Английский язык (стр. 2 )

Acid rains fall when poisonous gases from power stations and vehicle exhausts mix with oxygen and moisture in the air. These gases become part of the water cycle and may be carried long way by the wind before they fall as acid rain, or snow. Acid rains poison or kill wildlife in lakes, rivers, and forests and damage the surrounding plant life. The problem could be controlled by reducing vehicle emissions and limiting the gases released from power stations.

A natural layer of ozone gas high in the atmosphere provides protection against the Sun’s harmful rays. However, certain pollutant gases, including CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) are now destroying the ozone. Since 1979, “holes” have appeared in the ozone layer – first over the Antarctic, then over the Arctic. Damaging ultraviolet rays from the Sun penetrate these “holes”, slowing the growth of plants.

Ex. 10. Answer the following questions.

1.  What are the consequences of human activity?

2.  What is global warming? What is it caused by?

3.  What makes sea levels rise? What are the consequences of this phenomenon?

4.  What damage do acid rains cause? How could the problem be controlled?

5.  What does a natural layer of ozone gas provide for living beings?

6.  Where did “ozone holes” appear?

Ex. 11. Translate the following words and word combinations into Russian.

Atmosphere; global warming; holes in the ozone layer; to provide protection; a result of human activities; living things; the water cycle; oceans; harmful rays; the growth of plants; dramatic impact; vehicle emissions; wildlife; oxygen; power stations; the environment; habitat destruction; the natural world.

Ex. 12. Match the words with their definitions.

1) acid rain	a) the mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth
2) atmosphere	b) the natural conditions, such as air, water, and land, in which people, animals, and plants live
3) climate	c) the natural home of a plant or animal
4) environment	d) a gas present in the air that is a simple substance, is without colour, taste or smell, and is necessary for all forms of life on Earth
5) glacier	e) the average weather conditions at a particular place over a period of years
6) habitat	f) water, or other liquids, in small quantities or in the form of steam or mist
7) moisture	g) rain containing harmful quantities of acid as a result of industrial pollution
8) oxygen	h) a mass of ice which moves very slowly down a mountain valley

Ex. plete the sentences.

1.  Over millions of years, many species have adapted to natural changes, such as ______.

2.  Global warming is caused by the buildup of gases and ______.

3.  Acid rains poison or kill wildlife in lakes, rivers, and forests and ______.

4.  A natural layer of ozone gas high in the atmosphere provides protection against ______.

5.  Damaging ultraviolet rays from the Sun penetrate these “holes”, ______.

Ex. 14. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English.

1.  За миллионы лет многие живые существа приспособились к естественным изменениям климата.

2.  Однако гораздо труднее для живых существ приспособиться к выбросам в окружающую среду вредных веществ, производимых человеком.

3.  Температура земли с каждым годом постепенно повышается.

4.  По мере того как планета будет нагреваться, уровень воды в океанах будет повышаться, и вода, заключённая в ледниках и полярных снегах, начнёт таять.

5.  Отравляющие газы становятся частью природного круговорота воды, они могут довольно далеко переноситься ветрами и затем выпадают на землю в виде кислотного дождя или снега.

6.  С 1979 года в озоновом слое Земли существуют «дыры», которые появились над Антарктидой, а затем над Арктикой.

Ex.15. Make a summary of the text B. The plan for retelling the text will help you.

1.  The title of the text.

2.  The main idea of the text.

3.  The contents of the text.

4.  Your opinion of the text.

Ex. 16. Translate the text without the dictionary.

Text C

KEEP OUR ENVIRONMENT CLEAN

About two hundred years ago man lived in greater harmony with his environment because industry was not much developed. Today the situation is quite different. People all over the world are worried about what is happening to the environment, because of modern industry and the need for more and more energy. Newspapers and magazines write about water pollution, air pollution and land pollution.

Why is there so much discussion about pollution? After all, people have been polluting the world around them for thousands and thousands of years. But in the past, there were not many people and lots of room in the world so they could move to another place when their settlements became dirty.

Now, however, many parts of the world are crowded, people live in big cities and much of our waste, especially waste from factories, electric power stations, the chemical industry and heavy industry are very dangerous. Fish dies in the lakes, rivers and seas, forest trees die too. Much of this dangerous waste goes into the air and is carried by winds for great distances.

The Earth is our home. We must take care of it, for ourselves and for the next generations. This means keeping our environment clean.

The importance of this task is pointed out by ecologists, the scientists who study the relation between living things and their environment. However each of us must do everything possible to keep the land, air and water clean.

UNIT 2

Ex. 1. Look through the following words before reading the text.

Rival – конкурент, соперник

survival – выживание

habitat – естественная среда

delicate balance – хрупкий баланс

to dig up – раскапывать

extinction – исчезновение, вымирание

destruction – разрушение

to plow up – распахивать (земли)

soil erosion – эрозия почвы

flood – потоп, наводнение

drought – засуха

dam – дамба, плотина, запруда

irrigation – орошение

silt –ил, осадок, наносы

to enrich – обогатить

fertilizer – удобрение

marsh – болото, топь

peat bog – торфяное болото

spawning ground – место для размножения, нереста

lobster – рак, омар

shrimp – креветка

Ex. 2. Read the text and do the exercises that follow it.

Text A

HABITATS IN DANGER

The Earth is a home to millions of different kinds of living things, which are linked in many ways. Together, they make up the complex world of nature. Same are rivals or enemies while others depend on each other for survival.

Wild plants and animals live in a particular set of surroundings, called their habitat. Nowadays people are in a hurry to change habitats to suit their own needs - to create farmlands or build cities, for example. The way people live threatens the delicate balance between living things and their habitats.

People create pollution, which travels through the air and water from one habitat to another. They also destroy wildlife habitats by digging the ground up for mining, or by building roads through them.

A quarter of all the plants in the world are known to be in danger or threatened with extinction.

The most serious threat of plants is the destruction of their habitat. This includes cutting down rain forests, draining wetlands, and plowing up grasslands. As population increases, people demand more space. The trees are cut down for timber or make way for farms and mines, but forest clearance causes many long-term problems such as soil erosion, floods, and droughts. An area of a football field is cut down every second. If this continues, the rest of the rainforests could disappear within 40 years.

Many large-scale dams have been built around the world to generate electricity and control irrigation of crops. But dams drown valleys and prevent silt in the water from flooding over the land and enriching the soil. Crops have to be fed with expensive fertilizers instead of free, natural silt. Dams and irrigation canals also reduce the amount of silt that reaches the river’s delta. Silt normally builds up in the delta and helps protect the shoreline.

Marshes, peat bogs, and other wetlands are important habitats. Coastal wetlands are spawning grounds for fish, lobsters, and shrimps. More than half of European wetlands have been drained for agriculture, flood control or tourism. Pollution from farms and towns also damages wetlands. Conversation laws, pollution control, and less intensive farming would help them recover.

Ex. 3. Answer the following questions.

1.  What is a habitat?

2.  Why does the way people live threaten the balance between living things and their habitats?

3.  What is the most serious threat to plants?

4.  What long-term problems does the forest clearance cause?

5.  What are dams built for?

6.  What is the side effect of a dam built in an area?

7.  Why are marshes and peat bogs considered important habitats?

8.  What measures could help recover wetlands?

Ex. 4. Find the English equivalents for:

Пахотные земли; загрязнение; серьёзная угроза; вырабатывать электричество; удовлетворение потребностей; находиться на грани исчезновения; тропические леса; луга; береговая линия; шахта; живые существа; контроль загрязнения; осушение болотистых земель; уменьшать количество ила; исчезать; зависеть друг от друга; обогащение почвы; строительство дорог; дельта реки.

Ex. 5. Match the words with their definitions.

1) drought	a) a great overflow of water
2) extinction	b) animals and plants which live and grow in natural conditions
3) fertilizer	c) a deep hole or system of holes under the ground from which coal, gold, tin, or other mineral substances are dug
4) flood	d) the state of being or becoming extinct
5) marsh	e) a tropical forest with tall trees growing together and with a high rainfall
6) mine	f) a natural or chemical substance that is put on the land to make crops grow better
7) rainforest	g) a long period of dry weather when there is not enough water
8) wildlife	h) low land that is soft and wet

Ex. 6. Fill in the blanks with the suitable words from the following list: animals, species, pollute, environment, waste, protection, pollution, substance, ecological, danger.