Circle the correct answer:
Four people were killed in the avalanche, all the rest are found alive. T/F
One of the members of the group could free himself and alert rescuers. T/F
The skiers were rescued by air. T/F
The party had detection devices and there was a mountain guide among them. T/F
The alert level of that area was four of five on the scale denoting a "marked danger" of avalanches.
The tour close to the Great St Bernard Pass is considered very dangerous. T/F
Most people hurt in Switzerland receive serious injuries. T/F
Avalanches can be caused by the skiers who venture away from secured slopes into the wilderness. T/F
To reduce injuries holidaymakers are advised to wear protective equipment. T/F
The most common factor of injuries is a collision on the slope. T/F
Find in the text the English equivalents for:
внетрассовое катание
поднимать тревогу
падение
запястье
оползень
турист
маршрут
лавина
незначительный
средний
сложный
изобиловать
Retell the story.
COMPLEX SUBJECT
INFINTIVE – OR GERUND
Another 136,000 people who live within 20-30km of the plant have been encouraged by the authorities to leave or to stay indoors.
READING FOR MORE INFORMATION
Text 1
Who are the Taliban?
Recent years have seen the re-emergence of the hardline Islamic Taliban movement as a fighting force in Afghanistan and a major threat to its government. They are also threatening to destabilise Pakistan, where they control areas in the north-west and are blamed for a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks.
The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. The attention of the world was drawn to the Taliban in Afghanistan following the attacks on the World Trade Centre in September 2001.
The Taliban in Afghanistan were accused of providing a sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda movement who were blamed for the attacks. Soon after 9/11 the Taliban were driven from power in Afghanistan by a US-led coalition, although their leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was not captured - and neither was Osama Bin Laden.
In recent years the Taliban have re-emerged in Afghanistan and grown far stronger in Pakistan, where observers say there is loose co-ordination between different Taliban factions and militant groups. The Taliban in Afghanistan are still believed to be led by Mullah Omar, a village clergyman who lost his right eye fighting the occupying forces of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Afghans, weary of the mujahideen's excesses and infighting after the Soviets were driven out, generally welcomed the Taliban when they first appeared on the scene.
Their early popularity was largely due to their success in stamping out corruption, curbing lawlessness and making the roads and the areas under their control safe for commerce to flourish. From south-western Afghanistan, the Taliban quickly extended their influence. They captured the province of Herat, bordering Iran, in September 1995. Exactly one year later, they captured the Afghan capital, Kabul, after overthrowing the regime of President Burhanuddin Rabbani and his defence minister, Ahmed Shah Masood. By 1998, they were in control of almost 90% of Afghanistan.
They were accused of various human rights and cultural abuses. One notorious example was in 2001, when the Taliban went ahead with the destruction of the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues in central Afghanistan, despite international outrage. On October 7, 2001, a US-led military coalition invaded Afghanistan and by the first week of December the Taliban regime had collapsed. Since then they have re-grouped in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, but are now under pressure in both countries, from the Pakistani army and Nato respectively.
Despite ever higher numbers of foreign troops, the Taliban have steadily extended their influence, rendering vast tracts of Afghanistan insecure, and violence in the country has returned to levels not seen since 2001. Their retreat earlier this decade enabled them to limit their human and material losses and return with a vengeance.
Text 2
How does radiation have an impact on health?
Radioactive materials that decay spontaneously produce ionising radiation, which has the capacity to cause significant damage to the body's internal chemistry, breaking the chemical bonds between the atoms and molecules that make up our tissues. The body responds by trying to repair this damage, but sometimes it is too severe or widespread to make repair possible. There is also a danger of mistakes in the natural repair process. Regions of the body that are most vulnerable to radiation damage include the cells lining the intestine and stomach, and the blood-cell producing cells in the bone marrow. The extent of the damage caused is dependent on how long people are exposed to radiation, and at what level.
Cancer is the biggest long-term risk. Usually when the body's cells reach their "sell-by date" they commit suicide. Cancer results when cells lose this ability, and effectively become immortal, continuing to divide and divide in an uncontrolled fashion. The body has various processes for ensuring that cells do not become cancerous, and for replacing damaged tissue. But the damage caused by exposure to radiation can completely disrupt these control processes, making it much more likely that cancer will result. Failure to properly repair the damage caused by radiation can also result in changes - or mutations - to the body's genetic material, which are not only associated with cancer, but may also be potentially passed down to offspring, leading to deformities in future generations. These can include smaller head or brain size, poorly formed eyes, slow growth and severe learning difficulties.
Radioactive iodine could be harmful to young people living near the plant. After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster there were some cases of thyroid cancer as a result. However, people who are promptly issued with iodine tablets ought to be safe. Radioactive caesium accumulates in soft tissue, while plutonium accumulates in the bone and liver. Radioactive nitrogen decays within seconds of its release, and argon poses no threat to health.