- •My speciality
- •My speciality
- •Dialogue 1
- •Dialogue 2
- •Oil. How it affects us
- •How much oil, and where is it?
- •How did petroleum form?
- •How is oil extracted?
- •How is oil transported?
- •A blessing and a curse?
- •Will It Ever Run Out?
- •Oil pipelines in russia: yesterday, today and tomorrow
- •Tomorrow’s techiology
- •The Alaska Pipeline
The Alaska Pipeline
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The Alaska pipeline starts at the frozen edge of the Arctic Ocean. |
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It stretches southward across the largest and most northern state in |
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the United States, ending at a remote ice free seaport village |
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nearly 800 miles from where it begins. It is massive in size and |
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extremely complicated to operate. |
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The steel pipe crosses windswept plains and endless miles of |
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delicate tundra that tops the frozen ground. It weaves through |
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crooked canyons, climbs sheer mountains, plunges over rocky |
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crags, makes it way through thick forests, and passes over or |
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under hundreds of rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter, |
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and up to 2 million barrels (or 84 million gallons) of crude oil can |
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be pumped through it daily. |
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Resting on H-shaped steel racks called “bents”, long sections of |
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the pipeline follow a zigzag course high above the frozen earth. |
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Other long sections drop out of sight beneath spongy or rocky |
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ground and return to the surface later on. The pattern of the |
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pipeline’s up-and-down route is determined by the often harsh |
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demand of the arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of the |
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land, and the varied composition of soil, rock, or permafrost |
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(permanently frozen ground). A little more than half of the pipeline |
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is elevated above the ground. The remainder is buried anywhere |
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from 3 to 12 feet, depending largely upon the type of terrain and |
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the properties of the soil. |
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One of the largest in the world, the pipeline cost approximately |
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$58 billion and is by far the biggest and most expensive construction |
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project ever undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single |
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business could raise that much money, so 8 major oil pipelines |
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formed a construction in order to share the costs. Each company |
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controlled all rights to particular shares of land in oil fields and |
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paid into the pipeline-construction fund according to the size of its |
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holdings. Today, despite enormous problems of climate, supply |
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shortages, equipment breakdowns, labour disagreements, treacherous |
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terrain, a certain amount of mismanagement, and even theft, the |
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Alaska pipeline has been completed and is operating. |
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edge - край, кромка windswept - незащищенный от ветра to weave - (зд.) вьется crooked - извилистый sheer - отвесный, крутой to plunge - круто спускаться crag - скала, утес rack - подставка spongy - пористый |
harsh - суровый tortuous - извилистый approximately - приблизительно to undertake - предпринимать to share - 1. делить 2. участок, часть holding - участок земли treacherous - ненадежный theft - воровство |
Questions:
1. |
The passage primarily discusses the pipeline’s A – operating costs; B – employees; C – consumers; D – construction
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2. |
The word “it” in line 4 refers to A – pipeline; B – ocean; C – state; D – village
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3. |
According to the passage, 84 million gallons of oil can travel through A – day; B – week; C – month; D – year
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4. |
The phrase “Resting on” in line 13 is closest in meaning to A – Consisting of; B – Supported by; C – Passing under; D – Protected with
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The author mentions all of the following as important in determining the pipeline route. Expect the A – climate; B – lay of the land itself; C – local vegetation; D – kind of soil and rock
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The word “undertaken” in line 26 is closest in meaning to A – removed; B – selected; C – transported; D – attempted
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7. |
How many companies shared the costs of constructing the pipeline? A – Three; B – Four; C – Eight; D – Twelve
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8. |
The word “particular” in line 29 is closest in meaning to A – peculiar; B – specific; C – exceptional; D – equal
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9. |
Which of the following determined what percentage of the construction costs each member of the consortium would pay? A – How much oil field land each company owned B – How long each company had owned land in the oil fields C – How many people worked for each company D – How many oil wells were located on the company’s land
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Where in the passage does the author provide a term for an earth covering that always remain frozen? A – Line 3; B – Line 13; C – Line 19; D – Line 32 |
CONTENTS
MY SPECIALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
1 |
OIL. HOW IT AFFECTS US . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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HOW DO WE GET IT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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HOW MUCH OIL, AND WHERE IS IT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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HOW DID PETROLEUM FORM? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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HOW IS OIL EXTRACTED? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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HOW IS OIL TRANSPORTED? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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A BLESSING AND A CURSE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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OIL PIPELINES IN RUSSIA: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW |
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PART I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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PART II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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PART III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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PART IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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TOMORROW’S TECHIOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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SUPPLEMENTARY READING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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The Alaska Pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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СПИСОК ИСПОЛЬЗОВАННОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ
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1. “Pipeline Guidance” Texas, USA, 1994
2. “Oil Pipeline Transportation”, Transneft, 1994, Special issue.
3. Интернет