Английский язык. Практикум по чтению научно-технических текстов

Ex. 20. Change the following object clauses into the construction with the Complex Object in writing. Translate the sentences.

We know that ordinary people become very worried about Model. the state of the environment. – We know the ordinary people

to become very worried about the state of the environment.

1. People think that the whole idea of re-using and recycling is one of the things that is really caught. 2. Gardeners know that pesticides and weed killers cause a kind of pollution. 3. Doing the weeding by hand instead of killing the weeds with a chemical, every gardener intends that the use of chemicals in his garden should be banned. 4. Researches report that cars in towns and cities create a lot of environmental problems. 5. Scientists found that humans first appeared in Africa. 6. We believe that early humans lived in some harmony with the environment. 7. We suppose that unprecedented demands on the environment from a rapidly expanding human population are causing an accelerating decline in the quality of the environment. 8. Scientists report that acid groundwater removes vital minerals essential for plant growth. 9. Researches report that toxic substances become concentrated in land animals. 10. In the 1970s and 1980s, scientists found that human activity was having a detrimental effect on the global ozone layer.

71

Ex. 21. Change the following noun clauses into the construction with the Complex Subject in writing. Translate the sentences.

It turned out that rapid urbanization and rapid population increase Model. have produced sewage problems. – Rapid urbanization and rapid population increase turned out to have produced sewage problems.

1. It seems that conventional pollutants cause a myriad of water pollution problems. 2. It is certain that excess of dissolved solids make the water undesirable for drinking. 3. It is considered that the conventional pollutants include dissolved and particulate forms of metals. 4. It appears that thousands of environmentally untested chemicals are routinely discharged into waterways. 5. It is likely that nonconventional pollutants vary from biologically inert materials to the most toxic materials. 6. It is believed that most industrialized countries are trying to reduce pollutants from conventional waste sources. 7. It happens that regulatory agencies now require examining new products and chemicals. 8. It is considered that thermal pollution is the discharge of waste heat via energy dissipation into cooling water.

Ex. 22. Choose the correct translation of the following English sentences.

72

Ex. 23. Translate the sentences given below into Russian, paying attention to the Infinitive and the Infinitive Constructions.

1. The most readily measurable physiological effect of noise pollution turns out to be damage to hearing. 2. More persons are known to be seriously affected by smog than by any other type of air pollution. 3. Cities located in bowls or valleys over which atmospheric inversions form and act as imperfect lids are especially likely to suffer from severe smog. 4. The effect of the increase of the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may alter the Earth’s climate by increasing the average global temperature. 5. Scientists found air pollution to have a deleterious effect on works of art. 6. As a coal economy had gradually been replaced by a petroleum economy, photochemical smog appeared to become predominant in many cities. 7. Photochemical smog is noticed to produce eye irritation and to cause severe damage to many types of vegetation. 8. Noise pollution seems to be more intense in the world environment. 9. Most noise sources are sure to be measured in terms of intensity, strength, or the sound field. 10. Treatment of waste involving biological, chemical and physical methods of disposal is used to remove industrial pollutants such as heavy metals and nonbiodegradable organic chemicals.

THE GERUND. THE COMPLEX WITH THE GERUND

Ex. 24. Translate the following sentences into Russian.

1. The whole idea of building a number of purification facilities is very opportune nowadays. 2. The aim of topographic attempts is minimizing geological processes after mining such as erosion. 3. Planning of post-mining landscapes should be oriented on geomorphologic characteristics of the former natural landscapes. 4. After applying acidity and planktonic colonization as criteria, the scientists propose a classification scheme for mining lakes. 5. Numerous and often ingenious methods have been proposed for removing pollutants from the atmosphere once they have been emitted. 6. Opencast

73

mining is the most efficient method of extracting lignite. 7. The area affected by groundwater lowering is 2 100 km2. 8. For investigating the processes and the subsystems, suitable study catchments have to be selected. 9. On closing the mines, a regional water deficit of about 900 million m3 and an extreme backlog in recultivation were left behind. 10. Thermal changes affect the aquatic system by limiting or changing the type of fish.

Ex. 25. Complete the following sentences using the Gerund. Translate the sentences.

1. It is no good (дышать загрязненным воздухом). 2. It is no use (защищать леса от кислотных дождей). 3. There is no sense (использо- вать минеральное топливо в современном мире). 4. Why are we against (концентрации токсичных веществ в организмах животных)? 5. The only aim of his visiting Norway was (увидеть оляпку). 6. Humans arrogant with power can’t help (разрушить оазис жизни в солнечной системе). 7. People had an intention of (изменить лицо планеты). 8. Humans developed the ability of (пользования огнем). 9. With the Industrial Revolution the human population began (менять лицо Земли). 10. A rapidly expanding human population had an intention of (развития современных технологий).

Ex. 26. Choose the correct translation of the following English sentences.

74

Ex. 27. Form the gerundial complexes out of the elements in brackets in writing. Translate the sentences.

1.Using the car less may mean (we, to walk) to school with children.

2.Walking to the local shops or choosing to travel on the train or the bus mean (we, to use) the car less. 3. With the Industrial Revolution, humans began to think of (they, to change) the face of the earth. 4. The striking effects of acid rain are (water, to become acid; fish, to be poisoned and killed; birds and animals, to leave) their natural areas. 5. Norway’s national bird, the dipper, pays little attention to (the ice and snow, to be around) her. 6. Last weekend ape-like humans couldn’t stop (the last ice age, to cover the Earth). 7. There was a drastic modification of the catchments due to (the groundwater table, to lower). 8. The removal of the burden above the lignite seams and its subsequent re-deposition has lead to (a new landscape, to formate). 9. The dewatering resulted in lowering the former high groundwater level and (a much larger area, to be affected).

10.(Packaged air conditioning, to be less expensive) brings it to a far wider range of people. 11. (The major problems of pollution, to be associated with community activity), the community air is generally more grossly polluted.

Ex. 28. Point out the Gerundial Complex and translate the sentences into Russian.

1. Fancy large parts of area belonging to the nature reserve park “Lower Lusatian Ridge”. 2. While developing the nature reserve park people thought of the mining areas integrating within the naturally grown landscape. 3. One objective of the current landscape reclamation is natural and sustainable watercourses re-implementing. 4. Extensive reclamation projects for new arable land gaining caused severe disturbance of the groundwater conditions. 5. However, the most massive impact on the surface and surface water recourses within the area was caused by the groundwater

75

pumping for the operation of lignite mining. 6. The rising groundwater and its ex-filtration into the pits lead to highly mineralized and acidic lakes being formed. 7. Applying the geotechnical measures of dump flushing for stabilizing the bank slopes, large amounts of acid material were transported into the lake. 8. So far, little attention has been paid to the watercourses and the catchment areas upstream of the post-mining lakes recovering. 9. Fancy watercourses entering the groundwater-lowering cone that are losing water and even fall dry. 10. The discharge of mainly dominated by the input of groundwater being pumped.

Ex. 29. Translate the following sentences paying attention to “ing-forms”.

1.Overcast mining is the most efficient method of extracting lignite.

2.For the mining operations, water has to be removed from the substrate

overlying the lignite seam. 3. The corresponding deficit of groundwater in the aquifers amounts to about 9 billion m3 and in the developing postmining lakes about 4 billion m3, respectively. 4. Once mining ceased, the water table has risen resulting in the formation of post-mining lakes in the mining pits. 5. The general objective of this study is the dynamics of the water and matter balance of the developing catchments and the postmining hydrological conditions. 6. Deciding what natural recourses to conserve is a scientific and political subject. 7. Early forest conservation in North America was aimed at protecting forested areas from clearing for agricultural lands. 8. Heat for the purpose of heating rooms and maintaining them at a comfortable temperature is supplied to compensate for a loss of heat to the surroundings. 9. Because of the growing threat of dangerous environmental effects, many nations are working toward eliminating the manufacture and use of industrial chemicals. 10. Chlorine attacks ozone, which consists of three molecules of oxygen, by taking one molecule away to form chlorine monoxide. 11. Chlorinated hydrocarbons interfere in the calcium metabolism of birds, causing thinning of egg shells and subsequent reproductive failure. 12. Increasing numbers of humans are encroaching on remaining wild lands – even in those areas once considered relatively safe from exploitation. 13. The Earth’s atmosphere acts as the glass walls and roof of a greenhouse in trapping heat from the Sun.

14.As interests of individuals differ, rainmaking may be a blessing to one and blight to another. 15. Since the Industrial Revolution, man has made increasing use of fossil energy and mineral recourses. 16. Reduction and recycling of wastes are one of the most recent trends in recourse management. 17. The management of irradiated fuel should ensure that the biosphere is protected under economically acceptable conditions without en-

76

tailing unfavorable short-term consequences. 18. The motorcar is looked upon by many as the biggest culprit of all for contaminating the air. 19. It goes without saying that the car manufacturers have been working intensely on research and development of cars that are more environmentally acceptable. 20. We invest a great deal in researching new recycling methods with a view to avoiding waste and conserving resources wherever possible. 21. Much of Britain’s legislation on pollution control is being developed in collaboration with other European Community member states and organizations such as the United Nations. 22. After recycling, the wastes are fed back into the material cycles. 23. Practice soon outstripped theory because bacteriology was only then being born and there were many unknowns about the processes. 24. The first attempts at wastewater treatment were made by artificially providing means for the purification of wastewaters in nature. 25. Depending on the dose, the organism involved, and the type of compound involved, nickel may be beneficial or toxic.

77

Chapter III. SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Ex. 1. Read text 1 concentrating on the classification of environmental communities.

Text 1

Ecological Classification of Organisms

Ecologists commonly classify organisms according to their function in the environment. Autotrophs ("self-nourishes," also called producers), which are mainly green plants, manufacture their own food from carbon dioxide, water, minerals, and sunlight, whereas heterotrophs – a wide assortment of organisms – lack the metabolic machinery to synthesize their own food and must obtain it from other sources. Some heterotrophs – the herbivores – eat plants, and some – the carnivores, or predators – eat animals. Some, called omnivores, eat both plants and animals; others eat only dead plants and animals. Some, called scavengers, eat large dead organisms. Some smaller heterotrophs, such as bacteria and fungi, feed on dead organisms; they are called decomposers. Parasites eat living organisms, but, unlike predators, do not devour them at one time. Parasites include forms such as ticks and fleas, which live on their hosts, and others, such as tapeworms, roundworms, and bacteria, which live within their hosts.

Organisms live together in assemblages called communities. Some communities are very small, such as those composed of invertebrates and decomposers living within a rotting log. Others may be as large as an entire forest. The most extensive communities, called biomes, occupy wide geographic areas. The major biomes are arctic tundras, northern coniferous forests, deciduous forests, grasslands, deserts, and tropical jungles and rain forests. Shrubby forests and coniferous rain forests are sometimes also considered biomes. The distinctive appearance of each biome is generally determined by the predominance of characteristic plant species, but the animals that are characteristically associated with it also contribute to its distinctiveness.

Communities are composed of both plants and animals. Each species is distributed according to its own biological requirements, which may be affected by other species.

The number of species within a community is called species diversity. Species diversity has two components, richness and evenness. If there are many species in a community, it is said to have a rich diversity. All spe-

78

cies, however, are not always equally represented. If, as commonly happens, only a few species are abundant, the diversity is said to be uneven.

If a community that has been disturbed by a disaster such as fire, flood, windstorm, volcanic eruption, plow, or bulldozer, is left undisturbed for a long time, it will eventually restore itself, this process is called succession. A forest completely destroyed by fire may take hundreds or thousands of years to become completely renewed, depending on the climate, the nature of the soil, and other environmental factors. A forest destroyed by fire in Minnesota might be restored in a few hundred years, whereas one in Mexico destroyed by a lava flow might not be restored for thousands of years. Succession also occurs very slowly in the desert and in the tundra because of climatic and soil conditions.

Ex. 2. Read text 2 paying attention to the central elements of ecological engineering.

Text 2

What is Ecological Engineering?

Odum defined ecological engineering as the environmental manipulations by man using small amounts of supplementary energy to control systems in which the main energy drives are still coming from natural sources. Others have amended this definition to include the design of ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans and nature and the design of sustainable systems consistent with ecological principles that integrate human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both. Bergen suggested the following elements should be central to the profession of ecological engineering:

1)that the practice is based on ecological science;

2)that ecological engineering is defined broadly enough to include all types of ecosystems and potential human interactions with ecosystems;

3)that the concept of engineering design is included ;

4)that there is acknowledgement of an underlying ethic.

Ecological engineering differs from civil, environmental, agricultural, and biosystems engineering in its reliance on ecological sciences as the basic for design. Ecological engineers may be competent to address any number of biological and environmental engineering problems, including bioremediation, composting, and biological treatment of wastewater. However, ecological engineers should also be applied ecologists, able to collaborate with theoretical scientists to develop, design, and construct

79

solutions to complex ecological problems. Ecological engineers should be able to address issues such as terrestrial and aquatic ecological restoration, integrated sustainable development, biodiversity conservation planning, watershed sustainability analysis, and ecological risk assessment. Developing and protecting the credibility of ecological engineering as a profession requires clear definition of the body of knowledge a practicing ecological engineer must master prior to being certified.

The engineering profession is based on objective science, professional standards of practice or ethical guidelines must be based on scientifically valid evidence of the direct, reproducible, corollary effects between ecological function and human health, safety, and welfare. The practice of ecological engineering should to be based on sound technical competence and objective reasoning of the practitioner, not politically popular or trendy environmental attitudes. Accepting this premise, the temptation is to then establish standards of practice based solely on technical engineering calculations and raw data while disallowing any judgmental conclusions or predictive modeling and thereby avoiding the difficult engineering art questions that arise as a result of the practice of ecological engineering. Ecological engineers must be allowed to practice engineering and not to be confined to the precepts of hypothetical reductionism that defines good science.

Ex. 3. Read text 3 and find the answers to the following questions:

a)why is it difficult to define the term “poison”?

b)what is the practical purpose of poisons?

c)what new poisons have you learnt?

Text 3

The History of Poisons

The term “poison” is difficult to define because any material, if used in large enough amounts or administered in certain ways, will produce harmful effects on some structure or function of the body. Other factors, which must be considered, include an individual’s general state of health, age, sex, and whether previous exposure to an agent has increased his tolerance to it or has caused a cumulative effect, which renders him more susceptible to an added dose.

For all practical purposes, poisons are substances, which cause tissue damage or malfunction of a potentially serious degree when given to an average individual in small amounts. This amount is usually considered to

80