Using the Earth's Resources

1. The term «energy shortage», when used to say that the world is running out of energy resources, is not correct. The world is not short of energy resources. Man's need is to convert sufficient amounts of the earth's energy into usable products as population and demand grow.

2. There is a continuous flow of energy into and out of the Earth's surface environment. The largest source of the energy flow is solar radiation. It is an unlimited source of energy. Most solar energy is unused. Only a small part of it is caught by plant leaves and stored as chemical energy. It becomes the source of food energy for humans and animals.

3. Solar energy is the original source of fossil fuels (горючие ископаемые), too. Through the ages the remains of plants and animals have been stored in the earth and have become our source of coal, oil and natural gas. But these resources may last two - three centuries. These fossil fuels are limited and non-renewable in the next million years.

4. Man must not only convert these fossil fuels into usable energy. But he must also create and adapt energy from other sources. These sources known as renewable are: wind, water, the Sun, geothermal processes and nuclear fission. For example, man can convert solar energy

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directly to electricity. Synthetic oil and gas can be produced from coal. These are the aims of today's technologies. Man's activity in this sphere offers hope for the future.

a) State which of the given sentences is the key sentence of the paragraphs.

1. The world is not short of energy.

2. Man's need is to convert sufficient amounts of energy into usable products.

1. The largest source of the energy flow is solar energy.

2. Most solar energy is unused.

1. Through the ages the remains of plants and animals have been stored in the earth.

3. 1 2. The fossil fuels are limited and non-renewable.

1 .Man must create and adapt energy from other sources.

4. [2. The renewable sources are: wind, water, the Sun, geothermal processes, nuclear fission.

b) Name renewable and non-renewable sources of energy. Ex. 13 Choose the heading to each text.

Energy is life.

Energy is potential.

Energy is movement.

Energy is geothermal.

1. This kind of energy can be stored for use, like water behind a dam (плотина). Then it can be transformed into kinetic energy - which is the energy of motion.

2. Nature provides some heat energy directly from the earth's interior. Only small amounts are being used today, but drilling (making) more holes may increase this form of energy.

3. The human body is an efficient thermodynamic machine that converts fuel into useful work by oxidation. It is the flow of energy from cell (клетка) to cell that differinciates the living from the dead.

4. Heat is the movement of molecules. Electricity is the flow of electrons. Radiation is the movement of subatomic particles. Mechanical energy (or work) is the movement of masses.

Words to the text "OIL INDUSTRY"

1. major а главный, больший

a major road; the major part

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major n

2. source n

3. coal n

4. peat n

5. surface n

6. deposit n

7. seepage n

8. occur v

occurrence n

9. torch n