58. For questions 1-15 read the text and decide which answer a, b, c, or d best fits each gap.

Example: 0 A dating B ageing C growing D stretching

0 A dating

TREES FOR LIFE

Trees are among the biggest and longest-living things on the Earth, some (0) __ A ___ back longer than the oldest buildings. But (1)____ being nice to look at, trees also (2)____ an important role in improving the quality of our lives.

On a world-wide (3)____ , forests help to slow down the effects of global warming by using up the gas (4)____as carbon dioxide and giving (5) ____ the oxygen we need to breathe. At local neighbourhood level, trees also (6) ____ important environmental benefits. They offer shade and shelter, which in (7) ____ reduces the amount of energy needed to heat and cool (8) ___ buildings. At the same time they also remove other impurities from the air we breathe.

Urban trees are especially important because for many people they provide the only daily (9) ____ with the natural world. What’s (10) ____ , urban trees also provide a home for birds, small animals and butterflies. (11) ___ the trees we would lose the pleasure of seeing these creatures in our cities. Regrettably, (12) ____ , trees in cities are now coming under (13) ____ .

There is a limit to the level of pollution they can (14) ____ and, down at street level, their roots are being seriously (15) ____ by the digging needed to make way for modern telephone, television and other cables.

1) A	as far as	B	as long as	C	as soon as	D	as well as
2) A	play	B	Show	C	act	D	serve
3) A	scale	B	Size	C	range	D	area
4) A	called	B	known	C	titled	D	referred
5) A	in	B	Away	C	up	D	out
6) A	bring	B	make	C	take	D	find
7) A	turn	B	Place	C	order	D	reach
8) A	opposite	B	Close	C	next	D	nearby
9) A	junction	B	touch	C	contact	D	taste
10)A	more	B	Else	C	most	D	other
11)A	throughout	B	beyond	C	without	D	outside
12)A	therefore	B	whilst	C	however	D	despite
13)A	risk	B	threat	C	danger	D	warning
14)A	stand in for	B	face up to	C	put up with	D	fall back on
15)A	concerned	B	disturbed	C	interfered	D	involved

b) Read the text again and underline words and phrases that describe the importance of trees for the environment protection.

59. a) Read the text and fill in the gaps with the word from the box.

absorb giving off cools to hold reduce catch muffle

Urban planners who want to replace living plants with plastic ones seem to think that the city does not need to have living plants in it. Actually, plants do many useful things in a city even if they do not produce food for people. Plants improve the quality of the air by (1) ____ oxygen and woodsy-smelling compounds, such as those emitted by pine trees. Smog contains some gases that in low concentrations can be used as nutrients by plants. Thus plants (2) ____ some air pollutants. Evaporation of water from plants (3) ____ the air. Also the leaves of plants (4) ____ falling dust particles. Trees and shrubs (5) ____ the noise of street traffic and construction work. Finally, the roots of plants, even weeds, help (6) ____ earth in place and (7) ____ the number of soil particles blown into the air and washed into sewers.

b) Work in pairs to discuss how far you agree or disagree with the following opinion. Use the Essential Strategy language.

People are more important than trees. It’s nonsense to preserve forests when people have no land to live on. Natural resources like forests are for human beings to exploit in order to improve their lives.

c) In pairs discuss why it is important to plant trees. Use the Essential Strategy language.