TOPIC 13. ENVIRONMENT

1. Can you pronounce the following words correctly? Practise saying them. How are they connected with the topic?

pollution famine

survive drought

resources flood

disaster earthquake

Complete the table. Use the words in the sentences of your own.

Match the words to form compound words or phrases. Use them in the sentences of your own.

peace resources

civil settlement

natural warming

global war

Complete the definitions.

- Global warming is an increase in temperature caused by an increase in …

- A disaster is when something …

- A famine is a long period of time when …

- A flood is the result of too much …

- A drought happens when …

5. How can we help the environment? Complete the sentences with the verbs from the box.

1) We shouldn’t ……… away paper, bottles and cans; we should ……… them.

2) We shouldn’t ……… water and energy; we should ……… them.

3) We shouldn’t ……… down rainforests; we should ……… them from human damage.

A) Read the text and complete the sentence.

This text is about …………………………………………………………………

People are more worried about the environment (the air, water, and land around us) as a result of the harmful effects of human activity. Some of these activities cause pollution (dirty air, land or water) and some destroy the environment. Here are some of the problems:

1) the ozone layer: a layer of gases which stop harmful radiation from the sun reaching the earth; recent researches show that there is now a hole in parts of the ozone layers;

2) global warming: an increase in world temperature caused by an increase in carbon dioxide;

3) acid rain: rain that contains dangerous chemicals; this is caused by smoke from factories.

Because of these problems, there are many groups of people whose aim is conservation (the protection of natural things, e.g. plants and animals). They are often referred to as greens, e.g. ‘Greenpeace’ and ‘Friends of the Earth’.

Common causes of damage are smoke from factories, car exhaust fumes, dumping (throwing away) industrial waste in seas and rivers, aerosol cans (usually called sprays), cutting down tropical rainforests (e.g. the Amazon) which increases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

If we want to look after the environment, there are certain things we should do. We should recycle paper, bottles and clothes; save, keep and protect tropical rainforests; plant more trees; save water and energy.

B) Answer the questions.

1. Why are people worried about the environment?

2. What is pollution?

3. What are the major environmental problems?

4. What causes damage to the environment?

5. What is conservation?

6. What should we do to protect the environment?

C) Complete the word forks.

__________ __________

be worried about __________ cause __________

__________ __________

__________ __________

destroy __________ recycle __________

__________ __________

__________ __________

protect __________ save __________

__________ __________

D) Retell the text using the words and word combinations in bold type.

A) Read and translate the six mini-texts.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1853