|
|
ENVIRONMENT SHOULD BE OUR COMMON CONCERN
It has been repeatedly said that a society, which turns its back on nature, is doomed. Many people today believe that the dominant forces of global society are, in fact, ignoring Nature’s needs. Everywhere the natural environment is being over-exploited, weakened and soiled. Man uses atmosphere as both, a resource and a place for depositing wastes. He takes from atmosphere oxygen as a necessary ingredient for his industrial activities and for his own biological processes. He returns to it a mixture of gases and solids, the by products of combustion, respiration and other energy-transmitting activities. The historical development of urbanization and industrialization has produced geographical regions where the natural balance is disturbed. Evidence abounds that the dangers of uncontrolled industrialization are leading to the pollution of lakes and rivers and human tragedies like those which occurred at Bhopal (India), where thousands of people died as a result of a deadly gas leak from a chemical plant in 1984 or at Chernobyl atomic power plant (Ukraine) in 1986. Just as obvious are the large-scale losses of the cover, soils and biological diversity as a result of uncontrolled economic development, and the horrors of chemical-warfare and nuclear power testing. We have all experienced the results of air pollution, a shortage of drinking water, the ruin of forests, soil degradation, etc. As a result people are affected directly or indirectly. Some effects are direct and evoke physiological response (eye irradiation, respiratory diseases, etc.), other effects are indirect, but nonetheless disturbing. Women, for instance, have learned that their breast milk is contaminated with dioxin, that pesticides and herbicides are present in ground water. They are told that the life-giving sun is becoming dangerous due to a weakened ozone layer, that children everywhere are vulnerable to genetic disorders caused by contaminated environment. As the planet’s natural resources diminish, and a growing world population increases demands on those resources, competition for accesses to then will escalate. This struggle for limited resources will result in new resource wars. The major environmental threat to life on Earth is the weakening of the ozone layer. The Earth’s ozone shield – the vital layer of the atmosphere – protects all living creatures from the damaging effects of the Sun’s rays. Recent scientific research proved data that the protective layer of ozone around our planet is under severe attack. The major cause of weakening of the ozone layer is believed to be the increasing amount of harmful chemicals that are being released into the atmosphere by mankind. Many scientists warn that the chemicals in spray cans also add to the destroying of the Earth ozone shield. Scientists’ stress that a further one percent drops in the overall ozone layer can cause an increase of skin cancer. The air contamination due to man’s economic activity is bringing mankind to the greenhouse effect. It appears when CO and certain other gases in the atmosphere allow the sun’s ultra-violet rays to penetrate and warm the earth but then absorb the infrared energy, the earth radiates back into space forming a kind of thermal blanket around the Earth. Acid rains and forest fires play their role in the destruction of forests. As a consequence the ruin of forests brings about ecological disaster. Machine tillage of the soil affects its natural fertility, while the ever-growing application of fertilizers and pesticides damages nature by changing the ecological conditions of human habitation. Basing on the above said one can conclude that environmental protection is a task requiring the joint efforts of the entire world population, of government agencies, and public organizations throughout the world. Environmental ignorance inevitably aggravates the conflict between man and nature. This conflict can be avoided by fostering a scientific ecological education. TEXT-BASED ASSIGNMENTS I. Form nouns of the verbs by means of the following suffixes: - tion,
II. Try to identify the part of speech of the following words according to the word-building elements: over-exploited, weakened, industrial, uncontrolled, to pollute, wastes, solids, genetic, demands, limited (resources), skin (cancer).
III. Interpret the meaning of the following correlated words: 1. Industry – industrial – industrialization. 2. Control – controlled – uncontrolled. 3. To pollute – pollution – pollutants. 4. To contaminate – contaminated – contamination. 5. To protect – protection – protective. 6. To develop – developed – development. 7. Scientists – scientific.
IV. Match the Ukrainian and English equivalents: 1. Oxygen a) згоряння 2. Wastes b) забруднення 3. Combustion c) руйнувати 4. Severe d) проникати 5. Contamination e) кисень 6. To destroy f) хвороба 7. To penetrate g) побічний продукт 8. Disease h) лихо 9. By-products i) суворий 10. Disaster j) сміття
V. Find out: a) synonyms b) antonyms 1. Polluted a) escalation 1. Controlled a) indirectly 2. Destruction b) contaminated 2. Directly b) to radiate back 3. Increase c) destroying 3. Order c) disorder 4. Absorb d) uncontrolled 5. Increase e) indirectly VI. Give English equivalents: Продукти згоряння, ядерні випробування, атомна електростанція, жива істота, теплова ковдра, кислотний дощ, місце проживання, шкідливі хімікати, природна рівновага, бути приреченим, побічні продукти.
VII. Decide whether the statements are true or not. Correct the wrong ones: 1. The natural balance is disturbed in urbanized areas. 2. The ozone layer is weakened and the life-giving sun is becoming dangerous. 3. Acid rains and forest fires do not destruct the forests. 4. Machine tillage enriches the soil. 5. The conflict between man and nature can be avoided by fostering a scientific ecological education.
VIII. Answer the following questions: 1. Is the natural environment being over-exploited? 2. How does a man use the atmosphere? 3. What are the effects of uncontrolled economic development? 4. Why is the life-giving sun becoming dangerous for people? 5. What will the struggle for limited resources result in? 6. What does the Earth’s ozone shield protect all living creatures from? 7. What does the earth radiate back into space? 8. How do acid rains and forest fires influence the life of man? 9. What damages nature by changing the ecological conditions of human habitation? 10. Environment protection requires joint efforts of the entire world population of government agencies, and public organizations the world over, doesn’t it? IX. Translate the following sentences into English: 1. Суспільство приречено, якщо воно не звертає увагу на довкілля. 2. Неконтрольована індустріалізація забруднює річки та озера. 3. Ми відчуваємо на собі вплив ядерних випробувань: забруднення повітря, питної води та землі. 4. Через забруднення довкілля люди страждають від таких захворювань, як рак шкіри та респіраторні захворювання. 5. Забруднена екологія викликає генетичні захворювання, чи не так? 6. Озоновий шар захищає всі живі істоти від руйнівного впливу сонячних променів. 7. Забруднення повітря може спричинити загибель людства. 8. Необхідні спільні зусилля всього людства, урядів та суспільних світових організацій, щоб уникнути конфлікту між людиною та природою.
X. Do you know that: 22 March – World Day for Water Without water, life could not exist. Because water is essential to all life,we must manage it intelligently and carefully, we think there’s plenty of it – in oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams. It may even seem as though we have more water than we need. Water is essential to people in more ways than you might think. We need water for cooking, bathing, transportation and recreation. We eat aquatic plants and animals. We use water to irrigate our crops and to manufacture products. Most of the water on earth – 97 percent – is sail-water stored in ocean. Only about three percent of the earth’s water is fresh wafer – and most of that is locked up in ice caps and glaciers. There will never be any more water on earth than there is now. The same water is simply recycled over and over again. Just think – the water we are using now is the very same water that the dinosaurs used millions of years ago.
  Что будет с Землей, если ось ее сместится на 6666 км? Что будет с Землей? - задался я вопросом...  ЧТО ТАКОЕ УВЕРЕННОЕ ПОВЕДЕНИЕ В МЕЖЛИЧНОСТНЫХ ОТНОШЕНИЯХ? Исторически существует три основных модели различий, существующих между...  ЧТО ПРОИСХОДИТ, КОГДА МЫ ССОРИМСЯ Не понимая различий, существующих между мужчинами и женщинами, очень легко довести дело до ссоры...  Живите по правилу: МАЛО ЛИ ЧТО НА СВЕТЕ СУЩЕСТВУЕТ? Я неслучайно подчеркиваю, что место в голове ограничено, а информации вокруг много, и что ваше право... Не нашли то, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском гугл на сайте:
|