ozone, etc. 12% Nitrous oxide 6% Water vapor is also a significant greenhouse gas but is not usually quantified because of its large-scale natural occurrences.

The systems of production for these gases are all human-based. All of the gases except CFCs are also created naturally, but the mechanisms for their formation are not described here. The argument put forward is that artificial production of these gases is disturbing the atmospheric equilibrium.

Ex.1. Read the text and answer the questions:

a)What is the definition of the greenhouse effect? Was your definition to the text C right?

b)How does the greenhouse effect work?

c)What are the greenhouse gases?

d)Why water vapor may be called a unique greenhouse gas?

Ex.2. Find out the international words in the text. Learn them.

Unit 3. Some well known and new engineering ways to solve the problem “Turning heat down”

Text 1. The description of the problem as a whole.

Предтекстовое задание. По своему выбору выпишите предложения, перевод которых соответствует грамматическим конструкциям, приведенным перед текстом. Обоснуйте в соответствии с грамматическими правилами.

Grammar: Adjectives of Quality.

Adjectives of Quantity.

Global warming could be a turning point in a long series of events that began in 1769, when a Scottish inventor James Watt perfected the coal-fired steam engine and sent the Industrial Revolution "chug-chugging" on its way. Global warming seems to become a planetary emergency, a crisis born of one ineluctable1 reality: modern societies have been forged from, and are sustained by, fossil fuels - oil, coal, and natural gas. Burning these fuels releases immense quantities of carbon dioxide (C02). Not a "pollutant" that can be scrubbed, trapped, or otherwise eliminated, C02 is a fundamental by-product of the combustion process. Thus, global warming has been simmering for a long time. Until recently, though, it has been one of the hidden

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costs of progress.

Developing a strategy to win global warming is a Herculean task. Any attempt to stop climatic change must be global in scope and must persist for decades, even centuries. In one way or another, these efforts will affect the lives of nearly everyone on the planet. The threat of global warming is so grave that action should be taken immediately.

The immediate goal should be to slow the rate of warming as a first step toward stopping it. This will buy precious time - to do more research, to anticipate problems before they happen and to develop projects, such as breeding droughtresistant wheat, building sea walls, and transplanting endangered species.

Other steps are: starting a program of greenhouse research; banning chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), another greenhouse gas; implementing energyefficiency plan; redoubling efforts to use renewable energy sources; starting a worldwide reforestation .campaign (trees absorb CO from the air); and doing everything in our power to help other countries achieve their development goals with renewable rather than fossil fuels.

Investigating the interactions between global warming, the climate, and the biosphere is also very important. For example, climate models predict that the greenhouse effect will increase the world's cloud cover. But whether more clouds will worsen or ease the warming is unclear. Global warming also has the potential to affect plankton populations. Since these microscopic aquatic plants and animals now utilize huge amounts of C02, even minor changes in their numbers could have a dramatic effect on the rate of warming.

Realistically, we will not be able to wean ourselves from fossil fuels overnight. But there are two ways to lessen C02 emissions while we make the transition to renew-ables. First, we can switch power plants from coal to natural gas, the cleanestburning fossil fuel, a good short-term solution.

Drozdova T.

Berestova A.

Text B. Acid rain. Chemical aspect.

Предтекстовое задание. По своему выбору выпишите предложения, перевод которых соответствует грамматическим конструкциям, приведенным перед текстом. Обоснуйте в соответствии с грамматическими правилами.

Grammar : Construction there + be;

Prepositions of place;

Interrogative words

A better name for 'acid ram' would be 'acid air’ The pollution is caused by burning enormous quantities of coal and oil, which in turn generate vast amounts of

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polluting gases. Airborne by products of certain industrial processes add to the pollutant mix.

There are several different ways in which acid air pollution occurs, and diverse pathways through which it affects the environment: the resulting imbalance of nature kills human beings, animals, trees, vegetation and lakes over enormous areas. The pollution also corrodes stone and other materials. Acid rain is international, in that all countries create it and suffer from it ft ш exported and imported between countries in millions of tones. When coal or oil is burned the gases float up the chimney and escape. Up to 50 per cent of the pollutants linger in the vicinity of the furnace, as gas, or as particles in the air, which eventually drift to earth within a 30-kilometre circle of the emission source. Up to 30 per cent of the pollutants mix with water in the clouds and fall as localized rain, snow, sleet, or mist. The remainder finds a convenient wind current and moves with it to wherever it is going, eventually falling to earth.

So, acid rain is not just rain: it includes rain, snow, sleet, hail, mists, fogs, gas and dry particles. The great London smog was an example of acid rain.

The pollutants occur in their original state, as S02 or NOx; in their acid state, as sulphuric or nitric acid; or, in another form, when the acids break down into their component parts, as hydrogen, sulphates and nitrates.

The combined effect of acid pollution and industrially created ozone near the surface of the earth is believed to be a central factor contributing to the decline and death of forests across Central Europe. The process of acid rain is complex and occurs on a vast scale; the effects are similarly varied and widespread.

•Acid rain degrades lakes and streams if it falls long enough to overcome natural defense mechanisms. This has happened in Scandinavia and in certain parts of Britain. The lakes are based on rock or thin soil and cannot buffer the acid input. They become more acidic, and all the fish die.

•Acid air pollution kills forests on an enormous scale.

•There is general scientific agreement as to widespread crop damage in the USA caused by ozone, and damage to test specimens in the UK. The combined effects of the various pollutants on crops are still being examined but are thought to be extremely large.

•There is agreement as to the widespread damage caused by acid pollution to materials. It corrodes sandstone, limestone, leather, paper, certain metals, historic monuments and stained glass.

•Certain birds are known to be affected by acid changes in the environment, where their food supply is disrupted. Changes in the flora of areas have been discovered.

Ex.1.Read and translate the text.

Ex.2. Speak to each other. Ask about definitions of such terms as: acid rain; kinds of fuel; pollution; corrosion; industrial processes leading to the pollutant mix; polluting gases.

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Ex.3. Name the several ways in which acid air pollution occurs. Headline the central factor of the process as a whole.

Text C. Acid rain as an international problem number three.

Предтекстовое задание. По своему выбору выпишите предложения, перевод которых соответствует грамматическим конструкциям, приведенным перед текстом. Обоснуйте в соответствии с грамматическими правилами.

Grammar: The Simple Future Tense;

Active and Passive Voice.

Acid rain is an international problem which will be solved only by international action. The environment movement has agreed that 90 percent cuts in sulphur and nitrogen emissions are necessary to protect the most vulnerable ecosystems.

The best way to clean up a source of pollution is not to allow it to be emitted. There are three interacting pollutants that start the acid rain cycle — sulphur, nitrogen and hydrocarbons.

Anthropogenic (L e. human-made) sulphur emissions will be stopped mainly by preventing the burning of coal and oil. This can be achieved by conserving energy much more efficiently than is currently the practice and by using non-polluting sources of energy. (See Unit 9). This would also have the effect of lessening the greenhouse effect

Anthropogenic nitrogen emissions come partly from power stations — primary action taken to remove sulphur sources would thus also have the same effect for nitrogen — and partly from the world's automobile fleet. More efficient use of public transport would be the most effective way of reducing these emissions. Emissions from "petrol engines can be largely reduced by use of catalytic converters. Catalytic converters reduce hydrocarbon emissions.

Ex.1. Read and translate the text. Write down and remember the chemical terms: sulphur; nitrogen; hydrocarbons; catalytic converters.

Ex.2. Describe some environment protection engineering methods as a possible solution of the Acid rain problem.

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