Read the text and find out if you were right about the questions above.
PLANET OF THE YEAR: WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE DOING?
One generation passeth away,and another generation cometh:but the earth abideth forever.Ecclesiastes
No, not forever. At the outside limit, the earth will probably last another 4 billion to 5 billion years. By that time, scientists predict, the sun will have burned up so much of its own hydrogen fuel that it will expand and incinerate the surrounding planets, including the earth. A nuclear cataclysm, on the other hand, could destroy the earth tomorrow. Somewhere within those extremes lies the life expectancy of this wondrous, swirling globe. How long it endures and the quality of life it can support do not depend alone on the immutable laws of physics. For man has reached a point in his evolution where he has the power to affect, for better or worse, the present and future state of the planet.
Through most of his 2 million years or so of existence, man has thrived in earth's environment – perhaps too well. By 1800 there were 1 billion human beings bestriding the planet. That number had doubled by 1930 and doubled again by 1975. If current birthrates hold, the world's present population will double again in 40 more years. The frightening irony is that this exponential growth in the human population – the very sign of homo sapiens' success as an organism – could doom the earth as a human habitat.
The reason is not so much the sheer numbers, though 40,000 babies die of starvation each day in Third World countries, but the reckless way in which humanity has treated its planetary host. Like the evil genies that flew from Pandora's box, technological advances have provided the means
of upsetting nature's equilibrium, that intricate set of biological, physical and chemical interactions that make up the web of life. Starting at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, smokestacks have disgorged noxious gases into the atmosphere, factories have dumped toxic wastes into rivers and streams, automobiles have guzzled irreplaceable fossil fuels and fouled the air with their detritus. In the name of progress, forests have been denuded, lakes poisoned with pesticides, underground aquifers pumped dry. For decades, scientists have warned of the possible consequences of all this profligacy. No one paid much attention.
This year the earth spoke, like God warning Noah of the deluge. Its message was loud and clear, and suddenly people began to listen, to ponder what portents the message held. In the U.S., a three-month drought baked the soil from California to Georgia, reducing the country's grain harvest by 31% and killing thousands of head of livestock. A stubborn seven-week heat wave drove temperatures above 100 degrees F across much of the country, raising fears that the dreaded "greenhouse effect" – global warming as a result of the buildup of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere – might already be under way. Parched by the lack of rain, the Western forests of the U.S., including Yellowstone National Park, went up in flames, also igniting a bitter conservationist controversy. And on many of the country's beaches, garbage, raw sewage and medical wastes washed up to spoil the fun of bathers and confront them personally with the growing despoliation of the oceans.
Similar pollution closed beaches on the Mediterranean, the North Sea and the English
Channel. Killer hurricanes ripped through the Caribbean and floods devastated Bangladesh, reminders of nature's raw power. In Armenia a monstrous earthquake killed some 55,000 people. That too was a natural disaster, but its high casualty count, owing largely to the construction of cheap high-rise apartment blocks over a well-known fault area, illustrated the carelessness that has become humanity's habit in dealing with nature.
There were other forebodings of environmental disaster. In the U.S. it was revealed that federal weapons-making plants had recklessly and secretly littered large areas with radioactive waste. The further depletion of the atmosphere's ozone layer, which helps block cancer-causing ultraviolet rays, testified to the continued overuse of atmosphere-destroying chlorofluorocarbons emanating from such sources as spray cans and air-conditioners. Perhaps most ominous of all, the destruction of the tropical forests, home to at least half the earth's plant and animal species, continued at a rate equal to one football field a second.
Most of these evils had been going on for a long time, and some of the worst disasters apparently had nothing to do with human behavior. Yet this year's bout of freakish weather and environmental horror stories seemed to act as a powerful catalyst for worldwide public opinion. Everyone suddenly sensed that this gyrating globe, this precious repository of all the life that we know of, was in danger. No single individual, no event, no movement captured imaginations or dominated headlines more than the clump of rock and soil and water and air that is our common home. Thus in a rare but not unprecedented departure from its tradition of naming a Man of the Year, TIME has designated Endangered Earth as Planet of the Year.
What would happen if nothing were done about the earth's imperiled state? According to computer projections, the accumulation of
CO2 in the atmosphere could drive up the planet's average temperature 3 degrees F to 9 degrees F by the middle of the XXI century. That could cause the oceans to rise by several feet, flooding coastal areas and ruining huge tracts of farmland through salinization. Changing weather patterns could make huge areas infertile or uninhabitable, touching off refugee movements unprecedented in history.
Whatever the validity of this or that theory, the earth will not remain as it is now. From its beginnings as a chunk of molten rock and gas some 4.5 billion years ago, the planet has seen continents form, move together and drift apart like jigsaw-puzzle pieces. Successive ice ages have sent glaciers creeping down from the polar caps. Mountain ranges have jutted up from ocean beds, and landmasses have disappeared beneath the waves.
Let there be no illusions. Taking effective action to halt the massive injury to the earth's environment will require a mobilization of political will, international cooperation and sacrifice unknown except in wartime. Yet humanity is in a war right now, and it is not too Draconian to call it a war for survival. It is a war in which all nations must be allies. Both the causes and effects of the problems that threaten the earth are global, and they must be attacked globally.
(Abridged from Time)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2.4. Find out if the statements are true or false. Correct the wrong statements.
1. The most likely outcome is that the earth will disappear when the sun incinerates it.
2. The number human population has been fluctuating over the past two centuries.
3. The technology has damaged nature’s equipoise.
4. Different natural catastrophes have happened lately and humanity is responsible for most of them.
5. Forests cover same areas as in the past.
6. Every year an endangered planet is identified as Planet of the Year.
7. Weather patterns will change because of the solar activity.
8. There have been several ice ages.
9. Humanity is in war what causes massive injury to the earth’s environment.
3.1. Answer the questions to the text.
1. Which biblical and mythological artifacts did you encounter in the text? Why does the author resort them?
2. Find all the geographic names mentioned in the text. What problems do these regions face?
3. Which bookish and colloquial words were used in the text? For what purpose? Give examples to prove your answer.
4. Which shocking facts did you come across in the text that you have never heard / thought of?
5. What kinds of wastes were mentioned? Why does the author do it?
6. How did the planet change over the billions of years? How has it changed over the past two hundred years? Are there any similarities / differences?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
3.2. Look at the highlighted words and try to explain what they mean. Make up sentences with them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
3.3. Find the synonyms the author uses. Why does he resort to them?
cataclysm (x2) = __________________
swirling globe = ___________________
CO2 = __________________________
deluge = _________________________
drought = ________________________
incinerate (x4) = __________________
human population = ________________
evil = ___________________________
endangered = _____________________
3.4. Match the words to make collocations. Make up sentences with these phrases.
Most of these evils had been going on for a long time, and some of the worst disasters apparently had nothing to do with human behavior. Yet this year's bout of freakish weather and environmental horror stories seemed to act as a powerful catalyst for worldwide public opinion. Everyone suddenly sensed that this gyrating globe, this precious repository of all the life that we know of, was in danger. No single individual, no event, no movement captured imaginations or dominated headlines more than the clump of rock and soil and water and air that is our common home. Thus in a rare but not unprecedented departure from its tradition of naming a Man of the Year, TIME has designated Endangered Earth as Planet of the Year.
What would happen if nothing were done about the earth's imperiled state? According to computer projections, the accumulation of
3.2. Look at the highlighted words and try to explain what they mean. Make up sentences with them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
3.3. Find the synonyms the author uses. Why does he resort to them?
cataclysm (x2) = __________________
swirling globe = ___________________
CO2 = __________________________
deluge = _________________________
drought = ________________________
incinerate (x4) = __________________
human population = ________________
evil = ___________________________
endangered = _____________________