 |
Types and Sources of Outdoor Air Pollution
|
|
|
|
As clean air moves across the earth’s surface, it collects additional loads of chemicals produced by natural events and human activities. Once in the troposphere, potential air pollutants mix vertically and horizontally and often react chemically with each other or with natural components of the atmosphere. When the concentration of a normal component of air or a new chemical added to or formed in the air builds up to the point of causing harm to humans, other animals, vegetation, or materials such as metals and stone, that chemicals is classified as an air pollutant. Worldwide, each year air pollution causes at least 150,000 premature deaths, causes or aggravates debilitating respiratory diseases for tens of millions of people, and result in at least $100 billion in damages to crops, trees, buildings, and other objects.
Although there are hundreds of potential air pollutants, most air pollution results from six major classes of substances. About 90% of all air pollution problems are caused by five groups of pollutants: carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxide, volatile organic compounds (mostly hydrocarbons), and suspended particulate matter. Natural sources of air pollutants include forest fires started by lightning, pollen dispersal, wind erosion of soil, volcanic eruptions, evaporation of volatile organic compounds from leaves, bacterial decomposition of organic matter, sea spray (sulfate particles), and natural radioactivity (radon-222 gas from deposits of uranium, phosphate, and granite). But emissions from natural sources are dispersed throughout the world and rarely reach concentrations high enough to cause serious damage. Exceptions include massive injections of sulfur dioxide and suspended particulate matter (SPM) from volcanic eruptions and build of radon-222 gas inside buildings. Most potential pollutants are added to the troposphere as result of human activities: mainly the burning of fossil fuels in power and industrial plants (stationary sources), and in motor vehicles (mobile sources).
Air pollutants can be classified as either primary or secondary. A primary air pollutant is a harmful chemical that directly enters the air as result of natural events or human activities. A secondary air pollutant is a harmful chemical that forms in the air because of a chemical reaction between two or more air components.
Упражнение 3.
Подберите соответствующий заголовок к каждому абзацу:
Primary and Secondary Air Pollutants;
Major Types of Outdoor Air Pollutants;
Sources of Outdoor Air Pollutants.
Упражнение 4.
Прочитайте следующие слова и определите их соответствия
в русском языке:
type, collect, chemical, natural, activity, troposphere, vertically, horizontally, reaction, component, material, classify, respiratory, result, potential, problem, organic, bacterial, radioactivity, concentration, volcanic, motor.
|
|
|
Упражнение 5.
Найдите в тексте примеры этих частей речи.
| v. | n. | adj. | adv. | prep. |
Упражнение 6.
Составьте 5 вопросов к первому абзацу текста Types and Sources of Outdoor Air Pollution.
Упражнение 7.
(Парная работа) Ответьте на вопросы в упражнении 6.
Упражнение 8.
Найдите подлежащее в каждом предложении второго абзаца текста Types and Sources of Outdoor Air Pollution.
Упражнение 9.
Подберите определение к выделенному слову и затем вставьте соответствующий предлог: in of up out for on.
| 1. Each year air pollution result … at least $100 billion in damages to crops, trees, buildings etc. 2. When visibility is reduced, airports rely … radar control. 3. In 1830, Babbage designed a machine to carry …complex arithmetical calculations. 4. A protein may consist …several polypeptide chains held together by weak molecular bonds. 5. In 1937, four Soviet scientistsset …temporary scientific stations on drifting icebergs in the Arctic. 6. Chemists can work …the number of carbon atoms from the weight of the object. 7. Testosterone is involved …the development of secondary sex characteristics such as the growth of body hair, and changes in the larynx. 8. It is the ability to use the Sun and the stars to navigate which accounts …the migration of birds. 9. The level of pH depends …the strength of the acid. | a. to do / to perform b. to be made of/ formed from c. to be determined by d. to calculate / find the solution e. to create / establish f. to use because you have confidence g. to be linked / a necessary part of h. to provide an explanation i. to cause |
Упражнение 10.
Прочитайте текст и найдите ответы на следующие вопросы:
1. Почему воздух в помещении сегодня намного чище?
2. Что обнаружили ученые?
3. Что могут вызывать воздушные загрязнители?
4. Какой загрязнитель представляет наибольшую угрозу?
Indoor Air Pollution
High concentrations of air pollutants can also build up indoors, where people spend 85% to 90% of their time, and in other enclosed spaces such as underground mines, where air is slowly replenished/ Indoor air today generally much cleaner than that found decades ago, when most houses and other buildings were heated with leaky coal-burning furnaces, but there is still cause for concern. In recent years, scientists have found that the air inside some homes, schools, and office buildings is more polluted and dangerous than outdoor air on a smoggy day. Air pollutants found in buildings produce dizziness, headaches, coughing, sneezing, burning eyes, and flulike symptoms in many people. Air pollutants can accumulate in any buildings. But levels tend to be higher in energy-efficient, relatively airtight houses that do not use air-to-air heat exchangers to bring in sufficient fresh air. According to the EPA and public health officials, the most serious indoor air pollution threat is from radioactive radon-222.
|
|
|
Упражнение 11.
В правой колонке найдите русские эквиваленты следующих английских словосочетаний из текста Indoor Air Pollution:
| 1. burning eyes 2. coal burning furnaces 3. flulike symptoms 4. according to 5. airtight houses 6. high concentrations 7. build up 8. cause for concern 9. heat exchangers 10. public health officials | a. угольные печи b. симптомы заболевания, похожего на грипп c. герметичные (воздухонепроницаемые) дома d. высокие концентрации e. жжение в глазах f. теплообменники g. организаторы здравоохранения h. постепенно накапливаться i. согласно j. причина для беспокойства |
Упражнение 12.
Найдите в каждом предложении текста Indoor Air Pollution подлежащее и сказуемое. Определите время и залог сказуемого.
Упражнение 13.
Письменно переведите текст. (Контрольное время – 25 минут)
|
|
|
