- •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
8. Fill in the necessary prepositions:
Toxicology is a specialized area of risk assessment identifying the level of hazard peculiar ... a definite chemical exposure.
Regardless … its effect behavior of xenobiotic can be described in four terms: absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion.
Tissue level depends … transport of the xenobiotic to the target organ and the degree of its sequestration into the tissue.
… the standpoint of biology the mechanism of handling the chemicals by the body developed …response … selection pressure.
Substances that are not normally present in the body and introduced from outside are referred … as xenobiotics … convenience.
Scientific principles of toxicology are applied … medical geology.
Elimination is a term used for removal of xenobiotic … the organism.
Risk assessment is the identification and characterization of the level of risk resulting … exposure of hazards including the uncertainties.
9. State whether each of the following sentences are true or false, if false, explain why.
1. Toxicology has started to develop as an independent science from the moment of virus and microbe discovery.
2. Xenobiotics may be an anthropogenic environmental chemical action.
3. Principles of toxicology are applied to many branches of other sciences.
4. There are three mechanisms by which the body handles the chemicals.
5. Absorption is a terms that indicates the overall accumulation of xenobiotic in a body.
6. The most common opportunity for exposure is contaminated hands.
7. After the circulation in blood the xenobiotic is mixed in it no matter how it has entered the organism.
8. Transformations of xenobiotic in organism may activate the action of xenobiotic by converting the native agent into a metabolite.
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.
- The role of toxicology, its interaction with other sciences.
- The stages of handling the chemicals by the body.
- The process of xenobiotic absorption in organism.
- The process of xenobiotic distribution in organism.
- Metabolism of xenobiotic.
- Excretion of xenobiotic from organism.
11. Read the text and answer the questions. Toxic heavy metals
The major heavy metals (metals with relatively high atomic weight) that pose health hazards to people and ecosystems include mercury, lead, cadmium, nickel, gold, platinum, silver, bismuth, arsenic, selenium, vanadium, chromium, and thallium. Each of these elements may be found in soil and water that has not been contaminated by people. However, each of these metals has uses in the modern industrial society, and each is also a by-product of the mining, refining, and use of other elements. Heavy metals often have direct physiological toxic effect. Some are stored or incorporated in living tissue, sometimes permanently. Heavy metals tend to accumulate over time in fatty body tissue. As a result, a little arsenic each day may eventually result in a fatal dose (the plot of more than one murder mystery).
Mercury, thallium, and lead are very toxic to people. They have long been mined and used, and their toxic properties are well known. Mercury, for example, is the “Mad Hatter” element. At one time, it was used in making felt hats stiff, and because mercury damages the brain, hatters were known to act peculiarly in Victorian England. Thus, the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland had real antecedents in history.
Chemical elements released from rocks or human processes can become concentrated in humans through many pathways. These pathways may involve what is known as biomagnification – the accumulation or increase in the concentration of a substance in living tissue as it moves through a food web (also known as bioaccumulation). For example, cadmium, which influences the risk of heart disease, may enter the environment via ash from burning coal. The cadmium in coal exists in very low concentrations. After coal is burned in a power plant, the ash is collected in a solid form and disposed in a landfill (свалка). The landfill is covered with soil and revegetated. The low concentration of cadmium in the ash and soil is taken into the plants as they grow. But the concentration of cadmium in the plants is three to five times greater than the concentration in the ash. As cadmium moves through the food chain, it becomes more and more concentrated. By the time it is incorporated in the tissue of people and other carnivores, the concentration is approximately 50-60 times the original concentration in coal.
Mercury in aquatic ecosystems offers another example of biomagnification. Mercury is a potentially serious pollutant of aquatic ecosystem, such as ponds, lakes, rivers, and the ocean. Natural sources of mercury in the environment include volcanic eruption and the erosion of natural mercury deposits. However, we are most concerned with human input of mercury into the environment through burning coal in power plants, incinerating (сжигать) wastes, and processing metals, such as gold. Although we are unable to measure it precisely, it is estimated that human activities have doubled or tripled the amount of mercury in the atmosphere, and that it is increasing at about 1.5 % per year.
A major source of mercury in many aquatic ecosystems is precipitation from the atmosphere – rain and snow. Most of what is deposited is inorganic mercury, but once this mercury is in surface water, a process known as methylation may occur. Methylation changes inorganic mercury into methyl mercury through bacterial activity. Methyl mercury is much more toxic than organic mercury, and it is eliminated more slowly from animals’ system.
As the methyl mercury works its way through food chain, biomagnification occurs, so that higher concentrations of methyl mercury are found farther up the food chain. Thus, big fish that eat little fish contain higher concentration of mercury than do smaller fish and the aquatic insects that the fish feed on. Large fish, such as tuna and swordfish, have elevated mercury concentrations, which is why today we are advised to limit our consumption of these fish. Indeed, pregnant women are advised not to eat them at all.
From E. A. Keller, D.B. Botkin. Essential Environmental Science. John Wieley & Sons, Inc., 2007.
What is biomagnification? Describe its process looking at the picture.
Give the examples of biomagnification of some elements.
What are the main sources of contamination with heavy metals in the environment?
Find some more information on the impact of
mercury;
cadmium;
thallium;
lead;
arsenic;
selenium;
vanadium;
chromium on human organism.
12. Work in pairs. Write 6 questions on the text above.
Act your dialogue using the expressions of agreement and disagreement.
13. 9 a). Name the main principles of toxicokinetics. Characterise each of them.
b). You will hear the description of the process taking place at each stage of toxicokinetics. Decide which description corresponds to what principle.
a). Absorption
b).Distribution
c). Metabolism
d). Excretion
2. 3. 4.
14. a). Name the organs involved in each stage of toxicokinetics.
Example: Absorption may occur through …
b). Describe the processes of toxicokinetics using the picture.
Read one of the texts and tell the information to your groupmates