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LESSON 1: WORLD’S CALLING SOS
Lesson 1
UNIT 4
WORLD’S CALLING SOS
– Make a list of top ten environmental problems you can think of. – Which of them are caused by human actions? – Which of them are the most dangerous for our planet/your area? Why?
VOCABULARY
1. Label the pictures with the following types of pollution.
2. Read the extracts and tell what types of pollution they describe.
land pollution / water pollution / air pollution / noise pollution
TYPES OF POLLUTION
1) ________: Toxic chemicals, dirt and trash found in the water hurt the skin of people swimming in them, kill sea animals, produce horrendous smell, etc. 2) ________: Living in noisy overcrowded towns has become dangerous because it can cause headaches, earaches, and deafness. 3) ________: Toxic substances found in food and air enter the land, accumulate in our bodies and result in poor health like weakness, pains, aches disease and sickness. 4) ________: Because factories release fumes, the air people breathe is polluted. Other well-known effects of fumes are smog, acid rain, and holes in the ozone layer.
3. Match the phrasal verbs to their meanings.
1) dry up 2) cut down 3) run out of 4) use up 5) cut back on 6) to go up/down a) decrease the use b) use up the available supply c) fall/reduce d) increase/decrease e) disappear as if by evaporation, draining f) exhaust of strength or useful properties
4. Сhoose the best alternative to complete each sentence.
1) The rivers are using up/drying up because it hasn’t rained for a long time in some hot spots of our planet. 2) The trees are cut down/run out without being replaced. 3) The planet is using up/running out of precious resources like oil and fresh water. 4) We shouldn’t cut back on/use up all our resources; we have to think of the future. 5) We should recycle to cut back on/cut down all the waste we produce. 6) Because whales are hunted, their numbers are going up/going down. 7) The number of species on the endangered lists is going up/going down.
READING
4. Read the following paragraphs. Complete them with the missing words. Do the paragraphs mention any environmental problems that are not in the list you wrote at the beginning of the lesson?
threats / pollutants / waste / greed / consumption
1) Human greed
It is us, people, who are the 1) _________ of most environmental problems below. People are the reason why the climate changes. Human _________ and disrespect for the rest of the world combined with uncontrolled resource and energy 2) _________ and armed conflicts and wars are the most serious 3) _________ to nature regionally and locally. Humans negatively impact the environment through industrial 4) _________ dumped in waterways and destroying forest.
4) Unsustainable agriculture
People need to eat, but the way we 1) _________ our food today raises a number of 2) _________ issues about the environment. Water is 3) _________ with fertilizers and pesticides. Genetically modified crops are not only 4) _________ for human health, they are 5) _________ for the environment.
developing / diseases /drinking / issues / population 2) Poverty in the developing world
More than 80 percent of the world’s 1) _________ lives in extreme poverty in slums or in rural areas of 2) _________ countries. Bad situation and lack of 3) _________ water, good food and wood for cooking lead to serious environmental 4) _________ . Infectious 5) _________ continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world.
resources / growing / result / amounts
3) Growing human population
Global human population growth 1) _________ to around 83 million annually. Today over 7 billion people live on the Earth and the 2) _________ is huge pressure on the world’s 3) _________. It is expected to keep 4) _________, and estimates have put the total population at 8.6 billion by 2030.
polluted / damaging / produce / controversial / harmful
deforestation / supports/ exploitation / destruction / threatened / impact 5) Biodiversity loss
Biodiversity 1) _________ the health of the planet and has a direct 2) _________ on all our lives. The 3) _________ of forests for wood, fuel and agricultural land has led to massive 4) _________. It is a major contributor to the fast loss of plant and animal species. Similarly, life in oceans which 5) _________ the greatest variety of life on earth is 6) _________ by overfishing, petrochemicals, coastal development, the effects of climate change and many other factors.
5. Match the two halves of the sentences. Choose one and illustrate it with some reallife examples.
1) A great number of environmental problems 2) More than 1 billion people in the world 3) Soon there will be lack of 4) Life in oceans is 5) Climate change is 6) The fast loss of species is 7) The major contributor to air 8) The growing human population puts a)pollution is industry. b)threatened by overfishing. c) pressure on resources. d)live in extreme poverty. e) caused by deforestation. f)one of the most challenging issues facing humanity. g)are caused by people. h)clean fresh water in some regions of the world.
Lesson 1
UNIT 4
Lesson 1
UNIT 4
LISTENING
6. Listen to the recording about the life on the Earth and write the synonyms to the words below. What is your attitude to the information you heard? consume / become extinct / become endangered / cut down / litter / indifference 7. Listen to the recording again and answer the questions.
1) What determines life on the Earth? 2) How long has humankind been damaging the planet? 3) What produces acid rain and why is acid rain dangerous? 4) How can we change this situation?
GRAMMAR
GRAMMAR BANK
MODALS OF PROBABILITY, POSSIBILITY, DEDUCTION
“Deduction” means using the information available to make a guess or draw a conclusion based on the facts. Depending on the information available, you might be more certain that your conclusion is true, or less certain that your conclusion is true – and we use different modal verbs to indicate the degree of certainty, probability, possibility, or deduction.
How certain are you? Use these modal verbs:
100% – certainty will, be certain to 95 -100% – deduction must, can not/can’t 80% – expectation should/ought to, shouldn’t/ought not to, be likely/unlikely to 30-70% – uncertainty might, may, could, may not, might not, could not 0% – certainty will not/won’t Ex.: She works every day from 9 AM to 5 PM. Right now it’s 10:30 AM, so… – She must be at work. – She can’t be at home. She is unlikely to miss the job. The weather is clear, so our flight shouldn’t be delayed. Jane is afraid of heights, she couldn’t climb the roof. If all countries stop polluting, greenhouse gases will significantly drop. He might go back to school for his Degree next year, but he hasn’t decided yet.
8. Fill in each gap using must, can’t, could, may, or might. Refer to the Grammar Bank above if necessary.
1) I'm sure he is here – I can see his car in front of the building. He____be here. I can see his car in front of the building. 2) They're coming this week but I don't know which day. They_____be coming tomorrow. 3) I'm not sure I'm going to pass the exam. I don't feel very confident. I______pass the exam.
I don't feel very confident. 4) I've bought a lottery ticket. There's a chance I'll become a millionaire! I_____become a millionaire! 5) I'm sure she doesn't speak French very well – she's only lived in Paris for a few weeks.
She____speak French very well. She's only lived in Paris for a few weeks. 6) Someone told me that Mark was in Mexico but I saw him yesterday so I'm sure he's not abroad. – Mark be____abroad.
7) They told me to prepare the project by tomorrow but it's alomost impossible to have it done so fast. – I______finish it by tomorrow if I stay at work all night, but I'm not sure. 8) I asked them to send the goods as soon as possible; we_____receive them by the end of the week if the post is fast.
1) The skies turn gloomy and begin to change colours or become very dark with hints of yellows or greens, it is time to seek shelter. The rise in ocean temperatures causes strong upper tropospheric winds to blow, barometric pressure falls, and temperatures rise and stillness settles over the sea. A spinning tube of air touches the ground and a cloud above, then it travels for a few miles and destroys everything in its way.
2) An earthquake near water may be an indication of it. In a coastal area where the sea suddenly draws back and there might be a sucking sound. The disastrous phenomenon is perhaps the most difficult to prepare for. It’s a train of gigantic waves that can be as high as 30 meters and travel as fast as a jet plane and go as far inland as 2 kilometres.
3) The subsurface temperature of the earth rises between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius. This causes negative effects on electromagnetic waves of the radio, television and telephone, mobile telephones start malfunctioning. Before the occurrence animals become highly disturbed and restless. Domestic animals like cows, dogs, cats struggle against being tied up, and even turn on the owner. Then explosions happen from openings in the earth’s surface, after it throws out magma, lava, and ash.
4) It grows from high winds and heavy rain. It is usually warned about by a metrological centre, which gives it a boy’s or girl’s name. It causes tremendous damage when hits the land and usually occurs from June until November mostly in the US.
9. Read the warning signs of the disaster and make a deduction about what is happening or going to happen.
SPEAKING
10. Use the following expressions to speculate about the following idea.
perhaps / may be / I’m not sure if... / will definitely / will / definitely won’t / might / probably / it’s possible that... / I doubt that … won’t / I’m certain that... / won’t probably
For example: I’m certain that most cars will be electric.
1) Nuclear energy will end. 2) Alternative energy will be more important than oil. 3) You will recycle all your bags, cans and paper. 4) Almost all the rainforests will disappear. 5) Scientists will be able to clone human beings. 6) More people will live to be over 100. 7) The next generation will care more about the environment than the present. 8) In elections “Green Issues” will become more important than any other. 9) People will destroy the Earth. 10) There will be enough food to feed the world.
