Текст 24. Задание 1.Прочитайте однократно оригинальный английский текст

Задание 1. Прочитайте однократно оригинальный английский текст. Передайте как можно ближе к оригиналу содержание текста на русском языке (без опоры на письменный текст).

Задание 2. Выполните устный перевод с листа оригинального русского текста.

HYDROELECTRIC DAMS: A LOOMING THREAT TO RUSSIA’S MIGHTY RIVERS

The wilds of Siberia and the Far East – where tigers roam dense forests and indigenous communities tend reindeer herds in lush valleys – are faced with a dire threat: massive hydroelectric dams.

The Russian economy has developed rapidly since the early 1990s, and today the demand for energy exceeds the country’s electricity production and supply capabilities. The government projects that expanding electricity production capacity to attract and support industrial and resource extraction projects in Siberia and the Far East will bring much-needed social and economic development to the territory east of the Urals. The rising cost and demand for petroleum-based fuel sources and the added pressure of global climate change are also pushing Russia to develop non-carbon energy alternatives so it can export and capitalize on the maximum volume of its fossil fuel stores. Russia’s primary hydroelectric company, RusHydro proposes to dam the country’s mighty rivers as a fix-all solution to energy and development needs.

RusHydro touts its behemoth dams as sources of clean energy and engines of regional development. However, history and experience show that large dams are exceedingly destructive to entire river basins and surrounding communities. The proven negative environmental and social impacts of large dams greatly outweigh any possible benefits to the affected regions.

The dams planned for the Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Sakha, and Amur regions, should they be built, have the potential to produce thousands of megawatts of cheap electricity, but the local populations are unlikely to benefit, as the projected output is already almost entirely earmarked for export or energy-intensive industrial use (such as notoriously dirty aluminum plants). Thus, the domestic consumer is left without even a modest economic gain to show for the great social and environmental injustice she stands to suffer due to flooding and diminished resources.

The planned Evenkiiskaya dam project in the Arctic region of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory (with a projected production capacity of a whopping 8-12 GW and a 9000 km² reservoir, it would be among the largest dams in the world), is fraught with devastating social concerns and alarming environmental repercussions. These include displacement of thousands of indigenous Evenks and possible contamination of the Yenisei watershed with nuclear wastes from an underground chamber. Meanwhile, the district has no industry to use this massive quantity of energy, and neither is there a large consumer base here in need of additional electricity. The project documentation indicates that this electricity is scheduled for export to China and Mongolia. Similarly, the Amur Region governor hopes to sell virtually all of the electricity from the planned Nizhnezeiskaya Dam to China.

It is easy to see that large hydro will solve neither the region’s energy needs nor its economic problems. The local communities RusHydro claims to benefit face displacement and a degraded natural environment, while massive quantities of cheap electricity will charge along aged, inefficient power grids to feed energy needs in other regions and countries. The World Bank’s December 2008 report Energy Efficiency in Russia: Untapped Reserves determined that 45% of the energy produced and distributed in Russia is lost to inefficient equipment and practices. According to the report, investment into measures to reduce energy consumption in residential, industrial, and transportation sectors and increase the efficiency of its energy delivery systems could save Russia an estimated $80 billion annually while dramatically reducing its global climate impact.

http://www.pacificenvironment.org/section.php?id=146