Практикум иностранного языка в сфере

ПРАКТИКУМ ИНОСТРАННОГО ЯЗЫКА В СФЕРЕ

ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

(АНГЛИЙСКИЙ)

 

Методические указания к практическим занятиям

для студентов всех форм обучения

направления 20.03.01 Техносферная безопасность

 

 

Краснодар

2018

Составители: преп. О.П. Гришанова;

                   преп. Ю.В. Демичева

 

УДК 811.111+331.453

    

 

 

Практикум иностранного языка в сфере профессиональной коммуникации (английский) методические указания к практическим занятиям для студентов всех форм обучения направления 20.03.01 Техносферная безопасность/ Сост.: О.П. Гришанова, Ю.В. Демичева; Кубан. гос. технол. ун-т. Каф. иностранных языков № 1. – Краснодар: Изд. КубГТУ, 2018. – 24 с.

 

Представляют собой руководство по накоплению, отработке и совершенствованию умений чтения, письма, и говорения, а также лексических и грамматических навыков в области профессиональной коммуникации на английском языке в рамках практических занятий по дисциплине «Практикум иностранного языка в сфере профессиональной коммуникации».

 

Печатается по решению методического совета ФГБОУ ВО «Кубанский государственный технологический университет»

 

 

Рецензенты: канд. филол. наук, доц. кафедры ИЯ № 1 КубГТУ Л.Б. Темникова; д-р техн. наук, проф. кафедры БЖ КубГТУ С.Ю. Ксандопуло

 

© КубГТУ, 2018

 

 

Содержание

Содержание. 3

Практическое занятие 1. Техносферная безопасность. 4

Практическое занятие 2. Природные ресурсы.. 5

Практическое занятие 3. Экосистемы.. 6

Практическое занятие 4. Загрязнение земель. 8

Практическое занятие 5 и 6. Рациональное использование почв. 10

Практическое занятие 7. Загрязнение воды.. 12

Практическое занятие 8. Очистка сточных вод. 14

Практическое занятие 9. Этапы очистки сточных вод. 15

Практическое занятие 10. Загрязнение воздуха. 16

Практическое занятие 11. Контроль за загрязнением воздуха. 18

Практическое занятие 12. Глобальное потепление. 19

Практическое занятие 13. Последствия глобального потепления. 20

Практическое занятие 14. Экологическая экспертиза. 21

Практическое занятие 15. Экологическая реабилитация. 22

Практическое занятие 16. Методы экологической реабилитации. 23

Практическое занятие 17. Утилизация отходов. 25

Практическое занятие 18. Методы ликвидации твердых отходов. 26

Вопросы для самоконтроля. 27

Список рекомендуемой литературы.. 31

Практическое занятие 1. Техносферная безопасность

Task 1. Read and translate the following text.

TECHNOSPHERE SAFETY

 

We live in turbulent times. Excluding all social processes, we can safely say that the equipment and technology shape our lives. Our habitat, which is called the technosphere, carries many dangers both for people and nature. This is primarily determined by the presence of complex industrial systems malfunctions that could lead to environmental disasters. Do not forget about common household appliances, which can also cause an accident.

Technosphere safety experts watchprospects technologies to protect people and nature from the effects of industrial activity. Technosphere safety management requires knowledge of not only the instructions and safety regulations but environmental legislation and international standards on the protection of the environment. Technosphere safety is health and peace of mind of the staff (from the CEO to the polisher), and therefore, the success of the entire enterprise to gain extra profit.

Engineers in the field of Technosphere Safety have the important tasks of ensuring we have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink and that waste is disposed of without damaging the environment. In addition to treating water from reservoirs to ensure it is safe to drink, technologists can convert sea water into fresh drinking water. This is important in countries in the Middle East. Desalination plants separate the sea water into fresh water and dissolved salts. Sewage treatment is also essential to public health. Sludge is the solid organic matter that remains after the sewage treatment process. After any disease-causing agent, or pathogen, is destroyed, it can be used as a fertilizer or converted into pellets and used as fuel in power stations.

Specialists in safety of technosphere can also protect the environment by helping to prevent harmful developments. When a new development like an airport or a holiday resort is considered, an environmental impact assessment should be carried out. The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision-makers consider environmental impacts, such as the effects of a development on the habitats and ecology of the area and its visual impact, before deciding to proceed. Governments of some countries take measures to save the environment by planning to build eco-towns. These towns will be carbon-neutral with energy coming from renewable sources.

 

NATURAL RESOURCES

 

People often talk of natural resources; sustainable resources, non-renewable resources or renewable resources, but what do these terms mean?

The non-renewable natural resources of the planet can be broken down into two groups. The natural resources of organic origin include things such as coal, oil and gas, and peat. Coal, oil and gas are the end products of the decay of living things, produced thousands of years after their death by pressure and chemistry. These resources are known collectively as “fossil fuels". While the (fallen) trees that eventually became coal and the organisms whose dead bodies produced crude oil are still present on Earth, the time taken for these natural resources to regenerate themselves is so long (millennia) that they must be considered as an exhaustible resource.

In the 1970s, it was predicted that all of the world’s crude oil reserves would have been consumed by the year 2000. Fortunately, this prediction proved to be overly pessimistic because crude oil not only provides us with fuel and lubricants for vehicles, but almost all of the plastics we rely on, as well as paints, resins, fabrics, chemicals, dyes, films and many other things.

Despite man’s seemingly insatiable demand for crude oil, productivity has been able to keep up. New oilfields have been discovered and brought into production and developments in exploitation technology have meant that previously inaccessible reserves can be tapped and existing reserves have been more efficiently exploited. However, there is a limited quantity of crude oil on the planet and it is a non-renewable natural resource that will eventually run out.

The second group of non-renewable natural resources are the minerals and ores. The minerals and ores were laid down when the planet formed and many exist in great abundance, however, their supply is fixed. Examples of these natural resources include iron ore, bauxite (the source of aluminum), quartz sand (silicon dioxide), gold, diamonds, slate, granite, etc. Some of these have ores been exploited since man’s earliest history (e.g. the Iron Age). Equally the use of gold and precious stones can be dated back to antiquity. Modern man uses ores and minerals across a vast range of activities, from construction to space exploration. In contrast to the fossil fuels, these resources do not get consumed as such; with the exception of a tiny amount used in space exploration, all of the ores and minerals are still on Earth although they will have undergone extensive alterations (chemical and physical) from their native (i.e. as dug out of the ground) state to the artifacts that they are used in.

The other class of natural resources is renewable resources. In general, this group refers to things that can be grown, harvested and then replaced – for example, wood is an illustration of a renewable resource. Another important renewable natural resource is fresh water – without it life on Earth would be impossible.

In terms of renewable (natural or so-called “green") energy resources, much interest is placed on hydro-electric plants, estuarine barrages, wave power, solar power and wind power. With the exception of solar power, which produces electricity directly via the photo-electric effect, the others use mechanical energy from the resource to turn a turbine whereby a coil is rotated within a magnetic field, producing energy.

 

WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?

The environment is often seen as made up of distinct parts operating more or less independently of each other. Viewed this way, protecting the environment means protecting distinctly different categories of things: the oceans, endangered species, the air we breathe, and environmental problem-solving is approached in terms of disconnected challenges. We regulate air pollution and water pollution, but we don’t often tackle them together, connecting the dots between, for example, mercury emitted from power plants, mercury in water, and mercury in tuna. The term “ecosystem” captures an important alternative principle: the interconnectedness of all natural things and phenomena. In 1962 in Silent Spring Rachel Carson described it as “ecology.” A decade later another environmental trailblazer, Barry Commoner, anchored a bestselling book, The Closing Circle, in this concept. The first of the book’s four laws of ecology is “everything is connected to everything else.” An ecosystem (short for “ecological system”) is a network of living and nonliving things all of which are, either directly or indirectly, interdependent, and operating, whether large or small, as a system. An ecosystem can be huge like the Gulf of Mexico, or tiny like a little tidal pool. Each contains elements interacting with each other in ways that create an ecological unit. In such a unit, every component depends in some way on every other. So for example, the Gulf of Mexico provides a warm, swampy environment for the bald cypress, which in turn supports wildlife and provides storm protection there. In the tidal pool, seaweed, happy in the aquatic environment, feeds the resident abalone. Sea otters from the larger coastal ecosystem in turn feed on the abalone. The earth is a series of ecosystems loosely laced together, and the earth itself is in a sense one huge ecosystem. Where ecosystems begin and end is subjective, and they can overlap. Although they were once viewed as stable, closed, reliable systems, they are actually dynamic places subject to and changeable by natural factors such as climate. Humans are almost always part of ecosystems, and we have a major, often destructive, influence on them.

Task 2. Translate the following words from the text:

 

endangered species, to tackle together, mercury emitted from power plants, tuna, environmental trailblazer, ecosystem protection, tidal pool, to interact with each other, ecological unit, swampy environment, cypress, seaweed, aquatic environment, resident abalone, sea otter, overlap.

 

Task 3. Translate sentences from Russian into English:

 

1. Мы регулируем загрязнение воздуха и воды, но мы зачастую не связываем их вместе.

2. Термин «экосистема» охватывает важный альтернативный принцип: взаимосвязанность всех природных вещей и явлений.

3. Экосистема – это связь живых и неживых предметов, которые напрямую или косвенно, взаимодействуют как большая или маленькая система.

4. Каждая экосистема содержит элемент, взаимодействующий друг с другом, и таким образом, создается экологическое единство.

5. Земля – это череда экосистем, тесно связанных друг с другом, и сама земля в этом смысле является одной огромной экосистемой.

6. Люди почти всегда являются частью экосистем, и у нас есть огромное, часто разрушительное, влияние на них.

 

WHAT IS LAND POLLUTION?

Land Pollution has come to become one of the serious concerns that we collectively battle. Land pollution, in other words, means degradation or destruction of earth’s surface and soil, directly or indirectly as a result of human activities. Land Pollution has led to a series of issues that we have come to realize in recent times, after decades of neglect. The increasing numbers of barren land plots and the decreasing numbers of forest cover is at an alarming ratio. Moreover the extension of cities and towns due to increasing population is leading to further exploitation of the land. Landfills and reclamations are being planned and executed to meet the increased demand of lands. This leads to further deterioration of land, and pollutioncaused by the landfill contents. Also due to the lack of green cover, the land gets affected in several ways like soil erosion occurs washing away the fertile portions of the land. Or even a landslide can be seen as an example. The sources of land pollution:

1. Deforestation and soil erosion: Deforestation carried out to create dry lands is one of the major concerns. Land that is once converted into a dry or barren land, can never be made fertile again, whatever the magnitude of measures to redeem it are. Land conversion, meaning the alteration or modification of the original properties of the land to make it use-worthy for a specific purpose is another major cause. This hampers the land immensely. Unused available land over the years turns barren; this land then cannot be used.

2. Agricultural activities: With growing human population, demand for food has increased considerably. Farmers often use highly toxic fertilizers and pesticides to get rid of insects, fungi and bacteria from their crops. However with the overuse of these chemicals, they result in contamination and poisoning of soil.

3. Mining activities: During extraction and mining activities, several land spaces are created beneath the surface. We constant hear about land caving in; this is nothing but nature’s way of filling the spaces left out after mining or extraction activity.

4. Overcrowded landfills: Each household produces tones of garbage each year. Garbage like aluminum, plastic, paper, cloth, wood is collected and sent to the local recycling unit. Items that cannot be recycled become a part of the landfills that hampers the beauty of the city and cause land pollution.

5. Industrialization: Due to increase in demand for food, shelter and house, more goods are produced. This resulted in creation of more waste that needs to be disposed of. To meet the demand of the growing population, more industries were developed which led to deforestation. Research and development paved the way for modern fertilizers and chemicals that were highly toxic and led to soil contamination.

6. Construction activities: Due to urbanization, large amount of construction activities are taking place which has resulted in large waste articles like wood, metal, bricks, plastic that can be seen by naked eyes outside any building or office which is under construction.

7. Nuclear waste: Nuclear plants can produce huge amount of energy through nuclear fission and fusion. The left over radioactive material contains harmful and toxic chemicals that can affect human health. They are dumped beneath the earth to avoid any casualty.

8. Sewage treatment: Large amount of solid waste is leftover once the sewage has been treated. The leftover material is sent to landfill site which end up in polluting the environment.

Task 2. Translate the following words and word combinations:

 

to abuse, to incur, the effect, to affect, drastically, barren land plot, to witness, to lessen the quality or the productivity of the land, to be at an alarming ratio, reclamation, deterioration, deforestation, to redeem, to hamper, indigenous, to get rid of insects, fungus, extraction activity, research and development, fission, fusion.

Task 3.   Make up 15 questions to the text.

IS SOIL AN ECOSYSTEM?

Yes. The familiar expression “cheap as dirt” reflects the low value we place on soil, which some who do value it highly have called Earth’s skin. Soil, especially topsoil, the dark carbon and biota rich organic material that covers the first few inches of some of the earth’s surface and enables plants to grow, is an invaluable resource and an ecosystem. It is home to an enormous number of diverse, especially small, organisms, and it is a major participant in the most basic biological cycles in the global ecological system including the nitrogen and carbon cycles. Topsoil covers only about 10 percent of the earth’s surface, and it is rapidly being depleted by such activities as industrial-scale farming and road and building construction, much faster than it can regenerate. By some calculations, at the current rate of depletion, the earth has about sixty years of topsoil left. This is a global problem being felt not just in industrialized countries such as the United States and Russia, but especially in poorer parts of the world. The Dust Bowl tragedy of the 1930s in the United States occurred because unwise farming practices, aided by strong winds and drought, stripped the fertile Great Plains of the rich soil and sturdy vegetation that had sustained life there for millennia, and that had drawn settlers to it in droves starting in the 1860s, prodded by the Homestead Act. These settlers unwittingly set themselves up for tragedy by plowing away the sturdy prairie grasses (using John Deere’s newly invented, fast) to produce wheat eagerly purchased by a growing US population. The result was bare, desiccated, depleted soil, which blew away in fierce winds. Four hundred thousand people fled or died. The dust bowl so shocked the United States that the Soil Conservation Service was created, numerous emergency measures were taken by President Franklin Roosevelt, and new soil management techniques were introduced such as crop rotation and cover crops. But problematic agricultural practices, combined with the demands of an expanding population, continue to strain agriculturally productive places. The Central Valley in California is a current example. It is about 450 miles long and about 50 miles wide. It is among the most fertile valleys in the world and provides one-quarter of the food for the United States. Seventeen percent of the nation’s irrigated land is there to support this productivity. The water comes largely from aquifers that are being depleted. Indeed, in the Central Valley significant land subsidence is occurring as groundwater is withdrawn. Much of the productivity, often from industrial-scale farms, depends on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and antibiotics to sustain profits. The valley has some of the largest CAFOs in the United States and some of the biggest producers of such ubiquitous staples as carrots and tomatoes.

The environmental sustainability of the valley is at risk as it struggles with weakened soil, drought, and encroaching suburbia, not to mention pressing social issues arising from the often less than acceptable conditions of the agricultural workers in the valley. But the valley is also the home of many farms practicing sustainable agriculture, which many local organizations and academic institutions support. A sustainable Central Valley would integrate the three pillars of sustainability: environmental protection, economic profitability, and social equity.

Task 2. Translate the following words and word combinations from the text:

 

topsoil, the dark carbon and biota rich organic material, nitrogen carbon cycles, to deplete, the dust bowl, to strip the fertile soil, sturdy vegetation, drove, Homestead Act, to plow away the sturdy prairie grasses, to diminish the grasses, desiccated soil, crop rotation and cover crops, irrigated land, aquifer, subsidence, chemical fertilizer, ubiquitous, CAFO – Confined Animal Feeding Operation.

Task 3. Answer the questions to the text:

 

1. Why is soil an invaluable resource and an ecosystem?

2. What is the main reason for the depletion of topsoil?

3. What tragedy happened in the 1930s in the United States?

4. What caused the depletion of topsoil? And what was the result of that Act?

5. What is the present-day example of the depletion of the land?

6. Why is the valley considered as the most productive in the USA?

7. For what purpose do farmers use chemical fertilizers, pesticides and antibiotics?

8. Who supports the farms in the valley?

9. What are the pillars of the sustainability for the Central Valley?

 

Task 4. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following words and word combinations:

органический материал, богатый флорой и фауной; быстро истощаться такими видами деятельности, как крупномасштабное фермерство и строительство дорог и зданий; территории, подвергающиеся пыльным бурям и засухе; распахивать землю с сочными травами прерий; выращивать пшеницу в больших объемах для продажи растущему населению США; высушенная почва; севооборот и покрытие культур; водоносный пласт земли; удобрения.

Task 5. In English grammar, an attributive noun is a noun that modifies another noun and functions as an adjective. Also known as a noun premodifier, anoun adjunct, and aconverted adjective. Find the examples of such attributive nouns in the text.

SEWAGE TREATMENT

 

Sewage treatment is the process of removing contaminants from waste water, primarily from household sewage. Physical, chemical, and biological processes are used to remove contaminants and produce treated wastewater (or treated effluent) that is safer for the environment. A by-product of sewage treatment is usually a semi-solid waste or slurry, called sewage sludge. The sludge has to undergo further treatment before being suitable for disposal or application to land.

Sewage treatment may also be referred to as wastewater treatment. However, the latter is a broader term which can also refer to industrial wastewater. For most cities, the sewer system will also carry a proportion of industrial effluent to the sewage treatment plant which has usually received pre-treatment at the factories themselves to reduce the pollutant load. If the sewer system is a combined sewer then it will also carry urban runoff (stormwater) to the sewage treatment plant. Sewage water can travel towards treatment plants via piping and in a flow aided by gravity and pumps. The first part of filtration of sewage typically includes a bar screen to filter solids and large objects which are then collected in dumpsters and disposed of in landfills. Fat and grease is also removed before the primary treatment of sewage.

Sewage may include stormwater runoff or urban runoff. Sewerage systems capable of handling storm water are known as combined sewer systems. Combined sewers require much larger and more expensive treatment facilities than sanitary sewers. Heavy volumes of storm runoff may overwhelm the sewage treatment system, causing a spill or overflow. Sanitary sewers are typically much smaller than combined sewers, and they are not designed to transport stormwater. Backups of raw sewage can occur if excessive infiltration/inflow is allowed into a sanitary sewer system.

As rainfall travels over roofs and the ground, it may pick up various contaminants including soil particles and other sediment, heavy metals, organic compounds, animal waste, and oil and grease. Some jurisdictions require stormwater to receive some level of treatment before being discharged directly into waterways. Examples of treatment processes used for stormwater include retention basins, wetlands, buried vaults with various kinds of media filters, and vortex separators. Industrial wastewater may contain pollutants which cannot be removed by conventional sewage treatment.

STAGES OF SEWAGE TREATMENT

 

Sewage collection and treatment is typically subject to local, state and federal regulations and standards. Sewage treatment generally involves three stages, called primary, secondary and tertiary treatment.

Primary treatment consists of temporarily holding the sewage in a quiescent basin where heavy solids can settle to the bottom while oil, grease and lighter solids float to the surface. The settled and floating materials are removed and the remaining liquid may be discharged or subjected to secondary treatment. Some sewage treatment plants that are connected to a combined sewer system have a bypass arrangement after the primary treatment unit. This means that during very heavy rainfall events, the secondary and tertiary treatment systems can be bypassed to protect them from hydraulic overloading, and the mixture of sewage and stormwater only receives primary treatment.

Secondary treatment removes dissolved and suspended biological matter. Secondary treatment is typically performed by indigenous, water-borne micro-organisms in a managed habitat. Secondary treatment may require a separation process to remove the micro-organisms from the treated water prior to discharge or tertiary treatment.

Tertiary treatment is sometimes defined as anything more than primary and secondary treatment in order to allow ejection into a highly sensitive or fragile ecosystem. Treated water is sometimes disinfected chemically or physically prior to discharge into a stream, river, bay, lagoon or wetland, or it can be used for the irrigation of a golf course, green way or park. If it is sufficiently clean, it can also be used for groundwater recharge or agricultural purposes.

Task 2. Translate the following words from the text:

  releasing untreated wastewater; federal regulations and standards; temporarily holding the sewage; quiescent basins; heavy solids; settled and floating materials; secondary treatment; bypass arrangement; the primary treatment unit; tertiary treatment systems; hydraulic overloading; suspended biological matter; separation process; ejection; disinfected chemically or physically.

 

GLOBAL WARMING

 

Climate change means long-term changes in atmospheric conditions including temperature, wind patterns, and precipitation. Climate change, as the term is presently used, is anthropogenic: that is, caused by humans.

Climate change is complex. Among the many complexities we encounter when we study it is that the climate is influenced by unpredictable events, such as shifts in the world economy that change industrial production and hence greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, it is a planetary, not local, problem, and it requires a global, interdisciplinary, and intergovernmental commitment to find solutions, solutions that may upend traditional geopolitical relationships and customary day- to- day activities. One thing is certain, however: it is happening. No responsible expert denies its existence, its fundamental causes, and the great danger it poses if we act too casually to address it.

Global warming refers to the recent rise in the earth’s surface temperature associated with the increase in greenhouse gases. Climate change encompasses a larger spectrum of atmospheric conditions including changes in precipitation and wind patterns. Most scientists prefer “climate change.” But the public may relate better to the term “global warming” and the public has tended to use it more, at least until recently.

Reliable sources of data exist to measure climate, as do reliable mechanisms to predict climate trends into the future. In particular, thousands of temperature stations throughout the world record land and ocean temperatures regularly, and scientists combine these data to produce an average global temperature every month. Accuracy has increased over time, with the help of satellite measurements introduced in 1979. Scientists also observe physical evidence of warming: rising sea levels, receding glaciers, increased snowmelt, and more turbulent air. To discover likely trends over decades they employ sophisticated computer models that use historical data and future projections, such as the predicted presence of greenhouse gases. A particularly detailed analysis using all available temperature data was based on measurements from 36,866 stations going back to 1753.

 

Task 2. Match the italicized words with the following meanings:

to turn smth over so that it is upside down; to use a particular method, skill, etc in order to achieve smth; air or water that moves around a lot; jobs or activities that you do every day as a normal part of your life or job; to exist in a way that may cause a problem, danger, difficulty etc; changing a lot so that it is impossible to know what will happen; rain, snow etc that falls on the ground, or the amount of rain, snow etc that falls; continuing for a long period of time, or relating to what will happen in the distant future.

 

EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

 

The menace of global warming has multiplied over the years and unfortunately, the situation continues to escalate. Global warming is no doubt a serious issue; all the more so because its effect on one component of the Earth triggers a series of ill-effects on other related components.

A large number of animal species will disappear from the planet as a result of the loss of habitat triggered by global warming. In fact, it's feared that sooner or later it will trigger a mass extinction, and one-third of the species will become extinct by 2050 itself. Owing to the drastic changes in temperature, various plants have been experiencing difficulties in adapting to the areas where they previously flourished. The growing season of some plant species has also been altered, which, in turn, has disturbed the reproduction cycle of the species, giving a drastic blow to the plant population.

Increasing temperature will lead to adverse effects on the weather as well. Even minor alterations in global temperature will trigger a series of weather extremities and alter the climatic pattern. Last three decades have witnessed a rise in the number of category 4 and category 5 storms.

One of the more severe effects of global warming on the Earth is the melting of perennial and permanent ice covers on the planet. There are several thousands of glaciers spread all over the world, which form an important source of fresh water. The studies have revealed that these glaciers are disappearing at an alarming rate. This is viewed as one of the most prominent factors contributing to sea level rise. Yet another grievous effect of this phenomenon on the planet is the rise in sea levels, which are threatening to encroach up on land. If the sea level rises, it will result in a watery grave for several low-lying areas, tiny islands, and reclaimed portions of land. Global warming is threatening the coral reefs to a great extent, and if coral reefs are wiped off, it will affect one third of planet's marine biodiversity and other related ecosystems.

Irregular weather will have a severe impact on several human activities. Warm summers will mean more allergies and more disease spreading insects. Unnatural precipitation will lead to destruction of crops and affect the agriculture sector. Rising temperature will lead to warming of ocean bodies, which, in turn, will increase the frequency of hurricanes.

Mitigation

6. Non-technical summary

7. Lack of know-how/technical difficulties

ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION

 

Environmental remediation is the removal of pollution or contaminants from water (both ground water and surface water) and soil. These waste products are removed for the protection of human health, as well as to restore the environment. Remediation restores brownfield sites either for redevelopment or to return them to their natural state.

Remediation projects can range from large, expensive projects, on which a great deal of effort is spent to clean up contaminated sites, to smaller, less costly projects, such as cleaning up a highway accident in which oil is spilled. In some cases, a site is so contaminated that it can only be fenced off and isolated as much as possible from the rest of the environment. Remediation projects usually begin with a site assessment to determine the costs of the project, as well as the technology that would be the most appropriate for the particular site.

Environmental remediation is carried out on various environmental media, including soil, sediment, groundwater, and surface water.

Water remediation is the process of removing contaminants from water. Surface water in lakes, streams, and rivers can be directly contaminated by pollutants released directly into the water or by runoff from the ground. Groundwater, which is the underground water that saturates porous material, can become polluted by contaminants seeping through the soil and sediment above it.

Soil remediation refers to strategies that are used to purify and revitalize the soil. Soil contamination is caused by many of the same factors that cause groundwater contamination. Often, the soil and groundwater are contaminated from the same source and both must be remediated at the same time. Soil contamination can result from chemical spills, industrial activity, and the use of certain fertilizers and pesticides.

Environmental remediation may also be classified as in-situ or ex-situ. In-situ remediation methods treat the contamination on the site without removing soil, while ex-situ remediation involves excavating soil or sediment and treating it, before returning it to its original state.

 

SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

 

The disposal of solid waste is a problem. This problem continues to grow with the growth of population and development of industries. Disposal of waste in open pits has become routine in majority of places.

Semisolid or solid matter that are created by human or animal activities, and which are disposed because they are hazardous or useless are known as solid waste. Most of the solid wastes, like paper, plastic containers, bottles, cans, and even used cars and electronic goods are not biodegradable, which means they do not get broken down through inorganic or organic processes. Thus, when they accumulate they pose a health threat to people, plus, decaying wastes also attract household pests and result in urban areas becoming unhealthy, dirty, and unsightly places to reside in. Moreover, it also causes damage to terrestrial organisms, while also reducing the uses of the land for other, more useful purposes. Hence sanitary landfills are often used as a method of disposing solid wastes. Here the water is spread into thin layers and covered with earth. Such sanitary provisions help to remove most of the risks of pollution. Most landfills depend on the natural decaying process whereby most of the elements are broken down and returned back to the soil. However, many types of paper, plastics and textiles do not degrade and hence become major causes of pollution to the environment.

Incineration is often resorted to which helps to reduce the volume of solid wastes by burning them off. However, fly ash, toxic fumes and other forms of chemical by products often come out of such a process which are equally contaminant to the environment. Today, new techniques have been formed of scrubbing off pollutants from the incinerator stacks before the incinerators are used. Around 16% of municipal solid wastes are combusted.

Recycling and composting are other ways of solid waste disposal. These methods not only help to enrich the natural supply of earth’s resources but also help to conserve energy in the different manufacturing and mining industries. Steel from scraps and aluminum recovered from cans are widely used in many recycled projects.

 

Вопросы для самоконтроля

1. Technosphere safety management requires knowledge of the _______.

□ habitat □ environment

□ instructions and safety regulations □ technosphere

2. Technologists can ______ sea water into fresh drinking water.

□ change □ switch

□ arrange □ convert

3. Specialists in safety of technosphere can also protect the environment by____________.

□ keeping fit □ saving the environment

□ helping to prevent harmful developments □ observing the regulations

4. Anthropogenic means ___________.

□ causing humans □ influenced by humans

□ influencing humans □ caused by humans

5. Global warming and climate change mean________.

□ different things □ the same

□ have some differences □ have much in common

6. Satellite measurements of the climate were introduced in ______.

□ 1753 □ 1979

□ 1970 □ 2000

7. The effects of global warming on one component of the Earth ______a series of ill-effects on other related components.

□ makes □ is caused

□ triggers □ is influenced

8. If coral reefs are______, it will affect one third of planet's marine biodiversity and other related ecosystems.

□ wiped off □ disappear

□ appeared □ vanish

9. Unnatural precipitation will lead to ______of crops and affect the agriculture sector.

□ depletion □ construction

□ corruption □ destruction

10. The process identifying possible impact and, if possible, reducing the negative effects of human development and construction is called________.

□ energy information agency □ environmental industry association

□ environmental impact assessment □ environmental investigation agency

11. National Environmental Policy Act requires that those involved in a project assess the possible effects and state clearly that they ___of these effects.

□ are known □ are aware

□ aware □ know

12. Environmental remediation is the removal of pollution or ____from water (both ground water and surface water) and soil.

□ contaminants □ dust

□ medicine □ remedy

13. The most common form of soil remediation is _____, which involves removing contaminated soil or other materials from a site.

□ bioremediation □ aeration

□ excavation □ contamination

14. A device for scraping or pumping solid material from the bottom of rivers, lakes, and other bodies of fresh or salt water is called ______.

□ a dredge □ a digger

□ a shovel □ an excavator

15. Solidification helps to__________.

□ excavate the contaminated soil □ aerate the area

□ remove the contaminants from the environment □ prevent the contamination from spreading to a wider area

16. The use of microorganisms to remove pollutants from the soil or water is called ________.

□ aeration □ solidification

□ bioremediation □ soil extraction

17. WTE means _______.

□ Waste-to-Energy □ World Time Engine

□ Waste Time Environment □ Whole Treatment Ecology

18. A comparative methodology used to determine the environmental impact and energy or resource consumption of products and services over their whole life cycles is called _________.

□ Life Cycle Assessment □ Launch Control Area

□ Last Cycle Area □ Life Control Area

19. Many types of paper, plastics and textiles do not ____ and hence become major causes of pollution to the environment.

□ degrade □ appear

□ dispose □ diminish

20. Incineration helps to reduce the volume of solid wastes by _______.

□ compressing them □ burning them off

□ reusing them □ recycling them

21. The environment is seen as made up of distinct parts of operating more or less _______of each other.

□ dependently □ independently

□ disconnected □ connected

22. Land pollution means degradation or destruction of earth’s surface and soil, directly or indirectly as a result of _________.

□ deforestation □ human activities

□ soil erosion □ ecosystem

23. Farmers often use ___________ to get rid of insects, fungi and bacteria from their crops.

□ mining activities □ nuclear waste

□ highly toxic fertilizers and pesticides □ industrialization

24. The leftover radioactive materials contains ________ that can affect human health.

□ overcrowded landfills □ harmful and toxic chemicals

□ mining activities □ agricultural activities

25. Soil, especially topsoil, the dark carbon and biota rich organic materials that covers the first few inches of some of the earth’s surface and enables plants to grow, is

□ an invaluable resource and ecosystem □ a global problem

□ a global ecological system including the nitrogen and carbon cycles □ industrial-scale farming and road construction

26. A spill of _________ into a fast-moving river has consequences different the same spill in a reservoir.

□ chemical waste □ stationary conduits

□ mining activities □ agricultural activities

27. Some substances are dangerous at levels that cannot even be detected using

□ overcrowded landfills □ harmful and toxic chemicals

□ conventional monitoring techniques □ agricultural activities

28. The main reasons that water pollution can threaten species living in polluted water, can ____________and irrigation supplies, can load the food chain with bioaccumulated toxins, and carry disease.

□ contaminate human drinking water □ add harmful and toxic chemicals

□ affects the world’s ecosystem   □ be categorized as an air pollutant

29. Sewage treatment is the process of removing _____________from wastewater, primarily from household sewage.

□ contaminants □ harmful and toxic chemicals

□ conventional monitoring techniques □ agricultural activities

30. The first part of filtration of sewage typically includes _________and large objects which are then collected in dumpsters and disposed of in landfills.

□ fat and grease □ harmful and toxic chemicals

□ conventional monitoring techniques □ a bar screen to filter solids

31. Sewage may include ____________runoff or urban runoff.

□ fat and grease □ harmful and toxic chemicals

□ stormwater □ a semi-solid waste

32. Secondary treatment removes ____________________________.

□ dissolved and suspended biological material □ a semi-solid waste

□ stormwater   □ harmful and toxic chemicals

33. The third category covers additional air pollutants considered highly toxic and known as__________________________.

□ dissolved and suspended biological material □ a semi-solid waste

□ the toxic or hazardous air pollutants   □ harmful and toxic chemicals

Список рекомендуемой литературы

1. Hill Pamela. Environmental Protection. What Everyone Needs To Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. P. 257.

2. Gaur R.C. Basic Environmental Engineering. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers, 2008. P. 220.

3. Техносферная безопасность: сб. текстов и упражнений по английскому языку / В. В. Бачурин, А. В. Качалов. Екатеринбург: УрГУПС, 2017. С. 56.

4. Михайлова Ю.В., Тимкина Ю.Ю. English for the safety engineering (Техносферная безопасность): учеб.-метод. пособие по английскому языку Пермь: ИПЦ «Прокрость», 2016. – 130 с.

5. Personal protective equipment (PPE) / Health and Safety Executive Portal. – URL: http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/ppe.htm (28.05.18)

 

 

ПРАКТИКУМ ИНОСТРАННОГО ЯЗЫКА В СФЕРЕ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

(АНГЛИЙСКИЙ)

 

Методические указания

 

 

Составители: Гришанова Ольга Петровна;

                    Демичева Юлия Владимировна

 

 

Редактор                                                О.А. Замерова

Компьютерная верстка                     О.П. Гришанова

 

_______________________________________________________________

Подписано в печать                                  Формат 60x84/16

Бумага офсетная                                       Офсетная печать

Печ. л. 1,75                                           Изд. № 114

Уч.-изд. л. 1,63                                     Тираж 15 экз.

Усл. пeч. л 1,27                                          Заказ №

Цена              руб.

_____________________________________________________________

 

 

ФГБОУ ВО «Кубанский государственный технологический университет»

350072, г. Краснодар, ул. Московская, 2, кор. А

Типография ФГБОУ ВО «КубГТУ»: 350058, г. Краснодар,

ул. Старокубанская, 88/4

 

ПРАКТИКУМ ИНОСТРАННОГО ЯЗЫКА В СФЕРЕ