- •17 Environmental Protection Students’ Book (2013-2014) Part 1: Environmental Issues
- •The Future of the Earth
- •Quiz: How Green is Your Life?
- •Questionnaire Answer each question with your hand on your heart by choosing an option a) never; b) sometimes; c) always
- •Add Up Your Score
- •Your Green Score
- •Task 11. You will hear an interview with a man called Daren Howarth, who works as a carbon coach. For questions 9-18, complete the sentences. You can use 1-3 words in each gap. The carbon coach
- •Conservation of Rainforests
- •Part 2: Natural disasters
- •Task 18. Decide what type of disaster is being described.
- •The 2008 Flood in Ukraine
- •The worst drought in 1,000 years
- •Choose one of the following topics:
- •Text 1: climate changes
- •Text 2: living in the modern world
- •Text 3: air pollution - acid rain and the dying forests
- •Text 4: deforestation
- •Text 5: water pollution and the waste problem
- •Text 6: destruction of the ozone layer and greenhouse effect
- •Text 7: the slow death of nuclear power
- •Text 8: complacent public blamed for worsening drought.
- •Britain’s thirsty homes
- •Text 9: the tragedy of the floods in florence
- •Text 10: it is interesting to know
- •Hole in the Sky
- •Deadly Fog
- •Name that Storm
- •Ball of Fire
Conservation of Rainforests
24. What feature of the cable car makes it particularly good for seeing wildlife in the rainforest?
the speed at which it moves
the height at which it travels
the distance that it covers
25. What is the main aim of the cable car project?
to educate local people
to persuade people to save the rainforest
to raise money for other conservation projects
26. What is the advantage of the project for the local people?
They can use the land if they want.
They can sell forest products to the visitors.
More work is available to them.
27. Why was the cable car redesigned?
so that people could touch the trees
to avoid cutting down too much forest
because it had to be brought in by air
28. How does Donald react to the suggestion that he has disturbed the wildlife?
He explains what happened in the past.
He criticizes what happens elsewhere.
He denies that there’s been any disturbance.
29. Why is Donald sure his project is a success?
This piece of forest has survived.
Animals have returned to the area.
Other projects have copied his ideas.
30. Donald thinks the future survival of the rainforest will depend on
the size of the world’s population.
the attitude of people towards it.
the size of the areas left as forest.
TASK 16. Prepare a 3-minute presentation on what you personally do to protect the environment. Follow the guidelines below.
In the ‘Introduction’ state why in your opinion it is important to protect the environment.
In the ‘Body of the Presentation’ tell your listeners:
what the most urgent environmental issues that must be dealt with on the government level are;
3-5 things you personally do to contribute into environmental protection
In ‘Conclusion’ express your view on the perspectives of global warming.
Part 2: Natural disasters
TASK 17. Study the vocabulary given below and translate the disaster terms into your mother tongue. Make sure you know the pronunciation of the new words.
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1 |
an earthquake |
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2 |
earth tremor |
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3 |
a hurricane
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4 |
a typhoon |
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5 |
a twister |
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6 |
a volcano
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7 |
a flood |
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8 |
a drought |
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9 |
famine |
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10 |
an epidemic |
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11 |
a forest fire |
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12 |
a waterspout |
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13 |
a landslide/a mudslide |
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14 |
an avalanche/ a snowslide |
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15 |
an ice-slick |
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16 |
a mudflow |
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17 |
a tidal wave |
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18 |
a tsunami |
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19 |
a fireball |
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20 |
a tornado |
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21 |
an oil slick |
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Task 18. Decide what type of disaster is being described.
The earth is cracked and the vegetation has withered.
The tremor struck at 3.35 p.m. local time.
People had boarded up shops and houses during the day before, and stayed indoors.
Witnesses said they saw a fire-ball fall out of the sky.
People were stranded in the upper floors and sometimes on the roofs of their homes, unable to move about.
It lifted a car about ten feet off the ground, and then we saw it disappear down the street.
It was about two metres deep and we watched as most of our furniture just floated away.
The grass turned yellow and most of the crops died.
The walls began to move visibly, and large cracks opened up in the ground.
We could see the lava slowly advancing towards the town just ten miles away.
TASK 19. Match the names of natural disasters with their descriptions.
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Natural Disaster |
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Description |
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1 |
hail |
a |
a sudden violent movement of the Earth's surface, sometimes causing great damage |
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2 |
a thunderstorm |
b |
a wind storm that carries sand through the air in the sandy areas of deserts. The wind-driven sand forms a low cloud near the ground, not higher than 10 feet (3 meters). They last a few hours and die out at night; they damage crops, reduce visibility and thus endanger motorists on desert roads. |
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3 |
a waterspout |
c |
bursting forth lava, hot gases, and rock fragments through the opening in the earth's surface |
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4 |
a flood |
d |
small, roundish pieces of ice (ice pellets) or frozen vapor coming down from the clouds in a shower; |
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5 |
a landslide |
e |
a mass of earth or rocks that slides down a slope; |
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6 |
an earthquake |
f |
roads made slippery (slick) with the ice |
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7 |
an avalanche |
g |
floods of melt water from glaciers mixed with loose soil or rocks sweeping down the valleys along the sides of mountains |
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8 |
a drought |
h |
a tornado that occurs over a lake or an ocean; |
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9 |
a sandstorm |
i |
a condition that results when the average rainfall drops far below the normal amount for a long period of time; in not irrigated areas the lack of rain causes farm crops to wither and die; |
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10 |
an ice-slick |
j |
a violent tropical storm or wind in which the air moves very fast in a circular direction |
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11 |
a hurricane |
k |
a storm with thunder and lightning and, usually, heavy rain; |
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12 |
a cyclone |
l |
a severe snow storm with strong winds |
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13 |
a blizzard |
m |
a great flow of water over what is usually dry land; |
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14 |
a volcanic eruption |
n |
a large mass of snow and ice, or of dirt and rocks, rapidly sliding or falling down the side of a mountain; |
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15 |
a mudflow |
o |
a violent wind which has a circular movement, especially found in the West Atlantic Ocean |
TASK 20. Disaster nouns often collocate with specific verbs.
Step 1. Match the beginning and the ends of the sentences given below. Options are possible.
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1 |
A severe earthquake, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale,
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a |
swept away a bus in northern Vietnam, killing 41 passengers, the state-run radio said. |
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2 |
We ran to the window and saw this huge fireball |
b |
ripped through southern Florida and caused havoc during late August. |
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3 |
So much lava |
c |
erupted last year, and 31 have been killed by mudflows since mid-August. |
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4 |
Then a terrible storm |
d |
which broke out in Peru in January 1991, called attention as never before to the need for basic health care and education throughout the region. |
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5 |
An earthquake
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e |
had been raging in the east all day and a giant red glow was silhouetting the peaks beyond Portoferraio. |
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6 |
Within a few days the oil slick, first reported on January 24, |
f |
this close to the summit it had no time to gather power. |
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7 |
As abruptly as it had started, the storm |
g |
hit Andhra Pradesh late on May 9, causing widespread death and destruction. |
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8 |
A monsoon flash flood |
h |
has shaken a large part of Britain including Oxfordshire, causing people to flee their homes as chimneys collapsed and windows cracked. |
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9 |
Hurricane Andrew |
i |
heading towards us and growing bigger and bigger. |
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10 |
More than 800 islanders died when the volcano |
j |
flowed into the valley that it was completely filled and it began to spill out over the surrounding countryside. |
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11 |
It was only a very light avalanche: |
k |
had grown/ stretched to measure 55 km long by 15 km wide. |
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12 |
An earth tremor measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale |
l |
struck northern Georgia on April 30. |
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13 |
The cholera epidemic, |
m |
broke: thunder rumbled, lightning flickered, and tropical rain came crashing down from the showerheads fitted in the ceiling. |
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14 |
A forest fire |
n |
destroyed many buildings by shaking them to pieces. |
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15 |
A devastating cyclone |
o |
stopped, and the sun shone from a sky the colour of a Ceylon sapphire. |
Step 2. Fill in the table below with the verbs which can collocate with the given nouns. Use the sentences from Step 1 and a monolingual dictionary.
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Nouns |
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Verbs |
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1 |
a earthquake |
can |
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2 |
a hurricane |
can |
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3 |
a volcano |
can |
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4 |
an epidemic |
can |
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5 |
a forest fire |
can |
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6 |
an avalanche |
can |
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7 |
a cyclone |
can |
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8 |
an earth tremor |
can |
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9 |
a fireball |
can |
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10 |
lava |
can |
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11 |
an oil slick |
can |
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12 |
a storm |
can |
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13 |
thunder |
can |
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14 |
lightning |
can |
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15 |
rain |
can |
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TASK 21. Translate the sentences below into your mother tongue. Bear in mind that there cannot be a word-for-word translation.
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1 |
A volcano has erupted in Indonesia. Hundreds are feared dead. |
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2 |
The flu epidemic spread rapidly throughout the country. |
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3 |
Millions are starving as a result of famine. |
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4 |
A big earthquake shook the city at noon today. |
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5 |
The area is suffering its worst drought for many years. |
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6 |
A twin tornado swept through the islands yesterday. |
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7 |
200 people were injured and dozens of buildings were damaged in the hurricane. |
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8 |
The typhoon resulted in 30 casualties. |
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9 |
The real victims of the earthquake are the children left without parents. |
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10 |
There were only three survivors. All the other passengers died instantly. |
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TASK 22. Disasters may be either natural or man-made (caused by man).
Step 1. Read the snatches of the news reports given below and decide if those disasters were natural or man-made. Write the letters N for ‘natural’ and M for ‘man-made’ in the spaces provided.
... and the village has been completely buried with three quarters of the population dead or missing. Further down the valley, troops are trying to save the passengers of a train who have been trapped for twenty-four hours. _____
... thousands of birds are lying on the beach, unable to move. Volunteer rescue workers are trying to save them but only a small number are expected to live. The effect of the pollution on the fish is not yet known, but it is supposed that many fishermen will find themselves without work for a few years. Tourism will be hit as well, since the beaches are covered in thick, black sludge. _____
... 120 homes and 200 square kilometres of land are said to have been destroyed in the South of France over the weekend, and the danger is now moving north. Police are advising tourists to avoid the region and to take great care with cigarette ends and camping stoves, particularly in forest areas. _____
... the thick white cloud settled on homes and gardens, killing pets and poisoning crops. Many people are suffering from nausea and sore spots on the skin. Authorities have ordered a total evacuation to protect the inhabitants from further harm, and are burying or burning all contaminated materials. No one knows if the effects are temporary or not. _____
... trees were scattered around like matchsticks, cars were lying on their sides, half-buried in mud, and houses were completely flattened. A spokesman says that the water level which had risen to ten metres is now dropping but there is a major risk of disease and starvation if supplies do not get through soon. _____
Step 2. Match the causes of each event to the disasters described in Step 1.
________: a coast; a tidal wave; a flood; a seaside town
________: chemicals; a factory; to give out; a poisonous gas
________: an oil tanker; to wreck; rocks; a discharge; cargo
________: skiers; to shout; snow; a slide
________: a cigarette end; to set fire to; dry leaves; a wind; flames
Step 3. Write a 50-60 word paragraph describing how each of the disasters described in Step 1 happened. Be ready to read them in class.
TASK 23. Fill in the gaps with one suitable word from the box below and read three short texts about different natural disasters.