Биология в современном мире. Учебное пособие

5.4 Exercise 4

Read and translate the following groups of words. Use a dictionary if necessary.

1) to provide – provided – provided (сj); providence, provident, providential, providently; provider; providing; providing (сj), unprovided; to provide with an opportunity; to provide for Smth.

2)to value – valuable animals; valuation, valued, valueless, valuer, invaluable.

3)to appear – appearance, disappear – disappearance, appearing, appeared.

4)arms – armadillo; armament, armature, armed, arming, armless, armour –

armourer, armoury; army, to disarm, disarmament.

5)to restore – restoration – restorative – restorer, restored, restoring.

5.5Exercise 5

Pay attention to the following nouns in plural

1)a sheep – овца; sheep – овцы;

2)a mouse – мышь; mice – мыши;

3)a goose – гусь; geese – гуси;

4)a leaf – лист; leaves – листья;

5)a wolf – волк; wolves – волки;

6)a species – вид; species – виды;

7)a deer – олень; deer – олени;

8)an ox – бык; oxen – быки;

9)buffalo – буйвол; buffaloes – буйволы;

10)works – завод; works – заводы;

11)grouse – куропатка; grouse – куропатки.

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5.6 Exercise 6

Read and translate the following word phrases. Pay attention to the attributes. wildlife habitat; the fresh-water animals habitat; extensive and uncontrolled

hunting; the amount of ostrich feathers sold; coastal underwater meadows; disappearing species of animals; vanishing species; mammals, threatened by extinction; much more than in all other countries combined; the central aurochs breeding ground was set up; valuable commercial species population; fine hunting grounds; radical measures aimed at enriching the fauna.

5.7 Exercise 7

Choose the proper equivalents to the following verb groups.

5.8 Exercise 8

Translate the sentences, pay attention to the Absolute Participle Construction.

1)The number of animal and bird species has been reduced sharply, certain species on the contrary being provided with an opportunity for mass production.

2)Some of land animals perish, others migrating.

3)The spotted deer antlers being valued highly as medicine, they were almost completely annihilated in the Far East.

4)There are more than 13,000 beavers in Russia, their number having increased more than 120 times over.

5)Many hunting farms being replaced by reservations, all animals were fully

protected.

5.9Exercise 9

Put 4 types of questions to the following sentences.

1) The fashion for ostrich feathers led to decrease in the number of this

species.

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2)Now most African ostriches live on farms.

3)A European wild horse, the tarpan, has become extinct.

5.10Exercise 10

Read the text. Translate it.

Conservation of the animal kingdom.

Changes in the number of certain animals occur for many reasons. The most important of these are, firstly, changes worked by man in the conditions of existence of animal populations, species or whole communities, and secondly, the direct destruction of certain species.

The first factor is of universal significance, the second usually operating only for a few species. Let us consider these factors.

Changes in wildlife habitat are largely due to technical progress. For example, the building of dams on vast territories along rivers. As a result some of land animals perish, other migrating. The fresh-water animal habitat alters too because conditions in a reservoir are different from conditions in a river. The landscape and its wild life also change when trees are cut down. The rapid growth in the number of elks in the European part of Russia was largely due to the abundant growth of summer and winter feed for them on large areas where timber had been cut down. The development of cities has radically changed wildlife habitat as well, the number of animal and bird species having been reduced sharply. Certain species, on the contrary, are provided with an opportunity for mass reproduction: the pigeon, city sparrow, crow and some others.

Direct annihilation threatens only a few species. But as a rule, these are the most valuable animals in economic terms. Extensive and uncontrolled hunting brings them to the verge of extinction. In discussing uncontrolled hunting reference is usually made to Africa. The abrubt reduction in the number of wild animals began in the period of European colonization. At the turn of the century large animals such as

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elephants, buffaloes and others were almost completely wiped out in South Africa. The fate of the American buffalo is also indicative. At one time there were tens of millions of buffaloes in North America. The Indians hunted them but in small numbers using them only for food and domestic needs. The European colonists began to hunt the buffalo more intensively and the hunting turned into the widespread slaughter of these animals. At the present time, buffaloes survive only in preserves.

The fashion for white heron and ostrich feathers at the turn of the century led to an abrubt decrease in the number of these once widespread species. In 1912 in France alone the amount of ostrich feathers sold could be measured in tons. Now most African ostriches live on farms where they are specially grown for feathers.

The spotted deer whose young antlers are valued highly as medicine was almost completely annihilated in the Far East. Cardinal measures have been taken in Russia to restore the number of spotted deer.

Animal protection has been operative in Russia for a long time and has yielded good results. Certain species having been restored, now they are even hunted.

Elks were protected by the law back in the times of Peter the Great, in the early of the 18th century, but by the mid – 19th century their number in the country’s central areas was negligible. Now there are as many as 700,000 elks in the country, much more than in all other countries combined.

Zoos play a large part in conserving rare species. They also help spread knowledge about animals and teach people to love them and adopt a careful attitude to the most valuable resources on the planet, those of living nature.

Animal acclimatization enriches the local fauna with new valuable species brought in from other areas. Acclimatization of the muskrat was particularly successful. No animal has ever been spread so widely and in such large numbers by man.

Reacclimatization is the relocation of species to territories where they lived formerly but due to human activity or for other reasons became extinct. Reacclimatization is also widely practised to enrich the fauna and increase valuable commercial species population. In particular the beaver population has been restored

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by means of reacclimatization. In Russia, beavers were found only in a few places in 1917, and numbered less than 1,000. By 1971 there were more than 12,000 beavers in Russia, their number having increased more than 120 times over. At present beavers are being hunted on a limited scale in the places where there are sufficient numbers of them.

As a sector of the economy hunting farms are concerned with game resources, their reproduction and rational exploitation. The hunting seasons are fixed according to animals’ biological cycle. Frequently laymen accuse hunters of reducing the number of animals. They propose that hunting farms be replaced by reservations where all animals will be fully protected. This, however, may have adverse effects. Total banning of hunting does not always lead to an increase in the number of animals and expansion of their population.

In most places the wild fauna should be regarded as an additional product of forests and agricultural Siberian forests, for example, provide not only timber but also fine hunting grounds where the elks, musk deer and other wild hoofed animals live in large number and yield quantities of meat and hides.

The functioning of hunting farms must be intensified in order to further develop them. It is not enough to only protect the animals and regulate hunting. It is necessary to implement radical measures aimed at enriching the fauna. Wild fowl is widely bred in many countries as a means of raising the productivity of hunting areas. The Darwin and Barguzin preserves have experimented with breeding wood-grouse in captivity.

5.11 Exercise 11

Answer the following questions.

1)What are changes in wildlife habitat due to ?

2)Why do the landscape and its wildlife change ?

3)What brings the most valuable animals to the verge of extinction ?

4)What was the fate of buffaloes in Africa and in North America ?

5)What was the fate of ostriches and spotted deer ?

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6)What are the main ways of protecting animals ?

7)Why is it impossible to ban hunting totally ?

5.12Exercise 12

Write down from the text all names of rare animals being threatened. Mind

them.

5.13 Exercise 13

Fill in the scheme and speak on the destruction of the animal kingdom, figure

5.

ostrich

Figure 5 - Exercise 13

5.14 Exercise 14

Read the text. Discuss it with your partner: ask questions, share your opinions, make up your schemes.

The Red Book.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has published a special Red Book (red is the colour of danger) which provides all the necessary information about disappearing species of animals, their habitat, numbers (how many animals still

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survive in their natural environment), and the reason why they are being reduced. The Red Book contains conclusions by leading scientists and instructions on priority actions to save the species from extinction. Five volumes of the Red Book have been published. The species in the Red Book are divided into five-groups.

1)Threatened (vanishing) species requiring total protection are described on red-coloured pages.

2)Rare species not directly threatened by extinction but existing in small numbers or on a restricted territory, and being under a real threat of disappearing are described on white pages.

3)Endangered species whose numbers are rapidly and steadily decreasing are described on yellow pages.

4)Indefinite species apparently threatened by extinction but exact facts on the state of their populations being unavailable are described on grey pages at the end of each volume.

5)A section for restored species has also been introduced, they are described on green pages.

The Russian Red Book came into existence in 1974. It includes the following animals: Mammals threatened by extinction and rare mammals include among others the desman, Asian river beaver, Amur tiger, snow leopard, Atlantic walrus, Greenland whale, Bukhara deer, European bison, red wolf; striped hyena, Ussuri spotted deer and others.

The birds threatened by extinction and rare birds include the white albatross, mountain goose, white and black crane bustard, black stork, pink pelican, flamingo, small swan, golden eagle, steppe eagle, Caucasian black grouse and others.

5.15 Exercise 15

Summarize the information about the conservation of animal kingdom in your

detailed plan.

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6 Lesson 6. World-known naturalists of the 18th century

(Известные ученые-естествоиспытатели 18 века)

6.1 Exercise 1

Mind the following words and set expressions.

1)influence (upon) – влияние (на);

2)modern thought – современная мысль;

3)scientific investigator – научный исследователь;

4)bent for natural sciences – склонность к естественным наукам;

5)scientific ability – способность к наукам;

6)to offer the position – предложить должность;

7)to start on a cruise – отправиться в круиз;

8)to make ready (for) – подготовиться (к);

9)epoch-marking – эпохальный;

10)controversy – полемика;

11)protective power – защитная сила;

12)on account of – из-за, вследствие;

13)to have a bearing – иметь значение;

14)alleged discovery – представленное открытие;

15)to be subjected (to) – подвергаться;

16)to succeed each other – следовать друг за другом;

17)a gradual diminution – постепенное уменьшение;

18)to read a paper – прочитать научный доклад.

6.2 Exercise 2

Mind the following verbs:

to surpass – превышать, превосходить; to divert – отклонять; to edit -

издавать; to award – награждать; to receive – получать; to provoke – вызывать; to regard – считать; to claim – требовать, заявлять; to modify – изменять,

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модифицировать; to diminish – уменьшать; to prolong – продлять; to extend –

расширять; to cause – вызывать; to injure – повредить.

6.3 Exercise 3

Read and translate the following groups of words. Use a dictionary if necessary.

1)to succeed – следовать, (in) преуспевать; success – successful, succession

–successive – successor , unsuccessful.

2)to knowзнать; know-all; know-how; knowing; knowingly; knowledge; knowledgeable; known; know-nothing; unknown; unknowable; to make known the method.

3)to edit – редактировать – edition, editor, editorial, editor-in-chief.

4)to regard – считать,рассматривать,касаться; regardant; regardful; regarding; regardless, to disregard – disregard.

5)to divert – отклонять; diverting; diversity; to diversify; diversiform, diverse, divergence, to diverge, divergent; undiverted attention; indivertible.

6.4 Exercise 4

Put the following nouns in the plural form. Consult a dictionary if necessary.

a species; a medium; a discovery; a sheep; a mouse; a leaf; a deer; an ox; a wolf; a fungus; a stratum; a bacterium; a bacillus; a biocenosis; a basis, an analysis, a man, a woman, a child, a foot, a goose, a grouse.

6.5 Exercise 5

Choose the proper equivalents to the following verb groups.

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