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    Today people naturally focus not on starting fires but on using fire productively

and on preventing or extinguishing unwanted fires.  Fire continues to be a basic, everyday element of most people’s lives. Any home appliance that uses methane, propane, or oil relies on fire to operate. These appliances include gas- or oil-fired (but not electrically operated) water heaters, boilers, hot air furnaces, clothes dryers, stoves, and ovens. Many people use wood or, sometimes, coal in fireplaces or stoves to supplement the main heating system in their homes.

  In the countryside, people destroy leaves and brush by burning them. People also make outdoor fires to cook food in barbecues and over campfires. Today, many people enjoy sitting around a campfire, keeping warm and telling stories, just as people have had for tens of thousands of years.

  We use fire to cook food and to heat our homes. Industries use fire to fuel power plants that produce electricity.

Industries use fire to manufacture products and dispose of waste. Companies use heating and drying appliances similar to, but often much larger than, the ones in homes. Large industrial incinerators destroy garbage, including household, medical, and industrial waste.

 Fires also heat large boilers to generate steam, which then powers large turbines. These turbines generate electricity that provides power and heat to industries and homes. Large power plants may generate electricity using fuels such as coal, gas, and even wood or garbage.

      People use fire to prepare land for growing crops. Farmers in developed countries may burn plant material after a harvest to clear fields and return nutrients to the soil. Small-scale farmers in tropical regions sometimes practice slash-and-bum agriculture, in which wild plants and trees are burned to clear patches of land for cultivation and to quickly enrich nutrient - poor tropical soils.

      People use fire as a weapon in times of war. Armies use napalm, a highly

flammable substance, to spread fire. The fire can either directly kill enemy soldiers

or destroy foliage, making enemy soldiers easier to find.

      At the same time, fire remains a potentially destructive force in peoples lives.

Natural fires started by lighting and volcanoes destroy wildlife and landscapes.

Careless disposal of cigarettes and matches or carelessness with campfires leads to

many wildfires. Fires in the home and workplace damage property and cause injury

and death.

 

Words and word combinations:

to focus - сосредоточить внимание на

to prevent  - предупредить, предотвратить

to extinguish – гасить, тушить

appliance - прибор

methane – метан

 propane - пропан

boiler – котел, бойлер

flammable  - воспламеняющийся

garbage – отбросы, мусор

grow – расти, выращивать

 crops – сельскохозяйственные культуры, урожай

to crop – собирать урожай

leaf (мн. leaves) лист, листья

 brush – кустарник, заросль

heating system – отопительная система

 todevelop –  развивать

water heaters –  водяные обогреватели

to manufacture products – производить продукты (продукцию)

dispose of waste – избавление от отходов, (устранение, удаление нечистот)

fireplaces - камины

to supplement – пополнять, добавлять

furnace – горн, очаг, печь, топка

slash - вырубка,

agriculture – сельское хозяйство

industrial waste – промышленные отходы

to generate steam – производить (генерировать) пар

incinerators – мусоросжигательная станция (или печь)

incinerate – сжигать, испепелять

incineration - сжигание

foliage  - листва                                               

careless - небрежный, неосторожный

carelessness – небрежность, неосторожность, легкомысленность

destructive - разрушительный

force  - сила, войска

to enrich – обогащать, удобрять(почву)

nutrient – питательное вещество

soil – почва, земля

destroy (n, v) -  разрушение, разрушать

landscape -  ландшафт

disposal - передача, размещение, пользование, расположение, 

campfire - костер

to damage  - разрушать

workplace -  рабочее место, производственное помещение

property -  собственность

cause (n, v) причина, причинять

injury  - повреждения, вред

to remain - оставаться

wild plants – дикие (невозделанные) растения

advantage (n, v) - превосходство, давать преимущество

to take advantage - воспользоваться преимуществом, обмануть

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