Technical English II Practice Civil Engineering M.Sc. Lic.

Rosario Molina Gareca

PRACTICE UNIT 3
Sala N°………9………
Participants surnames and names in alphabetical order:

1.- Acebey Salinas Saul Salustio

2.-Jerez Alfaro Rodrigo
3.-Zacarias Martínez Tatiana

VOCABULARY
Task 1. Complete the sentences with appropriate words from the unit:

levee, channel, fluid mechanics, canals, and spillway.

a) ………………spillway..…… is a type of landform consisting of the outline of a path of

relatively shallow and narrow body of fluid; it is typically outlined in terms of its bed
and banks.

b) ……………canals……………. are man-made channels for water. There are two types:
waterways and aqueducts.

c) ………………levee…………. dike, embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or

artificially constructed wall, which regulates water levels. It is usually earthen and
often parallel to the course of a river to prevent the flood.

d) ……………………fluid mechanic…………………………… is the branch of physics that studies

fluids and the forces on them. It can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at
rest; fluid kinematics, the study of fluids in motion; and fluid dynamics, the study of
the effect of forces on fluid motion.

e) …………channel……………………… is a passageway through which surplus water escapes

from a reservoir or lake.

READING
Task 2. Read the text and identify the disadvantages of dams’ construction.

Impact assessment in Dam construction

Impact is assessed in several ways: the benefits to human society, nature and wildlife, impact on
the geology of an area – whether the change to water flow and levels will increase or decrease stability,
and the disruption to human lives (relocation, loss of archeological or cultural matters underwater).

Environmental impact
A large dam can cause the loss of entire ecospheres, including endangered and undiscovered
species in the area, and the replacement of the original environment by a new inland lake. Large reservoirs
formed behind dams have been indicated in the contribution of seismic activity, due to changes in water
load and/or the height of the water table.
Dams are also found to have a role in the increase of global warming. The changing water levels
in dams and in reservoirs are one of the main sources for greenhouse gas like methane. While dams and
the water behind them cover only a small portion of earth's surface, they harbour biological activity that
can produce large amounts of greenhouse gases.
Technical English II Practice Civil Engineering M.Sc. Lic. Rosario Molina Gareca

Human social impact

The impact on human society is also significant. Nick Cullather argues that dam construction
requires the state to displace individual people in the name of the common good, and that it often leads
to abuses of the masses by planners. He cites Morarji Desai, Interior Minister of India, in 1960 speaking
to villagers upset about the Pong Dam, who threatened to "release the waters" and drown the villagers if
they did not cooperate.

For example, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China will create a reservoir
600 km long to be used for hydro-power generation. Its construction required the loss of over a million
people's homes and their mass relocation, the loss of many valuable archaeological and cultural sites, as
well as significant ecological change.

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Environment
a) Generates a conflict of interest for a common good (Genera un conflict de intereses
por un bien comun)
b) Lost external ecospheres (Perdías de ecosferas externas)
c) Increase in global warmin (Aumento al calentamiento global)

Human society
a) Its construction required the loss of more than a million people's homes in a case in Japan.
(Su construcción requirió la pérdida de más de un millón de hogares de personas un ejemplo
caso en Japón)
b) A large dam can cause the loss of entire ecospheres, including endangered and
undiscovered species in the area, and the replacement of the original environment with a new
inland lake.
(Una presa grande puede causar la pérdida de ecosferas enteras, incluidas las especies en
peligro de extinción y no descubiertas en el área, y el reemplazo del medio ambiente original
por un nuevo lago interior)
c) Conduce a abusos de las masas por parte de los planificadores.
(leads to mass abuse by planners)

GRAMMAR
Task 3. Complete the table with words from the reading (task 2).

Prefix Root Word Translation of the new word

Re locate relocate Reubicar, relocalizar
En dangered Endangered En peligro de extinción

Un Discovered Undiscovered Desconocido

In Crease Increase Incrementar

Suffix Root Word Sentence

-ty Complaced Complacedity Complicidad

-tion educate education Educacion

-al propose proposal propuesta

Technical English II Practice Civil Engineering M.Sc. Lic. Rosario Molina Gareca

-ment treat treatment tratamiento

-er teach teacher Profesor

-able first firstble Primero

Task 4. Read the two texts again and summarize the main ideas in Spanish.

Benefit human society and nature. How to be the hydraulic energy

Increase in global warmin with lost external ecospheres
_________________________________________________________

Task 5. Read the text again and translate it into Spanish by using the Semantic Method.

Environmental impact
A large dam can cause the loss of entire ecospheres, including endangered and undiscovered
species in the area, and the replacement of the original environment by a new inland lake. Large
reservoirs formed behind dams have been indicated in the contribution of seismic activity, due to
changes in water load and/or the height of the water table.
Dams are also found to have a role in the increase of global warming. The changing water
levels in dams and in reservoirs are one of the main sources for greenhouse gas like methane. While
dams and the water behind them cover only a small portion of earth's surface, they harbour biological
activity that can produce large amounts of greenhouse gases.

Impacto medioambiental
Una presa grande puede causar la pérdida de ecosferas enteras, incluidas las especies en
peligro de extinción y no descubiertas en el área, y el reemplazo del medio ambiente original
por un nuevo lago interior. Los grandes embalses formados detrás de las presas se han
indicado en la contribución de la actividad sísmica, debido a cambios en la carga de agua y /
o la altura del nivel freático.
También se ha descubierto que las presas influyen en el aumento del calentamiento global.
Los niveles cambiantes del agua en presas y embalses, son una de las principales fuentes de
gases de efecto invernadero como el metano. Si bien las presas y el agua detrás de ellas
cubren solo una pequeña parte de la superficie terrestre, albergan una actividad biológica
que puede producir grandes cantidades de gases de efecto invernadero

Tarija October 29th., 2021