Reading comprehension

Exercise 1.1

Answer the questions:

1. What environmental problems does mankind face?

2. What is happening to the nature?

3. What human activity causes negative changes in the environment?

4. Does the mankind undertake any steps to improve the situation?

5. Why do the scientists warn all nations?

6. What are the basic causes of the environmental problems we face?

7. What measures should be taken to protect the environment and our life?

Language study

Exercise 1.2

Describing trends.

1. Do these verbs indicate an upward, downward or horizontal movement?

to fall	to grow	to recover
to climb	to decrease	to go down
to deteriorate	to drop	to improve
to rise	to remain stable	to increase
to even out	to reduce	to diminish
to degrade	to go up	to expand
to replenish	to accelerate	to double

1. Which verbs can be changed into nouns?

e.g. to fall  a fall

to improve  an improvement

1.2.3. The rate and degree of change can be described by adjectives and adverbs. (The adjective describes a noun: a rapid growth, the adverb describes the verb: grows rapidly). Form the appropriate adverbs for the adjectives below.

The rate of change:	The degree of change:
rapid  rapidly	noticeable  noticeably
slow	substantial
sudden	considerable
sharp	significant
steady	slight
gradual	dramatic
fast	negligible

1.2.4. Describe the rate and size of change observed:

e.g. The ozone layer density decreases noticeably. There has been a noticeable decrease in the ozone layer density. The gradual rise of global average temperatures leads to melting glaciers. Scientists point out that the global average temperatures rise gradually.

1.2.5. What trends in the environment have been pointed out recently?

e.g. World population has more than doubled in 50 years, from 2.5 billions in 1950 to 6.1 billion in 2000. World population increased by 3.6 billions in 50 years. The rate of population growth in the world increases drastically.

Prefixes

Exercise 1.3

New words can be formed in English by adding prefixes to other words. If you add them to other words they change the meaning of the original words. Which of these meanings go with the prefixes below?

Trans-, re-, pre-, over-, under-, mis-, co-, inter-, multi-, un-, dis-, in-(il-, ir-, im-)

1. «together»	6. «between/from one to another»
2. «many»	7. «opposite/negative /lack»
3. «before»	8. «across/to a changed state»
4. «again/back»	9. «too much/above»
5. «wrong/incor-rectly/inefficiently»	10. «located beneath/not enough/too little»

Translate the word combinations paying attention to the meaning of prefixes:

To operate without recharging; to overestimate the results of the investigation; to overheat the compound; interplanetary communication; disordered movement; to misunderstand the explanation; immobile installation; an irregular form; a serious miscalculation; an illogical conclusion; unlimited possibilities; misusage of terms; to reassemble the model; inaccurate amount; to disconnect the devices; to preheat the alloy; to reuse glass bottles.

Translate the following sentences paying attention to the meaning of the prefixes.

1. Russia and the US are cooperating in joint space ventures.

2. Recycling paper involves removing its ink, glue, and coating and reconverting it to pulp that is pressed again into new paper.

3. Staying in sunlight too long and cases of skin cancer can be interrelated.

4. At first the effect of deforestation on the earth's climate was underestimated by some scientists.

5. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a network of about 2,500 of the world's leading climate experts from 70 countries sponsored by the United Nations.

6. The human's influence on the earth's climate is undisputed.

7. A lot of heating energy is used inefficiently in the north of Russia.

8. Nuclear plants cause thousands of premature deaths of people and serious genetic effects which are currently undervalued.

9. It is impossible to build long-term safe storage facilities for nuclear wastes.

10. Overgrazing of grasslands and misuse of fertile soils leads to their degradation and erosion.

11. A new multifunctional device will increase the efficiency of energy use.

12. Find in the text words with these prefixes and translate them.

Exercise 1.4

Translate the words in brackets.

1. The increase of average temperatures on the earth changes (заметно) its climate.

2. The air and water (постепенно загрязняются) by toxic wastes.

3. The ozone layer (значительно истощается, разрушается) by harmful chemicals we add to the air.

4. Biological (разнообразие) is decreasing because some species (вымирают).

5. Human activities (постоянно нарушает) the earth's habitable land surface.

6. Pesticides (сильно отравляют) fertile soil, drinking water and food.

7. (Население мира) is growing exponentially at a rate of about 1.35% per year.

8. In 2000 the number of people on the earth (выросло на 82 млн. человек), an average increase of 9.400 people an hour.

9. Some scientists argue that population growth (угрожает) economies and the earth's life-supporting systems.

10. Average human life expectancy (резко выросла) during the last century.

Exercise 1.5

Translate from Russian into English.

1. Сегодня перед человечеством стоят серьезные проблемы, связанные с заметным ухудшением состояния окружающей среды.

2. Некоторыми из существенных причин изменений в окружающей среде являются слишком быстрый рост населения, истощительное использование природных ресурсов, недостаточное знание законов природы.

3. Добыча и сжигание ископаемого топлива приводят к значительному разрушению почвы и существенному загрязнению воздуха вредными веществами.

4. Бесчисленные виды растений и животных вымирают в результате человеческой деятельности, нарушающей природное равновесие.

5. Реки высыхают, и ледники тают из-за глобального потепления.

6. Производство пищевых продуктов в мире слегка обогнало рост населения на земле благодаря передовым сельскохозяйственным технологиям.

7. Производство химических веществ, которые разрушают озоновый слой, постепенно сокращается в промышленно развитых странах.

8. Некоторые ученые считают, что любые проблемы роста населения на земле, сокращения природных ресурсов и ухудшения состояния природной среды будут успешно преодолены благодаря новым технологическим достижениям.

9. Ученые мира предупреждают человечество об опасностях неконтролируемого вмешательства в окружающую среду.