DESTRUCTION OF THE TROPICAL FOREST
It's generally agreed that the destruction of the tropical forest has a major impact on the world climate. The tropical rain forest is a natural recycler, provider and protector for our planet. It recycles carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, helps determine temperature, rainfall and other climatic conditions and supports the most diverse ecosystem in the world. Deforestation could cause one fourth of all species on earth to vanish in the next 25 years. These forests in Amazonia, South-East Asia and West and Central Africa are being destroyed at an alarming rate of 42 million acres per year.
MEASURES TO BE TAKEN
We have only a few years to attempt to turn things around. We must review our wasteful, careless ways, we must consume less, recycle more, conserve wildlife and nature, act according to the dictum «think locally, think globally, act locally». To my mind, we are obliged to remove factories and plants from cities, use modern technologies, redesign and modify purifying systems for cleaning and trapping harmful substances, protect and increase the greenery and broaden ecological education. These are the main practical measures, which must be taken in order to improve the ecological situation.
Some progress has been already made in this direction. 159 countries-members of the UNO have set up environmental protection agencies. They hold conferences discussing ecological problems, set up environmental research centres and take practical urgent measures to avoid ecological catastrophe. There are numerous public organisations such as Greenpeace that are doing much to preserve environment.
The 5th of June is proclaimed the World Environmental Day by the UNO and is celebrated every year.
VII. Fill in the blanks with suitable words and word combinations from the text.
1. But now in the first decades of the 21st century we are at a ... ... . 2. It results from the release into the atmosphere of ... and ... ... that ... with water droplets and returns to the earth in the form of acid rain, ... or ... . 3. The life cycle is going to be ... by the ozone. 4. The tropical rain forest is a natural ... , ... and ... for our planet. 5. Sea levels would rise by several metres, ... coastal areas and ruining vast ... of farmland. 6. We must review our ... , ... ways, we must consume less, recycle more, ... wildlife and nature, act to the ... “think locally, think globally, act locally”.
VIII. Complete the sentences with the most suitable ending.
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1. Environment changes are the consequences of the
a) development of sport.
b) development of civilization.
c) Protection of the environment.
2. Acid rains are killing
a) forests in Canada, the USA, central and northern Europe.
b) towns in Africa.
c) animals all over the world.
3. In the ozone layer CFCs attack
a) spaceships and satellites, making holes.
b) birds, killing them.
c) the ozone molecules, making a “hole”.
4. Tropical rain forests recycle carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and help determine
a) temperature, rainfall and other climatic conditions.
b) level of the world ocean.
c) the development of science.
5. Huge areas would be
a) conserved and recycle.
b) infertile and become uninhabitable.
c) destroyed by US rays.
6. Practical measures must be taken to
a) flood coastal areas and vast tracts of farmland.
b) improve the ecological situation.
c) protect animals.
IX. Match the definitions from the list and the words from the frame below.
| permafrost ozone layer recycling rainforest wildlife habitat extinct environment acid rain |
- reaction of sulphur and nitrogen oxides with water droplets
- the natural or social conditions in which people live
- treating used substances so that they are fit to use again
- the natural home of a plant or animal
- the layer of soil that is permanently frozen
- hot, wet forest in tropical areas where rainfall is heavy and there is no dry season
- animals (and plants) which live in a wild state
- the layer which protects the Earth from the sun’s destructive UV rays
- gone forever
X. Answer the following questions.
1. What are the main ecological problems? 2. What sources of air and water can you name? 3. What damage do acid rains bring? 4. Why are the ozone “holes” dangerous for the life on the Earth? 5. Why is tropical rain forest a natural recycler, provider and protector for our planet? 6. Why did some species of animals, birds, plants disappear from the Earth? 7. How has the human race upset the nature balance? 8. What can you say about ecological situation in Belarus?
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