5. Переведите следующий текст письменно. Britain’s Energy

Britain has the largest energy resources of any country in the European Community and is a major producer of oil, natural gas and coal. Other primary sources of energy are nuclear power and, to a lesser extent, water power.

Before the 1970s Britain depended on imports of oil from abroad but the discovery of large oil and gas reserves in the North Sea changed this dramatically: by 1986 about 2.2 million barrels of oil were extracted per day, making Britain the world's fifth largest producer. There are over thirty offshore oilfields from which oil and gas are piped to the mainland. Natural gas has replaced coal in the public supply system.

Britain has large reserves of coal, and coal mining played a very important part in the industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By 1913 the coal industry employed over a million workers. Coal is still an important source of heat for both private houses and power stations, but in recent years the industry has greatly reduced the numbers of mines and miners while increasing efficiency. There was a long and bitter industrial dispute in 1984-85 as miners reacted to the beginning of this new phase in the development of the coal industry. Britain has fourteen nuclear power stations in operation. There are other nuclear installations too, such as reprocessing units and research centres. Since the original power stations started operations in 1956 there has been much discussion over the best design; pressurized water reactors are planned for the future and the government's eventual aim is to have 20 per cent of Britain's electricity produced by nuclear power.

All proposals for new power stations meet with public opposition, and this has increased since the disaster at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986. There are fears that the reactors themselves are unsafe, and that the problems of waste disposal have not been solved. While those in favour of nuclear power claim that it is clean, safe and efficient, opponents argue that the dangers are too great and that other sources of energy have not been sufficiently researched because of lack of government funding or interest. The privatization of the electricity industry has also raised the question of who should own and operate nuclear.

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Oxbridge

Two universities, Oxford and Cambridge, Oxbridge, as they are sometimes jointly called, for seven hundred years dominated British education, and today they dominate more than ever. T students of Oxbridge make up one of the most elite elites in the world. Many great men studied here. Among them Bacon, the philosopher, Milton, the poet, Cromwell, the soldier, and Newton, the scientist. Many prominent Conservative and Labour leaders and ministers, members of the Royal family studied there too.

Today Oxford and Cambridge have less than one-tenth of all British university students (less than 1% of Britain's population). Only a small per cent of the candidates are chosen — mainly on the results of the written examinations.

The division between Oxford and Redbrick is sharp. The division is essentially a class one. A large per cent of Oxford undergraduates come from public schools. Only since the 1870s women have been admitted and the women's colleges constitute only 12% of the Oxbridge population.

Oxford and Cambridge preserve an antique way of life in the midst of the twentieth century. Oxbridge is only in session half the year. Both Oxford and Cambridge now consist of self - governing colleges where students live. The "students have lectures and tutorials. Each student has a tutor who tells him to write papers on the subjects he is studying. Tutors are responsible for the students' progress.

1. What universities dominate British education?

2. What great men studied at Oxbridge?

3. Who is responsible for the students' progress?

4. Is the division between Oxford and Redbrick universities sharp?