Module 2 Scientific and Technical Translation

I. Формально-структурные особенности языка научно-технической литературы.

1. Изучите следующие особенности грамматических структур предложений в научно-технических текстах.

Особенности	Примеры
1. Громоздкая структура предложения с обилием второстепенных однородных членов	Throughout our energy system – from electricity generation in a power plant to boiling a kettle, using boilers to warm houses to powering a car – more than 50 per cent of te energy we use leaks into the surroundings as wasted heat.
2. Многокомпонентные атрибутивные словосочетания	A ground source heat pump, urban waste heat pumps
3. Употребление определений, образованных путем стяжения целых синтаксических групп	Circulation induced effects вместо effects induced by circulation; heat dependent вместо dependent on heat
4. Употребление пассивных конструкций и оборотов (Complex Object, Complex Subject, APC, CGC)	1. Crossrail, a railway being constructed under the city, is considering energy tubbing for several segments of a new tunnel and provides the resulting heat to buildings above. 2. Variations of this idea are already used elsewhere.
5. Наличие пропусков некоторых служебных слов, таких как артикли, вспомогательные глаголы, особенно в таблицах, графиках, спецификациях	Ideal air-core transformer on no load

2. Задание для работы в группе под контролем преподавателя. Прочитайте и переведите текст, обращая внимание на особенности грамматических структур в предложениях. Проанализируйте их, используя данные таблицы упражнения 1.

Solar Energy

No other energy source compares to the energy potential of sunshine. Looking at the image above, make sure to note that circles for Coal, Uranium, Petroleum, and Natural Gas are TOTAL recoverable reserves, whereas the renewable energy circles (including the giant solar energy one) are for energy potential per year.

The bottom line: Solar energy is the most abundant energy source on the planet, by far.

For a micro-scale example, the solar energy hitting the state of Texas each month is equal to the total amount of energy the Texas oil and gas industry has ever produced.

Now, a lot of politicians and people connected to or confused by the fossil fuel industry like to contend that solar power is expensive. Well, to put the matter bluntly: No, it’s not.

Technology improvements and policies to promote research, development, and installation of solar have resulted in tremendous drops in the cost of solar power over the past several years. Even without taking important health and safety costs (note that a Harvard study concluded in 2011 that the health costs of coal are $500 billion a year in the U.S.), environmental costs, energy security costs, and other social costs into account, solar is already cost-competitive with new electricity from conventional energy options like coal and nuclear energy (if you take into account how long it would take coal or nuclear plants to get built) — see the graphs below.

3. Задание для самостоятельной работы. Прочитайте и переведите текст, обращая внимание на особенности грамматических структур в предложениях. Проанализируйте особенности грамматических структур предложений в тексте.

Nuclear Power in the World Today

Nuclear technology uses the energy released by splitting the atoms of certain elements. It was first developed in the 1940s, and during the Second World War research initially focussed on producing bombs by splitting the atoms of particular isotopes of either uranium or plutonium.

In the 1950s attention turned to the peaceful purposes of nuclear fission, notably for power generation. Today, the world produces as much electricity from nuclear energy as it did from all sources combined in 1960. Civil nuclear power can now boast over 15,500 reactor years of experience and supplies almost 11.5% of global electricity needs, from reactors in 31 countries. In fact, through regional grids, many more than those countries use nuclear-generated power.

Many countries have also built research reactors to provide a source of neutron beams for scientific research and the production of medical and industrial isotopes.

Today, only eight countries are known to have a nuclear weapons capability. By contrast, 56 operate about 240 civil research reactors, over one thrid of these in developing countries. Now 31 countries host over 430 commercial nuclear power reactors with a total installed capacity of over 370,000 MWe (see linked table for up to date figures). This is more than three times the total generating capacity of France or Germany from all sources. About 70 further nuclear power reactors are under construction, equivalent to 20% of existing capacity, while over 160 are firmly planned, equivalent to half of present capacity.

In electricity demand, the need for low-cost continuous, reliable supply can be distinguished from peak demand occurring over few hours daily and able to command higher prices. Supply needs to match demand instantly and reliably over time. There are number of characteristics of nuclear power which make it particularly valuable apart from its actual generation cost per unit – MWh or kWh. Fuel is a low proportion of power cost, giving power price stability, its fuel is on site (not depending on continuous delivery), it is dispatchable on demand, it has fairly quick ramp-up, it contributes to clean air and low-CO₂ objectives, it gives good voltage support for grid stability. These attributes are mostly not monetised in merchant markets, but have great value which is increasingly recognised where dependence on intermittent sources has grown.