IV ( )

- 2008-2009 !
1. : 3t E.M., H I.H
"#$ %&'&($ )* +,- . /#011$23$* ,4 '#$ 25
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Basic Course Book
Unit 18 Fears of Tomorrow
Unit 19 A New Century Beckons
Unit 24 Our built-in Moral Senses the Basic we Should go back to
Unit 45 The end of heroism
Home Reading Class: A Sound of Thunder by ay Bradbury
Additional File
Read the text. Say what in the authors opinion is particularly dystopian about the global
prospects or the coming years. !o you personally share any o the authors predictions"
November 2012: a dyto!ian dream
By #ideon Rachman
February $% &''( $()&*
On both sides oI the Atlantic, senior oIIicials are issuing dire warnings about global political
turmoil. In the US, Admiral Dennis Blair, the director oI national intelligence, says instability
produced by the economic crisis is now the biggest short-term threat to US national security. In
Britain, Ed Balls, a cabinet minister, argues that the Iinancial crisis is 'more serious than that oI the
1930s, adding cheerIully: 'And we all remember how the politics oI that era were shaped by the
economy.
All this is alarming but also rather vague. So how might world politics look in Iour years`
time? Something like this, perhaps . . .
It is November,7 2012. At three in the morning, an exhausted-looking President Barack Obama
appears beIore weeping supporters in the ballroom oI the Chicago Hilton and concedes deIeat. The
euphoria oI his victory-night speech in Grant Park Iour years earlier is a distant memory. The Obama
administration has been overwhelmed by America`s economic problems. Sarah Palin is the new
president oI the US.
Elected on a ticket oI populism at home and nationalism overseas, President-elect Palin starts to
take congratulatory phone calls Irom Ioreign leaders. First on the line is Avigdor Lieberman, the
prime minister oI Israel; then comes President Vladimir Putin oI Russia. Five diIIerent leaders
claiming to speak in the name oI the European Union try to place calls but they are all put on hold.
As Ior the Chinese leadership, the new president is not speaking to them. How could she, aIter she
has campaigned against the 'communist currency manipulators oI Beijing?
The Chinese have resisted the temptation to call Mrs Palin a 'capitalist running dog. But
Maoist language is creeping back into Chinese oIIicial discourse, as the country struggles to adjust to
the collapse and closure oI its export markets. Alarmed by the large number oI unemployed in the
cities, the Communist party has abandoned plans to privatise rural land and invested heavily in
public works in the countryside and new collective Iarms. This policy is swiItly dubbed 'the Great
Leap backwards.
The world event that had most damaged Mr Obama was Iran`s successIul test oI a nuclear
weapon in 2011. The Republicans had hammered home their message that Mr Obama was 'a second
Jimmy Carter, who had been duped by hopes oI striking a grand bargain with Iran.
The Iranian nuclear test had also driven Israeli politics even Iurther to the right and set the stage
Ior the rise oI Mr Lieberman. His campaign slogan in the 2011 election 'bomb them while they are
on the toilet was borrowed Irom Mr Putin and chanted gleeIully by Mr Lieberman`s Russian-
speaking supporters.
Mr Obama had successIully delivered on his campaign promise to get America out oI Iraq. But
by 2012, the voters were taking that Ior granted. Nato`s messy withdrawal Irom AIghanistan had,
however, damaged him. The US and its allies had leIt behind a country run by a patchwork oI more
or less co-operative warlords. The new anti-terror strategy was oIIicially called 'watch and strike,
and unoIIicially dubbed 'whack a mole. It involved monitoring potential terrorist camps Irom a
distance and bombing them.
Mr Putin had said that he had no intention oI gloating about AIghanistan, beIore adding: 'But
the age oI American arrogance is over.
By 2010, Mr Putin was saIely installed back in the Kremlin. The gravity oI Russia`s economic
crisis had led the oIIicial media to clamour Ior a return to strong leadership. President Dmitry
Medvedev had taken the hint in early 2010 and stepped aside.
In 2011, the unstable democratic governments in Ukraine and Georgia had Iallen, aIter weeks
oI popular unrest. The Russians were suspected oI orchestrating events but nobody could prove
anything. The Americans and Europeans had protested but only Ieebly.
AIter the Iall oI the Merkel government in 2009, Germany was governed by a succession oI
unstable coalitions and Iorgettable chancellors. The hope that had accompanied the election oI David
Cameron as Britain`s prime minister, under the slogan 'let the sunshine in, had swiItly disappeared.
The hapless Mr Cameron was now the most unpopular prime minister in British history.
This leIt President Nicolas Sarkozy oI France as the dominant Iigure in the EU. His divorce
Irom Carla Bruni and marriage to Madonna had only brieIly distracted him.
Mr Sarkozy had weathered the denunciations that Iollowed his decision in 2010 Iormally to
withdraw France Irom the EU`s regimes on competition and state aid. All main French banks and
industrial conglomerates were instructed to make 90 per cent oI their investments at home. Mr
Sarkozy`s move was widely denounced across the EU but then equally widely imitated.
At home, the French president was under pressure to go even Iurther in a nationalist direction
Irom his main political opponents 'the postman and the housewiIe, otherwise known as Olivier
Besancenot, a Trotskyite, and Marine Le Pen oI the Iar-right National Front. Ms Le Pen cited the rise
oI Sarah Palin as an inspiration.
As the morning oI November 7 wore on, President Palin herselI took to the stage in Anchorage,
Alaska. Her supporters cheered and waved ice hockey sticks. 'I`ve got a message Ior the mullahs and
the commies, she roared: 'America is back.
"#$ 1 %hooe &ord ' &ord (ombination that (o))o(ate &ith ea(h of the fo))o&in* verb:
concede+ resist+ strike+ set+ deli,er. Tran)ate thee (o))o(ation into +uian
independence
a baby
the watch Iorward
deIeat
the table
land to the enemy
a good / bad example
the pace
a goal
the temptation
a speech
a chord
one's hopes on smb. / smth
the Ilag
the stage
a blow
at the rights oI every citizen
terror into his enemies
a match
the eye
on promise
Iire
a bargain
Irom slavery
"#$2 Read the article and then look at the statements below. Agree or disagree with the opinions in the text.
Underline the part of the text that gave you your answer.
,han*in* Attitudes and Trends
The past 40 years have seen astounding developments: globalisation, the end oI the Cold
War, the Internet. The next 40 years may bring even more proIound changes. In order to predict
the Iuture we must Iirst examine the past. Historians see history as being driven by a
combination oI cumulative long-term trends and short to mid-term cycles, each oI which
contains the seeds oI a subsequent but Iamiliar situation. There have been many projections about the Iuture
which, with the beneIit oI hindsight, seem rather ridiculous. Who can Iorget the predictions about the Y2K bug when
commentators believed that societies would collapse and satellites would Iall Irom the sky? UnIortunately, as a result, many
people today are more sceptical about current predictions concerning global warming.
One oI the Iew areas in which long-term trends can be clearly seen is demographic statistics. These indicate that the
population oI the world will increase to about eight billion in 2026 and continue to rise to nine billion by 2050, aIter which it will
Ilatten out. Some societies have birth rates that are already locking their populations into absolute decline. Not only will the
populations oI each oI these societies dwindle, but an increasing proportion will be moving into old age, when they are less
productive and use more health resources. However, the weakness oI all such predictions is that humans meddle with their own
history. Predictions about the Iuture aIIect how humans act or plan today and ultimately how events unIold. The challenge is to
pick the trends that are likely to be prolonged, but to also Iactor in human inIluence.
A cycle is usually repeated at some time in
the future.
We can look back and understand past
predictions.
Past predictions have caused people to
firmly believe in current predictions
-o!u)ation fi*ure can be predicted quite
accurately.
Some (ountrie are predicted to
experience a tota) decline in population
The !er(enta*e oI elderly people will
d&ind)e in some countries
. . .Elderly people work less
To make accurate predictions we need to
ta.e into a((ount the effe(t people have on
their environment.
Look at the words in bold in the eight statements and find the words or phrases in the text that are similar in
meaning, or the opposite. The first one has been done for you
in the future - subse!uent
Read the text and comment on the authors statement -.o understand that things happen
you ha,e to understand that things ,anish/.
/ru(e Ster)in* 0 -ro!het and )o
By !arren 0aters
.echnology editor+ BBC 1ews $23'23&''(
The diIIiculty with interviewing Bruce Sterling is knowing where to start. His interests range
Irom literature and design culture, to Iuturism, political activism, micro and macro economics,
technology and 11th Century writers.
Perhaps the simplest starting point would be: The Iuture? Explain. But Sterling does not speak
in handy, journalist-Iriendly soundbites and rejects the notion oI being a prophet. Instead he speaks
as he writes, launching verbal hand grenades packed densely with ideas, answers and counter
questions.
"I am a cult author; I don't write Ior the vast hamburger-eating, seething masses. I try to plant
mind bombs - do the most damage," he tells me. He is the author oI 10 novels, many short stories
and is one oI the most interesting, magpie bloggers oI the modern-day techno-inIused culture.
1or&ard fa(in*
Along with writers such as William Gibson and Pat Cadigan, he drove the take-up oI the
cyberpunk literary genre which both Iomented and predicted contemporary society's heady mix oI
technology and culture. But he is worried that his novel-writing days may soon be at an end.
"I am not sure I am going to be allowed to do it. American publishing is in distress. The book
stores are going, the big centralised publishers are very heavily indebted and they are small sections
oI the centralised American media apparatus that have lost social credibility."
He adds: "People don't pay attention to novels. The socially important parts oI American
communication are not taking part in novels. You can write them but they are not changing public
discourse. "You can also say that everybody in society has moved up a notch and everybody just
wants the executive summary."
Despite cyberpunk's prescience Sterling does not want to cast himselI as a prophet. In his 1988
novel Islands in the Net he wrote oI oII-shore global terrorist groups, oI de-localised, networked
corporations, and oI computers becoming Iashion items. "II you read a piece oI science Iiction that is
very accurate about Iuture developments it makes you unhappy. When you read these books you
wonder why nothing was done about these problems iI you were able to predict them. "It gives you a
sense oI helplessness." But he adds: "There's a clear social need Ior someone willing to predict the
Iuture. People really need prophets in the same way they need Iaith healers and witch doctors." But
he warns that looking to these prophets "doesn't galvanise people; it doesn't change their behaviour".
Sterling is not looking to produce maniIestos oI the Iuture to try and corral people into making
change, despite his strong activist Ieelings around issues such as the global economy and climate
change. He says: "I like ideas as abstract constructs. I don't Iancy myselI as political organiser. "I am
too literary and poetic to be an organiser or rabble rouser. I am an attention philanthropist, always
pointing to stuII other people are doing."
Science Iiction, he says, has as much relevance in today's world oI seemingly relentless
scientiIic endeavour across many diIIerent Iields as it did in the past when the perception oI the pace
oI change was arguably slower.
One oI the recurring themes oI Sterling's blog is obsolete media. It is a thread in his novels too:
In one scene oI Islands in the Net the Iemale protagonist trips on a halI-buried video recorder, a relic
oI the past. "I am not an industrialist. But it's up to me to talk about the loss. The Iuture is
obsolescence in reverse. And obsolescence is a big part oI maturity.
"To understand that things happen you have to understand that things vanish. A lot oI it
deserves to be gone Iorever, but not all oI it. I am especially worried that things disappear in
thoughtless Iashion."
Brainstorm to answer the ollowing 4uestions) 0hat are the ad,antages and the
disad,antages o li,ing in a big city" 0hat amenities should a city oer its residents and
commuters" Are you happy to be li,ing in a big city" #i,e your personal reasons
Urbani2ation and 3)oba)i2ation
At the beginning oI the twentieth century, 150 million people lived in urban settlements,
representing less than ten per cent oI the world's population. As the century drew to a close, the
world's urban population has increased twentyfold to nearly 3,000 million, i.e. almost halI the world's
population.
Two major urban trends have been observed at the close oI the 20
th
century. First, contrary to
most predictions, population growth rates have slowed down Ior many cities in developing countries.
The largest cities in these countries grew Iar more slowly in the 1980s than during the previous two
decades. Second, the world is less dominated by very large cities than had been Iorecast. Less than
Iive per cent oI the world's population lived in megacities in 1990. The prediction that cities such as
Calcutta and Mexico City would grow to gigantic conurbations oI 30 to 40 million inhabitants did not
come true.
Two diIIerent tendencies in shaping the urban Iuture oI the third millennium can be discerned.
First, the progressive urbanization oI the globe is certain. It has been estimated that in the Iirst decade
oI the twenty-Iirst century more than halI the world's population will be living in well-managed urban
settlements. Second, there will be growing interaction between urbanization and globalization.
Globalization is a multiIaceted process oI drawing countries, cities and people ever closer together
through increasing Ilows oI goods, services, capital, technology and ideas. It has not been a boon to
all cities. While it has brought new opportunities and wealth to some cities, it has marginalized
others. The marginalized city is outside the cyber-ways, lacks the requisite inIormation inIrastructure
and is generally not able to plug into the global economy. Poor inIrastructure has led to problems in
water supply, urban sanitation and transport. Environmental problems, especially air, water and noise
pollution have grown in many cities oI the developing world. Growing social conIlicts, such as
homelessness, crime and drug-dependence plague many cities. Some political scientists maintain that
rampant urban growth is increasing urban poverty and inequality, which in turn could spark a
weakening oI the state, civil unrest, urban-based revolutions, and radical religious Iundamentalism.
Nevertheless, in this century, the relevant unit oI economic production, social organization and
knowledge generation will be the city. World cities will be especially inIluential in shaping the
development oI the global economy. Urban areas oI less developed countries will incur almost all oI
the world's population growth and will envelop much oI the world's population, while those oI more
developed countries will experience population aging and an inIlux oI immigrants.
Urban populations grow as a result oI natural increase (when birth rates exceed death rates), net
in-migration (when more people move in than out), and sometimes because oI the reclassiIication oI
urban boundaries to encompass Iormerly rural population settlements. Because most people move to
take advantage oI economic opportunities and because younger adults Iind it easier to move than
older adults, younger working-age people usually make up a large share oI migrants.
The manner in which the population oI a given country or region apportions itselI over its
territory is dictated primarily by the way in which economic investment and activities distribute
themselves over that space. Other Iactors such as natural beauty, topography, climate and access to
services and amenities also inIluence individual residential choice, especially among aIIluential
people not in the labor Iorce; however, at the aggregate level, people basically occupy space
according to the Ilow oI economic opportunities. They go where they Ieel they have the best chance
oI obtaining a better job and better income. Hence, people ultimately redistribute themselves
according to the spatial re-allocation oI investments and jobs.
Yet urbanization in most less developed countries today diIIers Irom the early 20th-century
trends in Europe and the United States in at least Iive key respects: It is taking place at lower levels
oI economic development; it is more dependent on changes in the international economy; it is based
on lower mortality and higher Iertility; it involves many more people; and governments have
intervened to modiIy it.
The Iirst great demographic benchmark oI the 21st century occurred in 2005, as most oI the
world's people became urban dwellers.
Cities have long acted as the engines oI human cultural, technological and economic
development. Today they are highly dependent systems with tentacles stretching across the planet.
Modern communications have dramatically improved the nervous system oI cities: they are the
production centres, the nerve centres and the brains oI the global human eIIort.
Cities dominate global resource consumption. Occupying only 2 per cent oI the world's land
surIace, they use over 75 per cent oI its resources. As centres oI human social activity they are
characterised by their highly developed division oI labour.
Cities depend on a multitude oI supplies Irom elsewhere, including land-based resources, such
as foodstuffs and timber, and subterranean resources such as metals and Iossil Iuels. The way these
resources are used, via processing, combustion, and disposal, has proIound eIIects on the living earth.
Cities are centre-stage in the global environmental drama oI pollution, land degradation and
loss oI species diversity. The concentration oI intense economic processes and the high levels oI
consumption in cities both increase their resource demands.
The critical question, as humanity moves to Iull urbanisation, is whether living standards in our
cities can be maintained but their environmental impacts curbed.
Cities in addition to being the centers oI cultural advancement and technological change - are
undeniably the axis oI both demographic and economic growth in the beginning-oI-century scenario.
The absolute scale and the sheer number oI people involved in the current process oI urbanization is
unprecedented and makes it one oI the most signiIicant transIormations oI the human habitat ever
witnessed.
The number, size, Iorm, density and organization oI cities, as well as the eIIicacy oI urban
environmental management, will have a determining eIIect on resource use, waste generation and
disposal, as well as on the prospects Ior conservation oI natural ecosystems. At the same time, cities
will continue to be inIluential in the Iertility transition; they will also concentrate an increasing
proportion oI economic activity and thus be pivotal in the improvement oI social well-being.
Answer the ollowing 4uestions)
"hat common features characteri#e cities in all $arts of the world%
"hat were the ma&or urban tendencies late in the '(
th
century%
"hat tendencies in sha$ing the urban future of the third millennium can be discerned%
5xpand on the ollowing)
Cities ha*e long acted as the engines of human cultural+ technological and economic de*elo$ment
Cities+ as they are today+ are highly de$endent systems with tentacles stretching across the $lanet,
"#$4
Severa) (om!ound ad5e(tive are ued in the te#t6 u(h a well-managed+ twentyfold+ land-based+
centre-stage, foodstuffs, ,om!ound ad5e(tive are often formed from a !reent or !at !arti(i!)e
&ith a !re!oition6 another ad5e(tive or an adverb$ 6ake compound words 7with hyphens i
necessary8 according to the deinitions+ using the word gi,en as the irst part o the compound.
1$ foo)
a) taking unnecessary risks
b) made in such a way that even a Iool can understand or use saIely
2$ heart
a) central part oI a country
b) burning sensation in the chest caused by indigestion
c) a man whose good looks excite romantic Ieelings in women
4$ head
a) Iorward motion, progress
b) selI-willed, obstinate
c) to identiIy a suitable person to Iill a business position
4$ foot
a) a saIe place Ior the Ioot, especially when climbing
b) a row oI lights along the Iront oI a stage
c) additional piece oI inIormation printed at the bottom oI a page
5$ over
a) covered with clouds
b) sum oI money drawn or borrowed Irom a bank in excess oI one's deposit
c) Iailure to notice something
7$ by
a) a road that enables the traveller to avoid going through the centre oI a town
b) regulation made by a local authority
c) substance made or obtained during the manuIacture oI some other substance
8$ hand
a) involving or oIIering active participation rather than theory
b) printed notice circulated by hand
c) a condition that markedly restricts a person's ability to Iunction physically or mentally
9$ )i*ht
a) cheerIul, Iree Irom care
b) clever at stealing
c) giddy; thoughtless or IorgetIul
10$ tand
a) unIriendly, distant in manner
b) stoppage
c) thing or person to be used or called on iI necessary
11$ u!
a) tumult, violent disturbance
b) outcome, result
c) padding and covering oI chairs and soIas
12$ )ay
a) person who is not an expert with regard to a proIession, science or art
b) manner in which something is arranged or disposed
c) piece oI surIaced land at the side oI a road where cars may park
14$ ho&
a) place where goods are displayed
b) a Iull declaration oI Iacts, intentions, or strength
c) something produced mainly Ior show or to attract attention
14$ 8ui(.
a) mentally alert
b) easily made angry
c) expanse oI soil that sucks down anyone who tries to walk on it
15$ ba(.
a) accumulation oI work or business not yet attended to
b) strength oI character, courage
c) speaking evil oI a person
19$ eye
a) circumstance that brings enlightenment and surprise
b) an ugly or unpleasant thing to look at
c) one who has himselI seen something happen
"#$ 4 Ue a hy!hen to (ombine one of the &ord in bo# A &ith one of the &ord in bo# /$
Then (om!)ete the enten(e$
A double long short one / edged sighted sided term
1 We need a................................plan Ior our transport systems that will take into account Iuture
growth.
2 A warning sign was put at the site oI the accident as a................................measure until a new
wall was built.
3 This argument appears to be a little.................................I'd like to hear the other side as well.
4 The management agreed to employ Iive more members oI staII, which in hindsight was a
very............................decision because within a Iew weeks we were still understaIIed.
5 Globalisation is a................................sword. It promotes multiculturalism while it erodes the
local culture.
"#$5 ,ro out the one &ord in ea(h )it that i N:T a ynonym for the &ord in (a!ita)$
1. PROBLEM diIIiculty, dilemma, beneIit, challenge, obstacle
2. SOLUTION answer, key, remedy, resolution, setback
3. WORSEN compound, deteriorate, enhance, exacerbate
4. IMPROVE advance, aggravate, Ilourish, progress, reIorm
5. CHANGE acclimatise, adapt, adjust, amend, linger, modiIy, transIorm
"#$ 9 ,om!)ete the te#t &ith uitab)e ad5e(tive *iven be)o&$ ;ore than one ad5e(tive may
be !oib)e$
ade4uate+ basic+ booming+ catastrophic+ decent+ enormous+ pressing+ staggering
6egacities
The world's population is (1)................................, no more so than in its cities. Today,
there are 21 megacities, each containing more than 10 million inhabitants, three-quarters oI
them in developing nations. By 2020, there are expected to be at least 27 megacities. Such a
(2)................................ rate oI urbanisation brings its own problems, especially in developing
nations, where the majority oI the megacities will be Iound.
Employment and educational opportunities are the main attraction oI urban centres. But
hopes Ior a better liIe are oIten dashed as overpopulation puts an (3)................................strain
on the inIrastructure oI the cities and their ability to provide (4)................................ necessities
such as clean water and a place to live.
Many rural migrants Iail to Iind (5)................................ work, and thereIore cannot aIIord
(6)................................housing. In some megacities up to 50 per cent oI the residents live in
slums. This problem is (7)................................. with the United Nations predicting that halI the
world's population will be living in cities by next year. II the inIrastructure within those cities
does not grow at the same rate the result will be (8)................................
"#$ !omplete the text with suitable words given below
Ageing, challenges, compounded, declining, elderly, factors, implications, migrating, population, present,
rates, trends
Statistics show that in many countries the population will decline in the next 50 years.
The population oI these countries will also age rapidly. What eIIect will this have on those
countries?
II current (1) ..... continue, then in some countries the (2) ..... is
expected to dwindle within the next 50 years. This problem is (3) ..... by the Iact that
not only is the number oI inhabitants diminishing, but they are also growing older. This (4)
..... population will bring its own (5) ..... At (6) ..... there are
suIIicient younger people to earn money and pay taxes to support the (7) .....
However, within 50 years this will not be the case. There are several possible (8) .....
contributing to this problem. First, birth (9) ..... in these countries are clearly Ialling.
Second, there could be an increase in the number oI people (10) ..... away from
these areas.
The ageing and "##$ %%%%% population is expected to have
important "#&$ %%%%% for the labour force and the 'uality of
everyday life.
"#$ 8 Complete the text with words from the box
Acid, biodiversity, contaminated, deforestation, ecosystems, emissions, environmental, erosion, exhaust, drought,
fertilizers, greenhouse, waste
The advances made by humans have made us the dominant species on our planet.
However, several eminent scientists are concerned that we have become too successIul, that our
way oI liIe is putting an unprecedented strain on the Earth's (1) %%%%% and threatening our future as a species. We
are confronting (2) p problems that are more ta#in* than ever beIore, some oI them
seemingly ino)ub)e. Many oI the Earth's crises are (hroni( and ine#orab)y linked. Pollution is an
obvious example of this affectin our air! "ater and soil.
#he air is polluted by ($) ..... produced by cars and industry. Through (4)
..... rain and "($ ........................ gases these same ")$ ..... Iumes can have a devastating
impact on our climate. !limate change is arguably the greatest environmental challenge facing our planet with increased
storms, floods, "$ ..... and species losses predicted. This will inevitably have a neative impact on
"*$ ..... and thus our ecosystem.
The soil is (9) ..... by Iactories and power stations which can leave heavy
metals in the soil. Other human activities such as the overdevelopment of land and the clearing of trees also take
their toll on the 'uality of our soil+ "#,$ ..... has been shown to cause soil (11) .....
Certain Iarming practices can also pollute the land though the use of chemical pesticides and "#&$ .....
This contamination in turn affects our rivers and waterways and damages life there. The chemicals enter our food
chain, moving from fish to mammals to us. -ur crops are also grown on land that is far from pristine. %ffected species
include the polar bear! so not even the %rctic is immune.
Reducing (13) ..... and clearing up pollution costs money. Yet it is our quest
Ior wealth that generates so much of the refuse. There is an urgent need to find a way of life that is less damaging to
the .arth. This is not easy, but it is vital! because pollution is pervasive and often life&threatenin.
Consider how you would answer these 4uestions.
1 What do you think is the greatest environmental threat we Iace today?
2 What can the government do to help protect the environment?
3 What can we as individuals do?
6atch the words in bold with these synonyms.
Unspoiled pristine
crucial
unparalleled
extremely harmIul
insurmountable
unaffected
omnipresent
unavoidably (x2)
persistent.
challenging
5x.9 Use a dictionary to check the different forms of the words in the box as well as the prepositions used with them.
Then complete the answers to the 'uestions using the correct form of the word in brackets. /ou will need to add
prepositions to the words that are underlined.
contaminate danger dispose erode pollute recycle risk sustain threat
I think our environment is (1) under threat from (threat- many diIIerent things. We
have allowed too much (2) ...... (pollute) to enter our ecosystem and we are (3)
..... (danger- poisoning ourselves as a result. I think soil (4) ..... (erode) and
water (5) ..... .contaminate- are two oI the most urgent problems that we need to deal with.
Clearly our current lifestyle is not (6) (sustain). he go!ernment should educate people about these
problems and encourage us to change our habits. hey need to show e!eryone that we are putting the !ery future of our planet
(")
We can make sure we don't throw (#) (recycle) items into our normal waste ($)
(dispose) bins. We can also help protect our planet by not using phosphate%based detergents& this will help to 'eep (1()
(pollute) out of our food chain.
-rofi(ien(y fi)e
O$en Clo#e
Ne& <or. ho& &ay for urban renaian(e
It's not (1) .... pleasant to live in New York in the hot days oI August. The grime on the
sidewalk has really begun to reek. The tourist hordes remind you (2) .... little room you have
By next year, according to the United Nations, more than halI the world's population will Ior
the Iirst time live in towns and cities. New York's population growth is not spectacular. It's (4)
.... line with the growth oI London, which is adding around 90,000 each year, 40,000 Irom
natural expansion and a (5) .... 50,000 Irom inward migration.
But other cities have been growing (6) .... Iaster even than New York or London - Madrid,
where the Ioreign population has multiplied Iour times in about six years, and Istanbul, where the
population has increased tenIold since 1950.
Cities may also be growing because individuals (7) .... consumers want to live there.
People now want to live in dense areas because dense areas oIIer (8) .... people want to
consume - opera, sports teams, art museums, varied cuisine.
The number oI these "consumer immigrants" is (9) ....small compared with the hundreds
oI thousands oI poorer economic migrants who traditionally head to the inner (10) .....
Multi$le choice le/ical clo#e
The 1uture
The environmental (1)....Ior the Iuture is mixed. In spite oI economic and political
changes, interest in and (2)....about the environment remains high. Problems oI acid deposition,
chloroIluorocarbons and ozone depletion still seek solutions and concerted action. Until acid
depositions (3)...., loss oI aquatic liIe in northern lakes and streams will continue and Iorest
growth may be aIIected. Water pollution will remain a growing problem as increasing human
population puts additional stress on the environment. To reduce environmental degradation and Ior
humanity to save its habitat, societies must recognise that resources are (4).......... Environmentalists
believe that, as populations and their demands increase, the idea oI continuous growth must (5)
....way to a more rational use oI the environment, but that this can only be brought (6)
....by a dramatic change in the attitude oI the human species.
1. A. line B. outset C. outcome D. outlook
2. A. concern B. attention C. responsibility D. consideration
3. A. wane B. diminish C. depreciate D. curtail
4. A. Iinite B. restricted C. conIined D. bounded
5. A. make B. Iorce C. give D. clear
6. A. on B. about C. oII D. in
"ord formation
5$4$ ;odern ,u)ture
When people talk about contemporary culture they are just as 7'8
9..likely9..to be talking about Iast cars, trainers or high heels as they are to be
talking about Shostakovich or Shakespeare. Goods have become as 7$8...............
a measure and marker oI culture as the Great and the Good. The word 'culture'
can now cover just about anything. Culture is no longer merely the beautiIul
and 7&8.............. It wasn't until the late twentieth century that a 728..............
interest in objects began to 7:8.............. the traditional interest in -isms, with
historians, 7;8............... critics and philosophers all suddenly becoming
Iascinated by the meaning oI objects, large and small. Is this a sign, perhaps, oI
a society cracking under the strain oI too many things? Our current 7%8...............
with material culture, one might argue, is simply a 7*8.............. to the Western
crisis oI abundance. There are obvious problems with this materialist
7<8............... oI culture. II our experience oI everyday liIe is so 7(8..............+ then
how much more so is the 7$'8..............oI our everyday things under scrutiny.
like
mean
single
school+ place
literate
obsessi,e
respond
concept
satisy
spectator
0a$$ed Sentences
$.
On Feb. 8, General Fonseka was seized by military police Ior allegedly conspiring to
..... a coup
Endeavour and six astronauts rocketed into orbit Monday on what's likely the last nighttime
..... Ior the shuttle program
Pyongyang's missile ..... presents a headache Ior the new Administration, which must
now Iind a path between punishing North Korea and getting back to the negotiating table
&.
Sales oI new homes ..... to a record low in January, underscoring the Iormidable
challenges Iacing the housing industry as it tries to recover
This month's national elections won decisively by the ruling Congress-led government, has
..... India's leIt-wing into crisis
Thousands oI Russian Orthodox Church Iollowers ..... into icy rivers to mark
Epiphany, cleansing themselves with water deemed holy Ior the day.
2.
Read an interesting piece on new geography that talks about Detroit's struggles and its
..... as a lab Ior cutting-edge urban planning ideas.
San Francisco has just put up an online map oI the solar power ..... oI every block in
the city.
It's hard enough to Iind a job in this economy, and now some people are Iacing another hurdle:
..... employers are holding their credit histories against them
:.
There may be a handIul oI unreconstructed moral absolutists who still .....
homosexuality as a sin or who Iavour a return to the Dark Ages Ior women, but they are vastly
outnumbered.
The Pew Institute`s survey Iound 'a broad and deepening dislike oI American although US
technology and popular culture is still held in high ........
Iran continues to play games with the rest oI the world with ..... to its nuclear
program.
;.
EIIects oI peanut allergy ..... Irom mild itching and rashes to breathing diIIiculties
Public health oIIicials grappling with the obesity epidemic have debated a wide ..... oI
approaches to helping slim the American waistline.
And he wrote about John F. Kennedy Irom close range, as a White House "special assistant"
who advised on policy.
-atient "arth
.homas 5. =o,e>oy ?anuary $(+ &''*
Even though we should know better, it is natural to regard what we grew up with as the normal
state oI aIIairs. Indeed, every generation has a diIIerent view oI "the good old days." This is
particularly troublesome with respect to the environment and nature. Without some perspective oI
what might be "normal," it is hard to understand the impact we have had on our planet and what to do
about it.
At the time I turned my hand to environment and conservation, the number oI endangered
species worldwide was modest. To be sure there were the Iirst signs oI more pervasive problems
heralded in Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," but they seemed amenable to straightIorward and simple
Iixes. Hole in the ozone layer? Find a substitute Ior chloroIluorocarbons. Acid rain and acid lakes?
Reduce sulIur emissions and do it economically by creating a market Ior sulIur trading. An
endangered rainIorest? Create a protected area.
To be truly eIIective in most endeavors, including environmental work, it is important to liIt
one's gaze Irom the particular to assess periodically the overall state oI the exercise. That can
determine whether and how to alter strategy as new environmental problems emerge and
understanding deepens.
Current indicators can only tell us about the moment, whereas we need to be cognizant oI
shiIting environmental horizons what could well become Iuture baselines unless action is taken.
Doing so, one can only conclude that the environmental proIession has changed Irom one in which
simple and oIten local interventions would work, to one in which we have become planet doctors. In
the oceans and on land it is impossible to Iind a place unaIIected by human activities. We live in a
chemical soup oI our own making. Even in the Arctic and Antarctica, animals accumulate toxic
compounds in their tissues. RainIorests and virtually all other natural habitats are in retreat. The
number oI endangered birds, mammals and plants is soaring Irom multiple causes.
Perhaps as many as one quarter oI all amphibian species are endangered through a strange
combination oI Iactors, including a Iatal Iungal disease. With no tadpoles, some streams have turned
bright green Irom unconstrained algal growth. The great global cycles oI carbon and nitrogen are
badly distorted, producing, among other things, climate change and acidiIying oceans Irom
greenhouse gases plus multiple dead zones in estuaries and coastal waters. The rising temperatures
are already stressing coral reeIs. In some parts oI Siberia, the thawed permaIrost bubbles with
methane like a Yellowstone hot spring.
While there is enough on the planet's environmental horizon to make us all want to throw up
our hands, as planet doctors we know diagnosis is just prelude to treatment.
There is a tremendous amount that can be done to right the imbalance without wrecking the
global economy. Indeed the recent Stern report on climate change, whatever its Ilaws, clearly
demonstrates that the implications oI a deteriorating environment are more serious Ior the economy
than the cost oI addressing it. Action is required in all segments oI society: Government needs to put
the right incentives in place to encourage, Ior example, the right kinds oI bioIuels and other alternate
energy sources. Individual human aspiration needs to be provided choices that are environment-
Iriendly.
Clearly, there is an enormous role Ior the private sector. Happily, there are many signs that
some companies view this as an opportunity. The aluminum company Alcoa, in one oI the most
energy-intensive industries, is seeking to make its Brazilian operations carbon-neutral and
sustainable in other ways as well. Generators made by Caterpillar run on methane Irom landIills.
Time magazine has analyzed the carbon in its product liIe cycle Irom tree harvest to disposal.
This is not the Iirst time in our history that humanity has Iaced a huge and unprecedented
challenge. Environmental degradation is largely avoidable. It only requires us to take the planetary
diagnosis as seriously as our own individual annual checkups, and rise to the challenge with all oI
our innate creativity.
.hink about your daily routine. 6ake a list o i,e ways in which you could help the
en,ironment by making changes to that routine
@n your group drat a plan to make your region more en,ironmentally riendly and attracti,e
or residents and tourists.
.hink about) rubbish remo,al 3 impro,ed recycling
pedestrianisation 3 cycle path
better and cheaper public transport
tree planting and more green areas
"arth =our >08: ?id @t ;atterA
6ar. &*+ &''< By Bryan 0alsh
The average American produces about 20 tons oI the major greenhouse gas carbon dioxide
(CO2) every year. That might sound like a lot and Americans do have among the biggest carbon
Iootprints in the world but the entire world emits around 27 billion tons oI CO2 each year,
through transportation, electricity use, deIorestation. Look at those numbers Ior a moment, and you'll
realize there's very little that any oI us can do on an individual level to stop climate change. Live like
a monk, take away your 20 tons stop breathing iI you'd like and you'll barely scratch the
surIace.
It's numbers like those that can make Earth Hour so easy to criticize. Starting at 8 p.m. on
Saturday, March 29 in Christchurch, New Zealand, citizens Irom around the world turned oII their
lights Ior an hour, to draw attention to the connection between energy use and climate change. From
New Zealand, the event moved westward with the sun to Australia, Manila, Dubai, Dublin, New
York, Chicago and Iinally San Francisco, where both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge
went dark Ior an hour. Carter Roberts, head oI the World WildliIe Fund (WWF), which sponsored
Earth Hour, said the global event was designed to "make a statement about our commitment to solve
the climate change problem and symbolize the commitment that people will make throughout the rest
oI the year." (Hear Roberts talk about Earth Hour on this week's Greencast.)
Earth Hour didn't suIIer Ior a lack oI gimmicks. Servers wearing glow-in-the-dark necklaces
sold eco-tins at bars and restaurants in Phoenix. A local yoga house in Michigan oIIered sessions by
lamplight, and the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago arranged check-in by candlelight. Watching the lights
wink oII in major metropolitan areas now doubt looked impressive, but it's worth asking: What was
the point? As Roberts himselI noted, the energy saved by turning oII the lights Ior an hour "won't
make an enormous diIIerence." So, iI it won't cut carbon emissions, why bother then with Earth
Hour, or Earth Day or Earth Live, last year's daylong concert Ior the environment?
Because climate change is essentially a political problem, and the language oI politics is
symbolism. Just because an act is symbolic doesn't mean it empty. The only way to truly reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, to take the pressure oII global warming, is an international regime that
puts a cap and a price on climate pollution. And the only way that will happen is iI politicians around
the world become convinced that climate change is an issue that matters to people, one that will
make them change the way they live, buy and vote. "Unlike most oI the issues that we grapple
with, climate change is global," said Roberts. "The pressure is on us to do the right thing." II shutting
oII the lights Ior an hour on a Saturday night and doing yoga in the dark makes that political support,
well, visible, then Earth Hour will have been worth it.
The environmental movement is reaching a delicate moment. We're well past the point where
going green is novel, where just doing your bit to save the Earth deserves endless praise. We've
become inured to the existence oI global warming, to its inconvenient truth, yet we sense that the
solutions we've been given change a light bulb, change your liIe Iall Iar short oI the scale oI
the problem. We risk green Iatigue because, aIter all, what can we do about it? But this is the
moment when we need to keep pushing in every way we can. The technologies that will help us
decarbonize energy are developing, but they need a push and that will only happen iI we keep
climate change near the top oI our political agenda. Earth Hour, Earth Day, Earth Year we'll need
it all.
The 1uture @ No&
By ?oel Achenbach
April $2+ &''<A .he 0ashington Bost
The most important things happening in the world today won't make tomorrow's Iront page.
They won't get mentioned by presidential candidates or Chris Matthews or Bill O'Reilly or any oI the
other Iolks yammering and snorting on cable television.
They'll be happening in laboratories -- out oI sight, inscrutable and unhyped until the very
moment when they change liIe as we know it.
Science and technology Iorm a two-headed, unstoppable change agent. Problem is, most oI us
are mystiIied and intimidated by such things as biotechnology, or nanotechnology, or the various
other-ologies that seem to be threatening to merge into a single unspeakable and incomprehensible
thing called biotechnonanogenomicology. We vaguely understand that this stuII is changing our
lives, but we Ieel as though it's all out oI our control.
What's unnerving is the velocity at which the Iuture sometimes arrives. Consider the Internet.
This powerIul but highly disruptive technology crept out oI the lab (a Pentagon think tank, actually)
and all but de*oured modern civilization -- with almost no advance warning. The Iirst use oI the
word "internet" to reIer to a computer network seems to have appeared in this newspaper on Sept. 26,
1988, in the Financial section, on page F30 -- about as deep into the paper as you can go without
hitting the bedrock oI the classiIied ads. The scientists knew that computer networks could be
powerIul. But how many knew that this Internet thing would change the way we communicate,
publish, sell, shop, conduct research, Iind old Iriends, do homework, plan trips and on and on?
It's not just us mortals, even scientists don't always grasp the signiIicance oI innovations.
Tomorrow's revolutionary technology may be in plain sight, but everyone's eyes, clouded by
conventional thinking, just can't detect it. So where does that leave the rest oI us? In technological
Palookaville.
Science is becoming ever more specialized; technology is increasingly a series oI black boxes,
impenetrable to but a Iew. Americans' poor science literacy means that science and technology exist
in a walled garden, a geek ghetto. We are a technocracy in which most oI us don't really understand
what's happening around us. We stagger through a world oI technological and medical miracles.
We're zombiIied by progress.
Our ability to monkey around with liIe itselI is a reminder that ethics, religion and old-
Iashioned common sense will be needed in abundance in decades to come. How smart and Ilexible
and rambunctious do we want our computers to be? Let's not mess around with that Matrix business.
Every Iorward-thinking person almost ritually brings up the mortality issue. What'll happen to
society iI one day people can stop the aging process? Or iI only rich people can stop getting old?
It's interesting that politicians rarely address such matters. The Iuture in general is something oI
a suspect topic . . . a little gooIy. Right now we're all Iocused on the next primary, the summer
conventions, the Olympics and their political implications, the Iall election. The political cycle
enIorces an emphasis on the immediate rather than the important.
And in Iact, any prediction oI what the world will be like more than, say, a year Irom now is a
matter oI hubris. The proIessional visionaries don't even talk about predictions or Iorecasts but preIer
the word "scenarios." When Sen. John McCain, Ior example, declares that radical Islam is the
transcendent challenge oI the 21st century, he's being sincere, but he's also being a bit oI a
soothsayer. Environmental problems and resource scarcity could easily be the dominant global
dilemma. Or a virus with which we've yet to make our acquaintance. Or some other "wild card."
Some predictions are bang-on, such as sci-Ii writer Arthur C. Clarke's declaration in 1945 that
there would someday be communications satellites orbiting the Earth. But Clarke's satellites had to
be occupied by repairmen who would maintain the huge computers required Ior space
communications. Even in the late 1960s, when Clarke collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on the
screenplay to "2001: A Space Odyssey," he assumed that computers would, over time, get bigger.
Says science-Iiction writer Ben Bova, "We have built into us an idea that tomorrow is going to
be pretty much like today, which is very wrong."
The Iuture is oIten viewed as an endless resource oI innovation that will make problems go
away -- even though, iI the past is any judge, innovations create their own set oI new problems.
Climate change is at least in part a consequence oI the invention oI the steam engine in the early
1700s and all the industrial advances that Iollowed.
Look again at the Internet. It's a Iantastic tool, but it also threatens to disperse inIormation we'd
rather keep under wraps, such as our personal medical data, or even the instructions Ior making a
Iission bomb.
We need to keep our eyes open. The Iuture is going to be here sooner than we think. It'll
surprise us. We'll try to Iigure out why we missed so many clues. And we'll go back and search the
archives, and see that thing we should have noticed on page F30.
Chris 6atthews - s an American news anchor and liberal political commentator, known Ior his
nightly hour-long talk show, 1ardball with Chris Matthews+ which is televised on the American
cable television channel MSNBC. On weekends he hosts the syndicated NBC News-produced panel
discussion program, The Chris Matthews Show,
Bill CDReilly - is an American television/radio host, author, syndicated columnist and selI-
described "traditionalist" political commentator He is the host oI the cable news program The
O2eilly Factor on Fox News Channel. Prior to hosting The O2eilly Factor,
Balooka,ille is a 1995 motion picture about a pair oI trio burglars and their dysIunctional
Iamily oI origin. It is a comedy about bumbling buddies who decide to live a liIe oI crime. But
there's a problem: the only thing they know about being criminals is what they've seen on TV so you
can imagine the problems they encounter when planning their big score