Practice

1. Match two halves to make sentences.

Many electronics recyclers simply collect equipment and do initial disassembly, then contract with others	so that they won’t explode scattering shards of glass and other materials.
Most recyclers charge fees	to protect our environment.
About 50 percent or more of the United States' used computers, cellphones and TVs sent to recyclers are shipped overseas	in order to determine the measures necessary to achieve reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6%.
A reasonably new computer should be refurbished Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, should	to build a new incinerator in an area of countryside near our city.
be disposed properly	to process equipment.
We must create ways to recycle	for materials recovery.
Make sure the reuse organization is accepting donations	for recycling.
The Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan was established	so that its owner could sell at nearly give-away prices.
I am strongly against the government’s plans	for local reuse, and not sending them overseas.

Get real

What do you or your friends usually do with your old electronic devices? Ask your fellow students, teachers and parents what they would do with their computers when they don’t meet their needs. Take notes of the answers and report back on 10 most popular ideas.

Tool box: Expressing opinion In our opinion … First of all, …/ Then, …/Next, … Moreover, … Furthermore, … The greatest advantage of … The disadvantage of this way is that … To sum up, … In conclusion …

Speaking

Work in groups of 4-5. Suggest and discuss any other means that can reduce hazardous effect of the computer revolution. Share your ideas with the rest of the class. Explain pros and cons of the suggested solutions.

Listening

Recording 5.2

1. Listen to the interview with an electronic waste expert John Shegerian and take notes to answer these questions.

1. What is “electronic waste” (e-waste)?

2. Why is e-waste a growing concern?

3. Why should I recycle my e-waste?

4. How much of the solid waste in landfills is e-waste?

5. Is it illegal to dispose of computers in the trash?

6. How long has e-waste recycling been around?

7. Who started the e-waste recycling movement?

8. What percentage of electronics today is being recycled properly?

2. Listen to the interview again and fill in the notes.

Electronic waste is the …1………………… stream in the world. It includes everything electronic: from our …2………., to our …3…….., to …4……….. and …5…………., …6……………, and our …7…….. and …8…………… . Everything electronic encompasses …9…………… . E-waste has lots of …10…………………………… and …11………………….. in it, such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and beryllium. If these items …12…………………………, and then leech into our ground and water supplies, they tend to …13………………………….. to the point where it is then ingested by a human being or animals. We want …14………………… that. …

We should recycle e-waste because …15…………………………. You get back to an appropriate …16…………. or …17………………. who will demount the factors of the materials to …18……………, …19…………….. and …20…………………… . Also, everything in your cell phone or your television set is …21……………….., and reuses the essence of …22…………………. . …

In California, for example, today it's …23……………….. to throw out your computers or e-waste into the …24…………….. . Other states and other countries are yet …25…………………… California's leading recycling laws. …

It's …26………….. who really started the e-waste recycling movement, but there's lots of …27…………………………… out there that saw what was coming and saw the growing trend with technology and the fast turnover that we have now with technology. At the international level, e-waste recycling has been around, …28……………., when Switzerland and some European countries started passing initiatives. …

In California, they …29………….the landmark SB 20 law in …30……….. That law just got …31………….on January 1, 2005. So e-waste as we know it in the United States is a growing trend that has …32…………………… only since …33…………, and …34……………….. since …35……….. .

Reading

1. The verbs in A are in the text you are going to listen. Match a verb in A with a definition in B.

A	B
demanufacture	to restore smth to good condition that is broken, damaged or torn
break down	to bring smth back to a former condition
donate	to repair and clean a device in order to make it more attractive, like new
refurbish	to treat substances or devices with chemicals in order to separate raw materials
repair	to destroy or divide smth into parts in order to analyze it or make it easier to do
restore	to take goods to pieces in large quantities using machinery
reuse	to treat things that have already been used so that they can be used again
recycle	to use smth again
process	to give money, food, clothes, etc. to smb/smth, especially a charity

Managing your learning The process diagrammes or flowcharts allow you to visually represent methods, processes, steps, or stages that describe how events occur.

2. Read the text on the work of electronic waste recycling and complete the diagramme of the recycling process.

How E-Waste Recycling Works

Get real

Search home pages of the leading computer companies and environment websites

to get more information on possible solutions to e-waste problem. Report back to the class and discuss what you have found.

Writing

You are planning to buy a new computer but don’t know what to do with the old one. Write an e-mail message to one of the electronic equipment manufacturers asking for information on company’s takeback policies.

From: To: Subject: Old computer treatment

Dear Sir/Madam, I am mailing this via the “Contact Us” link on your website to (1) ………………… ….………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………... . I bought my old PC (2) ………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………... . Could you give me more information about (3)………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………... . I hope you will (4) …………………………………………………………………… I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully, (5)……………………

1. explain the purpose of your e-mail

2. provide basic information on your PC and its components, when and where you bought it, decide whether they are still working or not

3. ask for information on the items the company takes back, delivery, package and prices

4. express your gratitude for the help

5. sign the letter

In the Realm of Science

1. Check the pronunciation and the meaning of the words below. Which of them are chemical elements? Which are compounds? Write down the symbols for the elements and formulas for the compounds.

nitric acid	cadmium	dioxide
nitrogen oxide	calcium	phosphine
hydrochloric acid	mercury	sulphur
hydrocarbons	carbon dioxide

2. Work in pairs. Take turns to read and note down these elements and compounds:

Student A: Si N P C Cd Al

Student B: S H O Na Li Zn

3. Read the song “The Elements” by Tom Lehrer. Do you know equivalents in your native language to the elements named in the song?

There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,

And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium

And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,

And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,

Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium

And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium

And gold, protactinium and indium and gallium

And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

There’s yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium

And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium

And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,

And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium and barium.

There’s holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium

And phosphorous and francium and fluorine and terbium

And manganese and mercury, molybdinum, magnesium,

Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium

And lead, praseodymium, platinum, plutonium,

Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,

Tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,

And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.

There’s sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium

And also mendelevium, einsteinium and nobelium

And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium

And chlorine, cobalt, carbon, copper,

Tungsten, tin and sodium.

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,

And there may be many others but they haven’t been discovered.

(Listen to it at http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/activities/sciencehits/)

Unit 2 Progress Monitoring In this unit you have worked on the following vocabulary related to the topic “Negative influence of electronic equipment on the environment” environmental hazards to consume energy landfill/damp sites to release poisonous gases incineration to encourage/to urge e-recycling disposal of electronic equipment to donate/to reuse electronic equipment to produce/to generate e-waste to reduce/to limit computer dumping liquid to refurbish/to restore/to repair e-devices environmentally friendly/safe to recycle e-waste/industrial waste to use up natural resources to increase/decrease the amount of harmful chemical substances a compound to be short of Tick (V) the points you are confident about and cross (X) the ones you need to revise.