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Unit 8

Read the text and do the tasks.

FROM THE HISTORY OF DAM CONSTRUCTION (PART 2)

We, moderns, have an advantage over the designer of the Wadi-el-Garrawi dam. We know the area of the catchments upstream the dam and we have rainfall records for over forty years. To estimate the proportion of runoff to rainfall is alw'ays difficult since it depends on the intensity as well as the actual amount of the fall. The slope of the catchments is very important, as well as absorption on a parched desert surface, the latter being a diminishing factor.

A rainfall of 10 millimetres or over in a single day occurs on the average in three years out of four in that place. During forty years there were 20 such falls, 10 of which exceeded 20 millimetres.

The ancients were obviously ignorant of the fact that a single millimetre of runoff from the catchments area of the Wadi-el- Garrawi is represented by a volume of water of 185,000 tons.

And ‘so we came to the catastrophe. Not long after the dam was finished, perhaps with the very first flood to come down th

e

Wadi — there is no silting upstream the dam — a breach took place. A fail of 20 millimetres, of which there have been ten in forty years there, would be quite sufficient. Of that 20 millimetres, 8 would be immediately absorbed and a quarter of the remainder, between

  1. and 600,000 tons would go rushing down the Wadi, fill the reservoir and overflow the dam. In a thundering cataract it was pouring down the downstream face and in a few hours the dam was destroyed. The contents of the dam would then rush down the Wadi to the cultivated lands and the Nile. So, in a few hours and probably at night were destroyed all the results of the labour of many hundreds of men and animals and the reputation of the engineer.

For us, situated at the distance of 5000 years, it is hard not to feel sympathy with the unknown engineer who so boldly attempted the impossible — for that age. Had he made use of mortar, had he provided a spillway, had he chosen a wadi with a gentler slope, how different might have been the history of Egyptian irrigation.

TASKS

f. Translate the following words into. Be sure of their pronunciation.

  1. an advantage, designer, catchments, rainfall, record, year, proportion, runoff, intensity, amount, slope, surface, average, ancients, volume, catastrophe, a breach, a quarter, remainder, cataract, the downstream face, an hour, contents, result, labour, distance, sympathy, age, mortar, a spillway.

  2. to know, to estimate, to depend, to diminish, to occur, to exceed, to represent, to absorb, to rush, to fill, to overflow, to pour, to destroy, to cultivate, to feel, to choose.

  3. difficult, actual, important, single, ignorant, sufficient, hard, impossible, gentle, different.

  4. obviously, perhaps, immediately, then, probably, boldly.

  1. И. Say to what parts of speech the words from task № 1 under letters А, В, С. P refer. Rewrite suffixes and prefixes typical to these parts of speech.Write out all the predicates from the sentences. Sav in what tense and voice they are. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. The slope of the catchments is very important, as well as absorption on a parched desert surface. 2. In a thundering cataract it was pouring down the downstream face and in a few hours the dam was destroyed. 3. The ancients were obviously ignorant of the fact that a single millimetre of runoff from the catchments area of the Wadi-el-Garrawi is represented by a volume of water of 185.000 tons. 4. And so we came to the catastrophe. 5. We, moderns, have an advantage over the designer of the Wadi-el-Garrawi dam.

  1. Put all types of questions (general, special, alternative, disjunctive) to the sentences. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. To estimate the proportion of runoff to rainfall is always difficult since it depends on the intensity as well as the actual amount ofthe fall. 2. A rainfall of 10 millimetres or over in a single day occurs on the average in three years out of four in that place. 3. A fall of 20 millimetres, of which there have been ten in forty years there, would be quite sufficient. 4. The contents of the dam would then rush down the Wadi to the cultivated lands and the Nile. 5. So, in a few hours and probably at night were destroyed all the results of the labour of many hundreds of men and animals and the reputation of the engineer.

  1. Translate into English.

В первой части текста «Из истории строительства дамб» мы узнали о причинах катастрофы дамбы в Вади-эль- Гаррави. 2. Так, у египтян не было сведений о выпадении осадков за ряд лет, не предусмотрены водосливы для отвода избыточной воды и т.д. 3. В этой части мы увидим, что случилось далее. 4. Вскоре после того, как дамба была закончена, возможно, вместе с первым наводнением на реке Вади, произошел прорыв. 5. Итак, вода (где-то 500 000 - 600 ООО тонн) заполнила резервуар и перехлестнула через дамбу. 6. Этот грозовой ливень разрушил дамбу за несколько часов. 7. Содержимое дамбы погубило все возделываемые земли и плоды труда многих людей. 8. В результате, мы. будущие инженеры, должны быть более осторожны и пунктуальны в строительств

е

таких ирригационных сооружений, как дамбы, не забывая об этом историческом факте. 9. В заключение мне хотелось бы сказать, что текст очень интересный, меня удивило, что люди еще в те далекие времена занимались сооружением дамб.

  1. Translate the text in the written form.

  2. Make up a plan of it.

VI (1. Retell the text according to vour plan.

  1. Learn the following words by heart.

  1. breach

  2. cataract

  3. catchment

  4. mortar

  5. parched

  6. rainfall

  7. runoff

  8. silting

  9. slope

  1. surplus water

  2. thundering cataract

  3. to erect

  4. to overflow

  5. wadi (wady)

прорыв, брешь, нарушение водопад, ливень

водосбор, водосборный бассейн известка, известковый раствор высушенный, опаленный осадки, количество (сумма) осадков сток

заиление, отложение ила скат, наклон, откос избыток воды грозовой ливень воздвигать, сооружать переливаться

вади, куади (русло или долина пересыхающего водотока, в Азии, Африк

е