Vocabulary

1. acid кислота

2. ruthless безжалостный, жестокий

3. curse проклинать

4. contaminate загрязнять

5. harmful вредный, пагубный

6. side effect побочный эффект

7. sulphuric acid серная кислота

8. nitric acid азотная кислота

9. mist (лёгкий) туман, дымка

10. long-lasting долгосрочный

11. device средство, устройство

12. lime известь

13. issue проблема

14. chimney труба

15. blowing утечка (газа, пара)

16. call on призывать

17. boundary граница

18. drop падать

19. substantial существенный

20. move away удалять(ся), отодвигать

21. combat бороться, сражаться

22. despite несмотря на

23. concern беспокойство, интерес

24. legacy наследство, наследие

25. headache головная боль

26. fossil fuels природное топливо

Word Study

1. Give the Russian equivalents to the following words:

primary, distances, potential, extremely, extensive, agricultural, engineers, drainage, temporarily, neutralization, international, deposits, result, boom, convention, combination, utilization, spectre, politicians, contrast

2. Guess the meaning of the underlined words. Translate the sentences.

1) Acid rain can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. 2) Acid rain is caused by emissions of compounds of ammonium, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. 3) Governments have made efforts since the 1970s to reduce the production of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere with positive results. 4) "Acid rain" is a popular term referring to the deposition of wet (rain, snow, sleet, fog, cloud-water, and dew) and dry (acidifying particles and gases) acidic components. 5) Since the Industrial Revolution, emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides to the atmosphere have increased. 7) The gases can be carried hundreds of kilometers in the atmosphere before they are converted to acids and deposited.

3. Translate the following word combinations:

harmful and visible side-effect; at unsustainable levels; combustion process; obvious consequences; the acidity of the soil and water; long-lasting agricultural and ecological damage; the issue of acid rain; come to the attention; industrial boom; transboundary air pollution"; environmental concerns; to drop substantially; the installation of desulphurisation systems

4. Match the word from list A with its definition in list B.

A	B
acidity contaminate harmful mist issue call on boundary concern legacy	a) state or quality being acid b) sth handed down from ancestors or predecessors c) appeal to d) water vapour in the air, less thick than fog e) line that marks a limit; dividing line f) causing damage, injury g) question that arises for discussion h) sth in which one is interested or which is important to one i) make dirty, impure or diseased

5. Place the appropriate word from the list in each of the blanks below:

boundaries, lime, harmful, combustion, fossil fuels, mist, nitric and sulfuric acids

1. Acid rain has … impacts on forests, freshwaters and soils, killing insect and aquatic life-forms as well as causing damage to buildings and human health.

2. The effect of acid rain on food crops is minimized by the application of … and fertilizers to replace lost nutrients.

3. "Acid rain" is a term referring to a mixture of wet and dry deposition from the atmosphere containing higher than normal amounts of ...

4. Acid rain results from both natural sources, such as volcanoes, and man-made sources, primarily emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) resulting from fossil fuel ...

5. When sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released from power plants and other sources, winds blow these compounds across state and national …, sometimes over hundreds of miles.

6. If the acid chemicals in the air are blown into areas where the weather is wet, the acids can fall to the ground in the form of rain, snow, fog, or ...

7. The source of the acids released to the atmosphere is largely the combustion of … that produce harmful gases such as oxides of sulfur and nitrogen.

Reading for Speaking and Discussing

Read the text and answer the question:

- What problem is a much bigger challenge nowadays than acid rain?

Acid Rain

When it rains, it is said that God is showering all his love on Mother Nature, but when it is acid rain, perhaps God is cursing the ruthless manner in which man is exploiting the nature.

What is acid rain?

Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic.

Acid rain is a harmful and visible side effect of air pollution caused by contaminating chemicals entering the environment at unsustainable levels.

A primary cause of acid rain is the burning of fossil fuels: the gases released during the combustion process (in particular nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide) can in high concentrations react with the water in clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids. Acid rain can be carried long distances by the wind when in 'wet' form, but it has not always appeared only as rain: it can also take the form of snow, mist and dry dust.

Acid rain has the potential to be extremely harmful to both the natural and built environments. As well as the obvious consequences of killing plant life and damaging buildings, acid rain increases the acidity of the soil and water, causing extensive and long-lasting agricultural and ecological damage.

Scientists and engineers have developed ways to reduce the acidity of rain. For example, several kinds of devices remove sulfur and nitrogen compounds from fuels or industrial emissions before they reach the atmosphere. Adding lime to lakes and rivers and their drainage temporarily neutralize their acidity. But the neutralization may have harmful side effects.

The term 'acid rain' was used as long ago as 1858 to mean rain made more acidic by acid gas pollution.

However, the issue of acid rain first came to the attention of the international community in the late 1960s, having been identified in certain areas of southern Scandinavia, where it was damaging forests. The matter quickly became an international issue when it was discovered that the acid deposits in these areas were a result of heavy pollution in the UK and other parts of northern Europe.

Acid rain and air pollution emerged from the industrial boom of the early 1900s and the increasing levels of chemical production associated with these processes. The building of taller industrial chimneys from the 1960s was largely held to be responsible for pollutants generated in the UK blowing as far as Scandinavia.

The Convention on the Long Range Transport of Air Pollution was adopted in 1979. The Convention covers Europe and North America and calls on countries to "to limit and, as far as possible, gradually reduce and prevent air pollution, including long-range transboundary air pollution".

Emissions from industrial sources dropped substantially during the 1990s due to a combination of European Directives forcing the installation of desulphurisation systems and the move away from the utilization of fuels such as coal. The use of catalytic converters in cars has also helped to reduce nitrogen oxide levels, although there has been a continuing increase in traffic volumes.

Despite the steps taken to combat air pollution and the relative decline of the profile of this issue compared to other environmental concerns, acidification remains a major legacy problem for Europe.

In recent years acid rain has been replaced by a much bigger green spectre on the political stage: climate change. Concerns about the impact of CO2 emissions on the environment established themselves as a major headache for 21st century politicians. Acid rain, by contrast, appears to be a declining problem.