Читать книгу Baikal lessons. Your environments. Уроки Байкала. Твои окружающие среды. Методическое пособие для изучающих экологию на английском языке - Татьяна Муратова - Страница 7

Every year more and more plants and animals disappear never to be seen again. Strangely, it is the most thoughtless animal that is causing most of problems – man. Nature is very carefully balanced and if this balance is disturbed, animals can disappear alarmingly fast. Every day, thousands of species of animals draw closer to extinction. There are countless number of species which may become extinct before they are even discovered.

In many lakes the fish are dying. Fishermen are worried because every year there are fewer fish and some lakes have no fish at all. Scientists are beginning to get worried too. What is killing the fish? The problem is acid rain. Acid rain is a kind of air pollution. It is caused by factories that burn coal or oil or gas. These factories send smoke high into the air. The wind often carries the smoke far from the factories. Some of the harmful substances in the smoke may come down with the rain hundreds of miles away. The rain in many places isn’t natural and clean any more. It’s full of acid chemicals. When it falls in lakes, it changes them too. The lakes become more acidic. Acid water is like vinegar or lemon juice. It hurts when it gets in your eyes. It also kills the plants and animals that usually live in lake water. That is why the fish are dying in lakes. But dead fish may be just the beginning of the problem. Scientists are finding other effects of acid rain. In some large areas trees are dying. Not just one tree here and there, but whole forests. At first scientists couldn’t understand why. There were no bugs or disease in this trees. The weather was not dry. But now they think that the rain was the cause. Acid rain is making the earth more acidic in these areas. Some kinds of trees cannot live in the soil that is very acidic. Now scientists are also beginning to study the effects of acid rain on larger animals. For example, they believe that some deer in Poland are less healthy because of acid rain. If deer are hurt by the rain, what about people? This is the question many people are beginning to ask. No one knows the answer yet. But it is an important question for us all.

Acid – A corrosive solution with a pH less than7. Vinegar is a common weak acid; battery acid is much stronger.

Acid Rain – You first need to understand Acid Deposition: a complex chemical and atmospheric phenomenon that occurs when emissions of sulphur and nitrogen compounds and other substances are transformed by chemical processes in the atmosphere, often far from the original sources, and then deposited on earth in either wet or dry form. The wet forms (precipitation) are popularly called «acid rain» and fall as rain, snow, or fog. The dry forms are acidic gases or particulates.

Questions:

1.This passage is about

(A) fishing

(B) acid rain

(C) air pollution

(D) destructive human activity

2.Every year thousands of species of animals

(A) are hunted for their meat and skins

(B) migrate to other places

(C) starve to death

(D) die out

3.Acid rain is caused by

(A) natural gas

(B) the ozone layer depletion

(C) acidic lake water

(D) emissions of industrial enterprises.

4.Which of the following is true?

(A) Dead fish in lakes is only problem caused acid rains.

(B) Scientists are sure that acid rains are not harmful for mankind.

(C) If we don’t make an attempt to stop acid rains we may never see some animals again.

(D) There’s no reason to worry about several trees that died of some unknown disease.

5.What was not mentioned in the text?

(A) Acid rain is capable of dissolving some rocks and stones.

(B) Fish are unable to live in the water containing acidic chemicals.

(C) Coal, oil or gas form dangerous combinations after being burnt.

(D) Scientists reckon that if some larger animals can be affected by acid rains, people may be in great danger.

6. Factory smoke

(A) stays over the factories.

(B) is usually clean now.

(C) turns into air.

(D) can travel hundreds of miles.

7. Scientists think acid rain

(A) is killing people

(B) helps kill bugs.

(C) fertilises the soil

(D) is killing trees.

8.The word bug in this context means

(A) an infectious disease

(B) a small insect

(C) a dangerous bird

(D) a small animal

Look for 10 words from the text «Acid Rains»

Insert the letters

– a_idic

– s_ientist

– c_emicals

– chan_e

– c_use

– e_fect

– we_ther

– im_ortant

– d_seas

– de_r

Translate into English

– Во многих озерах рыба погибает.

– Озера становятся более кислотными.

– Кислотные дожди – это разновидность загрязнения

воздуха.

– Кислотная вода подобна уксусу или лимонному соку.

– Некоторые разновидности деревьев не могут жить в почве, которая очень кислая.

– На некоторых больших площадях деревья погибают.

Up in the sky

When we look up, we see the clouds and the blue sky. But there are other things in the sky that we don’t see. Some of these are harmful to the Earth.

What happens

When power plants burn coal to make electricity, and when cars burn gasoline, invisible gases are released into the air. Some of these gases can mix water and make it acidic, like lemon juice or vinegar.

What can happen

Sometimes the gases get into rain clouds, where they get mixed in with rain or snow. Then the acid falls back to earth with the rain or snow. This is called acid rain.

Bad news

Acid rain is extremely harmful to plants, rivers and lakes, and the creatures that live in them. In some places it is killing forests. And it pollutes the water that animals and people need to drink.

Our mission

It’s very important for us to stop making acid rain. One good way to do that is to drive our cars less. Another good way is to save energy. The less energy we use, the less coal those power plants will have to burn.

You and your family can save energy in lots of ways. Saving energy means saving the Earth. To find out more about what you.