I. Answer the following questions:

1. What path has a modern combine passed through?

2. What agricultural implements has the combine substituted and how many operations were eliminated?

3. What combine models have been available for centuries?

4. What was and is the combine used for?

5. What does the combine size depend on?

6. What is the combine classified according to?

7. What major combine types do you know? What is their main difference?

8. What are the main combine units? What operations are realized by these units?

9. How do the combine operations succeed?

10. What do you think is the most important unit? Which function does it realize?

II. Make up the list of verbs describing the combine operations and name all the implements carrying them out.

III. Mark true or false sentences and correct the false ones.

1. Today the combine harvests only almost all of our small grains, but corn.

2. The "ground-hog" spiked cylinder employed man-driven sweep powers or tread mills to operate it.

3. Big combines were the rule during the 1920's and early '30's.

4. The machines work fast, cut a wide swath and deliver the cut grain into a windrow that slows down drying.

5. The cut grain is threshed with a combine equipped with a cutting attachment.

6. And after you combine a field it is ready for harvesting.

7. The cutter bar and header unit is spring-balanced so that it can be easily adjusted for low of cut.

8. The motion of the pitman is transmitted through a bell crank to the knife.

9. The scoop-type feeder is used in big combines.

10. Even, uniform cutting is needed for efficient combining.

IV. Comment on the following numbers:

1) 1836; 2) 15; 3) 1854; 4) 1920; 5) 1935; 6) 20; 7) 5; 8) 3000; 9) 9000; 10) 12; 11) 60; 12) 6; 13) 30; 14) 14; 15) 2; 16) 3; 17) 400

V. Read the text, translate it and give a short summary of the text:

Wheat is the most important kind of food for approximately 35% of humanity, while 50% depend on rice as their prime food item. Producing a sufficient amount of food for ever increasing world population along with dwindling grain stocks will present the greatest challenge to humanity. The question of how many humans the Earth can nourish depends on factors such as the area available for grain cultivation as well as on yield and losses. Despite plant protection, estimated worldwide losses remain very high (52% for rice, 39% for maize, 34% for wheat, and 29% for barley). Death or abundance? The current development rather indicates a future scarcity of grain with low stocks and stable prices ranging between 25e and 27e or about it. Relatively stable grain prices along with previous years difficult harvesting conditions caused the number of combines sold over the world. In Western Europe, the percentage of large combines (with engine power of more than 130kW) has increased further to 90%.

The trend towards more powerful combines remains undiminished (5 to 8). The largest machines of the different manufactures achieve a maximum output of 40 tones of grain per hour. The latest developments were presented and discussed at the colloquium on combines. The result of the colloquium underscored that, in addition to the capacity of the combine, harvest management is particularly important for great daily outputs. New requirements result from the use of strobilurines. These are newly developed fungicides which keep the stem green for a longer time (greening effect) and thus cause yield to increase further while allowing for longer harvesting periods. On the other hand, however, they might make the harvest more difficult due to altered physical properties. Environmental aspects generate new requirements with regard to the design of combines. Hints on a grain auger calculation are useful for design work. The aspiration of weed seeds during the harvest, which allows for a reduction of the herbicide quantity needed for plant protection, requires a fan power of approximately 8 to 10 kW/m. The engine power of combines amounts to about 150 kW while the width of the header is 6 m.