OIL HISTORY

Although we can trace the beginnings of oil itself to several million years ago, the oil industry is a comparatively recent development. Petroleum literally means «rock oil». It is the second most abundant liquid on Earth. Oil and also provide two-thirds of the world’s primary energy supplies.

Oil and gas are also non-renewable resources and our use of them has increased so much that we have worries about how long they will last. However, improved technology in the oil and gas industry now means that each we are finding more oil in the world than we are using.

First coal and now petroleum (which includes oil and gas) have played an essential role in changing our society from an agricultural to an industrial one. It is almost impossible to find any synthetic item where petroleum has not had any part in the process of its manufacture.

There is evidence that humans have used petroleum products throughout history. Oil that had seeped to the surface would mostly evaporate and leave behind bitumen – the tarry component of the mixture of hydrocarbons from which it is composed. This has been used for thousands of years as a waterproofing agent, for plumbing, boat building and brick bonding.

There is reference to bitumen being used as a coating for Moses` basked and Noah`s Ark being pitched inside and out with it. The American Indians collected oil for medicines. The American settles found its presence in the water supplies a contamination, but they learned to collect it to use as fuel in their lamps.

Petroleum became a valuable commodity in the nineteenth century. The whaling industry was failing to provide enough whale oil to light the lamps of the world and a new source was needed. The first oil well drilled in August 1859 by Edwin Drake in Pennsylvania, starting a new era in our history.

Вариант II

1. Перепишите и переведите на русский язык следующие предложения, обращая внимание на сложные формы инфинитива (см. образец выполнения № 1).

1. The new channel to be constructed here will be the longest in the country.

2. I am glad to have given you this book to read.

3. He did not like to be doing that work.

4. The articles to be found in this magazine will help you to solve the problem you are working at.

5. We have tested the machine to be put into service the day after tomorrow.

6. They are glad to have passed their examinations with excellent marks.

2. Перепишите и переведите на русский язык следующие предложения. Помните, что объектный и субъектный инфинитивные обороты соответствуют придаточным предложениям (см. образец выполнения № 2).

1. We know our country to increase the output of power by erecting huge hydro-electric power-stations.

2. The plant is expected to manufacture new trucks next year.

3. The engineer is known to have made the experiment with these substances.

4. I want you to repeat this grammar rule again.

5. We know Newton's laws of motion to be based upon his own and Galileo's experiments.

6. For a long time, special paper impregnated with paraffin was considered to be the main non-conductor used for manufacturing small capacitors (конденсатор).

7. The metal to be poured into a mold for casting may contract or expand on solidifying.

3. Перепишите и переведите на русский язык предложения, содержащие придаточные условия. Определите тип условного предложения (см. образец выполнения № 3).

1. If the geologists had used the proper instruments, the measurement would have been correct.

2. If the operator’s cabin were equipped with remote control he would be able to work faster and with greater precision.

3. If I go to the theatre, I shall not finish my report.

4. If the computer's electronic memory had recorded all the operator's commands, the picture of deviations from the required parameters would have been produced.

5. If biological experiments are continued, the problem of developing the technology for growing plants in space conditions will be solved.

6. It would be impossible to protect metal from corrosion without the films.