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ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ КОМИТЕТ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ

ПО РЫБОЛОВСТВУ

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ

ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

"МУРМАНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ"

Кафедра

иностранных языков

ECOLOGICAL AND POLLUTION PROBLEMS

(ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ И ПРОБЛЕМЫ ЗАГРЯЗНЕНИЯ ОКРУЖАЮЩЕЙ СРЕДЫ)

Методические указания по чтению текстов

для младших курсов всех специальностей

Мурманск

2008

УДК

ББК

Составитель -

Смирнова Ирина Владимировна, доцент кафедры иностранных языков Мурманского государственного технического университета

Методические указания рассмотрены и одобрены кафедрой, протокол №7 от 05.03.2009 года.

Рецензент -

А.В.Малаева, старший преподаватель кафедры иностранных языков Мурманского государственного технического университета

Редактор Г.В. Зобнина

© Мурманский государственный технический университет, 2008

Оглавление

Введение 5

biodegradable 6

биоразлагаемый 6

sulfur 6

сера 6

decompose 6

разлагаться 6

demand 6

спрос, требование 6

to occur 6

происходить 6

sewage 6

сточные воды 6

an ecosystem 6

экосистема 6

fertilizers 6

удобрения 6

dioxin 6

диоксин 6

pesticides 6

пестициды 6

to accumulate 6

накапливаться 6

to deplete 6

истощать 6

life-threatening 6

опасный для жизни 6

exhaust gases 6

выхлопные газы 6

environment 6

окр. среда 6

fungi(pl.) fungus(s.) 6

плесень, грибок 6

contamination 6

загрязнение 6

algae(pl.), alga(s.) 6

водоросль 6

combustion 6

сгорание 6

microorganism 6

микроорганизм 6

fossil fuels 6

орган. топливо 6

tissue 6

ткань 6

impurities 6

примеси 6

erosion 6

эрозия 6

to build up 6

накапливаться 6

sterile 6

бесплодный 6

nitrogen 6

азот 6

oxygen 6

кислород 6

gasoline 6

топливо 6

to evolve 6

развиваться 6

hydrocarbon 6

углеводород 6

hazardous 6

опасный 6

A) Pollution 6

B) Types of Pollution 7

C) Air Pollution 7

D) Water Pollution 8

F) Noise Pollution 8

G) Pollution Cleanup and Prevention 9

H) The Ozone Hole 10

10

Введение

Данные методические указания предназначены для формирования навыков чтения текстов по темам "Экологические проблемы и проблемы загрязнения окружающей среды", у студентов младших курсов всех специальностей.

Методические указания состоят из двух частей, в каждой из которых содержится от трех до четырех разделов. Каждый раздел включает в себя тексты по теме, дотекстовые, текстовые и послетекстовые упражнения для формирования и закрепления навыков различных видов чтения, а также умения работать со словарем.

Методические указания могут быть использованы как на аудиторных занятиях, так и для самостоятельной внеаудиторной работы студентов.

PART 1

Exercise 1. Read and memorize the words:

biodegradable	биоразлагаемый	sulfur	сера
decompose	разлагаться	demand	спрос, требование
to occur	происходить	sewage	сточные воды
an ecosystem	экосистема	fertilizers	удобрения
dioxin	диоксин	pesticides	пестициды
to accumulate	накапливаться	to deplete	истощать
life-threatening	опасный для жизни	exhaust gases	выхлопные газы
environment	окр. среда	fungi(pl.) fungus(s.)	плесень, грибок
contamination	загрязнение	algae(pl.), alga(s.)	водоросль
combustion	сгорание	microorganism	микроорганизм
fossil fuels	орган. топливо	tissue	ткань
impurities	примеси	erosion	эрозия
to build up	накапливаться	sterile	бесплодный
nitrogen	азот	oxygen	кислород
gasoline	топливо	to evolve	развиваться
hydrocarbon	углеводород	hazardous	опасный

Exercise 2. Read and translate the texts:

A) Pollution

Pollution, contamination of Earth’s environment with materials that interfere with human health, the quality of life, or the natural functioning of ecosystems (living organisms and their physical surroundings). Although some environmental pollution is a result of natural causes such as volcanic eruptions, most is caused by human activities.

There are two main categories of polluting materials, or pollutants. Biodegradable pollutants are materials, such as sewage, that rapidly decompose by natural processes. These pollutants become a problem when added to the environment faster than they can decompose (see Sewage Disposal). Non-degradable pollutants are materials that either do not decompose or decompose slowly in the natural environment. Once contamination occurs, it is difficult or impossible to remove these pollutants from the environment.

Non-degradable compounds such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and radioactive materials can reach dangerous levels of accumulation as they are passed up the food chain into the bodies of progressively larger animals. For example, molecules of toxic compounds may collect on the surface of aquatic plants without doing much damage to the plants. A small fish that grazes on these plants accumulates a high concentration of the toxin. Larger fish or other carnivores that eat the small fish will accumulate even greater, and possibly life-threatening, concentrations of the compound. This process is known as bio-accumulation.

B) Types of Pollution

Pollution exists in many forms and affects many different aspects of Earth’s environment.

The effects of these pollutants may be immediate or delayed. Primary effects of pollution occur immediately after contamination occurs, such as the death of marine plants and wildlife after an oil spill at sea. Secondary effects may be delayed or may persist in the environment into the future, perhaps going unnoticed for many years. DDT, a non-degradable compound, seldom poisons birds immediately, but gradually accumulates in their bodies

C) Air Pollution

Human contamination of Earth’s atmosphere can take many forms and has existed since humans first began to use fire for agriculture, heating, and cooking

Urban air pollution is commonly known as smog. The dark London is generally a smoky mixture of carbon monoxide and organic compounds from incomplete combustion (burning) of fossil fuels such as coal, and sulfur dioxide from impurities in the fuels. As the smog ages and reacts with oxygen, organic and sulfuric acids condense as droplets, increasing the haze. Smog developed into a major health hazard by the 20th century

The second type of smog, photochemical smog, began reducing air quality over large cities like Los Angeles in the 1930s. This smog is caused by combustion in car, truck, and airplane engines, which produce nitrogen oxides and release hydrocarbons from unburned fuels. Sunlight causes the nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons to combine and turn oxygen into ozone, a chemical agent that attacks rubber, injures plants, and irritates lungs. The hydrocarbons are oxidized into materials that condense and form a visible haze.

Eventually most pollutants are washed out of the air by rain, snow, fog, or mist, but only after traveling large distances, sometimes across continents. As pollutants build up in the atmosphere, sulfur and nitrogen oxides are converted into acids that mix with rain. This acid rain falls in lakes and on forests, where it can lead to the death of fish and plants, and damage entire ecosystems

D) Water Pollution

The demand for fresh water rises continuously as the world’s population grows. From 1940 to 1990 withdrawals of fresh water from rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and other sources increased fourfold. Of the water consumed in the United States in 1995, 39 percent was used for irrigation, 39 percent was used for electric power generation, and 12 percent was used for other utilities; industry and mining used 7 percent, and the rest was used for agricultural livestock and commercial purposes.

Sewage, industrial wastes, and agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides are the main causes of water pollution.

Water runoff, a non-point source of pollution, carries fertilizing chemicals such as phosphates and nitrates from agricultural fields and yards into lakes, streams, and rivers. These combine with the phosphates and nitrates from sewage to speed the growth of algae, a type of plantlike organism. The water body may then become choked with decaying algae, which severely depletes the oxygen supply. This process can cause the death of fish and other aquatic life.

5. Soil Pollution

Soil is a mixture of mineral, plant, and animal materials that forms during a long process that may take thousands of years. It is necessary for most plant growth and is essential for all agricultural production. Soil pollution is a buildup of toxic chemical compounds, salts, pathogens (disease-causing organisms), or radioactive materials that can affect plant and animal life.

Unhealthy soil management methods have seriously degraded soil quality, caused soil pollution, and enhanced erosion. Treating the soil with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides interferes with the natural processes occurring within the soil and destroys useful organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. This process kills even beneficial microorganisms and leaves the soil sterile and dependent upon fertilizer to support plant growth. This results in heavy fertilizer use and increases polluted runoff into lakes and streams.

F) Noise Pollution

Unwanted sound, or noise, such as that produced by airplanes, traffic, or industrial machinery, is considered a form of pollution. Noise pollution is at its worst in densely populated areas. It can cause hearing loss, stress, high blood pressure, sleep loss, distraction, and lost productivity.

Sounds are produced by objects that vibrate at a rate that the ear can detect. This rate is called frequency and is measured in hertz, or vibrations per second. While high-frequency sounds tend to be more hazardous and more annoying to hearing than low-frequency sounds, most noise pollution damage is related to the intensity of the sound, or the amount of energy it has. Measured in decibels, noise intensity can range from zero, the quietest sound the human ear can detect, to over 160 decibels. The intensity of a nearby jet taking off is about 110 decibels. The threshold for pain, tissue damage, and potential hearing loss in humans is 120 decibels. Long-lasting, high-intensity sounds are the most damaging to hearing and produce the most stress in humans.

Solutions to noise pollution include adding insulation and sound-proofing to doors, walls, and ceilings; using ear protection, particularly in industrial working areas; planting vegetation to absorb and screen out noise pollution; and zoning urban areas to maintain a separation between residential areas and zones of excessive noise.

7. Pollution Cleanup and Prevention

In the United States, the serious effort against local and regional air pollution began with the Clean Air Act of 1970, which was amended in 1977 and 1990.

In an effort to enforce pollution standards, pollution control authorities measure both the amounts of pollutants present in the atmosphere and the amounts entering it from certain sources.

Pollution is controlled in two ways: 1) with end-of-the-pipe devices that capture pollutants already created and 2) by limiting the quantity of pollutants produced in the first place. End-of-the-pipe devices include catalytic converters in automobiles and various kinds of filters and scrubbers in industrial plants. In a catalytic converter, exhaust gases pass over small beads coated with metals that promote reactions changing harmful substances into less harmful ones. When end-of-the-pipe devices first began to be used, they dramatically reduced pollution at a relatively low cost.

As pollution efforts evolve, keeping the air clean will depend much more on preventing pollution than on curing it. Gasoline, for instance, has been reformulated several times to achieve cleaner burning. Various manufacturing processes have been redesigned so that less waste is produced. Car manufacturers are experimenting with automobiles that run on electricity or on cleaner-burning fuels. Buildings are being designed to take advantage of sun in winter and shade and breezes in summer to reduce the need for artificial heating and cooling, which are usually powered by the burning of fossil fuels.

The choices people make in their daily lives can have a significant impact on the state of the air. Using public transport instead of driving, for instance, reduces pollution by limiting the number of pollution-emitting automobiles on the road. For example, people can use underground instead of cars.

Indoor pollution control must be accomplished building by building or even room by room. Proper ventilation mimics natural outdoor air currents, reducing levels of indoor air pollutants by continually circulating fresh air. After improving ventilation, the most effective single step is probably banning smoking in public rooms.

On the global scale, pollution control standards are the result of complex negotiations among nations.

7. The Ozone Hole

The Ozone layer : Up in the sky above the air we breathe, there’s a layer of gas called ozone. It helps us by blocking out rays from the sun that can harm our skin, & by letting the rays that are good for us come through. We’re lucky to have the ozone to protect us!

What’s happening: New the ozone layer is being damaged by gases that people have made. The gases are called CFCs, & halons. They are used in refrigerators, fire extinguishers, air conditioners, plastic foam, aerosol- sprays, cleaning solvents, packing materials.

How it happens: The CFCs float out to the top of the atmosphere, where the layer of ozone is, & “eat up” the ozone just like little Pac-Men.

The Ozone layer protects the Earth from ultraviolet rays. It is 40 km thick, but now it is destroyed. The process of the ozone layer destruction is caused by the industrial use of chemicals (CFCs – chloro-fluorocarbons) used in refrigerators.

It is destroyed all over the globe but especially fast above Antarctica.

The results can be drastic – increase of skin cancer, cataracts, reduction of immune system responses.

This problem is overlasting. It can’t be solved in some years. CFCs can remain in the air for hundred years.

I) The Greenhouse Effect

A greenhouse: A greenhouse is a building made of glass where you can grow flowers & other plants that need a lot of warmth.

How it works: The sun shines in through the glass & warms the greenhouse, & the roof & the walls keep the heat from getting out.

Our greenhouse: The Earth is surrounded by a blanket of invisible gases (with names like carbon dioxide) that act just like a greenhouse. The sun shines in, & the blanket of gases traps the heat like a roof, keeping it close to the planet. That’s good – we can’t live without warmth.

What’s going on: Factories, electric power plants, & cars are making a lot of new gases. Even trees, when they are cut down, give off the gases! These new gases are trapping more & more of the sun’s heat. This is called the greenhouse effect, or global warming.

What can happen: If the earth’s temperature gets hotter by just a few degrees, it could change the weather all over the planet in big ways. Places that are warm would become too hot to live in, & places that are cold would become warm. The places that grow most of our food could get too hot to grow crops anymore.

Every kid can help stop the greenhouse effect by using less energy, protecting and planting trees & by recycling so factories don’t need to work as hard making things.

• Turn off the light when you leave the room

• In the daytime sit closer to the window instead of turning on the light

• Turn off the TV or stereo & other appliances when you are not using them

Exercise 3. Give definitions to the following:

pollution soil

bio-degradable pollutants exhaust gases

non-degradable pollutants fossil fuels

Exercise 3. Find synonyms for the following words.

contamination petrol

to build up dangerous

to happen to degrade

Exercise 4. Answer the questions.

1. What types of pollution do you know?

2. What are the two main categories of polluting materials?

3. What non-degradable pollutants do you know? Why are these pollutants dangerous for animals? for humans?

4. When did contamination of the Earth’s atmosphere by the man begin?

5. What are two types of air pollution?

6. What purposes is water used for?

7. What are the main water pollutants? How do they affect aquatic life?

8. What is the cause of soil pollution? Is there any connection between water and soil pollution?

9. How does noise pollution influence human’s health? What are solutions to the problem?

10. In what ways can pollution be controlled?

11. How can outdoor pollution be prevented?

12. What can be done by people to reduce indoor pollution? How can the problem be solved on the global scale?

Exercise 5. Translate the sentences into English.

1. Не разлагаемые загрязнения наносят вред не только окружаемой среде, но и здоровью человека. Проходя через всю пищевую цепочку, они медленно накапливаются в организме.

2. Используя удобрения и пестициды в сельском хозяйстве, люди загрязняют не только почву, делая ее бесплодной, но и воду.

3. Шумовое загрязнение – это явление, характерное для густонаселенных областей. Высокочастотные звуки могут привести к потере слуха, бессонице и повышению кровяного давления.

4. Очищающие устройства для выхлопных труб помогли существенно сократить уровень загрязнения воздуха, но еще более важно предотвращать загрязнение.

5. Проблему загрязнения необходимо решать в мировом масштабе, но кое-что может быть сделано и каждым из нас.

PART 2

TEXT 1

ECOLOGY IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM

(Extracts from an interview between an American jour­nalist and chief of the Нуdrometeorоlogical Service, a key figure in Russia’s fight against pollution.)

Exercise 1. Read and memorize the words:

1. to safeguard - to protect

2. to be confident - to be sure/certain

3. to purify - to make clean (air, water)

4. to discharge - to unload

5. annually - every year

6. cargo dues/fees • payment for carrying cargo

7. unseaworthy ship - unfit for a voyage, not well built and equipped

8. peril - danger

9. disaster - catastrophe

10. significance - importance

11. to perish - to die in an accident/catastrophe

12. devoid of (life) - without (life)

13. proprietor - owner

14. to take (adopt) drastic measures - принять решительные меры

15. to launch a campaign [ksm'pem] - начать кампанию (за, против)

Exercise 2. Read and translate the text:

Modern concern with ecology goes back to many years ago because every state must adopt all meas­ures necessary to safeguard its natural resources. Public organizations are confident that it is a very difficult taskin modern conditions and technological progress to eliminate pollution but a lot of measures have already been done for purifying air, water and soil and in safe­guarding natural resources. But in our era, water pollu­tion is becoming an international problem. The oil and ship­ping companies in their competition for quick and easy prof­its, discharge 1,800 tons of oil into the sea annually in order to get round harbour regulations and cargo dues. The larger portion of the 700 million tons of oil that Western Europe imports annually passes through the English Channel, mostly in tankers flying "flags of convenience" ("флаги прикрытия"). For a certain fee Liberia, Panama and a few other countries are willing to lend their flags to any foreign shipowner.

Unseaworthy ships, plus low pay which rules out employing competent seamen, turns flags of convenience into flags of peril.

An ecological and economic disaster of international significance is how the press described the sinking of the Liberian tanker Amoco Cadiz off the coast of Brittany on the night of March 16, 1978. More than 230,000 tons of oil was spilled out into the English Channel off the French coast. Hundreds of kilometers of bathing beaches have been ruined; birds, fish and the oysters and lobsters bred in Brittany are perishing; coastal farmers say even trees and other vegeta­tion have been covered with a thin film of oil. Unless drastic measures are taken, the oceans will rapidly become biologi­cal deserts devoid of life.

Really to blame for these tragedies are the gigantic inter­national cartels. The true proprietor of the Amoco Cadiz is the Phillips Petroleum and the oil that the Amoco Cadiz carried belonged to Shell.

The public opinion calls for launching a campaign to make these companies pay for cleaning up the environment, take them into public ownership or, where operating under flags of convenience, apply pressure internationally. This could be a first step toward a national and international policy for the planned use of the sea and the preservation of its marine life.

It is significant that the questions of pollution and ecol­ogy were included in the "Appeal to the Peoples of the World" issued recently by the governments.

Exercise 2. Answer the questions to the text:

1. Why concern with ecology is so actual nowadays?

2. What is becoming an international problem at present?

3. How do the oil and ship­ping companies pollute the seas?

4. What does the public opinion call for?

5. What has been issued recently?

TEXT 2

The symptoms of our environmental illness

Exercise 1. Read and memorize the words:

awash - 1) на одном уровне с поверхностью воды 2) смытый водой The rising water set everything awash. — Прилив смыл все

sewage - сточные воды; нечистоты

garbage - отбросы; остатки, гниющий мусор to collect, pick up the garbage — собирать мусор to dispose of garbage — избавляться от мусора to dump garbage — сваливать мусор

dumps - 1) мусорная куча; отвал ( кучи руды, земли и т. п., образующиеся в результате горных работ ) 2) а) свалка garbage dump, trash dump — мусорная свалка the town dump — городская свалка

pesticides - пестицид, средство для борьбы с вредителями

depletion - уменьшение, истощение (запасов, финансовых ресурсов и т.д. )

confident - уверенный ( в успехе и т. п. - of )

retreat - уходить, удаляться, уединяться

reclamation - утилизация, переработка; повторное использование ( отходов, устаревшего оборудования, использованных материалов и т. п. ) reclamation industry — перерабатывающая промышленность waste water reclamation — очистка промышленных вод

fossil - ископаемое, окаменелость ( остатки животных или растительных организмов, сохранившиеся в земной коре с прежних геологических эпох )

to dump - выгружать, разгружать, сваливать

landfill - 1) закапывание мусора, отходов 2) мусорная свалка

averting - предотвращение, предохранение, предупреждение

discarded - 1)никчемная вещь, ненужный предмет; отходы 2) избавляться от чего-л. (отбрасывать, выбрасывать за ненадобностью )

Exercise 2. Read and translate the text:

▪ The symptoms of our environmental illness include smog, beaches awash with sewage, overflowing garbage dumps, acid rains, killed lakes, pesticides in fruit and vegetables, toxic substances in drinking water, etc.

▪ The greenhouse effect may be the preeminent environmental problem facing the world today. A variety of factors contribute to it – overpopulation, deforestation, ozone depletion, garbage dumping and more.

Experts are confident that the Earth has entered a period of global climate change.

There are some beneficial effects of climate change. They include, for instance, milder winters in northern climes, an increase in rainfall in some regions that need it, and faster crop growth.

But we must remember that possible early disastrous effects will include these:

-a continuing rise in average global sea level;

- an increase in extremes of temperature, dryness and precipitation;

- a striking retreat of mountain glaciers around the world.

▪ Of all the man’s interventions in the natural order, none is accelerating quite so alarmingly as the creation of chemical compounds. Although cause-and-effect relationship between many chemicals and specific illnesses are still difficult to prove, the danger is clearly growing.

At the very top of the environmental scientists’ list of concerns about pollution damage is contamination of ground water. While most ground water is believed to remain pure, concern is rising because it is one of nature’s greatest unrenewable resources. Unlike surface water or air, ground water is almost impossible to purify once it has become chemically polluted. In the past, ground water was kept pure because the soil at the earth’s surface acted as a filtration system. But this filtration system does not reliably screen out the waste chemicals that now leak into the soil from a variety of sources.

The chemical pollution of the Third World is likely to increase. Developing countries searching for ways to boost food production eagerly buy cheaper – if more deadly – pesticides, which may cause cancer, damage to respiratory system and nervous disorders.

▪ For over 30 years nuclear power has been a reality, the greatest danger is associated with nuclear power comes. It comes from one of its by-products – radiation. We can’t see radiation, or smell it, or touch it. Another problem is the long-lasting nature of radiation. What are the alternatives to nuclear power?

▪ The massive increase in public concern for protection of the environment has given a new prominence to the recycling industry, which covers everything from the collection of beverage cans and the reclamation of old car bodies to the treatment of industrial sludge.

The great advantage of recycling is that it saves a large proportion of the energy. This is of paramount importance at a time when energy conservation is essential to reduce the use of fossil fuels which contribute to global warming – the greenhouse effect.

Materials which are recycled are less expensive than primary raw materials.

Recycling also avoids the need to dump large quantities of used materials in landfill sites.

It offers the potential for averting the crisis of running out of raw materials.

Today, recycling is a major activity in the industrialized countries. Advanced technology is used to collect, sort and process materials that are discarded by industry or by public.

Exercise 2. Answer the questions to the text:

TEXT 3

The Cigarette Ban

Exercise 1. Read and memorize the words:

Miserable - жалкий, несчастный

Addictive - вырабатывающий привыкание (о лекарствах, наркотиках)

Ban - запрещение

Headquarters - штаб; штаб-квартира; орган управления войсками

Barrack - стеллаж

Exercise 2. Read and translate the text:

They walk around city streets like a friendless tribe. You see them in doorways of big offices, grouped together in shared misery. Many of them walk around the city as they satisfy a habit once thought fashionable, but now totally out of touch with the teenagers.

The lives of America's 40 million or so smokers are about to become even more miserable. The Clinton administration wants to put at least another 75 cents a pack on cigarettes to help pay the changes in the health-care system. Some members of Congress want $2 or more of an increase, which would double the price of a packet of cigarettes.

Recently, the US government's Drug Administration announced that nicotine in cigarettes is addictive and that tobacco should be regulated as a drug. In May, health officials in the state of Maryland, where farmers have grown the tobacco crop for centuries, banned smoking in all its closed workplaces - factories, offices, shops, lorries, vans and cars used for work, as well as in restaurants. The tobacco industry, fearing many more similar new laws, says that this is health fascism.

No one believes that banning smoking entirely would work - Prohibition, the attempt to ban alcohol from 1920-33, was a big failure. But across the United States, local governments and private businesses are trying to make life more uncomfortable and more expensive for smokers.

Traditionally, tobacco has been as much a part of American culture as rock 'n' roll or jeans. In 1619, the first settlers of Jamestown in Virginia nearly lost all their money after bad harvests. However, they were saved by their tobacco crop and the sudden fashion for smoking in Europe.

By the time Thomas Jefferson and other plantation owners wrote the American Declaration of Independence in the 1770s, many of them not only smoked tobacco, they also owed their wealth to it. Some states still do. The tobacco company R.J.Reynolds has its headquarters in the town of Winston-Salem in North Carolina. Its building, completed in 1929, was so impressive that it became the model for New York's Empire State Building. Reynolds says that just one of its factories generates $13 million a day in taxes for the US government.

But now, it looks as big tobacco really is in trouble. Early last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) produced a report on "second-hand smoking". It claimed that second-hand smoke from other people's cigarettes was a "carcinogen", responsible for the deaths of thousands of non-smoking Americans every year and producing illnesses such as bronchitis in hundreds of thousands of others. The report has understandably been strongly challenged by the tobacco companies.

The way people view smokers has changed dramatically in the States. The Marlboro man - the cowboy in advertisements for this particular brand of cigarette - used to show the tough independent spirit of smokers. But now the Marlboro cowboy is no longer tough but a polluter, filling other people's lungs with dangerous chemicals.

Private businesses like the McDonalds burger chain have banned smoking on their premises. So has the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, which 20 years ago included cigarettes in its military rations. In May, its 1,6 million defense department workers were banned from smoking in or near any of their office buildings, and the US's 1,5 million uniformed troops will be banned from smoking in their tanks, personnel carriers, ships and barracks.

In the early 17th century, Britain's King James I - after whom Jamestown in Virginia was named - said that smoking was horrible to look at, smelt terrible and harmed the brain and lungs. (However, this did not stop him from becoming the first "tobacco" baron in history, when he realized how much money there was to be made from the habit). Perhaps what is most odd is that it has taken the combined power of the EPA, the US Surgeon General, dozens of anti-smoking groups, tens of thousands of medical researchers, millions of dollars and nearly four centuries for the US government to come to the same conclusion as King James did, after just one smell, all those years ago.

Exercise 2. Answer the questions to the text:

1. Why are the lives of America's 40 million smokers about to become miserable?

2. What did the US government's Drug Administration announce?

3. Why has tobacco been as much a part of American culture/

4. What has changed dramatically in the States?

5. What companies have banned smoking on their premises?

PART 3