Exercise 12. Make unreal conditional sentences for the following situations:

I can’t give you a lift because I don’t have a car. (last night). – If I had had a car last night, I could have given you a lift.

1. I don’t have any spare time. I can’t drain the pipe in the bathroom. – …..

2. I don’t know the route well. I can’t drive faster. – …..

3. You’ll fail in Ecology. You should revise the material. – …..

4. They can’t increase the bus production. They don’t want to replace the old equipment. –…..

5. Jane has to work too hard. She doesn’t feel well. – …..

6. You can’t prove this theorem. You don’t know the rules. – ….

7. I don’t know English quite well. I can’t attempt to enter any British university. – ...

8. They can’t solve this problem. They don’t have enough data.

Exercise 13. Complete the sentences using the Active Vocabulary of the lesson:

1. You would know environment better if …

2. I would have persuaded him from smoking if ….

3. If I were you, …

4. If I had known …

5. She would not been poisoned if …

6. If my parents were here …

7. We would be glad if …

8. We wish…

9. If she were aware of the greenhouse effect …

10. If he had been a member of “the Greens” …

Exercise 14. Find and correct one mistake in each sentence:

1. I wishes we lived in safe environment.

2. Experts wish they can reduce the level of lead in air.

3. When he will go to London, he will study Britain’s rivers.

4. If you planned your time better, you wouldn’t have disturbed your relatives.

5. If you had applied new research methods during the experiments, you could studied acid rains in your region.

6. If he has been an experienced ecologist he would have not diminished air control.

Exercise 15. Decide what parts of speech are words in bold type. Translate the sentences:

1. Everyone causes environmental pollution in some way.

2. Environmental pollution is a most serious problem facing humanity today.

3. Technological advances have helped cause this increase.

4. More people means more wastes.

5. As political changes swept across Eastern Europe in 1989, concern grew about the region’s environmental problems.

6. Much pollution is caused by things that benefit people.

Text 9 A

Task 1. Give your opinion on the following:

• The influence of pollution on our life.

• Reasons of the fact that environmental pollution is becoming increasingly widespread.

Task 2. Look through the text and divide it into five parts. Give titles to each part. Task 3. Read and translate the text:

Environmental pollution

Mankind long believed that whatever we did, the Earth would remain much the same. We know now that it is untrue. Nature is under threat. One country’s pollution can be every country’s problem. We have a moral duty to look after our planet and hand it in good order to future generations. So we all need to work together to safeguard our environment.

Environment is everything that is external to an organism. A human being’s environment includes such factors as temperature, sunlight, food supply, other people, etc.

Environmental pollution is a term that refers to all the ways by which people pollute their surroundings. People dirty the air with gases and smoke, poison the water with chemicals and other substances, and damage the soil with too many fertilizers and pesticides. People also pollute their surroundings in other various ways. For example, they ruin natural beauty by scattering junk and litter on the land and in the water. They operate machines and motor vehicles that fill the air with disturbing noise. Nearly everyone causes environmental pollution in some way.

Environmental pollution is one of the most serious problems facing humanity today. Air, water, and soil – all harmed by pollution – are necessary to the survival of all living things. Badly polluted air can cause illness and even death. Polluted water kills fish and other marine life. Pollution of soil reduces the amount of land that is available for growing food. In addition, environmental pollution also brings ugliness to our naturally beautiful world.

People have always caused some environmental pollution. Since prehistoric times, they have put wastes in water and caused smoke by burning fuel. But early people did not live crowded together, and they had no machines that caused pollution. Thus, pollution was light and spread out over large areas.

Pollution problems first arose during ancient times, when large numbers of people began living together in cities. As cities grew, pollution grew with them.

The development of crowded industrial cities in the 1700’s and 1800’s made pollution a major problem. People and factories in these cities put huge amounts of pollutants into small areas. During the 1900’s, urban areas continued to develop, and automobiles and other new inventions made pollution steadily worse.

Coal was used to power most of the factories and to heat most of the homes in the cities. As a result, the air over such industrial cities as London became filled with huge amounts of smoke and soot. In addition, poor sanitation facilities allowed raw sewage to get into water supplies in some cities. The polluted water caused different illnesses.

Since the 1950’s, air pollution from coal burning has been greatly reduced in most parts of the world. Nearly all railroads and many industries and home heating plants now use cleaner fuels, such as oil and natural gas. In addition, many industries that still use coal have taken steps to control the pollution from their furnaces.

Despite these improvements, environmental pollution has become increasingly serious and widespread. Technological advances have helped this increase. In addition, the population of urban areas has grown. More people means more wastes of every kind.

Since the late 1960’s, millions of people have become alarmed by the dangers of pollution. Dramatic environmental tragedies have pointed up the seriousness of the problem.

During the late 1970’s, an explosion at a local chemical plant in Sevesco, Italy released a poisonous gas called dioxin. Hazardous chemical wastes that leaked from a former disposal site in Niagara Falls, New York, caused many families to move from homes in the area. In 1994, a leak of poisonous gas from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killed over 2,000 people.

In 1986, an explosion and fire occurred at a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, near Kiev, in Ukraine. The accident released large amounts of radioactive wastes into the atmosphere and was a real environmental tragedy.

The largest oil spill in North American waters occurred in 1989. A United States tanker hit a reef near the port of Valdez, Alaska and spilled nearly 11 million gallons (42 million liters) of crude oil into the ocean, destroying wildlife. The world’s largest oil spill occurred during the Persian Gulf war (1991), when Iraq deliberately released about 465 million gallons (1.75 billion liters) of oil into the Persian Gulf. In addition, Iraq set about 650 oil wells on fire, polluting the air over Kuwait. The last oil well fire was extinguished in November 1991.

As political changes swept across Eastern Europe in 1989, concern grew about the region’s environmental problems. Heavy industries there have operated without pollution controls, resulting in dying forests, polluted rivers and lakes, and serious health problems.

Everyone wants to reduce pollution. But the pollution problem is as complicated as it is serious. It is complicated because much pollution is caused by things that benefit people. For example, exhaust from automobiles causes a large percentage of all air pollution. But the automobile provides transportation for millions of people. Factories discharge much of the material that pollutes air and water, but factories provide jobs for people and produce goods that people want. Too much fertilizer or pesticide can ruin soil, but fertilizers and pesticides are important aids to the growing of crops. Thus, to end or greatly reduce pollution immediately, people would have to stop using many things that benefit them. Most people do not do that. But pollution can be gradually reduced in several ways. Scientists and engineers can work to find ways to lessen the amount of pollution that such things as automobiles and factories cause. Governments can pass and enforce laws that require businesses and individuals to stop, or cut down on, certain polluting activities. And – perhaps most importantly – individuals and groups of people can work to persuade their representatives in government, and also persuade businesses, to take action toward reducing pollution.

Groups of citizens throughout the world have formed organizations to fight pollution. Most of these organizations are concerned with local problems. But many of them also work on regional, national, and international pollution problems. Private groups are responsible for much of the action governments and industries have taken to control pollution. They call public attention to pollution problems and put pressure on government and industry officials. Each year, millions of people celebrate Earth Day on April 22. The purpose of Earth Day is to increase public awareness of environmental problems.