The Chernobyl disaster

Read the text below and fill in the gap with the word which best fits it. Use only one word in each gap.

Chernobyl is a city in Ukraine near the border with Belarus. Not far from the city, approximately in 18 kilometers northwest from it there is another small Ukrainian town, called Pripyat. The main electric power and nuclear Chernobyl stations used (1) ______ situated there, before the huge disaster. At night of April 26 in 1986 one of the reactors of the power plant suffered a catastrophic steam explosion (2) _____ caused not only fire, but a series of additional explosions, followed by nuclear meltdown. This explosion is considered (3) _____ the worst nuclear accident in the whole history of nuclear power. It immediately attracted the world media attention and affected people’s consciousness in all parts of our planet. The Chernobyl disaster took away lives of thousands of people (4) ____ lived and worked there. This explosion produced a plume of radioactive debris (5) ____ affected different parts of the world, including Soviet Union, some parts of Europe, and even eastern USA. The largest areas of contamination were in Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia, and more (6) ____ 300,000 people had to be evacuated and resettled. This catastrophe forced people to think over nuclear problems and possible consequences. Public awareness of these risks increased significantly. After 1986 amount of cancer diseases of the people including children (7) _____ dramatically increased in the country. Even now it’s difficult to count the deaths caused by the Chernobyl disaster, as most of the deaths were the result of cancer, which people suffered (8) ____ later after the radioactive explosion. The Chernobyl disaster is not the only result of human anti-natural activity (9) ____ certainly one of the worst catastrophes in the world.

e) Work in pairs to discuss what the world will be like in the future. Example:

The environmental damage caused by factories is quite likely to become more extensive if adequate measures are not imposed. It is highly probable that ozone hole will increase. People would become less resistant to infection.

5. Listen to the speaker talking about a cloud of pollution and fill in the gaps with no more than four words.(from Voice of America)

The lives of millions of people in southern Asia are being threatened by a (1) _______. The pollution could (2) __________ lung diseasesand cause (3) ______. The cloud consists of (4) _________ and other particles. It is the result of forest fires, the burning of agricultural waste, and huge increases in the burning of fuels by vehicles, industries and power stations. Moreover, it is deteriorated by poor people’s burning (5) _____ and ________ waste in their stoves. The cloud of pollution is considered (6) _____ the land and oceans by blocking sunlight. It is believed that it could alter (7) _________ in Asia. Crops and trees will be (8) _______. Scientists worry that the pollution will intensify in the nearest future because of the (9) __________ in Asia. Environmentalists believe that it is necessary to find clean, (10) ____________.

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