Exercise1. Read the text more carefully and answer the questions

The man who planted trees

About forty years ago, I was taking a long trip on foot over mountain heights quite unknown to tourists. All around was barren and colorless land. Nothing grew there but wild lavender. After five hours’ walking I had still not found water. All about me was the same dryness, the same coarse grasses. I thought I saw in the distance a small black silhouette. It was a shepherd. Thirty sheep were lying about him on the baking earth. I was given a drink and taken to his cottage on the plain.

I noticed that he carried for a stick an iron rod as thick as my thumb and about a meter and a half long. He began thrusting his iron rod into the earth, making a hole in which he planted an acorn; then he refilled the hole. He was planting oak trees. His planting was resumed after the midday meal. I suppose I must have been fairly insistent in my questioning, for he answered me. For three years he had been planting trees in this wilderness. One hundred thousand oak trees had been planted. His name was Elzeard Bouffier. He was 55. I told him that in thirty years his ten thousand oaks would be magnificent. He answered that if God granted him life, in another thirty years he would have planted so many more that these one thousand would be like a drop of water in the ocean.

After 5 years I returned there. Elzeard Bouffier was extremely well. The oaks were then ten years old and taller. It was an impressive spectacle. I was literally speechless, and as he did not talk, we spent the whole day walking in silence through his forest. It measured eleven kilometers in length and three kilometers at its greatest width. When you remembered that all this had come from the hands and the soul of this one man you can be aware our nature could be saved and a man is responsible for its rebirth.

Vocabulary:

Oak - дуб

Resume - возобновлять

Height - высота

Barren – бесплодная, неплодородная

Lavender - лаванда

Rod - прут

Length - длина

Drop – капля

Acorn – желудь

1. The story takes place in France. Which part of France do you think it is? Why? 2. What is the countryside like?

3. What do you think Elzeard’s ambition is?

4. What is his vision of the future?

5. Why is the writer speechless?

6. What thoughts about human behavior does he have in the last sentence?

Exercise2. What do you think?

Do you think ….

… the story about Elzeard is true?

… Elzeard was ever married?

Give reasons for your opinions.

Topical vocabulary:

Important Issues: acid rain, aerosol, animal welfare, carbon monoxide, climate, conservation, endangered species, energy, nuclear energy, solar energy, exhaust fumes, fertilizers, forest fires, global warming, greenhouse effect, (non)-renewable resources, nuclear, nuclear fallout, nuclear reactor, oil-slick, ozone layer, pesticide, pollution, protected animal, rain forest, unleaded petrol, waste, nuclear waste, radio-active waste, wildlife, a tmosphere, chemicals, dumping, pollutant deforestation, industrial waste, rubbish, sewage, smog, toxic gases, traffic, unleaded petrol

Natural Disasters: drought, earthquake, flood, tidal wave, typhoon, volcanic eruption

Politics: environmental group, green issues, pressure group

Environment – verbs: tocut down, to destroy, to dispose (of), to dump, to protect, to pollute, to recycle, to save, to throw away, to use up, to poison.

Vocabulary exercises:

Exercise 1. Translate and transcribe the vocabulary.

Exercise2. Define what of these calamities are happened by human factor or natural way? Tell other reasons cause them.

Windstorm, hurricane, landslide, flood, earthquake, avalanche, cyclone, drought, forest fire, volcanic eruption, pollution.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-26