Using the Land

Read the text below and match the verbs with the nouns.

Answer the questions to the text.

The World around Us

Reading

2.10 Read the text and make up lists of what people and animals can and can’t do.

There are six billion people in the world and they live in different corners of it. They live on the snow and ice of the poles and in the tropical jungles on the equator. They live in the forests and in the deserts, on the river banks and by the sea. Some decades ago they even left the Earth and visited the Moon.

The human species is the most numerous and the most powerful of all the animals on earth. How did it happen? In many ways, animals can do things better than people. Dogs can smell and hear better than human beings. Cats can see in the dark. Birds can fly. But no other animal builds cathedrals, plays football, tells jokes, gets married, writes books, elects presidents, or goes to the Moon.

There is one thing above all that makes people and animals different. People love to talk. We are the great communicators! And we can communicate so many things in so many ways – with our faces, our hands, our bodies, and our voices. Most important of all, we can record what we say and think in writing, so that we can communicate through time. We have a sense of past and future, not just present.

We are the only species that can change the world, and we are the only species that can choose either to look after our world or to destroy it.

1. What’s the population of our planet?

2. What regions are inhabited with people?

3. What things can animals do better than people?

4. Ennumerate the ways people can communicate.

5. Explain why writing is a special kind of communication.

plant cows water wheat pick crops

grow plants slaughter trees harvest fruit

Some land is used for parks and gardens where we often grow trees and plants. They are living things with roots and leaves. First, you plant the tree or plant (you put them in the ground), then you must water them. Land in the country is often used for agriculture or farming. Some farms concentrate on dairy products such as milk, butter and cheese. Other farms keep animals which are killed and sold for their meat, e.g. cows and lambs.

Some farms use the land to grow fruit (apples, pears, cherries, etc.) or vegetables (potatoes, carrots, cabbage, etc.) Some grow cereals: wheat, maize and barley. When they are ready, farmers pick the fruit and harvest the other crops.

There are many large flowing plants that are parasites attacking crops and trees. These parasitic plants are members of various botanical families. Some of them attack only another plant’s roots, others attack only the stems. There are even trees that attack other trees in Brazil and Australia.

2.13 Are these statements true or false? If false, correct them.

1. Plants need roots.

2. The harvest is the period when you plant the crops.

3. You must water the tree before you plant it.

4. Farmers keep animals to enjoy them.

5. Plants have no leaves.

6. Parasitic plants attack only the roots of other plants.

2.14 Complete these sentences with the correct “general” word.

Example: Apples, oranges, bananas are all types of fruit.

1. Potatoes, beans and carrots are types of …

2. Milk, butter and cheese are all … products.

3. … is a general word for wheat, maize, barley, etc.

4. We use the word … as a general word for plants which are grown to be eaten.

5. Members of various botanical families that attack other plants are called …

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