How Green You Are

ТЕМА: How Green You Are

Give synonyms to the words:

1. rubbish a) to safeguard

2. pollution b) surrounding

3. to protect c) garbage

4. environment d) contamination

5. to ruin e) exhausts

6. disappearing f) to recycle

7. waste g) poisonous

8. dangerous h) to damage

9. to re-use i) extinct

Fill in the gaps with the words: cultivate, open, planet, both, save, turn off, running, switch off

I CAN SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT

You can do a lot to 1_ the environment. Please, remember to 2 _ the TV when you are not watching it. Don't forget to 3 _ the light when you leave the room. Don't leave the refrigerator door 4_. Draw and colour on 5 _ sides of paper. Don't leave the water 6 _ when you brush your teeth. 7 _ plants, for plants are the lungs of our 8 _.

Read the text and do the tasks.

THE COSTS OF PROGRESS

Human progress has reached the stage of intensive exploration of nuclear and solar energy, the World Ocean and outer space. It is evident now, however, that often man is adversely affecting the environment and his activity is sometimes fraught with fatal consequences.

It is becoming increasingly clear that man cannot and must not use his tremendous power so carelessly, interfere in nature and radically try to change it, without taking into account possible negative effects of his economic activity.

The more material wealth people create, the more they realize that they cannot but be concerned about how the biosphere is changing as a result of productive activity. Current ecological research shows that man, when overconcerned with technicism, far from turning deserts into oases, can turn oases into deserts, threatening to destroy everything on the Earth. In the 19th century and even in the 20th century, material production did not take into account the consequences which man’s interference may have in the distant future. In the 20th and 21st centuries such a consideration is becoming vitally important. The pollution of many species of plants and animals have now reached threatening proportions. An increasing influence on nature and using new technological processes may cause catastrophic results. Data concerning deaths from cancer say that more than 60 per cent of the cases are caused by various cancer-producing factors in the environment.

So, the urgent problem of today is to understand that we depend on the Earth, our mother, - that the environment is a wonderful, beautiful and complex system which is easily damaged by man’s thoughtless attacks upon it. It is a challenge for all of us to save it.

Decide if the following statements are true or false:

1. Human progress has reached the stage of cosmic pollution.

2. The intensive exploration of nuclear and solar energy adversely affects the environment.

3. Man uses his power carelessly.

4. People can and must interfere in nature trying to change it.

5. The material standard of people’s living has grown.

6. People are overconcerned with making more technical devices which could make their life better.

7. Two centuries ago people didn’t think much of the consequences of man’s interference in nature.

8. They don’t think of it in the current century.

9. In 60 per cent cancer is caused by various factors of polluted environment.

10. It is a very complicated problem to restore the unity between man and nature.

Answer the questions:

1. What stage has human progress reached?

2. What are the results of man’s affecting the environment?

3. What is the connection between the material wealth of people and changes in the biosphere?

4. Do scientists seek for the solution of the problem?

5. What does current ecological research show?

6. Did material production take into account the harmful consequences of progress two centuries ago?

7. Has this consideration changed in the 21st century?

8. What are the consequences of man’s intruding into nature?

9. What are the data concerning deaths from cancer?

10. Why should people solve this problem as soon as possible?

Read the text and fill each gap with one of these words and word combinations:

century, way, crashes, road accidents, to travel, public transport, person, traffic jam, pollute, timetable, too

THE ROAD TO RUIN

The M25, the motorway around London, opened in 1986. Today people call it the biggest car park in Europe. Every morning on the radio we hear about jams, road repairs, 1_______, and which parts of the M25 to avoid. One day soon we will hear "There is a traffic jam all the 2____ round the M25 in both directions. If you are driving to work, we advise you to go back home."

Winston Churchill described the car as the curse of the twentieth 3____. This will probably be true of the next century, 4____. It can be very funny to compare advertisements for cars with the reality of driving them. Cars are symbols of freedom, wealth, and masculinity. But when you are stuck in a 5____, all cars are just little metal boxes to sit in.

5,000 people a year are killed on British roads, and 40,000 are injured. For children, 6____ are a major cause of death.

Cities and towns all over the world have a huge problem, and no government really knows what to do. For one it is not a matter of technology which is stopping us. If we want to build two-level roads, we can do it. If we want trains which can travel at hundreds of miles an hour, we can build them.

The problem is a question of principle. Should we look to roads or railways for our transport needs? Should the Government or private companies control them? And either way, who should pay?

The people who believe in roads say that cars represent a personal choice 7____ when and where you want to. But on trains and buses – public transport – you have to travel when the 8_____ says you can. These people think that if you build more roads, the traffic will move more quickly, but research shows that if there are more roads, there will be more cars to fill them.

By 2012, the number of cars on our roads has doubled. Environmentalists are saying that we should put more money into 9____. Cars often carry just one 10_______. If the public transport system works, more people will use it. If trains carry more people, the roads won't be so crowded, and cars 11 _____ the air more than trains.

By 2025, just to park all the cars in Britain we'll need an area larger than London.

One characteristic of the people of the twentieth century is that we are a race on the move. But it is just possible that soon we won't be able to move another inch, and we'll have to stay exactly where we are!