Ice lake found on the Red Planet

The English-Russian world.

BBC, 29 July, 2008

Friday

The presence of water makes life a more likely possibility.

A giant patch of frozen water has been pictured nestled within an unnamed impact crater on Mars. The photographs were taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board Mars Express, the European Space Agency probe which is exploring the planet.

The ice disc is located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars’ far northern latitudes.

The existence of water on Mars raises the prospect that past or present life will one day be detected. It also boosts the chances that manned missions can eventually be sent to the Red Planet.

The highly visible ice is sitting in a crater which is 35 km (23 miles) wide, with a maximum depth of about two km (1.2 miles). Scientists believe the water ice is present all year round because the temperature and pressure are not sufficient to allow it to change states.

Researchers studying the images are sure it is not frozen carbon dioxide (C02), because C02 ice had already disappeared from the north polar cap at the time the image was taken.

The team has also been able to detect faint traces of water ice along the rim of the crater and on the crater walls.

Mars is covered with deep gorges, apparently carved out by rivers and glaciers, although most of the water vanished millions of years ago.

Earlier this year, the European Space Agency detected what they called a huge “frozen sea”, but it is located below the surface of the planet.

Large reserves of water-ice are also known to be held at the poles on Mars.

Exercise 4. a) Give the Russian equivalents to the following words and word combinations from the article:

A giant patch of frozen water, an unnamed impact crater, the ice disc, probe exploring the planet, a broad plain, far northern latitudes, to boost the chances, to detect faint traces, manned missions, a maximum depth, to change states, the north polar cap, to be covered with, carved out by rivers and glaciers, a huge “frozen sea”, below the surface

b) Give the English equivalents to the following words and word combinations from the article:

Exercise 5. Put the necessary words given below into the right sentences:

1. Scientists believe the water ice is present all year round because … are not sufficient to allow it to change states.

2. Mars is covered with …, apparently carved out by rivers and glaciers.

3. … are also known to be held at the poles on Mars.

4. Researchers studying the images are sure it is not frozen….

5. The team has also been able to detect faint traces of water ice along and on the crater walls.

6. A huge “frozen sea” is located below….

7. Most of the water … millions of years ago.

______________________________________________________________

the rim of the crater, vanished, deep gorges, the surface of the planet, the temperature and pressure, carbon dioxide, large reserves of water-ice

Exercise 6. Answer the questions to the article:

1. What makes life a more likely possibility?

2. What has been pictured nestled within an unnamed impact crater on Mars?

3. What does the existence of water on Mars raise?

4. Why do scientists believe that the water ice is present all year round?

5. Why are the scientists sure it is not frozen carbon dioxide?

6. What has the team of the scientists detected?

7. What is Mars covered with?

8. What did the European Space Agency detect?

9. What is situated at the poles on Mars?

Exercise 7. Speak about the importance of the scientific development described in this article.

TEXT 9

Exercise 1. a) Look at the headline of the article below and say what you think it is going to be about.

b) Read the words and word combinations and translate them without a dictionary:

a laboratory, a culmination, army, a test, to test, a bomb, a debate, to debate, nation, arsenal, to produce, production, actual, industrial, practice, practical, to practice, equivalent, mass, material, a control, to control, controllable, uncontrollable, critical, subcritical, an isotope, radiation, radioactive, to combine, a combination, shock, to shock, a product, to detonate

c) Check the pronunciation of the following words in a dictionary and read them correctly:

Manhattan, German, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Japan, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus;

uranium, plutonium, nuclei, fission, isotope, neutron

Exercise 2. Read and memorize the words from the article:

Derive, v	получать, извлекать
Explosive, adj	взрывчатый; разрывной, взрывной
Fission, n	расщепление, деление атомного ядра при цепной реакции
Splitting, n	расщепление, раскалывание; разделение
Nucleus, n (pl. nuclei)	атомное ядро
Lead, v	Вести, возглавлять
Drop, v	Бросать
Estimate, v	Оценивать
Cause, v	Вызывать, являться причиной
Injury, n	вред, повреждение, порча
Destruction, n	Разрушение
Considerable, adj	Значительный, существенный
Subsequently, adv	впоследствии, позднее, позже, после, потом
Capability, n	возможности
Possess, v	владеть, иметь, обладать, располагать
Inherit, v	наследовать; унаследовать
Relinquish, v	отказываться (от права) ; уступать, передавать ( to smb - кому-л.)
Exceed, v	превышать
Tissue, n	ткань
TNT (trinitrotoluene)	тринитротолуол, тротил, тол

Exercise 3. Read and translate the article: