Английский язык : практикум по чтению научно-технических текстов

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РФ 

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ  
ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ  
«НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКИЙ ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ «МИСиС» 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

№ 637 

Кафедра русского и иностранного языков и литературы

Е.В. Вардашкина 
С.И. Перминова 
 

Английский язык

Практикум по чтению научно-технических текстов 

 

Рекомендовано редакционно-издательским  
советом института 

Москва  2012 

УДК 811.111 
 
В18 

Р е ц е н з е н т  
канд. филол. наук, доц. О.Г. Прокофьева (МПГУ) 

Вардашкина Е.В., Перминова С.И. 
В18  
Английский язык: Практикум по чтению научно-технических 
текстов. – М.: МИСиС, 2012. – 96 с. 

Цель практикума – развитие навыков чтения научно-популярной и научнотехнической литературы, устной речи в пределах проработанных тем. Разнообразные 
упражнения направлены на закрепление лексико-грамматического материала. 
Практикум состоит из обращения декана к студентам энерго-экологического 
факультета и трех глав.  
Первая глава содержит 4 раздела. Каждый раздел включает в себя научно-технические тексты по специальности, лексические упражнения, направленные на закрепление пройденного материала, на практическое овладение 
активной лексикой, развитие навыка устной речи. Тексты каждого раздела 
предназначены для разных видов чтения: изучающего, просмотрового и поискового. В разделах предусмотрены тексты для письменного перевода, целью которого является проверка умения студента работать со словарем. 
Вторая глава содержит большое количество грамматических упражнений, 
направленных на закрепление грамматического материала. 
Третья глава включает в себя 12 дополнительных текстов, способствующих развитию навыков чтения научно-популярных и научно-технических 
текстов по специальности, умения обрабатывать информацию и выявлять основные моменты прочитанного. 
Данный практикум соответствует программе курса английского языка. 
Предназначен для студентов всех специальностей и направлений II курса 
энерго-экологического факультета.  

© НИТУ «МИСиС», 2012 

CONTENTS 

Dean’s Message.................................................................................................. 4 
Chapter I. Language Material............................................................................. 7 
Unit I. A Glance on Some Environmental Problems......................................... 7 
1.Words to be learnt.................................................................................................7 
2.Text Study..............................................................................................................8 
3. Conversation Practice ........................................................................................11 
4. Grammar. The Passive Constructions...............................................................12 
Unit II. Air Pollution and its Ecological Consequences .................................. 17 
1. Words to be learnt..............................................................................................17 
2. Text Study...........................................................................................................19 
3. Conversation Practice ........................................................................................23 
4. Grammar. The Participle. The Absolute Participial Construction..................24 
Unit III. Different Types and Sources of Energy............................................. 30 
1. Words to be learnt..............................................................................................30 
2.Text Study............................................................................................................31 
3. Conversation Practice ........................................................................................35 
4. Grammar. The Infinitive. The Infinitive Constructions...................................37 
Unit IV. Modern Civilization Affects the Environment .................................. 45 
1. Words to be learnt..............................................................................................45 
2. Text Study...........................................................................................................47 
3. Conversation Practice ........................................................................................51 
4. Grammar. The Gerund. A Complex with the Gerund.....................................51 
Chapter II. Grammar Practice .......................................................................... 59 
The Passive Voice............................................................................................ 59 
The Participle. The Absolute Participial Construction .................................... 63 
The Infinitive. The Infinitive Constructions .................................................... 69 
The Gerund. The Complex with the Gerund.................................................... 73 
Chapter III. Supplementary Reading................................................................ 78 
Text 1. Ecological Classification of Organisms...................................................78 
Text 2. What is Ecological Engineering? .............................................................79 
Text 3. The History of Poisons..............................................................................80 
Text 4. Landscape and Ecosystem Development after Mining ..........................82 
Text 5. Ceiling Dust: a “Museum” of Contamination and Potential Hazard.....83 
Text 6. The Usage of Speed Control Traffic Signals...........................................84 
Text 7. Long-Term Storage and Disposal of Radioactive Waste .......................85 
Text 8. Radioactive Waste Threatens Moscow....................................................86 
Text 9. Energy Policy.............................................................................................88 
Text 10. Energy Technology in Norway..............................................................90 
Text 11. Floating Nuclear Power Plants Easy Prey for Terrorists......................91 
Text 12. The Energy and Environment Challenge...............................................93 

DEAN’S MESSAGE 

Boris S. Mastrjukov, Dean of the Faculty for Energy and Environmental Studies, Professor, Doctor of Science 

Interaction between an individual and environment in technocratic society may be represented as a chain “individual – technological process – 
environment”. The structure of the faculty for Energy and Environmental 
Studies of MSISA and training of specialists correspond to the links of 
this chain. 
This faculty trains experts (engineers) of the following three specialities: 
– 
“thermal physics, automation and ecology of industrial furnaces (ET)”; 
– 
“safety of vital activity (ES)”; 
– 
“environmental engineering in metallurgy (EE)”. 
When training experts in any field of science one should give answers 
to the following questions: 
– 
who (who are going to train?); 
– 
what (what are we going to teach or what shall be the contents of 
training plans and curriculum?); 
– 
how (how are we going to set up the training process?); 
– 
who (who are the teachers/lecturers?). 
The first question is the most important one since it is determining the 
rest. In market conditions and in the absence of the state distribution of 
graduates to enterprises we need experts possessing sufficiently wide and 
comprehensive basic knowledge, able to use their own resources in solving the tasks not only in the narrow field but also in the related fields. 
More than 100 years ago, a similar point of view was expressed in the 
Notes to the establishment of St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute: “High 
technical school should give mental development equal to the development by university studies. Without skew to a narrow technical activity 
such training should present information on subjects necessary for self 
supporting individual studies of the various branches of technology”. 
Competitiveness of experts in the labour market should be based on 
“three whales”, i.e. good fundamental training, computer knowledge and 
knowledge of a foreign language or languages. 
When replying to the second question on training plans and curriculum 
one should take into account the need to train experts of a wide profile. 
This means that there should be no narrow specialisation and we should 
have a choice of disciplines allowing our students to select a “set” in accordance with his/her future place of work.  

Industrial and ecological safety is an interdisciplinary science and 
training specialists should be based on systematic approach. In the curriculum for specialities “safety of vital activity” and “environmental engineering in metallurgy” apart from traditional High Mathematics is a 
two-semester System Analysis course. Training in Chemistry is radically 
increased, including studies in Inorganic Chemistry, Colloid Chemistry, 
Physical Chemistry and Ecoanalytic Chemistry. The curriculum for these 
specialities also comprises such subjects as Toxicology, Human Physiology, Reliability of Technical Systems and Technogenic Risk, Ecological 
Monitoring, Ecological Expertise, Safety in Extreme Cases, Legal Bases 
for Safe Human Activities, etc. 
Great attention is paid to economic training of the graduates with emphasis on specific subjects. Thus, in curriculum for speciality “environmental engineering in metallurgy” economic training takes 470 hours and 
includes such courses as Economic Theory, Industrial Economics, Environmental Economics and Environmental Management. 
Changes in requirements in specialists determine the need to change training technology. The bases for the training process should be the well-known 
principle of “one can not be taught – can only learn”. With due account for 
the conservatism of the training process in the high education system in general and without violating the existing MSISA training process it is good to 
borrow and introduce the reasonable and rational developed and approbated 
out by colleagues in other Institutes as well as abroad. 
With all the above in view the most important issue is setting up selftraining of the students which takes up to 50 per cent of the total timing. 
Most probably for each discipline there should be sufficient number of 
tasks, home assignments, et cetera to be individually solved by the students with the help of computers; abstracts to be prepared on the basis of 
Russian and foreign literature. 
It is time now to ask the other “who”-question. The introduction of 
new specialities at the faculty for Energy and Environmental Studies has 
lead to introduction of completely new disciplines (Ecological Management, Modern Strategy of Environment Protection and Risk Concept, Legal Issues of Safe Human Activities, Theory of Reliability and Safety of 
Technical Systems, etc.). The high qualification of the lecturers at the faculty for Energy and Environmental Studies is of no doubt, but setting up 
completely new disciplines requires only great efforts but also other basic 
knowledge. There exist several possibilities to solve this issue, i.e. the inhouse preparation of the courses or invitation of lecturers from outside the 
Institute. The basic criterion for this dilemma to be resolved is profession

alism, which ensures high level of training. A huge amount of work is to 
be done in writing textbooks and training material for the new discipline, 
creating laboratory basis etc. 
The Faculty offers post-graduate courses in: 
– 
Environmental Engineering; 
– 
Ferrous Metallurgy; 
– 
Non-Ferrous Metallurgy; 
– 
Labour Protection; 
– 
Fire Safety; 
– 
Industrial Safety. 
There is a training, research and methodology centre “Power Saving 
and Ecology” with several fields of activity, such as research and analysis, 
training and methodology, commercial etc. Both teachers and students 
take part in the activities of the Centre. 

Chapter I. LANGUAGE MATERIAL 

Unit I. A GLANCE ON SOME ENVIRONMENTAL 
PROBLEMS 

1.Words to be learnt 

a hole in the ozone layer  
– дыра в озоновом слое 
remote 
– незначительный 
the challenge 
– проблема, сложная задача 
locally 
– в определенном месте, в местном масштабе 
to have a go 
– сделать попытку 
environmentally friendly 
– не наносящий ущерба окружающей среде 
the impact 
– толчок, импульс 
level, syn. stage, standard 
– уровень 
to halve 
– уменьшать наполовину 
to tire of, syn. to be 
tired of, to get tired of 
– уставать от чего-либо 

sophisticated ways 
– сложные способы 

a bottle bank 
– контейнер для использованной стек 
лянной тары 
plastic 
– пластмасса, полиэтилен 
pollution, syn. contamination, soiling 
– загрязнение (окружающей среды) 

to cut down on the use 
– сократить использование 
chemicals 
– химические препараты 
wildlife 
– живая природа 
to do the weeding by 
hand 
– уничтожать сорняки вручную  
 
(без применения химикатов) 
to slash smth around 
– выливать что-либо вместе с водой 
bleach 
– отбеливающее средство 
the fumes 
– выхлопные газы 
the exhaust pipes 
– выхлопные трубы 
greenhouse effect 
– парниковый эффект 
aggravating 
– обостряющийся, усугубляющийся 

Ex. 1. Learn to pronounce the words given below: 
environment [in/vaiərənment], environmentally [in/vaiərən/mentali], 
scale [skeil], remote [ri/məut], challenge [/t∫ælindʒ], halve [ha:v], impact 

[/impækt], recycle [ri/saikl], envelope [/enviloup], pollution [pə/lu:∫ən], 
particularly 
[pə/tikjuləli], 
sophisticated 
[sə/fistikeitid], 
eventually 
[i/vent∫uəli], plastics [/plæstiks], chemicals [/kemikəlz], agent [/eidʒent], 
pesticides [/pestisaidz], wildlife [/waildlaif], target [/ta:git], bleaches 
[/bli:t∫iz], ozone [/ouzoun], disinfectants [/disin/fektənts], exhaust 
[ig/zo:st], aggravate [/ægrəveit] 

2.Text Study 

Ex. 2. Read text A and say: 

a) what the easiest ways of recycling are; 
b) how we can cut down the use of chemicals in everyday life. 

Text A 

The Challenge of Being Environmentally Friendly (by Chris Baines) 
More and more ordinary people are becoming very worried about the 
state of the environment on a local scale as well as a world scale, but the 
trouble is that the problem seems so enormous that you are left feeling 
that there is really nothing that an individual person can do. Loss of tropical rainforest in South America or a hole in the ozone layer really does 
seem remote. However, the truth is that there are lots of things that ordinary people can do in their everyday lives that really will make a difference. The challenge is to get as many people as possible, to make that little difference locally and if everybody does have a go, then, collected together, the impact of that kind of thing is going to make a real change to 
the state of the world. The whole idea of re-using and recycling is one of 
the things that is really caught on recently and there are some levels of 
recycling that are much easier than you might think. Some people get lots 
and lots of letters through the post and do not buy new envelopes, stick 
new labels on the front of them and post them back usually to the persons 
that sent them. Moreover, trying to write on both sides of the paper instead of just one-side halves the use of paper without having to recycle it 
or remake it in any kind of way. 
And when you have worn out the clothes or you have got tired of the 
clothes or the toys, particularly children tire of toys very quickly, instead 
of just throwing them away, actually handing them on to someone else is a 
very good way of recycling and re-use, which is extremely environmentally friendly as they say. 

There are more sophisticated ways of recycling as well but they need 
some help from local or central government. There is obviously a lot of 
sense in re-using and recycling glass bottles, for instance, but you can’t do 
that as an individual unless there is a bottle bank at the end of the road that 
you can take your bottles to, then they are all collected together, taken 
away, broken up, melted down, and turned back into new glass. Now it is 
possible to recycle plastic as well, although there are still very few plastic 
recycling centers around. There are again easier ways of going through 
that process. Just re-using the plastic bags that people give you at supermarkets and shops is one very simple way of making the plastic last 
longer. If we are going to use things like oil, which are eventually going to 
run out, in order to produce plastics, then the least we should do is to 
make sure we use those plastics as thoroughly as we possibly can. 
Quite a lot of the pollution around is actually caused by you and me in 
the way in which we live our everyday lives and we can cut down on the 
use of chemicals quite easily. If you are a gardener, you should stop using 
pesticides and weed killers in your garden because they damage the wildlife and they cause a kind of pollution, which hang around in the environment for a very long time. Now it may mean a little bit more work, doing 
the weeding by hand instead of killing the weeds with a chemical. Nevertheless, it is quite certain that is worth doing. If every gardener banned the 
use of chemicals in his garden, then that really would make a big difference. In addition, in the house too, there are lots of chemicals used now, 
which were not invented more than thirty years ago. However, we slosh 
them around in the environment without really thinking so and use less of 
those chemicals, the cleaning agents, the bleaches and the disinfectants. 
We use them more carefully and then when we finish with the containers 
we make sure that we dispose them safely. It is one small way in which 
ordinary people can again make quite a difference. 
Finally, the use of cars is an obvious kind of target for environmental 
improvement. Cars particularly in towns and cities really do create a lot of 
environmental problems, they are very noisy, they are smelly, and we now 
know that the fumes that come out of the exhaust pipes are aggravating 
problems like the greenhouse effect and the hole in the ozone layer. So 
simply using the car less is a very positive thing to do and that may mean 
walking to school with the children or walking to the local shops or 
choosing to travel on the train or the bus instead of taking the car. If you 
do have to use the car make sure that you fill it up with people so that the 
people who don’t have a car and have to travel by bus are already half 
way to being environmentally friendly without really trying. 

Ex. 3. Find the words: 

a) with the close meaning (synonyms): 
a trouble – a challenge – a way – a problem – an idea; 
a level – a target – a stage – a label – a standard;  
the environment – pollution – contamination – the wildlife – soiling;  
to get tired of – to ban – to tire of – to slosh – to be tired of;  
to recycle – to stop – to reuse – to remake – to cause ; 
to create problems – to have problems – to make problems – to solve 
problems; 
b) with the opposite meaning to the italicized word (an antonym): 
a local scale – world – low – broad; 
for a long time – better – remote – short; 
environmentally friendly – independently – unfriendly – insignificantly 
few centers – both – many – several; 
easier ways – stronger – harder – lighter ; 
to use smth carefully – carelessly – accurately – properly.  

Ex. 4. Write the Russian equivalents to: 

a hole in the ozone layer does not seem remote; if everybody does have a 
go; particularly children tire of toys very quickly; there is obviously a lot 
of sense in re-using and recycling glass bottles; you should stop using pesticides and weed-killers in your garden; a lot of chemicals used now, 
which were not invested; the use of cars is an obvious kind of target for 
environmental improvement; using cars less is a very positive thing to do; 
if you use the car make sure you fill it up with people; they are half way to 
being environmentally friendly without really trying. 

Ex. 5. Find in text A the English equivalents to the following word 
combinations: 

все больше и больше простых людей обеспокоено состоянием окружающей среды; такой импульс произведет серьезное изменение в 
мире; некоторые способы переработки отходов значительно легче, 
чем можно предположить; попытка писать на двух сторонах листа 
вместо одной вдвое сокращает использование бумаги без необходимости переработки ее каким-либо способом; сейчас также возможно 
перерабатывать пластмассу; во многом вы и я вызываем загрязнение 
окружающей среды нашей повседневной жизнью, и мы можем без 
проблем сократить употребление химических препаратов; прополка 
вручную вместо удаления сорняков химическими препаратами; сде

лать попытку; машины в больших и малых городах создают большое 
количество экологических проблем; таким образом, то, что мы 
меньше ездим на машине, не является положительным фактором. 

3. Conversation Practice 

Ex. 6. Agree or disagree with the statements given below, using the 
phrases in the table. 

Agreement 
Disagreement 

That is right (= That is true!) 
I can’t agree with it! (= I disagree with it!) 

I quite (fully, completely) agree with it. 
I don’t think so! 

That’s just what I was going to say. 
It’s out of the question! 

No doubt whatever (= beyond all doubt)! 
Just the other way round! 

Very likely! 
Nothing of the kind! 

Certainly! Sure! 
Certainly not! 

It goes without any saying! 
That can’t be true! 

1. Less and less ordinary people are becoming very worried about the 
state of the environment. 
2. Loss of tropical rainforest in South America or a hole in the ozone 
layer really does not seem remote. 
3. There are some levels of recycling that are much easier than you 
might think. 
4. Some people get lots of letters through the post and buy new envelopes. 
5. When you have got tired of the toys actually handing them on to 
someone else is a good way of recycling and re-use. 
6. There is obviously no sense in reusing and recycling glass bottles. 
7. Re-using the plastic bags that people give you at supermarkets is one 
very simple way of making the plastic last longer. 
8. We can’t cut down on the use of chemicals quite easily. 
9. You shouldn’t stop using pesticides and weed-killers in your garden. 
10. The use of cars is not an obvious kind of target for environmental 
improvement. 

Ex. 7. Read the plan and rearrange it in the order the problems 
appear in the text. 

1. The pollution is caused by our everyday lives. 
2. Many people being worried about the state of the environment on a 
local scale can make a real change to the state of the world. 
3. A very good way of recycling and re-use of clothes and toys. 
4. The use of cars in towns and cities. 
5. Recycling glass bottles, plastics and other things.