effect, nuclear, testing, range, population, flora, fauna, occupy, territory, peak, climate, zone, steppe, landscape, cultivating.

Until recently, Kazakhstan has been better known for the harmful effects of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing range and the desiccation of the Aral Sea than for its wildlife. In fact, the vast country supports rich and diverse population of flora and fauna. Kazakhstan occupies an enormous territory, extending from the Volga River on the West to the Altai Mountains on the East and from the Southern Urals and Western Siberia in the North to the snowy peaks of the Tien Shan Range and the deserts of Central Asia in the South. The country's climatic zones include everything from steppes, deserts and semideserts to mountain woodlands, riverine wetlands and pothole lakes. In this varied landscape can be found 104 species of amphibiance, 52 of reptiles, 488 of birds and 187 of mammals and nearly 5000 species of higher plants.

Now, however, this natural bounty is in jeopardy. Although Kazakhstan's population and its impact on the land are comparatively low; its biodiversity is seriously threatened in a number of ways. The alteration of the land that occured in the 1960's, when Khruschev ordered the country to begin cultivating corn on a mass scale, caused widespread damage. Rivers that fed steppe lakes were dammed and agricultural cultivation of the steppes, floodplains and marshes forced changes in natural ecosystems, exacerbated by the use of chemical pesticides, many already banned in the West. In addition, Kazakh industry generally does not employ any emission-control equipment or attempt cleanup of the environmental damage it causes. As a result, many natural species are now officially considered rare or endangered.

The country's economic crisis had led to a lessening of the human impact on natural ecosystems due to a decline in agriculture and industrial production. The situation could, however, take a rapid turn for the worse since the largely unregulated transition to a market economy has encouraged extensive commercil use of many plant and animal species including the export of natural products used for medicinal purposes such as antilope horn; the sale of rare insects in demand by collectors and the capture of birds of prey.

Unfortunately, no comprehensive natural conservation program exists at the present time. The isolated projects that are under way are targeted at regions of environmental crisis, such as the Aral Sea and the area around Semipalatinsk nuclear testing ground. Governmental structures charged with developing a national conservation strategy appear slow and unmotivated. The state, occupied with solving serious economic problems, cannot pay adequate attention to nature conservation.

In Kazakhstan no mass movement for nature protection exists as it does in western countries, but a few nongovernmental groups are beginning to form and take action. The activities of nongovermental organizations which are occuring in more and more cities around the country raise hopes for improvement of the nature conservation climate in Kazakhstan.

EXERCISES:

1. Translate the following into English:

motivate – motivation – unmotivated, occupy – occupation, serious – seriously, economy – economic – economics, attention – attentive – inattentive – attentively, nature – natural, conservation – conservative – conserve, protect – protection, form – formation, act – activity – action, organize – organization, hope – hopeful – hopeless – hopefulness.

2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:

массовое движение, защита природы, западные страны, неправительственные организации, до недавнего времени, ядерные испытания, полигон, огромная территория, климатические зоны, полупустыня, пестициды, оборудование, рыночная экономика, в настоящее время, правительственные структуры, экономические проблемы.

3. Make questions of the following statements and then give short answers to each of them:

1) Kazakhstan occupies an enormous territory.

2) In this varied landscape a great number of species can be found.

3) Kazakhstan"s population is comparatively low.

4) Agricultural cultivation of the steppes forced changes in natural ecosystem.

5) Many natural species are now officially considered rare or endangered.

4. Answer the questions:

1) What species can be found in Kazakhstan?

2) What is the population of Kazakhstan?

3) What climatic zones of our country do you know?

4) What regions of environmental crisis in Kazakhstan are known to you?

5. Read the following sentences and point out the subject and the predicate in each of them:

1) Kazakhstan's biodiversity is seriously threatened.

2) The country's economic crisis had led to a lessening of human impact on natural ecosystems.

3) The largely unregulated transition to a market economy has encouraged extensive commercial use of many plant and animal species.

4) The projects are targeted at regions of environmental crisis.

5) A few nongovermental groups are beginning to take action.

New words and expressions:

salty – соленый

devastate – опустошать

trigger – вызывать

reverse – изменить

unfold – развертывать

basin – бассейн

shrink (shrunk) – садиться, вызывать усадку

irrigation – орошение

reduce – уменьшать

inflow – приток

evaporation – испарение

precipitation – выпадение осадков

estimate – оценивать

encompass – окружать

flow – течение

arise – возникать

saline – соляной

fishery – рыбный промысел

diversity – разнообразие

husbandry – сельское хозяйство

reed – камыш

diminuation – уменьшение

discharge – выделение

expand – расширять

recession – спад

gain – прибыль, прирост

loss – потеря, ущерб

prevent – предупреждать, мешать

surface – поверхность

shallow – мелкий

extend – простираться

drainage – сток

net – сеть, чистый

Read the international words and give their Russian equivalents:

major, history, effect, million, transport, hydrogeological, engineer, decade, problem, planet, serious, tragedy, national, central, fundamentally, balance, natural, hectar, canal, application, reservoir, filtration, system, result, accelerate, block, separate, western, portion, stabilize, kilometer

There are two major environmental disasters in the recent history of the former Soviet Union: Chernobyl and the Aral Sea. In 1960 the land-locked Aral Sea was the world's fourth largest lake, but now, due to increased irrigation demands on its two main inflowing rivers, it is now half the size, 16 m lower and three times as salty. The effect on the 3 mln people who needed the lake for its water, fish and transport has been slowly devastating. Sadly, the huge hydrogeological changes which engineers have unwittingly triggered will take decades to reverse. This paper investigates the nature, causes and consequences of the Aral Sea problem and discusses proposed solutions.

One of the planet's most serious environmental and human tragedies is unfolding in the basin of the Aral Sea. Over the past 40 years, the huge lake has shrunk considerably as expanding irrigation has reduced river inflow to it.

The Aral Sea is located among the deserts of Central Asia. A terminal lake (i.e., without surface inflow ), its level is fundamentally determined by the balance between surface inflow from two large rivers and net evaporation ( i. e. evaporation from its surface minus precipitation on it), which is estimated to be around 874 mm per year. Net ground water exchange plays a secondary role and data on it are approximate.