II.Прочтите и переведите текст: Text a. The Wealth of Our Nation

Land is many things to many persons: to the townsman-a place to build his house on, to the child-a playground, to the poet-a theme of his poetry. And still many among us are not clearly aware of any land use problems.

To a land use planner, land is not only the soil under his feet and the materials in that soil. To him it is the slope that determines the ease of cultivation, the sunlight and rain that plants need. Land is also the bays along the coasts and the falls of the streams, which permit the generation оf electricity. Land is the field to grow crops, and the river on which grain and industrial products are carried.

Land, in the land use planning sense, is our entire natural environment. It is the productive force of the greatest im­portance.

III.Прочтите и переведите текст: Text b. The Land Use Planner and His Work.

Land has much to do with our needs and the way we fulfil them. Many of our activities we devote to getting the basic items of food, shelter, and clothing. We need highways and automobiles, forests and railways and many other things. It is likely that if we had all that we could list, new wants would arise. And again we would be faced with the problem of how to satisfy them.

Land is necessary to satisfy man's needs. The people's needs can be satisfied only if we secure the best uses of land resources.

It is true that no progress in satisfaction the needs of man can be made if no labor is applied. If we want to live better we must work better. No progress can be made if labor is applied without intelligence. The land use planner is to secure wise land uses.

When we approach a familiar city after a year's absence, we now expect to see housing developments on land. We observe that old buildings are being demolished to permit new constructions.

The land use planner must decide whether to use a tract for a home site or for crops, or whether to use a valley to produce corn. He is to decide whether to use the river bottom land for growing tomatoes and cabbage. He is to be aware of the ability of land to satisfy wants when it is used for pastures or when it is used for wheat. He must know its productivity in each use. He must know many things about the land ability.

The land use planner determines which acreage to employ in each land use. He decides whether the land should be used now or later and how it must be used .He plans the living centres and the field patterns and many other services that land can supply. He must consider the best uses of the land.

The land use planner determines not only the productivity of land. He has to distinguish between the physical productivity and the economic productivity of the land. He is to know the productivity of the land itself and that of labour, capital and other resources. The general principle is each hectare of land should be given to the use in which its economic productivity is the highest.