Questions to the text “The attack on Britain’s environment”

1. What seems to be the writer’s principal concern here?

2. What is the difference between "sound" and "noise"?

3. What is the key measure of water (air) quality?

4. Has the environmental situation in Great Britain been improving or deteriorating?

5. What form does the problem of the environment take in Great Britain? In your country?

6. What conclusions does the author come to?

7. In what way does the increase of population affect the environment?

8. Do you think there are other problems connected with the subject, which have not been mentioned? If so, describe them clearly and give relevant examples.

2.2 Match descriptions with the global environmental problems given below:

Threat to Biodiversity Water shortage Pollution of sea, rivers

Global Warming Environmental Unfriendly Energy Sources

Acid Rain An Increasing Human Population

1.1 Factories and cars release poisonous chemicals into the air. The polluted rain that forms later damages trees, water sources, has a harmful effes\ct on human health.

1.2 Much of our energy supply comes from coal, oil, natural gas, or radioactive elements. The undesirable effects of pollution both from burning fossil fuels and from nuclear waste by-products encourage using renewable energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal power and others)

1.3 There is less and less wilderness in the world. An increasing human population is taking up ever more land for agriculture and urban areas.

1.4 In the last 50 years we have lost 3000,000 species. One of four mammal species and one in eight bird species face a high risk of extinction in the near future.

1.5 The amount of water in the world is limited. Water covers about two-thirds of the Earth’s surface. But most is too salty for use. Water crisis is one of the most worrying problems for the new millennium. Today one person in five across the world has no access to safe drinking water.

1.6 Water in seas, rivers and lakes is polluted by wastes and toxic chemicals. Sea animals, fish and birds are killed by oil spills.

1.7 The global warming induced by greenhouse gases (largely by burning fuels) leads tj the climate change. The area covered by sea ice is decreasing. The ice at the North and South Pole can melt causing serious floods in many parts of the world and turning into deserts others. Some scientists think that ther is a definite link between the global warming and the hurricanes, the number of which has considerably increased recently.