Lesson 10 let earth be saved
Ex. 1. Work with the vocabulary and find Russian equivalents to the words marked оut in the text " LET EARTH BE SAVED"
Text 1. LET EARTH BE SAVED
Look around you. Just think what the situation is like. People may be suffering from cholera, typhoid or dysentery. Or it could be that somebody you know has cancer, allergy or bronchitis. What is the reason for all this?
Doctors may list thousands of causes. But, if you go deep into the problem, you will understand that the atmosphere around us is severely polluted. Rather, we have destroyed the environment to such an extent that the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe and the land we live and grow our food on, are no longer safe. They are a source of danger to us, as much as we are dangerous to Nature around us.
In fact thousands of animals, birds and plants which lived for millions of years, have now become extinct.
Just consider for a moment! We will exhaust all available resources of oil in about two decades. Likewise, resources like coal, iron, gold and copper may not even last our lifetime. So, by the time we die, we would have ensured that our children will never know what petrol or kerosene is like. They will probably never see any of these and many more.
It could be argued that plastics could replace metals. But are plastics and synthetic materials bio-degradable? When a leaf falls from a tree, it is eaten by insects or becomes manure for plants. Bad enough, plastics are not absorbed in the soil. Worse, they are harmful if they are allowed to remain so.
Similarly, consider a nuclear plant. We all know, that uranium [ju/reini m] breaks down when struck with a neutron. Energy is the result. But what happens to the fission fragments and other products that are not used? You cannot throw them away as garbage is thrown away. A people in the neighbourhood are get fatal diseases. Such nuclear wastes have to be stored till such time they lose their potency. So the question of safely storing them arises. After all we would not like to be victims ourselves.
These are just superficial questions about environment before us. By all our actions, we are destroying Earth. We have to help ourselves to prevent dreaded problems such as industrial pollution, shrinking rain forests, ever expanding deserts, ozone holes, over-population, acid rain, river and ocean pollution and many more.
How do we do this? People concerned the world over have been thinking on these lines for well over 40 years. Later, well-meaning people from all round the globe came together to celebrate the "International Earth Day" on April 22 each year. And last year, people from over 134 countries participated in these celebrations. Many more countries participated this year.
The aim of "Earth Day" is to create an awareness among people to save the environment.
June 5 is World Environment Day. It marks the anniversary of the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment held in Sweden in 1972. At this historic conference, nations of the world gathered to share their concern over human progress at the expense of the environment. The meeting called upon the world community to work towards "development without destruction".
Two decades later the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development began in Brazil on Environment Day. As governments around the world are discussing regional and global environmental issues, it is a good time to educate and inform ourselves about our immediate environment and work towards improving it.
• Get to know your own neighbourhood better.
• Bring the residents together to share their concerns about local environmental problems and identify the most pressing ones.
• Organise a neighbourhood environment squad to tackle the problems. No one is too old or too young to pitch in.
On this day let us solemnly reaffirm our commitment to the Stockholm Declaration to ensure, collectively and individually, that our small planet is passed over to future generations in a condition which guarantees a life with human dignity for all.
You can make a difference too, no matter how small your contribution may seem. Add these to your New Year resolutions:
• I will switch off the lights when I am last person to leave a room.
• I will walk or cycle whenever I can, rather than use a fuelconsuming vehicle.
• I will tightly close any tap I see dripping.
• I will not litter.
These resolutions are not at all difficult to keep, but they will make a difference — not just to you, but to the earth we all share
Ex. 2. Arrange in pairs of antonyms.
healthy, polluted, destroy, global, expanding, living, deep, enrich, dangerous, shrinking, clean, sale, extinct, save, exhaust, superficial, harmful, region
Ex. 3. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Discuss and give your reasons. Use the following expressions of agreement and disagreement; I couldn't agree more. Absolutely. Exactly. Well, actually, I'm not sure I agree with that. I disagree entirely. Rubbish.
1. Doctors may list thousands of causes for different diseases but if you look deep into the problem, in the long run they all result from the severely polluted environment.
2. The costs of growth and development are already too high and the future is bleak.
3. Providing that development is controlled, it can do no harm.
4. We need to rethink our whole way of life and live in small communities which only produce the food and goods they need.
5. It's ridiculous to expect people to give up the benefits of civilisation and go back to the Dark Ages even if at the expense of the environment.
Ex. 4. Answer these questions (Use vocabulary from the text).
1. Which environmental problems does your town, village or city suffer from? Which are the most serious?
2. Do you think the situation in your country is better or worse than in other countries?
3. What can you do to help your local environment?
4. Can anything be done about global environmental problems? Can the world community solve them and on what conditions?
5. If you had a chance to go on a nature study holiday anywhere in the world, would you go? Or would you be bored? Where would you go?
Words and phrases to remember.
environment: to destroy/to save/to improve ...; at the expense of ...; immediate ...; environmental (issues); to (severely) pollute; pollution: industrial .... ocean/air ...;
waste(s): bio-degradable ..., nuclear ...;
to become extinct; to exhaust (resources);
to tackle a problem; to go deep into a problem; to work towards; world-community; well-meaning people;
to bring smb together; to share (smb's) concern over; to call upon smb to+V
Vocabulary to the text " THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS "
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Interaction
Взаимодействие
Relationships
(взаимо)отношения
Acid
Кислота, кислый.
Кислотный
Rainforests
Тропические леса
waste (n)
1) .растрачивание, потери, ущерб:
2).отходы, отбросы (организма в том числе)
Deterioration
Ухудшение, порча
Destroy
Разрушать, уничтожать
Destruction
Разрушение, уничтожение
Nourish
Питать, кормить, вскармливать
Nourishing
Питательный, сытный
Nourishment
Питание, еда, пища
Create
Создавать, творить
Mean
Означать, значить
Pollute
Загрязнять
Pollution
Загрязнение
Survive
Выживать
Survival
Выживание
Restore
Возвращать, отдавать обратно, восстанавливать
Borrow
Брать взаймы
Conserve
Сохранять, охранять
Preserve
Поддерживать, оберегать
Text 2. THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
We are in an environmental crisis because human beings have broken out of the circle of life and are destroying the environment. To survive, we must learn how to restore the wealth we have borrowed from nature.
A. What does the environmental crisis mean? To understand this we must begin at the source of life itself: the earth's thin skin of air, water and soil, bathed by the radiant solar fire. Life appeared here several billion years ago and was nourished by the earth's matter. Living things formed a global network of various habitats, where everything is directly or indirectly dependent on everything. This is the ecosphere (biosphere), the home that life has built for itself on the planet.
B. In nature all processes are in constant balanced interaction. There is no waste in nature. Nothing is created, nothing is lost. Everything is recycled endlessly. The environmental crisis means that this perfect and delicate balance has begun to break down, and the relationship between life and its earthly surroundings have begun to collapse.
C. The environmental degradation continues to accelerate. The ozone layer, vital for survival, is thinning. Acid rain is destroying huge areas of forest and tens of thousands of lakes. We pollute our rivers, lakes and oceans, and the sky, forgetting that we need water and air to live and breathe. We destroy rainforests, picturesque landscapes, and slaughter the world's most beautiful animals.
As a result of our new technologies of land use we lose soil, which is the basis of civilization. And, worst of all, the earth is steadily warming with potentially dangerous effects.
That is why the environmentalists of the world call for fundamental changes NOW!
Ex. V. Entitle all passages of the text " THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS "
Ex. VI. Decide where these sentences go in the text.
1. In the ecosphere everything goes on in cycles: an animal's waste becomes food for soil bacteria; bacteria's waste nourishes plants; animals eat plants.
2. Deserts are expanding so rapidly that they threaten to cover one third of the earth.
3. Man is a newcomer: homo sapient probably appeared first about four million years ago.
4. Man has converted ecological cycles of life into man-made linear events, and at the end of the line there is smog, toxic chemicals, mountains of rubbish.
5. One of the effects of the ozone layer thinning may be genetic mutation.
Ex. VII. How do we say the following in Russian?
Everything is dependent on everything; the earth's thin skin; nourished by the earth's matter; perfect and delicate balance; the relationships between life and its earthly surroundings; vital for survival; as a result of new technologies; dangerous effects; fundamental changes; circle of life.
Ex. VIII Find in the text the word which means:
1. place from which something comes or is got;
2. natural home (soil type and climate) of animal or plant;
3. upper layer of earth in which plants grow;
4. the envelope surrounding the planet from the subsoil to the stratosphere, occupied by living organisms;
5. gradual loss or decrease as a result of use;
6. physical breakdown;
7. results or consequences of action;
8. physical substance in general as distinct from mind and spirit.
Ex.IX. Translate into English.
1. Без воды, воздуха и почвы жизнь не может продолжаться на Земле.
2. В естественной среде обитания все процессы находятся в сбалансированном взаимодействии. ...................................................................
3. Взаимоотношения между живыми организмами и окружающими земными условиями образуют круговорот жизни...............
4.Природа бесконечно перерабатывает свои ресурсы..................................
5. Современное производство нарушает хрупкое равновесие природных циклов…………………………………………………….
6. Загрязнение окружающей среды ведет к (result in) уничтожению самих источников жизни. ..............................................................................................
7. Для того чтобы выжить на земле, человек должен изменить технологии производства коренным образом........................................................................
8.Мы не должны превращать (turn … into) богатство Земли в опасные для
самой жизни отходы...................................
Ex. X. Read Text 3 and fill the gaps, using the words before each paragraph.