HOME IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT Topic: My Flat (House) TOPICAL VOCABULARY

Tropical rain forests are home to half the world’s plant and animal species, and they play a critical role in purifying the Earth’s air and water. Land development in the past 30 years has destroyed great regions of the tropical rain forest.

Read the facts below about the rain forest. Use the question prompts to make complete sentences in the present perfect tense about the great environmental problems that we face if we lose the rain forest. The first problem has been done for you as an example.

1. Three thousand years ago, tropical rain forests covered three million square miles of the Earth’s surface; now they cover half that area.

(How much of the world’s tropical rain forest have we already lost?)

We have already lost one-half of the world’s tropical rain forests.

2. In Central America, the rain forest was formerly three times as large as it is today.

(How much of the rain forest in Central America has already disappeared?)

3. There may be 30 million different plant and animal species on Earth; scientists know about only 1.4 million.

(What percent of the Earth’s plants and animal species have scientists discovered? What percent have they not yet discovered?

4. The rain forest contains 2,500 kinds of edible fruits; most people know only a few of them.

(How many of the rain forest plants with possible medicinal value have scientists examined? How many have they not yet examined?)

5. About one quarter of all Western medicines have come from tropical plants.

(How many medicines have come from other than natural sources?

6. Scientists have found 70 plants from the rain forest to be possible cures for cancer; probably more have healing power that is still undiscovered.

(How many plants for cancer have scientists not yet discovered?)

7. The survival rate (коэффициент выживаемости) for leukemia (cancer of the blood) in 1980 was 20 percent; now the survival rate is 80 percent because of a drug found in the rain forest of Madagascar.

(How has the rain forest plant drug improved the survival rate for children with leukemia?

Exercise 3. Discuss the text answering the questions.

1. In what countries did early civilized people start cultivating plants?

2. Why did ancient people test different plants upon themselves?

3. Can garlic be used for the prevention and treatment of a wide range of health problems? Give the examples.

4. Does Valerian have fewer or more side effects than prescription sleeping pills?

5. What can you say about useful properties of Echinacea?

6. What plants contain cardiac glycosides used to treat heart problems?

7. Is it necessary to consult a doctor before taking herbal medicine. If, yes, why?

8. What other purpose may plants be used for? Illustrate your answer with the examples.

Read and translate without a dictionary.

There is a growing number of studies suggesting that animals use plants as drugstores. Biologists suspect that animals doctor themselves by using plants as preventive measure.

Chimpanzees often eat leaves of the shrub (кустарник) Vernonia amygdalin when they are tired or sick. The plant is used by African tribes to cure the same symptoms. Similarly chimpanzees eat leaves of Aspilia, a member of a sunflower family. These leaves contain thiarurbine A, a red sulfur-containing oil that kills pathogenic bacteria and parasitic worms (глисты). Humans use extracts of the oil as anticancer drugs.

World rhesus monkeys often eat dirt with their food. That dirt contains much kaolin, a clay that detoxifies many poisons and is active ingredient in Kopectate an antidiarrheal medicine

Test

Test 1

Test 2

HOME IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT Topic: My Flat (House) TOPICAL VOCABULARY

Our Flat

Our family lives in a flat in Kirovohrad. We have a three-room flat in a multistory block of flats of modern construction. Our windows look out over the river. There's a big yard with the children's playground near our house. There are some shops here and it is very convenient.

Our flat is neither big nor small. It is on the fifth floor. We moved here four years ago. Its number is 36. We have all modern conveniences in our flat: cold and hot running water, central heating, electricity and the telephone. Our flat has 3 rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a hall.

Our hall is rather small. We keep only a hall-stand, a mirror and a small chest of drawers with a telephone on it there.

Our living-room is the largest in the flat. It is light, because it has two big windows. You can see a piano on the left. There is a small round stool near the piano. The piano is new and black. The colour TV-set is on the right. You can see an armchair and a sofa near the TV- set. There is also a round table in the middle of the room. A thick carpet lies spread on the floor. You can see four chairs round the table. The set of wall units is on the left. There are some pictures of modern painters on the walls. The walls are soft green and the curtains match the walls.

We celebrate our family holidays, receive guests and watch TV there. I like our living-room and I often spend my free time watching TV and reading newspapers and magazines in it.

My parents' bedroom is not large but it has a balcony looking out on the park. There is not much furniture in this room: a double bed with two bedside cabinets, a wardrobe and a dressing table with a mirror. White net curtains make the room lighter.

I have my own room. It is the smallest in the flat. My room is not very light, because there is only one window. The furniture in my room is simple. There is a sofa on the right on which I sleep at night and take a rest in the day time. A small desk at which I usually do my lessons is at the window. There are two chairs at the desk and a TV set in the corner of the room. There is also a wardrobe to keep my clothes and a bookcase containing my collection of books. You can see Russian and English books there. I give my room a regular cleaning and tidying as I want it to look cosy and comfortable. I like my room very much. When my friends come to see me I invite them into my room. We watch TV, listen to music or just chat.

Our kitchen looks like any other kitchen you can see in modern blocks of flats. It is small but very comfortable. The furniture in the kitchen is not dark, it is light. There is a dining-table with four stools round it, a fridge and a cupboard there. If I mention a nice picture and a wall clock above the table, net curtains on the window and pot plants on its sill, it will be practically all that we have in the kitchen. But it is the real centre of our family life. We meet here every morning and every evening. We usually have breakfast and supper in the kitchen. Here we listen to the radio and get to know the latest news. Here we share our plans and our troubles.

Our bathroom is near the kitchen. It is small. There is nothing special in it, just the usual set of facilities for such a place: a bath-tub with a shower, a wash-basin with a mirror above it and a towel rack. There is also a shelf for washing things and a mat on the floor. You can see a washing-machine near the door.We all like our flat. My friends say that it is a good one.

Ex.3 What are the English words for these common objects that you can find in most houses? Choose the correct item:

1. Use the right word from those given in brackets:

1. There is a ... in my study room, (table, kitchen, desk)

2. Is there any ...in that room? (cooker, furniture, fridge)

3. There is no ...in the house, it is cold in winter. (mirror, fireplace, telephone)

4. Is there ... in your kitchen? (hot water, garage, computer)

5. There is no balcony in my ... . (garden, room, bathroom)

6. There are two large ... in the sitting room. (TV sets, wardrobes, windows)

7. Is there a ... in your sitting room? (bath, desk, TV set)

3. We have a table and some ...in the dining room. (chairs, bookshelves, beds)

9. Have you got any bookshelves in your ...? (kitchen, garden, study room)

10. They have no ... on Sunday. (visitors, teachers, students) 11. They have two ... near the fireplace. (beds, armchairs, tables) 12. ... the sofa he has a bookcase. (under, to the right of, over)

Kinds of housing. Put each of the following words or phrases into its correct place in the passage below.

Kinds of Housing

About two-thirds of the........ in the United states live in single-family …….. . About a …….of the families live in ……. that have two to four ……., or in …….or other commercial buildings that include apartments.

…………..cities have more apartment housing than small ….. , because …….is scarce and ….. . Small towns and ……areas, where land is …….expensive than in city centres, have mostly …….homes.

Philadelphia and other ….. have many ……houses. These are usually single-family houses, one or two …… high, standing ……to wall. A ….. is a building with two apartments, either ….. by side with a ……. wall ….. them, or one …. the other.

3. Complete the following sentences.

1. In front of the house ... . 2.I live in a flat. We have three rooms. They are .... 3. In the middle of the room .... 4. On the walls .... 5. On the left .... 6. To the right of the TV-set ... . 7. Next to the sofa ... . 8. Next to the door ... . 9. In the kitchen ....10. In the bathroom ... . 11. In the study .... 12. Next to the ... there is ... . 13. There is ... between .... and .... 14. To the right of the ... . 15. In the sitting-room ... . 16. Opposite the fireplace .... 17. Under the window ... . 18. In the chest of drawers ....19. In the sideboard ... .20. At the back of the house ....

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 1918