More than strange fruits

There is another worry about GM technology, though, that should be taken seriously. It is that its success and appeal to technophiles may, in the minds of those who pay for agricul­tural research, ___________________ other approaches to improving farm­ing. Because it depends on _________________________ that can be protected, gm is ripe for private investment. There is a lot of other agricultural research that is less amenable to corporate ownership but still needs doing. From soil management to _________________________ to the preservation, study and use of agricul­tural biodiversity, there are many ways to improve the agricul­tural systems on which the world's food supply depends, and make them more ________________ as well as more profitable. A farm is not a just a clever crop: it is an ecosystem managed with intelli­gence, gm crops have a great role to play in that development, but they are only a part of the whole.

Exercise 9. Listen to another report on food consumption and environment and give your answers to the following questions (“The Economist”, November 28^th 2009):

1) Has it always been typical of people to throw away food? 2) How much food do the rich countries throw out? 3) What are the main reasons for the food-waste problem? 4) What are the consequences of the food-waste problem in the global scale?

Exercise 10. Listen to the report on food consumption again and complete the following statements using words and phrases from the box below. Translate these statements into Russian:

food-waste whole-about a rubbish bin food availability obesity to amount to consumption obesity leftovers to collate reliable data offensive wastage to rot

1. Reliable ___________, though, are scarce.

2. Exist­ing reports usually __________ small-scale stud­ies of households' leftovers and __________________ and then extrapolate the results across a country.

3. They calculated the calorific consumption of America's population.

4. On top of that, a lot of methane (a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide) emerges when all this food __________.

5. Dr Hall and his colleagues suspect the wastage they have discovered and America's rising levels of ______________ are connected.

6. The "push effect" of increased food availability and marketing is responsible.

7. Throwing away ____________ is often better business than risking running out of stock.

8. Yet any waste of a valuable resource is ______________ at a visceral level.

9. That __________ to 150 trillion kilocalories a year for the country as a ___________ 40% of its food supply, up from 28% in 1974

10. _________ they have discovered and America's rising levels of _________ are connected

Exercise 11. Translate the following sentences into English using the target vocabulary (Exercises 2, 5, 6, 10):

1. Транснациональная компания получила разрешение на дальнейшую работу на рынке зерна.

2. Городское население обеспокоено возможными негативными реакциями использования генетически-модифицированных продуктов в долгосрочной перспективе.

3. Интеллектуальная собственность, являясь потомком промышленных разработок 19 века, достигла расцвета во время технологического подъема века двадцатого.

4. Некоторые характеристики генетически-модифицированных продуктов вызывают протесты экологов.

5. Новый антикоррупционный закон нагнал страху на взяточников и оставил их без дополнительных средств к существованию.

6. Риск инновационной деятельности определяется как возможность неблагоприятного осуществления процесса и/или результата внедрения нововведения.

Exercise 12. Paraphrase the following sentences using the target vocabulary (Exercises 2, 5, 6, 10):

1. Is the problem of environmental protection urgent today?

2. His childhood experiences had an enduring influence on his work.

3. Crows frighten him, and he heard a suspicious sound but doesn't see anything.

4. We would have liked to print your letter in the newspaper, but it was displaced by important news.

5. "We wanted to offer our guests a chance to experience additional privileges that become harder to achieve during a slower economy," said Ken Lambert.

Speaking

Exercise 13. Work in pairs. Find out if it is typical of your partner to throw away food, what kind of food it is and what are the reasons for throwing it away. Make use of your target vocabulary (Exercises 2, 5, 6, 10). Report the results to the group.

Exercise 14. Free discussion.

a) Answer the following questions. Give your opinion and justify it.

1) Why do such success stories about GM products strike fear into some hearts? 2) Do you think GM technologies pose a threat to the environment?

3) Do you share the opinion that GM technologies are the effective means to solve food supply problems for poor countries?

b) Write down a short summary based on the results of the discussion.

Exercise 15. Role play “Granting a License to GMF Growing”.

Turn to page 110 to choose your role and get ready to present it.