ALTERNATIVE FUEL SOURCES

Alternative sources of fuel for cars may be too little too late, but they are certainly better than nothing. In many cities all across the nation, alternative fuel sources are becoming increasingly popular, as people begin to plan for what looks to be a bleak energy future. The importance of alternative fuel sources cannot be overrated. We have reached the half way point for oil consumption, and from here on in, it will get more and more expensive to extract smaller and smaller amounts of oil, resulting in the end of fossil fuel use. The sooner we switch to alternative fuel sources, the better, but it seems that our economy is so completely dependent on gasoline that switching might not be enough to save us now.

Solar is a really useful alternative fuel source which will always be available. Although solar power is not one of the alternative fuel sources for cars, it is a great source of power for houses. A few solar panels can provide all of the heating needed for the water tanks, and for the house as well. It is even possible for a house to become completely powered by alternative fuel sources, although this is still often an expensive option there is no doubt that.

Alternate fuel sources for cares are varied. Hybrid cars, although technically not using alternative fuel sources, have found ways to make gas consumption much more efficient. These vehicles can get 50 miles per gallon or more out of conventional fuel! This is, in my opinion, better than alternative fuel sources which involve the inefficient burning of vegetable oil. Biodeisel, and ethanol powered cars, while eliminating our dependence on oil through using alternative fuel sources, still pollute the environment with their smoke. Does it make sense to switch to an alternative fuel source which does every bit as much to pollute as the one which we were using before it?

Two of the most promising alternative fuel sources are electricity and hydrogen. These alternative fuel sources are actually closely related; hydrogen is a highly efficient way to store power which can be then converted into electricity in the car. This alleviates the need for huge, bulky, heavy batteries. The car can be lighter, which means that it can be more efficient and easier to maintain. If these alternative fuel sources are perfected, they might form the best solution to all of our fuel problems as it has been noted.

Task 3a. Read the text and answer the questions.

1. What has solar energy been used for?

2. When did they come in existence?

3. What is the mechanism of these cars?

4. Is the prospect of solar powered cars trouble free?

5. What technical facts render the concept of these cars as vague?

SOLAR POWERED CARS

Solar Powered Cars - A Promising Future Concept

The elements of nature have been created for man alone. Every single need can be acquired and it is present in nature around us. Man only needs to travel and explore the hidden treasures of nature and use them for the fulfillment of his basic needs of life. Something that doesn't need any searching shines up above in the sky. The sun is the basic source of life on earth. If there was no sun no life would have been possible.

Sun emits light which is known as the solar energy and you may have heard and studied about solar energy being used for thousands of purposes. This energy has been used for heating systems and thermal power plants are run through solar energy and so on. When you read or hear about these things you simply pass on because this is too common.

Solar Powered Cars - A Promising Future Prospect

When it comes to solar powered cars it is very likely that you stop and think for a while. It is a promising future prospect and you wish you live long enough to see only solar powered cars racing down the streets, no running out gas, no waiting at the filling station, no more paying for the petrol. Imagine how quickly you would be able to increase your standard of living.

Solar powered cars have been in existence since the mid of the 19th century. They have been increasing in number year by year and organizations tend to hold solar powered car racing each year and thousands of people invest their money and bet on their solar powered cars. The mechanism of these cars is very simple. The batteries installed in these light bodied cars charge themselves from the solar energy. Then this energy is converted by them into electrical energy thus it helps the motor run.

Will Solar Powered Cars Become More Powerful?

Now this prospect is very simple or more likely it sounds very simple and trouble free. The sun shines everyday and there doesn't seem to be any such problem with these cars. But the fact is that the amount of energy stored at a time by these cars enables them to drive at a very slow pace. The road has to be leveled and not steep because that requires even more energy. It will need more powerful batteries and more storage capacity.

Have you never noticed that this is the reason why solar powered cars are small; light weighed, and can carry one person at a time? There are many technical facts that render the concept of these cars as vague.

Task 4a. Write an abstract using key patterns.

Task 5.Discuss.

1. Hypothesize the design features that could increase a car's fuel efficiency. Discuss how aspects of the engine, body, and other components of the car could be modified to minimize the amount of fuel the car requires.

2. Explain why you think there are many more sport utility vehicles on the road today than there were 10 years ago. Compare the design features of a sport utility vehicle with those of a car in terms of their fuel efficiency.

3. Describe the reasons why car manufacturers dramatically increased their cars' fuel efficiency over the past 50 years.

4. Explain the environmental effects that a large number of cars might have on a city like Los Angeles, which is very spread out and surrounded by mountains.

5. Describe the reasons why people might be reluctant to abandon their sport utility vehicles and trucks in favor of more fuel efficient cars or to give up their traditional cars for electric vehicles or other alternative energy cars.

6. Discuss what events could cause car manufacturers to drastically change the fuel efficiency or energy sources of their cars.

LESSON 4

SPACE

Task 1.Answer the following questions.

1. What is happening at the moment in the American, Russian, and European space programmes?

2. What are they planning to do?

Task 2. In pairs write some questions. What would you like to know about living in space?

Task 3.Read the first sentence of each paragraph quickly. Which paragraph do you think will answer your questions? Which questions won't be answered?

Task 4.Read the article.

LIFE IN SPACE

We haven't conquered space. Not yet. We have sent some 20 men on camping trips to the Moon, and the USA and the Soviet Union have sent people to spend restricted lives orbiting the Earth. During the next few weeks, for instance, the US Space Shuttle will take Spacelab into orbit, showing that ordinary (non-astronaut) scientists can live and work in space - for a few days only.

All these are marvellous technical and human achievements, but none of them involves living independently in space. The Russians need food and even oxygen sent up from Earth. And they haven't gone far into space. The residents of Sheffield are farther from London than those of the Shuttle or the Soviet's Salyut. It is only in fiction, and in space movies, that people spend long periods living more or less normally deep in space.

But in a couple of decades this could have changed. There could be settlements in space that would house adventurers leading more or less normal lives. It seems like science fiction - but it is not. It is based on plans produced by hard-headed people: engineers and scientists, headed by Qerard O’Neill of Princeton University, summoned to a conference by NASA. They are space enthusiasts, of course, but they are not dreamers.

The settlement is a gigantic wheel, a tube more than 400ft in diameter bent into a ring just over a mile across. The wheel spins gently once a minute, it is this gentle rotation that makes this settlement different from the Shuttle and Salyut, and infinitely different from the Lunar modules that took man for the first time to any non-terrestrial soil, because the spin produces a force that feels like gravity. Every space trip has shown that the human body needs gravity if it isn't to deteriorate, and gravity also makes normal activities possible. Nobody would want to live for long in a space settlement where everything - people and equipment and the eggs they were trying to fry - moved weightlessly around.

With gravity, life in space can be based on our experience on Earth. We can have farming and factories and houses and meeting-places that are not designed by guesswork.

The need for gravity is one of the reasons for building a space colony, rather than sending settlers to an existing location such as the Moon or the planets. The Moon is inhospitable. Its gravity is tiny - and any one place on the Moon has 14 days of sunlight followed by 14 of night, which makes agriculture impossible and means there is no using solar energy.

In the settlement, which floats in permanent sunlight, the day-length is controlled. A gigantic mirror about a mile in diameter floats weightlessly above the ring of the settlement. It reflects sunlight on to smaller mirrors that direct it into the ring, through shutters that fix the day length.

The sunlight is constant during the 'daytime', so farming is productive to an extent which can be reached on Earth only occasionally. The aim is to provide a diet similar to that on Earth, but with less fresh meat.

The farms will be arranged in terraces with fish ponds and rice paddies in transparent tanks on the top layer; wheat below; vegetables, soya, and maize below that.

The population of the settlement is fixed at about 10,000 people: farm output can be accurately planned. Research reports suggest that about 44 square metres of vegetables will be needed for each person, and just over five square metres of pastures.

People will live in settlements which don’t look very different from modern small towns on Earth, and this is deliberate. Science-fiction films feature vast glass tower blocks and subterranean warrens, but real-life space settlers won't want these. Throughout history, settlers have tried to put up buildings like the ones they left behind, because these are familiar: space settlers will do the same.

And where would the settlement be? 'Why', say the experts, 'at L5, of course. This reference describes a point on the Moon's orbit around the Earth, equidistant from Moon and Earth, where the gravitational forces of the two bodies balance. (The L stands for Lagrange, a French mathematician who listed a number of 'balance' points.) Those who intend to settle in space have formed an L5 Society. The members are not all impractical eccentrics: that is, they are not all impractical.

Task 5. Answer the following questions in pairs.

1. The article refers to the flights to the Moon in the 1970s as 'camping trips'. What does this mean?

2. Sheffield is about 150 miles from London. How high above the Earth does the Shuttle orbit?

3. Who produced these plans for a space settlement?

4. Why would gravity be so important?

5. Why is the Moon unsuitable for a settlement?

6. How and why would sunlight be controlled?

7. Why would the settlement look similar to 'modern' small towns on Earth?

8. What is L5?

9. 'There could be settlements in space that would house adventurers leading more or less normal lives.' What elements of living in space would be normal? What would be unusual?

Task 6.Express your point of view on the following issues.

1. The article does not say what would occupy people's time in space. What do you think they could do?

2. No reasons are given why there should be settlements in space. What reasons can you think of?

3. Does the article make living in space sound attractive? What would appeal to you?

4. Do you think the expense of such space programmes is justified?

Task 7.Write a list of advantages and disadvantages for having settlements in space. Compare your list with a partner and discuss your ideas.

Task 8.Summarize the article.

Task 9.Prepare a presentation on Russian/European/American space programme.

ADDITIONAL TASKS.

Task 1a. Discuss the following "What ifs":

1. What if...the Soviet Union had never launched the Sputnik?
2. What if...the Apollo Program had never resulted in a landing on the Moon?
3. What if...no one had ever tried to break the sound barrier?
4. What if...the Soviet Union had landed on the Moon first?
5. What if...you were offered an opportunity to ride on the Space Shuttle?

Task 2a. Discuss why people want to go into space and debate whether human space exploration should be replaced with robotic missions. Are there compelling reasons why humans should have a presence in space travel?

Task 3a. Explain how the exploration of space is similar to an expedition to Mt. Everest.

Task 4a. Debate the value of the Apollo Lunar Mission Program. Support your opinion with specifics.

Task 5a. Debate the value of a manned mission to Mars. Support your opinion with specifics.

Task 6a. Discuss the benefits which could result from private industry's participation in the commercialization of space.

Task 7a. Explain how space travel has affected people's lives. How has it affected your life?
LESSON 5

HOME MOVIE

Task 1.Answer the following questions.

1. Do you like to watch movies at home or you prefer to go to the cinema? Why?
2. What can make people stay at home to watch a movie instead of going to the movie theatre?
3. What home movie viewing technologies make this process really entertaining?

Task 2.Read the title of the article. What is the issue of the article? Discuss your ideas with a partner.

Task 3.Read the article.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 770