Английский для бакалавров

manufacturing of clean and safe products their main selling point and emphasize it in their advertising.

The concern for a safer and cleaner environment is making companies rethink how they do business. No longer will the public accept the old attitude of "Buy it, use it, throw it away, and forget it." The public pressure is on, and gradually business is cleaning up its act.

I.Study the words to text B.

II.Read the text ‘Friendly to the Environment’. Answer the questions below:

1.What is recycling?

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2.Why is the process of recycling important? Prove it by the text.

3.What may paper be reprocessed into?

4.What can be done with glass and plastic?

5.Which country recycles more – Japan or the US?

6.What do the three Rs stand for? III. Choose the correct answer.

1.Many people choose green products because they are ... .

a)cheaper

b)better made

c)environmentally safer

2.Corporations are producing more green products because ... .

a)they have to pay higher taxes

b)it costs less

c)consumers want to buy them

3.Nowadays ... consumers consider the environmental safety of products before they buy them.

a)all

b)many

c)no

IV. Write the definitions for the following words and phrases:

a)“green” products ______

b)biodegradable packaging _____

c)recycling _____

d)selling point _____

Text C. MAN THE LOSER?

The warming of the climate on Earth that could only be registered by experts at the beginning of the century is obvious to everybody in our day. The process has been set off by the rising content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and is directly traceable to human activity: the burning of fuels, the spewing of industrial exhausts, the felling of forests, and erosion of farmlands. However, some of the carbon dioxide is effectively absorbed from the air by the ocean and the green plants on land. Who will win in this "competition" between Man and Nature? What will happen to the global climate in a longer run, beyond the turn of this century?

A mathematical model has been developed by some employees of the Computer Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences in an attempt to answer these questions. The model is described by a system of 1,500 differential equations using such variables as amounts of carbon dioxide in the biomass of

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living plants and in humus. To obtain accurate results, the scholars divided the land mass on the geographical map into meshes measuring 4 by 5 degrees. They have taken in the mean annual temperature, rainfall, and plant production over the year, since these characteristics are influenced by the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. The analysis has been carried out for such regions as Europe, the tropical forests, Canada, the USA, and this country since 1860 and has been extended till the year 2000.

It turned out that carbon dioxide is absorbed in all the regions, the forests in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere playing the most significant role in the process. However, up to 53 percent of carbon dioxide contributed by industrial exhausts remains in the atmosphere (in the tropical forest zone the figure is considerably lower, while in the temperate and northern regions it is rising continuously). Apparently, plants can no longer absorb these excessive amounts of carbon dioxide. According to some estimates, the capability of green plants on land to absorb carbon dioxide declined after 2000, and at some point between 2000 and 2030 the land itself may become a source of carbon dioxide!

When this will happen, if at all, depends on many factors, in the first place, on the ecological strategy of mankind which appears to be climbing further out on to the limb.

A. Tarko, B. Bogatyrev, and A, Kirilenko, "The Role of Countries and Regions in the Formation of the Global Carbon Budget in the Atmosphere", Doklady Akademit Nauk, 1992, Vol. 322, No. 2 (in Russian).

I.Read the text ‘Man the Loser?’ Find in the text the information about a mathematical model developed by the Computer Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. What purpose is it designed for?

II.Describe the mathematical model developed by some employees of the Computer Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. You may do it either in Russian or in English.

III. Speak on the results of the investigation (either in Russian or in English). IV. Suggest another headline for text C.

C O N V E R S A T I O N

Environment and Ecology

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The twentieth century is known to be the century of the scientific and technological progress. The achievements of the mankind in mechanization and automation of industrial processes, in chemical industry and conquering outer space, in the creation of atomic power stations and ships are amazing.

But at the same time this progress gave birth to a very serious problem – the poisoning of our planet, its land, its air and water. The ecological harmony is disturbed. The seas are filled with industrial and nuclear waste, chemicals and fertilizers. The concentration of smoke in the air is so high in some industrial centers that it is deadly dangerous just to breathe there.

Many species of flora and fauna have disappeared. Some of them are on the brink of extinction, many have been put down into the “Red Book of Nature”. Every hour some kinds of animals and plants die out for ever.

Acid rains, the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion caused by harmful substances emitted by industrial enterprises are much spoken about.

Unfortunately some means of transport can be regarded as offenders in poisoning the environment.

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Atomic power plants are worth mentioning as a grave threat to the environment nowadays. The pollution of the environment is hard to ignore.

The problem of environmental protection has become an extremely important part of political programmes in many countries nowadays.

The Environmental Movement had gained a lot of supporters long before our country joined it. Many laws and vital decisions on the problem have been adopted, many measures have been taken to protect our forests, rivers, lakes and seas.

However, the Mediterranean is already nearly dead; the North Sea is following. The Aral Sea is on the point of vanishing. The environmental problems have grown beyond the concern of a single country. Their solution requires the cooperation of all nations.

It is obvious, that only our joint effort will help to avoid a global catastrophe.

Questions to be answered

1.The environmental pollution is a very serious problem nowadays, isn’t it?

2.What gave birth to the problem of poisoning our planet?

3.Why have a lot of species disappeared and still more are on the brink of extinction?

4.Have you ever heard of the “Red Book of Nature”? What kinds of animals are registered in it?

5.What causes acid rains, green house effect and ozone depletion?

6.Atomic power plants do both good and harm, don’t they? Give your reasons.

7.Can transport means be considered a kind of threat to the environment?

8.What movement had gained a lot of supporters before our country joined it?

9.What do many adopted laws and measures aim at?

10.Do students of our University join the Environment Movement?

IV. Make a summary of the text ’Environmental Protection’.

V.Speak on the problem of pollution. Use the key-words:

pollution, to breathe, pure water, burned gas, harmful, invisible, disease, to affect, lack, to reduce, waste, to spray, garbage and trash, to pack down, acid rain, nuclear energy, ozone layer, to extinct, wild life.

VI. Deliver a lecture on the problems of environment as if you were

•a teacher of ecology and environmental protection;

•a member of the Ecological International of the Green Cross and Crescent;

•Chairman of the new International Non-Governmental Board.

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VII. Speak on the reasons which made scientists set up an international industrial ecological consortium.

VIII. Describe the ways of solving the problems of environmental protection.

IX. Describe the ecological problems of our city. What has been done and is being done for their solution?

X.Work in pairs. Imagine you are a journalist; your fellow-student is

Chairman of the new International Non-Governmental Board. Interview him.

D I A L O G U E S

a) Read the short dialogues in pairs

I

A.Mum, why are you so upset?

B.The window glasses get dirty so shortly and the winter is so long.

A.This is air pollution. All big cities have this problem.

II

A.Alice, why are you so upset? What’s happened?

B.My best bathing suit was spoilt this summer. I came out of the sea with a

black mineral oil spot on it though the sea water looked so clear.

A. Oh, dear! Don’t take it ill. With “Tide” this problem will be solved, I believe.

III

A.Daddy, why are you so upset? What’s wrong?

B.Oh, my shirt smells awfully because our mum aired it outdoors.

A.Take it easy. I’ll give you another one.

IV

A.Granny, why are you so upset?

B.I can’t sleep quietly because of the noise of all those cars, lorries, buses. Even late at night!

A.Good heavens! This is the scientific and technological progress of the 20-th century. How lucky we are that we do not live near the airport.

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b)Memorize the dialogues and reproduce them.

c)Make up your own dialogues on a similar topic.

J U S T F O R F U N

I.Read the following quotations and comment on them.

The “boundless” blue sky, the ocean which gives us breath and protects us from the endless black and death, is but an infinitesimally thin film. How dangerous it is to threaten even the smallest part of this gossamer covering, this conserver of life.

-Vladimir Shatalov, quoted in The Home Planet, 1988

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

-Mohandas Gandhi

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.

-Indian Proverb

This we know. The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

-Chief Seattle

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II.It’s interesting to know.

Did you know?

Eight million tons of oil are spilled into the Earth’s oceans every year.

Did you know? Glass produced from recycled glass instead of raw material reduces related air pollution by 20% and water pollution by 50%.

Did you know?

American workplaces discard enough paper each year to build a 12-foot high wall stretching from Los-Angeles to New York.

Did you know?

Madagascar is home to at least 150,000 living species found nowhere else in the world.

Did you know

One ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees and three cubic yards of landfill space.

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