Texts on the topic «Ecologу. Ecological Problems»

Тексты по теме «Экология & Экологические проблемы» для активизации лексики при подготовке к экзамену. Тексты даются в порядке по возрастанию сложности. Предварительно рекомендуется повторить английские слова по теме «Ecology. Ecological Problems».

Содержание: 

1. Text №1 «Help wild animals»
2. Text №2 «Climatic changes»
3. Text №3 «Environmental problems» (for pre-intermediate)
4. Text №4 «Green peace»
5. Text №5 «Green fuel»
6. Text №6 «Ecological problems»
7. Text №7  «Protection of the environment in Russia»
8. Text №8 «Environmental problems» (for upper-intermediate)
9. Summary (Выводы)
10. Questions

Texts on the topic «Ecologу. Ecological Problems»

Text 1. Help Wild Animals

I think it is necessary to help wild animals. Many of them are in danger now. For example, pandas which live in the jungle and white bears which live in the Arctic.

White bears eat fish. If people pollute rivers and seas, animals die.

All woods are home to animals and birds. It is important to take care of them. If trees are damaged and flowers and grass are cut, birds and animals will become instinct.

Each of us can do something to help nature. We must not frighten animals and birds. We must never break plants or baby trees.

There are a lot of ways to help our planet. We must take care of it.

Questions:

1. How does the growth of cities influence nature?
2. How can people help wild animals?

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Text 2. Climatic Changes

Words:

1. carbon dioxide — углекислый газ
2. oxygen — кислород
3. heat – тепло
4. to get in — пропускать
5. to get out — выпускать

 Climate is a weather a certain place has over a long period of time. Climate has a very important influence on plants, animals and humans and is different in different parts of the world.

But recently the climate has changed a lot, especially in Europe. Scientists think that the reason is greenhouse effect.  It is caused by carbon dioxide (углекислый газ). Carbon dioxide is produced when we burn things. Also people and animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. As you know, trees take this gas from air and produce oxygen. But in the last few years people have cut down and burn big areas of rainforest. This means that there are fewer trees and more carbon dioxide.

This gas in the atmosphere works like glass in a greenhouse. It lets heat get in, but it doesn’t let much heat get out. So the atmosphere becomes warmer.

Greenhouse effect is sometimes called global warming.

Questions:

1. What is climate like?
2. What do you know about greenhouse effect?
3. What role does carbone dioxide play in the process of global warming?

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Text 3. Environmental problems (for pre-intermediate)

Words:

1. severely polluted — сильно загрязнены
2. harmful substances  — вредные вещества

We are the caretakers of the earth. We know that polluted air, water and land are harmful to plants, animals and people. In Russia there a lot of regions which are severely polluted. It is plants that pollute our atmosphere with tons of harmful substances. These are very dangerous wastes. They go into the air and are carried by winds for great distances.

60% of the air pollution is caused by different means of transport: cars, trucks, buses.

Then we must remember that when we use aerosol sprays, we destroy the ozone layer which protects the Earth from the dangerous ultraviolet rays of the sun.

The list of serious environmental problems can be continued …..

Questions:

1. What kinds of pollution can you name?
2. What is the main source of air pollution?
3. What do you know about the ozone layer?

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Text 4. Green Peace

Green Peace is an international environmental organization which fights against the pollution of the environment. It was founded in 1969 by a group of Canadian environmentalists. Members of Green Peace appear in the places where the environment is endangered. They always act fast.

The world knows about the Green Peace action to stop hunting whales or killing baby seals. They block the way to the ships that try to dump waste, and work hard to create a nuclear-free world.

The activity of Green Peace often annoys governments, companies and people who don’t care about the future of the world.

Green Peace has offices in many countries, including Russia. People, who can’t take part in Green Peace actions directly support this organization with money.

Green Peace members are often called “greens”. The “greens” are group of people whose aim is protection of natural things, e.g. plants and animals.

Questions:

1. How can we save the world’s wildlife?
2. What do you know about Green Peace?
3. Would you like to join the organization?

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Text 5. Green Fuel

Words:

1. fuel — топливо
2. biotechnology [ˌbaɪəutek’nɔləʤɪ] – биотехнология
3. environmentally friendly — экологически чистый
4. to derive from– получать, извлекать
5. emission – выделение
6. to penetrate — завоевывать, проникать
7. finite – ограниченный, исчерпаемый
8. fossil – ископаемое

A new low-cost fuel is being developed by a biotechnology company. It is called biobutanol and is expected to be the best environmentally friendly fuel for transport.

Butanol is derived from waste plant material (biomass) and is an attractive replacement for petrol.

It reduces not only CO₂ emissions but also our dependence on finite fossil fuels.

The UK’s Minister for Science said: “The development of biofuels is expected to play a major part in reducing transport emissions. Climate change is a huge global problem. We believe the UK must put its best efforts towards developing the new technologies.”

Questions:

1. How can people save nature resources?
2. What is the most promising fuel of the future?
3. Why is butanol environmentally-friendly?

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Text 6. Ecological Problems

Ecology is a science which studies the relationship between all forms of life on our planet and the environment.

Since ancient times Nature has served Man, giving him everything he needs: air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, wood for building and fuel for heating his home.  For thousands of years people lived in harmony with the environment and it seemed to them that the resources of Nature had no end or limit.

With the industrial revolution our negative influence on Nature began to increase.  Large cities with thousands of polluting plants and factories can be found nowadays all over the world. They pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the fields where our crops are grown. Big cities suffer from smog. Cars with their engines have become the main source of polluting in industrial countries.

Vast forests are cut down everywhere for the needs of industries. As a result many kinds of animals, birds, fish and plants are disappearing nowadays.

The pollution of the air and the world’s oceans and the thinning the ozone layer are the other problems arising from men’s careless attitude to ecology.

Active measures should be taken to save the life on our planet. There is an international organization called Greenpeace which is doing much to preserve the environment.

Questions to the text on ecological problems:

1. Why are the wild animals in danger?
2. What climatic changes are the most threatening?
3. Is there any way to make our air cleaner
4. What is Green Peace?
5. What are the main ecological problems?

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Text 7. Protection of the Environment in Russia

There are many big and small rivers, green forests, high mountains, lakes and seas in Russia. There are a lot of industrial enterprises in our country, that’s why we can’t ignore the problem of the protection of our environment. In Russia and former Soviet republics there are some areas where the environment is in poor state. It is the Aral Sea, Lake Baikal and Chernobyl. We have to control atmospheric and water pollution, to study man’s influence on the climate.

The pollution of the environment influences the life of animals, plants and human life. If we don’t use chemicals in a proper way we’ll pollute our environment. Our plants and factories put their waste materials into water and atmosphere and pollute the environment. There are many kinds of transport in our big cities, that ‘s why we must pay attention to the protection of our nature and the health of the people.

Now radiation has become one of the main problems. It is not good for health of people. Many people died from radiation some years ago in Chernobyl. It was a tragedy.

Another problem is earthquakes. We know some terrible earthquakes in the world. Our scientists try to forecast earthquakes, then we can protect ourselves from them.

The people all over the world do everything to protect nature, to make their country richer, to make their life happier. We need to haves laws and decisions on this important subject.

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Text 8. Environmental problems (for upper-intermediate)

Words:

1. exceptionally – исключительно
2. interference – вмешательство
3. degree — степень
4. involve – вовлекать
5. industrial enterprises –промышленные предприятия
6. in addition to – в добавление к
7. present — представлять
8. a threat – угроза
9. a source – источник

The present environmental problems have become exceptionally urgent. If many years ago people lived in harmony with the environment, today their interference in the Nature has reached such a degree that it becomes dangerous for their lives.  And if the same tendencies remain for the next years, our planet will soon become uninhabited. The ecological problems are not the problems of a single isolated country. They are global in character and involve all countries in the world.  The ecological problems have much in common. The main problem is pollution. It is not a secret that  every year more and more industrial enterprises are built.

And they have a very bad effect on the environment. They pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land that grain and vegetables grow on.

In addition to air pollution people upset the oxygen balance of our planet because people cut down forests and woods. One of the most dangerous things is radiation. There is a greаt number of nuclear power stations. They have many advantages for the industry, but they present a threat for the life.

Nature is a source of our life and destroying it we destroy ourselves. People forget that natural resources are not endless even though they seem unlimited. Nature has enough resources for the present generation. But their amount becomes less with every year. To protect nature is a duty of all people.

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Summary (Выводы:)

• Water pollution, which is caused by plants & factories, by testing nuclear weapons, dumping industrial waste.

ПРИМЕР. Thousands of fish die every year as a result of the illegal dumping of waste.

• Air pollution, which is caused both by buses and cars and also by plants and factories.

ПРИМЕР. One of the effects of air pollution is acid rain. It is damaging to water, forests and soil resources. It is blamed for disappearance of fish from many lakes, for the wide-spread death of forests in European mountains.

• Land pollution, which is caused by nuclear waste, dumps (свалки), dirty water, fertilizers, pesticides.

ПРИМЕР It is interesting to know that the main source of pollution are children under two years old, because every second a “pampers” is dumped.

• Atmospheric change which leads to climatic changes (because of the greenhouse effect), the increasing radiation from the sun (because the ozone layer is thinning).

• Nuclear pollution (=radioactive contamination), which is caused by nuclear power stations if they go wrong. Such nuclear accident happened in Chernobyl. In 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear power station suffered a fire, which causes radioactive contamination of a lot of regions. As a result many people died, those who had survived suffered terrible deceases till the end of their life.
• Leak of radiation as a result of improper nuclear-waste disposal (утечка радиации из-за неправильного захоронения ядерных отходов)

People need wood for building furniture. Every day  they use paper and cardboard, which is also made from wood. But every day some species (kinds) of animals and plants disappear from the Earth. It’s the result of the pollution air, land and water. Also some animals are hunted for the sake of fur, ivory, horns or tusks. More than that, cutting down trees people have turned the areas of thick forest into deserts. The animals simply have no place to live as their habitats are destroyed.

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Questions on the topic «Ecological problems»

1. What can common people do to protect nature (to stop pollution)? / What measures should be taken to protect nature?
2. What can you personally do to help nature?
3. Why is it dangerous to pollute land?
4. What can pollution of air and water lead to?
5. What can you say about global warming?
6. What do you know about Green Peace?
7. Why are the nuclear power stations so dangerous for people? What do you know about Chernobyl?
8. Why are forests important for life on the Earth?
9. What are the main ecological problems nowadays?
10. What must people do to protect wild animals?
11. Do you think that life was better in the past (the air was cleaner, the water was purer)?
12. What may happen to our planet if our interference in the Nature remains the same?
13. What are advantages and disadvantages of the industrial progress?
14. What is the dramatic result of cutting down forests and woods?
15. What would you suggest to attract people to the problems of pollution and ecology?
16. What can you say about the present ecological situation? Is the problem of environmental protection urgent today?
17. What does nature give to man?
18. How is the problem solved today?
19. Is acid rain damaging to nature?
20. What do you know about radioactive contamination of environment?
21. Why do some species of animals and plants disappear from the Earth?
22. What cause the “greenhouse effect”?
23. Has anything been done to solve ecological problems?
24. What does the ozone layer protect the Earth from?
25. Where does the carbon dioxide come from?

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ОТВЕТЫ:

1. What can common people do to protect nature?

• to stop pollution ( use filters, recycle waste, develop new technologies)
• to save natural resources
• to take care of nature ( not to cut down forests, etc.)

People must do something! For example, to protect water people make special filters and air purifiers. People must collect waste properly so it does not get into water or land and also recycle. There is a good formula of RRR. It is Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

But I think the best solution is to develop technologies which produce no waste. There are also some alternatives to cleaners and pesticides, soda, for example. Also solar energy  can be used instead of fossil fuels (ископаемое топливо).

People also should not cut down forests and other plants. To protect animals they must organize National parks and Wildlife reservations.

Nuclear bombs testing must be stopped to prevent radioactive contamination of the atmosphere.

2. What can you personally do to help nature?

To protect nature people should change their attitude to it. Man should stop taking everything he needs. It is good that at last people start to realize that they should keep air and water clean. Efforts are made to reduce pollution from automobile engines. What can we common people do? I think the first and the simplest thing is to keep our environment clean, clear away the rubbish after yourselves, be careful with the fire.  The other thing that we should cultivate a sense of duty in our children, in our youth to take care of our nature, our planet.

We can reduce the usage of electricity and drinking water. For example, when you clean your teeth and let the water run, you lose two or three liters of water. Now multiply 3 liters by the number of people in our city and you will see that it is a lot. But we can stop it if we switch off the water. We can reduce the usage of packing and buying things in plastic packs. It is important because it is very difficult to recycle plastic. If we reuse plastic bags, the factories will produce less of them and will harm Nature less.

In short: I can reduce the usage of gas, electricity and water. I can reuse many things (clothes, for example), paper, bottles.

 3. Why is it dangerous to pollute land? 

We eat plants, but if the land is polluted, the plants become poisonous. If we eat them, we ruin our health. The same is with water.

4. What can pollution of air and water lead to?

4. What can you say about global warming?

Over the past two decades the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere has gradually increased. Global warming is one of the climatic effects of polluted air. It worries a lot of people. If the temperature rises, the Arctic ice will melt and cover the land.

5. What do you know about Green Peace?

Green Peace organizes campaigns to protect Nature. See Text №4

6. Why are the nuclear power stations so dangerous for people? What do you know about Chernobyl?

Nuclear power stations can went wrong and cause the radioactive contamination of the environment. Everyone remembers Chernobyl’s disaster. There was a nuclear accident in 1986. Many people died from radiation there. Those who had survived suffered from terrible deceases for the rest of their lives.

7. Why are forests important for life on the Earth?

They produce oxygen and give home for wild animals.

8. What are the main ecological problems nowadays? 

See the summary.

9. What must people do to protect wild animals?

To protect animals they must organize National parks and Wild life reservations.

10. Do you think that life was better in the past (the air was cleaner, the water was purer)?

11. What may happen to our planet if our interference in the Nature remains the same?

The ecological balance of our planet will be broken. If pollution and contamination of land, water and air continues the damage caused by this to nature may become irreversible. If people carry on like this, the world will eventually run out of energy, fresh air and clean water. It can bring to the extermination of the people, and turning the whole planet into either a desert or the North Pole. People couldn’t walk without special masks and had to buy air to breathe. It would be a disaster.

13. What are advantages and disadvantages of the industrial progress?

14. What is the dramatic result of cutting down forests and woods?

15. What would you suggest to attract people to the problems of pollution and ecology?

16. What can you say about the present ecological situation? Is the problem of environmental protection urgent today?

Yes, the problem of protection the nature is of primary importance today. Through their daily activities people pollute and contaminate land, water and air. If it continues the damage may become irreversible. People have always polluted their surroundings. But it was not a serious problem as long as there was enough space for people to live. Nowadays with the rise of advanced technology, the rapid spread of industrialization and the increase of human populations pollution has become a universal problem. The price for rapid industrial development is very high: natural resources are exhausted, the ecological balance of the planet is disturbed.

17. What does nature give to man? 

See text №6.

 18. How is the problem solved today?

There are some anti-pollution organizations. The most famous of them is Green peace.

The mass media often campaign against different acts of polluting nature. Numerous anti-pollution acts are passed in different countries.

19. Is acid rain damaging to nature?

One of the effects of air pollution is acid rain. It is damaging to water, forests and soil resources. It is blamed for disappearance of fish from many lakes, for the wide-spread death of forests in European mountains.

20. What do you know about radioactive contamination of environment?

Radioactive materials from nuclear weapons could cause serious damage to environment.

Another concern is accidents at nuclear power plants. In 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev suffered a fire, resulting in a major release of radioactive particles.

21. Why do some species of animals and plants disappear from the Earth?

The disappearance of some species is the result of the pollution air, land and water. City and industrial waters, chemicals and fertilizers endanger fish in the lakes, rivers and ponds. Moreover some animals were exterminated (истреблены) because of people greediness.

These animals were hunted for the sake of  fur, ivory, horns or tusks. Also cutting down trees people have turned the areas of thick forest into deserts. The animals simply have no place to live.

22. What cause the “greenhouse effect”?

The “greenhouse effect” is caused by carbon dioxide, which prevents heat from escaping. Global warming or the “greenhouse effect” can cause melting of the polar ice, raising of the sea level and flooding of the coast areas of the world.

23. Has anything been done to solve ecological problems?

In recent years people have understood the necessity of protecting natural resources and wildlife. It becomes clear that to keep air and water clean, strict pollution control is necessary. Numerous pollution acts passed in different countries. This led to considerable improvements. In many countries measures have been taken to protect rivers and seas from oil contamination, purifying systems for industrial water have been installed. Reservations and national parks for wild animals and undisturbed nature are being developed in some parts of the world.

24. What does the ozone layer protect the Earth from?

It protects the Earth from space radiation. It is being destroyed because through many process  poisonous gases are thrown out into the air.

25. Where does the carbon dioxide come from?

• We produce it when we burn things.
• People and animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.
• Trees take this gas from air and produce oxygen. But in the last few years people have cut down and burn big areas of rainforest. This means that there are fewer trees and more carbon dioxide.