Environmental Polution

 

People have always polluted their surroundings. But until now pollution was not such a serious problem. People lived in uncrowded rural areas and did not have pollution — causing machines. With the development of crowded industrial cities which put huge amounts of pollutants into small areas, the problem has become more important.

Automobiles and other new inventions make pollution steadily worse. Since the late 1960's people have become alarmed with the danger of pollution.

Air, water, and soil are necessary for existence of all living things. But polluted air can cause illness, and even death. Polluted water kills fish and other marine life. On polluted soil, food can not be grown. In addition environmental pollution spoils the natural beauty of our planet.

Pollution is as complicated as serious problem. Automobiles are polluting the air but they provide transportation for the people. Factories pollute the air and the water but they provide jobs for people and produce necessary goods. Fertilizers and pesticides are important for growing crops but they can ruin soil.

Thus, people would have to stop using many useful things if they wanted to end pollution immediately. Most people do not want that of course. But pollution can be reduced gradually.

Scientists and engineers can find the ways to reduce pollution from automobiles and factories. Government can pass the laws that would make enterprises take measures for reducing of pollution. Individuals and groups of people can work together to persuade enterprises to stop polluting activities.

 

 

Brands

 

What is a brand? In my opinion, it is not only a trademark of some company, but the name of certain product we use every day. For example, speaking about coffee most of us say Nescafe, but not "coffee". This short example also illustrates the main aim of producers - to create brand popularity, so that most of people would recognize the product among the competitors products.

Advertising campaigns are launched to enhance brand awareness, that is why sometimes brand costs more than the whole company. For example one day of advertising at Yandex website (what is called by Yandex sales managers as "increasing brand popularity") costs $20,000. Recognition of a brand or, how it is called, brand awareness helps people to find the necessary size, quantity, taste, especially, when they are in another country and do not know the local products  specifications.

What qualities should brand name possess? First of all, it should be eye-catching. NameLab is the company, which creates brand names, gives an example of 7-Up Company, which lost $120 millions using name "Lyke Cola" as a brand name first time after launching its product. Name Sony is based on "son", which means sound in most of the countries.

As all brand names are registered and protected by law, no one else can produce the same product under such brand name. It is very hard to create a new brand name, as more than 365,000 brands were registered in October, 2000 by American Patent Organization, whereas Oxford dictionary consists of 615,100 words, so some companies use brand stretching - using a leader-brand to launch a new product in a new category.

Brands always add value to products. That is why branded products seem to be more expensive among other ones. But if we pay more, we want to get a better quality, and it is not guaranteed. All in all, brands are one of the moving forces of globalization.

 

Drugs

 

 Drug addiction is a big problem today. Even 5 years ago this problem did not exist in small towns. We read about drug addicts in the USA and other countries of the West. This problem existed in big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. Today different drugs are sold in our city and what is worse they are bought and taken by young people. Drugs are ruinous for health and they destroy the personality of those who take them.

For addicts the desire to take a drug is so strong that people are capable of committing crimes, even murders. Drug - takers depend on those who give or sell them drugs. Sometimes they actually become their slaves. It's very difficult to cure drug addiction. As usual drug addicts address doctors when it is too late. Still where there is a will there is a way. Strong people can cope with this problem.   Though they go through difficult times and often start taking drugs again.

Drug-addicts are lost for society. They usually lose every interest in it, become indifferent, withdrawn into their own world. They can make injections often using one needle for many people. That's why they often have AIDS.

I think that our government should take serious steps to stop drug taking. There must be more lectures about drugs at schools and universities. Parents should be more attentive to their children because they start taking drugs when there is no understanding in the family and at school, when they have nothing to do in the evenings.

 If I discover that one of my friends is a drug addict I shall try to help him or her. First of all I would insist on addressing a doctor. I would try to keep my friend company and not leave him or her alone. I would try to listen to his or her troubles, and do my best to help. Together we shall cope with the problem. I hope I’ll never face it.

 

Natural Sciences

 

Science is finding out about things around us. How do you find out about things? One way is to ask questions about them. But suppose no one knows the answers. Then you have to think of ways to find the answers yourself. This usually means doing something to the «thing» to see what happens. Doing something to see what happens is called experimenting. Scientists ask questions about things around us. They do experiments to find the answers.

Science has many parts. When we say «things around us» we can mean almost anything. Science can be finding out about anything we like. Usually we like to find out about one type of thing at a time. Here are some of the things a scientist might be interested in: the weather, the animals, the oceans, the plants, the stars, the human body, etc. Science has many parts and each part is about one type of thing. Each part of science is given a name of its own, e.g. the science of weather is called meteorology, the science of animals is called zoology, the science of plants is called botany, the science of human body is called human biology, the science of oceans is called oceanography, the science of rocks is called geology, etc. The parts of science are sometimes called science branches. This is because science is like a tree. Just as a tree trunk is divided into branches, the whole science can be divided into smaller parts. Each branch can be divided again into smaller branches. The two main branches of science are the biological sciences, and the physical sciences. Biology is about things that are alive. The study of plants and the study of animals are parts of biology. Physical science is about things that are not alive.