Text № 7 «essential minerals»

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Our body needs certain elements known as minerals, or ash¹ constituents. They are calcium, chlorine, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, sodium, sulphur, zine, and possibly aluminium, cobalt, fluorine, nickel, molybdenum and silicon. Due to the very small amount required of each, the six last named minerals along with copper and zine are usually referred to as trace elements².

Calciumis required for all tissues but especially for bones and teeth. It is essential in the coagulation of blood, the beating of the heart, the irritability of nerves, cell activity, and the maintenance of the neutrality of the body. Foods that are important sources of calcium are: bread, carrots, cheese, egg yolk, ice-cream, milk, oranges, turnips, green and leafy vegetables.

Phosphorus,too, is necessary in all tissues and essential in the oxidation of carbohydrates. It helps in the regulation of the neutrality of the blood, in the conductivity of nerve impulses and in the controlling of cell activity. Important sources of this food constituent are: cheese egg yolk, fish, ice-cream, leafy vegetables, meat, liver, legumes, milk, whole grains.

Iron is necessary to form hemoglobin, a substance in the blood, which carries oxygen to the cells and plays an essential role in the body functions and the activity of cells. Valuable food sources of iron are: wheat, bread, and cereals, whole grain, egg yolk, fish, liver, potatoes. Copper is widely distributed in foods and most of those that are good sources of iron are also good sources of copper. Iodine aids in the regulation of general health and of the nervous system. When iodine is lacking in the diet, the thyroid gland is unable to produce thyroxin, a hormone which is necessary for all the oxidative reactions of the body. Sources of iodine are cod liver oil, salt water fish, sea foods, vegetables, cereals, dairy products, and fruit produced on soils of good iodine content and water supply.

1. зола

2. микроэлементы

Text № 8 «wheat»

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3. Расскажите на английском языке:

а) о структуре зерновки пшеницы;

б) о внешних особенностях и характеристиках разновидностейпшеницы

Neither the geographical, the historical, nor the biological origin of wheat is known. The evidence as exists seems to point to Mesopotamia as the original home of wheat, although there is a belief that the plant once grew wild in the Euphrates and the Tigris valleys and spread from these regions to the rest of the world.

The most ancient languages mentions of man notably in the earliest Swiss lake dwellings is proof of its antiquity. We also have evidence that wheat was cultivated in China 3,000 years B.C., and that it was the chief crop in ancient Egypt and Palestine.

Wheat is the most important of the cereals. It can grow in almost any kind of soil and in any climate. Thus, it is one of the most widely grown crops in the world.

The grain of wheat is a seed. It may by regarded as consisting of three parts: the germ or embryo which produces the new plant; the starchy endosperm, which provides the food for the new plant when the embryo first starts to grow; the various outer coverings constituting the bran of the grain. The protein of wheat which is contained in the endosperm is called gluten from its glue-like tendency to hold starch particles together.

Different varieties of wheat grown under diverge conditions of soil, climate and pedigree¹ vary greatly in appearance and characteristics. In appearance, wheat may be red or white according to the colour of the bran or outer skin of the grain; in characteristics it may be hard or soft, “strong” or “weak”. Strong wheats give the best bread-making flour, weak wheats – the biscuit and self-rising flour.

Wheat may be divided into two classes, winter wheat and spring wheat. Spring wheats grown in suitable climate are usually strong, whereas winter wheats are usually weak.

1 – родословная