Translate the following Russian text into English

Марианская Впадина - “Четвертый Полюс Земли”

http://planeta.rambler.ru/community/begemotik52/24292023.html

Самую загадочную и недоступную точку нашей планеты – Марианскую впадину – называют «четвертым полюсом Земли» (Северный и Южный – географические полюсы, Эверест и Марианская впадина – геоморфологические). Эта «утроба Геи» располагается в западной части Тихого океана и простирается в длину на 2926 км, а в ширину – на 80 км.

Марианская впадина — глубочайший, из известных, географический объект в Тихом океане. Глубина до 11022 метров; расположена к В. и Ю. от Марианских островов на 11°21′0″ Сев. 142°12′0″ Вост. У дна давление воды достигает 108.6 MPa, более чем в 1000 раз превышающее нормальное атмосферное давление на уровне Мирового океана. В этих малоизученных глубинах скрываются живые существа, облик которых столь же чудовищен, как и условия их обитания.

На протяжении многих десятилетий люди стремились покорить Северный и Южный полюсы Земли, восходили на Эверест, но достичь дна Марианской бездны пока не удалось никому. Лишь 23 января 1960 года два отчаянных смельчака – офицер военно-морских сил США Дон Уолш и швейцарский исследователь Жак Пикар – отважились бросить вызов бездне. Защищенные бронированными, 12-сантиметровой толщины, стенками батискафа под названием «Триест», они сумели опуститься на глубину 11 022 метров.

Триест, история создания. Батискаф Триест был сконструирован швейцарским учёным Огюстом Пикаром с учётом его предыдущей разработки, первого в мире батискафа FNRS-2. Большую помощь в постройке батискафа оказал его сын, Жак Пикар. Свое название аппарат получил в честь города Триест, Италия, в котором были произведены основные работы по его созданию. Триест был спущен на воду в августе 1953 и совершил несколько погружений в Средиземном море с 1953 по 1957 год. Основным пилотом стал Жак Пикар, а в первых погружениях также участвовал его отец, которому в то время уже исполнилось 69 лет. В одном из погружений аппарат достиг рекордной на тот момент глубины 3150 м.

В 1958 Триест был куплен ВМФ США, так как в то время Соединенные Штаты стали проявлять интерес к исследованию океанских глубин, но ещё не располагали подобными аппаратами. После покупки конструкция батискафа была доработана — на заводе Круппа в городе Эссен, Германия была изготовлена более прочная и долговечная гондола. Новая гондола оказалась несколько тяжелее, и ёмкость поплавка тоже пришлось увеличить. Основным пилотом и техником аппарата в 1958—1960 годах оставался Жак Пикар, имевший к тому времени большой опыт погружений.

Проект Нектон. Новая гондола позволяли Триесту опускаться на любые известные глубины, не подвергая опасности экипаж. Поэтому местом следующих погружений была выбрана Марианская впадина, в которой расположена наиболее глубокая точка Мирового океана. Эта серия погружений получила официальное кодовое название Проект Нектон.

Жак Пикар. В ходе реализации проекта 23 января 1960 Жак Пикар и лейтенант ВМФ США Дон Уолш совершили погружение на глубину 11022 м, что является абсолютным рекордом глубины для пилотируемых и беспилотных аппаратов. Погружение заняло около 5 часов, подъём — около 3 часов, время пребывания на дне составило 12 минут. Одним из важнейших научных результатов погружения стало обнаружение высокоорганизованной жизни на таких глубинах.

Конструкция. Триест, подобно другим батискафам, представлял собой герметичную стальную гондолу сферической формы для экипажа, прикреплённую к большому поплавку, наполненному бензином для обеспечения плавучести. Основные технические характеристики аппарата: Длина поплавка — 15 м.; Ёмкость поплавка — 85 м³.; Диаметр гондолы — 2,16 м.; Толщина стенок гондолы — 127 мм.; Вес гондолы в воздухе — 13 т.; Вес гондолы в воде — 8 т.; Экипаж батискафа — 2 человека.

Их рекорд так и остается не побитым. Погружение “Триеста” доказало, что настало время, когда человек может непосредственно, визуально изучать мир придонных глубин мирового океана. Во время этой необычайной экспедиции была опровергнута одна из насущных современных гипотез о неперемещении на больших глубинах слоев воды. С батискафа на предельной глубине наблюдали двух рыб. Это свидетельствовало о существовании подводных течений в вертикальном направлении: ведь для живых существ необходим кислород, приносимый течением с поверхности. Этот вывод предостерег ученых от идеи использования глубин океана для захоронения отходов атомной промышленности.

Когда батискаф «Триест» опускался на дно самой глубокой впадины в Мировом океане — Марианской (11022), он трижды останавливался, встречая какое-то незримое препятствие. Как известно, в батискафе бензин играет ту же роль, что в дирижабле — водород или гелий. Чтобы продолжить погружение батискафа, приходилось выпускать некоторое количество бензина, это делало аппарат тяжелее.

Что же мешало батискафу опускаться? Препятствием на пути было резкое увеличение плотности воды. В океане с глубиной, как правило, понижается температура и повышается соленость воды, в результате чего увеличивается ее плотность. На некоторых глубинах эти изменения происходят скачкообразно. Слой, в котором происходит резкое изменение температуры и плотности воды, так и называется «слоем скачка». Таких слоев в океане обычно бывает один или два. «Триест» обнаружил еще третий.

Время от времени океан выбрасывает на берег огромные полуразложившиеся тела неизвестных морских обитателей, достигающих в длину 70 и более метров. В наши дни высокочувствительные сенсоры и сонары неоднократно фиксировали движение на огромной глубине массивных тел неизвестных животных. Но до сих пор никто ни разу не сумел воочию увидеть этих легендарных морских чудовищ. Но если уж они и существуют, то «четвертый полюс» – наиболее подходящий адрес их обитания. По мнению некоторых специалистов-ихтиологов, благодаря наличию активных гидротермальных источников на дне Марианской впадины могут существовать целые колонии доисторических морских животных, сохранившихся до наших дней.

9.5 Fill in the gaps with the words and expressions given below. Translate the text.

 

Easter island

http://www.world-mysteries.com

Part 1

archaeological sites, breeding site, canoes, Chile, clan wars, crop yields, environmental degradation, extinct, famine, great stone statues, hypothesis, inhabited, Navel, Norwegian explorer, perimeter, quarried, ritually dismantled, skeletons, sleds, social strife, stone platforms, to roost, to topple, tough stone

 

One of the world's most famous yet least visited _________, Easter Island is a small, hilly, now treeless island of volcanic origin. Located in the Pacific Ocean at 27 degrees south of the equator and some 2200 miles (3600 kilometers) off the coast of _________, it is considered to be the world's most remote _________ island. Sixty-three square miles in size and with three _________ volcanoes (the tallest rising to 1674 feet), the island is, technically speaking, a single massive volcano rising over ten thousand feet from the Pacific Ocean floor. The oldest known traditional name of the island is Te Pito o Te Henua, meaning ‘The Center (or _________) of the World.’ In the 1860’s Tahitian sailors gave the island the name Rapa Nui, meaning ‘Great Rapa,’ due to its resemblance to another island in Polynesia called Rapa Iti, meaning ‘Little Rapa’. The island received its most well known current name from the Dutch sea captain Jacob Roggeveen, who, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722, became the first European to visit it.

In the early 1950s, the _________ Thor Heyerdahl (famous for his Kon-Tiki and Ra raft voyages across the oceans) popularized the idea that the island had been originally settled by advanced societies of Indians from the coast of South America. Extensive archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic research has conclusively shown this _________ to be inaccurate. It is now recognized that the original inhabitants of Easter Island are of Polynesian stock (DNA extracts from _________ have recently confirmed this), that they most probably came from the Marquesas or Society islands, and that they had arrived as early as 318 AD (carbon dating of reeds from a grave confirms this). At the time of their arrival, the island was entirely covered with thick forests, was teeming with land birds, and was the richest _________ for seabirds in the Polynesia region. Within a matter of centuries this profusion of wildlife was destroyed by the islanders' way of life. The reasons are today eminently clear.

It is estimated that the original colonists, who may have been lost at sea, arrived in only a few _________ and numbered fewer than 100. Because of the plentiful bird, fish and plant food sources, the population grew rapidly and gave rise to a rich religious and artistic culture. However, the resource needs of the growing population inevitably outpaced the island's capacity to renew itself ecologically and the ensuing _________ triggered a social and cultural collapse. Pollen records show that the destruction of the forests was well under way by the year 800, just a few centuries after the start of the first settlement. These forest trees were extremely important to the islanders, being used for fuel, for the construction of houses and ocean-fishing canoes, and as rollers for transporting the _________. By the 1400s the forests had been entirely cut, the rich ground cover had eroded away, the springs had dried up, and the vast flocks of birds coming _________ on the island had long since disappeared. With no logs to build canoes for offshore fishing, with depleted bird and wildlife food sources, and with declining _________ because of the erosion of good soil, the nutritional intake of the people plummeted. First _________, then cannibalism, set in. Because the island could no longer feed the chiefs, bureaucrats and priests who kept the complex society running, chaos resulted, and by 1700 the population dropped to between one-quarter and one-tenth of its former number. During the mid 1700s rival clans began _________ each other's stone statues. By 1864 the last of the statues was thrown down and desecrated.

The barren lands and _________ that Admiral Roggeveen reported during his visit in 1722 make it difficult to imagine the extraordinary culture that had flowered on the island during the previous 1400 years. That culture's most famous features are its enormous stone statues called moai, at least 288 of which once stood upon massive _________ called ahu. There are some 250 of these ahu platforms spaced approximately one half mile apart and creating an almost unbroken line around the _________of the island. Another 600 moai statues, in various stages of completion, are scattered around the island, either in quarries or along ancient roads between the quarries and the coastal areas where the statues were most often erected. Nearly all the moai are carved from the _________ of the Rano Raraku volcano. The average statue is 14 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 14 tons. Some moai were as large as 33 feet and weighed more than 80 tons (one statue only partially _________ from the bedrock was 65 feet long and would have weighed an estimated 270 tons).

The moai and ahu were in use as early as AD 700, but the great majority were carved and erected between AD 1000 and 1650. Depending upon the size of the statue, between 50 and 150 people were needed to drag it across the countryside on _________ and rollers made from the island's trees. While many of the statues were toppled during the _________ of the 1600 and 1700s, other statues fell over and cracked while being transported across the island. Recent research has shown that certain statue sites, particularly the most important ones with great ahu platforms, were periodically _________ and reassembled with ever-larger statues. A small number of the moai were once capped with ‘crowns’ or ‘hats’ of red volcanic stone. The meaning and purpose of these capstones is not known, but archaeologists have suggested that the moai thus marked were of pan-island ritual significance or perhaps sacred to a particular clan.

 

Part 2

 

anthropomorphic symbolism, astronomical observatory, cosmological, crustal, geodetic markers, global cataclysms, ice caps, iconographic, magical spiritual essence, melting, open sea, Polynesia, sanctuaries, sea-level, submerged, volcanic activity

 

Scholars are unable to definitively explain the function and use of the moai statues. It is assumed that their carving and erection derived from an idea rooted in similar practices found elsewhere in _________ but which evolved in a unique way on Easter Island. Archaeological and _________ analysis indicates that the statue cult was based on an ideology of male, lineage-based authority incorporating _________. The statues were thus symbols of authority and power, both religious and political. But they were not only symbols. To the people who erected and used them, they were actual repositories of sacred spirit. Carved stone and wooden objects in ancient Polynesian religions, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, were believed to be charged by a _________ called mana. The ahu platforms of Easter Island were the sanctuaries of the people of Rapa Nui, and the moai statues were the ritually charged sacred objects of those _________. While the statues have been toppled and re-erected over the centuries, the mana or spiritual presence of Rapa Nui is still strongly present at the ahu sites and atop the sacred volcanoes.

Mystery surrounds the purpose of the ahu platforms and moai statues but even more perplexing mysteries have begun to surface from the research of scholars outside the boundaries of conventional archaeology. As previously mentioned, orthodox archaeologists believe that Easter Island was initially settled sometime around 318 AD by a small group of Polynesians lost on the _________. Other scholars, however, have suggested that the tiny island may have once been part of far larger island and that the original discovery and use of the site may be many thousands of years earlier in time (it is known, for example, that Melanesians were journeying around the Pacific in boats as early as 5500 BC). Three researchers in particular, Graham Hancock, Colin Wilson and Rand Flem-Ath, believe that Easter Island was an important node in a global grid of sacred geography that predates the great floods of archaic times. Easter Island, writes Graham Hancock, is “part of a massive subterranean escarpment called the East Pacific Rise, which reaches almost to the surface at several points. Twelve thousand years ago, when the great _________ of the last glaciation were still largely unmelted, and _________ was 100 meters lower than it is today, the Rise would have formed a chain of steep and narrow antediluvian islands, as long as the Andes mountain range.” At that time, the land we now call Easter Island would simply have been the highest peak of a much larger island. The fascinating question posed by Hancock, Wilson and Flem-Ath is whether this much larger island had been discovered and settled before the _________ of the ice caps.

Besides its more well known name of Rapa Nui, Easter Island is also known as Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua, meaning ‘The Navel of the World’, and as Mata-Ki-Te-Rani, meaning ‘Eyes Looking at Heaven’. These ancient names and a host of mythological details ignored by mainstream archaeologists point to the possibility that the remote island may once have been both a geodetic marker and the site of an _________ of a long forgotten civilization. Speculations about this shadowy antediluvian culture include the notion that its mariners had charted the world’s oceans, that its astronomers had sophisticated knowledge of long-term astronomical cycles such as precession and cometary orbits, and that its historians had records of previous _________ and the destruction they caused of even more ancient civilizations. In his book, Heaven’s Mirror, Hancock suggests that Easter Island may once have been a significant scientific outpost of this antediluvian civilization and that its location had extreme importance in a planet-spanning, mathematically precise grid of sacred sites. He writes, “The very existence of such an ancient world grid has been staunchly resisted by mainstream archaeologists and historians – as, of course, have all attempts to relate known sites to it. Nevertheless, the definite traces of lost astronomical knowledge that are to be seen on Easter Island, and the recurrent echoes of ancient Egyptian spiritual and _________themes, cast doubt on the scholarly explanation that the odd name ‘Navel of the World’ was adopted for purely ‘poetic and descriptive’ reasons. We suspect that Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua may originally have been selected for settlement, and given its name, entirely because of its geodetic location.” “What we are suggesting therefore is that Easter Island might have originally have been settled in order to serve as a sort of geodetic beacon, or marker – fulfilling some as yet unguessed at function in an ancient global system of sky-ground co-ordinates that linked many so-called ‘world navels’”.

Two other alternative scholars, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, have extensively studied the location and possible function of these geodetic markers. In their fascinating book, Uriel’s Machine, they suggest that one purpose of the _________ was as part of global network of sophisticated astronomical observatories dedicated to predicting and preparing for future meteoric impacts and crustal displacement cataclysms. The great floods of archaic myths did not result only from the melting of the ice caps between 13,000 and 8000 BC but also from two great cataclysms that occurred during and after the melting of the ice caps. These cataclysms, a planet wide _________ displacement in 9600 BC and the seven cometary impacts of 7640 BC resulted in the massive waves (3-5 miles high, traveling at over 400 miles per hour for distances of more than 2000 miles), _________ and other earth changes recorded in myths all across the planet. Prior to the melting of the ice caps and these cataclysmic events, however, a great maritime civilization may have existed, with its cities along coastlines now _________ beneath the seas.

 

9.6 Prepare a talk about some mysterious place in the world of your choice

9.7 ¾ Watch a part from the BBC series Ancient Voices - The Secret of Stonehenge: http://www.mytvblog.org/?p=252

Vocabulary

altered state of conciousness – also named altered state of mind is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking beta wave state. The expression was used as early as 1969 by Charles Tart and describes induced changes in one's mental state, almost always temporary. An altered state of consciousness can come about accidentally through, for example, fever, infections such as meningitis, sleep deprivation, fasting, oxygen deprivation, nitrogen narcosis (deep diving), or a traumatic accident. It can sometimes be reached intentionally by the use of sensory deprivation, an isolation tank, sleep deprivation, lucid dreaming, or mind-control techniques, hypnosis, meditation, prayer, or disciplines (e.g. Mantra Meditation, Yoga, Sufism or Surat Shabda Yoga). It can also be attained through the ingestion of psychoactive drugs such as alcohol and opiates, or more commonly with entheogenic plants and their derivative chemicals such as LSD, DXM, 2C-I, peyote, marijuana, mescaline, Salvia divinorum, MDMA, psychedelic mushrooms, ayahuasca, or datura (Jimson weed). Another effective way to induce an altered state of consciousness is using a variety of Neurotechnology such as psychoacoustics, light and sound stimulation, cranial electrotherapy stimulation, and such; these methods attempt to induce specific brainwave patterns, and a particular altered state of consciousness.

as the crow flies – by the shortest and most direct route.

bluestones – a form of dolerite which appears blue when wet or freshly broken

gatherer-hunter society – a society whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild, foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the domestication of either.

mace – aceremonial staff carried as a symbol of office or authority.

Marlborough Downs – The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name North Wessex Downs is not a traditional one, the area covered being better known by various overlapping local names, including the Berkshire Downs, the White Horse Hills, the Lambourn Downs, the Marlborough Downs, the Vale of Pewsey and Savernake Forest.

Preseli Mountains – are a range of hills in north Pembrokeshire, West Wales. They form part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

radiocarbon dating – a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to determine the age of carbonaceous materials up to about 60,000 years. One of the most frequent uses of radiocarbon dating is to estimate the age of organic remains from archaeological sites.

recumbent stone – recumbent stone circles are a variation on the more familiar standard stone circles found throughout the British Isles and Brittany. The recumbent circle is a form peculiar to the north east of Scotland. Recumbent stone circles date back to approx 3000 BC. A recumbent circle is formed principally of a ring of stones, like all other stone circles; however, there is one, large recumbent stone laid on its side, usually flanked by the two largest of the standing stones immediately on either side. The stones are commonly graded in height with the lowest stones being diametrically opposite to the tall flankers.

rites of passage – a ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status. Rites of passage are often ceremonies surrounding events such as childbirth, menarche or other milestones within puberty, coming of age, marriage, weddings, and death. Initiation ceremonies such as baptism, confirmation, etc. are considered important rites of passage. In the last centuries Western society has seen a steady decline in the usage of rites of passage.

sarsen stones – (валун песчаника) the remains of a cap of tertiary sandstone which once covered much of southern England. It is a dense, hard rock created from sand bound by a silica cement, making it a kind of silicified sandstone. Natural sarsen boulders created by glacial and periglacial effects can be sometimes found scattered on the ground surface, moved by solifluction; the stone is also present in surviving outcrops of the rock.

shaman – Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman. There are many variations of shamanism throughout the world; following are beliefs that are shared by all forms of shamanism: Spirits exist and they play important roles both in individual lives and in human society; The shaman can communicate with the spirit world; Spirits can be good or evil; The shaman can treat sickness caused by evil spirits; The shaman can employ trance inducing techniques to incite visionary ecstasy; The shaman's spirit can leave the body to enter the supernatural world to search for answers; The shaman evokes animal images as spirit guides, omens, and message-bearers. Shamanism is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces or spirits which affect the lives of the living. In contrast to organized religions like animism or animatism which are lead by priests and which all members of a society practice, shamanism requires individualized knowledge and special abilities. Shaman operate outside established religions, and, traditionally, they operate alone. Shaman can gather into associations, as Indian tantric practitioners have done.

to harness – to tie together

totem – any supposed entity that watches over or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan, or tribe. Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem. Normally this belief is accompanied by a totemic myth.

trance – i ncreasingly used as a meta-paradigm and inclusive term for different states of consciousness and what has come to be known as altered states of consciousness.

trilithon – a structure consisting of two large vertical stones (posts) supporting a third stone set horizontally across the top (lintel). Commonly used in the context of megalithic monuments.

Answer the questions:

· Where is Stonehenge situated? When did the first people appear in this region? What led them there?

· What are megaliths? Are there any other megalith sites besides Stonehenge in the UK?

· Whom was the construction of Stonehenge usually ascribed to?

· Did radiocarbon dating confirm the original ideas that the age of Stonehenge is about 3600 years?

· What was found by the archeologists near Stonehenge on the place where now is a parking lot?

· What were totem poles usually used for by the ancients?

· What was the purpose of the mound found on Salisbury plain?

· What did archeologists excavate at Windmill Hill two miles away from Long Burrows? What was the ritual lying behind it according to the archeologists?

· Is cult of the anscestors something unique to the ancient of Great Britain?

· What was discovered on Madagaskar?

· What did the 1^st phase of Stonehenge building look like? When did it start?

· Why do scientists suppose that the curcular form of the monument might have stood for a model of the world? Which features of the construction coincide with the surrounding terrain?

· For how long did the 1^st phase of Stonehenge last?

· What appeared on the Stonehenge site during the 2^nd phase of building?

· What did archeologists find in the south-east ditch outside the circle? Why is this place very important astronomically?

· What might the moon mean for those people? What evidence in Scottish Highlands do we have that can possibly reveal the ancient beliefs of Stonehenge builders about the moon?

· What replaced the wooden structure of the 2^nd phase? When did it happen?

· Where did the blue stones come from? What are the theories of how they were brought to the place?

· Where did the sarsen stones come from?

· What was the 3^rd stone structure to appear on the site?

· What are the theories of the purpose of building of this stone structure?

· What can positions, shapes and textures of stones tell us about the rituals that were going within Stonehenge? Why do we suppose there were ritual processions?

· Why do we think the rituals were connected with summer and winter solstices? Which solstice was more important? What makes us think so?

· Why did the ancients ascribe so much importance to this solstice? What evidence do we have from Brittany, Boyne Valley in Ireland and the Orkneys?

· What is special about Loughcrew in Ireland? How may it be connected with the rituals once held at Stonehenge?

· When was Stonehenge finally abandoned? Why?

· Was it somehow used during the Middle Ages? Is it used nowadays?

9.8 ² Listen to the following podcast (for independent work):

 

Stonehenge

John Farren, editor of Timewatch, explores the riddle of the stones with historians Tim Darvill, Susie West and Stuart Mitchell. The file and the transcript:

http://www.open2.net/timewatch/2008/stonehenge_extra.html

UNIT 10

NATURAL DISASTERS

VOCABULARY

 

natural hazards, catastrophe; disaster; disastrous; calamity; avalanche; landslide; flood; inundation; flash flood; earthquake; epicenter; Richter scale; magnitude; shock; seismograph; hurricane; tornado; whirlwind; storm; typhoon; tsunami; volcano eruption; waterspout; drought; dust storm; snowpack; drought; tropical storm; seismic wave; temblor; funnel; lightning bolt; electrical discharge; buoy;