Preserving the environment

Text C

1. Pay attention to the following words and word combinations:

to deteriorate – ухудшать(ся), разрушаться;

to be responsible for smth. – быть ответственным за что-либо;

powerful jet aircrafts – скоростные сверхзвуковые самолеты;

оn the one hand – с одной стороны;

counter- measure – контрмера;

exhaust fumes – выхлопные газы;

insects – насекомые;

the effect of smth. – действие, влияние чего-либо.

2. Read the text and be ready to say if the following statements are true or false. Use the following phrases:

As far as I know …

It seems to be wrong (right) …

I cant’t agree with you …

I’m afraid you are mistaken …

On the contrary …

That’s right …

1. The problem of preserving the environment has recently become a central one.

2. The quality of many people′s lives has deteriorated in some respects because of chemical progress.

3.Motor carsare responsible forthe atmosphere pollution.

4.The population of rural areas and cities has increased.

5. There are two points of view on the problem of insects killing.

6.One of the first acts of Parliament to counter pollution was the Clean Water Act.

7. Industrial chemical wastes are still polluting rivers.

Recently more and more attention has been focused on the problem of preserving the environment. Over the past thirty years or so the quality of many people′s lives has deteriorated in some respects because of technological progress. Those people living near airports are constantly attacked by the noise of powerful jet aircrafts taking off and landing.

The motor car has been responsible for many changes in the environment. On the one hand it has brought mobility to millions of people but on the other hand it has led to the construction of more and more noisy and dangerous roads and has polluted the atmosphere with exhaust fumes.

While towns and cities have become larger and uglier and more densely populated, the rural areas have lost of their population owing to the need for fewer workers in agriculture. The countryside has also been affected by the large-scale use of insecticides. For one thing the killing of insects has resulted in a loss of balance in the ecology. Insects, although a nuisance for farmers, provide food for birds. Many people are afraid that fruit and vegetables sprayed with chemicals may have some poisonous effect upon the people who eat them.

Certain counter- measures against the destruction of the environment have been introduced. One of the first acts of Parliament to counter pollution was the Clean Air Act, which opened the way to smokeless zones in large towns and cities. This followed a very bad winter in which many people with bronchial complaints became very ill through the effect of a mixture of smoke, fog and fumes known as “smog”. Rivers which are fouled up with industrial chemical waste are now being cleaned, and fish which could not live there a few years ago can be caught again.

3. Make up the plan to the text.

4. Give a brief summary of the text.

Text D

1. Read the text and choose the most suitable title out of the given ones:

a) New types of weapons.

b) Nature and Nuclear War.

c) Genetic Consequences of Radioactive Affection.

Wars and preparations for them, such as tests of new types of armaments, are having a tremendous destructive effect on the natural environment. New types of weaponry, including shells with great explosive force, chemical substances and agents, used in recent wars, have produced a destructive effect on the environment. In South Vietnam, herbicides completely destroyed 1,500 square kilometres of vegetation and caused damage to 15,000 square kilometres of land. At the same time natural restoration of vegetation there is catastrophically slow.

Even greater damage to the environment may be done if the new types of weapons presently being developed are widely used. A nuclear war would destroy all the principal towns of the Northern Hemisphere. It would destroy a considerable part of the urban population as a result of blast and fire, and a considerable part of the rural population through radioactive irradiation. Even though it is difficult to foresee the long-term consequences of a nuclear war, they would globally affect the climate, causing the ozone layer to seriously deplete. Besides, radioactive affection would cause genetic consequences.

The previous experimental nuclear blasts have seriously contaminated the atmosphere with radioactive materials and caused damage to considerable areas of the Earth′s surface.

The use of the neutron bomb would also result in considerable damage to the environment. Experts have calculated that an explosion of one-kiloton neutron bomb at an altitude of 200 metres would destroy a major portion of microorganisms over 40 hectares. The use of chemical and biological weapons could also result in very serious ecological consequences. Chemical dehydration of tropical regions with vulnerable soils could cause rapid soil erosion and irreversible consequences.

An increase in the world stockpiles of weapons and in their destructive force presents an obvious danger to man and the environment. Even tests of these weapons could lead to serious ecological damage. The use of weapons against the environment could result in the danger of long-term or even irreversible damage to soils, farming, and ecological balance.

2. Write out:

а) key words and terms;

b) the sentences expressing the main idea of each paragraph.

Unit 5

GRAMMAR: Infinitive, Infinitive Constructions.

1. a) Translate the following words and word combinations into Russian:

to concern, oil, trash, to contaminate, to get sick from smth., dirty, ozone layer, acid rain, to affect smth., in turn, mercury, cadmium.

b) Put the words in the correct order to form sentences.

1. is, the, crisis, problem, great, millennium, Water, a, for, new.

2. Exhaust, are, of, main, health, fumes, cause, the, bad.

3. pollution, problem, The, air, national, crosses, of, boundaries.

4. The, severely, China, is, Yellow River, polluted, in.

5. of, includes, metals, dangerous, A list, substances, heavy, as mercury and cadmium.

2. Read the following sentences and translate them into Russia paying attention to the Infinitive. Identify the infinitive construction.

1. A nucleus that spontaneously decomposes is said to be radioactive.

2. The ability to achieve a critical mass is essential to sustaining a nuclear reaction.

3. At present many technical problems remain to be solved, and it is not clear whether the method will prove useful.

4. For nearly two decades this area has been studied to determine its suitability for storage of high-level radioactive wastes.

5. It is crucial that European countries now do more to increase renewable energy technologies.

6. High-level pollutions in parts of Eastern Europe are known to have caused serious health problems.

7. In order to be safer, we may have to be more wiling to acknowledge how unsafe life really is.

8. We have a normal duty to look after our planet and to hand it on in good order to future generation.

9. British Government has a substantial programme of action to ensure an improvement in acidity in lochs in Southern Scotland.

3. Read the text and translate it using a dictionary.

Text A

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