Pollution Water, Air and Soil Contamination

Pollution is an environmental concern for people throughout the world. One university study suggests that pollutants in the water, air, and soil cause up to 40 percent of the premature deaths in the world's population. The majority of these deaths occur in developing countries. Infants and young children are the most susceptible to waterborne diseases.

Water in many third world countries is contaminated with toxic chemicals, also known as toxins. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.1 billion people have little or no access to clean water. In many of these regions the water that is used for drinking, cooking, and washing is the same water that is used for dumping sewage and hazardous waste. Most developing countries cannot afford water treatment facilities. Approximately 80% of infectious diseases in the world are caused by contaminated water. Open stoves cause lung cancer in many parts of the world.

Air pollution is a growing problem throughout the world. Indoor air pollution is one of the leading causes of lung cancer. Families in developing countries use open stoves for cooking and heating their homes. These homes do not have proper ventilation. The smoke, which is full of chemicals and carcinogens, gets trapped inside where families eat and sleep. Outdoor pollution also causes disease and illness, especially in industrial cities such as Beijing, China, where cancer is the leading cause of death. China relies heavily on coal, which is considered the dirtiest source of energy.

According to the European Union, only 1% of urban dwellers in China breathe clean air on an average day. Neighboring countries including Japan and Korea receive much of China's pollution in the form of acid rain. This pollution results mainly from the coal powered factories, which produce inexpensive goods for North American and European consumers. Outdoor air pollution is also a concern in many wealthy countries. Those who live and work in urban centers such as Los Angeles or Toronto experience many warm days beneath a layer of smog.

16 of the world's most polluted cities are in China.

Exercise 2. Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

Exercise 3. ROLE PLAY: CLASSROOM DEBATE: Team up with classmates into groups of three. Discuss your role and what to say before the role play begins.

Exercise 4 . Discuss on the given topic. How green are you?

a. What do you do with rubbish in your household?

b. Are you economical about using water and electricity? Why? Why not?

c. How would you feel if you had to walk or cycle everywhere?

d. What do you think about being a vegetarian?

e. What’s your opinion of people who were real fur coats?

Exercise 5. Listen to the text and put the words in the column on the right into the gaps. [Part III p. 166], [5]

Traffic pollution damages kids’ lungs

Road _________ is a serious danger to children’s ______. That’s the worrying conclusion of the longest and largest study* ever undertaken into the effects of traffic fumes on child ___________. Researchers from the University of Southern California spent 13 years studying children who lived within 500 meters of busy highways. They found that most of the 3, 600 children in the study had __________ weakened lungs. Researchers said this meant the children could have _________ problems for the rest of their lives. The main author of the study W. James Gauderman said: " Someone suffering a pollution-related _______ in lung function as a child will probably have less than healthy ______ all of his or her life.” He added: " If you live in a high-pollution area and live near a busy road, you get a doubling of the _______.”		development lungs damage significantly health breathing deficit pollution
Gauderman and his team conducted their ________ on youngsters who lived near busy roads. Once a year, the team measured the children's lung _____. It checked how much air the children could release in one breath and how quickly it could be released. The team found that by their 18th ________, children who lived within 500 meters of a highway _______ three per cent less air compared with children who lived one-and-a-half kilometers away. Further, the _______ children’s lung power was seven per cent ______ in the rate at which they could exhale. Gauderman said that: " Even if you are in a relatively low ________ pollution area, living near a road produces lung problems." About a third of the children moved away from busy roads during the study but stayed near the same _________. Their lungs developed more healthily.   Exercise 6. Put the words in the correct column. Minerals, atoms, living organisms, cells, rocks, lands, history of the earth, chemical bonds, rivers Biology Geography Geology Chemistry		community power highway regional weaker birthday research exhaled
КонецформыНачалоформыExercise 7. Match the following synonyms from the article:
b.	children	comparatively
c.	Fumes	additionally
d.	significantly	breath out
e.	Deficit	emissions
f.	measured	reduction
g.	Exhale	proportion
h.	Further	considerably
i.	Rate	youngsters
j.	Relatively smog Exercise 8. Complete the sentences with suitable word. 1 We’re having a heatwave. It’s not usually so hot at this time of year. 2 If you have travelling in India, it’s best to avoid the m____________ season. 3 It rained so hard that there were serious f___________ in low-lying areas. 4 The h____________ was completely unexpected and the balls of ice nearly broke our greenhouse! 5 Hundreds of tree fell down during the h______________ and several houses were destroyed. 6. The government is encouraging everyone to save water because of the d_______________.

1.Choose the right variant: Yesterday James ______from school crying.

a) came

b) had came

c) had come

d) was coming

2. Choose the right variant: What ____you _____for on the Internet last night?

a) searched

b) was searching

c) were searching

d) had searched

3. Choose the right variant: Ten minutes after she ______the sleeping pills, she _____ asleep.

a) had taken ….falling

b) have taken….fell

c) took…..fell

d) taken …fallen

4) Choose the right variant: In the middle of the motorway my car _____of petrol.

a) had run out

b) have run out

c) was run out

d) run out