Focus on text comprehension

1. Answer the following questions using information from the text.

   1. What are the values of commercial culture?

   2. What are the goals of democratic capitalism?

   3. How have people changed the environmental situation?

   4. What are the causes of greenhouse effect and ozone holes?

   5. What are three basic issues that business has to face?

   6. Why is it possible for businesses to destroy the world? What are principles do they base their development on?

   7. Why is industry essential for the world economics? What are the main industrial branches?

   8. What is the role of the transportation industry?

   9. Why is energy called a clue branch of industry in the world economy?

   10. What is crude oil used for?

   11. Why is nuclear power so important for the improvement of the ecological situation?

   12. What objectives is modern metallurgy trying to achieve?

   13. Which industry is one of the most ancient? What prevented it from developing?

   14. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the modern industry?

2. Find information in the text to prove the following statements.

1. Abundance is one of the central goals of doing business.

2. People are satisfying their needs at the expense of Nature.

3. Business is destroying the world.

4. Natural gas and nuclear power can become better sources of energy than oil.

5. Industry can be both beneficial and dangerous.

Focus on vocabulary

1. Translate the following words into Russian and reproduce the context they are used in:

enterprise, mining, extracting, processing, abundance, free-market capitalism, secular savior, life span, famine, natural resources, underwater river, fertile topsoil, greenhouse effect, ozone layer, life-supporting system, repositories for waste, pollutants, biological diversity, unabated expansion, industrial manufacturing, mechanical engineering, fuel and energy complex, fossil fuels, metallurgy, alloy, lumber industry, product sites, finished goods, refinery, petrochemicals, raw materials, industrial chemicals, fertilizers, natural gas, nuclear power, fission process, special properties, harvesting, telegraph poles, railroad ties, lumber products, manual tools, mechanical advances, technological innovations, waste residuals

2. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian words and phrases:

пронестись по миру, разрешить посредством чего-либо, заниматься бизнесом, мешать/препятствовать, ликвидировать/уничтожать бедность и голод, убивать/уничтожать, извлекать/выкачивать воду, высохнуть, удовлетворять потребности и нужды, лишать землю чего- либо, причинять вред, не хватать/недоставать руководящих принципов, потенциальная емкость экосистемы, сокращаться (об экономическом росте), обременительный, назойливый, разорять кого-либо/вывести из бизнеса, взлет/быстрое повышение, первостепенный/важнейший, предоставление чего-либо, ключевая отрасль, возобновляемая солнечная энергия, дополнять что-то, выкачивать нефть, высокая выработка полезной энергии, роковая ошибка, истощать доступные запасы, вырабатывать электричество, обогащение урана, упаковка (как процесс), сложный и интерактивный промышленный процесс, разрабатывать/получать новые сплавы, соответствовать/подходить заданным характеристикам, выдерживать высокие температуры, использовать/применять, перечеркнуть, избавиться от/удалить отходы, удаление/захоронение побочных продуктов

3. Match the words to make collocations.

A

mechanical (2) technological lumber secular free-market life-supporting biological carrying industrial

diversity savior manufacturing capitalism advances capacity industry system engineering innovations

B

nuclear natural unabated natural fossil life greenhouse underwater fertile ozone

resources effect rivers layer gas topsoil expansion span fuels power

C

waste production railroad raw fission finished telegraph special industrial lumber manual

goods chemicals products properties tools residuals sites materials process poles ties

4. a) Explain the following notions. Use any English dictionary for advanced users if necessary:

industrial societies, agricultural societies, disparity, consumers, natural environment, habitat, the Industrial Revolution, machinery, pollutants

b) Fill in the blanks with the words mentioned above.

The Industrial Revolution brought a shift from the … to modern … . In the long run it has brought economic and healthcare improvement for most people in industrialized societies, especially in the middle and the upper classes of society. Modern industrial life also provides a constantly changing flood of new goods and services, giving … more choices.

Still, the modern prosperous industrialized societies have come at some cost. The nature of work became worse for many people and the industrialization placed great pressures on traditional family structures as work moved outside the home. The economic and social distances between groups within industrial societies are often very wide, as in the … between rich industrial nations and poorer neighboring countries. The … has also suffered greatly from the effects of … . The industrialization has brought factory … and greater land use, which have harmed the natural environment. In particular, the application of … and science to agriculture has led to greater land use and therefore, extensive loss of … for animals and plants.

5. Fill in the blanks with prepositions if necessary. You can consult the text.

   1. … the beginning … a new millennium we know that we have decimated 97% of the ancient forests in North America.

   2. The world population is increasing … the rate … 90 million people per year.

   3. The process of fulfilling their wants and needs is stripping the earth … its biotic capacity to produce life.

   4. The land, water, air and sea have been functionally transformed … life-supporting systems … repositories for waste.

   5. Business is not properly designed to adapt … the situation we face.

   6. Business economics essentially lacks any guiding principles to relate it … such fundamental and critical concepts as evolution.

   7. Most of us are dependent … businesses … our livelihood.

   8. Science and technology never cease searching … the new ways to add to the wellbeing of the world’s society.

   9. The transportation industry is vital … a nation’s economy.

   10. It provides jobs … millions of people.

   11. Waste residuals can cause harm and must be disposed … .

   12. But people don’t care … their disposal.

6. Fill in the blanks with a suitable prepositional phrase from the previous exercise.

1. The company is … new ways of attracting customers.

2. Oceans are … life on earth. They … home … millions of plants and animals, … people … food and help regulate the climate.

3. More and more species are disappearing … an alarmingly high … .

4. More than 200 million people … the rainforests … shelter and food.

5. Most respiratory diseases are closely … unhealthy environment.

6. Little by little we are … the land … a desert.

7. Businesses have to … changes and learn to … wastes and by-products.

8. We can’t afford not to … ecological issues.

9. … the industrial age, air pollution has become part of life in major cities.

10. The thieves … the house … its valuables.

7. a) Dwell on the development of commerce and the impact it has had. Use the following words and expressions:

to sweep across the world, to extract and process resources, to enrich sb, to produce a dominant commercial culture, to resolve resource and social inequality, to be unparalleled, abundance, to hinder commerce, to be secular savior, to revolutionize sth, to lengthen the life span, to eliminate poverty;

b) Speak about the losses the environment has suffered over time, make use of the following vocabulary:

a healthy environment, to seem unlimited, to decimate ancient forests, to draw out water, to dry up within 30 to 40 years, to lose tons of topsoil, greenhouse effect, hole in the ozone layer, to increase at the rate of…, to fulfil one’s wants and needs, biotic capacity to produce life, to destroy the life on the earth, to disintegrate, life-supporting systems, repositories for waste;

c) Explain the causes of modern attitude towards the environment, use the words and word-combinations below:

relationship to the environment, to adapt to the situation, to face three basic issues, to do sth in a harmful way, toxins and pollutants, to produce waste, to cause harm to sb, to lack guiding principles, biological diversity, to be dependent upon sth, ecologists, to continue one’s unabated expansion, to cut back and to retreat, to put sb out of business;

d) Characterize the most important branches of industry, using the following vocabulary:

• to dominate the business world, to be paramount, to contribute to sth, to add to the wellbeing of society, to transport natural resources, to move finished goods to markets, provision of transportation services, to generate billions of dollars, related service and support industries, a clue branch of industry, renewable solar energy, to supplement sth, to extract and burn fossil fuels,

• to be pumped out, pipeline, refinery, to separate sth into sth, resulting products, to have a high net useful energy yield, affordable supplies to be depleted, to produce less air pollution, to make the transition to improved energy efficiency, ecologically clean source of energy, to release heat, to generate electricity, to enrich uranium, to maintain the reactor, to dispose of spent fuel, to require interactive industrial processes,

• to work out new alloys, corrosion resistance, to match a predetermined set of characteristics, supersonic aircrafts, to sustain very high temperatures, production and harvesting of trees, to convert sth into sth, to utilize wood, dependence on manual tools, to prevent large-scale lumbering;

e) Describe the negative influence of industrial production, use the following:

new millennium of one’s evolution, to obtain happier way of life, to cross out all the positive characteristics, to be used up, waste residuals, to cause harm, numerous ecological problems, to produce hazardous wastes and by-products.

8. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English using the vocabulary of this unit.

1. Коммерческое предпринимательство пронеслось по миру, открыло, разработало, добыло и переработало тонны природных ресурсов. Основная цель занятия бизнесом – обеспечение изобилия.

2. Человечество уже уничтожило примерно 97% лесов, а североамериканские фермеры выкачивают столько грунтовых вод, что скоро эти реки высохнут. К тому же с каждым годом становится меньше плодородных почв, парниковый эффект растет, озоновый слой истончается.

3. Промышленное производство порождает загрязняющие вещества и причиняет вред окружающей среде. Бизнесу не хватает руководящих принципов, которые бы принимали в расчет биологическое разнообразие и потенциальную емкость экосистемы.

4. Неослабляемый рост производства неминуемо разрушит мир. Но бизнес не собирается останавливаться. Многие считают, что расходы на окружающую среду очень обременительны и могут разорить их дело.

5. Промышленность стала играть важнейшую роль в мировой экономике. Среди наиболее важных отраслей: машиностроение (транспорт), топливно-энергетический комплекс, металлургия и лесозаготовительная промышленность.

6. Транспортная промышленность включает производство и распространение автомашин, топлива и предоставление транспортных услуг. Транспорт доставляет сырье на места производства, а готовые товары на рынки.

7. Энергетика является ключевой отраслью. Человек производит всего 1% энергии, чтобы дополнить возобновляемую солнечную энергию. Больше всего энергии мы получаем от сгорания природного топлива – нефти, газа и угля.

8. Нефть выкачивают из земли и отправляют на нефтеперегонный завод, где из нее получают бензин, дизель и др. Также в результате обработки нефти получают нефтепродукты, из которых делают промышленные химикаты, удобрения, пестициды и многое другое.

9. Атомная энергия – эффективный и экологически чистый источник энергии. Но получение ядерной энергии – сложный, интерактивный промышленный процесс, связанный с добычей, обогащением и упаковкой урана.

10. Металлургия занимается получением новых сплавов, обладающих специфическими свойствами. Под заказ разрабатываются сплавы, соответствующие заданным характеристикам.

11. Лесозаготовительная промышленность заготавливает древесину и производит лесопродукты, такие как телеграфные столбы, ж/д шпалы, предметы мебели и др. Расцвет этой промышленности начался в период промышленной революции, когда были получены достижения в механике.