Facts About Hydropower

PARTI

Unit 4

Flights of Fancy

NASA was interviewing professionals to be sent to Mars. Only one could go, and he or she couldn't return to the Earth. The first appli­cant ', an engineer, was asked how much he wanted to be paid for go­ing. "One million dollars," he answered, "because I want to donate it toM. I.T."

The next applicant, a doctor, was asked the same question. She asked for two million dollars. "I want to give a million to my family," she explained, "and leave the other million for the advancement of medi­cal research."

The last applicant was a lawyer². When asked how much money he wanted, he whispered in the interviewer's ear, "Three million dollars."

"Why so much more than the others?", the interviewer asked.! The lawyer whispered, "If NASA pays me $3 million, I'll give you $1 million, I'll keep $1 million, and we'll send the engineer."

1 - претендент; 2 — юрист

HYDROPOWER. FACTS

• Read and translate the following text below. Pay attention to the details of Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.

Worldwide, about 20% of all electricity is generated by hydropower. Hydroelectric power plants convert the kinetic energy contained in falling water into electricity. The energy in flowing water is ultimately derived from the sun, and is therefore constantly being renewed. En­ergy contained in sunlight evaporates water from the oceans and de­posits it on land in the form of rain. Differences in land elevation re­sult in rainfall runoff, and allow some of the original solar energy to be captured as hydroelectric power.

Hydropower is currently the world's largest renewable source of elec­tricity, accounting for 6% of worldwide energy supply or about 15% of the world's electricity. In Canada, hydroelectric power is abundant and

Solar, Wind & Biomass 0.1%

Coal 55.1%

Nuclear

22.5%

Petroleum

2.0%

Hydroelectric

9.8% Natural Gas Geothermal
10.3% 0.2%

Fig. L

U.S. Electric Utility Net Generation of Electricity

Section I. Power Engineering jjnit 4. Hydropower. Facts

supplies 60% of our electrical needs. Traditionally thought of as a cheap] and clean source of electricity, most large hydroelectric schemes being

EXERCISES

I. Find the Russian equivalents in b) to the following English words and word combina­tions in a).

Fig. 2.

Top Hydroelectric Generating Countries

planned today are coming up against a great deal of opposition fromj environmental groups and native people.

The United States is the second largest producer of hydropower iri
the world. Canada is number one. Norway produces more than 99% on
its electricity with hydropower. New Zealand uses hydropower for 75%
of its electricity. I

In the U.S., hydropower produces enough electricity to serve the need» of 28 million residential customers. This is equal to all the homes in Wis-J consin, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Nebras-I ka, Kansas, North and South Dakota, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

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