VI. Answer the questions:

1. Is engineering an old occupation?

2. What is the role of engineering in the evolution of civilization?

3. How is engineering often defined?

4. Were the early branches of engineering based on science or em­pirical information?

5. What led the Industrial Revolution?

6. What took over the work previously done by human beings or animals?

7. Who devised the concept of horsepower? What for?

8. What did the rapid expansion of scientific knowledge lead to?

9. What are the two important factors for the explosion of scientific knowledge in modern times?

10. What specialties emerged by the end of the nineteenth century?

11. What is industrial engineering concerned with?

12. Do many engineers work on large pro­jects?

13. Who is involved in designing the machines to fabricate parts and the entire system?

14. What is a profession?

15. What kind of education does engineering require?

16. Do engineers get a bachelor’s, master's or doc­tor's degree?

17. What changes do engineers have to keep up with?

18. Why does an engineer need constant new learning?

19. What should an engineer do to compete successfully with his colleagues?

20. In what two senses is the word engineer used in English?

21. Is a locomotive engineer a professional engineer with higher education?

22. What has the public been aware of in the last decades?

23. How has the attitude of the general public recently changed toward engineering projects?

24. What are engineers trying to solve by their work?

25. What else must engineers include to enlarge the definition of practical?

Text 2a. Forestry is my future profession

The Russian taiga forest is the world's primary wood reserve, covering 700 million ha. The forest is 80 % conifer­ous, representing 50 % of the world’s conifer­ous land. In the Komi Republic the forested area is 30.6 million ha, which makes about 80 per cent of the total territory. So forestry and forest industry have long been among of the most important branches in the economy of the republic. And this huge sector of our economy needs many highly qualified specialists to manage forests and forest industries in keeping with the requirements of the new century for ecologically sustainable use.

Forestry is the art of growing rotational crops of timber trees in forests. It is a very complex field. While the continuous production of timber products is general­ly the main objective, secondary benefits such as recreation, wildlife protection, and watershed maintenance are almost always involved. Another important goal of forestry is to promote the multipurpose use of forest lands, to develop the forests’ environmental, aesthetic, recreational and scientific values.

Specialists for forestry are trained at the Forest Institute. Here great attention is paid to studying biological subjects, such as botany, physiology of plants, dendrology, soil science and soil biology, forest entomology. We also study methods of forest regeneration, stand treatment, forest laws and regulations, silvicultural history, forest ecology and forest ecosystems, forest sustainability and biological diversity, methods of cutting and harvesting techniques, geoinformation technologies, etc. Many students spend a lot of time in computer classes. We realize that computer technologies are becoming very important for many spheres of life and for forest management too. The geographical information systems (GIS) make it possible to store information and spatial data in digital form. With these the natural values, the location of the endangered species, changes in the forests can be traced and analyzed.

The training at the Institute is practically oriented. We are doing a lot of practical work in fields and forests and meet a lot of experienced forest experts who share their rich knowledge and experience. Many well-known researchers deliver lectures and hold practical training with the students of forestry and landscape planning. We are taught to influence the factors of production, the size and quality of the forest product, to reduce the risk of damages, to prevent pest and disease infection.

It is well known that the boreal forests of Northern Europe are greatly influenced by human activity, but in European Russia, in Komi, there are still exceptionally large virgins forests. They should not be sacrificed for the benefit of timber production and our major task is to preserve them for the generations to come. We, would-be foresters and forest engineers, realize that it is not easy to meet the interests of timber production and preserve the biological diversity of forest ecosystems and protect the environment. But we shall do our best to improve wildlife resources for different forest users.

Today the consumers in the market­place want not only physical quality, but also environmental and social quality added to the product, so the interest in forest certification may act as a driving force to more ecologically sound forestry practices.

The graduates of our Institute can also turn to research work. Research can be carried out in such fields as forest tree reproduction, forest regeneration, stand dynamics, aspects of multiple forest use, nature conservation, silvicultural systems, etc.

I think I have made the right choice and I’ll never regret that I have decided to protect and develop our forests and improve the conditions of the forest development.