Energy and the environment

1. Many of the most serious environment problems of the technological nations result from the use of energy. Every form of energy production is known to cause some damage to the surroundings. A large part of urban air pollution is probably caused by emission from internal combustion engines. Other forms of urban air pollution result from the combustion of coal and low grade oil in steam electric plants or central heating plants.

2. Hydroelectric plants are considered to cause serious problems in the environment as well. One major problem of hydroelectric plants is the enormous weight of the water that fills the lake behind the dam rather quickly after the dam is constructed. The added weight places severe stresses on the geological formation, causing earthquakes in the area. The most severe earthquake- 6,5 on the Richter scale- happened as the lake behind the dam in Konga (India) was filled.

3. Perhaps, the most tragic problem created by the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River is the increase of diseases. The still waters behind the dam prove to create a good ground for insects carrying diseases.

4. Another form of environment degradation common to electric power generation is thermal pollution- the dumping of wasted heat into streams of water or the atmosphere. The warmed water is rather quickly mixed with the streams of water in a lake, this having harmful effect upon ecological balance of the lake.

5. In order to obtain enormous amounts of energy we are building powerful atomic electric stations which open up fine prospects in atomic power industry. However nuclear plants are capable of polluting the environment with radioactive atoms of various elements moreover, nuclear reactors of the types now being built will not be widely used as a source of energy became of the scarcity of the isotope “U” which is used as fuel.

6. The largest potential source of nuclear energy is thermo-nuclear fusion by which the nuclei of small atoms are combined to form large nuclei. However these power plants also contaminate the environment with radioactive elements that are released when the fuel is burnt.

V. Прочитайте 6-ой абзац текста и письменно ответьте на следующий вопрос:

What substances do power plants contaminate the environment with?

Вариант 4.

I. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на различные значения глаголов should и would.

1. It would have been impossible to send up sputniks unless the laws governing the motion of planets had been studied.

2. In 1898 Marie and Pierre Curie discovered that radium sent out rays consisting of particles smaller than the atom.

3. The computer will advise the drivers with which speed they should drive trains on each sector of the route.

II. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, принимая во внимание, что инфинитивные и причастные обороты соответствуют придаточным предложениям.

1. The main disadvantage of plastics is likely to be poor resistance to heat.

2. Scientists consider solar energy to be an ideal source of power for artificial satellites.

3. Liquid lubricants evaporating in vacuum, scientists developed solid lubricants for space engineering.

4. Wood was perhaps the first material to be used by man for building purposes.

5. Having been translated into many languages Pushkin’s books became known all over the world.

III. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на различные значения выделенных слов.

1. For a long time scientists dreamed to obtain electric power directly from the sun.

2. This plant produces cars and refrigerators as well.

3. Since rubber is a non-conductor of electricity it is used for insulators.

IV. Прочитайте и устно переведите на русский язык с 1-го по 4-й абзацы текста. Перепишите и письменно переведите 2,3,4-й абзацы.

Пояснения к тексту:

1. far side- обратная сторона

2. rock- горная порода

3. mantle- мантия

4. glassy globule- стекловидный шарик

5. melting point- точка плавления

Lunar exploration.

1. The Earth’s nearest celestial neighbour- the Moon- is only 384,400 km away from us. That is why, it appears sufficiently large and bright. Lunar exploration began in 1959 when Luna-3 spacecraft was sent around the Moon. It radioed back the first photographs of the Moon’s far side. In July 1969 two American astronauts landed on the Moon and carried out a variety of experiments on the surface of the Moon.

2. The kilometers of film exposed by the astronauts, the specimens of rock brought back to the Earth and other data studied by hundreds of scientists from countries all over the Earth have led to new views on several basic problems.

3. Before the Moon landings it was thought that the Moon was a simple body with the same composition throughout. But we now know it to be a body with a metallic core at its centre, a silica- rich mantle and a crust Lunar soils proved to contain a type of structure that is not common on Earth. Small glassy globules were present in the soil.

4. The types of rocks that were encountered on the Moon are familiar to geologists. However, almost all of these rocks have lower proportions of elements with lower melting points than does the Earth. Detailed examinations of the lunar rocks indicate to relatively high proportions of elements with high melting points such as calcium, aluminium and titanium. So the Moon and the Earth seem to be more familiar than had been thought for the last few years. None of the lunar rocks contain any trace of water found inside their minerals. This ends all hope that water and life existed on the Moon at any time in the past.

5. Thus, due to the lunar explorations the scientist were provided with some information about the composition of the solar system, with the information of the Moon and its relationship to the Earth. One day we may be able to use the far side of the Moon as a site for scientific observatories, for optical, ultraviolet or infrared observations. Twenty or thirty years from now we may be able to visit the Moon as researchers or even as tourists.

V. Прочитайте 6-ой абзац текста и письменно ответьте на следующий вопрос:

What purpose will the Moon’s surface be used in future for?

Вариант 5.

I. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на различные значения глаголов should и would.

1. In the future new alloys and synthetic materials should replace the metals we use today.

2. It would be impossible to simplify the production of aluminium without using the electrothermal method.

3. The design would have been ready by the end of the year if they had supplied us with all the necessary equipment.

II. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, принимая во внимание, что инфинитивные и причастные обороты соответствуют придаточным предложениям.

1. Architects have designed and built houses to be heated by solar radiation.

2. Rubber is known to have been brought from America.

3. The Egyptians seem to be the first to apply geometry for practical purposes.

4. The search for new sources of energy having been started, the uneconomical waste of fossil fuels will be discontinued.

5. Having done a given number of operations the machine stopped automatically.

III. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на различные значения выделенных слов.

1.Hydroelectric energy requires no fuel for electricity is produced from the energy of falling water.

2.In the field of chemistry lasers are used either for diagnostic purposes or for producing chemical changes.

3. Many important discoveries have been made since the beginning of the 20-th century.

IV. Прочитайте и устно переведите на русский язык с 1-го по 4-й абзацы текста. Перепишите и письменно переведите 1-й и 3-й абзацы.

Пояснения к тексту:

1. sophisticated- усложненный

2. cell- клетка

3. to afflict- страдать

4. despite- несмотря на

5. retina- сетчатка

6. storage capacity- объем памяти

Biochemistry

1. The chemistry of life or biochemistry as chemists call it is an area in which classical fields of chemistry and biology meet. It can be called “molecular biology”. Biochemistry is the study of the structures and reactions of the thousands of compounds involved in life process. Biochemistry is considered to be the most complex area of chemistry.

2. Living things represent the most efficient sophisticated, compact chemical “factories” ever known. How, for example, do cells of the body know when to divide and multiply into new cells having the same characteristics as the original cells? When the body is afflicted by disease or by a wound how does the body protect itself and repair the damage? We know these processes to involve thousands of different chemical compounds.

3. When we compare the nervous system to man-made electronic computers the efficiency and complexity of the biological systems become even more impressive. Despite great advances in computer technology, the greatest computer ever built is almost insignificant being compared to a human brain weighing little more than a kilogram. A computer can perform mathematical operations millions of times faster than a person but what the nervous system can do! For example, it can cause your arm to reach out and touch an object. The brain can translate signals from the retina of the eyes into three dimensional colour images. It can translate a series of frequencies detected by the ear into thoughts whereas a computer can only perform operations being programmed by a person. As to the storage capacity the brain really wins out. The largest computers have storage capacity of about one million “words” but some experts believe the brain to store up all the signals it receives.

4. The chemical processes of our bodies involve enormously complex sequences of reactions, details of these processes being far from complete understanding. Nevertheless the great progress has been made in our understanding of the processes that occur in the body.

5. The first half of this century might be termed the Golden Age of Physics because so many discoveries in understanding the structure of molecules, atoms and nuclei were made. By the same virtue we may be in the midst of a Golden Age in Biochemistry. The next few years of research may bring much increased understanding of chemical processes in cells.

V. Прочитайте 5-ый абзац текста и письменно ответьте на следующий вопрос:

What phenomena are not yet understood in biochemistry?