- •Башкирский государственный аграрный университет r.A. Yusupova, l.F. Kharisova English for agronomists
- •Soil Active vocabulary
- •Text 1 Agronomy
- •1.4 Translate the following words having the same stem. Check your translation with the help of a dictionary:
- •1.5 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •Agronomy cars
- •1.6 Answer the questions to the text.
- •Text 2 What is soil?
- •2.3 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •2.6 Answer the following questions:
- •2.7 Read the text without a dictionary. Try to catch its main idea.
- •Text 3 Soil formation
- •3.4 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •Text 4 Soil Physics
- •4.3 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •4.4 Give English equivalents:
- •4.5 Answer the following questions:
- •4.6 Say if these statements are correct:
- •Text 5 Soil chemistry
- •5.4 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •Text 6 Living Soil
- •6.4 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •Soil Food Web Model in picture form
- •6.6 Fill in the gaps using the words given below the text:
- •Text 7 Soil fertility
- •7.3 Read and translate the text with the help of dictionary.
- •7.5 Find the paragraph speaking about results of applying too much fertilizers. Discuss it.
- •7.6 Fill in the gaps using the words given below the text:
- •Text 8 Soil Classification
- •8.3 Read the following pairs of words and translate them:
- •8.4 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •8.6 Render the text into Russian using no dictionary:
- •Text 9 Soil Zones
- •9.3 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •9.5 Choose the right statement:
- •9.6 Fill in the gaps using the words given below the text:
- •Unit VI Soil chemistry Active vocabulary
- •Text 1 Chemical Properties of Soil
- •1.3 Translate the following sentences; pay attention to grammar
- •1.4 Read and translate the text with a dictionary
- •1.5 Choose the proper definition from the right column
- •1.6 Translate the following words having the same stem.
- •1.7 Answer the following questions
- •1.8 Explain the meaning of the symbol “ph”.
- •1.9 Explain the terms “acid soils” and “alkaline soils” in English.
- •1.10 Read the following text and briefly retell it. Plant Foods in the Soil.
- •Text 2 Organic Matter in the Soil
- •2.3 Say it in Russian
- •2.4 Translate the following sentences; pay attention to the grammar
- •2.5 Read and translate the text with a dictionary
- •2.6 Fill in gaps using following words: decomposition, undecomposed, decomposing, decomposed
- •In land-applied biosolids, a portion of ammonium
- •2.12 Read the following text without dictionary and say what a new information you’ve got
- •Text 3 Fertilization
- •3.3 Say it in Russian
- •3.4 Translate the following sentences; pay attention to the grammar
- •3.5 Read and translate the text with a dictionary
- •3.6 Say it in English
- •3.7 Choose the correct statements from the following ones:
- •3.8 Find the paragraphs speaking about results of applying complex fertilizers.
- •3.9 Make an annotation of the text “Fertilization”.
- •3.10 Read the following text without dictionary. Title the text.
- •Text 4 Environmental Problems
- •4.4 Read and translate the following texts with the help of a dictionary. Part 1
- •Part 2 Acid rains
- •Part 3 Harmful effects of pesticides
- •4.5 Answer the questions to the text.
- •4.6 Match the words with the definitions:
- •4.7 Fill in the gaps using the words given below the text:
- •Text 5 Organic agriculture
- •5.3 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •5.5 Answer the questions to the text.
- •5.6 Translate the following words having the same stem. Check your translation with the help of a dictionary:
- •Text 6 Organic practices and species diversity
- •6.4 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
- •6.5 Answer the questions to the text.
- •6.6 Say if these statements are false or true:
- •Vocabulary
- •Библиографический список
- •Содержание
3.4 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.
Soils considered as a natural body by Russian and US scientists in the late 1800s. This allowed scientists to study and classify soils with the objective of trying to understand soil formation from an environmental perspective. They recognized that soils were formed by weathering of surface deposits or “parent materials” by processes that were physical, chemical and biological. The concept of soil forming factors allows scientists to understand and classify soils more clearly.
Parent material Soils are formed by weathering of “parent materials”. These materials have many origins such as bedrock surfaces, aolian (wind blown), lacustrine (from glacial lake beds), alluvium (river) and organic (peat) deposits.
Many of our soils have been developing since the last ice age – some 10 thousand years ago. Soil is in a dynamic equilibrium. It is always changing as a result of its interaction with the environment.
G laciation The most important parent materials come from glaciers which retreated from the prairies about 10,000 years ago. The glaciers, often several thousand feet high, had the power to move rocks and debris from the north carrying them hundreds of miles and depositing them all over the province as the ice melted.
Only small areas escaped glaciation. There is evidence of early settlement of people in the prairies immediately following glaciation some 10,000 years ago (possibly part of a group of migrants from Asia who walked across the frozen Baring Sea and moved south to populate the Americas).
Physical weathering The conversion of large rock matter into small (mineral) particles is mainly the result of physical weathering. Glacial erosion, wind and water are the major physical forces involved in this type of weathering. While erosion can be witnessed day to day, like the movement of water over surfaces or a blowing wind that picks-up and deposits particles, the formation of soils by this type of weathering took many, many years. The action of freezing water (and expanding in rock cracks or fissures), gravity movements (earthquakes and landslides), the burrowing actions by organisms or the movement animals across the land, are also physical forces.
Chemical weathering Processes which break down rock matter to produce smaller, chemically different substances are included in this category. Examples of chemical weathering include
the reaction of iron and oxygen to form iron oxide (rust)
dissolving of limestone (a base) in water which contains carbon dioxide, making the water slightly acidic.
Biological actions Biological action begins the process of weathering at the very early stages as lichens and mosses desperately cling to the barren surfaces of rocks. They open up fissures and scrounge nutrients where they can, producing acids and chelating agents in an attempt to dissolve nutrients from the hostile environment. As the soil develops further the microfauna and microflora play their part in the development of humus. Billions of tiny plants and animal live, reproduce, grow and die in the soil, constantly adding organic matter to its composition.
The soil is a habitat for living things that carry out the biological actions. These living organisms in the soil provide
a cover of vegetation to protect the soil.
nutrients (through decomposition, there is an addition of organic matter).
roots to help bind soil particles.
mixing of soil components (by the action of animal organisms such as ants, worms)
cycling of nutrients.
All of the organisms that live in the soil have a place in the soil ecosystem. The next time you decide to step on an ant or dig up that earthworm, consider how these animals benefit the soil society.
3.5 Give English equivalents: почвообразующие факторы, ледниковый период, динамическое равновесие, глинистая почва, каменистая почва, землетрясение, ржавчина, слегка кислый, миллиарды мелких растений, разложение.