- •Unit 1 geoecology
- •Terms and Vocabulary
- •Pay attention to the pronunciation of the following words.
- •2. Read the text, fulfill the exercises.
- •7. Read the text below, use the word given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in the space in the same line.
- •8. What are the subjects of the following sciences?
- •9. Here are some definitions. What are they? Complete the sentences.
- •10. Answer the questions.
- •11. 9 Listen to the interview with a senior research engineer called Dr. Michael Blomberg. Dr. Blomberg gives his opinions on future trends in science and technology.
- •12. Read the text, do the tasks after it. Science and values
- •13. Work in pairs. Discuss the following quotations about ecological problems.
- •14. Read the interesting facts about nature and tell one of them to your groupmates.
- •Wordlist
- •Unit 2 the impact of mining and oil extraction on the environment
- •Terms and Vocabulary
- •1. Pay attention to the pronunciation of the following words.
- •Read the text, fulfil the exercises.
- •Match the words with their definitions.
- •9. Answer the questions.
- •10. State whether the sentences are true or false. If true, add the information you know, correct the false ones.
- •11. Read the text through and find the answers to these questions. Remember, you do not have to understand every word to answer the questions.
- •1. Are these statements True or False?
- •2. Classify the following items into four lists according to their role in environmental engineering. Then find a heading for each list.
- •3. Discuss the following points
- •12. 9 You will hear a lecture on impact of some trace elements of ore mineral on the environment. For questions 1-5, choose the best answer a, b, or c.
- •13. Read the text, tell about the impact of different stages of oil extraction on environment Environmental effect of Extracting Delivering, and Using Petroleum Products
- •14. Say in what content these figures are mentioned in the text.
- •15. Complete the sentences according to the text.
- •16. 9 You are going to hear a report about tanker disasters. Work in pairs. List possible causes of tanker disasters. Do you think that most accidents could be avoided or are some inevitable?
- •17. 9 You will hear various people talking about a tanker disaster. You will hear the people twice.
- •18. Imagine you are people from the list in Ex. 17. Act out interviews. Before you begin, decide what attitude you wish to convey by the tone of your voice and the way you speak.
- •19. Imagine you are fisherman or local hotel owners. Plan and write a letter demanding compensation for loss of trade caused by the oil spills.
- •20. Discuss the following facts and figures.
- •21. Discuss the following quotation from the standpoint of the ecological problems in mining and oil production
- •Deepwater Horizon oil spill
- •23. Write a paragraph on one of the topics, be ready to discuss it in group.
- •Wordlist
- •Unit 3 the problems of power generation
- •Terms and vocabulary
- •A) Pay attention to the pronunciation of the following words.
- •2. Read the text, fulfil the exercises.
- •3. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and set-expressions.
- •4. Match the synonyms.
- •5. Match the antonyms.
- •6. Fill in the correct word from the list below.
- •7. Fill in the necessary preposition.
- •8. Read the examples, join the sentences in every possible way.
- •Join the sentences using the words in brackets. Think of other ways of joining them.
- •Translate the sentences, mind Subjective Infinitive Construction.
- •11. Translate the sentences using Subjective Infinitive Construction
- •12. Complete the sentences according to the text.
- •Answer the questions.
- •Read the text, suggest the title to it.
- •Answer the questions.
- •18. Understanding a lecture
- •19. Read the text attentively, do the task after it. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
- •20. Working in pairs, discuss one of the energy source, its advantages and disadvantages, its perspectives:
- •21. Read the article and answer the questions below: The Truth about Chernobyl
- •22. Organize a students’ conference “The modern problems of energy generation.
- •Wordlist
- •Unit 4 the greenhouse effect
- •Terms and vocabulary
- •1. Guess the meaning of the words and remember the pronunciation.
- •2. Read the text, fulfill the exercises.
- •3. Complete the table with the appropriate word-formations.
- •5. Translate from Russian into English.
- •Fill in each gap with only one word.
- •7. Match the definitions.
- •8. Complete the following sentences:
- •9. Answer the questions.
- •10. Put the sections of the article from the New Scientist into the correct order. The first section is “ a” and the last is “g”. Looking on the Dark Side of Global Warming
- •11. 9 You will hear a lecture on global warming. For questions 1- 15 fill in the missing information.
- •Read the text without using a dictionary. Speak on the properties and practical applications of ozone
- •13. Tell about the greenhouse effect using this picture
- •14. 9 You will hear a man talking about a climatic phenomenon called El Niňo. For questions 10-14, choose the best answer (a, b, c or d) which fits best according to what you hear.
- •15. Discuss the following facts and figures.
- •16. Discuss the following problems. Find some additional information to prove your point of view.
- •Wordlist
- •Unit 5 the impact of chemical elements on human organism
- •Terms and Vocabulary
- •Read the words and remember their pronunciation.
- •Try to recognize the following words, remember their pronunciation.
- •3. Read the text, fulfil the exercises.
- •8. Fill in the necessary prepositions:
- •9. State whether each of the following sentences are true or false, if false, explain why.
- •10. Read the text again and make notes under the following headings. Find some additional information on each of the topics. Talk about the process of toxicokinetics. Use the scheme.
- •11. Read the text and answer the questions. Toxic heavy metals
- •Mechanisms of toxicity
- •Some principle processes of toxicity
- •Some other reaction of human organism to xenobiotic
- •Dose in the Exposure-Response relationships
- •Interaction of xenobiotics with each other
- •Carcinogenesis
- •More on carcinogenesis
- •Toxicity testing
- •Wordlist
- •Final tests
- •Variant 1
- •Variant 2
- •Glossary
- •Practical part
- •The result processing
- •Questions
- •Laboratory work № 2
- •Investigation of physiological characteristics of organism adaptation to low temperature
- •Theoretical introduction
- •Practical part
- •Questions
- •Laboratory work № 3 Study of calculation method of depletion time for non-renewable resources
- •Theoretical introduction
- •Practical part
- •Questions
- •Project work Types of Anthropogenic Impact in Tomsk Territory
- •References
Read the text, suggest the title to it.
Oil is abundant, but known supplies are dwindling. Next to water, oil is the most abundant fluid in the Earth’s upper crust, but most of the proven oil reserves are in a few fields. We are so used to fossil fuels and the devices they power that it is hard to imagine a world without them, but at the rate we are using them and are expected to use them, the reserves will last only a few more decades.
When geologists discuss sources of fossil fuels (or any useful mineral), they distinguish resources and reserves. A mineral resource is the entire amount on Earth – sometimes called the total resource. A reserve is what we can get at now economically, the portion of the resource that we can extract now at a profit. This is sometimes called the proven reserve.
The main question is, when will we reach peak production? This is more important than how long oil will last, because after we reach peak production, less oil will be available, leading to shortages and price shocks. Forecasts put peak in world crude oil production between the years 2020 and 2050. Oil production as we know it now is expected to end by about 2090 in the United States, and world production of oil should be nearly exhausted by 2100. Some economists argue that we will never entirely run out of crude oil, because we will reach a point where finding it and extracting it will cost much more than it can sell for, and when that happens it will no longer be used as a fuel, but as a mineral to be made into comparatively expensive products.
Several decades ago, the known available reserve was about 1.6 trillion barrels. Today, the estimate is just 3 trillion barrels. The increase is due primarily to discoveries in the Middle East, Venezuela, and Kazakhstan. Because so much of the world’s oil is in the Middle East, oil revenues have flowed into that area, causing huge trade imbalances and many political consequences.
Two other sources of oil play a minor role: oil shale and oil sands. Both are sediments that contain low concentrations of oil, but because they are massive, in total they contain a lot of energy. The use of both is insignificant today, but tar sands could become important as oil from well becomes scarce.
Today for every four barrels of oil we consume, we are finding only one barrel. However, this could improve in the future. Recent studies suggest that about 20 % more oil awaits discovery than predicted a few years ago, and that there is more oil in known fields than we thought. As estimated 3 trillion barrels of crude oil may be recovered from remaining oil resources, while world consumption today is about 30 billion barrels per year. Still, the new oil discovered in known fields will not significantly change the date when world production will peak and production will begin to decline.
Keller A., Botkin D.B. Essential Environmental Science. John Wieley & Sons, Inc., 2007
Answer the questions to the text.
1. What is the difference between the terms “resource” and “reserves”?
2. Why is it so important to know when we will reach oil peak production?
3. Why do economists argue that we will never entirely run out of crude oil?
4. Why does oil available reserve grow?
5. What problems did the discovery of oil cause in the Middle East?
6. What are the other sources of oil?
Explain the meaning of the following terms in your own words.
Resource, reserve, proven reserve, peak production, oil revenue, oil shale, oil sand.
Listen to the discussion of energy crisis.
Complete the table
Speaker |
Position, title |
The main ides of his/ her talk. The main advantages and disadvantages of the source mentioned in the speech |
Speaker 1 |
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Speaker 2 |
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Speaker 3 |
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Speaker 4 |
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