The Case of the Dying Seals

In the Spring of 1988, the harbor seals in the North Sea began to die. Adult seals floated aimlessly in the water, too weak to eat or play. Pregnant females aborted their fetuses. The mysterious disease began off the coast of Denmark and spread quickly to seal colonies through­out the North and Baltic seas. By the middle of the summer, seals were dying along hundreds of miles of North Sea coast­line. By September, the disease had spread to the Atlantic coast of Ireland.

Some people called this scourge the "black death of the sea," for it recalled the epidemics of bubonic plague, or Black Death, that devastated Europe in the 1300s. In this tragic turn of events, a population of harbor seals once containing 18,000 animals has been cut to only 6000. This, the largest die-off of seals in recorded history, may be caused by the canine dis­temper virus. Biologists believe, however, that the virus is not working alone. Pollution in the seas, they say, may have greatly weakened the immune systems of the seals, making them vulnerable.

The North and Baltic seas have been polluted for years. The North Sea alone annually receives 60 billion liters of waste water from factories and waste-treatment facilities. Germany's environmental minister argued that the indus­trial pollution is a principal cause of seal deaths.

The pollution problem in the North and Baltic seas, however, is compounded by the nature of die seas themselves. Both are shallow and cleanse themselves very slowly. The North Sea, in fact, renews itself only twice every ten years. The Baltic Sea turns over once every 20 to 30 years. Because of this, pollution levels can increase locally, causing adverse impacts on fish and wildlife, and, possibly, people.

The seal plague may be the latest manifestation of a chronic pollution problem in the North and Baltic seas. Northern Europe and Scandinavia have taken steps to clean up the seas, but many key nations seem uninterested in helping. Great Britain, for instance, has been remarkably complacent about the seal deaths. East Germany and Czechoslovakia, two prin­cipal polluters, failed to attend the conference held in 1987 in which most North Sea states agreed to cut industrial emis­sions to the rivers of Europe by half.

Seal deaths off the coast of Europe are a symptom of a global problem. Similar events are occurring elsewhere. Since June of 1987, as many as four out of every ten dolphins off the Atlantic coast of the United States have perished.

William K. Reilly, former President of the World Wildlife Fund and the Conservation Foundation, notes that despite the successes of pollution control laws, America "faces an array of environmental problems even more daunting than the pollution crises of the past generation." Global climate change, acid precipitation, worldwide deforestation, and ozone deple­tion, he says, are all unanswered by current policies.

Solutions to global problems require new laws and tighter controls. Critical thinking demands a search for additional solutions. New technologies, for example, can help us reduce waste and use the earth's resources more judiciously. Individ­uals can also chip in. People must use renewable resources (for example, paper rather than plastic). Individual actions, multiplied many times, must be a part of the solution. All of these efforts must be brought to bear on the global environmental crisis, making the world a healthier place for all life.

 

Discussion questions:

1. How do you understand the expression “black death of the sea”?

2. What are the causes of the die-off of seals?

3. Why is the pollution problem in the North and Baltic seas compounded?

4. Comment on phrase “America faces an array of environmental problems even more daunting than the pollution crises of the past generation."

5. What solutions can you suggest to reduce global problems?

 

Exercises to the text:

I. Translate the words combinations from English into Russian:

Adult seals, pregnant females, mysterious disease, epidemics of bubonic plague, canine dis­temper virus, waste-treatment facilities, pollution control laws, global climate change, acid precipitation, worldwide deforestation.

 

II. Choose the Russian equivalents to the English word combinations:

1. aimlessly	1. уязвимый
2. to recall	2. спорить
3. to devastate	3. обязательство
4. vulnerable	4. враждебный
5. to argue	5. опустошать
6. adverse	6. возобновляемый
7. array	7. бесцельно
8. commitment	8. вымирание
9. renewable	9. возвращать
10. die-off	10. масса

III. Fill in the blanks with the words given below:

1. Pregnant females aborted their … .

2. North and Baltic seas are … and cleanse themselves very … .

3. Pollution levels can increase … , causing adverse impacts on fish and … .

4. The seal … may be the latest manifestation of a chronic pollution problem.

5. People must use … resources.

Slowly, plague, locally, fetuses, renewable, shallow, wildlife.

IV. Choose the right English equivalent to the words in brackets:

1. The largest die-off of (тюленей) in recorded history may be caused by the canine dis­temper virus.

a) clumsy clots

b) seals

c) phocas

 

2. The North Sea alone annually receives 60 billion liters of (сточные воды) from factories.

a) soil water

b) refinery water

c) waste water

 

3. (Решения) to global problems require new laws and tighter controls.

a) decisions

b) decrees

c) solutions

 

4. New technologies can help us use the earth's resources more (благоразумно).

a) judiciously

b) politicly

c) advisably

 

5. All of these (усилия) must be brought to bear on the global environmental crisis.

a) strains

b) forces

c) efforts

 

V. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Загадочная болезнь достигла побережья Ирландии через Северное и Балтийское моря.

2. Численность тюленей уменьшилась с 18 000 до 6 000.

3. Загрязнение моря ослабевает иммунную систему тюленей и они становятся уязвимы.

4. К сожалению, не все страны заинтересованы этой проблемой.

5. Большое количество дельфинов погибло вдоль атлантического побережья США.

 

 

Text № 3

I. Words to be learnt:

circumference – окружность

outermost – самый дальний

envelope – окружность

to penetrate – проникать

crust – кора

mantle – мантия

core – ядро

sedimentary rock – осадочная порода

dunite – дунит (изверженная порода)

lead - свинец

 

II. Read the text and

a)write down a summarizing sentence for each paragraph;

b)prepare an oral summary of the text on the basis of the above task.

 

The Earth

Our planet on which we live, the earth, seems to be a very large body. But compared with quite an ordinary star, like the sun the earth is only a tiny speck in the universe.

Though there are high mountains and deep oceans on the earth's surface, when compared to the size of the earth, the mountains are not very high and the oceans are not deep. The highest mountains rising 8850m above the sea level and the deepest depression in ocean being about 11,035 meters below the sea level, the distance between the highest and the lowest places of the earth is over 12 miles. This distance when compared with the size of the earth is very small. It is almost 8.000 miles across and nearly 25,000 miles in circumference.

The earth is not a true sphere but a spheroid flattened at the poles; so that the axis on which it rotates is shorter by 27 miles than the equatorial diameter.

The outer layers of the earth are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the lithosphere. The atmosphere, the outermost layer, is the envelope of gases that surrounds the earth. Only recently since rockets and artificial satellites have been launched from the earth have the upper regions of the atmosphere been penetrated. The hydrosphere includes all the bodies of water on the earth in gaseous, liquid, and solid states.

The three major parts of the earth are the crust, the mantle, and the core. The outermost shell covering the earth constitutes the earth's crust. It includes the rocks of the continents as well as the rocks beneath the ocean floor. The lower boundary of the crust is 20 to 25 miles beneath the surface of the continents and only about 4 miles beneath the ocean. The continents are made up of a rock type known as granite covered by a thin layer of sedimentary rocks, and underlain by basalt, while the floor of all ocean basins is mostly underlain by basalt with a thin layer of sedimentary rocks above.

The mantle composed of materials much denser than the crust and its density increases with depth. It is believed to consist of dunite. Our knowledge of the earth's interior is gained almost entirely from the way it transmits earthquake waves at different depths.

The core of the earth seems to consist of two parts having different properties. The outer core, more than 1,000 miles thick below the mantle behaves like a liquid: it does not transmit earthquake waves resembling light waves. The inner core, 18 times as dense as water, behaves like a solid, although its temperature may be as high as that at the surface of the sun.

At present it is believed that the core differs from the overlying shells by the state of the matter. Under the high pressure prevailing in the core, the matter which is of silicate content, is in a metallized state. This means that under the influence of pressure the atoms were partially destroyed and lost a certain quantity of their electrons. There is another change in the physical properties of matter at the border of the inner core: it is not unlikely that this change is linked with the detachment of a still greater number of electrons from the atomic systems.

How old is the earth? The discovery of radioactivity around 1900 gave the scientists a new means of estimating the age of the earth. All naturally radioactive elements are known to change finally into lead. One gram of uranium will yield 1/7000000000 of a gram of lead a year. Thus by measuring the amount of lead present rocks containing uranium we can estimate how much radioactive change occurred and what length of time was needed for this change. The oldest rock so far discovered has been dated at about 3.7 billion years old. We know the earth was formed earlier than that and astronomers believe it to have been approximately 4.5 billion years ago.

 

Discussion questions:

1. What are the outer layers of the Earth? How do you think what is the function of each of them?

2. What parts is the Earth made up of? Give the main facts relating to the mantle and the crust?

3. What parts does the core consist of? Describe each of them.

4. What can you say about the state of the matter of the core?

5. Express you own opinion according to the question “How old is the earth?”

 

Exercises to the text:

I. Translate the words combinations from English into Russian:

Tiny speck, spheroid flattened at the poles, outer layer, body of water, rigid shell, lower boundary, sedimentary rock, equatorial diameter, Earth interior, earthquake wave, light wave.

 

II. Choose the Russian equivalents to the English word combinations:

1. universe	1. вращаться
2. axis	2. лежать в основе
3. to rotate	3. запускать
4. to launch	4. свинец
5. to underlie	5. производительность
6. prevailing	6. мир
7. lead	7. добывать
8. yield	8. отделение
9. to gein	9. ось
10. detachment	10. распространённый

III. Fill in the blanks with the words given below:

1. The axis on which the Earth rotates is shorter by 27 miles than the equatorial … .

2. The earth is not a true sphere but a spheroid flattened at the … .

3. The atmosphere, the outermost layer, is the … of gases that surrounds the earth.

4. The outermost … covering the earth constitutes the earth's crust.

5. The mantle composed of materials much denser than the … and its density increases with depth.

 

Envelope, shell, crust, diameter, poles

 

IV. Choose the right English equivalent to the words in brackets:

1. The outer (слои) of the earth are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the lithosphere.

a) stratums

b) layers

c) coats

 

2. The hydrosphere includes all the bodies of water on the earth in gaseous, liquid, and (твердый) states.

a) strong

b) hard

c) solid

 

3. Our knowledge of the earth's interior is gained almost entirely from the way it transmits earthquake waves at different (глубины).

a) depths

b) intensities

c) profundities

 

4. The continents are made up of a rock type known as granite covered by a thin layer of (осадочная порода).

a) sedimentary race

b) sedimentary rock

c) settled rock

 

5. (открытие) of radioactivity around 1900 gave the scientists a new means of estimating the age of the earth.

a) finding

b) discovery

c) opening

 

 

V. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Земля – это сфероидное тело, сплющенное на полюсах.

2. Искусственные спутники играют значительную роль в изучении атмосферы.

3. Гранит является основной составляющей континентов.

4. Под давлением атомы разрушаются и теряют определенное количество электронов.

5. Астрономы полагают, что земля образовалась более 4 миллиардов лет назад.

 

 

Text № 4

I. Words to be learnt:

proliferation – быстрое увеличение

overy – яичник

DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid – дезоксирибонуклеиновая кислота

to suppress – подавлять

to vent – выпускать

testicular – тестикулярный (относится к семенникам)

 

II. Read the text and

a)state the main idea of the text;

b)prepare an oral summary of the text.

 

Cancer

Cancer annually kills more than 800 000 people in the world. Cancer is an uncontrolled proliferation of cells that forms a mass or primary tumor. Cells may break off from the tumor and travel in the blood and other body fluids. The spread of cancerous cells is called metastasis. In distant sites the cancerous cells may form secondary tumors.

Every cancer starts when a single cell goes haywire, a process that occurs most often in tissues undergoing rapid cellular division, for example, the bone marrow, lungs, lining of die intestines, ovaries and skin. Nondividing cells, such as nerve cells and muscle cells, rarely become cancerous.

Despite years of intensive research scientists remain uncertain about the causes of some types of cancer. Many cancers, they know, begin after mutations, or changes in the genetic material, DNA. Ninety percent of all chemicals known to cause cancer also cause mutations in bacterial test systems. The causative agents include viruses, a variety of chemical substances, and physical agents such as X rays and ultraviolet light.

New studies indicate that emotions may also play an important role in the development of cancer (and other diseases), possibly by acting through the immune system. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University, for example, studied the incidence of cancer in medical students who took the Rorschach test, which measures personality, between 1948 and 1964. The research showed that students who suppressed emotions were 16 times more likely to develop cancer later in life than students who vented their emotions. More research is needed to determine if the cause and effect relationship between mental health and cancer is real. Critical thinking demands a closer look.

Although the chromosomes of cancer cells are typically abnormal in structure or in number, a number of carcinogens (agents that cause cancer), such as asbestos, certain plastics, and certain hormones, apparently do not directly alter the DNA or cause mutations. Other mechanisms must be involved.

In the 1970s many experts believed that about 90% of all cancers were caused by environmental pollutants and other agents such as X rays, ultraviolet light, and viruses. The public was shocked at this revelation. However, more careful research has shown that only 20% to 40% of all cancers are caused by workplace and environmental pollutants. The rest presumably arise from smoking, dietary factors, and natural causes. In the 1970s it seemed as if cancer was sweeping the United States. Many people began to believe that cancer rates were rising rapidly. Most cancer rates have remained fairly constant for 50 years, except for lung cancer, which has risen dramatically in both men and women; testicular cancer, which has also risen; and stomach cancer, which has fallen. Overall, the incidence of cancer in the United States has increased slightly since 1962. Despite an outpouring of private and public funding on research, however, very little if any improvement has been made in treating the disease.

By one commonly cited estimate made by two Oxford University scientists, 8000 .Americans die each year of cancer caused by environmental factors, such as air pollution. Another 8000 cancer deaths are attributed to food additives and industrial products, such as pesticides used around the house; 16.000 deaths result each year from occupational exposure to harmful substances. The researchers note, by comparison, that tobacco causes at least 142,000 lung cancer deaths each year.

Discussion questions:

1. What is cancer? Discuss how it may form?

2. What o you think about the causes of cancer?

3. What role may emotions play in the development of cancer?

4. Do you agree with statement that all cancers were caused by environmental pollutants?

5. Does tobacco cause cancer deaths? Express your attitude to the smokers.

 

Exercises to the text:

I. Translate the words combinations from English into Russian:

Cancerous cell, to go haywire, bone marrow, lining of the intestines, bacterial cell, causative agent, mental health, critical thinking, cancer rate, food additive, occupational exposure.

 

II. Choose the Russian equivalents to the English word combinations:

1. tumor	1. жидкость
2. division	2. мести
3. lung	3. выливание
4. fluid	4. легкое
5. stomach	5. ссылаться
6. to arise	6. опухоль
7. to sweep	7. возникать
8. slightly	8. деление
9. outpouring	9. желудок
10. to cite	10. незначительно

III. Fill in the blanks with the words given below:

1. Cancer … keels more than 800 000 people in the world.

2. Nerve cells and muscle cells rarely become … .

3. … remain uncertain about the causes of some types of cancer.

4. Critical thinking demands a closer … .

5. Many people began to believe that … rates were rising rapidly.

 

Scientists, look, annually, cancer, cancerous

 

IV. Choose the right English equivalent to the words in brackets:

1. Cancer is an uncontrolled proliferation of (клетки) that forms primary tumor.

a) cage

b) cells

c) mesh

 

2. Process occurs most often in (ткани) undergoing rapid cellular division.

a) fabric

b) cloth

c) tissues

 

3. Many cancers begin after mutations or (изменения) in the genetic material.

a) changes

b) alterations

c) modifications

 

4. New studies indicate that emotions may also play an important role in (развитие) of cancer.

a) cultivation

b) development

c) evolution

 

5. The causative agents (включать) viruses, a variety of chemical substances and physical agents.

a) switch on

b) turn on

c) include

 

V. Translate from Russian into English:

1. Раковые клетки могут образовывать повторные опухоли.

2. Ученые всё еще не знают причину некоторых видов рака.

3. Мутация и изменения на генетическом уровне ведут к раку.

4. Загрязнение окружающей среды является основной причиной, вызывающей заболевание раком.

5. Из-за табака ежегодно умирает 142 000 человека.

Text № 5

I. Words to be learnt:

to view – оценивать

blame – порицание, неодобрение

conservation – сохранение

expense – затрата

logging – заготовка леса

to discourage – препятствовать

to encourage – поощрять

 

II. Read the text and

a)write down a summarizing sentence for each paragraph;

b)prepare an oral summary of the text on the basis of the above task.