Environmental Protection

The twentieth century is known to be the century of the scientific and technological progress. The achievements of the mankind in mechanization and automation of industrial processes, in chemical industry and conquering outer space, in the creation of atomic power stations and ships are amazing.

But at the same time this progress gave birth to a very serious problem – the poisoning of our planet, its land, its air and water. The ecological harmony is disturbed. The seas are filled with industrial and nuclear waste, chemicals and fertilizers. The concentration of smoke in the air is so high in some industrial centers that it is deadly dangerous just to breathe there.

Many species of flora and fauna have disappeared. Some of them are on the brink of extinction, many have been put down into the “Red Book of Nature”. Every hour some kinds of animals and plants die out for ever.

Acid rains, the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion caused by harmful substances emitted by industrial enterprises are much spoken about.

Unfortunately some means of transport can be regarded as offenders in poisoning the environment.

Atomic power plants are worth mentioning as a grave threat to the environment nowadays. The pollution of the environment is hard to ignore.

The problem of environmental protection has become an extremely important part of political programmes in many countries nowadays.

The Environmental Movement had gained a lot of supporters long before our country joined it. Many laws and vital decisions on the problem have been adopted, many measures have been taken to protect our forests, rivers, lakes and seas.

However, the Mediterranean is already nearly dead; the North Sea is following. The Aral Sea is on the point of vanishing. The environmental problems have grown beyond the concern of a single country. Their solution requires the cooperation of all nations.

It is obvious, that only our joint effort will help to avoid a global catastrophe.

Questions to be answered

1. The environmental pollution is a very serious problem nowadays, isn’t it?

2. What gave birth to the problem of poisoning our planet?

3. Why have a lot of species disappeared and still more are on the brink of extinction?

4. Have you ever heard of the “Red Book of Nature”? What kinds of animals are registered in it?

5. What causes acid rains, green house effect and ozone depletion?

6. Atomic power plants do both good and harm, don’t they? Give your reasons.

7. Can transport means be considered a kind of threat to the environment?

8. What movement had gained a lot of supporters before our country joined it?

9. What do many adopted laws and measures aim at?

10. Do students of our University join the Environment Movement?

4. Make a summary of the text ’Environmental Protection’.

5. Speak on the problem of pollution. Use the key-words:

pollution, to breathe, pure water, burned gas, harmful, invisible, disease, to affect, lack, to reduce, waste, to spray, garbage and trash, to pack down, acid rain, nuclear energy, ozone layer, to extinct, wild life.

6. Deliver a lecture on the problems of environment as if you were

• a teacher of ecology and environmental protection;

• a member of the Ecological International of the Green Cross and Crescent;

• Chairman of the new International Non-Governmental Board.

7. Speak on the reasons which made scientists set up an international industrial ecological consortium.

8. Describe the ways of solving the problems of environmental protection.

9. Describe the ecological problems of our city. What has been done and is being done for their solution?

10. Work in pairs. Imagine you are a journalist; your fellow-student is Chairman of the new International Non-Governmental Board. Interview him.

D i a l o g u e s

1. Read the short dialogues in pairs

I

1. Mum, why are you so upset?

2. The window glasses get dirty so shortly and the winter is so long.

1. This is air pollution. All big cities have this problem.

II

1. Alice, why are you so upset? What’s happened?

2. My best bathing suit was spoilt this summer. I came out of the sea with a black mineral oil spot on it though the sea water looked so clear.

1. Oh, dear! Don’t take it ill. With “Tide” this problem will be solved, I believe.

III

1. Daddy, why are you so upset? What’s wrong?

2. Oh, my shirt smells awfully because our mum aired it outdoors.

1. Take it easy. I’ll give you another one.

IV

1. Granny, why are you so upset?

2. I can’t sleep quietly because of the noise of all those cars, lorries, buses. Even late at night!

1. Good heavens! This is the scientific and technological progress of the 20-th century. How lucky we are that we do not live near the airport.

2. Memorize the dialogues and reproduce them.

3. Make up your own dialogues on a similar topic.

J u s t f o r F u n

1. Read the following quotations and comment on them.

The “boundless” blue sky, the ocean which gives us breath and protects us from the endless black and death, is but an infinitesimally thin film. How dangerous it is to threaten even the smallest part of this gossamer covering, this conserver of life.

-Vladimir Shatalov,

quoted in The Home Planet, 1988

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

-Mohandas Gandhi

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.

-Indian Proverb

This we know. The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

-Chief Seattle

2. It’s interesting to know.

Did you know?

Eight million tons of oil are spilled into the Earth’s oceans every year.

Did you know? Glass produced from recycled glass instead of raw material reduces related air pollution by 20% and water pollution by 50%.

Did you know?

American workplaces discard enough paper each year to build a 12-foot high wall stretching from Los-Angeles to New York.

Did you know?

Madagascar is home to at least 150,000 living species found nowhere else in the world.

Did you know

One ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees

and three cubic yards of landfill space.

3. Do this puzzle.

1	2	3	4		5	6		7	8
9					10			11		12
13				14			15
16			17				18
		19						20	21
		22					23
						24				25
26	27		28		29			30
31				32		33	34
	35					36		37
38					39

Across Down

1. Some species are this 1.An endangered species

9. Large predatory cat 2.Near (poetic)

10. Road (abbr.) 3.Domestic animal

11. What we breathe 4.Indefinite article

13. That which encloses some animals 5.A color

before birth 6.Past-tense marker

14. Exist 7.A time to celebrate the

15. Planting this will help the environment (2 words)

environment 8.Expire; cease to live

16. Often pronounced like "f 12.Scan written matter with the eyes

17. Finger-like part of the foot 14.Made (someone) uninterested by

18. That thing dull talk; drilled a hole

19. Gains; deserves; gets (money) by 15.The seventh note in the sol-fa

working musical scale (between la and do); a

20. Past tense of hide tropical plant

22. North-Northeast 17.Light brown

23. Strange; unusual; opposite of even 19.The power that does work and

24. Endangered ocean animal drives machines

26. Small pie 21. Not working; not doing anything

29. South America (abbr.) 23. Exclamation of surprise

30. Japanese unit of money 24. A liquid necessary for life; H₂O

31. Sweet substance 25. Go in

33. Preposition 27. Motor car; vehicle for carrying

35. Write on a machine; class or sort people

36. Follow as a result; happen 28. Narrow magnetic material used for

afterwards recording sound

38. Negative 32. Concerning; about; second note or

39. At liberty; not enslaved the sol-fa musical scale

34. Number; unit

37. Southeast

U n i t 7

G r a m m a r: 1. Continuous Tenses. Active Voice Present Continuous Past Continuous Future Continuous 2. Word-building. The suffixes of adjectives T e x t s: A. He Started Britain’s Railways B. C. Inventors and Their Inventions C o n v e r s a t i o n: The Progress of Science

Г р а м м а т и ч е с к и й м а т е р и а л