Слова и выражения:
anniversary – годовщина
confess – признаваться, исповедоваться
consider – полагать, считать
contain – содержать
curiosity – любопытство
deserve – заслуживать
disappoint – разочаровывать
empty – пустой
guess – догадываться
hug – обниматься
lid – крышка (ящика)
lift – поднимать
peek – заглядывать ( куда-либо )
promise – обещание; обещать
remind – напоминать
sadden – печалить, опечаливать
temptation – искушение
unfaithful – неверный
curiosity got the best of her – любопытство овладело ей
in cash – наличными
doubly curious – вдвойне любопытная
as to why – по поводу причин
contain curiosity – сдержать любопытство
on the road – в дороге
make peace – заключить мир, помириться
Exercise 13
Answer the questions:
1. For how long have Bill and Hillary been married now?
2. What did Bill make Hillary promise when they got married?
3. Why did Hillary open the box on the afternoon of their 40th anniversary?
4. What did she see in the box?
5. Where did the Clintons go that evening?
6. Why did Bill think that Hillary deserved to know the truth?
7. Why did Bill put an empty beer can into the box after he had been unfaithful to Hillary?
8. Why wasn\'t Hillary too saddened at first?
9. What did she say or do after Bill told her abour the way beer cans were being recycled in the Clintons family?Pollution Controls
Although people in general and economists in particular agree that we must control pollution of our environment, there is little agreement as to how this should be done.
The measures to control the pollution are divided into two groups. First, there exist different regulatory standards based on the idea of the «best available» technology for all sorts of pollution in every industry. But as each pollutant has many sources, national agencies that are supposed to ban pollution have to establish numerous maximum discharge standards for any of them.
Old sources of pollution (old factories, for example) can follow less strict standards than those devised for new sources, as it is considered more expensive to modernize an old factory than to introduce pollution control devices into a new one. Moreover, discharge standards for sources that already exist, as well for new sources, are more onerous in places with a higher-quality environment, that is with cleaner air, cleaner water, etc.
The regulations of pollution may be established by the federal government. Usually they are very expensive. For example, direct expenditures for compliance with vehicle standards in the USA totalled an estimated $14 billion in 1988, costs shouldered primarily by consumers.
The market-based approach to control pollution is less burdensome for taxpayers and the government. This approach is based on market incentives to reduce pollution, which fall into two groups: pollution fees and so-called «marketable permits.»
The first are taxes on polluters that are set proportionally to the amount they discharge into air, water, or local landfill.
Marketable permits are discharge licenses. Polluters can buy and sell them to meet the control levels established by the governments. Marketable permits, actually, allow manufacturers to pollute the environment up to a certain level, and within the whole industry emitters may pollute over the control level as long as other polluters compensate by polluting less. The government decides on the desired level of pollution and the initial distribution of pollution rights within an industry, the latter then being redistributed among all the enterprises concerned.
Слова и выражения:
burdensome – обременительный
compliance – соответствие
devise – изобретать, разрабатывать
discharge – выброс ( загрязнителя в окружающую среду )
emitter – ( от emit выпускать) тот, кто выпускает, выбрасывает (отходы)
estimate – рассчитывать, подсчитывать, прогнозировать
fee – штраф; налагать штраф
incentive – мотив, побуждение, заинтересованность
initial – изначальный, исходный
latter – последний (из перечисляемых)
license – лицензия, разрешение
maximum – максимум; максимальный
measure – мера, средство
modernize – модернизировать
numerous – многочисленные
onerous – обременительный, затруднительный
permit – разрешение
pollutant – вещество, загрязняющее окружающую среду
polluter – загрязнитель (окружающей среды)
pollution – загрязнение (окружающей среды)
primarily – в первую очередь, первым делом
redistribute – перераспределять
regulatory – направленные на регулирование
shoulder – плечо; поддерживать, подставляя плечо
standard – стандарт; стандартный
strict – строгий, суровый
total – общий, совокупный; насчитывать в целом
in general – в общем, в главном, главным образом
in particular – в частности
as to how – по отношению того, как
best available – лучшие из имеющихся в распоряжении
follow standard – следовать стандарту
pollution control device – устройство, контролирующее уровень загрязнения среды
high-quality environment – окружающая среда «высшего качества»
marketable permit – разрешение, покупаемое и продаваемое на свободном рынке
discharge license – лицензия на право выброса отходов в окружающую среду
meet the control level – удовлетворять контрольному уровню
desired level – желаемый уровень
all concerned – все заинтересованныеExercise 14
Answer the questions:
1. What do people in general and economists in particular agree upon?
2. How many groups are the measures to control the pollution divided into?
3. Why do national agencies supposed to ban pollution have to establish numerous maximum discharge standards?
4. Why do old sources of pollution follow less strict discharge standards?
5. How does higher-quality environment affect the pollution discharge standards?
6. What institutions establish the regulations of pollution?
7. Why is the market-based approach to control pollution more preferable for taxpayers?
8. What are the market-based instruments to control pollution?
9. What are taxes on pollution?
10. How do «marketable permits» work?God and the Environmentalists
In the Beginning, God created heaven and Earth…
He was then faced with a lawsuit for failing to file an environmental impact statement from HEPA (Heavenly Environmental Protection Agency), an angelically staffed agency whose duty was to keep the universe pollution free.
God was given a temporary permit for the heavenly portion of the project, but was issued a cease and desist order on the earthly portion of the project, which needed further investigation by HEPA. Upon completion of His construction permit and environmental impact statement, God appeared before HEPA council to answer some questions. When asked why He began these projects in the first place, He simply replied that He liked to be creative. This was not considered an adequate reason and He was required to be more detailed.
HEPA was unable to see any practical use for earth anyway, since «the earth was void and empty and darkness was on the face of the deep.» Then God said, «Let there be Light.»
He should never have brought up this point, since one member of the Council immediately protested, asking how the Light was to be made. Would there be strip mining? Air Pollution? God explained that the Light would come from a huge ball of fire.
Nobody on the council really understood this, but it was accepted, assuming 1) that there would be no smog or smoke resulting from the burning; 2) a separate burning permit would be required; and 3) since continuous light would be a waste of energy, it should be dark half of the time. So God agreed to divide the Light and the Darkness and He would call the Light Day and the Darkness Night. (The Council expressed no interest in in-house semantics.)
When asked how the earth would be covered, God said, «Let there be firmament made amidst the waters; and let it divide the waters from the waters.» One ecologically radical Council member accused Him of double talk, but the Council allowed God to do this, since He would have to first file for a permit from the ABLM (Angelic Bureau of Land Management) and further would be required to obtain water permits from the appropriate agencies involved.
The council asked if there would only be water and firmament, and God said, «Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding after its own kind, which may have seen itself upon the earth.» The Council agreed as long as native seed would be used. About future development God also said, «Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth.» Here again, the Council took no formal action since this would require approval of the Fish and Game Commission coordinated with the Heavenly Wildlife Federation.
It then appeared that everything was in order until God stated that He wanted to complete the project in six days. At this time He was advised by the Council that his timing was completely out of the question… HEPA would require a minimum of 180 days to review the application and environmental impact statement, and then there would be public hearings. It would take 10 to 12 months before a permit would be given.