Тексти для читання за фахом

Text 1.Classes of Animals

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

The ordinary farm animals belong to the large group known as Vertebrata, or animals with a backbone. Fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals all have a backbone. All of these animals do not suckle their young, but the ordinary farm animals do, and hence they are classified as Mammalia. ( Mamma is the Latin word for breast). The capability to produce milk is one of the three main classes: herbivorous, carnivorous and omnivorous.

Herbivorous animals are those that live chiefly on plants. These are: cattle, deer, horses, sheep and rabbits. As they consume coarse foods, for example leaves and stems of plants, they need considerably larger amount of common salt than is supplied by their usual feeds. The cow, the ox, the sheep and the goat belong to the ruminants (animals which chew the cud). Unlike the pig they are capable of digesting a large quantity of coarse fibrous material due to their compound stomachs.

Carnivorous (flesh-eating animals) such as cats, dogs, sharks, etc. Need no additional salt because they live on the bodies of others animals.

Omnivorous animals, such as pigs, bears, rats and others utilize both plant and animal food.

Vocabulary:

backbone хребет

to suckle смоктати

capability можливість

herbivorous травоїдний

carnivorous плотоїдний

omnivorous всеїдний

2.Make up questions of different types to the text.

3.Retell the text.

Text 2 Mammals

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

When man, the dominant species on earth, looks around him, he must realize at once that he shares his home, our planet, with a vast number of other living things. Man himself is a mammal and also there re many of the animals with whom he is most closely associated: the dogs and cats which often share his life; the cows and sheep and pigs upon which he feeds; the oxen, donkeys and horses which, until very recently, pulled his ploughs, carried his burdens and gave him his most effective means of transport, and the rats and mice which, even in an age when hygiene has become a fetish, still manage to appear as unwelcome guests in his home.

Quite apart from such familiar creatures, a richly varied cast of wild mammals is still spread in astonishing diversity over the face of the earth.

Vocabulary:

burden ноша

creature істота

diversity відмінність, несхожість

hygiene гігієна

fetish ідол, кумир

2.Make up questions of different types to the text.

3.Retell the text

Text 3 Variety of Mammals

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

The living members of the class mammalia are today divided into three main sub-classes, according to differences in their anatomy and the manner in which they bear their young. First are the monotremes, or egg-laying mammals, of which there are only two families. Second are the marsupials, or mammals with pouches for carrying their young, which are comparatively undeveloped, even embryonic in appearance, at birth. Third, and by far the largest group, are the placentas, mammals whose young grow and develop within the mother’s body, nourished by means of an organ known as the placenta, which forms a connecting link with her own blood stream. These three major divisions developed very early in mammalian history and each of them evolved thereafter quite independently of the others.

But these three main divisions are just the beginning. Living mammals are further divided into 18 smaller groups or orders.

Vocabulary:

marsupial сумчатий

pouch сумка, мішок

to nourish живити, годувати

to evolve розвивати(ся), еволюціонувати

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3.Retell the text.

Text 4 Farm Animals

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

Farm animals are important to man because of:

1. the food they supply;

2. the clothing they make possible;

3. their use in doing work;

4. their relation to soil fertility.

Nearly all of our farm animals except horses and mules have value because they furnish human food. This is true of cattle, swine, and poultry. Farm animals furnish us with meat- pork, beef, veal, mutton; lard, milk, butter, cheese and eggs. Much of our clothing is made from the wool, hair, or skin of farm animals. Leather is made from skin.

For ages animals have been used by man in doing his work. Horses and mules are principal work animals; oxen are also sometimes used for work. Much of the work of these animals goes into the producing of crops.

Two thousand years ago the farmer learned that he must keep up the fertility of this soil if he expected to have good yields of crops; so he used the manure from farm animals. Except in some great river valleys, like the Nile, which are enriched by overflow, no agricultural region has continued to secure abundant harvests without the aid of manure. As a rule, where the farmers keep the most livestock, the crops are the best. As much as 80 or 85 per cent of the plant food elements in a feed are returned in the manure. Manure also makes the soil porous and easily worked.

Vocabulary:

fertility родючий

to furnish постачати, доставляти

abundant надмірний

aid ціль

manure гній

livestock худоба

porous пористий

2.Make up questions of different types to the text.

3.Retell the text.

Text 5. The Cow

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

The cow belongs to the class of ruminants. Its value as a domestic animal consists in its ability to consume and digest large quantities of roughage and to convert it into milk and meat for human food.

The cow’s stomach, which is a compound one, has four distinct compartments: rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. The stomachs of mature cows vary in capacity from 25 to 60 gallons (150 to 300 pounds) depending on the size of the animal.

To produce a large supply of rich milk, cows must be not only well fed but also be of good milking qualities. The cows that are producing milk require a much larger quantity of water than is necessary for growing animals. The period of gestation in cows is about 40 weeks. The lactation period is the period of milking after each calf and it usually lasts for about ten months.

The first milk after calving is called colostrum, and it has a necessary laxative action on the calf’s stomach. Dairy cows are milked three times a day and watered twice a day. In summer the consumption of water by cattle is greater on account of the greater evaporation from the skin.

Vocabulary:

ruminant жуйна тварина

to digest перетравлювати(сь)

roughage грубий корм

to convert перетворювати(сь)

rumen рубець (перший відділ шлунку жуйних)

reticulum сітка (другий відділ шлунку жуйних)

omasum книжка (третій відділ шлунку жуйних)

abomasum сечуг (четвертий відділ шлунку жуйних)

gestation вагітність

colostrum молозиво

consumption споживання, витрата

evaporation випарювання, паротворення

2.Make up questions of different types to the text.

3.Retell the text.

Text 6. The Pig

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

Pig is a common name given to the domestic swine of any age. Hog is used collectively with much the same meaning as pig, hog being generally used in the U. S. and pig usually referring to the young animal. Swine is applied to any hoofed animal of the family Suidae.

The origin of the pig is shrouded in mystery. A Chinese scholar estimated his people domesticated swine about 2900 B.C. The pig was used as a scavenger before it was discovered that the flesh was good to eat.

The Chinese hog was brought to Europe and crossed with European hogs, thereby forming the foundation for present-day breeds. The pig belongs to the class Mammalia, or animals possessing teats for suckling their young. Pigs are rotund-bodied, short-legged, artiodactyl animals of omnivorous habits, having thick skin from which grow short, coarse bristles, a long mobile snout, small tail and feet with two functional and two nonfunctional digits. A mature pig has 44 teeth, carries its head low, and eats, drinks and breathes close to the ground.

Vocabulary:

hog свиня, кабан

swine свиня

hoof копита

to shroud обкутувати

scholar вчений

artiodactyl парнокопитний

scavenger тварина, яка їсть падину

descendent потомок

snout рило

2.Make up the questions of different types to the text.

3.Write down the annotation of the text

Text 7.The Sheep

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

Sheep belong to the Genus Ovis, and are generally grouped into: Longwools, Shortwools and Mountain sheep which have horns. Inside each group there are many well-defined breeds, and an endless variety of crosses between the different pure breeds.

Sheep are kept for the production of mutton and wool. The stomach of the sheep is three times larger than that of the pig. As the sheep and goats have a cleft upper lip, they have to graze very close to the ground. A male sheep is called a ram on whose fertility largely depends the lamb crop of the year.

An in-lamb sheep is called a ewe and a new-born- a lamb. The period of gestation in sheep lasts 21 weeks. As a rule, ewes should be healthy and vigorous, with deep, wide bodies, good teeth, healthy udders, and high-quality, dense fleece. Pregnant ewes should always have access to clean water.

Healthy lambs can withstand bad weather, provided the coat dries immediately after birth. If, because of very wet severe weather, the coat does not dry, losses even among the strong lambs may occur.

The consumption of colostrum or first milk is as important to the lamb as it is to the calf.

Vocabulary:

pregnant вагітний

horn ріг

cleft розщеплений

cross схрещування, гібридизація

ram баран

lamb ягня

ewe вівцематка

vigorous сильний, енергійний

udder вим’я

dense щільний, густий

fleece руно, овеча шерсть

2.Make up the questions of different types to the text.

3.Write down the annotation of the text.

Text 8. The Sheep (Wool Production)

1.Read and translate

the text using a dictionary.

Because of the covering of wool sheep can withstand cold temperatures better than cattle. On the one hand wool protects the sheep against bitter cold, but on the other hand owing to the wool, they become infested by ticks and other parasites which they cannot rub off. Due to that they should be dipped periodically in dilute preparations of arsenical or carbonic poisons in order to destroy the pests.

The wool hair is allied to the proteins, and like them has about 16 per cent of nitrogen. In some foreign breeds, up to 20 per cent of the whole nitrogen of the sheep may be present in its wool.

Pure wool free from grease is a protein substance containing the particular amino acid cystine in much higher proportion than do other animal and vegetable proteins. Although the quality of the wool is chiefly a matter of breed and climate, the finest grades of wool are produced in districts of very low rainfall.

It should be borne in mind that shortage of food either limits wool production or reduces its quality.

Vocabulary:

to infest заражати, кишіти

tick кліщ

pest шкідник, паразит

poison яд

arsenical миш’яковий

nitrogen азот

grease смалець, лій; мазати жиром

2. Make up the questions of different types to the text.

3 Write down the annotation of the text.

Text 9. Rabbit

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

The word “ rabbit” is a recent name to the “small and thin” animal; the zoological name, Lepus, dates back to the roman Empire, and at that time it included all the Hare family. It originated in Spain, overran Italy and its environs.

Its home is in runways or burrows that it makes in the ground, usually among low lying bushes. The food of the rabbit consists of soft parts of plants, such as leaves, buds, or roots; and when it can find them it will eat vegetables and garden plants in preference to other plants.

It breeds every five weeks from March to October, and each litter has from 5 to 12 young. These young are immature and naked when born; but in the warm climates they develop so rapidly that in 5 months they are fully matured. In the colder climates, however, the maturing process takes 12 months. The elders are very careful and the loss during infancy is not great.

Vocabulary:

environ округ, оточування

bud брунька

root корінь

preference перевага

infancy раннє дитинство

burrow нора, хід

2.Make up the questions of different types to the text.

3.Write down the annotation of the text.

Text 10. Dog

1.Read and translate the text using a dictionary.

The dog is a domesticated wolf, and its history must be traced through the ancestors of the Carnivore. The torerunners of the wolf were present in North America nearly 15-10 million years ago, but they are not commonly found in Europe. True wolves, however, appeared in Europe 2 million years ago.

Identification of very early domestic dogs remains a complex task, but it is probable that the dog was the first animal to be domesticated by a man. These early dogs resembled the present dingo, the wild dog of Australia.

Following domestication, selective breeding produced dogs of divergent forms. The ancient Egyptions, as early as 7,000 years ago, had dogs of many distinct breeds, including the forerunners of the greyhound, mastiff, and dachshund.

Very early in its history, the dog was bred into a variety of races, or breeds, depending on climate, certain environmental directions of selection, and the preferences of its masters.

Vocabulary: