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2.One of the major problems is the destruction of the rainforests in South America. They are home to half the world’s species and to millions of people. Moreover, the rainforests clean the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen. The trees are being cut down for paper and other numerous needs. As a result, birds and animals loss their homes and die. The destruction is also bringing about changes in the climate, air pollution, flooding, draught, and famine. If we continue to burn and cut down the rainforests as we are doing now, the earth will never be the same.

3.Another problem is water pollution. Do you like swimming in the sea or drinking a cool glass of water on a hot day? These simple pleasures may soon become a thing of the past. Factories are polluting our rivers and lakes with dangerous chemicals. Oil tankers are releasing thick, black oil into our oceans. Tons and tons of industrial and domestic waste are poured into the seas. Consequently, sea life is threatened with extinction.

4.Air pollution is another important issue. The cars and factories in and about our cities are giving off dangerous fumes. In the past few years, more and more people than ever before have developed allergies and breathing problems. If we don’t do something now, our cities will become impossible to live in.

5.Fortunately, it is not too late to solve all these problems. We have the time, the money and even the technology to prepare the way for a better, healthier and safer future. We can plant trees and adopt animals. We can create parks to endangered species. We can put pressure on those in power to take action. Together we can save our planet. All we need to do is to open our eyes and to act immediately.

Tasks:

1.Mind the black words in the text, consult a dictionary to translate/pronounce them correctly.

2.Now read the text and translate it. Translate passages 1, 3 in the written form.

3.Divide the black words into 3 groups – nouns (group 1) – verb (group

2)– adjective (group 3).

4.Make 4 word combinations with the black words from the text.

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5. What are the answers to these questions: What is the text about?

What does passage 1 speak about?

How will you define the key idea of passage 2?

Does the last passage give the same information as the last but one passage?

6.Find the key idea of every passage, put them in order to make the plan of the text.

7.Make the summary of the text paying attention to these standard phrases:

The text is about/the text speaks about …

First, we can read/learn about …

The next part/passage describes …

The last part/passage informs us about …

Text 7.

COMPOSTING TURNS WASTES INTO VALUABLE FERTILIZER.

All organic matter eventually decomposes. Composting speeds the process by providing an ideal environment for bacteria & other decomposing micro-organisms. The final product, humus or compost, looks & feels like fertile garden soil. This dark, crumbly, earthy-smelling stuff works wonders on all kinds of soil & provides vital nutrients to help plants grow & look better.

Decomposing micro-organisms need four key elements to thrive: nitrogen, carbon, moisture, & oxygen. For best results, mix materials high in nitrogen (such as clover & fresh grass clippings) & those high in carbon ( such as dried leaves & twigs). If there is not a good supply of nitrogen-rich material, a handful of general lawn fertilizer will help the nitrogen-carbon

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ratio. Moisture is provided by rain, but you may need to water or cover the pile to keep it damp. Be careful not to saturate the pile. Oxygen is supplied by turning or mixing the pile. More turning yields faster decomposition.

Many materials can be added to a compost pile, including leaves, grass clippings, straw, woody brush, vegetable & fruit scraps, coffee grounds, livestock manure, sawdust, & shredded paper. Avoid using diseased plants, meat scraps that may attract animals, & dog or cat manure which can carry disease.

Composting can be as simple or as involved as you would like, & depends on how much yard waste you have, how fast you want results, & the effort you are willing to invest.

With cold composting, you can just pile grass clippings & dry leaves on the ground or in a bin. This method requires no maintenance, but you will have to wait several months to a year for the pile to decompose. Cold composting works well if you are short on time or have little yard waste. Keep weeds & diseased plants out of the mix. Add yard waste as it accumulates.

Move materials from the center to the outside & vice versa. Turn every day or two & you should get compost in less than 4 weeks. Turning every other week will give compost in 1 to 3 months. Finished compost will smell sweet & be cool & crumbly to the touch.

Tasks:

1.Mind the black words in the text, consult a dictionary to translate/pronounce them correctly.

2.Now read the text and translate it. Translate passages 1, 3 in the written form.

3.Divide the black words into 3 groups – nouns (group 1) – verb (group 2) – adjective (group 3).

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4.Make 4 word combinations with the black words from the text.

5.What are the answers to these questions:

What is the text about?

What does passage 1 speak about?

How will you define the key idea of passage 2?

Does the last passage give the same information as the last but one passage?

6.Find the key idea of every passage, put them in order to make the plan of the text.

7.Make the summary of the text paying attention to these standard phrases:

The text is about/the text speaks about …

First, we can read/learn about …

The next part/passage describes …

The last part/passage informs us about …

Text 8.

MULCHING COOLS, PROTECTS, & ENRICHES THE SOIL.

Mulching involves placing a layer of organic material around plants. As much decomposes, it adds organic matter to the soil. This provides important nutrients for plants & ideal environment for earthworms & other organisms that help enrich the soil.

Mulching can recycle yard wastes & improve your soil. Mulch protects soil from erosion, prevents weed growth, conserves soil moisture, stabilizes soil temperature, reduces compaction, & keeps clean & dry any fruit or vegetable that touches the ground.

Grass clippings & leaves work well for mulching if they are dry & weed free. Avoid adding clippings of a vegetable garden from lawns that have been treated with weed killer within the last two mowings. You may also hay from a farmer or feed store.

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Compost makes an excellent organic mulch material. It adds nutrients to the soil

&has a natural appearance. Wood chips & bark work well around trees & shrubs

&make attractive walkways through gardens.

Apply mulch when plants are established & soil is warm. First, water a garden well. Then place a layer of mulch around the plants. Thickness of the mulch layer varies for each material:

Dry grass clippings 2 inches

Shredded hardwood mulch, straw, or wood chips 2 to 4 inches

You will help insulate the root zone & lower evaporation rates if you liberally apply mulch. Be careful not to smother the plants. As the mulch breaks down, add more material to the top throughout the growing season. After harvest, work the mulch into the soil to integrate the organic matter, or leave it on the surface to decay naturally & be carried into the soil by earthworms.

Tasks:

1.Mind the black words in the text, consult a dictionary to translate/pronounce them correctly.

2.Now read the text and translate it. Translate passages 1, 3 in the written form.

3.Divide the black words into 3 groups – nouns (group 1) – verb (group 2) – adjective (group 3).

4.Make 4 word combinations with the black words from the text.

5.What are the answers to these questions:

What is the text about?

What does passage 1 speak about?

How will you define the key idea of passage 2?

Does the last passage give the same information as the last but one passage?

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6.Find the key idea of every passage, put them in order to make the plan of the text.

7.Make the summary of the text paying attention to these standard phrases:

The text is about/the text speaks about …

First, we can read/learn about …

The next part/passage describes …

The last part/passage informs us about …

Text 9.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK

“The place of blue smoke” is what the Cherokee Indians call the great Smoky Mountains region, at the end of the Appalachian Highlands in the southeastern United States. Long before European settlers arrived on the continent, the mountains were the part of the great Cherokee Nation.

About 8,500 Cherokee now live in communities on a reservation on the eastern side of the mountains, where they maintain the traditions of their people. Unfortunately, only a few older people still remember how to speak the ancient language.

The Great Smoky Mountains are dotted with small towns that were settled by Europeans. There are a number of interesting things to listen to and to look at. But most tourists who visit the area go to the Smokies because of the beautiful mountains and valleys, the changing seasons and the wildlife. The Smokies are home to more than fifty species of mammals, including the legendary black bear. To preserve the beauty of the region, The U.S. government established The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is the most visited national Park in the country, with more than 8 million tourists each year.

But how long can a place with so many visitors remain unspoiled? Because the water in the clouds which give the region its name can hold as much as ten times the amount of pollution and one hundred times the acid rainfall, the trees at the tops of the mountains are dying. Perhaps the Great Smoky Mountains will become just another lost wilderness.

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Mind the proper names: the Cherokee Indians – индейцы племени чероки

The Smokies = The Great Smoky Mountains National Park the Appalachian Highlands – высокогорье Аппалачи

Tasks:

1.Mind the black words in the text, consult a dictionary to translate/pronounce them correctly.

2.Now read the text and translate it. Translate passages 1, 3 in the written form.

3.Divide the black words into 3 groups – nouns (group 1) – verb (group 2) – adjective (group 3).

4.Make 4 word combinations with the black words from the text.

5.What are the answers to these questions:

What is the text about?

What does passage 1 speak about?

How will you define the key idea of passage 2?

Does the last passage give the same information as the last but one passage?

6.Find the key idea of every passage, put them in order to make the plan of the text.

7.Make the summary of the text paying attention to these standard phrases:

The text is about/the text speaks about …

First, we can read/learn about …

The next part/passage describes …

The last part/passage informs us about …

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Text 10

SILVICULTURE AS THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

OF CARING FOR NATURAL RESOURCES

The future productivity of our forests depends on careful selection of tree seed sources to match the local soil and climatic conditions of each forest. The objective is to select species and seed sources which will yield high volumes of timber and superior tree form while maintaining wood properties and disease resistance.

Forestry makes an important contribution to a productive and flourishing countryside and rural welfare. Forest and woodland have the special capacity to provide recreation benefits and absorb the pressures of large numbers of visitors. Public recreation must be a part of forest management.

Silviculture is the art of reproducing and tending forest growth, it includes the technique of starting new forests and caring for them through all stages to maturity. Regeneration of woods may be accomplished by creating conditions for establishing new stands either by natural seeding or by a new crop of tree sprouts; again, new woodlands may be established by planting small trees grown in forest nurseries. As stands develop, numerous types of cultural measures are desirables, cutting made in immature stands are termed intermediate cutting; these made in the mature woods are called final cuttings.

The treatment of a wood that is managed for the production of useful wood products varies considerably from the treatment where the aim is one of encouraging of wildlife or of protecting human habitations from climatic extremes. But it is easily possible in any woods to meet all objectives by a wellcoordinated plan of silvicultural treatment.

The application of silvicultural treatment demands a knowledge of the many environmental factors that influence the growth of species, an understanding of the ways in which trees live and grow in associatio

Mind the vocabulary:

Recreation - отдых

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Silviculture – профессиональное лесоводство forest nurseries - лесопитомники intermediate cutting – промежуточная рубка

Recreation - отдых

Silviculture – профессиональное лесоводство forest nurseries - лесопитомники intermediate cutting – промежуточная рубка

Tasks:

1.Mind the black words in the text, consult a dictionary to translate/pronounce them correctly.

2.Now read the text and translate it. Translate passages 1, 3 in the written form.

3.Divide the black words into 3 groups – nouns (group 1) – verb (group 2) – adjective (group 3).

4.Make 4 word combinations with the black words from the text.

5.What are the answers to these questions:

What is the text about?

What does passage 1 speak about?

How will you define the key idea of passage 2?

Does the last passage give the same information as the last but one passage?

6.Find the key idea of every passage, put them in order to make the plan of the text.

7.Make the summary of the text paying attention to these standard phrases:

The text is about/the text speaks about …

First, we can read/learn about …

The next part/passage describes …

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The last part/passage informs us about …

Text 11

ECOLOGICAL TOURISM - A NEW TYPE OF TOURISM

Today the modern tourism is one of the largest industry of the world that employs 127 million people: each fifteenth of all the working people in the world. Tourism is the business of providing things for people to do, places for them to stay when they are on holidays. There are different types of tourism nowadays: medical, recreational, religious, business, ecological etc. Ecological tourism is what we are interested in. This is a new type of tourism; it is opposite to the old, traditional one. What is the difference between traditional tourism and ecotourism? Tourists can enjoy the nature but save the earth at the same time.

Or so goes the theory of “ecotourism”. Ecotourism was based on the realization that some people (usually poor Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans) live in places surrounded by precious living things. And other people – well-off and rich Americans and Europeans – want to see them and preserve.

The idea was to enable people in the developing world to earn money by preserving nature rather than using nature up: it is simple – people put down their guns and harpoons and take up laundry and food trays.

Where does ecotourism work? Is the idea successful? It is really successful in the whale-watching waters of Baja, California, and Argentina’s Peninsula Valdes. Hundreds of gray whales migrate into the warm lagoons even in winter to breed. Before the 1980s fishermen and whale-hunters turned the waters into dead zones. Local environmentalists proclaimed the idea of ecotourism.

Sometimes ecotourism is beset by ecotroubles. For example, tourists come to Mexico’s Pacific coast to watch green sea turtles on moonlit beaches. But the beachfront hotels cast such bright light that turtles become disoriented. Whalewatching frighten the whales and they dive underwater. As you understand, it is dangerous for the people in the boats. In Australia they organize dolphin expeditions. Very often feeding reduces the ability of young dolphins to find their own food.

Of course, the above-mentioned facts can be considered as disadvantages of ecotourism. For these goals a visiting management is used, it controls time of trip, types of the visit as well as the maximum number of visitors to a region.