could be achieved with the aid of advances in vehicle engineering, low-benzene, low-aromatic petrol and improved-quality diesel fuels along with some simple traffic management measures aimed at making more efficient use of the existing infrastructure and changes in motorists’ behaviour.

Improved-quality fuels can reduce both legally regulated and nonregulated emissions. Using a sulphur-free, low-aromatic diesel fuel commercially available in Sweden, particulate emissions of state-of-the-art TDI engines can be reduced by around 30 percent compared with the same engines operating on the European referent fuel. Using the Swedish diesel fuel, the existing very low benzene emissions from modern diesel cars can be reduced by around 30 percent, emissions of formaldehyde by around 40 percent, emissions of acetaldehyde by around 35 percent and emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by around 55 percent. Emissions of 1.3 butadiene are not detectable in the exhaust when using Swedish diesel.

However, under realistic traffic conditions we will not be able to achieve a significant cut in fuel consumption simply by means of technical improvements to automobiles. It will also be necessary to adapt existing

142

infrastructures. To see why, we need only look at the way variations in traffic flow affect fuel consumption in built-up areas. Fuel consumption rises exponentially as average speed drops, that is to say as congestion increases. It theoretically reaches infinity when traffic is at a standstill. So improving the traffic flow clearly, offers significant potential for reducing both fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.

3.Ответьте на вопросы по тексту:

1)What percentage of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect does СO2 account for?

2)What is responsible for approximately two thirds of total worldwide anthropogenic CO2 emissions?

3)What percentage of CO2 emissions does road transport account for?

4)What generates approximately 5.5 % of CO2 emissions?

5)What have been done to minimize the consequences of greenhouse effect in Europe since 1970?

6)What emissions are now regulated in Europe?

7)What are Euro 1, Euro 2, Euro 3, and Euro 4?

8)How could a lasting improvement in air quality be achieved?

9)What improved-quality fuels can reduce emissions?

10)In what way can existing infrastructures be adapted to cut in fuel consumption?

4.Прочтите, переведите однокоренные слова и составьте с ними предложения:

5. Найдите в тексте словосочетания, соответствующие русским:

ароматические углеводороды, бензин с низким содержанием бензола, более эффективное использование; выбросы углеводорода, быть в силе, автомобиль с бензиновым двигателем, достижения в области

143