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6. Read the text and define the main idea:

ECOLOGY IS A PRIORITY

The ecological problem, which is also very much a social one, is one of the pressing problems of our days. It is closely linked, through cause-and-effect relations, to the problems of economic growth, progress in science and technology, natural resources, energy, and food supplies. In many cases the environmental problem has become a dominant one in relation to many others.

The pollution of the environment, the destruction of ecosystems, the destruction of many species of plants and animals have now reached threatening proportions. An increasing influence on nature and the application of new technological processes ( whose consequences are increasingly dangerous for the environment ) may cause catastrophic results. Negative anthropogenic influences threaten to disrupt nature’s basic cycles and to undermine the self-regenerating capacities of the biosphere and of its individual components.

This is illustrated by the following data. By comparison with the beginning of the twentieth century the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as well as of aerosols, has increased dosens of times in many cities, and has increased globally by 20 per cent. As a result of the formation of a layer of carbon dioxide around the Earth which encloses it like a glass cover the threat of unfavourable changes in climate has arisen that may transform our blue planet into an enormous greenhouse during the next decades, with possibly catastrophic effects. Those include changes in its energy balance and a gradual increase in temperature that will transform fertile regions into arid ones, raise the level of water in the oceans ( through the melting of polar and drifting ice) and produce a flooding of great numbers of coastal lands and cities. The threat of a disruption in the oxygen balance has arisen through thedestruction of the ozone screen in the lower stratocphere as a result of the flights of supersonic aircraft ( its destruction by 50 per cent will increase ultraviolet radiation 10 times, with corresponding influences on the sight of animals and humans). Pollution of the ocean has increased at a rate that threatens to make it global ( 4.10 petroleum are channelled to the ocean, i.e., approximately 0.1 per cent of petroleum production on maritime shelves).

All this exerts a substantial adverse influence on the health of individuals, their labour productivity, and their creative activities and requires increasing capital investments in order to sustain the fertility of agricultural land and to purify water bodies, since their waters are becoming unsuitable both for general use andfor use in the economy. The pollution of the environment through chemical, physical and biological agents ( the development of micro-organisms and agricultural pests that are immune to drugs and poisons) together with increases in the volume and types of ionizing radiation, produce, among other things, an increase in their mutagenic influence on individuals, that is, in pathological changes in heredity, and a greater number of hereditary defects, diseases, genetically determined forms of vulnerability to serious and chronic diseases. These impede the vital activities and reproductive functions of individuals and cause their genetic degeneration. Calculations of researchers indicate that increases in natural background radiation by only 10 rads may lead to the birth of 6 million hereditarity defective persons in each generation. Already now, according to UN experts, 10.5 per cent of people are born with hereditary (genetic) defects. Data concerning deaths from cancer puplished by the National Cancer Institute of the U.S. indicate that 60 per cent or more of the cases ( 500,000 cases of cancer per year) are caused by various cancer-producing factors in the environment.

self-generating capacity – саморегуляція

ozone screen - озоновий шар, шар озону

mutagenic - мутагений

natural background radiation – природна фонова радіація( випромінювання)

rad – яд.фіз. рад( 0,01 дж/кг)

7. Explain why an ecological problem a social one is.

8. Explain the meaning of the word “ecosystem”.

9. Using the data from the text, tell about the possible consequences:

a)accumulation in the atmosphere carbon dioxide and aerosols; b) the flight of supersonic aircraft.

10. Tell what new information from the text you have got.

11. Explain your understanding the title of the text.

Lesson 70

12. The following sentences are first, second,or third conditional. Put the verbs in brackets into the appropriate form.

1. We wanted to go out yesterday but the ewather was terrible. If it had been ( be) a nice day, we would have gone( go) for a picnic.

2. Why don’t you explain everything to him? If you...(not tell) him the truth, I’m sure you...( regret) it one day. 3. Jennifer was here not long ago. If you...(come round) earlier, you ...(see) her. 4. Apparent, the ferry company are planning to close the port in this town. If that... (happen), the town... (lose) a great deal of money. 5. I...( help) you with it if I ...(have) more time but I’m afraid I haven’t got any spare time at all at the moment. 6. The government is expesting to win the next election, but if it ...(lose), the Prime Minister... (resign) from politics. 7. I am so glad that you took me to your friend’s party. If we... (not go) there, I...(never meet) Adrian. 8. It’s ridiculous that trains are so expensive. If fares ...(be) cheaper, I’m sure more people...(use) the train and leave their cars at home.9. If she ...(get) that job she’s applied for, she...(be) delighted. And think she’s got a good chance of getting it. 10. Fortunately the explosion took place at night when the streets were empty. It ... ( be) a disaster if it...( happen) in the middle of the day. 11. The talks between the two leaders keep breaking down. If they ...(break down) again, it is possible that there...(be) a war between the two countries. 12. If Alison...(know) anything about car mechanics, I’m sure she...(help) us fix the car, but I think she knows even less than we do. 13. They’ve been married for twenty years now but I don;t think she...(marry) him if she ...(know) what a selfish man he was. 14. Children spend too much time watching television and playing computer games. I’m sure they... (be) happier if they... (spend) more time playing outside.

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