Элективный курс по английскому языку с естественно-научной направленностью young scientists

II. Choose the right point.

1. The environment is much spoiled because of .

1. 
   the mismanagement in industry and agriculture
   
2. 
   the peoples disability to make true observations
   
3. 
   с the amount of satellites in space
   
4. 
   the industrial progress
   

2. Forests are disappearing fast because

1. 
   people damage them badly
   
2. 
   people prefer furniture made of wood
   
3. 
   there are very few species of trees
   
4. 
   we don't know how to make paper and cardboard
   

3. All the forests on Earth can disappear

1. 
   except the rainforests
   
2. 
   if the rate of destruction increases
   
3. 
   if your grandparents don't solve this problem
   
4. 
   in about three decades
   

4. The reason for acid rain is

1. 
   not in Britain but somewhere else in Europe
   
2. 
   Britain's trees
   
3. 
   rare plants and seeds
   
4. 
   power plants
   

5. The quality of water

1. 
   is getting better
   
2. 
   is getting worse
   
3. 
   doesn't change
   
4. 
   doesn't tell on people's health
   

6. People can preserve life on the Earth as

1. 
   they can look after themselves
   
2. 
   they have ruined their life support system
   
3. 
   they can act reasonably
   
4. 
   they are human
   

IV. Give the corresponding noun form of these verbs. Find these verbs and nouns in the text.

Observe

Destruct

Develop

Generate

Maintain

Preserve

Reveal

V. Find and translate sentences with The Passive Voice structures.
VI. Write sentences using Passive Voice.

1. People have always affected Nature.

2. Waterborne diseases kill 10 million people a year.

3. The power stations in the UK are responsible for causing acid rain not only in Britain but elsewhere in Europe.

4. Every day we see paper and cardboard.

5. We can maintain life on Earth for the many generations to come.

VII. Home assessment.

1. 
   Write questions and use them as a plan for retelling this text.
   

or

2. 
   Find some proverbs and quotation on this theme.
   

Lesson № 4. Ecological problems

1. 
   Please, read this text once.
   

Ecological Problems

Since ancient times Nature has served Man, being the source of his life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with environment and it seemed to them that natural riches were unlimited. But with the development of civilization man's interference in nature began to increase.

Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises appear all over the world today. The by-products of their activity pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we grow grain and vegetables on. Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about 1000 million tons of dust and other harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Vast forests are cut and burn in fire. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. As a result some rare species of animals, birds, fish and plants disappear forever, a number of rivers and lakes dry up.

The pollution of air and the world’s ocean, destruction of the ozone layer is the result of man's careless interaction with nature, a sign of ecological crises.

The most horrible ecological disaster befell Belarus and its people as the result of the Chernobyl tragedy in April 1986. About 18 per cent of the territory of Belarus was polluted with radioactive substances. Great damage has been done to the republic's agriculture, forests and people's health. The consequences of this explosion at the atomic power-station have been truly tragic for the Belarusian nation.

Environmental protection is a universal concern. That is why serious measures to create a system of ecological security should be taken.

Some progress has already been made in this direction. As many as 159 UN member-states have set up environmental protection agencies. Numerous conferences have been held by these agencies to discuss problems of ecologically unsafe regions including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatinsk and Chernobyl. And international environmental research centre has been set up on Lake Baikal. The international organization "Greenpeace" is also doing much to preserve the environment.

But these are only the initial steps and they must be followed by others to protect nature and save life on the planet not only for the present but also for the future generations.

2. 
   Read the words in chorus, then in chain.
   

interference	вмешательство	upsets	нарушать
increase	возрастать	interaction	взаимодействие
enterprise	предприятие	befell	произошло
grain	зерно, частица	disaster	бедствие
research	исследование	damage	наносить вред
vast	обширный	truly	поистине

1. 
   Read the text again. How many parts has it got?
   
2. 
   Give the title of the first, the second and the third parts.
   
3. 
   How do you think why the author has made this text in such way?
   
4. 
   Find in this text what the reason and the result of the environmental problems are?
   
5. 
   Make up sentences with word groups:
   

-the protection of nature,

-the environmental problems,

-air pollution,

-suffer from smog,

-…should be taken

3. 
   Look through the text one more time and find word combinations and get ready to talk about our region. Work in pairs. Ask each other questions and answer them in English!
   

1. 
   Что ты знаешь об экологических проблемах нашего края?
   
2. 
   Что является источником загрязнения окружающей среды?
   
3. 
   Какие последствия небрежного вмешательства в природу можно наблюдать сейчас?
   
4. 
   Почему охрана окружающей среды является общим делом?
   
5. 
   Какие меры предпринимаются для предотвращения экологической катастрофы?
   

4. 
   Home assessment.
   

1. 
   Write a report about ecological problems on our planet.
   

Lesson № 5. Ecological problems

1. 
   Last lesson we talked about ecological problems. Have we got them on our planet? May be not? Share your point of view.
   

Student 1. : I would like to tell you about…

Student 2. : As for me…

Student 3.: To my mind…

2. 
   And now let’s discuss ecological problems of our Khabarovsky krai. Divide into three groups and discuss one of these problems.
   

1. 
   The by-products of industrial enterprises pollute the air we breathe.
   
2. 
   Our Chinese neighbours have polluted the river Amur, the water we drink.
   
3. 
   Every year in October all cities and villages of our krai suffer from smog. Vast forests are burnt in fire.
   

3. 
   Home assessment.
   

1. 
   Make up a dialogue about ecological problems of the Khabarovsky krai.
   
2. 
   Tell about causes of ecological disasters.
   

Lesson №6 The Belovezhskaya Pushcha

1. 
   Look through the words given before the texts, then read the texts.
   

A single nature reserve	единственный природный заповедник
To remain	оставаться
Mention	ссылка
Primeval	первобытный
To indicate	указывать
Tribe	племя
To occupy	занимать
To reside	находиться
To govern	управлять
To declare	объявлять
To protect	защищать
To dwell	задерживаться
To swarm	роиться
To fortify	укреплять
Furthermore	Кроме того

The Belovezhskaya Pushcha, also called Belovezhskaya Forest, is located on the border between Belarus and Poland, and forms a single nature reserve with Poland's Belovezhski National Park. It is the last remaining piece of the ancient forest that once covered a vast portion of the European Plain.

The area of the Belarussian part of the reserve is about 90,000 hectares.

In 1992 UNESKO put Belovezhskaya Pushcha on its World Heritage List. In 1993 the forest received the status of a biosphere reserve, and in 1998 - the status of an international ornithological area. In 1997 Belovezhskaya Pushcha was awarded with a diploma of the Council of Europe for its immense contribution to environmental protection.

Flora and fauna

Mild climate (average annual temperature is about +7.4 0C) and the territory's toil conditions are favorable for cultivating trees and shrub. The flora is represented by 958 vegetative plants, around 260 moss species, over 290 lichens and 570 kinds of mushrooms. The reserve's flora contains 65 endangered species.

A variety of flora form favorable living conditions for forest animals. The fauna of the reserve includes 59 types of mammal (including 6 rare species), 253 bird species, 11 amphibians, 7 reptiles, 24 fish species and over 11,000 invertebrates. Eleven mammal species, 52 fowl species, two reptiles, one amphibian, 8 fish species and 38 insects were included in Belarus' Red Book.

However, the most remarkable wild animal of the park - and the biggest one in Europe - is the European bison called "zubr" in Belorussian. Early in the 19th century Belovezhskaya Pushcha was the only point on the map of Europe where bisons continued to live, while they had been exterminated in the rest of Europe. Nowadays there is a free living herd of about 300 bisons.

Wolves, lynxes, polecats, and ferrets, weasels, foxes, martens, ermines, raccoons (Волки, рыси, хорьки, ласки, лисы, куницы, горностаи, еноты )and other forest inhabitants also live on the territory of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Beavers and otters (Бобры и выдры )dwell along rivers and forest brooks while the old woods swarm with hares. Fir woods are rich in squirrels. The most numerous rodents are mice, whereas the most common insectivorous are moles and shrews.

The world of birds in Belovezhskaya Pushcha is even more varied and rich. Along with typical western species (for example, red kite or canary finch) here you can find Siberian species (the three fingered woodpecker and long tailed tawny owl) as well as birds of the North deciduous forests (e.g. the green woodpecker). Furthermore there are more than 20 species of predatory birds and plenty of wood game. Various hazel-hens are especially numerous in the Pushcha and it is the place where most of the capercailzies living in the country are concentrated, where black storks (черные аисты) build their nests and where some pheasants have been brought to breed.

A number of rivers (the Narev, the Lesnaya Pravaya, etc.) cross the territory of the reserve. In addition, there are two reservoirs (Bolshoye Lyadskoye and Malоye Lyadskoye). About one-third of the reserve territory is occupied by swamps.

II. Answer the questions.

1. 
   The flora of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha is rich, isn’t it?
   
2. 
   Is the flora of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha rich? Prove it.
   
3. 
   What is the most remarkable wild animal of the park?
   
4. 
   Why are they protected? How many of them are there in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha?
   
5. 
   What other animals and birds live in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha?
   

IV. Guess of the meaning of the new words. Give your examples.

Indicate – указывать – indication-?

Occupy – занимать – occupation -?

Fortify – укреплять – fortification- ?

Declare – объявлять – declaration - ?

Govern – управлять – government -?

Reside – находиться – residence - ?

Protect - ? -- ?
V. Home assessment.

.Write a tourist leaflet about the Pushcha.


Lesson №7 Lake Baikal

1. 
   What do you know about this lake?
   
2. 
   Look through the words and read the text about Lake Baikal.
   

Purification	очистка
Discharge	выгружать
Dump	сваливать
Issue	проблема
Obvious	очевидный
Unanimous	единодушный
Alteration	изменение
Impose	навязывать
Adversely	напротив
Primordial	исконный