Вариант 18

1. Переведите тексты на русский язык.

A Little on the Top, for Environment’s Sake

If you want a greener urban environment, start at the top. The top of a building, that is, where a cover of vegetation – a green roof, as it were – can help reduce energy bills and improve air quality.

Green roofs have become popular in Europe, and they are beginning to catch on in North America. Some use ground-cover plants like sedum and other succulents (a roof at Ford’s River Rouge complex in Michigan is an example) while others are more like gardens, with shrubs and even trees.

Green roofs can provide immediate benefits, but what about the long term? Scientists at the University of Toronto investigated the environmental impact of a green roof over the expected life of a building. They modeled the impact over 50 years on an eight-story apartment building, designed by Susana Saiz, an architect who is one of the researchers. The building, in Madrid, currently has a conventional flat roof, although it could support a green one.

Christopher Kennedy, a professor of civil engineering at the university and an author with Ms. Saiz and others of a paper describing the work, said that such environmental “life cycle assessments” evaluate elements like the cost of construction materials and maintenance as well as energy use. For instance, Dr. Kennedy said, a green roof may use materials that are produced with less of an impact on the environment, and may protect the standard roofing material beneath it so it does not have to be replaced as often.

But he said the main effect comes from energy savings. Vegetation absorbs less sunlight than a conventional dark roof, and some of the energy that is absorbed is used in evaporation from the plants. So a green roof stays cooler, and less energy is required to cool the living space beneath it. The paper, published in Environmental Science and Technology, showed a 6 per cent energy savings in summer and 1 per cent overall. The Madrid building has a relatively small roof area; the savings would be greater with a wider, lower building.

If green roofs catch on in a neighborhood, the impact may be compounded by reducing the “heat island’ effect – the scorching heat off roofs and streets that raises temperatures. “If you can get a one-degree reduction in temperature in a city in the summer, it’s a huge savings in energy you use for cooling,” Dr. Kennedy said.

Stirring Up Soil Trouble

Much has been said over the effect of some modern agricultural practices on soil. Nutrients are lost, soil structure breaks down, and the soil itself is lost to erosion.

But modern farmers aren’t the only ones who have problems keeping the soil in good shape. Research on the island of Maui suggests that the Polynesians who settled Hawaii had trouble, too.

Anthony Hartshorn of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and colleagues looked at the effect on soil nutrients of cultivation of sweet potato on the slopes of Haleakala volcano. As the Polynesian settlers expanded into the drier leeward parts of the islands beginning in the 1400’s, they brought these crops with them.

Archaeological evidence shows that in these drier regions, the crops were grown on a portion of volcanic slopes where conditions were right. These slopes had a zone of highly stratified soil about three feet thick over lava bedrock, consisting of a top layer of ash, an intermediate layer of larger nutrient-rich cinders and another ash layer that served as a water reservoir on the bottom. To reach this bottom layer to quench their crops’ thirst, the early Hawaiians dug through the surface ash and cinder layers with a stick, rotating it to create a cone-shaped hole for planting. That way the roots could reach the water below.

But the researchers report in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that this practice resulted in the depletion of calcium, magnesium and other nutrients over time. Their experiments showed that digging crushed some of the cinders, increasing their surface area, and also mixed cinders with moist ash. Both conditions led to increased leaching of nutrients from the cinders. The researchers also estimated that crop yields were probably sufficient over a long period – perhaps 300 years. Eventually, however, the depletion of soil nutrients would have led to lower yields of these crops.

Warmer Times Down South

Scientists have discovered the remnants of elephant seal colonies in Antarctica near the Ross Ice Shelf, implying that the region’s climate was warmer then than it is today. The finding may also have some implications for the future of the ice shelf itself. Breeding grounds of southern elephant seals currently are found north of Antarctica, mostly on remote islands in the Southern Ocean. The animals need access to open water, and the extent of pack ice around the continent is now too great.

But Brenda L. Hall of the University of Maine and colleagues found seal skin, hair and other remains at several sites along the coast of Victoria Land on the Ross Sea. The finding demonstrates that seals used to breed and molt there. They suggest that warming caused the pack ice to thin or disappear. Radiocarbon analysis dated the remains from about 250 years ago to more than 6,000 years ago. In particular, the seals flourished from 1,100 to 2,300 years ago, indicating a previously unrecognized period of unusual warmth in the region.

Many scientists are concerned that as the climate continues to warm, huge expanses of ice like the Ross Ice Shelf will thin and eventually disintegrate, even within this century. But if the new study is correct, the Ross shelf apparently survived very warm conditions more than 1,000 years ago.

2. Переведите следующие словосочетания на русский язык:

1. environmental impact; 6. nutrient-rich;

2. civil engineering; 7. cone-shaped hole;

3. construction materials; 8. breeding grounds;

4. huge savings in energy; 9. to breed and molt;

5. conventional flat roof; 10. layer of ash

3. Найдите в тексте эквиваленты следующих словосочетаний:

1. подветренная сторона; 6. сборы урожая;

2. утолять жажду; 7. истощение питательных

веществ в почве;

3. слоистая почва; 8. лежбища тюленей;

4. коренная подстилающая порода; 9. ранее неизвестный;

5. палящий зной; 10. паковый лёд

4. Найдите в тексте однокоренные слова, определите, к какой части речи они относятся, и переведите их на русский язык:

1. environment; 6. research;

2. assess; 7. placed;

3. reduce; 8. cool;

4. deplete; 9. construct;

5. cultivate; 10. south

5. Задайте к предложению все типы вопросов: общий, альтернативный, специальный (а) к подлежащему, б) к второстепенному члену предложения), разделительный:

So a green roof stays cooler, and less energy is required to cool the living space beneath it.

6.Найдите и выпишите из данных предложений случаи следующих грамматических явлений: группа времен Indefinite в действительном и страдательном залогах, модальные глаголы и их эквиваленты, степени сравнения прилагательных, притяжательный падеж и множественное число имени существительного:

1. Nutrients are lost, soil structure breaks down, and the soil itself is lost to erosion.

2. As the Polynesian settlers expanded into the drier, leeward parts of the islands beginning in the 1 400’s, they brought these crops with them.

3. In these drier regions the crops were grown on a portion of volcanic slopes where conditions were right.

4. A green roof may use materials that are produced with less of an impact on the environment, and may protect the standard roofing material beneath it so it does not have to be replaced as often.

5. Radiocarbon analysis dated the remains from about 256 years ago to more than 6,000 years ago.

7. Ответьте на вопросы к тексту:

1. How did the early Hawaiians quench their crops’ thirst?

2. What layers is stratified soil composed of?

3. What are the energy savings green roofs offer in summer?

4. Where were the remnants of elephant seal colonies found?

5. When did the seals flourish?

6. What are many scientists concerned about nowadays?

7. In what way does the vegetation on the roofs cool them (the roofs)?

8. Составьте аннотацию к тексту.

9. Составьте реферат текста (10-15 предложений).

10. Составьте план текста и устно перескажите текст.