The water of the Earth

Unit 1.

Lesson1.

Water

1. Прочитайте и переведите текст.

Water.

 

Water is an important part of nature, which surrounds us. Water is more essential to a man’s life than food. There is no life without water. The great importance of water was realized by our remote ancestors. That’s why their settlements were always situated on the banks of rivers and lakes. The location of human settlements and the well - being of the people depended on the distance from the source of water.

Man can live as long as ninety days or more without food, but we cannot live long without water.

Where can water be found?

Everywhere. The seas and oceans, rivers and lakes cover about seventeenths of the Earth’s, surface.

Where else can you find water?

Water is also contained in the soil, in the atmosphere and in all living things more than half of the human body consists of water. Water also forms a large part of the food we eat, especially vegetables and fruit.

Water exists as a substance in three states: ice, liquid water, steam. Ice melts at 0˚ degree Centigrade. Steam is formed at 100 ˚C.

Water is one of the most important of all chemical substances. It is a major constituent of living matter and of all environment in which we live.

The formula of water is H₂O. The constituent parts of water are hydrogen and oxygen.

Water was thought by the ancients to be an element. H. Cavendish in 1701 showed that water is formed then hydrogen is burnt. And A. Lavoisier first recognized that water in a compound of the two elements- hydrogen and oxygen.

Water differs from all other liquids i.e. its physical properties are strikingly different from these of other substances.

Water expends when cooled from 0 ˚С. It contracts when heated from 0 to 4˚С. Water reaches its maximum density at 40 ˚С.

 

 

Vocabulary:

To surround – окружать.

Essential, important – важный.

To realize – осознать.

Settlement – поселение.

Ancestor – предки.

Well- being – благосостояние.

To depend on – зависеть от.

To contain – содержать.

Melt – таять.

Constituent- составная часть

Recognize- узнавать, признавать

Compound-соединение

To differ-отличаться

Strikingly-удивительно, поразительно

To contract-сжиматься

To burn - (burnt)-гореть

To expand-расширять

 

2.Ответьте на вопросы

1. Is water an important part of nature?

2. Is water a substance?

3. In what states does water exist?

4. Is water essential than food?

5. Can man life without water?

6. Where can water be found?

7. At what degrees of C is water formed ice?

8. At what degrees of C is steam formed?

9. Do you realize the importance of water for man?

10. How long can man live without water?

11. What part of the Earth's surface does water cover?

12. What is the formula of water?

13. What are the constituent parts of water?

14. What did Cavendish show in 1781?

15. What did Zavoisier first recognize?

16. Does water differ from all other liquids?

17. When does water expand?

18. When does water contract?

19. When does water reach its density?

 

3.Переведите на английский язык

1. Мы не можем жить без воды.

2. Вода – важная часть природы, которая нас окружает.

3. Наши предки понимали это и поэтому строили свои дома по берегам рек.

4. Наше благосостояние зависит от воды.

5. Человек может жить без пищи 90 дней, но без воды человек не может жить.

6. Вода содержится в почве, воздухе, атмосфере, живых организмах, во фруктах и овощах.

7. 7/10 поверхности Земли покрыто водой.

8. Вода имеет три состояния: лед, жидкость, пар.

9. Лед тает при 0 ˚С.

10. Пар образуется при 100 ˚С.

11.Вода является составной частью живой материи, а также важным химическим веществом.

12.Формула воды H₂O.

13.Составные части воды - водород и кислород.

14.Впервые Лавуазье' признал, что вода это соединение двух элементов – водорода и кислорода

15.Вода отличается от других жидкостей своими физическими свойствами.

16.Вода расширяется при 0 °C.

17.Она достигает своей максимальной плотности при 40 °С.

 

Lesson 2

 

1.Прочитайте и переведите текст.

Water is life.

 

 

Water constitutes 70% of the weight of human body. It’s as necessary to a man as air? Which he breathes, and even more essential to his life than food.

We can live without food for several weeks but we must die in a few days if we have no water to drink.

Water is everywhere. It is one of the most widely spread and important substances known to us. The clouds are nothing but little drops of water. The air we breathe contains water in the form of invisible vapour. Without water there would be neither animal nor vegetable life. The soil under normal conditions contains water, which as we all know is necessary for the growth of plant. The plants themselves contain large quantities of water, in fact, most of the vegetables we use contain much water. Some of them, such as cucumbers and tomatoes contain as much as 95% of water. Milk is about 87% water.

Water is life. All the life on earth depends on water.

Water passes through very interesting natural cycle. The atmosphere, which surrounds the surface of the Earth contains water. It varies in amount in direct proportion to the temperature of it’s gases. Water is also evaporated into atmosphere. Atmosphere, which has become saturated with water, precipitates it’s moisture when the temperature lowers.

This phenomenon is termed rainfall.

The moisture falls to the earth and find it’s way into a number of reservoirs, provided by nature.

From the water surfaces of the earth the sun is constantly evaporating enormous volumes of water. Then they are condensed and precipitated upon the land and water surfaces as rain show or ice. Some of water is evaporated again; some is absorbed by growing vegetation; some flows directly over the ground into the rivers and lakes; some sinks into the soil to become the subterranean water of the earth.

As the descending rain or snow approaches the earth, it washes out of the atmosphere suspended particles of dust and thus purifies the air.

 

 

Vocabulary:

to breath – дышать

plant – растения

to constitute – составлять

human body – человеческое тело

drop – капля

invisible – невидимый

vapour – nap

neither … nor – ни ... ни

growth – рост

weight – вес

quantity – количество

to pass through – проходить через

to vary – изменяться

vapour, n – пар; evaporate

saturated – насыщенный

to precipitate – осаждать

moisture – влага

low – низкий; to lower

rainfall – дождевые осадки

volume of water – объем воды

enormous – огромный

to sink (sank, sunk) – погружаться

suspended particles – взвешенные частицы

to descend – опускаться

subterranean water – подземная вода

 

2.Ответьте на вопросы

1. What part of human body does water constitute?

2. Can we live for several weeks without food?

3. How long can live without water? (a few days)

4. Where can we find water?

5. In what form does air contain water?

6. Would there be animal or vegetable life without water?

7. Is water necessary for the growth of plants?

8. How much water do cucumbers contain?

9. How much water is in milk?

10. Does all life on earth depends on water?

 

3.Переведите на английский язык

1. Вода – это жизнь.

2. Человеческое тело составляет 70% воды.

3. Вся жизнь на земле зависит от воды.

4. Облака – это маленькие капли воды.

5. Воздух, которым мы дышим, содержит воду в виде невидимого пара.

6. Без воды не может быть ни животной, ни растительной жизни.

7. Почва содержит воду, необходимую для роста растений.

8. Например, огурцы содержат 95 % воды, а молоко – 87 %.

9. Некоторое количество воды снова испаряется.

10.Некоторое количество воды поглощают растения.

11.А некоторое количество воды проникает в почву.

12.На земле вода проходит очень интересный физический цикл.

13.Вода содержится в атмосфере, которая окружает земную поверхность.

14.Вода испаряется в атмосферу с водных массивов.

15.Атмосфера, которая стала насыщенной водой, осаждает влагу при низкой температуре – это называется дождевыми осадками.

16.Влага падает на землю и попадает в природные водные массивы.

17.Солнце постоянно испаряет огромные объемы воды.

18.Испаряемые объемы воды конденсируются и осаждаются на землю дождем, снегом или льдом.

 

 

Lesson 3

1.Прочитайте и переведите текст.

The hydrologic cycle.

 

The unending circulation of the earth’s moisture and water is called the water or hydrologic cycle. It is a gigantic system operating in and on the land and oceans of the earth and in the atmosphere that surrounds the earth. The cycle has no beginning or ending.

Water from the surface of the oceans is evaporated into the atmosphere. That moisture in turn is lifted and then condenced and falls back to the earth’s surface as precipitation.

The part of the precipitation that falls as rain, hail, dew, snow or sleet on the land is of particular concern to man and agriculture.

About 80,000 cubic miles of water are evaporated each year from the ocean. About 15,000 cubic miles are evaporated from the lakes and land surfaces of the continent. Total evaporation is equaled by total precipitation, of which about 24,000 cubic miles fall on the land surfaces.

Circulation of the earth’s atmosphere and moisture can be thought of as starting in the belt around the Equator. Because more of the sun’s energy is received near the Equator than farther north or south, greater heating occurs there and the result is greater evaporation and a tendency for the air to rise. The warm, moist air flows outward from the Equator at high altitudes and because of the earth’s rotation moves in a generally northeasterly direction.

Water that infiltrates into the soil is known as subsurface water. It may be evaporated from the soil, it may be absorbed by the plant roots, or it may be percolate downward to ground water reservoir that feeds springs, streams, and wells.

In the hydrologic cycle the principal functions of the ground water zones are as follows:

1. Zone of aeration – receives and holds water for plants use in the belt of soil water and allows the downward movement of excess water.

2. Zone of saturation – receives and stores, and provides a nature regulated discharge of water to wells, springs, streams.

 

2.Прочитайте диалог в парах. Подберите подходящее название для диалога.

 

Dialogue

A.: Water is more essential to a man’s life then food, isn’t it?

B.: That’s very true. There’s no life without water.

A.: The great importance of water was realized by our remote ancestors, right?

B.: Right! That’s why there settlements were nearly always situated on the banks of rivers and lakes.

A.: The location of human settlements and the well - being of the people depended on the source of water.

B.: I fully agree with you! The earlier settlers realized this need.

A.: They surely did! I suppose they.

 

Составьте аналогичный диалог, используя активную лексику занятия.

Lesson 4.

 

1.Прочитайте и переведите текст.

 

The water of the Earth

 

How much moisture is involved in the giant cyclical process of ocean – atmosphere land ocean?

What is the mechanism of this conveyor thanks which moisture gets from the ocean to the land and back?

It has been estimated that a total of 577000 cu km of water annually evaporates on our planet, chiefly from the surface of the ocean.

Hydrologists made several interesting discoveries: For instance, they established for the first time that there is another important link in the external rotation of moisture - the flow of moisture from the mainland's to the ocean through the atmosphere. It rums out that the sky is literally furrowed by powerful and deep rivers. Every year, for example, 4,000 cu km of water "flows" above the Volga area - this is tantamount to twenty rivers such as me Volga.

The data on the transfer of steam in the atmosphere can be used for calculating the water balance of the mainland's large river basins and for analyzing how water conditions are shaped over large territories.

Here are some calculations. According to the new calculations, the reserves of water on the planet total 1,386 million cu km; of which only 2,5 per cent is freshwater. The most sizable part of it is conserved in the ice covers of the Antarctic and the Arctic. Only 0,25 per cent of the reserves are to be found in lakes and only 0,006 per cent in rivers.

The bulk of water resources replenish their reserves at an extremely slow rate and cannot therefore be used without running the risk of upsetting the balance of nature.

Until recently water reserves on the planet were considered to be unlimited. Water seemed to be an inexhaustible gift of nature water has become a factor limiting the development of vast areas of the globe, it is not nature but man is to blame, Indeed, mankind now uses about 2,600 cu km - roughly 6 per cent of the annually renewable reserves of freshwater. It would seem that the reserves of water supply are great. Unfortunately, this is not so. The threat of a water crisis is becoming obvious. One of the main reasons is the growing pollution of surface waters.

The most realistic way to the solution of the water problem is through rationalizing the use of nature. The water of the planet can and must remain pure.

 

2. Выпишите термины из текста, переведите. Выучите термины.

Пример:

moisture - влага

to evaporate – испаряться

 

3. Задайте все возможные вопросы по тексту.

 

4. Составьте план текста и перескажите текст в соответствии с планом.

Lesson 5.

 

1. Прочитайте и переведите текст.

Hydraulics.

 

Hydraulics, as commonly understood and applied, is the science deeling with the action and use of the water. Water is the most common luguid. Water is the chemically pure state is not found in nature. Inland waters, which contain varying quantities of salt and mineral matter in solution, occur chiefly as streams, lakes, springs and underground supplies.

Hydraulics units. In all English - speaking countries, the three primary units are the foot, the pound and the second.

There are two important types of hydraulics units: unit of volume and a unit of flow. The most important unit of volume is the cubic foot, in the United States, the gallon /0,13 cu Ft/. The cubic foot per minute is the standard unit of flow, in the United States - the gallon per minute.

Properties of water. A fluid is a substance, which offers very little resistance to change of form and readily takes the shape a solid body – with which it comes in contact.

Compressibility. Though in common water is assumed to be incompressible, it is, like other liquids, slightly compressible. It is also perfectly elastic.

Viscosity. The ability of water to resist movement between its particles is termed viscosity.

It may be described as thick ness.

Adhesion and cohesion cause water to rise above the outside level.

 

Vocabulary:

flow - течение, поток

fluid - жидкость

compressibility - сжимаемость

viscosity - вязкость

cubic foot - куб. фут. ⁼ 38317,016 см³

gallon - галлон = 4,5459631 дм³.

Adhesion-трение

Cohesion-сцепление

 

a) Give the definition of hydraulics and viscosity.

 

2. Ответьте на вопросы.

 

1. In what state is water found in nature?

2. What hydraulic units do you know?

3. What properties of water do you know?

 

Lesson 6.

1.Прочитайте и переведите текст.

 

 

Ground Water.

 

Ground water is water contained underground in the interstices of soil and rock. When ram falls on the earth some evaporates, some is absorbed by planets, some runs off in streams and the remainder sinks into the earth to become ground water.

The amount that enters the ground depends on various factors: rain falling on loose soil sinks immediately; rain falling on clay either lies on the surface and evaporates or runs off; on step slopes run off will exceed absorption. Ground water exists everywhere in the earth's crust, generally not much deeper than about a mile.

The upper surface of this water is known as the water table. The height of the water table varies between wet and dry seasons and between humid and arid regions. In deserts the water table may be hundreds of feet below the surface.

The region that is known as the zone of fluctuation. This zone through which the water table fluctuation is the place where decomposition of rock is most active.

The water table rises to higher levels underneath the hills and slopes to lower levels in the valleys, where it may appear on the surface in the form of springs, rivers, bogs and lakes.

This ground water acts directly by taking into solution the soluble minerals (process of solution) and by adding molecules of water to the other minerals (process of hydration) and indirectly by bringing carbon dioxide to be combined with some of the elements in solution, such as calcium, to from carbonates (process of carbonation). Oxygen readily unites with most elements and this combination is made when water is present. As a result we get oxides and hydrated oxides (process of oxidation).

 

Vocabulary:

interstice – промежуток

to sink (sank - sunk) –впитываться

to run off - стекать, сбегать

loose soil - рыхлая почва

step slope - крутой склон

crust - кора

water table- уровень грунтовых вод

fluctuation - колебания уровня воды

spring - родник, ключ, источник

bog - болото

hydrated oxide – гидроксид

carbonation - карбонизация

steam – поток, течение, струя

to exceed - прерывать

foot (ре feet) = 30,48 см

mile = 1609 м

2. Переведите данные словосочетания на английский язык:

почва и горная порода, дождь падает на землю, поглощается растениями, впитывается в землю, глинистая почва, земная кора, влажное и сухое время года, распад горной породы, растворимые минералы.

 

 

3. Дайте определение данным словосочетаниям:

Ground water; water table; process of carbonation; process of solution.

4. Переведите на английский язык

 

1. Вода, содержащаяся под землей в промежутках почвы горной породы, называется грунтовой.

2. Когда дождь падает на землю, он испаряется, поглощается растениями, стекает в реки, впитывается в землю и становится грунтовой водой.

3. Грунтовая вода находится в земной коре не глубже, чем на милю.

4. Горизонт грунтовых вод - это верхняя поверхность воды.

5. В пустыне горизонт грунтовых вод может быть на сотни футов ниже поверхности

6. Горизонт грунтовых вод поднимается до более низких уровней на равнинах и появляется на поверхности как родник, река, болото или озеро,

7. Грунтовая вода забирает в себя растворимые минералы – это процесс растворения.

8. Процесскарбонизации происходит, когда грунтовая вода приносит CO₂, который соединяется с элементом кальция и образует карбонаты.

9.Кислород объединяется с элементами в присутствии воды, образуя гидроокиси, - процесс окисления.

 

 

Lesson 7.

 

1.Прочитайте и переведите текст.

 

Water in Moscow.

Every day Moscow consumes about six million cubic metres of water. This amounts to about 700 litres per capita and is more than in any other city anywhere of equal size.

As far as Bacteriological standards are concerned, water standards are three times stricter than elsewhere. Moscow water is ozonized and tastes like pure-spring water.

What do Moscow factories consume?

Most Moscow factories now have a water technology employing used water. But to replenish the stocks, fresh water is stile being consumed. Soon the «leakage» in this direction will be halted. The first section of an industrial main is now in service, and the second is being built. In the space of the next few years all industrial enterprises in Moscow will be switched onto recycled water.

The purity of Moscow water depends to a great extent on the standards of distillation of industrial an domestic discharge and on how clean the city's rivers – the main source of fresh water - are. Since 1974 not a single cubic metre of technically polluted discharge has reached the Moskva River. The capacity of the distillation equipment is a million cubic metres greater than the current city requirements there is no other analogue anywhere.

 

Vocabulary:

to be concerned - казаться, относиться

per capita - на душу, на человека

capacity - мощность

spring water - родниковая вода

to replenish the stocks-пополнять запасы

recycled water – оборотная вода

discharge - сброс (сточных вод)

to halt-останавливаться

2. Ответьте на вопросы.

1. How much water does Moscow consume every day?

2. What kind of water has Moscow?

3. How muchwater does one inhabitant of Moscow consume?

4. How do you understand the term «Leakage»?

 

5. Whatis the main source of fresh water?

6. What water does Moscow industry consume?

7. What does the purity of Moscow water depend on?

 

3. Переведите на английский язык.

1.Каждый день Москва потребляет 6000000 куб. м воды.

2.Московская вода озонируется и имеет вкус родниковой воды.

3.Московские фабрики имеют технологию, применяющую использованную воду.

4.В течение следующих нескольких лет все промышленные предприятия в Москве будут использовать оборотную воду.

5.Чистота воды в Москве зависит от стандартов перегонки промышленных и бытовых сточных вод и чистоты городских рек.

 

4.Составьте предложения из данных словосочетаний.

Main sources of fresh water, natural resources, subterranean waters, measurement of discharge, discharge of a stream, large volume of water, the streamflow rates.

 

Lesson 8.

1. Прочитайте и переведите текст.