Read the text and render its content in Russian (average reading).
Water - Another Global Crisis?
Each human needs about 20 litres of water a day for the basics - washing, cooking and drinking. But there are many places around the world, where people get five litres of water and less to live on. The situation is worst in Africa, especially some communities of Eastern Africa.
Why do some places have so little water and how will the availability of water change in the future? Across the world 1.6 b more people have access to clean drinking water than twenty years ago. But population growth and climate change could alter this picture. In some regions water is becoming very scarce, especially in places where consumption is already very high.
There are several rivers, for example, that don’t even reach the sea any more. The Yellow River in China and the Murray-Darling in Australia are two examples. Mud and sand have to be removed from the bottom of the rivers so that they don’t dry up. The Aral Sea in Central Asia and Lake Chad in Africa have shrunk in size because the rivers that flow into them have dried up. In Tanzania, streams are drying up because people are taking out more and more water to irrigate crops.
Industrialized nations will be able to cope with the problem in a better way because they have the money to do so. Western Australia and some Middle Eastern countries are building desalination plants, expensive ways of getting clean water from the ocean. Governments and societies will have to decide much more carefully what to do with water. Even in the Amazon rainforest, where water should be plentiful a combination of human settlement, deforestation and the drying of some streams have brought about a decline in the water supply.
http://www.english-online.at
Вариант 12.
Read the text out loud.
Read and translate the text into Russian (study reading).
Microsoft: competition only with itself
Microsoft is the only large company in the world that has no competitors. Only Microsoft could grasp a giant market violating no laws. But it violated more than USA federal laws – it disturbed USA market traditions. According to these traditions, in every sector of the economy each major company has at least one major firm-competitor. There are Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Ford and General Motors, IBM and Apple. But Microsoft is singular. Then, each major company gives an opportunity for existence of many smaller firms. For example, Ford doesn’t make alarm systems, garages and radios for its cars. They are made by other smaller companies. But Microsoft itself sells each new version of Windows together with all necessary applications.
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Microsoft is very unpopular in the American business world. The reason of Microsoft’s great success is Bill Gates. His almost supernatural talent to foretell the market’s future is well known. He can guess which product he will be able to sell very profitably some years later, and so makes this product earlier than others. For example, in 1990 Gates declared his new conception – «information on your fingertips», and foretold the development of the world computer industry in 1990-2000. He said that in the nearest future every-one would have any information within one’s grasp – «on fingertips» – with a computer’s help. Now it has already become a reality – there is almost any information one could want in networks.
http://www.preservearticles.com
Read the text and render its content in Russian (average reading).
Big Science and Technology Advances
With so many remarkable things happening in the science and tech worlds, it's hard to choose which to talk about. Here are a few ongoing developments worth keeping your eyes on.
Stem Cell Heart Generation - For the first time, a human heart has been created using stem cells, a major step forward in organ generation. A couple years ago scientists rebuilt the heart of a rat using stem cells; the same team is behind the latest breakthrough. If all goes as planned, the heart will continue to grow and eventually begin beating automatically. The implications of this development are huge, including overcoming the problems of transplanting donated hearts.
Nano Batteries- Scientists have created the equivalent of a rechargeable lithium-ion battery the size of a nanowire, thousands of times smaller than a human hair. But unlike previous nanobatteries, this one is actually built right into a nanowire. This infinitesimal power source could provide nanomachines with the continuous power needed to accomplish whatever uses they’re designed for, such as exploring the cardiovascular system of a heart disease patient.
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Transparent Batteries – While we’re talking about batteries, it’s worth noting the first completely transparent battery was created this year. Developing a transparent power source was the last obstacle to creating transparent digital gadgets.
www.forbes.com
Вариант 13.
Read the text out loud.
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