5.Writing

Write the translation of the following text or render its content in English.

БЕЗОПАСНАЯ ОПАСНОСТЬ

Если обратиться к сухим цифрам статистики, то вполне обосно­ванно можно сказать, что атомная энергетическая промышлен­ность по сравнению с другими ее видами максимально безопасна. Доля погибших в результате аварийных ситуаций, произошедших на атомных электростанциях, ничтожно мала по сравнению с теми, кто явился жертвой аварий на газовых, гидро- и угольных ЭС. Хотя тот, кто знает, какое количество жертв принес Чернобыль, вряд ли поверит в это безоговорочно. Опять же, если следовать статистике, число погибших, работавших в ту ночь на ЧАЭС, составило 31 че­ловек. Всего же по официальным данным правительств Украины, Белоруссии и России, в той или иной степени, по самым скромным подсчетам, пострадало более 9 миллионов человек. А полное коли­чество жертв — в соответствии со специальным докладом ООН, по­священным оценке влияния аварии на окружающий мир, — можно будет посчитать не раньше 2016 г. Дело в том, что, по утверждению медиков, основной пик массовых индуцированных онкозаболева­ний с наибольшей интенсивностью должен последовать через 25 лет после аварии для ее ликвидаторов и через 50 — для жителей загрязненных территорий.

И все же, несмотря на столь ужасающие аргументы, ядерная энергия для жителей Земли является едва ли не самым перспек­тивным видом топлива, особенно в том случае, если произойдет истощение природных запасов угля, газа, нефти и торфа, а такая тенденция наметилась уже в 60 — 70-х годах XX века. А вот запасов радиоактивного урана на Земле достаточно. К тому же этот вид топлива в результате специальной обработки способен воспроиз­водиться.

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Примерно одна тонна природного урана после необходимой обработки способна обеспечить получение 45 ООО ООО киловатт-ча­сов — это же количество получается при сжигании 20 000 тонн угля и 30 000 000 кубометров газа. При добыче урановой руды вод-

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ный экологический баланс Земли, как это ни странно, нарушается гораздо меньше, чем при добыче угля.

С другой стороны, их строительство обходится намного доро­же, чем, например, ТЭС или ГЭС. Да и ущерб, причиняемый выб­росами и утечками радиоактивных изотопов, настолько велик, а ликвидация его настолько дорогостояща, что это не может не вы­зывать неоднозначного отношения мировой науки к эффективно­сти использования атомной энергии.

6. Speaking

   1. Retell the following text in English.

HOW A TINY COUNTRY BECAME RICH

When an English sea captain first saw the Pacific island of Nauru in 1789, he called it Pleasant Island. It was a good name for the coral island. The low cliffs formed a backdrop for the palms along the beach. The people of Nauru probably numbered about 1,000 in 1789. Like other Pacific Islanders they lived by fishing, growing a few roots, and harvesting coconuts and bananas. They made little use of the rocky plateau that covered four fifths of their island. Nothing much grew among the rocks except a few coconut palms.

In 1900 a New Zealander discovered that Nauru’s rocky plateau consisted of high-grade phosphate. It is very valuable for fertilizer. A few years later a foreign company began to mine the phosphate rock and ship it abroad. The mining of this tiny island with an area of only 21 square km has continued to the present day. Over the years millions of tons of the island’s rocky center have been dug up and exported.

After Nauru became independent in 1968, income from the export of phosphate made it a rich country. Nauruans have never done much work in the mine. Foreign workers do most of the hand labor. Today most Nauruans have other jobs with the mining company or work for the government. They no longer fish — except for fun. They do not depend on coconuts and bananas for food. They import most of their food, along with automobiles, motor scooters, radios, and other manufactured goods. During times of drought they even import water from Australia or Japan. Nauruans pay no taxes, but the government provides free medical and dental care, education, bus transportation, and even copies of the island’s only newspaper. The export of phosphate pays for all of this. Nauruans live by the sale of one important resource — the island itself.

The number of people on Nauru has grown with its wealth. Its population in 1900 was probably not much larger than it was in 1789. Today about 8,000 people live on Nauru. This is seven or eight times the number of people that were there when the English captain first sighted Pleasant Island.

The change of attitude. The history of Nauru is unusual. Before 1900 the people of Nauru had very little use for the rocky plateau on their little island. They had no use for the rocks except to make sinkers for their fishing lines. They thought it very strange that outsiders went to so much trouble to dig the rocky dirt on their island. For the people of Nauru in 1900, the rock was not a form of wealth. Today they well understand that phosphate rock is Nauru’s greatest wealth, their most valuable natural resource.

The people of Nauru have lived well in recent years by selling their major natural resource. Unfortunately, the supply of phosphate rock on the tiny island is limited. The supply will be used up in the near future. Some day the last scoop of rock will be loaded on board ship, and the mine will be closed. What will happen then? Some islanders are reported to reply with an old saying: “Tomorrow will take care of itself.” Fortunately, other Nauruans think that they had better plan today to take care of themselves tomorrow.

The government of Nauru has invested part of the profits from the phosphate abroad. Nauru owns the tallest building in Melbourne, Australia, as well as hotels and other buildings on different Pacific islands. The government hopes that in the future Nauruans will be able to live on the income from foreign investments. Perhaps they will be able to. In any case, they will not be able to depend on phosphate mining much longer.

The Nauruans are not the only people to face the problem of what to do when they have used up a limited resource. The people of the whole world face this problem as they use up more and more of the earth’s limited resources.

The world has used a great deal of oil. What will happen as the world keeps using more oil? Some people give the same answer as those Nauruans who say, “Tomorrow will take care of itself Others believe that we should carefully conserve the oil we still have and that we could develop other resources to take the place of oil.

2. Give examples you know of the rational or careless use of natural resources.

3. Select any natural resource, tell how it was used in the past, how it is used today, and what technological developments led to this change in use. Prepare an oral or written presentation focusing on how technological improvements have changed the way the natural resource that you have chosen is used.

6. Summarizing the Unit

Make an outline of the Unit and fender its content in a 4—6 min talk.

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UNIT 6 THE WORLD OCEAN

1. Reading and learning

Scan each text and formulate the main ideas. Read the text again carefully and memorize it, then retell the text close to the original.

1. THE RESTLESS OCEAN

Oceans, seas, and other bodies of salt water cover 70 per cent of the earth’s surface. This vast “world ocean”, which is still being explored, forms an important component of the physical environment. It interacts with the atmosphere, affects world climates, influences world trade routes, provides a source of energy, and contains a wealth of mineral and fish resources. In recent years “ownership” of the ocean has become an increasingly important question as nations argue about the rights to use its resources.

If we look at the map we’ll see that no continent or island completely blocks one part of the ocean from another part. A series of narrow waterways and other sea passages connect the earth’s oceans, forming a single world ocean. Around the edges of this vast world ocean lie seas, gulfs, and bays that extend its waters. Nevertheless different parts of the world ocean have different names. These names were given at various times in history, before people realized there was really only one world ocean.

The world ocean is usually subdivided into four main oceans — the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic. These oceans can be thought of as components of the world ocean.

General ocean circulation. The amount of water on the earth remains constant. The water cycle continually recirculates water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the earth’s surface. At the same time, other forces also move water through the world ocean. The most important of these forces are currents and tides.

Gigantic river-like streams called ocean currents circulate the waters deep within the world ocean. These currents redistribute the sun’s heat energy through the ocean in much the same way that the prevailing winds redistribute heat energy through the atmosphere.

Geographers identify two types of ocean currents. Warm ocean currents flow from the equator toward the North and South poles. They carry warm water into cold regions and help make climates milder, especially in winter. Cold ocean currents flow from the poles toward the equator or rise up from the deepest layers of the ocean’s water. They

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carry cool or cold water into warm regions. As you know ocean currents strongly influence the climates of nearby coastal regions.

Ocean currents do not flow in a direct course due to the earth’s rotation. The Coriolis force deflects moving water in much the same way as it deflects the prevailing winds. In the Northern Hemisphere, ocean currents deflect to the right of their intended course. In the Southern Hemisphere, they deflect to the left. This deflection produces a clockwise circulation of water in northern oceans and a counterclockwise circulation in southern oceans.

The Gulf Stream is a warm current in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Gulf Stream originates in the tropical waters of the Caribbean Sea. From there it moves into the Gulf of Mexico and along the east coast of North America as far north as Newfoundland. The warm waters then cross the Atlantic as the North Atlantic Current, bringing mild winters to northwestern Europe.

The cold Labrador Current flows south along the shores of Canada as far as Newfoundland. It carries icebergs with it, and it keeps the coastal regions of northeastern Canada very cold in the winter and cool in the summer. The cold Canary Current flows south on the eastern side of the Atlantic to complete the circulation. Currents in the Pacific Ocean follow the same general pattern as those in the Atlantic.

Finding hidden flow patterns. A new technique has enabled oceanographers, scientists who study the ocean, to learn much more than they ever knew before about the circulation patterns of ocean currents. This new technique, called ocean acoustic tomography, provides three-dimensional images of the movement of ocean water.

Preliminary studies indicate that ocean currents are as complex as movements in the atmosphere. Studies also show that the image of a smoothly circulating system of ocean currents is a misconception. In fact, only the surface currents have been mapped, while major deep currents remain hidden. For example, oceanographers have just identified (found) a vast flow of salt water running beneath the Gulf Stream in the opposite direction. This previously unknown flow is a key factor in the processes of the Gulf Stream, which affects the world’s climates.

Oceanographers now realize that ocean currents do change and are, to some extent, unpredictable. In addition, currents play a far greater role in determining climate than previously thought. Scientists hope that new information about ocean currents will help them predict major changes in climate conditions in the future.

1. Why are problems with water an international concern?

2. What are the four main components of the world ocean?

3. In what way is it true to say there is only one world ocean?

4. How do ocean currents affect climate?

5. What are the two types of ocean currents?

6. What ocean current was recently identified?

7. In which direction do the ocean currents in the Southern Hemisphere tend to move — clockwise or counterclockwise?

2. TIDES

Ocean tides. Apart from currents ocean water moves in another way. It rises and falls with the tides. On most coastlines, the tide moves slowly out from shore for about six hours. This is low tide. For the next six hours, the tide moves back slowly. This is high tide. Most places along ocean shores have two low tides and two high tides each day. In some parts of the world, the difference between high tide and low tide is as great as 15 m. In others, it is hardly noticeable. The differences between high and low tides in different parts of the world ocean are caused by several things. These are the shape of the coastline; the slope of the continental shelf; and the depth, size, and shape of that part of the ocean.

The tides are produced by the gravity of the moon and the sun pulling on (attracting) the earth. Most of the pull comes from the moon, because it is closer to the earth. As it orbits the earth, the moon is always pulling on the side of the earth nearest to it.

Sailors always check the times of high tide. High tides, when ship channels are deeper, are the best times for oceangoing vessels to enter and leave harbors. Besides, the in-and-out action of tidal waters keeps harbor waters clean.

Tidal energy. Incoming tides produce an enormous amount of energy. This power can be used to produce electricity. One experimental tidal energy plant (tidal power plants) is located on the estuary of the River Ranee in north-western France. It went into operation in the summer of 1966. The incoming tide of the river flows through a dam, driving turbines, and then is trapped behind the dam. When the tide ebbs (falls), the trapped water is released and flows back through the dam, again driving the turbines and producing electricity cleanly and efficiently from a renewable resource. Such tidal power plants are most efficient if the difference between high and low tides is great, as in the Ranee estuary, where the difference is 8.5 m. The highest high tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where the difference between high and low tide is about 18 m. The erection of a tidal power plant across an arm of the Bay of Fundy, has long been thought about; however, the project has not yet started.

1. What are the ways in which oceans move?

2. Why do high tides and low tides occur? (What causes ocean tides to form?)

3. What causes the differences between high and low tides in different parts of the world?

4. Why do sailors need information about the height of tides?

5. How is it possible to use tidal energy?

3. USING THE RESOURCES OF THE WORLD OCEAN

Mineral resources. The ocean floor contains a variety of mineral resources. Some valuable minerals simply lie on the ocean floor. Other resources, mainly oil and natural gas, have formed in the rocks of the seafloor. Still other resources, including salt and other minerals, are found in seawater. Scientists believe that the ocean’s mineral resources could supplement the decreasing reserves of non-renewable resources on land. At the same time all agree that the ocean’s wealth must be conserved so that it can be used by future generations.

Offshore oil fields account for about 20 per cent of the world’s oil production today. All known offshore oil fields are located in waters above the continental shelf. Two of the more important fields underlie the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. The continental shelf also contains vast supplies of natural gas. Today, there are over 100 offshore natural gas platforms, many of which are located off South Asia. One platform pumps natural gas from an offshore gas field to the refinery near Bombay, India, through a pipeline.

Ocean water contains traces of all the minerals found on land. These minerals, which exist in the water in the form of salts, account for seawater’s salinity, or salt content. If all the water in the world ocean were dried up, the salts would form a layer on the ocean floor 152 meters thick.

Fishing resources. The world ocean makes up the largest biological environment of our planet. Marine biologists continually discover new species of life as changing technology allows them to probe deeper and deeper into the world ocean. Each form of life is a part of a complex process in which small plants and animals provide food for larger animals living in the sea. Microscopic plants and animalsjCalled plankton make up the bottom of the food chain.

The best fishing grounds (banks) for many kinds of fish are those rich in plankton. Large numbers of plankton concentrate in these fishing grounds because they have cooler water flowing through them or coming up from deeper levels. They are also shallower places in the sea, where sunlight can penetrate below the surface. The richest fishing banks are found off the coast of Newfoundland in North America, along the west coast of South America, in the North Sea, and off the coast of Asia in the Pacific Ocean.

Fishing ranks among the world’s most important economic activities. Over 5 million people make their livings by fishing. And even more people process, package, and sell fish. The total fish catch each year is enough to supply about 18 kg of fish for each person in the world. About half of this fish catch comes from the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean provides about one third of the total.

Most fishing today is done on a large scale, using fleets of ships equipped with machines that do much of the work. Some countries, Japan and Russia, for example, send out fishing fleets that often stay at sea for two hundred days at a time. The boats in these fleets are equipped with machinery that lowers and raises nets. Refrigerating equipment freezes the tons of fish, keeping them fresh for processing. Some fleets even have ships that do part of the processing at sea. Helicopters and electronic equipment are often used to locate schools of fish.

Using this modem equipment, most fishing nations increase their fish catches each year. In one way, this is good. More food is needed to keep up with growing populations. But in another way, it is bad. The ocean world is in danger of being overfished. Fish are being taken from the oceans faster than they can reproduce themselves.

Today many people are working to protect this vital resource. Several international laws have been created to regulate the use of the world ocean and avoid disputes among countries. Several nations, for example, have signed the Law of the Sea Treaty, sponsored by the United Nations.

1. What are some of the resources of the ocean world?

2. What minerals are found in the ocean floor?

3. What are the steps of the ocean food chain?

4. How is overfishing related to the expansion of territorial limits?

5. What steps do you think nations can take to reduce overfishing?