Lesson 3 protecting the environment
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Task 1. Answer the following questions.
What do you know about the ecological situation in the world? What are the most polluted regions?
What are the most urgent ecological issues nowadays?
What, in your opinion, needs to be done in order to improve the situation?
Task 2. Share your ideas with your partner. You have about 10 minutes to discuss the issues.
Task 3. Read this extract, ignoring the gaps, about Chinese plans to improve the ecological situation in their region.
China plan to protect environment
China plans to spend 1.4 trillion yuan ($175bn) over the next five years on protecting its environment.
The sum - equivalent to 1.5% of China's __1__ economic output - will be used to improve water ___2__, and cut air and land pollution and soil ___3___.
China has some of the world's most ___4___ cities and waterways. Beijing has often overlooked protecting the environment in the rush to develop its economy - but now it is paying the price, a BBC correspondent says.
A chemical spill in a river near the city of Harbin last year drew international ___5___, as water ___6___ to almost four million people had to be suspended for nearly a week.
Under the plan, sewage treatment plants will be built in 10 river ___7___ to ___8___ the harmful impact of waste water from cities. Money will also be spent on cutting ___9___ of sulphur dioxide and ___10___ in large cities.
The state-owned Xinhua news agency said money would be used to curb soil pollution, which has contaminated agricultural produce. The agency quoted Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, as saying that every year 12 million metric tonnes of ___11___ were polluted by heavy ___12___ that had found their way into the soil.
Task 4. For questions 1-12, think of the word which best fits each space. Use the words given below. You may use each word only once.
a. erosion b. attention c. annual
d. valleys e. quality f. reduce
g. dust h. levels i. polluted
j. grain k. metals l. supplies
Task 5. Answer the following questions.
What sum is China going to spend on protecting its environment?
How exactly is China going to protect the environment??
Why has Beijing often overlooked protecting its environment?
What event drew international attention last year?
What is the situation with soil pollution and agriculture in China?
Task 6. Work in small groups. Design a poster including ways in which we can reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. Your poster should be creative, colorful, and present at least two facts about pollution and two ways in which we can reduce, recycle, or reuse waste.
ADDITIONAL TASK.
Task 1a. Choose the correct words from a – d below and write them in the article.
Britain's Meteorological Office has (1) ______ that 2007 could be the world's hottest since records began in 1850. It based its forecast on several (2) ______ indicators including the (3) ______ of climate change and global warming. A factor adding to this year’s heat is the El Nino effect, a phenomenon in which major (4) ______ in ocean temperatures increase those on land. El Nino occurs roughly every four years in the southern hemisphere and is expected to be active again in 2007. The (5) ______ of these climatic conditions colliding this year is a rise in the average temperature across the world of 0.54 degrees. This seemingly represents a small variation, but is one which will certainly bring (6) ______ weather conditions to many parts of the world.
The world’s leading climate scientists (7) ______ agree that human activity is accelerating global warming. It is a fact that the world's ten warmest years have all occurred in the last twelve years. A United Nations (8) ______ on climate change predicted that global temperatures could rise by as much as 5.8 degrees this century. This could have catastrophic consequences for (9) ______ areas of the globe. The panel warned that if there were not significant cuts in greenhouse gas (10) ______ soon, especially from fossil fuels, there would be greater risks of more extreme weather. This includes more droughts, hurricanes, bushfires, (11) ______ polar ice and coastal flooding. It now seems it is more urgent than ever for coal and gas guzzling economies to (12) ______ consumption and seek more efficient energies.
1. (a) predicting (b) prediction (c) predicted (d) predict
2. (a) lock (b) chain (c) key (d) security
3. (a) rate (b) rating (c) ration (d) pro rata
4. (a) flatulence (b) fluctuations (c) flabbergast (d) flux
5. (a) offshoot (b) uproar (c) upside (d) upshot
6. (a) advocacy (b) advent (c) adverts ( d) adverse
7. (a) unanimously (b) unanimity (c) unaware (d) unassisted
8. (a) frame (b) deck (c) panelist (d) panel
9. (a) vista (b) vast (c) vastness (d) vacuum
10. (a) emissions (b) commissions (c) emitters (d) emissaries
11. (a) shredding (b) shirking (c) shrinking (d) shrunk
12. (a) kerb (b) curb (c) club (d) clam