Английский язык. Практикум по чтению научно-технических текстов

transformed into mechanical work. Therefore, electricity is one means of transporting mechanical work. Even though large amounts of lukewarm water contain enormous amounts of energy as measured in kilowatt-hours, this energy cannot be transformed into electricity or mechanical work. Hence, the energy value is nil, and the heat in lukewarm water is, from a physical point of view, a low-grade form of energy.

Heat for the purpose of heating rooms and maintaining them at a comfortable temperature is supplied to compensate for the loss of heat to the surroundings. No matter how high the temperature may be in the room's heat source, the room temperature remains at the desired temperature level. In other words, the heating of rooms is a use of energy with a very low value. It means that energy is wasted when highly efficient energy is used for heating houses.

It is important to point out that pollution is not a beneficial result of energy use. No one has any use for pollution. Pollution is an undesirable by-product. Since the grounds for existence of any energy company is to supply the three energy uses mentioned earlier, it could be argued that the company is "out of business" when it pollutes. Polluting, for example, is prohibited in Norway.

Pollution today can also be described as resources gone astray. To illustrate: a modern car utilizes only 1 % of its gasoline energy to move the driver. The emissions "steal" from the energy source in its final stages and constitutes a costly loss to society both in terms of energy waste and environmental damage. The energy, instead of being useful, has the effect of causing damage.

Hence, there is no justification for pollution from an energy perspective. The logical goal for both energy and the environment must therefore be as follows: all production and use of energy must occur without emissions or encroachments that adversely affect the natural environment.

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Ex. 14. Complete the following statements by choosing the answer, which you think the best. Explain your choice.

1.Mechanical work is a highly efficient use of energy that we use: a) to heat rooms and maintain them at a comfortable temperature; b) to operate machines and carry out work;

c) to affect the environment; d) to cool heated rooms.

2.Electric energy can be transformed into:

a)solar energy;

b)lukewarm water;

c)mechanical work;

d)heat.

3.Pollution today can be prescribed as: a) wasted resources;

b) utilized resources;

c) transformed resources; d) lost resources.

4.All production and use of energy must occur: a) ecologically pure;

b) with a beneficial result;

c) with undesirable by-products;

d) with three types of societal needs.

Ex. 15. Here are some answers to some questions about text В.

Work out the questions.

1.There are three types of energy to meet societal needs.

2.Yes, different forms of energy have different qualities and degrees of usefulness.

3.No, we use mechanical work to operate machines and carry out work.

4.This energy cannot be transformed into electricity because the heat in lukewarm water is a low-grade form of energy.

5.One of the main purposes of heating supply is heating rooms and maintaining them at a comfortable temperature.

6.Yes, pollution is not a beneficial result of energy use.

7.Sometimes, the energy has the effect of causing damage, connected with cars’ gas emissions.

Ex. 16. Answer the questions, then render text В.

1. How can you explain what low-grade uses of energy mean?

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2.Electricity is one means of transporting mechanical work, isn’t it?

3.Is it true that the company is out of business when it pollutes? Why do you think so?

4.Is highly efficient energy used for heating or cooling houses?

5.Is pollution prohibited anywhere?

6.What constitutes a costly loss to society both in terms of energy waste and environmental damage?

7.Is there any justification for pollution from an energy perspective?

8.What is the logical goal for both energy and environment?

Ex. 17. Translate the following texts in writing using a dictionary.

Text С

Unfamiliar Sources of Energy

The word ‘energy’ is poly-semantic since it can be used in many fields. Many types of energy such as solar, heating, electric, mechanic, nuclear and the energy of water are known to mankind. Biological and neurological types of energy as well as kinetic ones are also being studied.

There is urgent necessity to replace the existing energy technologies by ecologically friendly high-techs, to prevent environmental pollution. A lot of programs and scientific findings have focused on the search of alternative energy sources.

Therefore, the Noble laureates R. Feinman and J. Willer displayed a huge vacuum energy potential. The volume of such energy contained in an electric lamp is sufficient to boil all the oceans on the Earth. The projects for solar energy usage and its production technologies are being developed.

On the other hand, there appeared keen interest in extraordinary human mental and physical capabilities caused by one’s energy potential and ability to independently save and distribute energy.

It has been found that a human being has a great energy resource for the purpose of surviving under extreme circumstances. In daily life, this seemingly excessive energy is utilized in some actions or motions. When the energy stock is large, a human being starts quickly moving and travelling around the world. When he has little energy, he moves on the limited area. When he has an average amount of energy, he can deeply research the planet or explore the outer space.

Energy is produced by a human body. It is like a vessel accumulating the energy from other sources. In ancient China, they used to say that the life of any being on the Earth is just energy accumulation and distribution.

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Once this process stops, the life expires. The objective is to develop innovative means to obtain pure energy and properly use it.

Nowadays man obtains energy from everything. One of the main, wellknown energy sources is food. As physical bodies, people depend on food and its chemical content.

Working like an oven, the physical body produces a certain type of energy. The quality of energy changes depending on the food eaten by a person. For instance, having eaten some salty food, we can perceive precisely worded material. Having eaten some sugar and working as a fermentsplitting furnace we percept the information emotionally.

Various food brings about various biochemical reactions and most energy produced (biochemical energy) is channeled to different brain areas. There are some products that accelerate and slow down the flow of time, others may improve and increase or decrease and worsen one’s intellect and mental activity etc.

Apart from food, there is another energy source that is water, depending on its color, chemical content, purity and transparency. In accordance with the problem to be solved, we can make a choice between drinking some water or juice. For instance, juice energy can help to solve problems related to the Earth. Moreover, never forget to drink some water after you have arrived at a place.

Nutrition (eating food and drinking water) is a very serious process to be considered in detail.

The next energy source is color that makes an impact on our sense of perception (the color of food, clothes and things surrounding people is energy as well). On different types of energy, we are able to perceive different information.

There are methods for obtaining energy from the matter, words, and full names of people. People mastering energy can vary Time: accelerate or slow it down. The whole environment including clothes, color variety, food – all these can facilitate one’s mastering energy.

Text D

Energy from Biological Waste

Most of today's industrial and household waste is left to decompose and thereby continuously emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas. It has been pointed out that direct burning of waste is a very economical energy policy. When combined with Energos' newly developed technology for waste incineration with 50–100 % recycling efficiency, this will contrib-

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ute to production of 3–4 TWh new energy in the form of heat and electricity, which allows for a comparable reduction in oil burning. This form of energy recycling from new waste (mainly biological) – i.e. (id est) the waste that is left after reducing the amount of refuse and the recyclable material is separated out-is clearly the cheapest major environmental step. Energos's method of waste incineration is currently the only one that satisfies the EU standards.

Existing landfills will produce methane for several more decades. One possibility is to install remote-controlled fuel cells which produce electricity and heat efficiently, and which thereby minimize the environmental problems created by methane fumes from landfills. This technology is in use today and is installed at a number of landfills in the USA.

To best utilize energy from new waste and biogas from existing landfills, and at the same time mitigate environmental problems related to methane fumes, it is proposed the following:

•existing landfills with methane emissions over 10000 metric tons CO2 equivalents be required to collect and burn the biogas;

•existing landfills with methane emissions over 100000 metric tons CO2 equivalents be required to collect and recycle biogas as a form of energy;

•all counties with over 10000 residents must recycle waste as a form of energy recycling;

•exemptions can be given in special cases.

Unit IV. MODERN CIVILIZATION AFFECTS THE

ENVIRONMENT

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Ex. 1. Learn to pronounce the words given below:

conservation [/konsə:/vei∫ən], consumptive [kən/sΛmptiv], incompatible [/inkəm/pætəbl], fluctuate [/flΛkt∫ueit], conifer [/kounifə], fiber [/faibə], rayon [/reion], sponge [spΛndʒ], lacquer [/lækə], acetic [ə/si:tik], medicinal [me/disinl], turpentine [/tə:pəntail], interior [in/tiəriə], species

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[/spi:∫i:z], disease [di/zi:z], nurseries [/nə:sriz], eroded [i/rodid], pasture [/pa:st∫ə], demise [di/maiz].

2. Text Study

Ex. 2. Read Text A and find out:

a)the categories of forest use;

b)what conservation efforts are aimed at.

Text A

Conservation of Forests

Forestry involves the use and management of forest resources. Forest uses can be divided into two categories: nonconsumptive and consumptive. Nonconsumptive uses, which remove little from the forest, include watershed protection, wildlife and fish habitat, recreation, and aesthetic uses. These specific uses require that the forests be maintained in conditions with which other nonconsumptive and consumptive uses are sometimes incompatible. Consumptive uses involve the extraction of products from forests: this often requires the harvesting of trees. Forest resources are renewable, since new trees can grow after the old ones are cut.

The use of forests to obtain wood, chemicals, and other products is consumptive. About half of the wood harvested in the world is used directly for fuel. Wood is the primary fuel source in developing countries; its use fluctuates with the cost of alternative energy sources. Today, wood for structures primarily comes from straight, strong, conifer trees. Paper was first made from wood about 150 years ago, and it is still made primarily from wood. The cellulose fibers in wood can also be used to make rayon, photographic film, artificial sponges, synthetic lacquers, and other plastics. Wood might be more widely used in industry to produce plastics, except that petroleum, an alternative raw material, is cheaper than wood.

Various chemicals are made from by-products of pulp and paper manufacture and from the independent distillation of wood; these include charcoal, acetic acid, methanol, various oils, and medicinal chemicals. Turpentine and tar may be obtained from destructive distillation or by scarring and scraping the wound of living pine trees. Maple sugar is obtained by taking the sap from the interior of living maple trees, and various trees provide other products.

Conservation is the planned management of natural resources to prevent their neglect, exploitation, and destruction. Forests have changed and

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will continue to change as trees grow and die, species migrate, and climates change. Often a forest is stressed by these changes, and the trees can become weakened and infected by insects or diseases, resulting in their death. Air pollution and water pollution created by human or natural activity can further damage trees. In northern Europe, many hectares of forests have been affected by acid rain.

One objective of conservation is the prevention of unintentional destruction of forests by disease, insects, and other agents. The other objective is the determination of management goals for each area of forest. Once the objectives of each stand are determined, the actual management requires the understanding of the natural sciences, long-term processes and history, and modern technologies. Deciding what values to conserve is a scientific, technological, and political subject. The decision requires the understanding of what natural and human activities will most readily destroy the stand and the knowledge of the most realistic uses, which entail both the private rights of the individual landowner and the public.

The objectives of conservation have changed along with changes in such related areas as the understanding of forest process, human values themselves, demands on the forest, availabilities of various resources, and technologies. Early forest conservation in North America was aimed at protecting forested areas from clearing for agricultural lands. Pine trees were conserved and harvested for making sailing ships. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, forests were protected from fire, overharvesting, and overgrazing by the establishment of grazing laws, fire control practices, and harvesting regulations. Aesthetically unique areas and high-quality watersheds were set aside as national parks and forests. In the mid-20th century unproductive farmland was converted to forests through the subsidizing of reforestation, thus halting erosion and providing for future forests. In the 1930s southern U.S. forest industries began to grow seedlings on a large scale in forest tree nurseries and to replant large deforested areas.

In the past few decades, increases in mobility, leisure time, and disposable income have led to more interest in conserving forests for nonconsumptive purpose. In the United States, management objectives for national forests have shifted from timber production to multiple uses. More areas of public lands are mandated for nonconsumptive uses such as watershed and wildlife management and recreation. Various U.S. states have established or revised Forest Practices Acts to ensure that some uses of privately held lands are conserved.

Forests have been used for consumptive purposes throughout the world; in tropical regions, where forest soils grow rapidly, forest harvesting is occurring at a rapid rate. In parts of Africa, where the soils are eas-

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ily eroded and the climate is unpredictable, forests and woodlands are being diminished. Agricultural practices may lead to deforestation under pressures of increasing population.

Three solutions to the deforestation problem have met with some success: the first involves the use of local people in forest management; the second involves "agroforestry," or the planting of trees in croplands and pastures; and the third involves the use of the financial resources of developed countries. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has gained support for the protection of the world's forests and their role in rural development.

In the United States less than 5 percent of the virgin forests that used to blanket the country remain. In the face of population increases and continued industrialization, environmental activists in the United States have undertaken a constant watch to ensure that the remaining forests are conserved as humans increasingly alter the environment. As scientific knowledge of forest growth expands and a better understanding of detrimental effects of human activity develops, conservation efforts are working to turn the tide and prevent the demise of forests as sources of consumptive products, clean water, wildlife and fish habitats, and recreational areas. These efforts are being applied globally to prevent the neglect, exploitation, and destruction of forests worldwide.

Ex. 3. Match the word and the definition:

Ex. 4. Find in text A:

a) the synonyms of the following words:

to get (2), harm (1), harmful (1), aim (2), lease (1); b) the antonyms of the following words:

to plant (2), secondary (1), reforestation (1), to stand still (4), development (1).

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Ex. 5. Write the Russian equivalents to the following word combinations:

consumptive uses involve the extraction of products from forests; forest resources are renewable; various chemicals are made from by-products of pulp and paper manufacture and from the independent distillation of wood; turpentine and tar may be obtained by scarring and scraping the wound of living pine trees; trees can become weakened and infected by insects or diseases; the objectives of conservation have changed along with changes in such related areas as; unproductive farmland was converted to forests through the subsidizing of reforestation; forest industries began to grow seedlings on a large scale in forest tree nurseries and to replant large deforested areas; forest harvesting is occurring at a rapid rate; the virgin forests used to blanket the country remain.

Ex. 6. Find in text A the English equivalents to the following word combinations:

нерыночные ресурсы леса включают в себя охрану водоразделов, ареал животных и рыб, рекреацию; колебаться в зависимости от стоимости альтернативных источников энергии; древесный уголь, уксусная кислота, метиловый спирт и другие химикаты; побочные продукты производства целлюлозы и бумаги; влечет за собой права как отдельно взятого землевладельца, так и общественности; защита лесных земель от вырубки; леса были защищены от пожара, излиш- них рубок, чрезмерного использования пастбищ; многоцелевое ис- пользование леса; почвы легко размываются; климат непредсказуем; решение проблемы обезлесения; использование финансовых ресур- сов развитых стран; получить поддержку; постоянно наблюдать.

Ex. 7. Translate the following sentences into English in writing.

1.Ресурсы леса подразделяются на две группы: рыночные и не- рыночные.

2.Рациональное природопользование представляет собой плано- вое управление природными ресурсами в целях защиты от всяческих разрушений.

3.Загрязнение воды и воздуха, вызванное деятельностью челове- ка, может повлечь за собой повреждение лесного массива.

4.Одна из целей рационального природопользования это предот- вращение непреднамеренного разрушения лесов вследствие болезней, нашествия насекомых и других воздействий окружающей среды.

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