The greatest difference between people and animals

There is one thing above all that makes people and animals different. People love to talk. We are the great communicators! And we can communicate so many things in so many ways - with our faces, our hands, our bodies, and our voices. Most important of all, we can record what we say and think in writing, so that we can communicate through time. We have a sense of past and future, not just present.

We are the only species that can change the world, and we are the only species that can choose either to look after our world or to destroy it.

Lesson 13

1. Learn the words:

pollution - загрязнение окружающей среды;

environment - окружающая среда; the ozone layer - озоновый слой; global warming - глобальное потепление;

acid rain - кислотные дожди; natural resources - природные ресурсы

transport facilities- транспортные средства

shortage- нехватка greenhouse effect- парниковый эффект

gradual-постепенный entirely- полностью, целиком radiate- излучать depletion - уменьшение reach - достигать

2. Text.

The world environment

The world environment means simply what is around us: the air, water, and land. Today the growth of population and man's over-activity, industrial development and an increasing number of transport facilities have a harmful effect on the environment. Some of these cause pollution and some are destroying the environment.

Environmental problems

The most serious environmental problems are: noise from cars and buses, destruction of wildlife, shortage of natural resources, pollution in its many forms, acid rain, global warming and ozone layer depletion. The ozone layer is a layer of gases that stops harmful radiation from the sun reaching the earth. Recent research shows that there is now a hole in parts of the ozone layer.

Global warming

Global warming (also called the greenhouse effect) describes the gradual increase of the air temperature in the earth's lower atmosphere.

Why is global warming called the greenhouse effect? A greenhouse is made entirely of glass. When sunlight (shortwave radiation) strikes the glass, most of it passes through and warms up the plants, soil and air inside the greenhouse. As these objects warm up they give off heat, but these heat waves have a much longer wavelength than the incoming rays from the sun. This long-wave radiation cannot easily pass through glass, it is re- radiated into the greenhouse, causing everything in it to heat up.

The natural greenhouse effect

The term greenhouse effect is used to describe the warming effect that certain gases have on the temperature of the earth's atmosphere under normal conditions. Sunlight (shortwave radiation) passes easily through the earth's atmosphere. Once it strikes and warms the earth's surface, long-wave radiation is given off and goes back into the atmosphere. While some of this long-wave radiation or heat escapes into space, most of it is absorbed or held by carbon dioxide and other gases that exist in small quantities in the atmosphere. Thus these gases form a "blanket' that keeps the earth an average of 33 degrees centigrade warmer than it would be if this greenhouse effect did not occur. Without these gases the whole planet would be an icy wasteland with an average temperature of 16 degrees centigrade below freezing!

Green Peace

The Greens is a short name of the organization called Green Peace. It's an international organization whose members work actively to protect the environment from damage caused by industrial processes or military activities. It is known especially for using its own boats to try to prevent governments from testing nuclear weapons, to prevent companies from pouring poisonous chemicals into the sea, and to try to save whales and other sea animals from being killed.

Lesson 14

3.Learn the words:

value - величина, значение

ratio - отношение

eventually - в конечном счете

displace - смещать, вытеснять

wholly - целиком, полностью

partly - частично

equal (to) - равный (ч-л.)

calculus - исчисление

motion - движение

law - закон

reflect - отражать

set up = found - основывать,

учреждать, создавать

instead - вместо (этого)

deaf - глухой

unable - неспособный

regard - считать, рассматривать

arrange - расположить

predict - предсказывать,

прогнозировать

property - свойство

apply - применять

Archimedes

The Greek mathematician Archimedes [,a:ki'mi:di:z] was the father of geometry. He discovered the value of pi, which is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi is used to calculate the volume of cylinders and spheres. Archimedes then looked for ways of measuring the volume and mass of irregular objects. Eventually, he discovered the principle of displacement: that an object put wholly or partly into water loses weight equal to the weight df water it displaces.

Isaac Newton

The English physicist and mathematician Isaac ['aizsk] Newton was one of the greatest scientists of all time. His theories revolutionized scientific thinking and laid the foundation of modern physics. His book Principia Mathematica is one of the most important works in the history of modem science. Newton discovered the law of gravity, and developed the three laws of motion that are still in use today. He was the first person to split white light into the colors of the spectrum, and his research into light led him to design a reflecting telescope. Newton was also one of the pioneers of a new branch of mathematics called calculus.

Thomas Edison

The American inventor Thomas Edison lived and worked in the United States all his life. He was the most productive inventor ever. During his lifetime, he patented 1,093 different inventions, including the incandescent electric lamp (similar to the ordinary light bulb we know today), the motion-picture projector, and the phonograph. He also set up the first industrial research laboratory. Edison had a slow start in life. He was expelled from school because people did not realize that he was deaf, thinking instead that he was unable to learn. His mother taught him at home, where he had built his own laboratory by the time he was 10 years old.

Dmitry Mendeleyev

The Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleyev is regarded as the father of the periodic table of chemical elements. He studied all the elements known at the time and discovered that they showed a regular repetition of properties when arranged in a certain order. He also predicted the discovery and properties of new elements. All of these have now been isolated and named; one, mendelevium, is named after Mendeleyev. Mendeleyev also experimented with agricultural production based on scientific principles, increasing its efficiency to such an extent that his methods came to be applied in many Russian industries.

Notes:

to show a regular repetition of properties - проявлять регулярно повторяющиеся свойства

motion - picture projector - фильмо-проектор a start in life - начало карьеры