The civil engineer and his carreer

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Настоящее учебное пособие предназначено для студентов второго курса строительных специальностей. Учебное пособие написано в соответствии с основными требованиями программы по иностранному языку для технических ВУЗов.

Данное учебное пособие направлено на формирование различных видов зрелого чтения, а также мотивированного и спонтанного говорения.

В структуру учебного пособия входят шесть разделов: «Строительство», «Строительные материалы и механизмы», «Архитектура», «Управление строительством», «Экология» и раздел для дополнительного чтения. Каждый раздел рассчитан на 8-10 аудиторных часов и содержит предтекстовые упражнения на интернациональную лексику, оригинальные тексты на изучающее и ознакомительное чтение и послетекстовые упражнения на закрепление лексики, выделенных грамматических явлений и терминологии (перевод цепочек существительных). Кроме того в каждый раздел включены упражнения на письменный перевод текстов, содержащих переводческие трудности. Упражнения типа «Ответьте на вопрос», «Обоснуйте свой выбор», «Согласитесь или опровергните утверждение» направлены на развитие навыка мотивированного говорения.

Все предлагаемые упражнения выполняются в устной форме без словаря, за исключением упражнений на письменный перевод текстов, где при необходимости можно пользоваться словарем.

Раздел дополнительно чтения служит для организации семинаров-конференций по пройденной тематике. В учебное пособие также включен поурочный англо-русский словарь.

UNIT 1

CONSTRUCTION

Key words:

Construction, construction site, residential (industrial) construction, enterprises, labour and equipment, civil engineer, available to meet housing needs, advantages and disadvantages, contractor and customer, techniques, skill, cost, degree, to employ, to erect, to design, to assemble, to manufacture, to fabricate, to load, to fail, to demolish, structure (element, member),performance, skyscrapers (high rise),apartment building, to advance.

Part I

Ex.1 Translate the following international words and word combinations:

Activities, to detect a gradual process of evolution, materials and methods of construction, to reorganize the resources, essentially, to accelerate, visible phenomenon, in the direction, the introduction of materials, to industrialize a process, organization and rearrangement of labour and materials, to create an industry, efficiencies, to characterize economic expansion, intensive urbanization, to accompany the industrial revolution, the pressure on the industry, to generate, to utilize.

SOME FACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF CONSTRUCTION[1]

[The present industry has evolved out of many centuries of man’s activities in the field of construction.] Over this period, stretching back several hundred years, it is possible to detect a gradual process of evolution in the changes that have taken place in the materials, methods of construction, and the ways in which man has continually reorganized himself and his resources for the purposes of building. Until relatively recent times, this process of change has taken place very slowly, going by essentially unnoticed over the centuries. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, however, change was greatly accelerated and became a much more visible phenomenon. [Change had always been in the direction of doing “more with less”, but with new possibilities brought about through the introduction of new materials and structural techniques, the advances in the direction of “more with less” were becoming increasingly dramatic.]

The Industrial Revolution was a time when new technology and economic conditions enabled many of man’s everyday items of livingry⁽¹⁾ to be produced through the “industrial” enterprise. [To industrialize a process implies the organization or rearrangement of labour, equipment and materials.] In the case of the building industry this implies the reorganization of resources in such a fashion so as to create an industry that manufactures or constructs buildings or related components in a manner that is superior to the craft-oriented means⁽²⁾ previously employed. [The Industrial Revolution was a time when new technologies, materials, and construction methods were being adopted by the building industry.] Usually these new changes meant efficiencies in terms of materials and labour, as well as vast improvements in a building’s performance. In other words, industrialization of the building industry has been characterized by change in the direction of greater efficiencies and superior performance.

With rapid economic expansion, increasing population growth, and the intensive urbanization that accompanied the Industrial Revolution, the pressure on the construction industry to improve its performance increased tremendously. Much of this pressure for change generated the appearance of new systems and technologies. In Europe, for example, after the Second World War there was fairly widespread development of precast concrete⁽³⁾ housing systems. As wood was in short supply in most of Europe, the logical material to utilize for the tremendous housing needs was concrete. In France, shortly after 1945, the government was backing a large-scale concrete panel industry.

(1)-items of livingry предметы повседневной жизни

(2)- craft –oriented means кустарные методы

(3)-precast concrete сборный бетон

[1]Отрывки, выделенные скобками, предназначены для перевода.

Ex. I. Find the equivalents:

building industry	работа
the field of construction	строительная промышленность
to advance in the direction	производить
economic conditions	двигаться в направлении
enterprises	оборудование
construction techniques	применять
employ	область строительства
manufacture	предприятия
equipment	экономические условия
performance	методы строительства

Ex. II. Translate the following:

Population growth, population growth problem, precast concrete, precast concrete housing systems, precast concrete panels, precast concrete panel manufacture, precast concrete panel manufacture control.

Ex.III Find the answer to the following questions:

“What was the main role of the industrial revolutions?”

Prove your choice.

1. It played rather an important role in the history of construction

2. It occupied a long period of time stretching back several hundred years.

3. It led towards the improvement of construction techniques and materials.

Ex. IV. Join suitable parts

To industrialize the construction process …

1. means the organization or rearrangement of labour, equipment and materials.

2. are different steps in the organization of labour, equipment and materials

Ex. V. Translate into Russian paying attention to the underlined parts.

1. The changes of materials as well as the improvement of construction techniques…

2. In the case of the application of modern methods of construction…

3. New changes meant efficiencies in term of materials and labour…

4. Residential construction as well as industrial construction…

5. In the case of population growth…

Ex. VI. Translate into Russian the last passage of the text in written form.

Additional Text A

THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND HIS CARREER

Civil engineers typically possess an academic degree in civil engineering. The length of study for such a degree is usually three to five years and the completed degree is usually designated as a Bachelor of Engineering, though some universities designate the degree as a Bachelor of Science. The degree generally includes units covering physics, mathematics, project management, design and specific topics in civil engineering. Initially such topics cover most, if not all of the sub-disciplines of civil engineering. Students then choose to specialize in one or more sub-disciplines towards the end of the degree. While an Undergraduate Degree will normally provide successful students with industry accredited qualification, some universities offer postgraduate engineering awards which allow students to further specialize in their particular area of interest within engineering.

In most countries, a Bachelor’s degree in engineering represents the first step towards professional certification and the degree program itself is certified by a professional body. After completing a certified degree program the engineer must satisfy a range of requirements (including work experience and exam requirements) before being certified. Once certified, the engineer is designated the title of Professional Engineer

The advantages of certification vary depending upon location. For example, in the United States and Canada only a licensed engineer may prepare, sign and submit engineering plans and drawings. In other countries, no such legislation exists.

There is no typical career path for civil engineers. Most engineering graduates start with jobs of low responsibility, and as they prove their competence, they are given more and more responsible tasks, but within each subfield of civil engineering, and even within different segments of the market within each branch, the detail of a career path can vary. In some fields and firms, entry-level engineers are put to work primarily monitoring construction in the field, serving as the “eyes and ears” of more senior design engineers; while in other areas, entry-level engineers end up performing the more routine tasks of analysis or design and interpretation. More senior engineers can move into doing more complex analysis or design work, or management of more complex design projects, or management of other engineers, or into specialized consultation.

Ex. I. Describe a typical career of a civil engineer. Compare it with the situation in our country.

Part II

Ex.1. Translate the following international words and word combinations:

Principals of the modern construction, to coordinate labour and materials, the design of economic structures, the selection of materials, the application and determination of the correct shapes, the function of the designer, to dictate, rational principles, different materials, the basic problem of design, internal forces, deformation, stress, steps, logical basis, various types.

Ex. 2. Translate the following paying attention to the suffixes:

Profitable, suitable, workable, understandable, applicable, approvable, changeable, discussable, available, expressible.