ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Activity 1. Match the following English words with their Russian equivalents:
Part I
1) pollution a) предки
2) environment b) наследие
3) heritage c) поколение
4) source d) собственность
5) diversity e) отходы
6) forestry f) загрязнениесреды
7) charity g) окружающая среда
8) property h) источник
9) waste i) охрана лесов
10) generation j) разнообразие
11) ancestors k) благотворительность
Part II
12) soil 1) исчезновение
13) discharge m) виды животных
14) acidrains n) ущерб, порча
15) ozonelayer о) угроза
16) greenhouse effect р) вещества
17) species q) пестициды
18) extinction r) выбросы
19) fertilizers s) почва
20) pesticides t) кислотныедожди
21)threat u) парниковый эффект
22) substances v) озоновыйслой
23) damage w) удобрения
Activity 2.
Step 1.Match the following verbs with their Russian equivalents:
1) to conquer a) развиваться
2) to conserve b) заносить в список
3) to protect c) разрушать
4) to develop d) страдать
5) to participate e) поддерживать
6)to list f) завоёвывать
7)to demolish g) защищать
8) to support h) сохранять
9)to suffer i) участвовать
Step2.Fill in the sentences that are given below with one suitable verb, from Step1:
1.Do you know any people who_____the Green Party and _____in its work?
2.Could you possibly_____all the people who have come to_______this candidate?
3.I don't quite understand how we can _____ the natural heritage. – By restoring forests, cleaningrivers and so on.
4.In his attempt to ______ Nature, man killed many rare animals and birds.
5.In the 1930s on Stalin's order many beautiful cathedrals and churches were___.
6.When my friend comes to the centre of the city, he always_____from lack of fresh air.
7.Put on these gloves when you wash up, they will_____your hands from the washing liquid.
8.Donetsk started to _____even more rapidly after a railway was built there.
Activity 3. Match the words in the left column with their synonyms or explanations in the right column:
1) to alter a) to widen, to lengthen
2) to make an attempt b) to have, to possess
3) to demolish c) to count
4) to extend d) to confront
5) to own e) garbage, rubbish, trash
6) litter f) to hrow
7) to chop down g) to pull down, to destroy
8) to dump h) immediate
9) to increase i) shortening, making smaller
10) enterprises j) to cut down
11) urgent k) illness
12) reduction 1) to go up, to rise
13) disease m) plants and factories
14) to face n) to try
15) to calculate o) to change
Activity 4. Rank the following problems facing the world's environment according to your understanding of their importance. Give reasons you why think so:
- the rate at which we are using up our natural resources, that is supplies of raw materials, e.g. gas, coal, etc;
- the growing amount of waste;
- the «greenhouse effect», i.e. the gradual warming of the Earth's atmosphere which could meanchanges in the world's climate;
- the thinning of the ozone layer, i.e. a layer of gas high above the Earth's surface which helps to protectthe Earth from the Sun's ultraviolet rays;
- air pollution;
- water pollution;
- soil pollution;
- local environmental problems such as noise and litter.
Note: The climate of the Earth started to get warmer in 1976. Every decade the temperature rises approximately 0.2 degrees Celsius. It doesn't seem much but it leads to the growth of the number and the strength of hurricanes and other natural calamities.
Activity 5. Read the following texts and do the True/False activity that follows them:
Environmental protection in our country
For many centuries the people who lived on our planet before us had been trying to make their life easier and more comfortable. They thought that resources of the Earth were endless. They used those resources without thinking about the generations that would come after them. Our ancestors chopped down the forests, killed animals that lived there and invented machines and instruments that polluted the water, the air and the soil.
In the 19th century the word «ecology» was born, but the idea of environmental protection was not clear yet, and did not seem urgent for either the majority of the governments or common people. People still considered themselves «lords and kings of nature» and used its riches only as consumers.
In the 20th century, the rapid growth of science and technology resulted in an increasing negative effect on the biosphere of the Earth. Huge industrial enterprises pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land which gives us bread, vegetables and fruit. Their discharge of dust and gas into the atmosphere returns to the Earth in the form of acid rains. It also destroys the ozone layer of the Earth and causes «greenhouse effect». It affects forests, rivers, crops and people's health. This leads to the reduction of the life-span of man. People die younger because of cancer, AIDS and other diseases which are directly connected with the polluted environment they live in. Many species of animals and birds face extinction due to the pollution of the biosphere.
The world's oceans are in danger too. They are filled with poisonous industrial and nuclear waste, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Aral Sea in Russia is already dead, the Mediterranean and the North Sea are slowly dying.
The worstsituationwithair pollution is inbig overpopulated cities. In Cairo and Mexico City, for example, breathing is equivalent to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. The big industrial cities in Ukraine like Zaporizhiya, Donetsk, Kharkiv and some others have the same situation.
Another threat for the environment are nuclear power stations like Chernobyl. In April 1986 that nuclear power plant just north-west of Kyiv suffered the worst nuclear accident in history: dozens died immediately, tens of thousands were evacuated, while the long-term effects to human life are difficult to calculate. A large part of Ukraine, Russia and Byelorussia was polluted by radioactive substances. Great damage was done to their economy, nature and people’s health. The problem of Chernobyl has not been solved yet because of the economic difficulties that Ukraine is having now. The power plant was closed on December 15, 2000.
Nowadays people realize thatwithout solving environmental problems, the life of the future generations will be in real danger. Many people join the Green Party to unite their efforts to save the planet where we live, to make our world healthier and more beautiful.