М. М. Кутепова The World of Chemistry Мир

Listen to the following dialogue and state what the subject of the conversation is:

1. 
   Scientific observations.
   
2. 
   The greenhouse effect.
   
3. 
   The Earth’s future.
   
4. 
   The history of the Earth.
   

The following notes and words will help you to understand the conversation better:


5 Английский язык для студентов-химиков


129

NOTES

1. 
   greenhouse effect — парниковый эффект
   
2. 
   I’d be glad to — буду рад
   
3. 
   much discussed — широко обсуждаемый
   
4. 
   gradual warming — постепенное потепление
   
5. 
   a global heat trap — всеобщая тепловая ловушка
   
6. 
   I should say — я бы сказал
   
7. 
   be blamed for — быть обвиненным в
   
8. 
   a warming trend — тендеция к потеплению
   
9. 
   generally speaking — говоря в целом
   
10. 
    extinction of human life — вымирание человека
    
11. 
    fossil fuel — природное топливо
    

WORDS


to argue — доказывать, спорить
coastal — прибрежный
to confirm — подтверждать
to cope with — справиться c
dire — зловещий
disaster — бедствие
doomsayer — предсказатель


to inundate — затоплять nitric oxide — азотная кислота objective — задача policymaker — политический деятель
roughly — грубо sharp — резкий


doomsday — день страшного суда swallen — зд. переполненные eventually — постепенно to tend — стремиться
to face — встретиться, столкнуться to threaten — угрожать forecast — предсказание, прогноз to trigger — запускать to generate — вызывать, порождало undertake — предпринимать huge — огромный to unfold — разворачивать(ся)
indefinitely — бесконечно to warn — предупреждать
indication — показатель; указание to wither — высыхать influence — влияние to worry — беспокоиться


MARY: Excuse me, Dr. Rowland...
DR.: Yes?
MARY: I’m Mary Smith, a journalist... writing for Nature. How do you do?
DR.: How do you do? Can I be of any help?


130

MARY: You see, I’m writing an article on the greenhouse effect and its influence on our future life. It’s commonly known that you are one of the best experts in this field, so you could probably answer some of my questions?

DR.: I’d be glad to. What exactly are you interested in?
MARY: First, I’d like to know if the much discussed greenhouse effect is really the disaster of our time? I mean... if a gradual warming of the Earth really threatens life itself? Or... if it’s a... say... a political tool for environmentalist doomsayers?
DR.: Well, for thirty years, scientists have theorized that, as harmful
gases accumulate in the atmosphere, the Earth’s blanket of air will become, if I can put it this way, a global heat trap triggering long-term and possibly cataclysmic changes in climate...
MARY: May I interrupt you for a moment, Dr. Rowland? Has this theory been confirmed?
DR.: I should say that individual studies have tended to confirm it.
But there are some scientists who have taken sharp exception to a doomsday scenario. They argue that the theory is being used to generate research funding and top further political objectives of environmental groups.
MARY: Oh, I see what you mean. 1 attended some meetings in Vienna and Geneva in August and...
DR.: The Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases. Right?
MARY: Yes,... and they warned that the question was no longer whether but how policymakers would cope with the warmer world by the first half of the next century.
DR.: I’ve heard that.
MARY: Dr. Rowland, what I still can’t understand is how it all started?
DR.: Well, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution...
MARY: The mid-18th century?
DR.: Yes. Since that time roughly 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide
have been released into the atmosphere from both industrial and natural processes.
MARY: What about in our times? Can we be blamed for the situation?
DR.: Definitely Over the past 50 years, other harmful gases — chlo-
rofluorocarbons (CFCs), nitric oxide and methane have been accumulating in the atmosphere.


5*


131

MAR Y: What can we expect in the near future?

DR.: In the new century, well probably know with more certainty
what we face. What we know now for sure is that the world’s oceans and forests normally absorb most of these carbon- based by-products, but geochemists worry that they may be approaching their limit.
MARY: Could we say that if the greenhouse scenario unfolds, the Earth will eventually dry up?
DR.: Yes. What’s more, rich farmlands will turn into deserts, forests
will wither and die. Oceans swallen by the melted polar ice caps will inundate coastal areas...
MARY: So, indications of a warming trend are unmistakable, aren’t they?
DR.: Generally speaking, yes, but at present no one can say for cer
tain when the dire effects of global warming will be felt.
MAR Y: Dr. Rowland, can you make a prediction?
DR. : As I see it, if you have the greenhouse effect going on indefi
nitely, then you have a temperature rise that will bring the extinction of human life in 500-1000 years.
MARY: I see, Dr. Rowland. Then my last question. Can any corrective actions be undertaken right now?
DR.: In my view, we should, first, renew the search for safe, clean
alternative to fossil fuels like coal and oil; second, decrease the release of harmful gases from industrial processes and, third, stop clearing the tropical forests that absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide.
MARY: Thank you, Dr. Rowland, you’ve helped me a great deal. Now I’ve got an idea of how to cope with the situation.
DR. : You’re welcome. Glad I could be of some help.

8.