Grammar: The Adverbial Modifier

Word List:

1. currency	валюта
2. a spot exchange rate	курс обмена валюты в данный момент
3. a forward exchange rate	будущий курс обмена
4. gold bullion	золото в слитках
5. transaction	сделка
6. balance of payments	платежный баланс
7. gold stock of a country	золотой запас страны
8. surplus	активное сальдо, профицит
9. IMS	международная валютная система
10. floating exchange rate	плавающий курс обмена валют
11. supply and demand	Предложение - спрос
12. forward discount- premium	форвардная премия
13. dificit	дефицит
14. interest rate	процентная ставка
15. parity	паритет

Foreign Exchange

Each country uses a different currency. This means that an exchange rate (i.e., a spot exchange rate) must be set in order for trade in goods and assets tooccur between countries. The traditional method has been to use a common standard for assessing the value of each currency. During the era of the gold standard, gold was the international means of payment, and each currency was assessed according to its gold value. The domestic purchasing power of a currency, i.e., its gold content, was set by the domestic monetary authorities, who thereby controlled the exchange rate.

Adjustments in exchange rates occurred only rarely, when a government was forced to reduce the gold content of its currency. To maintain equilibrium in the system, gold bullion was used to settle international transactions. The balance of all monetary flows in and out of a country was usually referred to as the balance of payments and accounted for all monetary flows over a given time period. These flows were linked to either trade (payments of imports and exports) or capital flows (borrowing and lending abroad). A deficit in the balance of payments resulted in a gold outflow and a reduction in the domestic reserves; this was equivalent to a reduction in the domestic money supply, since the gold stock of a country was its real money supply. Gold made up all the international reserves of a country.

In order to soften the impact of balance of payments deficits or surpluses on the domestic economy, hard currencies were introduced to increase international reserves. These currencies - the U.S. dollar, followed by the British pound and Deutsche mark - were freely convertible into gold. The gold exchange rates lasted for about 20 years after World War II.

But in the early 1970s international trade and financial transactions grew to the point where this direct link of currencies to a gold standard with fixed parities exploded. The international monetary system (IMS) progressively evolved toward a system of floating exchange rates. Under the current system, the price of each currency is freely determined by market forces. Exchange rate parities are not fixed by governments but fluctuate according to supply and demand.

The current IMS may be characterized as a system of floating exchange rates with constraints. The forces of supply and demand continually move the prices of major currencies, but the exchange rates are also constrained by certain institutional agreements, such as the IMS, which are adjusted only infrequently.

Spot exchange rates, forward exchange rates, and interest rates are technically linked for all currencies that are part of the free international market. The relation known as interest rate parity states that the forward discount, or premium, is equal to the interest rate differential between two currencies. In other words, the forward exchange rate is equal to the spot exchange rate adjusted by the interest rate differential. The interest rate parity relation derives from the fact that arbitrage exists. If it did not, riskless arbitrage would occur.

Focused Practice

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What has been the traditional method to assess the value of each currency?

2. How was each currency assessed during the era of the gold standard?

3. What is the balance of payments?

4. Why were hard currencies introduced?

5. What did the IMS progressively evolve toward?

6. How may the current IMS be characterized?

7. What forces continually move the prices of major currencies?3

8. What does the relation known as interest rate parity state?

II. Analyse the grammar structures underlined in the above text.

III. Speak on: 1. Exchange rates. 2. The IMS.

Unit 45

Grammar: The Inversion. The Present Perfect Tense.
The Present Simple Tense (usage)

Word List:

1. runs	(здесь) периоды времени
2. runner-up	участник соревнования, занявший второе место
3. fluctuations	колебания
4. mean temperature departures	отклонения от средней температуры
5. jet streams	реактивные потоки
6. individual factors	отдельные факторы

Temperature Changes in Canada

Measuring climatic changes across tin area as large as Canada depends on the availability of long and complete runs of instrumental observations for every major region of the country. Although continuous observations for some more northerly locations date back only to the mid- 1940s or later, this information has been available for most of the country since about 1895. Consequently, that year was chosen as the starting date for this study.

The twenty-five warmest years of the twentieth century, based on annual mean temperature departures, are ranked from warmest to coolest as are thecentury’s nine completed decades. Canada’s warmest year (up to the end of 1991) was 1981, a year which was abnormally warm in almost every part of the country. The runner-up was 1987, which was unusually warm, in most of southern Canada but not in the far north or along the extreme east coast. The third warmest year was 1931.

If temperature change is a global phenomenon – and the evidence clearly indicates that it is – why is there so much variation from one region to another? Recent research has confirmed a very strong connection between local climatic fluctuations and large-scale changes in the circulation of the atmosphere. These are related to changes in the intensity and position of major features like the jet streams that direct the flow of air around the world and exert a considerable influence on regional weather.

As for the underlying causes of the general rise in temperature over the past century we cannot at the present time draw any definitive conclusions. The changes thathave occurred are still within the limits of the natural temperature variability of the last 1000 years, and we still do not know enough about the process of climatic change to isolate individual causal factors. However, these changes are consistent with predictions of warming resulting from a human-induced buildup of greenhouse gases - and, indeed, most of the world’s leading atmospheric scientists see this as the most important single factor. Nevertheless, further monitoring and analysis of climatic conditions around the world will be necessary before we can finally determine the exact causes of the present rise in global temperatures.

Focused Practice

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What does measuring climatic changes across Canada depend?

2. What are the Canada’s warmest years?

3. What was the runner-up?

4. What connection has recent research confirmed?

5. What does global warming result from?

6. Why will further monitoring and analysis of climatic conditions around the world be necessary?

II. Analyse the grammar structures underlined in the above text.

III. Speak on: Warming resulting from human-induced buildup of greenhouse gases.

Unit 46

Grammar: The Passive Voice

Word List:

1. sidestream	дым, образующийся от тления табака и выдыхаемый курильщиком в процессе «затяжек»
2. exposure of nonsmoker (passive smoking)	нахождение в дыму, обкуривание тех, кто сам непосредственно не курит
3. exhaled mainstream smoke	выдыхаемый курильщиком дым
4. human carcinogen	канцерогенное вещество, вызывающее рак у человека
5. irritant	раздражитель
6. ammonia	аммиак
7. nitrogen oxides	оксиды азота
8. sulfur dioxide	SO2 – двуокись серы
9. aldehydes	альдегиды
10. carbon monoxide	CO – угарный газ
11. lung cancer mortality	смертность от рака легких
12 .bronchiolitis	воспаление бронхов
13. the offspring	отпрыск, потомство

Environmental Tobacco Smoke

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is generated by the combustion of tobacco products. It is composed of sidestream smoke (SS), e2mitted from the smouldering tobacco between puffs, and exhaled mainstream smoke (MS) from the smoker. When a cigarette is smoked, roughly half of the smoke generated is SS and the other half MS.

ETS, SS and MS are complex mixtures of over 4000 compounds. These include more than 40 known or suspected human carcinogens. A number of irritants, such as ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and various aldehydes, and cardiovascular toxicants, such as carbon monoxide, nicotine and some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are also present.

While ETS, SS and MS are qualitatively similar with respect to chemical composition, the absolute and relative quantities of the constituents can differ substantially. Amajor quantitative difference is that ETS is a diluted mixture of SS and exhaled MS. In addition, because SS is produced at lower temperatures and under more reducing conditions than MS, many carcinogens and other toxicants are generated in greater amounts in SS than in MS.

Concerns about the health effects of ETS generally focus on the unsolicited exposures of nonsmokers. Although active smokers are likely to bethe most heavily exposed to ETS, and a portion of their smoking-attributable excess health risks may actually result from heavy ETS exposures, the added risk to smokers from passive smoking is expected to be relatively insignificant compared to their voluntary risk from active smoking.

ETS has been shown to increase the risks for a variety of health effects in nonsmokers exposed at typical environmental levels. The pattern of health effects from ETS exposure produced in adult nonsmokers is consistent with the effects known to be associated with active cigarette smoking. Chronic exposures to ETS increase lung cancer mortality. In addition, the combined evidence from epidemiology and studies of mechanisms leads to the conclusion that ETS increases the risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease in nonsmokers, especially those with chronic exposure. ETS also irritates the eyes and respiratory tract. In infants and young children, ETS increases the risk of pneumonia, bronchitis, bronchiolitis and fluid in the middle ear. In asthmatic children, ETS increases the severity and frequency of asthma attacks. Furthermore, as with active smoking, ETS reduces birth weight in the offspring of nonsmoking mothers.

Focused Practice

I. Answer the following questions:

1. How is ETS generated?

2. What is it composed of?

3. How many carcinogens do ETS, SS and MS include?

4. What are active smokers likely to be the most heavily exposed to?

5. What do chronic exposures to ETS increase?

6. Who does ETS increase the risk of pneumonia in?

II. Analyse the grammar structures underlined in the above text.

III. Speak on: 1. ETS; SS; MS. 2. Health effects from ETS exposure.

Unit 47

Grammar: The Adjective. The Suffixes:
-tive; -al; -ic; - able; -ant; -ent

Word List:

1. spatial ecology	пространственная экология (окружающей среды)
2. species	вид; разновидность животных, насекомых, растений и других биологических видов природы
3. hyacinth	гиацинт
4. computer simulation	компьютерное моделирование
5. nutrient	питательное вещество
6. normative	нормативный

Mathematical Challenges in Spatial Ecology

We are altering the environment at an unprecedented rate: foremost are land-use changes and invasions of normative species. These human-caused alterations of the environment disrupt the functioning of ecosystems, often with devastating consequences. For instance, land-use changes, such as the conversion of forests into agricultural land, are often accompanied by soil erosion that affects water flow and nutrient recycling. There are numerous examples where species invasions drastically alter ecosystems: for instance, the water hyacinth, a plant native to the Amazon and considered one of the world’s worst invaders, now covers many lakes and rivers in the tropics.

Both empirical work and theoretical work contribute to our understanding of how ecosystems function and to our ability to successfully manage and preserve them. Mathematicians can contribute to this understanding by collaborating with biologists on developing models, analyzing models, and relating theory to empirical work.

Models in ecology serve a variety of purposes, which range from illustrating an idea to parameterizing a complex real-world situation. They are used to make general predictions, to guide management practices, and to provide a basis for the development of statistical tools and testable hypotheses.

Examples are models that investigate which areas need to be preserved to ensure persistence of an endangered species and models that predict how spatial planting patterns of a genetically modified crop affect the evolution of pathogen resistance. Realistic models are essential when experiments are not feasible or when either the temporal or the spatial scale over which predictions are sought is very large.

During the 1990s the availability of computers greatly expanded the use of spatial models in ecology. Although spatial ecology today is still dominated by theoretical investigations, empirical studies that explore the role of space are becoming more common due to technological advances that allow the recording of exact spatial locations.

Computer simulations play an important role in spatial ecology. It is often easy to write the code for the spatial model, but the parameter space is frequently too large to do an exhaustive search to identify regions of qualitatively different behavior. In this case analytical approximations can prove very valuable.

Focused Practice

I. Answer the following questions:

1. How are we altering the environment?

2. What are the consequences of the human-caused alterations?

3. What can contribute to our understand8ing of how ecosystems function?

4. How can mathematicians contribute to this understanding?

5. What purposes do models in ecology serve?

6. When was the use of spatial models in ecology expanded?

II. Analyse the grammar structures underlined in the above text.

III. Speak on:

1. Human-caused alterations of the environment.

2. Models in ecology.

3. Computer simulations in spatial ecology.

Unit 48