What other forms of air pollution do you know?

2.4 Complete the following sentences:

1...... came from coal fires in peoples homes and from power station.

2. This law was called........

3.Motor vehicles produce.......

4. Factories also pollute.....

5. Sulphur is also..... to plants.

6. The acid rain can...... life in lakes and rivers.

2.5 Agree or disagree with the statements below. Begin your sentence with one of the following:

I fully agree; I quite agree here; I suppose so; I am afraid so;

I disagree; I don not think so; On the contrary; It is not so; Far from it.

 

1. The air around us can become polluted as a result of our own activities

2. For instance, when coal is burnt gases and smoke are produced. These can make the air we breathes clean and fresh.

3. In 1952 many people died in London as a result of water pollution.

4. The Clean Air Act has stopped much of the smoke pollution in cities, but city air is often still dirty.

5. Factories also pollute the air. Some factories produce pollution all the time as a way of removing wastes from the factory

6. The acid rain can damage life in lakes and rivers. It can also damage forest.

 

2.6 Speak about the air pollution using the following expression:

First of all,

The main reason,

Secondly,

Besides that,

Many people think...

As a rule...

Finally,

 

Text 2

Read the text and understand the main points of it.

The USA law on clean air - the "arcane" for pollution

In the USA the law "On clean air" was adopted for the first time in 1955 and was revised in 1963, 1965 and 1967. In theses early editions the role of the Federal government was kept in the shadow. The largest part of controlling functions and oversight of the law' s execution was left to the states, which largely ignore the law. The current law was adopted in 1970 and was significantly amended and expanded in 1977. Today the "Law on clean air" is а quite thick document including more than 100 pages. The Law is accompanied by а large number of other legislative acts. The foundation of the Law is comprised of the national air quality standards, which set the acceptable levels for various polluting substances. The law also sets various quality standards for the industrial plants, power plants, and other, so called, "stationary pollutants". Finally, the law has provisions covering the exhaust gases of the vehicles. This stimulated the officials to use of catalytic transformers and quality control of the work of the vehicles' engines. Three largest vehicle manufacturers started to conduct serious work to develop mass production of electric vehicles, which can effectively compete with the gasoline-powered ones. Officials in California made а decision to deploy zero-pollution vehicles by 1998. Accordingly, for the gasoline engines а provision was made to supply оnlу clean gasoline. The Law insisted in large companies stimulating their workers using one саr or public transportation to go to work. Within а short period of time the carbon monoxide wastes were reduced by 90% and nitrogen oxide - by 75%. The US Congress constantly makes amendments to the Law necessary to solve their problem of toxic air pollution.

Note:

To amend – вносить поправки

 

 

Text 3

Sources of air pollution

Vocabulary

1 emissions, n 2 sources, n 3 poisons, n 4 emit, v 5 harmful, a 6 utilities, n 7 clean up, v 8 stacks, n 9 undertaking, n 10 beneficial, a 11 be no consequence to 12 health hazards 13 air stagnation 14 hazardous, a 15 vaporized chemicals

выбросы, выделение, распространение источники (загрязнения) яды, ядовитые загрязнения выделять, излучать вредный, опасный коммунальные службы привести в порядок, очистить, вычистить промышленные выбросы дело, обязательство благоприятный, полезный не иметь последствий для ч/либо опасность для здоровья застоявшийся, неподвижный воздух опасный, вредный распыленные химические вещества

Read the text:

Only during the past 20 years or so have the people of the United States begun to understand that air is a resource that can be managed for health and environmental quality. Management of our air means gaining control over industrial emissions and the emissions from individual sources, such as cars, trucks, and temporary sources such as construction projects.

Pollution of the air by certain industrial processes, particularly by burning of coal, has been a concern for many years. However, it was not until thousands died because of air pollution, in such cities as London in the 1950s, that the first steps were taken to reduce the poisons that were routinely being emitted into the air we breathe.

Two major sources of harmful emissions became the targets for initial action: utilities and industries, and motor vehicles. Steps were first taken to clean up smokestack emissions around power plants and industrial complexes. Attention was then focused on the sulfur oxides emitted from utility, commercial, and industrial stacks. At the same time devices were developed to cut back on emissions from motor vehicles.

It took years and money, but progress was made during the 1960s and 1970s. The air is generally cleaner today than it was 20 years ago in much of the Nation.

Air quality management is a complex undertaking. It is complicated by the nature of air, and by the gases that are commonly considered its basic components. It is further complicated by the continual chemical changes that take place in the air as it moves from one location to another and by atmospheric forces. These changes can be beneficial, harmful, or of little or no consequence to the environment.

It is because of the potential health hazards associated with air pollution in large urban centers that special understanding of city air pollution is needed. This is especially true in the regions where large cities often occupy low-lying areas, and where long periods of air stagnation are common during the summer months. Sources of pollution are more abundant in major cities than in small towns or rural areas. Often there are coal-fired power plants nearby; schools, universities, hospitals, and other institutions often burn oil as their heat source; office buildings, shopping malls, etc. also use fossil fuels as their sources of heat; industries use fossil fuels as a vital part of industrial processes; each individual home, burning oil, gas, or wood, adds to the pollution entering the city’s air.

There are many other sources of pollution: motor vehicles, construction activities, dust generated in the city and from agricultural activities nearby, and thousands of vaporized chemicals, some of them toxic and hazardous.

COMPREHENSION