IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

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IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

Lời nói đầu:

Từ vựng là phần chủ yếu cản trở bạn đến với điểm số IELTS mong muốn. Đa phần
các cuốn sách về vocabulary hiện tại dành cho IELTS chỉ list ra những từ “học thuật”
theo chủ đề, ít ví dụ về cách dùng, ít hoặc không có các từ đồng nghĩa với những từ
vựng học thuật đó. Phần thiếu sót có lẽ lớn nhất của các cuốn sách từ vựng hiện tại là
“collocations” và topic vocabulary, đây là các cụm từ hay đi cùng nhau và dùng đặc
biệt trong cách topic nhất định.
Việc thiếu từ đồng nghĩa sẽ làm bạn đọc hiểu rất khó vì từ vựng dùng trong bài đọc
thường được paraphrase ở trong câu hỏi để kiểm tra được độ rộng và mức độ hiểu của
người học.
Ngoài ra việc thiếu collocations sẽ làm bạn diễn đạt vô cùng khó khăn và thiếu tự
nhiên khi viết hoặc nói. Nhưng từ trình độ <8.0 thì lại khó nhận ra những collocations
nào nên học. Do đó cuốn sách này, mình đã trực tiếp highlight tất cả các collocations
hay, hay gặp và có giá trị dùng lại rất nhiều trong quá trình nói và viết của các bạn.
Sau khi học xong 6 cuốn trong bộ “LEAN VOCABULARY”, chắc chắn bạn sẽ nhận
biết được một lượng collocations đủ lớn để có thể nghe hiểu, đọc hiểu tốt và nhất là
dùng được tốt khi nói và viết.

Để học tốt cuốn sách:

Bước 1: Chọn 1 bài đọc bất kì, tập trung đọc hiểu và xem phần “synonym – từ đồng
nghĩa” của các từ được in đậm, đây là các từ ảnh hưởng trực tiếp đến mức độ hiểu của
bạn khi đọc 1 câu văn.
Bước 2: Đọc lại thật kĩ và chú ý các “cụm từ được gạch chân” – đây là các
collocations hay dùng.
Bước 3: Chọn 3-5 cụm THẬT SỰ ẤN TƯỢNG và luyện nói hoặc viết bằng cách đặt
câu hoàn chỉnh. Các câu đặt cần đảm bảo: Là câu đơn và ít bị thay đổi so với câu gốc
nhất, có liên quan đến bản thân nhất. (Nên có bút highlight để lưu lại những cụm đó)
Bước 4: Đọc lại 1 lần vào ngày hôm sau trước khi học bài mới.
(Sách có 210 bài đọc chia thành 6 chủ đề lớn: Technology (30), Health & Sports (30),
Environment (45), Education (45), Business & Economy (45), Science (45), nên với
các bạn còn thời gian (6 tháng), hãy chọn chủ đề mình yếu từ vựng nhất, hoặc từ cuốn
dễ nhất: Education → Business → Health → Evironment → Tech → Science - học ít
nhất 1 bài 1 ngày và ít nhất 30 bài, học thật sâu và đọc hiểu. Với các bạn còn 3 tháng
thì có thể học 1 ngày 3 bài, nhưng nên chia ra 3 lần học, không nên học 1 lúc 2 bài)
Không cần làm đề nhiều. Chỉ cần 1 tháng làm 1 đề để kiểm tra lại khả năng tiếng Anh.
Sẽ có những collocations các bạn thấy có highlight nhưng không hiểu, khi đó hãy
đánh dấu nháy nháy và cụm đó lên google: “…………” thì sẽ có ví dụ và giải nghĩa
của nó.

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IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

Lời cảm ơn:

Công sức của các bạn sẽ giúp nhiều, rất nhiều các bạn khác đạt được
mục tiêu.
Nguyễn Đình Hạnh – Khóa 9 - UNETI
Hoàn thành highlight từ vựng học thuật, giải thích và
synonym cho hơn 45 bài đọc cho Vol.6 - Environment
của bộ LEAN VOCABULARY.

Nguyễn Thu Loan: K58 – NEU

Hoàn thành highlight từ vựng học thuật, giải thích và
synonym cho 30 bài đọc cho Vol.1 - Education - của bộ
LEAN VOCABULARY.

Hoàng Phương Linh: Du học sinh Úc

Hoàn thành highlight từ vựng học thuật, giải thích và
synonym cho hơn 45 bài đọc cho Vol.5 - Science -
của bộ LEAN VOCABULARY

Vũ Thị Ba: K57 - FTU

Hoàn thành highlight từ vựng học thuật, giải thích và
synonym cho 30 bài đọc cho Vol.2 – Sports and Health -
của bộ LEAN VOCABULARY

Nguyễn Thu Phương: K60 - NEU

Hoàn thành highlight từ vựng học thuật, giải thích và
synonym cho hơn 30 bài đọc cho Vol.3 – Business &
Economy của bộ LEAN VOCABULARY

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IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

Content:

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT
The romantic notion that early humans lived
in harmony with their environment has taken
quite a battering lately. Modem humans may
have started eliminating other species right
from the start; our ancestors stand accused
of wiping out mega fauna – from giant
flightless birds in Australia to mammoths in
Asia and the ground sloth of North America –
as they spread across the planet.
Even so, by around 6,000 years ago there
were only about 12 million people on earth.
That’s a far cry from today’s 6.6 billion, many
of us guzzling fossil fuels, churning out
greenhouse gases and messing with our
planet’s climate like there’s no tomorrow. So it
may seem far-fetched to suggest that
humans have been causing global warming
ever since our ancestors started burning and
cutting forests to make way for fields at least
7,000 years ago
. greedily
Yet that’s the view of retired climate scientist
William Ruddiman, formerly of the University
of Virginia, Charlottesville. Ancient farmers
were pumping climate-warming carbon
dioxide and methane into the atmosphere
long before recorded history began, he says.
Far from causing catastrophe, however,
early farmers halted the planet’s descent into
another ice age and kept Earth warm and
stable for thousands of years.
Could a few primitive farmers really have
changed the climate of the entire globe? If
you find this hard to believe, you’re not the
only one. Ruddiman’s idea has been hugely
controversial ever since he proposed it in
Harmony /ˈhɑːməni /: the combination of
simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce
chords and chord progressions having a pleasing
effect
synonyms:euphony, polyphony, consonance, tunefu
lness...
eliminating/ ɪˈlɪmɪneɪtɪŋ /: completely remove or
get rid of (something)
synonyms: remove, get rid of, abolish, put an end
to, do away with, end,terminate, eradicate, destroy
accused/əˈkjuːzd /: charge (someone) with an
offense or crime
synonyms:charge with, indict for, arraign for, take to
court for, put on trial for…
fauna/ˈfɔːnə /: the animals of a particular region,
habitat, or geological period
guzzling/ ˈgʌzlɪŋ /: eat or drink (something)
churning/ ˈʧɜːnɪŋ /: to produce large amounts of
something quickly, usually something oflow quality
far-fetched / ˈfɑːˈfɛʧt /: unlikely and unconvincing;
implausible
pumping / ˈpʌmpɪŋ /: force (liquid, gas, etc.) to
move by or as if by means of a pump
synonyms:force, drive, push, send, transport, raise,
inject,...
catastrophe/ kəˈtæstrəfi /: an event causing great
and often sudden damage or suffering
halted / ˈhɔːltɪd /: bring or come to an abrupt stop
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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

2003. ‘Most new ideas, especially synonyms:stop, come to a halt, come to a

controversial ones, die out pretty fast. It stop, come to a standstill, come to rest..
doesn’t take science long to weed them out,’
he says. Yet five years on, his idea is still not primitive / ˈprɪmɪtɪv /:
dead. On the contrary, he says the latest being the first or earliest of the kind or
evidence strengthens his case. ‘It has in existence, especially in an early age of the world
become clear that natural explanations for the
rise in greenhouse gases over the past few synonyms:
thousand years are the ones that are not prehistoric, primal, primary, original, aboriginal
measuring up, and we can reject them,’he
weed / wiːd /: remove unwanted plants from (an
claims.
area of ground or the plants cultivated in it)
There is no doubt that the soaring levels of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases suspect / ˈsʌspɛkt /: have an idea or impression of
that we see in the atmosphere today – the existence, presence, or truth of (something)
causing a 0.7° C rise in average global without certain proof
temperature during the 20thcentury – are the
synonyms:have a suspicion, have a feeling, feel, be
result of human activities. In the late 1990s,
however, Ruddiman started to suspect that inclined to think, fancy…
our contribution to the global greenhouse drilled / drɪld /: produce (a hole) in something by or
began to become significant long before the as if by boring with a drill
industrial age began. This was when an ice
core drilled at the Vostok station in Antarctica synonyms:bore a hole in, make a hole in, cut a hole
revealed how atmospheric C02 and methane in, drill a hole in, bore, pierce,puncture..
levels have changed over the past 400,000
years. Bubbles trapped in the ice provide a revealed / rɪˈviːld /: make (previously unknown or
record of the ancient atmosphere during the secret information) known to others
past three interglacials.
synonyms:divulge, disclose, tell, let out, let
What we see is a regular pattern of rises and slip, report, declare, post, communicate..
falls with a period of about 100,000 years,
coinciding with the coming and going of ice interglacials /ɪntɝːˈɡleɪ.si.ɚ/ relating to a period of
ages. There are good explanations for these milder climate between two glacial periods
cycles: periodic changes in the planet’s orbit
and axis of rotation alter the amount of orbit / ˈɔːbɪt /: the curved path of a celestial object
sunlight reaching the Earth. We are now in or spacecraft around a star, planet, or moon,
one of the relatively brief, warm interglacial especially a periodic elliptical revolution
periods that follow an ice age.
synonyms:course, path, track, rotation, cycle, round
Within this larger pattern there are regular
peaks in methane every 22,000 years that monsoons / mɒnˈsuːnz /: gió mùa ^^
coincide with the times when the Earth’s orbit thaw / θɔː /: become liquid or soft as a result of
makes summers in the northern hemisphere
warming
warmest. This makes sense, because warm
northern summers drive strong tropical synonyms:melt, unfreeze, soften, dissolve,
monsoons in southern Asia that both defrost..
encourage the growth of vegetation and
cause flooding, during which vegetation
rotting in oxygen-poor water will emit
methane. Around the Arctic, hot summers
thaw wetlands for longer, again promoting
both vegetation growth and methane
emission.
In recent times, however, this regular pattern
has changed. The last methane peak

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occurred around 11,000 years ago, at about

700 parts per billion (ppb), after which levels
began to fall. But instead of continuing to fall
to what Ruddiman says should have been a
minimum of about 450 ppb today, the
atmospheric methane began to climb again
5,000 years ago.
Working with climate modellers Stephen
Verves and John Kutzbach, Ruddiman has swathes / sweɪðz /: a piece or strip of material in
shown that if the levels of these gases had which something is wrapped
continued to fall rather than rising when they
did, ice sheets would now cover swathes of
northern Canada and Siberia. The world
would be heading into another ice age.
So why did both methane and C02 rise over
the past few thousand years? In other words,
why has this interglacial period been different
from previous ones? Could humans be to
blame?
Agriculture emerged around the eastern
Mediterranean some 11,000 years ago, then liberates/ ˈlɪbəreɪts /: oscillate or seem to oscillate (
shortly afterwards in China and several giải phóng, phóng thích )
thousand years later in the Americas.
Farming can release greenhouse gases in
various ways: clearing forests liberates lots
of stored carbon as the wood rots or is
burned, for instance, while flooded rice
paddies release methane just as wetlands do.
cultivation/ ˌkʌltɪˈveɪʃən /: the action of cultivating
To find out more about early farming, land, or the state of being cultivated
Ruddiman began to dig around in studies of
agricultural history.These revealed that there synonyms:growing, raising, farming, planting
was a sharp rise in rice cultivation in Asia
around 5,000 years ago, with the practice
spreading across China and south-east Asia.
Here at least was a possible source for the
unexpected methane rise.

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It was the summer, scientists now realise, when
global warming at last made itself
unmistakably felt. We knew that summer 2003
was remarkable: Britain experienced its record
high temperature and continental Europe saw
forest fires raging out of control, great rivers
drying to a trickle and thousands of heat-related
deaths. But just how remarkable is only now
becoming clear.
The three months of June, July and August
were the warmest ever recorded in western and
central Europe, with record national highs in
Portugal, Germany and Switzerland as well as
in Britain. And they were the warmest by a very
long way. Over a great rectangular block of the
earth stretching from west of Paris to northern
Italy, taking in Switzerland and southern
Germany, the average temperature for the
summer months was 3.78°C above the long-
term norm, said the Climatic Research Unit
(CRU) of the University of East Anglia in
Norwich, which is one of the world's leading
institutions for the monitoring and analysis of
temperature records.
That excess might not seem a lot until you are
aware of the context - but then you realise it is
enormous. There is nothing like this in
previous data, anywhere. It is considered so
exceptional that Professor Phil Jones, the
CRU's director, is prepared to say openly - in a
way few scientists have done before - that the
2003 extreme may be directly attributed, not to
unmistakably / ˌʌnmɪsˈteɪkəbli /: in a way that
cannot be mistaken for anything else
raging /ˈreɪʤɪŋ /: showing violent uncontrollable
anger
synonyms:angry, furious, enraged, incensed, irate
…
stretching / ˈstrɛʧɪŋ /: straighten or extend one's
body or a part of one's body to its full length
synonyms:extend, straighten, straighten
out, unbend, lie down, recline
norm/ nɔːm /: something that is usual, typical, or
standard
synonyms:standard, usual, normal, typical, averag
e...
institutions / ˌɪnstɪˈtjuːʃənz /: a society or
organization founded for a religious, educational,
social, or similar purpose
synonyms:organization, establishment, foundation
enormous/ ɪˈnɔːməs /: very large in size,
quantity, or extent
attributed/ əˈtrɪbjuːtɪd /: regard something as
being caused by
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natural climate variability, but to global warming Meteorologists / ˌmiːtiəˈrɒləʤɪsts /: an expert in

caused by human actions. Meteorologists or student of meteorology; a weather forecaster
have hitherto contented themselves with the
reliable / rɪˈlaɪəbl /: consistently good in quality or
formula that recent high temperatures are
performance; able to be trusted
“consistent with predictions” of climate change.
For the great block of the map - that stretching synonyms:dependable, good, well founded,
between 35-50N and 0-20E - the CRU has
reliable temperature records dating back to well grounded, authentic..
1781. Using as a baseline the average summer anomalies/ əˈnɒməliz /: something that deviates
temperature recorded between 1961 and 1990, from what is standard, normal, or expected.
departures from the temperature norm, or
“anomalies”, over the area as a whole can
easily be plotted. As the graph shows, such is plotted/ ˈplɒtɪd /: to mark or draw something on
the variability of our climate that over the past a piece of paper or a map
200 years, there have been at least half a
dozen anomalies, in terms of excess denoting /dɪˈnəʊtɪŋ /: be a sign of; indicate
temperature - the peaks on the graph denoting synonyms:designate, indicate, be a sign of,
very hot years - approaching, or even
exceeding, 2°C. But there has been nothing be a mark of, signify
remotely like 2003, when the anomaly is nearly
four degrees. “This is quite remarkable,’
Professor Jones told The Independent. “It’s
very unusual in a statistical sense. If this series
recur/ rɪˈkɜː /: occur again periodically or
had a normal statistical distribution, you
repeatedly
wouldn’t get this number. The return period
[how often it could be expected to recur would
be something like one in a thousand years. If
we look at an excess above the average of
nearly four degrees, then perhaps nearly three
degrees of that is natural variability, because
we’ve seen that in past summers. But the final
degree of it is likely to be due to global
warming, caused by human actions.”
manifesting /ˈmænɪfɛstɪŋ/: display or show (a
The summer of 2003 has, in a sense, been
quality or feeling) by one's acts or appearance;
one that climate scientists have long been
demonstrate
expecting. Until now, the warming has been
manifesting itself mainly in winters that have synonyms:display, show, exhibit, demonstrate, bet
been less cold than in summers that have been ray
much hotter. Last week, the United Nations
predicted that winters were warming so quickly unprecedented /ʌnˈprɛsɪdəntɪd/: never done or
that winter sports would die out in Europe’s known before
lower-level ski resorts. But sooner or later, the dramatic /drəˈmætɪk/: sudden and striking
unprecedented hot summer was bound to
come, and this year it did. synonyms:considerable, substantial, sizeable,

One of the most dramatic features of the goodly, reasonable…

summer was the hot nights, especially in the
first half of August. In Paris, the temperature
never dropped below 23°C (73.4°F) at all
between 7 and 14 August, and the city

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recorded its warmest-ever night on 11-12

August, when the mercury did not drop below
25.5°C (77.9°F). Germany recorded its
warmest-ever night at Weinbiet in the Rhine
Valley with a lowest figure of 27.6°C (80.6°F)
on 13 August, and similar record-breaking
nighttime temperatures were recorded in
Switzerland and Italy.
The 15,000 excess deaths in France during
August, compared with previous years, have
been related to the high night-time
temperatures. The number gradually increased
during the first 12 days of the month, peaking at
about 2,000 per day on the night of 12-13
August, then fell off dramatically after 14
August when the minimum temperatures fell by mortality / mɔːˈtælɪti /: the state of being subject
about 5°C. The elderly were most affected, with to death
a 70 per cent increase in mortality rate in
those aged 75-94. synonyms:impermanence, temporality,

For Britain, the year as a whole is likely to be transience, ephemerality, impermanency

the warmest ever recorded, but despite the high
temperature record on 10 August, the summer
itself - defined as the June, July and August intense / ɪnˈtɛns/: of extreme force, degree, or
period - still comes behind 1976 and 1995, strength
when there were longer periods of intense
heat. “At the moment, the year is on course to synonyms:great, acute, enormous, fierce, severe
be the third hottest ever in the global collated/ kɒˈleɪtɪd/: collect and combine (texts,
temperature record, which goes back to 1856, information, or sets of figures) in proper order
behind 1998 and 2002, but when all the records
for October, November and December are synonyms:collect, gather, accumulate, assemble,
collated, it might move into second place/' astonishing / əsˈtɒnɪʃɪŋ/: extremely surprising or
Professor Jones said. The ten hottest years in impressive; amazing
the record have all now occurred since 1990.
Professor Jones is in no doubt about the
astonishing nature of European summer of
2003. “The temperatures recorded were out of
all proportion to the previous record," he said.
“It was the warmest summer in the past 500
years and probably way beyond that. It was
His colleagues at the University of East
Anglia's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change executive / ɪgˈzɛkjʊtɪv/: a person with senior
Research are now planning a special study of managerial responsibility in a business
it. “It was a summer that has not been organization
experienced before, either in terms of the synonyms:chief, head, principal, senior
temperature extremes that were reached, or the official, senior manager, senior
range and diversity of the impacts of the administrator,director...
extreme heat," said the centre's executive
director, Professor Mike Hulme.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

“It will certainly have left its mark on a number revolutionised / ˌrɛvəˈluːʃnaɪzd/: change
of countries, as to how they think and plan for (something) radically or fundamentally
climate change in the future, much as the 2000
repercussions /ˌriːpɜːˈkʌʃənz/: an unintended
floods have revolutionised the way the
consequence occurring some time after an event
Government is thinking about flooding in the
or action, especially an unwelcome one
UK. The 2003 heatwave will have similar
repercussions across Europe."

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A
Besides the earth’s oceans, glacier ice is the
largest source of water on earth. A glacier is a
massive stream or sheet of ice that moves
underneath itself under the influence of gravity.
Some glaciers travel down mountains or
valleys, while others spread across a large
expanse of land. Heavily glaciated regions such
as Greenland and Antarctica are called
continental glaciers. These two ice sheets
encompass more than 95 percent of the
earth’s glacial ice. The Greenland ice sheet is
almost 10,000 feet thick in some areas, and the
weight of this glacier is so heavy that much of
the region has been depressed below sea level.
Smaller glaciers that occur at higher elevations
are called alpine or valley glaciers. Another
way of classifying glaciers is in terms of their
internal temperature. In temperate glaciers, the
ice within the glacier is near its melting point.
Polar glaciers, , always maintain temperatures
far below melting.
B (something) to make it more dense; compress
The majority of the earth’s glaciers are located
near the poles, though glaciers exist on all
continents, including Africa and Oceania. The
reason glaciers are generally formed in high
alpine regions is that they require cold
temperatures throughout the year. In these
areas where there is little opportunity
for summer ablation (loss of mass), snow
changes to compacted fim and then
crystallized ice. During periods in which melting
and evaporation exceed the amount of
snowfall, glaciers will retreat rather than
progress. While glaciers rely heavily on
snowfall, other climactic conditions including
freezing rain, avalanches, and wind, contribute
to their growth. One year of below average
precipitation can stunt the growth of a glacier
tremendously. With the rare exception of
surging glaciers, a common glacier flows about
10 inches per day in the summer and 5 inches
per day in the winter. The fastest glacial surge
on record occurred in 1953, when the Kutiah
glacier / ˈglæsiə /: a slowly moving mass or river
of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction
of snow on mountains or near the pole
encompass /ɪnˈkʌmpəs /: surround and have or
hold within
synonyms:surround, enclose, ring, encircle,
consist of
alpine/ ˈælpaɪn /: relating to high mountains
poles/ pəʊlz /: a linear or square rod
ablation /æbˈleɪʃ(ə)n /: the removal of snow and
ice by melting or evaporation, typically from a
glacier or iceberg
synonyms: abscission, cutting,
removal,extirpation..
compacted / kəmˈpæktɪd/: exert force on
synonyms:dense, packed close, close-
packed, tightly packed, pressed together
firmly packed or pressed together; compressed
evaporation / ɪˌvæpəˈreɪʃən /: the process of
turning from liquid into vapor
synonyms: dying
up,loss,vanishing,dissappearance,loss…
avalanches/ ˈævəlɑːnʃɪz /: a mass of snow, ice,
and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.
synonyms:snowslide, snow
slip, rockslide,icefall, landslide,
precipitation/ prɪˌsɪpɪˈteɪʃən /: rain, snow, sleet,
or hail that falls to the ground
synonyms: rain,
rainfall,drizzle,rainstorm,sleet,snow..
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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

Glacier in Pakistan grew more than 12

kilometers in three months.
deformation / ˌdiːfɔːˈmeɪʃən/: action or process of
C changing in shape or distorting, especially through
The weight and pressure of ice accumulation the application of pressure
causes glacier movement. Glaciers move out synonyms:hurt,harm,damage…
from under themselves, via plastic deformation
and basal slippage. First, the internal flow of ice thawing /ˈθɔːɪŋ/: a period of warmer weather that
crystals begins to spread outward and thaws ice and snow
downward from the thickened snow pack also
known as the zone of accumulation. Next, the synonyms:melt, unfreeze, soften, liquefy, dissolve,
ice along the ground surface begins to slip in defrost
the same direction. Seasonal thawing at the
base of the glacier helps to facilitate this
slippage. The middle of a glacier moves faster
than the sides and bottom because there is no
rock to cause friction. The upper part of a
glacier rides on the ice below. As a glacier
moves it carves out a U-shaped valley similar to erosion /ɪˈrəʊʒən/: the process of eroding or
a riverbed, but with much steeper walls and a being eroded by wind, water, or other natural
flatter bottom. agents
D synonyms: deterioration; wearing away
Besides the extraordinary rivers of ice, glacial fjords/ fjɔːdz/: a long, narrow, deep inlet of the
erosion creates other unique physical features sea between high cliffs, as in Norway and Iceland,
in the landscape such as horns, fjords, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated
hanging valleys, and cirques. Most of these
valley.
landforms do not become visible until after a
glacier has receded. Many are created by Receded/ ri(ː)ˈsiːdɪd/: go or move back or further
moraines, which occur at the sides and front of away from a previous position
a glacier. Moraines are formed when material is
picked up along the way and deposited in a synonyms:retreat, go back, move back, move
new location. When many alpine glaciers occur further off,
on the same mountain, these moraines can
create a horn. The Matterhorn, in the Swiss moraines/ mɒˈreɪnz /: Băng tích
Alps is one of the most famous horns. Fjords,
intersect / ˌɪntə(ː)ˈsɛkt /: divide (something) by
which are very common in Norway, are coastal
passing or lying across it
valleys that fill with ocean water during a glacial
retreat. Hanging valleys occur when two or synonyms:bisect, divide, halve, cut in two, cut in
more glacial valleys intersect at varying half,
elevations. It is common for waterfalls to slope / sləʊp /: a surface of which one end or side
connect the higher and lower hanging valleys,
is at a higher level than another; a rising or falling
such as in Vosemite National Park. A cirque is
a large bowlshaped valley that forms at the surface
front of a glacier. Cirques often have a lip on synonyms:gradient, incline, angle, slant,
their down slope that is deep enough to hold
small lakes when the ice melts away. shifting / ˈʃɪftɪŋ/: a slight change in position,
direction, or tendency
E
Glacier movement and shape shifting typically synonyms:movement, move, shifting, transference
occur over hundreds of years. While presently
about 10 percent of the earth’s land is covered
with glaciers, it is believed that during the last
Ice Age glaciers covered approximately 32

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

percent of the earth’s surface. In the past

century, most glaciers have been retreating
rather than flowing forward. It is unknown
whether this glacial activity is due to human
impact or natural causes, but by studying
glacier movement, and comparing climate and
agricultural profiles over hundreds of years,
glaciologists can begin to understand
environmental issues such as global warming.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

From the results of an annual Alaskan betting contest to sightings of migratory birds,
ecologists are using a wealth of unusual data to predict the impact of climate change.

A Tim Sparks slides a small leather-bound

notebook out of an envelope. The book's
yellowing pages contain bee-keeping notes made
between 1941 and 1969 by the late Walter Coates
of Kilworth, Leicestershire. He adds it to his
growing pile of local journals, birdwatchers' lists
and gardening diaries. "We're uncovering about
one major new record each month," he says, "I
still get surprised." Around two centuries before
Coates, Robert Marsham, a landowner from
landowner / ˈlændˌəʊnə /: a person who owns land,
Norfolk in the east of England, began recording
the life cycles of plants and animals on his estate - especially a large amount of land
when the first wood anemones flowered, the dates burst / bɜːst /: break suddenly and violently apart,
on which the oaks burst into leaf and the rooks spilling the contents, typically as a result of an impact or
began nesting. Successive Marshams continued
internal pressure
compiling these notes for 211 years.
B Today, such records are being put to uses that synonyms:split open, burst open, break open, tear
their authors could not possibly have expected. open, rupture
These data sets, and others like them, are proving
invaluable to ecologists interested in the timing of
biological events, or phenology. By combining the reveal / rɪˈviːl /: make (previously unknown or secret
records with climate data, researchers can reveal information) known to others
how, for example, changes in temperature affect
the arrival of spring, allowing ecologists to make synonyms:divulge, disclose, tell, let out, let slip
improved predictions about the impact of climate
change. A small band of researchers is combing predictions / prɪˈdɪkʃənz /: a thing predicted; a forecast
through hundreds of years of records taken by synonyms: estimation,guess,forecast,projection…
thousands of amateur naturalists. And more
systematic projects have also started up, frightening/ ˈfraɪtnɪŋ /: making someone afraid or
producing an overwhelming response. "The anxious; terrifying
amount of interest is almost frightening," says
Sparks, a climate researcher at the Centre for synonyms: scary, terrifying,alarming,fearful,upsetting…
Ecology and Hydrology in Monks Wood,
Cambridgeshire.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

C Sparks first became aware of the army of

"closet phenologists”, as he describes them, when
a retiring colleague gave him the Marsham
records. He now spends much of his time
following leads from one historical data set to
another. As news of his quest spreads, people tip
him off to other historical records, and more
amateur phenologists come out of their closets.
The British devotion to recording and collecting
makes his job easier - one man from Kent sent
him 30 years' worth of kitchen calendars, on which
he had noted the date that his neighbour's
magnolia tree flowered.
spreads/ sprɛdz /: the fact or process of spreading over
an area
synonyms:expansion, proliferation, extension,
growth, mushrooming
devotion / dɪˈvəʊʃən /: love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a
person, activity, or cause
synonyms:loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity, trueness, staunchn
ess

D Other researchers have unearthed data from magnolia / mægˈnəʊliə /: cây Mộc Lan
equally odd sources. Rafe Sagarin, an ecologist at
Stanford University in California, recently studied participants / pɑːˈtɪsɪpənts /: a person who takes part in
records of a betting contest in which participants something
attempt to guess the exact time at which a synonyms: member,contributor,applicant,partaker
specially erected wooden tripod will fall through
the surface of a thawing river. The competition has erected / ɪˈrɛktɪd /: rigidly upright or straight
taken place annually on the Tenana River in
Alaska since 1917, and analysis of the results synonyms:upright, bolt upright, straight, vertical
showed that the thaw now arrives five days earlier
tripod / ˈtraɪpɒd/: a stool, table, or cauldron resting on
than it did when the contest began.
three legs.
E Overall, such records have helped to show that,
compared with 20 years ago, a raft of natural raft / rɑːft /: a flat buoyant structure of timber or other
events now occur earlier across much of the materials fastened together, used as a boat or floating
northern hemisphere, from the opening of leaves platform
to the return of birds from migration and the
emergence of butterflies from hibernation. The synonyms : bundle,range,host,amount..
data can also hint at how nature will change in the hibernation/ ˌhaɪbɜːˈneɪʃən /: the condition or period of
future. Together with models of climate change, an animal or plant spending the winter in a dormant state
amateurs' records could help guide conservation.
Terry Root, an ecologist at the University of wildfowl / ˈwaɪldfaʊl/: game birds, especially aquatic
Michigan in Ann Arbor, has collected birdwatchers' ones; waterfowl
counts of wildfowl taken between 1955 and 1996
on seasonal ponds in the American Midwest and ponds/ pɒndz/: a small body of still water formed naturally
combined them with climate data and models of or by hollowing or embanking
future warming. Her analysis shows that the
increased droughts that the models predict could synonyms: pool,fishpond,millpond,tarn…
halve the breeding populations at the ponds. "The constitutes/ ˈkɒnstɪtjuːts /: be (a part) of a whole
number of waterfowl in North America will most
probably drop significantly with global warming," synonyms:amount to, add up to, account for, form, make
she says. up
F But not all professionals are happy to use ad hoc/ æd hɒk /: created or done for a particular
amateur data. "A lot of scientists won't touch them, purpose as necessary
they say they're too full of problems," says Root.
Because different observers can have different
ideas of what constitutes, for example, an open
snowdrop. "The biggest concern with ad hoc
observations is how carefully and systematically
they were taken," says Mark Schwartz of the
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, who studies

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

the interactions between plants and climate. "We onset / ˈɒnsɛ /: the beginning of something, especially
need to know pretty precisely what a person's something unpleasant
been observing - if they just say 'I noted when the
leaves came out', it might not be that useful."
Measuring the onset of autumn can be particularly
problematic because deciding when leaves
change colour is a more subjective process than gauge / geɪʤ /: estimate or determine the magnitude,
noting when they appear. amount, or volume of:
G Overall, most phenologists are positive about synonyms:assess, evaluate, appraise, analyze, weigh up
the contribution that amateurs can make. "They
get at the raw power of science: careful trivial / ˈtrɪvɪəl /: of little value or importance
observation of the natural world," says Sagarin.
But the professionals also acknowledge the need synonyms:unimportant, insignificant,
for careful quality control. Root, for example, tries inconsequential, minor, of no/little account
to gauge the quality of an amateur archive by
interviewing its collector. "You always have to rigorous / ˈrɪgərəs /: extremely thorough, exhaustive, or
worry - things as trivial as vacations can affect accurate
measurement. I disregard a lot of records because synonyms:meticulous, punctilious, conscientious,
they're not rigorous enough," she says. Others
suggest that the right statistics can iron out some careful, diligent,
of the problems with amateur data. Together with
colleagues at Wageningen University in the schemes / skiːmz /: a large-scale systematic plan or
Netherlands, environmental scientist Arnold van arrangement for attaining some particular object or putting
Vliet is developing statistical techniques to a particular idea into effect
account for the uncertainty in amateur
synonyms:plan, project, plan of action, program, strategy
phenological data. With the enthusiasm of
amateur phenologists evident from past records, idiosyncrasies / ˌɪdɪəˈsɪŋkrəsiz /: a mode of behavior or
professional researchers are now trying to create way of thought peculiar to an individual
standardised recording schemes for future efforts.
They hope that well-designed studies will generate synonyms: characteristics,features,quirk,peculiarities..
a volume of observations large enough to drown
out the idiosyncrasies of individual recorders. breadth / brɛdθ /: the distance or measurement from side
The data are cheap to collect, and can provide to side of something; width
breadth in space, time and range of species. "It's
synonyms:width, broadness, wideness, thickness, span
very difficult to collect data on a large geo-
graphical scale without enlisting an army of illustrate / ˈɪləstreɪ /: provide (a book, newspaper, etc.)
observers," says Root. with pictures synonyms:decorate,
H Phenology also helps to drive home messages exemplify, show, demonstrate, display
about climate change. "Because the public
infestations / ˌɪnfɛsˈteɪʃənz /:
understand these records, they accept them,"
says Sparks. the presence of an unusually large number of insects or
It can also illustrate potentially unpleasant animals in a place, typically so as to cause damage or
consequences, he adds, such as the finding that disease
more rat infestations are reported to local
councils in warmer years. And getting people synonyms: influenza , infection,contagion,curse,invasion...
involved is great for public relations. "People are
thrilled to think that the data they've been
collecting as a hobby can be used for something
scientific - it empowers them," says Root.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

A
Orcas, also known as killer whales, are
opportunistic feeders, which means they will
take a variety of different prey species. J, K,
and L pods (specific groups of orcas found in Exclusively/ ɪksˈkluːsɪvli /: to the exclusion of
the region) are almost exclusively fish eaters. others; only; solely
Some studies show that up to 90 percent of
their diet is salmon, with Chinook salmon being habitat / ˈhæbɪtæt /: the natural home or
far and away their favorite. During the last 50
environment of an animal, plant, or other organism
years, hundreds of wild runs of salmon have
become extinct due to habitat loss and stocks / stɒks /: Quần thể
overfishing of wild stocks. Many of the extinct
salmon stocks are the winter runs of chinook synonyms:merchandise, goods, wares, items/articles
and coho. Although the surviving stocks have for sale, commodities,
probably been sufficient to sustain the resident
pods, many of the runs that have been lost sufficient / səˈfɪʃənt /: enough; adequate
were undoubtedly traditional resources favored
by the resident orcas. This may be affecting the
whales’ nutrition in the winter and may require
them to change their patterns of movement in
order to search for food.
Other studies with tagged whales have shown
that they regularly dive up to 800 feet in this
area.
Researchers tend to think that during these
deep dives the whales may be feeding on
bottomfish. Bottomfish species in this area
would include halibut, rockfish, lingcod, and
greenling. Scientists estimate that today’s
lingcod population in northern Puget Sound and
the Strait of Georgia is only 2 percent of what it
was in 1950. The average size of rockfish in the Indicative/ ɪnˈdɪkətɪv /: serving as a sign or
recreational catch has also declined by several indication of something
inches since the 1970s, which is indicative of

20
 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

overfishing. In some locations, certain rockfish disappeared / ˌdɪsəˈpɪəd /: cease to be visible

species have disappeared entirely. So even if
bottomfish are not a major food resource for the synonyms:vanish, pass from sight
whales, the present low numbers of available
marine / məˈriːn /: of, found in, or produced by the
fish increases the pressure on orcas and all
sea
marine animals to find food. (For more
information on bottomfish see the San Juan synonyms: sea, oceanic, aquatic,
County Bottomfish Recovery Program.)
substances / ˈsʌbstənsɪz /: a particular kind of
B matter with uniform properties
Toxic substances accumulate in higher
synonyms:material, matter, stuff, medium, fabric
concentrations as they move up the food chain.
Because orcas t are the top predator in the pollutants /pəˈluːtənts /: a substance that pollutes
ocean and are at the top of several different something, especially water or the atmosphere:
food chains in the environment, they tend to be
more affected by pollutants than other sea Abandoned / əˈbændənd/: leave (a place or
creatures. Examinations of stranded killer vehicle) empty or uninhabited, without intending to
whales have shown some extremely high levels return
of lead, mercury, and polychlorinated
hydrocarbons. Abandoned marine toxic waste synonyms:vacate, leave, quit
dumps and present levels of industrial and
human refuse pollution of the inland waters refuse / ˈrɛfjuːs /: the worthless or useless part of
probably presents the most serious threat to the something ( trash, rubbish..)
continued existence of this orca population. fronts/ frʌnts /: the side or part of an object that
Unfortunately, the total remedy to this huge
presents itself to view or that is normally seen or
problem would be broad societal changes on
many fronts. But because of the fact that orcas used first; the most forward part of something
are so popular, they may be the best species to focal / ˈfəʊkəl /: relating to the center or main point
use as a focal point in bringing about the many of interest:
changes that need to be made in order to
protect the marine environment as a whole from commercial / kəˈmɜːʃəl /: concerned with or
further toxic poisoning.' engaged in commerce
C synonyms:trade, trading, business
The waters around the San Juan Islands are vicinity/ vɪˈsɪnɪti /: the area near or surrounding a
extremely busy due to international
particular place
commercial shipping, fishing, whale watching,
and pleasure boating. On a busy weekend day synonyms: surrounding district, surrounding
in the summer, it is not uncommon to see area, neighborhood,
numerous boats in the vicinity of the whales as
they travel through the area. The potential tremendous/ trɪˈmɛndəs /: very great in amount,
impacts from all this vessel traffic with regard to scale, or intensity
the whales and other marine animals in the
area could be tremendous. synonyms:very
great, huge, enormous, immense, colossal,
The surfacing and breathing space of marine
birds and mammals is a critical aspect of their mammals / ˈmæməlz /: Động vật có vú
habitat, which the animals must consciously
deal with on a moment-to-moment basis Collision/ kəˈlɪʒən /: an instance of one moving
throughout their lifetimes. With all the boating object or person striking violently against another
activity in the vicinity, there are three ways in
synonyms:crash, accident, smash, bump, knock,
which surface impacts are most likely to affect
marine animals: (a) collision, (b) collision

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

avoidance, and (c) exhaust emissions in

breathing pockets.
The first two impacts are very obvious and don’t
just apply to vessels with motors. Kayakers
even present a problem here because they’re
so quiet. Marine animals, busy hunting and
feeding under the surface of the water, may not
be aware that there is a kayak above them and
actually hit the bottom of it as they surface to
breathe.
numerous / ˈnjuːmərəs /: great in number; many
The third impact is one most people don’t even
think of. When there are numerous boats in spewed / spjuːd /: expel large quantities of
the area, especially idling boats, there are a lot (something) rapidly and forcibly
of exhaust fumes being spewed out on the
surface of the water. When the whale comes up synonyms:emit, discharge, eject, expel, belch out,
to take a nice big breath of “fresh" air, it instead
gets a nice big breath of exhaust fumes. It’s
hard to say how greatly this affects the animals,
but think how breathing polluted air affects us
(i.e., smog in large cities like Los Angeles,
breathing the foul air while sitting in traffic jams,
etc)._
derived / dɪˈraɪvd /: obtain something from (a
D
specified source
Similar to surface impacts, a primary source of
acoustic pollution for this population of orcas synonyms:obtain, get, take, gain, acquire,
would also be derived from the cumulative
cumulative / ˈkjuːmjʊlətɪv /: increasing or
underwater noise of vessel traffic. For
increased in quantity, degree, or force by successive
cetaceans, the underwater sound environment
is perhaps the most critical component of their additions
sensory and behavioral lives. Orcas sensory / ˈsɛnsəri /: relating to sensation or the
communicate with each other over short and physical senses; transmitted or perceived by the
long distances with a variety of clicks, chirps,
senses
squeaks, and whistles, along with using
echolocation to locate prey and to navigate. echolocation / ˌek.oʊ.loʊˈkeɪ.ʃən /:
They may also rely on passive listening as a the location of objects by reflected sound, in
primary sensory source. The long-term impacts particular that used by animals such as dolphins and
from noise pollution would not likely show up as bats.
noticeable behavioral changes in habitat use,
but rather as sensory damage or gradual
reduction in population health. A new study at
The Whale Museum called the SeaSound
Remote Sensing Network has begun studying
underwater acoustics and its relationship to
orca communication.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

The climate of the Earth is always changing.

In the past it has altered as a result of nat-
ural causes. Nowadays, however, the term altered / ˈɔːltəd /: changed in character or composition,
‘climate change’ is generally used when typically in a comparatively small but significant way
referring to changes in our climate which
have been identified since the early part of
the twentieth century. The changes we’ve
seen over recent years and those which are
predicted to occur over the next 100 years predicted / prɪˈdɪktɪd/: stated or estimated as likely to
are thought by many to be largely a result of happen in the future; forecast
human behavior rather than due to natural
changes in the atmosphere. And this is what
is so significant about current climactic
trends; never before has man played such a
significant role in determining long-term precedent / ˈprɛsɪdənt /: an earlier event or action that is
weather patterns – we are entering the regarded as an example or guide to be considered in
unknown and there is no precedent for what subsequent similar circumstances
might happen next.
greenhouse / ˈgriːnhaʊs /: the trapping of the sun's
B warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere
The greenhouse effect is very important
when we talk about climate change as it
intensified / ɪnˈtɛnsɪfaɪd /: increase the opacity of (a
relates to the gases which keep the Earth
warm. Although the greenhouse effect is a negative) using a chemical
naturally occurring phenomenon, it is pose / pəʊz /: present or constitute (a problem,
believed that the effect could be intensified danger, or difficulty)
by human activity and the emission of gases
into the atmosphere. It is the extra green- synonyms:constitute, present, create, cause, produce,
house gases which humans have released
which are thought to pose the strongest worsened / ˈwɜːsnd /: make or become worse
threat. Certain researchers, such as Dr
synonyms:aggravate, exacerbate, make worse
Michael Crawley, argue: ‘even though this
natural phenomenon does exist it is without a
doubt human activity that has worsened its

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

effect; this is evident when comparing data

regarding the earth’s temperature in the last
one hundred years with the one hundred dispute / dɪsˈpjuːt/: a disagreement, argument, or
years prior to that.’ Some scientists, debate
however, dispute this as Dr Ray Ellis
synonyms:debate, discussion, discourse,
suggests: ‘human activity may be
contributing a small amount to climate disputation, argument,
change but this increase in temperature is an
unavoidable fact based on the research data
we have compiled.

C
Scientists around the globe are looking at all
the evidence surrounding climate change
and using advanced technology have come
up with predictions for our future environment
and weather. The next stage of that work,
which is just as important, is looking at the
knock-on effects of potential changes. For
example, are we likely to see an increase in
precipitation and sea levels? Does this mean
there will be an increase in flooding and what
coral / ˈkɒrəl /: a hard stony substance secreted by
can we do to protect ourselves from that?
How will our health be affected by climate certain marine coelenterates as an external skeleton,
change, how will agricultural practices typically forming large reefs in warm seas
change and how will wildlife cope? What will
the effects on coral be? Professor Max
Leonard has suggested, ‘while it may be
controversial some would argue that climate
change could bring with it positive effects as
well as negative ones’.
D
There are many institutions around the world
whose sole priority is to take action against campaigns / kæmˈpeɪnz/: work in an organized and
these environmental problems. Green Peace active way toward a particular goal, typically a political
is the organisation that is probably the most or social one
well-known. It is an international organisation
that campaigns in favour of researching and synonyms:crusade, fight, battle, work, push
promoting solutions to climate change, lobbies / ˈlɒbiz/: a room providing a space out of which
exposes the companies and governments
one or more other rooms or corridors lead, typically one
that are blocking action, lobbies to change
near the entrance of a public building.
national and international policy, and bears
witness to the impacts of unnecessary synonyms:entrance
destruction and detrimental human activity. hall, hallway, hall, entrance, vestibule,
E
renewable / rɪˈnjuːəbl/: (of a natural resource or source
The problem of climate change is without a of energy) not depleted when used
doubt something that this generation and the
generations to come need to deal with.
Fortunately, the use of renewable energy is
becoming increasingly popular, which means

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

that less energy is consumed as renewable geothermal / dʒiː.oʊ- ˈθɜːməl /: relating to or produced
energy is generated from natural resources— by the internal heat of the earth:
such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geo-
thermal heat—which can be naturally replenished/ rɪˈplɛnɪʃt /: fill (something) up again
replenished. Another way to help the
synonyms:refill, top up, fill up, recharge, reload,
environment, in terms of climate change, is
by travelling light. Walking or riding a bike
instead of driving a car uses fewer fossil fuels
which release carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere. In addition, using products that
are made from recycled paper, glass, metal
and plastic reduces carbon emissions manufacture / ˌmænjʊˈfækʧə /: the making of articles
because they use less energy to on a large scale using machinery
manufacture than products made from
completely new materials. Recycling paper synonyms:make, produce, mass
also saves trees and lets them continue to produce, build, construct
limit climate change naturally as they remain
in the forest, where they remove carbon from
the atmosphere. Professor Mark Halton, who
has completed various studies in this field, stated/ ˈsteɪtɪd /: clearly expressed or identified;
has stated: ‘with all this information and the specified
possible action that we can take, it isn’t too
late to save our planet from over-heating and
the even worse side-effects of our own
activity.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

A
This book will provide a detailed examination Shifts/ ʃɪfts /: a slight change in position, direction, or
of the Little Ice Age and other climatic shifts, tendency
but, before I embark on that, let me provide a movement, move, shifting, transference, rearrangement
historical context. We tend to think of climate -
as opposed to weather - as something
unchanging, yet humanity has been at the
mercy of climate change for its entire
existence, with at least eight glacial episodes dazzling / ˈdæzlɪŋ /: amaze or overwhelm (someone)
in the past 730,000 years. Our ancestors
with a
adapted to the universal but irregular global
warming since the end of the last great Ice particular impressive quality
Age, around 10,000 years ago, with dazzling synonyms:overpower, overcome, overwhelm
opportunism. They developed strategies for
surviving harsh drought cycles, decades of
heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold;
adopted agriculture and stock-raising, which revolutionised / ˌrɛvəˈluːʃnaɪzd /:
revolutionised human life; and founded change (something) radically or fundamentally
the world’s first pre-industrial civilisations in
Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas. But famine/ ˈfæmɪn /: extreme scarcity of food
the price of sudden climate change, in famine, synonyms:scarcity of food, food shortages, deprivation
disease and suffering, was often high.
B
The Little Ice Age lasted from roughly 1300
until the middle of the nineteenth century. Only
two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle
of bitterly cold winters; mountain glaciers in the
Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded
memory, and pack ice surrounded Iceland for
much of the year. The climatic events of unprecedented / ʌnˈprɛsɪdəntɪd /: never done or
the Little Ice Age did more than help shape the known before
modern world. They are the deeply important
context for the current unprecedented global
warming. The Little Ice Age was far from a
deep freeze, however; rather an irregular seesaw / ˈsiːsɔː /: ( bấp bênh)
seesaw of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting
more than a quarter-century, driven by
complex and still little understood interactions
between the atmosphere and the ocean. The
seesaw brought cycles of intensely cold abruptly / əˈbrʌptli /: suddenly and unexpectedly
winters and easterly winds, then switched
abruptly to years of heavy spring and early
summer rains, mild winters, and frequent
Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts, light
northeasterly winds, and summer heat waves.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

C Reconstructing / ˌriːkənsˈtrʌktɪŋ /: build or form

(something) again
Reconstructing the climate changes of the
after it has been damaged or destroyed
past is extremely difficult, because systematic
weather observations began only a few
centuries ago, in Europe and North America.
Records from India and tropical Africa are
even more recent. For the time before records
began, we have only ‘proxy records’ supplemented / ˈsʌplɪmɛntɪd /: add an extra element
reconstructed largely from tree rings and ice or amount to
cores, supplemented by a few incomplete
amplified / ˈæmplɪfaɪd /: cause to become more
written accounts. We now have hundreds of
tree-ring records from throughout the northern marked or intense
hemisphere, and many from south of the
equator, too, amplified with a growing body of
temperature data from ice cores drilled in variations/ ˌveərɪˈeɪʃənz /: a different or distinct form or
Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes, version of something
and other locations. We are close to a
knowledge of annual summer and winter synonyms:variant, form, alternative, alternative
temperature variations over much of the form, other form
northern hemisphere going back 600 years.

D
This book is a narrative history of climatic
shifts during the past ten centuries, and some voyagers / ˈvɔɪəʤəz /: people who go on a long
of the ways in which people in Europe adapted journey, typically
to them. Part One describes the Medieval by sea or in space
Warm Period, roughly 900 to 1200. During
these three centuries, Norse voyagers from
Northern Europe explored northern seas,
settled Greenland, and visited North America.
It was not a time of uniform warmth, for then,
as always since the Great Ice Age, there were
constant shifts in rainfall and
temperature. Mean European temperatures
were about the same as today, perhaps
slightly cooler.
E
rerouted / ˌriːˈraʊtɪd /: send (someone or something)
It is known that the Little Ice Age cooling by or along
began in Greenland and the Arctic in about a different route
1200. As the Arctic ice pack spread
southward, Norse voyages to the west were descended / dɪˈsɛndɪd /: move or fall downward
rerouted into the open Atlantic, then ended
synonyms:go down, come down, drop, fall, sink,
altogether. Storminess increased in the North
Atlantic and North Sea. Colder, much wetter perished / ˈpɛrɪʃt /: suffer death, typically in a violent,
weather descended on Europe between 1315 sudden,
and 1319, when thousands perished in a or untimely way
continent-wide famine. By 1400, the weather
had become decidedly more unpredictable synonyms:die, lose one's life, be killed, fall, expire,
and stormier, with sudden shifts and lower
temperatures that culminated in the
cold decades of the late sixteenth century.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

Fish were a vital commodity in growing towns culminated / ˈkʌlmɪneɪtɪd /: reach a climax or point of
and cities, where food supplies were a highest development
constant concern. Dried cod and herring were
already the staples of the European fish trade, staples / ˈsteɪplz /: a main or important element of
but changes in water temperatures forced something,
fishing fleets to work further offshore. The especially of a diet
Basques, Dutch, and English developed the
first offshore fishing boats adapted to a colder
and stormier Atlantic. A gradual agricultural
revolution in northern Europe stemmed from
concerns over food supplies at a time of rising stemmed / stɛmd/: originate in or be caused by
populations. The revolution involved intensive
commercial farming and the growing of animal
fodder on land not previously used for crops.
The increased productivity from farmland
made some countries self-sufficient in grain
and livestock and offered effective
protection against famine. livestock / ˈlaɪvstɒk /: farm animals regarded as an
asset
F
Global temperatures began to rise slowly after
1850, with the beginning of the Modern Warm
Period. There was a vast migration from
Europe by land-hungry farmers and others, to
which the famine caused by the Irish potato
blight contributed, to North America, Australia, triggering / ˈtrɪgərɪŋ /: cause (an event or situation) to
New Zealand, and southern Africa. Millions of happen
hectares of forest and woodland fell before the or exist
newcomers’ axes between 1850 and 1890, as
synonyms:precipitate, prompt, trigger off, set
intensive European farming methods
expanded across the world. The off, spark…
unprecedented land clearance released vast proliferated / prəʊˈlɪfəreɪtɪd /: increase rapidly in
quantities of carbon dioxide into the numbers; multiply
atmosphere, triggering for the first time
humanly caused global warming. soar/ sɔː /: increase rapidly above the usual level
Temperatures climbed more rapidly in the
twentieth century as the use of fossil fuels synonyms:increase rapidly, shoot up, rise
proliferated and greenhouse gas levels rapidly, escalate
continued to soar. The rise has been even
steeper since the early 1980s. The Little Ice regime/ reɪˈʒiːm /: a system or planned way of doing
Age has given way to a new climatic regime, things
marked by prolonged and steady warming. At , especially one imposed from above
the same time, extreme weather events like
synonyms:system, arrangement, scheme,
Category 5 hurricanes are becoming
more frequent. code, apparatus,
prolonged / prəʊˈlɒŋd /: continuing for a long time or
longer than usual; lengthy

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

For many environmentalists, the world seems to hit-list / hɪt-lɪst /:

be getting worse. They have developed a hit-list
of our main fears: that natural resources are a list of people to be killed for criminal or political
running out; that the population is ever growing, reasons
leaving less and less to eat; that species are
becoming extinct in vast numbers, and that the
planet's air and water are becoming ever more
polluted.
But a quick look at the facts shows a different
picture. First, energy and other natural abundant/ əˈbʌndənt /: existing or available in large
resources have become more abundant, not quantities; plentiful
less so, since the book The Limits to Growth'
was published in 1972 by a group of scientists. starving/ ˈstɑːvɪŋ /: (of a person or animal) suffer
Second, more food is now produced per head of severely or die from hunger
the world's population than at any time in history.
Fewer people are starving. Third, although
species are indeed becoming extinct, only about exaggerated/ ɪgˈzæʤəreɪtɪd /: represent
0.7% of them are expected to disappear in the (something) as being larger, better, or worse than it
next 50 years, not 25-50%, as has so often been
really is
predicted. And finally, most forms of
environmental pollution either appear to have transient / ˈtrænzɪənt /: lasting only for a short
been exaggerated, or are transient - time; impermanent
associated with the early phases of
industrialisation and therefore best cured not by accelerating / əkˈsɛləreɪtɪŋ /: increase in amount
restricting economic growth, but by accelerating or extent
it. One form of pollution - the release of
greenhouse gases that causes global warming - synonyms:speed up, hurry up, get faster, move
does appear to be a phenomenon that is going faster
to extend well into our future, but its total impact
is unlikely to pose a devastating problem. A devastating / ˈdɛvəsteɪtɪŋ /: highly destructive or
bigger problem may well turn out to be an damaging
inappropriate response to it. synonyms:destructive, ruinous, disastrous,
Yet opinion polls suggest that many people
catastrophic, calamitous,
nurture the belief that environmental standards

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

are declining and four factors seem to cause this disjunction / dɪsˈʤʌŋkʃən /: a lack of
disjunction between perception and reality. correspondence or consistency
One is the lopsidedness built into scientific
research. Scientific funding goes mainly to areas
with many problems. That may be wise policy,
but it will also create an impression that many
more potential problems exist than is the case.
Secondly, environmental groups need to be mass / mæs /: relating to, done by, or affecting
noticed by the mass media. They also need to large numbers of people or things
keep the money rolling in. Understandably,
overstate / ˌəʊvəˈsteɪt /: express or state too
perhaps, they sometimes overstate their
arguments. In 1997, for example, the World strongly; exaggerate
Wide Fund for Nature issued a press release lobby / ˈlɒbi /: a group of people seeking to
entitled: 'Two thirds of the world's forests lost influence politicians or public officials on a particular
forever'. The truth turns out to be nearer 20%.
issue
Though these groups are run overwhelmingly by
selfless folk, they nevertheless share many of synonyms:pressure group, interest
the characteristics of other lobby groups. That group, interest, movement, campaign,
would matter less if people applied the same scepticism / ˈskɛptɪsɪzm /: a sceptical attitude;
degree of scepticism to environmental lobbying
doubt as to the truth of something
as they do to lobby groups In other fields. A
trade organisation arguing for, say, weaker synonyms:doubt, doubtfulness, dubiousness, a pinch
pollution controls is instantly seen as self- of salt, lack of conviction,
interested. Yet a green organisation opposing
such a weakening is seen as altruistic, even if opposing / əˈpəʊzɪŋ /: conflict or competition with
an impartial view of the controls in question a specified or implied subject
might suggest they are doing more harm than
good. synonyms:rival, opposite, combatant, enemy

A third source of confusion is the attitude of the altruistic/ ˌæltrʊˈɪstɪk /: showing a disinterested and
media. People are clearly more curious about selfless concern for the well-being of others;
bad news than good. Newspapers and unselfish
broadcasters are there to provide what the
public wants. That, however, can lead to distortions / dɪsˈtɔːʃənz /: the action of distorting or
significant distortions of perception. An the state of being distorted
example was America's encounter with El Nino
synonyms:warp, twist, contortion, bend, buckle,
in 1997 and 1998. This climatic phenomenon
was accused of wrecking tourism, causing estimated / ˈɛstɪmeɪtɪd /: (of a value or number)
allergies, melting the ski-slopes and causing 22 roughly calculated; approximate
deaths. However, according to an article in the
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,
the damage it did was estimated at US$4 billion
but the benefits amounted to some US$19
billion. These came from higher winter
diminished / dɪˈmɪnɪʃt /: make or become less
temperatures (which saved an estimated 850
lives, reduced heating costs and diminished synonyms:decrease, decline, reduce, lessen, shrink,
spring floods caused by meltwaters).
dispose / dɪsˈpəʊz /: get rid of by throwing away or
The fourth factor is poor individual perception. giving or selling to someone else
People worry that the endless rise in the amount
of stuff everyone throws away will cause the
world to run out of places to dispose of waste.
Yet, even if America's trash output continues to
rise as it has done in the past, and even if the

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

American population doubles by 2100, all the

rubbish America produces through the entire
21st century will still take up only one-12.000th
of the area of the entire United States.
So what of global warming? As we know, carbon
dioxide emissions are causing the planet to
warm. The best estimates are that the
temperatures will rise by 2-3°C in this century,
causing considerable problems, at a total cost of drastic / ˈdræstɪk /: likely to have a strong or far-
US$5,000 billion. reaching effect; radical and extreme:
Despite the intuition that something drastic adaptation / ˌædæpˈteɪʃ(ə)n /: he action or process
needs to be done about such a costly problem, of adapting or being adapted
economic analyses clearly show it will be far
more expensive to cut carbon dioxide emissions synonyms:converting, conversion, alteration,
radically than to pay the costs of adaptation to
the increased temperatures. A model by one of modification, adjustment,
the main authors of the United Nations Climate postponed / pəʊstˈpəʊnd /: cause or arrange for
Change Panel shows how an expected
(something) to take place at a time later than that
temperature increase of 2.1 degrees in 2100
first scheduled
would only be diminished to an increase of 1.9
degrees. Or to put ft another way, the prevent / prɪˈvɛnt /: keep (something) from
temperature increase that the planet would have happening or arising:
experienced in 2094 would be postponed to
2100. sanitation/ ˌsænɪˈteɪʃən /: conditions relating to
public health, especially the provision of clean
So this does not prevent global warming, but
merely buys the world six years. Yet the cost of drinking water and adequate sewage disposal.
reducing carbon dioxide emissions, for the
United States alone, will be higher than the cost
of solving the world's single, most pressing
health problem: providing universal access to
clean drinking water and sanitation. Such
measures would avoid 2 million deaths every
Pessimistic/ ˌpɛsɪˈmɪstɪk /: tending to see the worst
year, and prevent half a billion people from
aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen
becoming seriously ill.
It is crucial that we look at the facts if we want to
make the best possible decisions for the future.
It may be costly to be overly optimistic - but
more costly still to be too pessimistic.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

Adults and children are frequently confronted confronted / kənˈfrʌntɪd /: meet (someone) face to
with statements about the alarming rate of loss face with hostile or argumentative intent
of tropical rainforests. For example, one graphic
illustration to which children might readily synonyms:challenge, oppose, resist, defy,
relate is the estimate that rainforests are being
illustration / ˌɪləsˈtreɪʃən /: a picture illustrating a
destroyed at a rate equivalent to one thousand
football fields every forty minutes - about the book, newspaper, etc
duration of a normal classroom period. In the synonyms:picture, drawing, sketch, figure, graphic,
face of the frequent and often vivid media
coverage, it is likely that children will have coverage/ ˈkʌvərɪʤ /: the extent to which something
formed ideas about rainforests - what and deals with or applies to something else
where they are, why they are important, what
endangers them - independent of any formal
tuition. It is also possible that some of these
ideas will be mistaken.
Many studies have shown that children harbour/ ˈhɑːbə /: keep (a thought or feeling,
harbour misconceptions about ‘pure’, typically a negative one) in one's mind, especially
curriculum science. These misconceptions do secretly
not remain isolated but become incorporated
into a multifaceted, but organised, conceptual misconceptions / ˌmɪskənˈsɛpʃənz /: a view or
framework, making it and the component ideas, opinion that is incorrect because based on faulty
some of which are erroneous, more robust but thinking or understanding
also accessible to modification. These ideas
may be developed by children absorbing ideas multifaceted/ ˌmʌltɪˈfæsɪtɪd /: having many facets
through the popular media. Sometimes this
information may be erroneous. It seems robust/ rəʊˈbʌst /: strong and healthy; vigorous
schools may not be providing an opportunity for synonyms:strong, vigorous, sturdy, tough, powerful,
children to re-express their ideas and so have
them tested and refined by teachers and their refined / rɪˈfaɪnd /: remove impurities or unwanted
peers. elements from (a substance), typically as part of an
Despite the extensive coverage in the popular industrial process
media of the destruction of rainforests, little
formal information is available about children’s

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

ideas in this area. The aim of the present study synonyms:purify, clarify, clear, cleanse, strain
is to start to provide such information, to help
teachers design their educational strategies to
build upon correct ideas and to displace
misconceptions and to plan programmes in
environmental studies in their schools.
The study surveys children’s scientific
knowledge and attitudes to rainforests.
Secondary school children were asked to
complete a questionnaire containing five open-
form questions. The most frequent responses
to the first question were descriptions which are
self-evident from the term ‘rainforest’. Some
children described them as damp, wet or hot.
The second question concerned the
geographical location of rainforests. The damp/ dæmp /: slightly wet
commonest responses were continents or
countries: Africa (given by 43% of children),
South America (30%), Brazil (25%). Some
children also gave more general locations, such
as being near the Equator.
Responses to question three concerned the
importance of rainforests. The dominant idea,
raised by 64% of the pupils, was that dominant / ˈdɒmɪnənt /: most important, powerful,
rainforests provide animals with habitats. Fewer or influential
students responded that rainforests provide
plant habitats, and even fewer mentioned the synonyms:presiding, ruling, governing, controlling, co
indigenous populations of rainforests. More mmanding,
girls (70%) than boys (60%) raised the idea of indigenous / ɪnˈdɪʤɪnəs /: originating or occurring
rainforest as animal habitats. naturally in a particular place; native
Similarly, but at a lower level, more girls (13%)
observations / ˌɒbzə(ː)ˈveɪʃənz /: the action or
than boys (5%) said that rainforests provided
human habitats. These observations are process of observing something or someone carefully
generally consistent with our previous studies or in order to gain information
of pupils’ views about the use and conservation synonyms:watching, monitoring, scrutiny, examination
of rainforests, in which girls were shown to be
, inspection
more sympathetic to animals and expressed
views which seem to place an intrinsic value sympathetic / ˌsɪmpəˈθɛtɪk /: feeling, showing, or
on non-human animal life. expressing sympathy
The fourth question concerned the causes of synonyms:commiserating, commiserative, pitying, con
the destruction of rainforests. Perhaps
doling,
encouragingly, more than half of the pupils
(59%) identified that it is human activities which intrinsic / ɪnˈtrɪnsɪk /: belonging naturally; essential
are destroying rainforests, some personalising
the responsibility by the use of terms such as
‘we are’. About 18% of the pupils referred
specifically to logging activity.
One misconception, expressed by some 10% of
the pupils, was that acid rain is responsible for
rainforest destruction; a similar proportion said
that pollution is destroying rainforests. Here,
children are confusing rainforest destruction

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

with damage to the forests of Western Europe

by these factors. While two fifths of the students
provided the information that the rainforests
provide oxygen, in some cases this response
embraced / ɪmˈbreɪst /: hold (someone) closely in
also embraced the misconception that
one's arms, especially as a sign of affection
rainforest destruction would reduce
atmospheric oxygen, making the atmosphere synonyms:hug, take/hold in one's
incompatible with human life on Earth. arms, hold, cuddle, clasp to one's bosom,

In answer to the final question about the
importance of rainforest conservation, the
majority of children simply said that we need
rainforests to survive. Only a few of the pupils
(6%) mentioned that rainforest destruction may
contribute to global warming. This is surprising
considering the high level of media coverage on
this issue. Some children expressed the idea
that the conservation of rainforests is not
important.
The results of this study suggest that certain
ideas predominate in the thinking of children
about rainforests. Pupils’ responses indicate
some misconceptions in basic scientific
knowledge of rainforests’ ecosystems such as
their ideas about rainforests as habitats for
animals, plants and humans and the
relationship between climatic change and
destruction of rainforests.
Pupils did not volunteer ideas that suggested
that they appreciated the complexity of causes
of rainforest destruction. In other words, they
gave no indication of an appreciation of either
the range of ways in which rainforests are
important or the complex social, economic and
political factors which drive the activities which
are destroying the rainforests. One
encouragement is that the results of similar
studies about other environmental issues
suggest that older children seem to acquire the
ability to appreciate, value and evaluate
conflicting views. Environmental education
offers an arena in which these skills can be
developed, which is essential for these children
as .
incompatible / ˌɪnkəmˈpætəbl /: (of two things) so
opposed in character as to be incapable of existing
together
synonyms:irreconcilable, conflicting, opposed,
opposite, contradictory
predominate / prɪˈdɒmɪneɪt /: be the strongest or
main element; be greater in number or amount
synonyms:be in the majority, preponderate, be
predominant, be greater/greatest in
amount/number, be prevalent,
ecosystems / ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstəmz /: a biological
community of interacting organisms and their physical
environment.
appreciated / əˈpriːʃɪeɪtɪd /: recognize the full worth
of
synonyms:value, respect, prize, cherish, treasure,
indication / ˌɪndɪˈkeɪʃən /: a sign or piece of
information that indicates something
synonyms:sign, indicator, symptom, mark, manifestati
on,
evaluate / ɪˈvæljʊeɪt /: form an idea of the amount,
number, or value of; assess

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

The threat posed by climate change in the Arctic and the problems faced by Canada's Inuit
people

A
incidents / ˈɪnsɪdənts /: an event or occurrence
Unusual incidents are being reported
across the Arctic. Inuit families going off on synonyms:event, occurrence, occasion, episode, experience,
snowmobiles to prepare their summer
snowmobiles / ˈsnəʊˈməʊbaɪlz /: a motor vehicle,
hunting camps have found themselves cut
off from home by a sea of mud, following especially one with runners in the front and caterpillar tracks
early thaws. There are reports of igloos in the rear, for traveling over snow.
losing their insulating properties as the igloos / ˈɪgluːz /: a type of dome-shaped shelter built from
snow drips and refreezes, of lakes draining
blocks of solid snow, traditionally used by Inuits (nhà làm
into the sea as permafrost melts, and sea
bằng băng)
ice breaking up earlier than usual, carrying
seals beyond the reach of hunters. Climate drips / drɪps /: let fall or be so wet as to shed small drops
change may still be a rather abstract of liquid
idea to most of us, but in the Arctic it is
already having dramatic effects - if synonyms:dribble, drop, leak, drop, dribble,
summertime ice continues to shrink at its
present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon shrink / ʃrɪŋk /: become or make smaller in size or amount;
become virtually ice-free in summer. The contract or cause to contract
knock-on effects are likely to include more
warming, cloudier skies, increased synonyms:get smaller, become/grow
precipitation and higher sea levels. smaller, contract, diminish, lessen
Scientists are increasingly keen to find out
what's going on because they consider the
Arctic the 'canary in the mine' for global
warming - a warning of what's in store for
the rest of the world.
B

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

For the Inuit the problem is urgent. They precarious / prɪˈkeərɪəs /: not securely held or in position;
live in precarious balance with one of the dangerously likely to fall or collapse
toughest environments on earth. Climate
change, whatever its causes, is a direct
threat to their way of life. Nobody knows
the Arctic as well as the locals, which is
why they are not content simply to stand jealously / ˈʤɛləsli /: in a way that shows an envious
back and let outside experts tell them resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions,
what's happening. In Canada, where the or perceived advantages
Inuit people are jealously guarding their
hard-won autonomy in the country's newest territory/ ˈtɛrɪtəri /: an area of land under the jurisdiction of
territory, Nunavut, they believe their best a ruler or state
hope of survival in this changing
environment lies in combining their synonyms:area of land, area, region, enclave, country,
ancestral knowledge with the best
of modern science. This is a challenge in ancestral / ænˈsɛstrəl /: of, belonging to, inherited from, or
itself. denoting an ancestor or ancestors

C
The Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless Venture / ˈvɛnʧə /: a risky or daring journey or undertaking
polar desert that's covered with snow for
most of the year. Venture into this terrain meagre / ˈmiːgə/: (of something provided or available)
and you get some idea of the hardships lacking in quantity or quality
facing anyone who calls this home. synonyms:inadequate, scanty, scant, paltry, limited,
Farming is out of the question and nature
offers meagre pickings. Humans first
settled in the Arctic a mere 4,500 years
ago, surviving by exploiting sea mammals colonists / ˈkɒlənɪsts /: a settler in or inhabitant of a
and fish. The environment tested them to colony.
the limits: sometimes the colonists were
successful, sometimes they failed and
vanished. But around a thousand years
ago, one group emerged that was uniquely
well adapted to cope with the
Arctic environment. These Thule people
moved in from Alaska, bringing kayaks, pottery / ˈpɒtəri /: pots, dishes, and other articles made of
sleds, dogs, pottery and iron tools. They earthenware or baked clay. Pottery can be broadly divided
are the ancestors of today's Inuit people. into earthenware, porcelain, and stoneware.
D descendants / dɪˈsɛndənts /: a person, plant, or animal
that is descended from a particular ancestor
Life for the descendants of the Thule
people is still harsh. Nunavut is 1.9 million
square kilometres of rock and ice, and a
handful of islands around the North Pole.
It's currently home to 2,500 people, all but a
handful of them indigenous Inuit. Over the abandoned / əˈbændənd /: having been deserted or cast
past 40 years, most have abandoned their off
nomadic ways and settled in the territory's
synonyms:deserted, forsaken, cast aside/off, jilted, stranded,
28 isolated communities, but they still rely
heavily on nature to provide food and
clothing. Provisions available in local shops
have to be flown into Nunavut on one of the
most costly air networks in the world, or
brought by supply ship during the few ice-

36
 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

free weeks of summer. It would cost a

family around £7,000 a year to replace
meat they obtained themselves through
hunting with imported meat. Economic
scarce/ skeəs /: (especially of food, money, or some other
opportunities are scarce, and for many
resource) insufficient for the demand
people state benefits are their only income.
E synonyms:in short supply, short, scant, scanty, meager,

While the Inuit may not actually starve if

hunting and trapping are curtailed by
climate change, there has certainly been an
impact on people's health. Obesity, heart diabetes / ˌdaɪəˈbiːtiːz /: a disease in which the body’s
disease and diabetes are beginning to ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is
appear in a people for whom these have impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates
never before been problems. There has and elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine.
been a crisis of identity as the traditional
skills of hunting, trapping and preparing
skins have begun to disappear. In
Nunavut's 'igloo and email' society, where
adults who were born in igloos have
children who may never have been out on
the land, there's a high incidence of
depression.
stake/ steɪk /: a strong wooden or metal post with a point at
F
one end, driven into the ground to support a tree, form part
With so much at stake, the Inuit are of a fence, act as a boundary mark, etc.
determined to play a key role in teasing out
the mysteries of climate change in the
Arctic. Having survived there for centuries,
they believe their wealth of traditional
knowledge is vital to the task. And Western
scientists are starting to draw on this
wisdom, increasingly referred to as
'Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit', or IQ. 'In the early
days scientists ignored us when they came
up here to study anything. They just figured
these people don't know very much so
we won't ask them,' says John Amagoalik,
an Inuit leader and politician. 'But in recent
years IQ has had much more credibility and
weight.' In fact it is now a requirement for
anyone hoping to get permission to do
research that they consult the communities, agenda / əˈʤɛndə/: a list of items to be discussed at a
who are helping to set the research formal meeting
agenda to reflect their most important
concerns. They can turn down applications
from scientists they believe will work
impinge / ɪmˈpɪnʤ /: have an effect or impact, especially a
against their interests, or research projects
that will impinge too much on their daily negative one
lives and traditional activities. synonyms:affect, have an effect on, have a bearing
G on, touch, influence,

Some scientists doubt the value of

traditional knowledge because the

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

occupation of the Arctic doesn't go back far gaps / gæps/: a break or hole in an object or between two
enough. Others, however, point out that the objects
first weather stations in the far north date
back just 50 years. There are still huge synonyms:opening, aperture, space, breach, chink,
gaps in our environmental knowledge, and
onslaught/ ˈɒnslɔːt /: a fierce or destructive attack
despite the scientific onslaught, many
predictions are no more than best guesses. capriciousness / kəˈprɪʃəsnəs/: subject to, led by,
IQ could help to bridge the gap and resolve or indicative of
the tremendous uncertainty about how a sudden, odd notion or unpredictable change; erratic
much of what we're seeing is natural
capriciousness and how much is the
consequence of human activity.

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

The Arctic and Antarctica are now within

reach of the modern tourist, with many
going to see these icy wildernesses before wildernesses / ˈwɪldənɪsɪz /: an uncultivated, uninhabited,
it's too late. Christian Amodeo reports on and inhospitable region.
the growth of polar tourism.
synonyms:wilds, wastes, uninhabited region, inhospitable
Travel at the North and South Poles has region, uncultivated region,
become an expensive leisure activity,
suitable for tourists of all ages. The poles inhospitable / ɪnˈhɒspɪtəbl /: (of an environment) harsh
may be inhospitable places, but they are and difficult to live in
seeing increasing numbers of visitors.
synonyms:uninviting, unwelcoming, bleak, lonely, empty,
Annual figures for the Arctic, where tourism
has existed since the 19th century, have
increased from about a million in the early
1990s to more than 1.5 million today. This
is partly because of the lengthening lengthening / ˈlɛŋθənɪŋ /: make or become longer
summer season brought about by climate
change. synonyms:elongate, make longer, stretch
out, extend, expand,
Most visitors arrive by ship. In 2007,
370,000 cruise passengers visited Norway, cruise / kruːz /: a voyage on a ship or boat taken for
twice the number that arrived in 2000. pleasure or as a vacation and usually calling in at several
Iceland, a country where tourism is the places
second-largest industry, has enjoyed an
annual growth rate of nine percent since
1990. Meanwhile, Alaska received some
1,029,800 passengers, a rise of 7.3 percent
from 2006. Greenland has seen the most
rapid growth in marine tourism, with a sharp
increase in cruise-ship arrivals of 250 downturn / ˈdaʊntɜːn /: a decline in economic, business, or
percent since 2004. other activity
The global economic downturn may have
affected the annual 20.6 percent rate of
increase in visitors to the Antarctic - last
season saw a drop of 17 percent to 38,200
- but there has been a 760 percent rise in

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land-based tourism there since 1997. More all-terrain / ɔːl-ˈtɛreɪn/: a small open motor vehicle with one
people than ever are landing at fragile sites, or two seats and three or more wheels fitted with large tires,
with light aircraft, helicopters and all-terrain designed for use on rough ground.
vehicles increasingly used for greater
access, while in the past two seasons, ‘fly-
sail’ operations have begun. These deliver
tourists by air to ships, so far more groups
can enjoy a cruise in a season; large cruise
ships capable of carrying up to 800
passengers are not uncommon.
In addition, it seems that a high number of
visitors return to the poles. ‘Looking at six
years’ worth of data, of the people who executive / ɪgˈzɛkjʊtɪv /: a person with senior managerial
have been to the polar regions, roughly 25 responsibility in a business organization.
percent go for a second time,’ says Louisa
Richardson, a senior marketing executive synonyms:chief, head, principal, senior official, senior
at tour operator Exodus. manager,

In the same period that tourism has deteriorated/ dɪˈtɪərɪəreɪtɪd /: become progressively worse
exploded, the ‘health’ of the poles has
synonyms:worsen, get worse, decline, be in
‘deteriorated’. ‘The biggest changes taking
place in the Antarctic are related to climate decline, degenerate,
change,’ says Rod Downie, Environmental proposals / prəˈpəʊzəlz /: a plan or suggestion, especially
Manager with the British Antarctic Survey a formal or written one, put forward for consideration or
(BAS). Large numbers of visitors increase
discussion by others
these problems.
Although polar tourism is widely accepted, synonyms:scheme, plan, project, program, manifesto,
there have been few regulations up until
recently. At the meeting of the Antarctic
Treaty in Baltimore, the 28 member nations
adopted proposals for limits to tourist
numbers. These included safety codes for
tourist vessels in Antarctic waters, and
improved environmental protection for the
continent. They agreed to prevent ships rescue / ˈrɛskjuː /: an act of saving or being saved from
with more than 500 passengers from danger or distress
landing in Antarctica, as well as limit the
number of passengers going ashore to a
maximum of 100 at any one time, with a
minimum of one guide for every 20 tourists.
‘Tourism in Antarctica is not without its
risks,’ says Downie. After all, Antarctica
doesn’t have a coastguard rescue service.’
‘So far, no surveys confirm that people are northernmost / ˈnɔːðənməʊst /: situated furthest to the
going quickly to see polar regions before north
they change,’ says Frigg Jorgensen,
General Secretary of the Association of
Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO).
‘However, Hillary Clinton and many other
big names have been to Svalbard in the
northernmost part of Norway to see the
effects of climate change. The associated

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media coverage could influence others to plight / plaɪt /: pledge or promise solemnly (one's faith or
do the same.’ loyalty)
These days, rarely a week passes without a
negative headline in the newspapers. The
suffering polar bear has become a symbol
of a warming world, its plight a warning
that the clock is ticking. It would seem that
this ticking clock is a small but growing
factor for some tourists. ‘There’s an
element of “do it now”,’ acknowledges
Prisca Campbell, Marketing director of
Quark Expeditions, which takes 7,000
People to the poles annually. Leaving the
trip until later, it seems, may mean leaving it
too late.

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Paragraph 1. INCREASED
TEMPERATURES
The average air temperature at the surface
of the earth has risen this century, as has
the temperature of ocean surface waters.
Because water expands as it heats, a
warmer ocean means higher sea levels. We
cannot say definitely that the temperature
rises are due to the greenhouse effect; the
heating may be part of a “natural” variability
over a long time-scale that we have not yet
recognized I our short 100 years of recognized / ˈrɛkəgnaɪzd/: acknowledge the existence,
recording. However, assuming the build up validity, or legality of
of greenhouse gases is responsible, and that
the warming will continue. Scientists and synonyms:acknowledge, accept, admit, concede, allow,
inhabitants of low-lying coastal areas would
inhabitants / ɪnˈhæbɪtənts /: a person or animal that lives
like to know the extent of future sea level
in or occupies a place.
rises.
Paragraph 2.
Calculating this is not easy. Models used for
the purpose have treated the oceans as
Dimensional/ dɪˈmɛnʃənl /: relating to measurements or
passive, stationary and one-dimensional.
Scientists have assumed that heat simply dimensions
diffused into the sea from the atmosphere.
Using basic physical laws, they then predict
how much a known volume of water
would expand for a given increase in
temperature. But the oceans are not one-
dimensional, and recent work by
oceanographers, using a new model which
takes into account a number of subtle facets
of the sea-including vast and complex ocean
currents-suggests that the rise in sea level

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may be less than some earlier estimates had

predicted.
Paragraph 3
estimate / ˈɛstɪmeɪt /:
An international forum on climate change, in
1986, produced figures for likely sea-level roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or
rises of 20 cm and 1.4 m, corresponding to extent of
atmospheric temperature increases of 1.5
and 4.5C respectively. Some scientists synonyms:roughly calculate, approximate, make an estimate
estimate that the ocean warming resulting of, guess, evaluate,
from those temperature increases by the
year 2050 would raise the sea level by
between 10 cm and 40 cm. This model only groundwater / ˈgraʊndˌwɔːtə /:
takes into account the temperature effect on water held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices
the oceans; it does not consider changes in in rock.
sea level brought about by the melting of ice
sheets and glaciers, and changes in
groundwater storage. When we add on
estimates of these, we arrive at figures for
total sea-level rises of 15 cm and 70 cm
respectively.
Paragraph 4 currents / ˈkʌrənts /:
It’s not easy trying to model accurately the belonging to the present time; happening or being used or
enormous complexities of the ever-changing done now
oceans, with their great volume, massive
currents and sensitively to the influence of synonyms:contemporary, present-
land masses and the atmosphere. For day, present, contemporaneous, ongoing,
example, consider how heat enters the
ocean. Does it just “diffuse” from the diffuse/ dɪˈfjuːz /:
warmer air vertically into the water, and spread out over a large area; not concentrated
heat only the surface layer of the sea?
(Warm water is less dense than cold, so it synonyms:spread out, diffused, scattered, dispersed, not
would not spread downwards). Conventional concentrated
models of sea-level rise have considered
that this the only method, but measurements vertically / ˈvɜːtɪkəli /:
have shown that the rate of heat transfer into
the ocean by vertical diffusion is far lower in at right angles to a horizontal plane; aligned in such a way
practice than the figures that many models that the top is directly above the bottom
have adopted. adopted/ əˈdɒptɪd /:
Paragraph 5
choose to take up, follow, or use
Much of the early work, for simplicity,
ignored the fact that water in the oceans synonyms:embrace, take on, acquire, affect, espouse,
moves in three dimensions. By movement, advection /ədˈvek.ʃən/ :
of course, scientists don’t mean waves, the transfer of heat or matter by the flow of a fluid, especially
which are too small individually to consider, horizontally in the atmosphere or the sea.
but rather movement of vast volumes of
water in huge currents. To understand
the importance of this, we now need to
consider another process-advection. properties / ˈprɒpətiz /:
Imagine smoke rising from a chimney. On a
still day it will slowly spread out in all
directions by means of diffusion. With a

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

strong directional wind, however, it will all a thing or things belonging to someone; possessions
shift downwind, this process is advection-the collectively
transport of properties (notably heat and
salinity in ocean) by the movement of bodies synonyms:possessions, belongings, things, goods, worldly
of air or water, rather than by conduction or goods,
diffusion.
gyres / ˈʤaɪəz /:
Paragraph 6 a spiral or vortex.
Massive oceans current called gyres do the
moving. These currents have far more
capacity to store heat than does the
atmosphere. Indeed, just the top 3 m of the
ocean contains more heat than the whole
of the atmosphere. The origin of the gyres
lies in the fact that more heat from the Sun
reaches the Equator than the Poles, and
naturally heat trends to move from the
former to the latter. Warm air rises at the
Equator, and draws more air beneath it in
the form of winds (the “TradeWinds")
that, together with other air movements,
provide the main force driving the ocean
currents.
Paragraph 7
Water itself is heated at the Equator and
clockwise / ˈklɒkwaɪz /:
moves poleward, twisted by the Earth’s
rotation and affected by the positions of the in a curve corresponding in direction to the typical forward
continents. The resultant broadly circular movement of the hands of a clock
movements between about 10 and 40
' North and South are clockwise in the latitudes / ˈlætɪtjuːdz /:
Southern Hemisphere. They flow towards
the east at mind latitudes in the equatorial the angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's
region. They then flow towards the Poles, equator, or of a celestial object north or south of the celestial
along the eastern sides of continents, as equator, usually expressed in degrees and minutes
warm currents. When two different masses
of water meet, once will move beneath synonyms:parallel, grid line
the other, depending on their relative masses / ˈmæsɪz /:
densities in the subduction process. The
densities are determined by temperature and a coherent, typically large body of matter with no definite
salinity. The convergence of water of shape
different densities from the Equator and
the Poles deep in the oceans causes synonyms:pile, heap, stack, clump, cloud,
continuous subduction. This means that
densities / ˈdɛnsɪtiz /:
water moves vertically as well as
horizontally. Cold water from the Poles the degree of compactness of a substance
travels as depth-it is denser than warm
water-until it emerges at the surface in
another part of the world in the form of a cold
current. conveyor / kənˈveɪə /:

Paragraph 8. HOW THE GREENHOUSE a person or thing that transports or communicates

EFFECTS WILL CHANGE OCEAN something
TEMPERATURES

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Ocean currents, in three dimensions, from a atmospheric / ˌætməsˈfɛrɪk /:

giant “conveyor belt”, distributing heat from
the thin surface layer into the interior of the relating to the atmosphere of the earth or (occasionally)
oceans and around the globe. Water may another planet
take decades to circulate in these 3-D gyres
interior/ ɪnˈtɪərɪə /:
in the lop kilometer of the ocean, and
centuries in the deep water. With situated within or inside; relating to the inside; inner
the increased atmospheric temperatures
due to the greenhouse effect, the oceans synonyms:inside, inner, internal, intramural, on the inside
conveyor belt will carry more heat into the
interior. This subduction moves heat around presumed / prɪˈzjuːmd /:
far more effectively than simple diffusion. suppose that something is the case on the basis of
Because warm water expands more than probability
cold when it is heated, scientists had
presumed that the sea level would rise synonyms:assume, suppose, dare say, imagine, take it,
unevenly around the globe. It is now
believed that these inequalities
cannot persist, as winds will act to
continuously spread out the water
expansion. Of course, of global
warming changes the strength and
distribution of the winds, then this “evening-
out” process may not occur, and the sea
level could rise more in some areas than
others.

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Mark Rowe reports on the increasingly ambitious geo-engineering projects being explored
by scientists

A
Such is our dependence on fossil fuels, and
such is the volume of carbon dioxide
already released into the atmosphere, that
many experts agree that significant global
Inevitable/ ɪnˈɛvɪtəbl /: certain to happen; unavoidable
warming is now inevitable. They believe
that the best we can do is keep it at a
reasonable level, and at present the only
serious option for doing this is cutting back
on our carbon emissions. But while a few
countries are making major strides in this
regard, the majority are having great stemming / ˈstɛmɪŋ /: the main body or stalk of a plant or
difficulty even stemming the rate of
shrub, typically rising above ground but occasionally
increase, let alone reversing it.
subterranean.
Consequently, an increasing number of
scientists are beginning to explore the synonyms:trunk, stalk, stock, cane, peduncle
alternative of geo-engineering — a term
which generally refers to the intentional geo-engineering /dʒiː.oʊ ɛnʤɪˈnɪərɪŋ /: Địa kỹ thuật
large-scale manipulation of the
environment. According to its proponents, manipulation / məˌnɪpjʊˈleɪʃən /: the action of
geo-engineering is the equivalent of a manipulating something in a skillful manner
backup generator: if Plan A - reducing our
dependency on fossil fuels - fails, we
require a Plan B, employing grand schemes
to slow down or reverse the process of
global warming.
B
Geo-engineering; has been shown to work,
at least on a small localised scale. For
decades, MayDay parades in Moscow

46
 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

have taken place under clear blue skies, deposited / dɪˈpɒzɪtɪd /: put or set down (something or
aircraft having deposited dry ice, silver someone) in a specific place, typically unceremoniously
iodide and cement powder to disperse
clouds. Many of the schemes now synonyms:put (down), place, lay (down), set
suggested look to do the opposite, and (down), unload, ... moreantonyms:pick up
reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the
planet. The most eye-catching idea of all is cement / sɪˈmɛnt /: xi măng
suggested by Professor Roger Angel of the disperse / dɪsˈpɜːs /: distribute or spread over a wide area
University of Arizona. His scheme would
employ up to 16 trillion minute spacecraft, synonyms:scatter, disseminate, distribute,
each weighing about one gram, to form a
transparent, sunlight-refracting sunshade in spread, broadcast
an orbit 1.5 million km above the Earth.
This could, argues Angel, reduce the
amount of light reaching the Earth by two
per cent.
C
The majority of geo-engineering projects so
far carried out — which include planting
forests in deserts and depositing iron in the
ocean to stimulate the growth of algae -
have focused on achieving a general
cooling of the Earth. But some look
specifically at reversing the melting at the replenish / rɪˈplɛnɪʃ /: fill (something) up again
poles, particularly the Arctic. The reasoning
is that if you replenish the ice sheets and synonyms:refill, top up, fill up, recharge, reload,
frozen waters of the high latitudes, more
light will be reflected back into space, so
reducing the warming of the oceans and
atmosphere.
stratosphere / ˈstrætəʊsfɪə /: tầng lưu bình
D
The concept of releasing aerosol sprays
into the stratosphere above the Arctic has dimming / ˈdɪmɪŋ /: make or become less bright or distinct
been proposed by several scientists. This
would involve using sulphur or hydrogen synonyms:grow faint, grow feeble, grow dim, fade, dull
sulphide aerosols so that sulphur dioxide
would form clouds, which would, in turn, scrutinised / ˈskruːtɪnaɪzd /: examine or inspect closely
lead to a global dimming. The idea is and thoroughly
modelled on historic volcanic explosions,
such as that of Mount Pinatubo in the
Philippines in 1991, which led to a short-
term cooling of global temperatures by 0.5
°C. Scientists have also scrutinised
whether it's possible to preserve the ice
sheets of Greenland with reinforced high-
tension cables, preventing icebergs from
moving into the sea. Meanwhile in the
Russian Arctic, geo-engineering plans shed / ʃɛd /: (of a tree or other plant) allow (leaves or fruit)
include the planting of millions of birch to fall to the ground
trees. Whereas the -regions native
evergreen pines shade the snow an absorb
radiation, birches would shed their leaves

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 IELTS – thầy Kiên iFIGHT

in winter, thus enabling radiation to be

reflected by the snow. Re-routing Russian
rivers to increase cold water flow to ice-
forming areas could also be used to slow
down warming, say some climate
scientists.
E Implemented/ ˈɪmplɪmɛntɪd /: put (a decision, plan,
But will such schemes ever be agreement, etc.) into effect
implemented? Generally speaking, those
who are most cautious about geo-
engineering are the scientists involved in permanent / ˈpɜːmənənt /: lasting or intended to last or
the research. Angel says that his plan is ‘no remain unchanged indefinitely
substitute for developing renewable energy:
the only permanent solution'. And Dr Phil synonyms:lasting, enduring, indefinite, continuing, perpetual,
Rasch of the US-based Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory is equally guarded
about the role of geo-engineering: 'I think all
of us agree that if we were to end geo-
engineering on a given day, then the planet
would return to its pre-engineered condition
very rapidly, and probably within ten to
twenty years. That’s certainly something to
worry about.’
F
The US National Center for Atmospheric
Research has already suggested that the
proposal to inject sulphur into the
atmosphere might affect rainfall patterns
across the tropics and the Southern Ocean.
‘Geo-engineering plans to inject
stratospheric aerosols or to seed clouds
would act to cool the planet, and act to
increase the extent of sea ice,’ says Rasch.
‘But all the models suggest some impact on
the distribution of precipitation.’ Schemes / skiːmz /: a large-scale systematic plan or
arrangement for attaining some particular object or putting a
G
particular idea into effect
A further risk with geo-engineering projects
is that you can “overshoot Y says Dr Dan synonyms:plan, project, plan of action, program, strategy,
Hunt, from the University of Bristol’s School
tropics / ˈtrɒpɪks /: the parallel of latitude 23°26ʹ north
of Geophysical Sciences, who has studied
(tropic of Cancer) or south (tropic of Capricorn) of the
the likely impacts of the sunshade and
aerosol schemes on the climate. ‘You may equator
bring global temperatures back to pre- scenario / sɪˈnɑːrɪəʊ /: a written outline of a movie, novel,
industrial levels, but the risk is that the or stage work giving details of the plot and individual scenes
poles will still be warmer than they should
be and the tropics will be cooler than synonyms:plot, outline, storyline, framework, structure, ,
before industrialisation.’To avoid such a
scenario,” Hunt says, “Angel’s project
would have to operate at half strength; all
of which reinforces his view that the best

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option is to avoid the need for geo-

engineering altogether.”
H
politicians / ˌpɒlɪˈtɪʃənz /: a person who is professionally
The main reason why geo-engineering is involved in politics, especially as a holder of or a candidate
supported by many in the scientific for an elected office
community is that most researchers have
little faith in the ability of politicians to induced / ɪnˈdjuːst /: succeed in persuading or influencing
agree - and then bring in — the necessary (someone) to do something
carbon cuts. Even leading conservation
organisations see the value of investigating synonyms:persuade, convince, prevail upon, get, make,
the potential of geo-engineering. According
to Dr Martin Sommerkorn, climate change
advisor for the World Wildlife Fund’s
International Arctic Programme, ‘Human-
induced climate change has brought
humanity to a position where we shouldn’t
exclude thinking thoroughly about this topic
and its possibilities.’

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William Curry is a serious, sober climate sober / ˈsəʊbə /: not affected by alcohol; not drunk.
scientist, not an art critic. But he has spent
a lot of time perusing Emanuel Gottlieb synonyms:not drunk, not intoxicated, clearheaded, as
Leutze’s famous painting “George sober as a judge, teetotal,
Washington Crossing the Delaware”, which
depicts / dɪˈpɪkts /: show or represent by a drawing,
depicts a boatload of colonial American
soldiers making their way to attack English painting, or other art form.
and Hessian troops the day after Christmas synonyms:portray, represent, picture, illustrate, delineate,
in 1776. “Most people think these other
guys in the boat are rowing, but they are rowing/ ˈrəʊɪŋ /: the sport or pastime of propelling a boat
actually pushing the ice away,” says Curry, by means of oars
tapping his finger on a reproduction of the
painting. Sure enough, the lead oarsman is bashing / ˈbæʃɪŋ /: strike hard and violently
bashing the frozen river with his boot. “I
grew up in Philadelphia. The place in this
painting is 30 minutes away by car. I can
tell you, this kind of thing just doesn’t
happen anymore.”
But it may again soon. And ice-choked
scenes, similar to those immortalised by
the 16th-century Flemish painter Pieter immortalised / ɪˈmɔːtəlaɪzd /: confer enduring fame
Brueghel the Elder, may also return to upon
Europe. His works, including the 1565
masterpiece / ˈmɑːstəpiːs /: a work of outstanding
masterpiece “Hunters in the Snow”, make
the now-temperate European landscapes artistry, skill, or workmanship
look more like Lapland. Such frigid set- frigid / ˈfrɪʤɪd /: very cold in temperature
tings were commonplace during a period
dating roughly from 1300 to 1850 because synonyms:very cold, bitterly cold, bitter, freezing, frozen,
much of North America and Europe was in
the throes of a little ice age. And now there
is mounting evidence that the chill could
return. A growing number of scientists

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believe conditions are ripe for another prolonged / prəʊˈlɒŋd /: continuing for a long time or
prolonged cooldown, or small ice age. longer than usual; lengthy
While no one is predicting a brutal ice
sheet like the one that covered the
Northern Hemisphere with glaciers about
12,000 years ago, the next cooling trend
could drop average temperatures 5
degrees Fahrenheit over much of the
United States and 10 degrees in the
Northeast, northern Europe, and northern
Asia.
“It could happen in 10 years,” says
Terrence Joyce, who chairs the Woods
Hole Physical Oceanography Department.
“Once it does, it can take hundreds of
years to reverse.” And he is alarmed that
Americans have yet to take the threat
seriously.
A drop of 5 to 10 degrees entails much
more than simply bumping up the thermo-
stat and carrying on. Both economically
and ecologically, such quick, persistent
chilling could have devastating
consequences. A 2002 report titled “Abrupt
Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises”,
produced by the National Academy of
Sciences, pegged the cost from agricultural
losses alone at $100 billion to $250 billion
while also predicting that damage to
ecologies could be vast and incalculable. A grim / grɪm /: forbidding or uninviting
grim sampler: disappearing forests,
increased housing expenses, dwindling synonyms:stern, forbidding, uninviting, unapproachable,..
fresh water, lower crop yields, and dwindling / ˈdwɪndlɪŋ /: gradually diminishing in size,
accelerated species extinctions.
amount, or strength
The reason for such huge effects is simple.
A quick climate change wreaks far more wreaks / riːks /: cause (a large amount of damage or
disruption than a slow one. People, harm)
animals, plants, and the economies that breached / briːʧt /: make a gap in and break through (a
depend on them are like rivers; says the
wall, barrier, or defense)
report: "For example, high water in a river
will pose few problems until the water runs synonyms:break (through), burst (through), rupture, force
over the bank, after which levees can be itself through, split
breached and massive flooding can occur.
Many biological processes undergo shifts thresholds / ˈθrɛʃˌhəʊldz /: a strip of wood, metal, or
at particular thresholds of temperature stone forming the bottom of a doorway and crossed in
and precipitation.” entering a house or room.
Political changes since the last ice age synonyms:doorstep, sill, doorsill, doorway, entrance,
could make survival far more difficult for
the world's poor. During previous cooling
periods, whole tribes simply picked up and
moved south, but that option doesn't work
in the modern, tense world of closed

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borders. "To the extent that abrupt climate

change may cause rapid and extensive
changes of fortune for those who live off
the land, the inability to migrate may
distressed/ dɪsˈtrɛst /: suffering from anxiety, sorrow, or
remove one of the major safety nets for
pain
distressed people,” says the report.
But first things first. Isn't the earth actually
warming? Indeed it is, says Joyce. ‘ In his
cluttered office, full of soft light from the
foggy Cape Cod morning, he explains how
such warming could actually be the
surprising culprit of the next mini-ice age. culprit / ˈkʌlprɪt /: a person who is responsible for a
The paradox is a result of the appearance crime or other misdeed.
over the past 30 years in the North Atlantic
equivalent / ɪˈkwɪvələnt /: a person or thing that is equal
of huge rivers of fresh water - the
equivalent of a 10-foot-thick layer - mixed to or corresponds with another in value, amount, function,
into the salty sea. No one is certain where meaning, etc
the fresh torrents are coming from, but a torrents / ˈtɒrənts /: a strong and fast-moving stream of
prime suspect is melting Arctic ice, caused
water or other liquid
by a build-up of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere that traps solar energy. synonyms:flood, deluge, inundation, spate, cascade.
The freshwater trend is major news in
ocean-science circles. Bob Dickson, a Brit-
ish oceanographer who sounded an alarm
at a February conference in Honolulu, has
termed the drop in salinity and temperature
in the Labrador Sea - a body of water
between northeastern Canada and
Greenland that adjoins the Atlantic -
"arguably the largest full-depth changes
observed in the modern instrumental
oceanolgraphic record”.
subverting / sʌbˈvɜːtɪŋ /:
The trend could cause a little ice age by
subverting the northern penetration of undermine the power and authority of (an established
Gulf Stream waters. Normally, the Gulf system or institution
Stream, laden with heat soaked up in the
synonyms:destabilize, unsettle, overthrow, overturn, bring
tropics, meanders up the east coasts of
the United States and Canada. As it flows down,
northward, the stream surrenders heat to meanders / mɪˈændəz /:
the air. Because the prevailing North
Atlantic winds blow eastward, a lot of the a winding curve or bend of a river or road
heat wafts to Europe. That’s why many
scientists believe winter temperatures on synonyms:bend, loop, curve, twist, turn,
the Continent are as much as 36 degrees prevailing / prɪˈveɪlɪŋ /:
Fahrenheit warmer than those in North
America at the same latitude. Frigid existing at a particular time; current
Boston, for example, lies at almost
precisely the same latitude as balmy
Rome. And some scientists say the heat
also warms Americans and Canadians. “It’s
a real mistake to think of this solely as a
European phenomenon," says Joyce.

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Having given up its heat to the air, the now-

cooler water becomes denser and sinks
into the North Atlantic by a mile or more in denser / ˈdɛnsə /:
a process oceanographers call
closely compacted in substance
thermohaline circulation. This massive
column of cascading cold is the main synonyms:thick, heavy, opaque, soupy, murky,
engine powering a deep-water current
called the Great Ocean Conveyor that cascading / kæsˈkeɪdɪŋ /:
snakes through all the world’s oceans. But
(of water) pour downward rapidly and in large quantities
as the North Atlantic fills with fresh water, it
grows less dense, making the waters
carried northward by the Gulf Stream less
able to sink. The new mass of relatively
fresh water sits on top of the ocean like a
big thermal blanket, threatening the thermal / ˈθɜːməl /:
thermohaline circulation. That in turn could relating to heat.
make the Gulf Stream slow or veer
southward. At some point, the whole
system could simply shut down, and do so
quickly. “There is increasing evidence that
we are getting closer to a transition point,
from which we can jump to a new state.”

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Drought, housing expansion, and oversupply of tinder make for bigger, hotter fires in the
western United States

Wildfires are becoming an increasing

menace in the western United States, with
Southern California being the hardest hit blazes / ˈbleɪzɪz /: a very large or fiercely burning fire
area. There's a reason fire squads battling synonyms:fire, flames, conflagration, inferno, holocaust,
more frequent blazes in Southern California
are having such difficulty containing the preparedness / prɪˈpeədnɪs /: a state of readiness,
flames, despite better preparedness than especially for war
ever and decades of experience fighting
fires fanned by the ‘Santa Ana Winds’. The
wildfires themselves, experts say, are
generally hotter, faster, and spread more erratically / ɪˈrætɪk(ə)li/: in a manner that is not even or
erratically than in the past. regular in pattern or movement; unpredictably

Megafires, also called ‘siege fires’, are the

increasingly frequent blazes that burn
500,000 acres or more - 10 times the size
of the average forest fire of 20 years ago. acreage / ˈeɪkərɪʤ /: an area of land, typically when
Some recent wildfires are among the used for agricultural purposes, but not necessarily
biggest ever in California in terms of
measured in acres
acreage burned, according to state figures
and news reports.
One explanation for the trend to more
superhot fires is that the region, which
usually has dry summers, has had
significantly below normal precipitation in
many recent years. Another reason, experts
say, is related to the century- long policy of
the US Forest Service to stop wildfires as
quickly as possible.

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The unintentional consequence has been to eradication / ɪˌrædɪˈkeɪʃən /: the complete destruction
halt the natural eradication of underbrush, of something
now the primary fuel for megafires.
Three other factors contribute to the trend,
they add. First is climate change, marked
by a 1-degree Fahrenheit rise in average
yearly temperature across the western
states. Second is fire seasons that on
average are 78 days longer than they were
20 years ago. Third is increased
construction of homes in wooded areas.
‘We are increasingly building our homes in
fire-prone ecosystems,’ says Dominik adjunct / ˈæʤʌŋkt /: a thing added to something else
Kulakowski, adjunct professor of biology at as a supplementary rather than an essential part
Clark University Graduate School of
Geography in Worcester, Massachusetts.
‘Doing that in many of the forests of the
western US is like building homes on the
side of an active volcano.'
In California, where population growth has
averaged more than 600,000 a year for at
least a decade, more residential housing is intensity/ ɪnˈtɛnsɪti /: the quality of being intense
being built. ‘What once was open space is
now residential homes providing fuel to synonyms:strength, power, powerfulness, potency, vigor,
make fires burn with greater intensity,’
says Terry McHale of the California
Department of Forestry firefighters' union.
‘With so much dryness, so many
communities to catch fire, so many fronts to scorched / skɔːʧt /: burn the surface of (something) with
fight, it becomes an almost incredible job.' flame or heat

That said, many experts give California high synonyms:burn, sear, singe, char, blacken,
marks for making progress on
preparedness in recent years, after some of bungling / ˈbʌŋglɪŋ /: the action or fact of carrying out a
the largest fires in state history scorched task clumsily or incompetently
thousands of acres, burned thousands of
homes, and killed numerous people. Stung
in the past by criticism of bungling that
allowed fires to spread when they might
have been contained, personnel are
meeting the peculiar challenges of
neighborhood - and canyon- hopping fires
better than previously, observers say.
State promises to provide more up-to-date dilapidated / dɪˈlæpɪdeɪtɪd /: (of a building or object) in
engines, planes, and helicopters to fight
a state of disrepair or ruin as a result of age or neglect
fires have been fulfilled. Firefighters’ unions
that in the past complained of dilapidated praising / ˈpreɪzɪŋ /: express warm approval or
equipment, old fire engines, and insufficient admiration of
blueprints for fire safety are now praising
the state's commitment, noting that funding synonyms:commend, express approval of, express
for firefighting has increased, despite huge admiration for
cuts in many other programs. ‘We are
pleased that the current state administration

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has been very proactive in its support of us,

and [has] come through with budgetary
support of the infrastructure needs we have
long sought,' says Mr. McHale of the
firefighters’ union.
traverse / ˈtrævə(ː)s /: travel across or through
Besides providing money to upgrade the
fire engines that must traverse the synonyms:travel over/across, cross, journey
mammoth state and wind along serpentine over/across, make one's way across, pass over,
canyon roads, the state has invested in
better command-and-control facilities as serpentine / ˈsɜːpəntaɪn /: of or like a serpent or snake
well as in the strategies to run them. ‘In the
fire sieges of earlier years, we found that jurisdictions / ˌʤʊərɪsˈdɪkʃənz /: the official power to
other jurisdictions and states were willing make legal decisions and judgments
to offer mutual-aid help, but we were not
synonyms:authority, control, power, dominion, rule, .
able to communicate adequately with them,’
says Kim Zagaris, chief of the state's Office
of Emergency Services Fire and Rescue
Branch.
After a commission examined and revamped / ˌriːˈvæmpt /: give new and improved form,
revamped communications procedures, the structure, or appearance to
statewide response ‘has become far more
professional and responsive,’ he says. dedication/ ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən /: the quality of being dedicated
There is a sense among both government or committed to a task or purpose
officials and residents that the speed,
dedication, and coordination synonyms:commitment, wholeheartedness, single-
mindedness, enthusiasm, zeal,
of firefighters from several states and
jurisdictions are resulting in greater
efficiency than in past ‘siege fire’ situations.
In recent years, the Southern California
region has improved building codes, procurement / prəˈkjʊəmənt /: the action of obtaining
evacuation procedures, and procurement or procuring something,
of new technology. ‘I am extraordinarily
impressed by the improvements we have
witnessed,’ says Randy Jacobs, a Southern
California- based lawyer who has had to Notwithstanding / ˌnɒtwɪθˈstændɪŋ /: although; in spite
evacuate both his home and business to of the fact that
escape wildfires. ‘Notwithstanding all the
damage that will continue to be caused by
wildfires, we will no longer suffer the loss of
life endured in the past because of the fire
prevention and firefighting measures that
have been put in place,’ he says.

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A
Globally, roughly 13 million hectares of forest
are destroyed each year. Such deforestation loggers / ˈlɒgəz /: a person who fells trees for timber;
has long been driven by farmers desperate to a lumberjack
earn a living or by loggers building new
roads into pristine forest. But now new data pristine / ˈprɪstaɪn /: in its original condition; unspoiled
appears to show that big, block clearings that deforestation / dɪˌfɒrɪˈsteɪʃ(ə)n/: the action of clearing
reflect industrial deforestation have come to a wide area of trees
dominate, rather than these smaller-scale
efforts that leave behind long, narrow swaths swaths / swɔːθs /: a broad strip or area of something
of cleared land. Geographer Ruth DeFries of
Columbia University and her colleagues used
satellite images to analyse tree-clearing in
countries ringing the tropics, representing 98
per cent of all remaining tropical forest.
Instead of the usual ‘fish bone' signature of
deforestation from small-scale operations, chunky / ˈʧʌŋki /: bulky and solid
large, chunky blocks of cleared land reveal a
new motive for cutting down woods. synonyms:thick, bulky, heavy-knit

B
In fact, a statistical analysis of 41 countries
showed that forest loss rates were most
closely linked with urban population growth
and agricultural exports in the early part of
the 21st century - even overall population
growth was not as strong an influence. ‘In
previous decades, deforestation was colonisation/ ˌkɒlənaɪˈzeɪʃən /: the action or process
associated with planned colonisation,
of settling among and establishing control over the
resettlement schemes in local areas and
indigenous people of an area
farmers clearing land to grow food for
subsistence,' DeFries says. ‘What we’re
seeing now is a shift from small-scale

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farmers driving deforestation to distant

demands from urban growth, agricultural
trade and exports being more important
drivers.’

C
In other words, the increasing urbanisation of
the developing world, as populations leave
rural areas to concentrate in booming cities,
is driving deforestation, rather than
containing it. Coupled with this there is an
ongoing increase in consumption in the
developed world of products that have an
impact on forests, whether furniture, shoe urbanisation/ ˌɜːb(ə)naɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/: the process of
leather or chicken feed. ‘One of the really making an area more urban
striking characteristics of this century is
urbanisation and rapid urban growth in the executive / ɪgˈzɛkjʊtɪv /: a person with senior
developing world,’ DeFries says, ‘People in managerial responsibility in a business organization.
cities need to eat.’ ‘There’s no surprise
there,’ observes Scott Poynton, executive synonyms:chief, head, principal, senior official, senior
director of the Tropical Forest Trust, a manage
Switzerland-based organisation that helps
businesses implement and manage
sustainable forestry in countries such as
Brazil, Congo and Indonesia. ‘It’s not about
people chopping down trees. It's all the
people in New York, Europe and elsewhere
who want cheap products, primarily food.’
sustain / səsˈteɪn /: strengthen or support physically
D or mentally
Dearies argues that in order to help sustain
synonyms:comfort, help, assist, encourage, succor
this increasing urban and global demand,
agricultural productivity will need to be
increased on lands that have already been
cleared. This means that better crop varieties degraded / dɪˈgreɪdɪd /: break down or deteriorate
or better management techniques will need chemically
to be used on the many degraded and
abandoned lands in the tropics. And the
Tropical Forest Trust is building management
systems to keep illegally harvested wood
from ending up in, for example, deck chairs,
as well as expanding its efforts to look at how
to reduce the ‘forest footprint’ of agricultural
products such as palm oil. Poynton says,
‘The point is to give forests value as forests,
to keep them as forests and give them a use
as forests. They’re not going to be locked
away as national parks. That’s not going to
happen.’

E
But it is not all bad news. Halts in tropical
deforestation have resulted in forest regrowth

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in some areas where tropical lands were Tropical/ ˈtrɒpɪkəl /: of, typical of, or peculiar to the
previously cleared. And forest clearing in the tropics
Amazon, the world’s largest tropical forest,
dropped from roughly 1.9 million hectares a
year in the 1990s to 1.6 million hectares a
year over the last decade, according to the
Brazilian government. 'We know that
deforestation has slowed down in at least the
Brazilian Amazon,’ DeFries says. ‘Every
place is different. Every country has its own
particular situation, circumstances and
driving forces.’

F
Regardless of this, deforestation continues,
and cutting down forests is one of the largest
sources of greenhouse gas emissions from decaying / dɪˈkeɪɪŋ /: rotting or decomposing through
human activity - a double blow that both the action of bacteria and fungi
eliminates a biological system to suck up
C02 and creates a new source of
greenhouse gases in the form of decaying
plants. The United Nations Environment
Programme estimates that slowing such negotiations / nɪˌgəʊʃɪˈeɪʃənz /: discussion aimed at
deforestation could reduce some 50 billion reaching an agreement
metric tons of C02, or more than a year of
global emissions. Indeed, international synonyms:discussion(s), talks, consultation(s),
climate negotiations continue to attempt to
set up a system to encourage this, known as parleying, deliberation(s)
the UN Development Programme’s fund for
reducing emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation in developing countries
(REDD). If policies [like REDD] are to be
effective, we need to understand what the
driving forces are behind deforestation,
DeFries argues. This is particularly important
in the light of new pressures that are on the
horizon: the need to reduce our dependence
on fossil fuels and find alternative power exacerbate / ɛksˈæsə(ː)beɪt /: make (a problem, bad
sources, particularly for private cars, is situation, or negative feeling) worse
forcing governments to make products such
as biofuels more readily accessible. This will
only exacerbate the pressures on tropical
forests.

G
But millions of hectares of pristine forest
remain to protect, according to this new
analysis from Columbia University.
Approximately 60 percent of the remaining
tropical forests are in countries or areas that
currently have little agricultural trade or urban
growth. The amount of forest area in places
like central Africa, Guyana and Suriname,

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DeFries notes, is huge. ‘There’s a lot of

forest that has not yet faced these
pressures.’

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Section A
The role of governments in environmental Inescapable/ ɛksˈæsə(ː)beɪt /: unable to be avoided
management is difficult but inescapable. or denied
Sometimes, the state tries to manage the
resources it owns, and does so badly. Often,
however, governments act in an even more
harmful way. They actually subsidise the subsidise / ˈsʌbsɪdaɪz /: (of an organization or
exploitation and consumption of natural activity) supported financially
resources. A whole range of policies, from
farm- price support to protection for coal-
mining, do environmental damage and Scrapping / ˈskræpɪŋ /: discard or remove from
(often) make no economic sense. Scrapping service (a retired, old, or inoperative vehicle, vessel, or
them offers a two-fold bonus: a cleaner machine), especially so as to convert it to scrap metal
environment and a more efficient economy.
Growth and environmentalism can actually
go hand in hand, if politicians have the
courage to confront the vested interest that confront / ˈskræpɪŋ /: meet (someone) face to face
subsidies create. with hostile or argumentative intent

Section B synonyms:challenge, square up to, oppose, resist, defy,

No activity affects more of the earth's surface
than farming. It shapes a third of the planet's
land area, not counting Antarctica, and the
proportion Is rising. World food output per
head has risen by 4 per cent between the
1970s and 1980s mainly as a result of
increases in yields from land already in
cultivation, but also because more land has
been brought under the plough. Higher yields
have been achieved by increased irrigation, irrigation/ ˌɪrɪˈgeɪʃən /: the supply of water to land or
better crop breeding, and a doubling in the crops to help growth, typically by means of channels
use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in
the 1970s and 1980s.

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Section C
All these activities may have damaging
environmental impacts. For example, land
clearing for agriculture is the largest single
cause of deforestation; chemical fertilisers
contaminate / kənˈtæmɪneɪt /: make (something)
and pesticides may contaminate water
supplies; more intensive farming and the impure by exposure to or addition of a poisonous or
abandonment of fallow periods tend to polluting substance
exacerbate soil erosion; and the spread of erosion/ ɪˈrəʊʒən /: the process of eroding or being
mono-Culture and use of high-yielding
eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents
varieties of crops have been accompanied by
the disappearance of old varieties of food pests / pɛsts /: a destructive insect or other animal
plants which might have provided some that attacks crops, food, livestock, etc.
insurance against pests or diseases in
future. Soil erosion threatens the productivity
of land In both rich and poor countries. The
United States, where the most careful
measurements have been done, discovered
in 1982 that about one-fifth of its farmtand as
losing topsoil at a rate likely to diminish the embarked / ɪmˈbɑːkt /: begin (a course of action,
soil's productivity. The country subsequently especially one that is important or demanding)
embarked upon a program to convert 11
percent of its cropped land to meadow or synonyms:begin, start, commence, undertake, set
forest. Topsoil in India and China is about
vanishing much faster than in America.
vanishing / ˈvænɪʃɪŋ /: disappear suddenly and
Section D completely
Government policies have frequently synonyms:disappear, vanish into thin air, be lost to
compounded the environmental damage that sight/view, be/become invisible, evaporate,
farming can cause. In the rich countries,
subsidies for growing crops and price
supports for farm output drive up the price of
land.The annual value of these subsidies is
immense: about $250 billion, or more than all
World Bank lending in the 1980s.To increase
the output of crops per acre, a farmer's
easiest option is to use more of the most
readily available inputs: fertilisers and
pesticides. Fertiliser use doubled in Denmark
in the period 1960-1985 and increased in
The Netherlands by 150 per cent. The
quantity of pesticides applied has risen too;
by 69 per cent In 1975-1984 in Denmark, for
example, with a rise of 115 per cent in the
frequency of application in the three years
from 1981.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s some
efforts were made to reduce farm subsidies. scrapped / skræpt /: abolish or cancel (something,
The most dramatic example was that of New especially a plan, policy, or law) that is now regarded as
Zealand, which scrapped most farm support unnecessary, unwanted, or unsuitable
in 1984. A study of the environmental effects,
synonyms:throw away, throw out, dispose of, get rid of
conducted in 1993, found that the end of
fertiliser subsidies had been followed by a fall

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in fertiliser use (a fall compounded by the commodity / kəˈmɒdɪti /: a raw material or primary
decline in world commodity prices, which agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such
cut farm incomes). The removal of subsidies as copper or coffee
also stopped land-clearing and over-stocking,
which in the past had been the principal
causes of erosion. Farms began to diversify.
The one kind of subsidy whose removal removal / rɪˈmuːvəl /: the action of taking away or
appeared to have been bad for the abolishing something unwanted
environment was the subsidy to manage soil synonyms:taking away, moving, carrying
eroslon,
away, shifting, transfer,
In less enlightened countries, and in the
European Union, the trend has been to enlightened / ɪnˈlaɪtnd /: having or showing a rational,
reduce rather than eliminate subsidies, and modern, and well-informed outlook
to introduce new payments to encourage
farmers to treat their land In environmentally
friendlier ways, or to leave it follow. It may
sound strange but such payments need to be
higher than the existing incentives for incentives / ɪnˈsɛntɪvz /: a thing that motivates or
farmers to grow food crops. Farmers, encourages one to do something
however, dislike being paid to do nothing. In
several countries they have become
interested in the possibility of using fuel residues / ˈrɛzɪdjuːz /: a small amount of something
produced from crop residues either as a that remains after the main part has gone or been taken
replacement for petrol (as ethanol) or as fuel
or used
for power stations (as biomass). Such fuels
produce far less carbon dioxide than coal or
oil, and absorb carbon dioxide as they
grow.They are therefore less likely to
contribute to the greenhouse effect. But they
die rarely competitive with fossil fuels unless
subsidised - and growing them does no less
environmental harm than other crops.
Section E
aggravate / ˈægrəveɪt /: make (a problem, injury, or
In poor countries, governments aggravate
other sorts of damage. Subsidies for offense) worse or more serious
pesticides and artificial fertilisers encourage synonyms:worsen, make
farmers to use greater quantities than are worse, exacerbate, inflame, compound,
needed to get the highest economic crop
yield. A study by the International Rice artificial / ˌɑːtɪˈfɪʃ(ə)/: made or produced by human
Research Institute Of pesticide use by beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a
farmers in South East Asia found that, with copy of something natural
pest-resistant varieties of rice, even
moderate applications of pesticide frequently treadmill/ ˈtrɛdmɪl /: a device formerly used for driving
cost farmers more than they saved.Such machinery, consisting of a large wheel with steps fitted
waste puts farmers on a chemical treadmill: into its inner surface. It was turned by the weight of
bugs and weeds become resis-tant to people or animals treading the steps.
poisons, so next year's poisons must be
more lethal. One cost is to human health,
Every year some 10,000 people die from
pesticide poisoning, almost all of them in the
developing countries, and another 400,000
become seriously ill. As for artificial fertilisers,
their use world-wide increased by 40 per cent

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per unit of farmed land between the mid

1970s and late 1980s, mostly in the
developing countries. Overuse of fertilisers
may cause farmers to stop rotating crops or
Fallow/ ˈfæləʊ /: a piece of fallow or uncultivated land.
leaving their land fallow. That, In turn, may
make soil erosion worse.
Section F
A result of the Uruguay Round of world trade reduction / rɪˈdʌkʃən /: the action or fact of making a
negotiations Is likely to be a reduction of 36
specified thing smaller or less in amount, degree, or
per cent In the average levels of farm
size
subsidies paid by the rich countries in 1986-
1990. Some of the world's food production synonyms:depletion, cut, cutting, cutback, scaling
will move from Western Europe to regions down, ..
where subsidies are lower or non-existent,
such as the former communist countries and
parts of the developing world. Some
environmentalists worry about this outcome. outcome/ ˈaʊtkʌm /: the way a thing turns out; a
It will undoubtedly mean more pressure to consequence
convert natural habitat into farmland. But it
will also have many desirable environmental
effects. The intensity of farming in the rich
world should decline, and the use of
chemical inputs will diminish. Crops are more
likely to be grown because of the
environments to which they are naturally
suited. And more farmers in poor countries
wilt have the money and the incentive to
manage their land in ways that are
sustainable in the long run. That is important.
To feed an increasingly hungry world,
farmers need every incentive to use their soil
and water effectively and efficiently.

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Since the early eighties we have been only devastating / ˈdɛvəsteɪtɪŋ /: highly destructive or damaging
too aware of the devastating effects of
large-scale environmental pollution. Such synonyms:destructive, ruinous, disastrous,
pollution is generally the result of poor catastrophic, calamitous,
government planning in many developing
nations or the short-sighted, selfish policies
of the already industrialised countries which
encourage a minority of the world’s
population to squander the majority of its
squander / ˈskwɒndə /: waste (something, especially
natural resources.
money or time) in a reckless and foolish manner
While events such as the deforestation of
the Amazon jungle or the nuclear disaster in sabotage/ ˈsæbətɑːʒ /: the action of sabotaging something.
Chernobyl continue to receive high media
synonyms:wrecking, deliberate
exposure, as do acts of environmental
damage, vandalism, destruction, obstruction,
sabotage, it must be remembered that not
all pollution is on this grand scale. A large spillage /ˈspɪl.ɪdʒ/: the action of spilling a liquid, or the fact
proportion of the world’s pollution has its of a liquid being spill
source much closer to home. The recent
spillage of crude oil from an oil tanker
accidentally discharging its cargo straight
into Sydney Harbour not only caused
serious damage to the harbour foreshores
but also created severely toxic fumes which
hung over the suburbs for days and left the
angry residents wondering how such a
disaster could have been allowed to
happen.
Avoiding pollution can be a fulltime job. Try
not to inhale traffic fumes; keep away from
chemical plants and building-sites; wear a
mask when cycling. It is enough to make

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you want to stay at home. But that,

according to a growing body of scientific
evidence, would also be a bad idea. hazardous / ˈhæzədəs /: risky; dangerous
Research shows that levels of pollutants synonyms:dangerous, risky, unsafe, perilous, precarious,
such as hazardous gases, particulate
matter and other chemical ‘nasties’ are
usually higher indoors than out, even in the
most polluted cities. Since the average
American spends 18 hours indoors for every
hour outside, it looks as though many
environmentalists may be attacking the
wrong target.
The latest study, conducted by two
environmental engineers, Richard Corsi and
Cynthia Howard-Reed, of the University of
Texas in Austin, and published in
Environmental Science and Technology,
suggests that it is the process of keeping
clean that may be making indoor pollution
worse. The researchers found that baths, trace / treɪs /: find or discover by investigation
showers, dishwashers and washing
machines can all be significant sources of synonyms:track down, find, discover, detect, unearth,
indoor pollution, because they extract trace
amounts of chemicals from the water that concentrations / ˌkɒnsənˈtreɪʃənz /: the action or power of
they use and transfer them to the air. focusing one's attention or mental effort

Nearly all public water supplies contain very synonyms:close attention, close
low concentrations of toxic chemicals, thought, attentiveness, application, industry,
most of them left over from the otherwise
beneficial process of chlorination. Dr. Corsi
wondered whether they stay there when extracted / ɪksˈtræktɪd /: remove or take out, especially by
water is used, or whether they end up in the
effort or force
air that people breathe. The team conducted
a series of experiments in which known synonyms:take out, draw out, bring out, pull out, remove,
quantities of five such chemicals were
mixed with water and passed through a volatile / ˈvɒlətaɪl /: (of a substance) easily evaporated at
dishwasher, a washing machine, a shower normal temperatures.
head inside a shower stall or a tap in a bath,
all inside a specially designed chamber. The synonyms:evaporative, vaporous, vaporescent,
levels of chemicals in the effluent water and
explosive, eruptive,
in the air extracted from the chamber were
then measured to see how much of each splashing / ˈsplæʃɪŋ /: a sound made by something striking
chemical had been transferred from the or falling into liquid
water into the air.
synonyms:splashing, swashing, dashing, beating, battering, ..
The degree to which the most volatile
elements could be removed from the water, crockery / ˈkrɒkəri /: plates, dishes, cups, and other similar
a process known as chemical stripping, items, especially ones made of earthenware or china.
depended on a wide range of factors,
including the volatility of the chemical, the Cutlery/ ˈkʌtləri /: knives, forks, and spoons used for eating
temperature of the water and the surface or serving food.
area available for transfer. Dishwashers
were found to be particularly effective: the
high-temperature spray, splashing against
the crockery and cutlery, results in a nasty

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plume of toxic chemicals that escapes when inhalation / ˌɪnhəˈleɪʃən /: the action of inhaling or
the door is opened at the end of the cycle. breathing in
In fact, in many cases, the degree of
exposure to toxic chemicals in tap water by
inhalation is comparable to the exposure
that would result from drinking the stuff. This
is significant because many people are so
concerned about water-borne pollutants that exposed / ɪksˈpəʊzd /:not covered or hidden; visible
they drink only bottled water, worldwide
sales of which are forecast to reach $72
billion by next year. D. Corsi’s results
suggest that they are being exposed to
such pollutants anyway simply by breathing
at home.
The aim of such research is not, however, to
encourage the use of gas masks when
unloading the washing. Instead, it is to bring
a sense of perspective to the debate about
pollution. According to Dr Corsi,
disproportionate effort is wasted
campaigning against certain forms of
outdoor pollution, when there is as much or
more cause for concern indoors, right under
people’s noses.
Using gas cookers or burning candles, for
example, both result in indoor levels of ventilation / ˌvɛntɪˈleɪʃən /: the provision of fresh air to a
carbon monoxide and particulate matter that room, building, etc
are just as high as those to be found
outside, amid heavy traffic. Overcrowded submarine/ ˌsʌbməˈriːn /: a warship with a streamlined hull
classrooms whose ventilation systems designed to operate completely submerged in the sea for
were designed for smaller numbers of long periods, equipped with a periscope and typically armed
children frequently contain levels of carbon with torpedoes or missiles.
dioxide that would be regarded as
unacceptable on board a submarine. ‘New
car smell’ is the result of high levels of toxic noxious / ˈnɒkʃəs /: harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant
chemicals, not cleanliness. Laser printers,
computers, carpets and paints all contribute
to the noxious indoor mix.
The implications of indoor pollution for
health are unclear. But before worrying
about the problems caused by large-scale
industry, it makes sense to consider the
small-scale pollution at home and welcome
international debate about this. Scientists
investigating indoor pollution will gather next
month in Edinburgh at the Indoor Air
conference to discuss the problem. Perhaps
unwisely, the meeting is being held indoors.

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EPA to start writing rule requiring new trucks produce less nitrogen oxide, one of its
first moves to regulate industry

Nitrogen oxide contributes to smog and

particulate matter pollution that causes breathing
asthma / ˈæsmə /: hen suyễn
problems, asthma attacks and early deaths.

Donald Trump’s administration plans to cut air

pollution from heavy-duty trucks, marking one of administration /ədˌmɪnɪsˈtreɪʃ(ə)n /: the management of
its first moves to regulate US industry rather public affairs; government
than roll back environmental standards.
synonyms:government, cabinet, ministry, regime, executive
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will
start writing a rule to require new trucks produce
less nitrogen oxide, which contributes to smog
and particulate matter pollution that causes
breathing problems, asthma attacks and early
deaths.

The standards were last updated nearly two advocates / ˈædvəkɪts /: publicly recommend or support
decades ago, and environmental advocates
lauded the effort but said the details will matter.

Sign up for the new US morning briefing

EPA acting administrator, Andrew Wheeler, told

reporters in a call ahead of the formal
announcement on Tuesday that the agency will
also “cut unnecessary red tape” for truck
makers. And the agency is weighing a separate nix / nɪks /: put an end to; cancel
proposal to nix air pollution limits for trucks with

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rebuilt engines, which critics say is a massive

loophole that will lead to dirtier air.

“All the other rules I’m aware of appear to cause

increases in air pollution,” said Paul Billings,
senior vice-president for public policy at the
American Lung Association. “This one does
appear to be designed to reduce air pollution … deregulatory /diˈreɡjələtɔri/: used
but it’s really important to understand the to describe the removal ofgovernment controls from
specifics of what deregulatory action the acting abusiness activity
administrator is talking about and what the air
quality and public health impacts of those
actions would be.”

Billings said with available technology, trucks

could reduce their nitrogen oxide pollution by
about 90%, although it’s not clear what standard
the EPA would propose. Any rule could take finalize /ˈfaɪnəlaɪz /: produce or agree on a finished and
years to finalize and nearly half a decade to go definitive version of
into effect. It would only apply to new trucks, so
the pollution improvements would only happen
as old trucks are taken off the roads.
consulted /kənˈsʌltɪd /: seek information or advice from
The EPA said industry interests that the agency (someone with expertise in a particular area)
consulted support the move.
synonyms:ask, seek advice/information from, take counsel
from
California is working on its own rules for heavy-
duty trucks and other countries require cleaner
trucks, too, and companies typically support
common standards. agency /ˈeɪʤənsi /: a business or organization
established to provide a particular service, typically one
Wheeler said his agency is not required by law that involves organizing transactions between two other
to regulate heavy-duty trucks but is doing so parties
“because it’s good for the environment”. He said
the trucks would otherwise account for a third of synonyms:business, organization, company, firm, office
nitrogen oxide pollution from transportation by
2025.
slashed / slæʃt /: cut (something) with a violent sweeping
The EPA has meanwhile slashed regulations movement, typically using a knife or sword
for other sources of pollution. Wheeler noted his
agency has initiated 28 deregulatory actions and synonyms:cut (open), gash, slit, split open, lacerate
is developing an additional 49 more. That
includes rescinding a rule to shift away from rescinding / rɪˈsɪndɪŋ /: revoke, cancel, or repeal (a law,
coal-fired power, which will could be replaced by order, or agreement)
a proposal that EPA acknowledges could acknowledges /əkˈnɒlɪʤɪz /: show that one has noticed or
cause 1,400 more early deaths a year. Among
recognized (someone) by making a gesture or greeting
other efforts, the agency is also working to roll
back limits on methane pollutionfrom the oil and synonyms:greet, salute, address, hail, accost
gas industry and mercury emissions from coal
plants, as well as fuel economy standards for
cars.

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The world’s 750 million motor vehicles emit

well over 900 million metric tonnes of carbon
dioxide each year. Traffic-related air pollution
has been responsible for 6% of deaths per year Leukaemia / ljuːˈkiːmɪə /: Bệnh bạch cầu
and is associated with certain forms of
leukaemia, inflammatory lung diseases, inflammatory / ɪnˈflæmətəri /: relating to or causing
increased cardio-vascular disease, low birth- inflammation of a part of the body. (viêm)
weight babies and male infertility. It stands to
reason that tackling traffic- related air pollution synonyms:causing inflammation, causing
should be high on any government’s list of swelling, irritant, erythrogenic
priorities. Thus, in an attempt to minimise this
situation many governments around the world
have been looking at ways to implement
alternative fuel sources. The most widely
accepted way of doing this is to replace the
crude oil that our vehicles currently run on with
renewable, ‘environmentally friendly’ One contender / kənˈtɛndə /: a person or group competing
serious contender put forward as a solution to with others to achieve something
the pollution problem is ethanol.
Ethanol is a type of alcohol made by
fermenting plant material. Water and organic sorghum/ ˈsɔːgəm /: a widely cultivated cereal native to
matter from the plants including com, warm regions of the Old World.
sorghum, sugar cane and wood are mixed
together and fermented to make ethanol. After
fermentation there are three layers remaining.
The first is water and small particles of grain
and alcohol. It takes on a syrup consistency.
The second layer is the remaining grain, which
is 17 per cent dry matter. The third layer is the flammable / ˈflæməbl /: easily set on fire
actual ethanol – a colourless, volatile,
flammable liquid. It is the only layer sold and
accounts for exactly one-third of the total dry
matter used for its production. There are three
primary ways that it is used as a fuel for
transportation: as a blend of 10 per cent

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ethanol with 90% unleaded fuel (E10); as a

component of reformulated gasoline and; as a
primary fuel with 85 parts of ethanol blended
with 15 parts of unleaded fuel (E-85). In the
skyrocketing/ ˈskaɪˌrɒkɪtɪŋ /:
1800s in the USA, it was first used as lamp
A firework that ascends high into the air where it
fuel. Later on, due to skyrocketing oil prices in
the 1970s, E10 was produced as a type of explodes in a brilliant cascadeof flares and starlike sparks
‘fuel-extender’ for vehicles with E-85 being
produced in the 1990s. Brazil has also used
ethanol-blended fuels. Like America, the high
prices in the 1970s prompted a government fuelled / fjʊəld /: supply or power (an industrial plant,
mandate to produce vehicles which could be vehicle, or machine) with fuel
fuelled by pure ethanol Today there are more synonyms:power, charge, fire, stoke up, supply with fuel
than 4,2 million ethanol- powered vehicles in
Brazil (40 per cent passenger carrying) which
consume 4 billion gallons of ethanol annually.
Today, Brazil is the largest transportation
ethanol fuel market in the world.
Given that Ethanol is made from a variety of
plant substances when it is used in fuel monetary/ ˈmʌnɪtəri /: relating to money or currency
production, it increases the monetary value of
feed grains grown by farmers. In fact, in the
USA, the largest ethanol consuming nation in
the world, ethanol production adds £4.5 billion
to the farm economy every year. According to
the United States Department of Agriculture,
bushel / ˈbʊʃl /: a measure of capacity equal to 8
ethanol production adds 30 cents to the value
of a bushel of corn. Another of its benefits, imperial gallons (equivalent to 36.4 liters), used for dry
according to Brian Keating, deputy chief of goods and liquids
Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is
that a 10% ethanol blend (E10) would reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 2 to 5% over the
full lifecycle of ethanol production and
consumption. Said Keating, “The precise
benefits depend on specific factors in the
production cycle. An important component of
which is the energy source used by the ethanol
factory. If it’s being powered by coal or oil,
there are obviously associated greenhouse gas
emissions.” In America, The Clean Air Act of
1990 and the National Energy Policy Act of
1992 have both created new market
opportunities for cleaner, more efficient fuels
with many state governments in America’s Mid-
west purchasing fleet vehicles capable of fleet / fliːt /: a group of ships sailing together, engaged
running on E-85 fuels. in the same activity, or under the same ownership
Although it makes a good fuel, some explode / ɪksˈpləʊd /: burst or shatter violently and
drawbacks have been documented. The noisily as a result of rapid combustion, excessive internal
economics of ethanol production are improving pressure, or other process, typically scattering fragments
as the technology improves but ethanol has widely
two problems: It does not explode like
gasoline, and it can absorb water, which can synonyms:blow up, detonate, blow, burst (apart), fly apart

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cause oxidation, rust and corrosion. The claims

of possible damage to vehicles from the use of
ethanol blends above 10% has therefore
attracted considerable negative publicity.
Compared to diesel – the standard fuel in the
heavy moving industry – ethanol is known to
have a lower energy content so ethanol trucks
require larger fuel tanks to achieve the same
range as a diesel-powered vehicle. In Australia,
a government review’ into the impacts of a 20%
ethanol blend on vehicles found the information
to be insufficient or conflicting, but did identify a
number of problems such as the possible swelling / ˈswɛlɪŋ/: become larger or rounder in size,
perishing and swelling of elastomeric and typically as a result of an accumulation of fluid
plastic materials in fuel systems. Stakeholders
in the motor vehicle industry have slated that synonyms:expand, bulge, distend, become
warranties on motor vehicles and pump distended, inflate
dispensing equipment could be at risk with the
use of blends above 10% ethanol. Principle warranties/ ˈwɒrəntiz /: a written guarantee, issued to
economist for the Australian Bureau of the purchaser of an article by its manufacturer, promising
Agriculture Andrew Dickson points out that the to repair or replace it if necessary within a specified
money sugarcane growers get for their cane is period of time
not determined by the domestic consumption
or domestic demand for ethanol, it is entirely
determined by the world sugar market and the
world trade in molasses . He believes that the
only way the sugar industry’ can benefit from molasses / məʊˈlæsɪz /: thick, dark brown syrup
the existence of an ethanol industry is if they obtained from raw sugar during the refining process, a
invest in the ethanol industry. “The sugar version of which is used in baking
producer does not get any more money for
their molasses so what incentive do they have
to produce any more?.” The cost of production
also represents some challenges. In Australia,
fuel ethanol costs around 70 cents per litre
compared with around 35 cents per litre for
unleaded petrol. In America, one report
revealed that even with government
assistance, ethanol is dose to 35 per cent more
than the price of diesel. Consequently,
production of ethanol requires government
assistance to be competitive. A recent study by
the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and
Resource Economies found that without
assistance, large-scale production of ethanol
viable / ˈvaɪəbl /: capable of working successfully;
would not be commercially viable in Australia.
feasible
Regardless of whether the Australian sugar
industry will benefit from a mandated 10%
ethanol mix, the expansion of ethanol mandated/ ˈmændeɪtɪd /: give (someone) authority to
production would certainly lead to increased
act in a certain way
economic activity in farming areas. It is
inevitable that some expansion would be at the
expense of existing industry. If ethanol
becomes more popular, there will soon be
more plants producing it. This means there will

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be a need for workers for the plants. The

American National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition
(NBVC) projects that employment will be
boosted by 200,000 jobs and the balance of
trade will be improved by over $2 The future of
ethanol looks promising, for better or worse
ethanol looks to be a serious contender for
tomorrow’s fuel.

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Research in Britain has shown that green flourish / ˈflʌrɪʃ /: grow or develop in a healthy or
consumers' continue to flourish as a vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly
significant group amongst shoppers. This favorable environment
suggests that politicians who claim
environmentalism is yesterday's issue may be synonyms:grow, thrive, prosper, grow/do well, develop
seriously misjudging the public mood.
misjudging / ˌmɪsˈʤʌʤɪŋ /: form a wrong opinion or
A report from Mintel, the market research conclusion about
organisation, says that despite recession and
financial pressures, more people than ever
want to buy environmentally friendly products
and a 'green wave' has swept through
consumerism, taking in people previously
untouched by environmental concerns. The
recently published report also predicts that the ethical / ˈɛθɪkəl /: relating to moral principles or the
process will repeat itself with 'ethical' branch of knowledge dealing with these
concerns, involving issues such as fair trade
with the Third World and the social record of synonyms:moral, social, behavioral, having to do with
businesses. Companies will have to be more right and wrong
honest and open in response to this mood.
Mintel's survey, based on nearly 1,000
consumers, found that the proportion who look
for green products and are prepared to pay
more for them has climbed from 53 per cent in
1990 to around 60 per cent in 1994. On
average, they will pay 13 per cent more for
such products, although this percentage is managerial / ˌmænəˈʤɪərɪəl /: relating to management
higher among women, managerial or managers, especially of a company or similar
and professional groups and those aged 35 to organization
44.
Between 1990 and 1994 the proportion of
consumers claiming to be unaware of or
unconcerned about green issues fell from 18
to 10 per cent but the number of green
spenders among older people and manual

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workers has risen substantially. Regions substantially/ səbˈstænʃəli /: to a great or significant

such as Scotland have also caught up with the extent
south of England in their environmental
concerns. According to Mintel, the image of synonyms:considerably, significantly, greatly, a great
green consumerism as associated in the past deal, to a great extent
with the more eccentric members of society
has virtually disappeared. The consumer eccentric / ɪkˈsɛntrɪk /: (of a person or their behavior)
research manager for Mintel, Angela Hughes, unconventional and slightly strange
said it had become firmly established as a
mainstream market. She explained that as far
as the average person is concerned mainstream / ˈmeɪnstriːm /: the ideas, attitudes, or
environmentalism has not gone off the boil'. In activities that are regarded as normal or conventional;
fact, it has spread across a much wider range the dominant trend in opinion, fashion, or the arts
of consumer groups, ages and occupations.
Mintel's 1994 survey found that 13 per cent of
consumers are 'very dark green', nearly
always buying environmentally friendly
products, 28 per cent are 'dark green', trying
'as far as possible' to buy such products, and
21 per cent are 'pale green' - tending to buy
green products if they see them. Another 26
per cent are 'armchair greens'; they said they
care about environmental issues but their
concern does not affect their spending habits.
Only 10 per cent say they do not care about
green issues.
Four in ten people are 'ethical spenders',
regimes/ reɪˈʒiːmz /: a government, especially an
buying goods which do not, for example,
authoritarian one.
involve dealings with oppressive regimes.
This figure is the same as in 1990, although synonyms:government, authorities, system of
the number of 'armchair ethicals' has risen government, rule, reign,
from 28 to 35 per cent and only 22 per cent
say they are unconcerned now, against 30 per
cent in 1990. Hughes claims that in the
twenty-first century, consumers will be
encouraged to think more about the entire
history of the products and services they buy,
including the policies of the companies that
provide them and that this will require a
greater degree of honesty with consumers.
Among green consumers, animal testing is the deterred / dɪˈtɜːd /: discourage (someone) from doing
top issue - 48 per cent said they would be something by instilling doubt or fear of the
deterred from buying a product it if had been consequences
tested on animals - followed by concerns
regarding irresponsible selling, the ozone synonyms:put off, discourage, dissuade, scare off, warn
layer, river and sea pollution, forest
destruction, recycling and factory farming.
However, concern for specific issues is lower
than in 1990, suggesting that many
consumers feel that Government and
business have taken on the environmental
agenda.

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A
The fertile land of the Nile delta is being
eroded along Egypt's Mediterranean coast at astounding / əˈstaʊndɪŋ /: surprisingly impressive or
an astounding rate, in some parts estimated notable
at 100 metres per year. In the past, land
scoured / ˈskaʊərd /: clean or brighten the surface of
scoured away from the coastline by the
currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be (something) by rubbing it hard, typically with an
replaced by sediment brought down to the abrasive or detergent
delta by the River Mile, but this is no longer sediment / ˈsɛdəmənt /: matter that settles to the
happening.
bottom of a liquid; dregs
B
Up to now, people have blamed this loss of
delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in
the south of Egypt, which hold back virtually
all of the sediment that used to flow down the
river. Before the dams were built, the Nile
flowed freely, carrying huge quantities of
sediment north from Africa's interior to be
deposited on the Nile delta. This continued
silt / sɪlt /: fine sand, clay, or other material carried
for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region
of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers by running water and deposited as a sediment,
of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, especially in a channel or harbor
nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing
what had been washed away by the sea, and
dispensing with the need for fertilizers in
Egypt's richest food-growing area But when
the Aswan dams were constructed in the
20th century to provide electricity and
dam / dæm /: a barrier constructed to hold back
irrigation, and to protect the huge population
centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas water and raise its level, forming a reservoir used to
from annual flooding and drought, most of generate electricity or as a water supply
the sediment with its natural fertilizer
accumulated up above the dam in the

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southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser,

instead of passing down to the delta.
C
Now, however, there turns out to be more to
the story It appears that the sediment-free erodes / ɪˈroʊdz /: (of wind, water, or other natural
water emerging from the Aswan dams picks agents) gradually wear away (soil, rock, or land)
up silt and land as it erodes the river bed
and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo.
Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian
Institute noticed that water samples taken in
Cairo, just before the river enters the delta,
indicated that the river sometimes carries
more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic
metre of water - almost half of what it carried
before the dams were built.
'I'm ashamed to say that the significance of
this didn't strike me until after I had read 50
or 60 studies,' says Stanley in Marine
Geology. 'There is still a lot of sediment
coming into the delta, but virtually no
sediment comes out into the Mediterranean
to replenish the coastline.
So this sediment must be trapped on the
delta itself.'
D
Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is canals / kəˈnælz /: an artificial waterway constructed
diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of to allow the passage of boats or ships inland or to
irrigation canals and only small proportion convey water for irrigation.
reaches the sea directly through the rivers in
the delta. The water in the irrigation canals is synonyms:inland
still or very slow-moving and thus cannot waterway, channel, watercourse, waterway
carry sediment, Stanley explains. The
sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals
and then is added to fields by farmers or
pumped with the water into the four large
freshwater lagoons that are located near the edges / ˈɛʤəz /: the outside limit of an object, area, or
outer edges of the delta. So very little of it surface; a place or part farthest away from the center of
actually reaches the coastline to replace something
what is being washed away by the
Mediterranean currents. synonyms:border, boundary, extremity, fringe, margin

E
The farms on the delta plains and fishing plains / pleɪnz /: a large area of flat land with few
and aquaculture in the lagoons account for trees
much of Egypt's food supply. But by the lime
the sediment has come to rest in the fields lagoons / ləˈgunz /: a stretch of salt water separated
and lagoons it is laden with municipal, from the sea by a low sandbank or coral reef
industrial and agricultural waste from the
Cairo region, which is home to more than 40

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million people. 'Pollutants are building up zinc / zɪŋk /: kẽm ( mạ kẽm )

faster and faster,' says Stanley.

Based on his investigations of sediment from

the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George
Washington University concurs. 'In Manzalah
Lagoon, for example, the increase in
mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided
with the building of the High Dam at Aswan,
the availability of cheap electricity, and the
development of major power-based
industries/ he says. Since that time the
concentration of mercury has increased
significantly. Lead from engines that use
leaded fuels and from other industrial
sources has also increased dramatically.
These poisons can easily enter the food
ecology / ɪˈkɑləʤi /: he branch of biology that deals
chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and
farming. Another problem is that agricultural with the relations of organisms to one another and to
wastes include fertilizers which stimulate their physical surroundings
increases in plant growth in the lagoons and
upset the ecology of the area, with serious
effects on the fishing industry.
F
According to Siegel, international
environmental organisations are beginning to
pay closer attention to the region, partly
because of the problems of erosion and
pollution of the Nile delta, but principally
because they fear the impact this situation
could have on the whole Mediterranean artificial / ˌɑrtəˈfɪʃəl /: made or produced by human
coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a
solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley copy of something natural
believes that one solution would be to make
artificial floods to flush out the delta desalination / diˌseɪlɪˈneɪʃən /: the process of
waterways, in the same way that natural removing salt from seawater
floods did before the construction of the
dams. He says, however, that in the long
term an alternative process such as
desalination may have to be used to
increase the amount of water available. 'In
my view, Egypt must devise a way to have
more water running through the river and the
delta/ says Stanley. Easier said than done in
a desert region with a rapidly growing
population.

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Part One

A
Air pollution is increasingly becoming the
focus of government and citizen concern
around the globe. From Mexico City and New
York, to Singapore and Tokyo, new solutions
to this old problem are being proposed,
Mailed and implemented with ever increasing
speed. It is feared that unless pollution
reduction measures are able to keep pace
with the continued pressures of urban
growth, air quality in many of the world’s deteriorate / dɪˈtɪriəˌreɪt /: become progressively
major cities will deteriorate beyond reason. worse

B synonyms:worsen, get worse, decline, be in

decline, degenerate
Action is being taken along several fronts:
through new legislation, improved
enforcement and innovative technology. In
Los Angeles, state regulations are forcing
manufacturers to try to sell ever cleaner cars:
hove / hoʊv /: lift or haul (a heavy thing) with great
their first of the cleanest, titled "Zero
Emission Vehicles’, hove to be available effort
soon, since they are intended to make up 2 synonyms:haul, pull, lug, manhandle, drag
per cent of sales in 1997. Local authorities in
London are campaigning to be allowed to enforce / ɛnˈfɔrs /: compel observance of or
enforce anti-pollution lows themselves; at compliance with (a law, rule, or obligation).
present only the police have the power to do
so, but they tend to be busy elsewhere. In synonyms:impose, apply, carry
out, administer, implement

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Singapore, renting out toad space to users is

the way of the future.
C
When Britain’s Royal Automobile Club
monitored the exhausts of 60,000 vehicles, it
found that 12 per cent of them produced
more than half the total pollution. Older cars
were the worst offenders; though a sizeable
number of quire new cars were also identified
as gross polluters, they were simply badly
tuned. California has developed a scheme to
get these gross polluters off the streets: they
offer a flat $700 for any old, run-down vehicle
decrepit / dəˈkrɛpɪt /: (of a person) elderly and infirm
driven in by its owner. The aim is to remove
the heaviest-polluting, most decrepit synonyms:feeble, enfeebled, infirm, weak, weakened
vehicles from the roads.
D
spectrometer / spɛkˈtrɑmətər /: an apparatus used
As part of a European Union environmental
for recording and measuring spectra, especially as a
programme, a London council is resting an
infra-red spectrometer from the University of method of analysis
Denver in Colorado. It gauges the pollution
from a passing vehicle - more useful than the
annual stationary rest that is the British
standard today - by bouncing a beam
through the exhaust and measuring what computerised / kəmˈpjutəˌraɪzd /: convert to a
gets blocked. The councils next step may be system that is operated or controlled by computer
to link the system to a computerised video
camera able to read number plates
automatically.
E
The effort to clean up cars may do little to cut
arrangement / əˈreɪnʤmənt /: the action, process, or
pollution if nothing is done about the
result of arranging or being arranged
tendency to drive them more. Los Angeles
has some of the world’s cleanest cars - far synonyms:positioning, disposition, marshalling,
better than those of Europe - but the total
number of miles those cars drive continues to ranging, ordering
grow. One solution is car-pooling,
an arrangement in which a number of congestion/ kənˈʤɛsʧən /: the state of being
people who share the same destination congested
share the use of one car. However, the
average number of people in o car on the
freeway in Los Angeles, which is 1.0, has
been falling steadily. Increasing it would be
an effective way of reducing emissions as scheme / skim /: a large-scale systematic plan or
well as easing congestion. The trouble is, arrangement for attaining some particular object or
Los Angeles seem to like being alone in their putting a particular idea into effect
cars.
synonyms:plan, project, plan of
F action, program, strategy
Singapore has for a while had to scheme
that forces drivers to buy a badge if they wish

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to visit a certain part of the city. Electronic sophistication/ səˌfɪstəˈkeɪʃən /: the quality of being
innovations make possible increasing sophisticated
sophistication: rates can vary according to
road conditions, time of day and so on.
Singapore is advancing in this direction, with
a city-wide network of transmitters to collect
information and charge drivers as they pass
certain points. Such road-pricing, however,
can be controversial. When the local
government in Cambridge, England,
considered introducing Singaporean
techniques, it faced vocal and ultimately
successful opposition.
Part Two
The scope of the problem facing the world’s immense /ɪˈmens/ : extremely large or great,
cities is immense. In 1992, the United especially in scale or degree
Nations Environmental Programme and the megacities / ˈmeɡ.ə.sɪt̬ .iz /:
World Health Organisation (WHO) concluded
a city having a population of one million or more
that all of a sample of twenty megacities -
places likely to have more than ten million
inhabitants in the year 2000 - already
exceeded the level the WHO deems healthy
in at least one major pollutant. Two-thirds of
them exceeded the guidelines for two, seven
for three or more.
Of the six pollutants monitored by the WHO -
carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone,
sulphur dioxide, lead and particulate matter -
it is this last category that is attracting the
most attention from health researchers. particulate / pərˈtɪkjələt /: relating to or in the form
PM10, a sub-category of particulate matter of minute separate particles
measuring ten-millionths of a metre across,
has been implicated in thousands of deaths a
year in Britain alone. Research being
conducted in two counties of Southern
California is reaching similarly disturbing
conclusions concerning this little- understood
pollutant.
A world-wide rise in allergies, particularly
asthma, over the past four decades is now
said to be linked with increased air pollution.
The lungs and brains of children who grow
up in polluted air offer further evidence of its
destructive power The old and ill, however,
are the most vulnerable to the acute effects
of heavily polluted stagnant air. It can hasten / ˈheɪsən /: be quick to do something
actually hasten death, as it did in December
lingered / ˈlɪŋgərd /: stay in a place longer than
1991 when a cloud of exhaust fumes
necessary because of a reluctance to leave
lingered over the city of London for over a
week. synonyms:wait around, stay, remain, stay put, wait
The United Nations has estimated that in the
year 2000 there will be twenty-four mega-

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cities and a further eighty-five cities of more

than three million people. The pressure on
public officials, corporations and urban
citizens to reverse established trends in air
pollution is likely to grow in proportion with
the growth of cities themselves. Progress is
being made. The question, though, remains
the same: ‘Will change happen quickly
enough?’

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The countryside is no longer the place to see wildlife, according to Chris Barnes.
These days you are more likely to find impressive numbers of skylarks, dragonflies
and toads in your own back garden.

The past half century has seen an interesting

reversal in the fortunes of much of Britain's
wildlife. Whilst the rural countryside has
become poorer and poorer, wildlife habitat in burgeoned/ ˈbɜrʤənd /: begin to grow or increase
towns has burgeoned. Now, if you want to
rapidly; flourish
hear a deafening dawn chorus of birds or
familiarise yourself with foxes, you can head
for the urban forest.
Whilst species that depend on wide open
spaces such as the hare, the eagle and the
red deer may still be restricted to remote
rural landscapes, many of our wild plants and
animals find the urban ecosystem ideal. This
agrochemical / ˌægroʊˈkɛməkəl /: a chemical used
really should be no surprise, since it is the
in agriculture, such as a pesticide or a fertilizer
fragmentation and agrochemical pollution in
the farming lowlands that has led to the
catastrophic decline of so many species.
mosaic / moʊˈzeɪɪk /: a picture or pattern produced
By contrast, most urban open spaces have
by arranging together small colored pieces of hard
escaped the worst of the pesticide revolution,
material, such as stone, tile, or glass
and they are an intimate mosaic of
interconnected habitats. Over the years, the hedgerows / ˈhedʒ.roʊz /: a hedge of wild shrubs and
cutting down of hedgerows on farmland has trees, typically bordering a road or field
contributed to habitat isolation and species
loss. In towns, the tangle of canals, railway embankments/ ɛmˈbæŋkmənts /: a wall or bank of
embankments, road verges and boundary earth or stone built to prevent a river flooding an area
hedges lace the landscape together,
providing first-class ecological corridors for corridors / ˈkɔrɪdərz /: a long passage in a building
from which doors lead into rooms

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species such as hedgehogs, kingfishers and eclipsed / ɪˈklɪpst /: an obscuring of the light from one
dragonflies. celestial body by the passage of another between it and
the observer or between it and its source of illumination
Urban parks and formal recreation grounds
are valuable for some species, and many of synonyms:blotting
them are increasingly managed with wildlife out, blocking, covering, obscuring, hiding
in mind. But in many places their significance
is eclipsed by the huge legacy of post-
industrial land demolished factories, waste
tips, quarries, redundant railway yards and
other so-called ‘brownfield’ sites. In
Merseyside, South Yorkshire and the West
Midlands, much of this has been birch / bɜrʧ /: a slender, fast-growing tree that has
spectacularly colonised with birch and willow thin bark (often peeling) and bears catkins. Birch trees
woodland, herb-rich grassland and shallow grow chiefly in north temperate regions, some reaching
wetlands. As a consequence, there are song
the northern limit of tree growth
birds and predators in abundance over these
once-industrial landscapes.
There are fifteen million domestic gardens in
the UK. and whilst some are still managed as
lifeless chemical war zones, most benefit the
local wildlife, either through benign neglect or
positive encouragement. Those that do best
tend to be woodland species, and the garden shrubberies / ˈʃrʌbəriz /: shrubs collectively
lawns and flower borders, climber-covered
fences, shrubberies and fruit trees are a
plausible alternative. Indeed, in some
respects gardens are rather better than the
real thing, especially with exotic flowers
extending the nectar season. Birdfeeders can
also supplement the natural seed supply, and
only the millions of domestic cats may spoil
the scene.
As Britain’s gardeners have embraced the
idea of ‘gardening with nature’, wildlife’s
response has been spectacular. Between
1990 and the year 2000. the number of
different bird species seen at artificial feeders
in gardens increased from 17 to an amazing
81. The BUGS project (Biodiversity in Urban
Gardens in Sheffield) calculates that there
are 25.000 garden ponds and 100.000 nest
boxes in that one city alone.
We are at last acknowledging that the wildlife
habitat in towns provides a valuable life
drip / drɪp /: let fall or be so wet as to shed small drops
support system. The canopy of the urban
of liquid
forest is filtering air pollution, and intercepting
rainstorms, allowing the water to drip more synonyms:dribble, drop, leak, drop, dribble
gradually to the ground. Sustainable urban
drainage relies on ponds and wetlands to
contain storm water runoff, thus reducing the
risk of flooding, whilst reed beds and other
wetland wildlife communities also help to

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clean up the water. We now have scientific

proof that contact with wildlife close to home
can help to reduce stress and anger. Hospital
patients with a view of natural green space
make a more rapid recovery and suffer less
pain.
Traditionally, nature conservation in the UK
has been seen as marginal and largely rural.
Now we are beginning to place it at the heart
of urban environmental and economic policy.
There are now dozens of schemes to create
new habitats and restore old ones in and
around our big cities. Biodiversity is big in
parts of London. thanks to schemes such as
the London Wetland Centre in the south west
of the city. masterminded / ˈmæstərˌmaɪndɪd /: plan and direct
(an ingenious and complex scheme or enterprise)
This is a unique scheme masterminded by
the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to create a
wildlife reserve out of a redundant Victorian
reservoir. Within five years of its creation the hailed / heɪld /: call out to (someone) to attract
Centre has been hailed as one of the top attention
sites for nature in England and made a Site
synonyms:greet, salute, address, halloo, speak to
of Special Scientific Interest. It consists of a
105-acre wetland site, which is made up of marsh/ mɑrʃ /: an area of low-lying land which is
different wetland habitats of shallow, open flooded in wet seasons or at high tide, and typically
water and grazing marsh. The site attracts remains waterlogged at all times
more than 104 species of bird, including
nationally important rarities like the bittern.
We need to remember that if we work with
wildlife, then wildlife will work for us and this
is the very essence of sustainable
development.

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Floods can occur in rivers when the flow rate

exceeds the capacity of the river channel,
particularly at bends or meanders in the meanders / miˈændərz /: a winding curve or bend of
waterway. Floods often cause damage to a river or road
homes and businesses if they are in the natural
synonyms:bend, loop, curve, twist, turn
flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood
damage can be eliminated by moving away
from rivers and other bodies of water, people
have traditionally lived and worked by rivers
because the land is usually flat and fertile and
because rivers provide easy travel and access
to commerce and industry.
A Fire and flood are two of humanity’s worst
nightmares. People have,therefore,always
sought to control them. Forest fires are snuffed weirs / wirz /: a low dam built across a river to raise
out quickly. The flow of rivers is regulated by the level of water upstream or regulate its flow
weirs and dams. At least, that is how it used to
be. But foresters have learned that forests need brash / bræʃ /: self-assertive in a rude, noisy, or
fires to clear out the brash and even to get overbearing way
seeds to germinate. And a similar revelation is
now – dawning on hydrologists. Rivers – and synonyms:self-assertive, assertive, cocksure, full of
the ecosystems they support – need floods. oneself, self-confident
That is why a man-made torrent has been
germinate/ ˈʤɜrməˌneɪt /: ( of a seed or spore) begin
surging down the Grand Canyon. By Thursday
March 6th it was running at full throttle, which to grow and put out shoots after a period of dormancy
was expected to be sustained for 60 hours. throttle/ ˈθrɑtəl /: a device controlling the flow of fuel
B Floods once raged through the canyon or power to an engine
every year. Spring Snow from as far away as
canyon / ˈkænjən /: a deep gorge, typically one with
Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado
river to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic a river flowing through it
metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every
eight years or so, that figure rose to almost
3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the

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river with sediment, carved its beaches and built

its sandbars.
C However, in the four decades since the
building of the Glen Canyon dam, just upstream
of the Grand Canyon, the only sediment that it
tributaries/ ˈtrɪbjəˌtɛriz /: a river or stream flowing
has collected has come from tiny, undammed
tributaries. Even that has not been much use into a larger river or lake
as those tributaries are not powerful enough to
distribute the sediment in an ecologically
valuable way.
D This lack of flooding has harmed local
wildlife. The humpback chub,for example,
thrived in the rust-redwaters of the Colorado.
Recently, though, its population has crashed. At
first sight, it looked as if the reason was that the
chub were being eaten by trout introduced for
sport fishing in the mid-20th century. But trout
and chub co-existed until the Glen Canyon dam
was built, so something else is going on. Steve
Gloss, of the United States’ Geological Survey
(USGS), reckons that the chub’s decline is the
result of their losing their most valuable natural
defense, the Colorado’s rusty sediment. The chub / tʃʌb /: a thick-bodied European river fish with a
chub were well adapted to the poor visibility gray-green back and white underparts, popular with
created by the thick, red water which gave the anglers
river its name, and depended on it to hide from
predators. Without the cloudy water the chub
became vulnerable.
E And the chub are not alone. In the years
since the Glen Canyon dam was built, several
species have vanished altogether. These
include the Colorado pike-minnow, the
razorback sucker and the round-tail chub. fathead / ˈfæt.hed /: a stupid person
Meanwhile, aliens including fathead minnows,
channel catfish and common carp, which would
have been hard, put to survive in the savage
waters of the undammed canyon, have move
din.
F So flooding is the obvious answer.
Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Floods
were sent down the Grand Canyon in 1996 and
2004 and the results were mixed. In 1996 the
flood was allowed to go on too long. To start
with,all seemed well. The floodwaters built up
sandbanks and infused the river with sediment. infused / ɪnˈfjuzd /: fill; pervade
Eventually, however, the continued flow washed synonyms:fill, pervade, permeate, suffuse, charge
most of the sediment out of the canyon. This
problem was avoided in 2004, but unfortunately,
on that occasion, the volume of sand available
behind the dam was too low to rebuild the
sandbanks. This time, the USGS is convinced
that things will be better. The amount of

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sediment available is three times greater than it

was in 2004. So if a flood is going to do some
good, this is the time to unleash one. unleash / ənˈliʃ /: release from a leash or restraint

G Even so, it may turn out to be an empty

gesture. At less than 1,200 cubic metres a
second, this flood is smaller than even an
average spring flood, let alone one of the deluges / ˈdɛljuʤɪz /: a severe flood.
mightier deluges of the past. Those glorious
inundations moved massive quantities of synonyms:flood, flash flood, torrent, spate
sediment through the Grand Canyon,wiping the
slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and inundations / ˌɪnənˈdeɪʃənz /:flooding
muck that would make modern river rafters
cringe.

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The roar of passing vehicles could soon be a thing of the past

A. The noise produced by busy roads is a

growing problem. While vehicle designers vehicle / ˈvihɪkəl /: a thing used for transporting people or
have worked hard to quieten engines, they goods, especially on land, such as a car, truck, or cart.
have been less successful elsewhere. The
sound created by the tyres on the surface synonyms:automobile, motor vehicle, motorized
of the road now accounts for more than vehicle, means of transport,
half the noise that vehicles create, and as
road building and car sales continue to
boom - particularly in Asia and the US -
this is turning into a global issue.
B. According to the World Health
Organization, exposure to noise from road
traffic over long periods can lead to stress-
related health problems. And where traffic
noise exceeds a certain threshold, road
builders have to spend money erecting
sound barriers and installing double blighted / ˈblaɪtɪd /: have a severely detrimental effect
glazing in blighted homes. Houses on
become harder to sell where
environmental noise is high, and people synonyms:ruin, wreck, spoil, disrupt, undo
are not as efficient or productive at work.
C. Already, researchers in the Netherlands
- one of the most densely populated densely / ˈdɛnsli /: in a closely compacted or crowded
countries in the world - are working to manner; thickly
develop techniques for silencing the roads.
In the next five years the Dutch radical/ ˈrædəkəl /: (especially of change or action)
government aims to have reduced noise relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of
levels from the country's road surfaces by something; far-reaching or thorough
six decibels overall. Dutch mechanical
synonyms:thoroughgoing, thorough, complete, total, entire
engineer Ard Kuijpers has come up with
one of the most promising, and radical,

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ideas. He set out to tackle the three most

important factors: surface texture,
hardness and ability to absorb sound.
D. The rougher the surface, the more likely
it is that a tyre will vibrate and create noise.
asphalt / ˈæˌsfɔlt /: a mixture of dark bituminous pitch
Road builders usually eliminate bumps on
freshly laid asphalt with heavy rollers, but with sand or gravel, used for surfacing roads, flooring,
Kuijpers has developed a method of road roofing
building that he thinks can create the
ultimate quiet road. His secret is a special
mould 3 metres wide and 50 metres long.
Hot asphalt, mixed with small stones, is
spread into the mould by a railmounted
machine which flattens the asphalt mix
with a roller. When it sets, the 10-
millimetre-thick sheet has a surface
smoother than anything that can be
achieved by conventional methods.
E. To optimise the performance of his road
surface - to make it hard wearing yet soft
enough to snuff out vibrations - he then snuff out / snʌf aʊt /:
adds another layer below the asphalt. This
put an end to
consists of a 30-millimetre-thick layer of
rubber, mixed with stones which are larger
than those in the layer above. 'It's like a
giant mouse mat, making the road softer,'
says Kuijpers.
F. The size of the stones used in the two
layers is important, since they create pores / pɔrz /: a small interstice (as in soil) admitting
pores of a specific size in the road absorption or passage of liquid
surface. Those used in the top layer are
just 4 or 5 millimetres across, while the
ones below are approximately twice that
size - about 9 millimetres. Kuijpers says
the surface can absorb any air that is
passing through a tyre's tread (the
indentations or ridges on the surface of a oscillations / ˌɑsəˈleɪʃənz /: movement back and forth at
tyre), damping oscillations that would a regular speed
otherwise create noise. And in addition
they make it easier for the water to drain synonyms:swinging, swing, swaying, swinging from side
away, which can make the road safer in to side
wet weather.
G. Compared with the complex
manufacturing process, laying the surface
is quite simple. It emerges from the factory
rolled, like a carpet, onto a drum 1.5
metres in diameter. On site, it is unrolled
and stuck onto its foundation with bitumen.
Even the white lines are applied in the
factory.
H. The foundation itself uses an even more
sophisticated technique to reduce noise

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further. It consists of a sound-absorbing

concrete base containing flask-shaped
slots up to 10 millimetres wide and 30
millimetres deep that are open at the top
cavities / ˈkævɪtiz /: an empty space within a solid
and sealed at the lower end. These
object, in particular the human body
cavities act like Helmholtz resonators -
when sound waves of specific frequencies resonances / ˈrɛzənənsɪz /: the quality in a sound of
enter the top of a flask, they set up being deep, full, and reverberating
resonances inside and the energy of the
sound dissipates into the concrete as heat.
The cavities play another important role:
they help to drain water that seeps through
from the upper surface. This flow will help
flush out waste material and keep the
pores in the outer layers clear.
I. Kuijpers can even control the sounds resonators / ˈrɛzəˌneɪtərz /: an apparatus that
that his resonators absorb, simply by increases the resonance of a sound, especially a hollow
altering their dimensions. This could prove part of a musical instrument
especially useful since different vehicles
produce noise at different frequencies. Car
tyres peak at around 1000 hertz, for
example, but trucks generate lower-
frequency noise at around 600 hertz. By
varying the size of the Kuijpers resonators,
it is possible to control which frequencies
the concrete absorbs. On large highways,
trucks tend to use the inside lane, so tuned / tund /: adjust (a musical instrument) to the
resonators here could be tuned to absorb correct or uniform pitch
sounds at around 600 hertz while those in
other lanes could deal with higher synonyms:adjust (to the correct pitch), tune up
frequency noise from cars.
J. Kuijpers believes he can cut noise by
five decibels compared to the quietest of
today's roads. He has already tested a l00-
metre-long section of his road on a
motorway near Apeldoorn, and Dutch
construction company Heijmans is
discussing the location of the next roll-out
road with the country's government. The
success of Kuijpers' design will depend on
how much it eventually costs. But for those
affected by traffic noise there is hope of
quieter times ahead.

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Garbage is a big problem all over the world. Garbage / ˈgɑrbɪʤ /: wasted or spoiled food and
People buy and use a lot of things nowadays. other refuse, as from a kitchen or household.
After a while, they throw them away in the
garbage bin. All the garbage is later thrown synonyms:rubbish, refuse, domestic
away or dumped outside the city. These refuse, waste, waste material
places are called landfill sites. In many cities,
landfill sites are now full.
About one-third of all the garbage is made of
paper. Another third of the garbage is a mix
of glass, metal, plastic, and wood. The final
third comes from food scraps. These are
remains of food that are not eating any more.
Food scraps are not a big garbage problem
for the environment. Our natural world can
scraps / skræps /: a small piece or amount of
get rid of food scraps. Insects and bacteria
eat the food scraps and make them go something, especially one that is left over after the
away. greater part has been used

But this does not happen with other synonyms:fragment, piece, bit, offcut, oddment
materials. Plastic is very toxic to the
toxic / ˈtɑksɪk /: poisonous
environment. It poisons the earth and the
water. We use plastic for many things, such
as combs or pens. Also, when we buy
something from the supermarket, we get a
plastic bag. As soon as we get home, we
throw the bag away. Plastic is also used to
make Styrofoam. All take-out coffee cups
and fast-food boxes are made of Styrofoam.
When we buy coffee and drink it on the
street, we throw that cup away too.
Other garbage we throw away is metal. The
cans for soft drinks or beer are made of

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aluminum. Aluminum is toxic too. The paper aluminum/ əˈlumənəm /: Nhôm

and wood we throw away are not toxic. But
we have to cut down many trees every year
to make paper and wood. Our environment
suffers when there are no forests around.
The air is less fresh, and the earth dries up.
With no water in the earth, plants cannot
grow.
Solutions to the garbage problem
We have to manage our waste and garbage
better. If we throw away so many things,
soon we will have no place to dump them.
The best thing to do is to reduce the amount
of garbage. If we use less, we throw away
less. For instance, we can buy food in big
boxes and packages. Then we throw away
only one box in every month or so.
Otherwise, we throw away many small boxes
or cans every day.
Similarly, we can reuse a lot of packaging.
For example, we do not have to buy take-out
coffee in Styrofoam cups. We can bring our
own cup from home and fill it with fresh plastic / ˈplæstɪk /: Nhựa
coffee. We also do not have to take the
plastic bags from the supermarket. We can
bring our own cloth bag from home instead.
When we pack lunch, it is better to use a
lunch box than a paper bag. Instead of paper
plates, we can use real plates. We can clean
dishtowel/ ˈdɪʃ.taʊəl /: a cloth that is used for drying
up with a dishtowel, not a paper towel. We
dishes
can use a compost bin for food scraps. In this
way, the food gets back into the earth. It
does not get mixed up with the regular
garbage.
Finally, all paper, glass and metal we do use,
we can recycle. In many countries, there are
now recycling programs. In Germany, for bins / bɪnz /:
example, people separate all glass bottles by A container or enclosed space for storage.
color. Then they put the bottles into special
bins that are on the street. The city collects
the glass, cleans it, and reuses it. As well, in cardboard/ ˈkɑrdˌbɔrd /: pasteboard or stiff paper
most countries, people recycle newspapers
and cardboard. It is easy and efficient.

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A
The history of human civilisation is Entwined / ɪnˈtwaɪnd /: wind or twist together;
entwined with the history of the ways we interweave
have learned to manipulate water
resources. As towns gradually expanded,
water was brought from increasingly
remote sources, leading to sophisticated
engineering efforts such as dams and
aqueducts. At the height of the Roman
Empire, nine major systems, with an
innovative layout of pipes and well-built
sewers, supplied the occupants of Rome sewers/ ˈsuərz /: a person who sews
with as much water per person as is
provided in many parts of the industrial
world today.
B
During the industrial revolution and
population explosion of the 19th and 20th
centuries, the demand for water rose
dramatically. Unprecedented construction
of tens of thousands of monumental monumental / ˌmɑnjəˈmɛntəl /: great in importance,
engineering projects designed to control extent, or size
floods, protect clean water supplies, and
provide water for irrigation and synonyms:huge, great, enormous, gigantic, massive
hydropower brought great benefits to hydropower / ˈhaɪdroʊˌpaʊr /: hydroelectric power. ( thủy
hundreds of millions of people. Food điện )
production has kept pace with soaring
populations mainly because of the
expansion of artificial irrigation systems
that make possible the growth of 40 % of

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the world’s food. Nearly one fifth of all the

electricity generated worldwide is
produced by turbines spun by the power of
falling water.
C
Yet there is a dark side to this picture:
despite our progress, half of the world’s
population still suffers, with water services
inferior to those available to the
ancient Greeks and Romans. As the
United Nations report on access to water
reiterated in November 2001, more than sanitation / ˌsænɪˈteɪʃən /: conditions relating to public
one billion people lack access to clean health, especially the provision of clean drinking water and
drinking water; some two and a half billion adequate sewage disposal
do not have adequate sanitation services.
Preventable water-related diseases kill an
estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children every
day, and the latest evidence suggests that
we are falling behind in efforts to solve jeopardising / ˈʤɛpərˌdaɪzɪŋ /: put (someone or
these problems. something) into a situation in which there is a danger of
D loss, harm, or failure

The consequences of our water policies compensation / ˌkɑmpənˈseɪʃən /: something, typically

extend beyond jeopardising human money, awarded to someone as a recompense for loss,
health. Tens of millions of people have injury, or suffering
been forced to move from their homes -
often with little warning or compensation -
to make way for the reservoirs behind
dams. More than 20 % of all freshwater
fish species are now threatened or
endangered because dams and water
withdrawals have destroyed the free-
flowing river ecosystems where they
aquifers/ ˈækwəfərz /: a body of permeable rock which
thrive. Certain irrigation practices degrade
soil quality and reduce agricultural can contain or transmit groundwater
productivity. Groundwater aquifers* are
being pumped down faster than they are
naturally replenished in parts of India,
China, the USA and elsewhere.
And disputes over shared water resources
have led to violence and continue to
raise local, national and even international
tensions.
*underground stores of water
E provision / prəˈvɪʒən /: the action of providing or
At the outset of the new millennium, supplying something for use
however, the way resource planners think
synonyms:supplying, supply, providing, purveying, delivery
about water is beginning to change. The
focus is slowly shifting back to the
provision of basic human and
environmental needs as top priority -

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ensuring ‘some for all,’ instead of ‘more for

some’. Some water experts are now
demanding that existing infrastructure be
used in smarter ways rather than building
new facilities, which is increasingly
considered the option of last, not first,
resort. This shift in philosophy has not
been universally accepted, and it comes
with strong opposition from
adequate / ˈædəkwət /: satisfactory or acceptable in
some established water organisations.
Nevertheless, it may be the only way to quality or quantity
address successfully the pressing synonyms:sufficient, enough, ample, requisite, apposite
problems of providing everyone with clean
water to drink, adequate water to grow
food and a life free from preventable
water-related illness. diminished / dɪˈmɪnɪʃt /: make or become less

F synonyms:decrease, decline, reduce, lessen, shrink

Fortunately - and unexpectedly - the
demand for water is not rising as rapidly
as some predicted. As a result, the
pressure to build new water infrastructures
has diminished over the past two
decades. Although population, industrial
output and economic productivity have
continued to soar in developed nations,
the rate at which people withdraw water
from aquifers, rivers and lakes has slowed.
And in a few parts of the world, demand
has actually fallen.
G
What explains this remarkable turn of
events? Two factors: people have figured
out how to use water more efficiently, and
communities are rethinking their priorities withdrawals / wɪθˈdrɔəlz /: the action of withdrawing
for water use. Throughout the first three- something
quarters of the 20th century, the quantity
of freshwater consumed per person synonyms:removal, taking
doubled on average; in the USA, away, abolition, cancellation, discontinuation
water withdrawals increased tenfold while
the population quadrupled. But since
1980, the amount of water consumed per
person has actually decreased, thanks to
a range of new technologies that help to
conserve water in homes and industry. In
1965, for instance, Japan used
approximately 13 million gallons* of water quadrupling / kwɑˈdrupəlɪŋ /: increase or be increased
to produce $1 million of commercial
fourfold
output; by 1989 this had dropped to 3.5
million gallons (even accounting for
inflation) - almost a quadrupling of water
productivity. In the USA, water withdrawals

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have fallen by more than 20 % from their

peak in 1980.
H
accountability / əˈkaʊntəbɪlɪti /: the fact or condition of
On the other hand, dams, aqueducts and being accountable; responsibility
other kinds of infrastructure will still have synonyms:responsibility, liability, answerability,
to be built, particularly in developing
countries where basic human needs have answerability, responsibility
not been met. But such projects must be
built to higher specifications and with warranted/ ˈwɔrəntɪd /: justify or necessitate (a certain
more accountability to local people and course of action)
their environment than in the past. And
even in regions where new projects seem synonyms:justify, vindicate, call for, sanction, validate
warranted, we must find ways to meet
demands with fewer resources, respecting
ecological criteria and to a smaller budget.
* 1 gallon: 4.546 litres

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The face of the ocean has changed

completely since the first commercial fishers
cast their nets and hooks over a thousand
years ago. Fisheries intensified over the
centuries, but even by the nineteenth century
it was still felt, justifiably, that the plentiful
resources of the sea were for the most part
beyond the reach of fishing, and so there was
little need to restrict fishing or create
protected areas. The twentieth century
heralded an escalation in fishing intensity escalation / ˌɛskəˈleɪʃən /:a rapid increase; a rise
that is unprecedented in the history of the
oceans, and modern fishing technologies synonyms:rapid increase, rise, hike, advance, growth
leave fish no place to hide. Today, the only
refuges from fishing are those we deliberately
create. Unhappily, the sea trails far behind
the land in terms of the area and the quality
of protection given.
For centuries, as fishing and commerce have
expanded, we have held onto the notion that
the sea is different from the land. We still
view it as a place where people and nations
should be free to come and go at will, as well
as somewhere that should be free for us to reluctant / rɪˈlʌktənt /: unwilling and hesitant; disinclined
exploit. Perhaps this is why we have been so
reluctant to protect the sea. On land, synonyms:unwilling, disinclined, unenthusiastic,
protected areas have proliferated as human
populations have grown. Here, compared to grudging, resistant
the sea, we have made greater headway in
proliferated / prəˈlɪfəˌreɪtɪd /: increase rapidly in
our struggle to maintain the richness and
variety of wildlife and landscape. Twelve numbers; multiply

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percent of the world’s land is now contained

in protected areas, whereas the
corresponding figure for the sea is but three-
fifths of one percent. Worse still, most marine
protected areas allow some fishing to
continue. Areas off-limits to all exploitation
cover something like one five-thousandth of
the total area of the world’s seas.
Today, we are belatedly coming to realise
that ‘natural refuges’ from fishing have played
a critical role in sustaining fisheries, and
maintaining healthy and diverse marine fisheries / ˈfɪʃəriz /: a place where fish are reared for
ecosystems. This does not mean that marine
commercial purposes
reserves can rebuild fisheries on their own -
other management measures are also
required for that. However, places that are
off-limits to fishing constitute the last and underpin / ˈʌndərˌpɪn /: support (a building or other
most important part of our package of reform structure) from below by laying a solid foundation below
for fisheries management. They underpin ground level or by substituting stronger for weaker materials
and enhance all our other efforts. There are
limits to protection though.
Reserves cannot bring back what has died
out. We can never resurrect globally extinct
species, and restoring locally extinct animals
may require reintroductions from elsewhere, if dispersal / dɪˈspɜrsəl /: the action or process of
natural dispersal from remaining populations distributing things or people over a wide area
is insufficient. We are also seeing, in cases
such as northern cod in Canada, that fishing
can shift marine ecosystems into different
states, where different mixes of species prevail/ prɪˈveɪl /: prove more powerful than opposing
prevail. In many cases, these species are forces; be victorious
less desirable, since the prime fishing targets
have gone or are much reduced in numbers, synonyms:win, win out, win through, triumph, be victorious
and changes may be difficult to reverse, even
with a complete moratorium on fishing. The
Mediterranean sailed by Ulysses, the
legendary king of ancient Greece, supported
abundant monk seals, loggerhead turtles loggerhead / ˈlɑgərˌhɛd /: a reddish-brown turtle with a
and porpoises. Their disappearance through very large head, occurring chiefly in warm seas
hunting and overfishing has totally
restructured food webs, and recovery is likely
to be much harder to achieve than their
destruction was. This means that the sooner
we act to protect marine life, the more certain
will be our success.
To some people, creating marine reserves is
an admission of failure. According to their
logic, reserves should not be necessary if we
have done our work properly in managing the
uses we make of the sea. Many fisheries
managers are still wedded to the idea that
one day their models will work, and politicians
will listen to their advice. Just give the

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approach time, and success will be theirs. litany / ˈlɪtəni /: a series of petitions for use in church
How much time have we got? This approach services or processions, usually recited by the clergy and
has been tried and refined for the last 50 responded to in a recurring formula by the people.
years. There have been few successes which
to feather the managers’ caps, but a growing synonyms:prayer, invocation, petition, supplication, devotion
litany of failure. The Common Fisheries
Policy, the European Union’s instrument for
the management of fisheries and
aquaculture, exemplifies the worst pitfalls:
flawed models, flawed advice, watered-down
recommendations from government
bureaucrats and then the disregard of much bureaucrats / ˈbjʊrəˌkræts /: công chức ( quan lại )
of this advice by politicians. When it all went
wrong, as it inevitably had to, Europe sent its
boats to other countries in order to obtain fish
for far less than they were actually worth.
We are squandering the wealth of oceans. If
we don’t break out of this cycle of failure,
humanity will lose a key source of protein,
and much more besides. Disrupting natural
ecosystem processes, such as water ramifications / ˌræməfəˈkeɪʃənz /: a consequence of an
purification, nutrient cycling, and carbon
action or event, especially when complex or unwelcome
storage, could have ramifications for human
life itself. We can go a long way to avoiding
this catastrophic mistake with simple common
sense management. Marine reserves lie at
the heart of the reform. But they will not be
sufficient if they are implemented only here edifice / ˈɛdəfəs /: a building, especially a large, imposing
and there to shore up the crumbling edifice one
of the ‘rational fisheries management’
envisioned by scientists in the 1940s and
1950s. They have to be placed centre stage
as a fundamental underpinning for everything
we do in the oceans. Reserves are a first
resort, not a final resort when all else fails.

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An examination of the functioning of the senses in cetaceans, the group of mammals

comprising whales, dolphins and porpoises

Some of the senses that we and other

terrestrial mammals take for granted are
either reduced or absent in cetaceans or cetaceans / sɪˈteɪʃənz /: a marine mammal of the order
fail to function well in water. For example, it Cetacea; a whale, dolphin, or porpoise
appears from their brain structure that
toothed species are unable to smell.
Baleen species, on the other hand, appear
to have some related brain structures but it
is not known whether these are functional.
It has been speculated that, as the
blowholes evolved and migrated to the top
of the head, the neural pathways serving
sense of smell may have been nearly all
sacrificed. Similarly, although at least some buds/ bʌdz /: a compact growth on a plant that
cetaceans have taste buds, the nerves develops into a leaf, flower, or shoot
serving these have degenerated or are
rudimentary. rudimentary / ˌrudəˈmɛntəri /: involving or limited to
basic principles
The sense of touch has sometimes been
described as weak too, but this view is synonyms:basic, elementary, introductory, early, primary
probably mistaken. Trainers of captive
dolphins and small whales often remark on
their animals’ responsiveness to being
responsiveness / rɪˈspɑnsɪvnəs /: the quality of
touched or rubbed, and both captive and
reacting quickly and positively
free- ranging cetacean individuals of all
species (particularly adults and calves, or
members of the same subgroup) appear to
make frequent contact. This contact may
help to maintain order within a group, and

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stroking or touching are part of the stroking / ˈstroʊkɪŋ /:

courtship ritual in most species. The area The act or an instance of striking, as with the hand
around the blowhole is also particularly
sensitive and captive animals often object , a weapon, or a tool; a blow or impact
strongly to being touched there.
The sense of vision is developed to
different degrees in different species.
Baleen species studied at close quarters
underwater - specifically a grey whale calf
in captivity for a year, and free-ranging right humpback / ˈhʌmpˌbæk /: a baleen whale that has a
whales and humpback whales studied and hump (instead of a dorsal fin) and long white flippers. It is
filmed off Argentina and Hawaii - have noted for its lengthy vocalizations or “songs.”
obviously tracked objects with vision
underwater, and they can apparently see
moderately well both in water and in air.
However, the position of the eyes so
restricts the field of vision in baleen whales baleen / bəˈlin /: whalebone
that they probably do not have
stereoscopic vision.
On the other hand, the position of the eyes stereoscopic / ˌster.i.əˈskɑː.pɪk /:lập thể ( thuộc về kiến
in most dolphins and porpoises suggests thức thực thể
that they have stereoscopic vision forward
and downward. Eye position in freshwater
dolphins, which often swim on their side or
upside down while feeding, suggests that
what vision they have is stereoscopic
forward and upward. By comparison, the
bottlenose dolphin has extremely keen
vision in water. Judging from the way it
watches and tracks airborne flying fish, it airborne / ˈɛrˌbɔrn /: transported by air
can apparently see fairly well through the
air-water interface as well. And although
preliminary experimental evidence interface / ˈɪntərˌfeɪs /: a point where two systems,
suggests that their in-air vision is poor, the subjects, organizations, etc. meet and interact
accuracy with which dolphins leap high to
take small fish out of a trainer’s hand
provides anecdotal evidence to the
contrary.
Such variation can no doubt be explained
with reference to the habitats in which
individual species have developed. For
example, vision is obviously more useful to turbid / ˈtɝː.bɪd /: (of a liquid) cloudy, opaque, or thick
species inhabiting clear open waters than with suspended matter
to those living in turbid rivers and flooded
plains. The South American boutu and
Chinese beiji, for instance, appear to have
very limited vision, and the Indian susus slits / slɪts /: a long, narrow cut or opening
are blind, their eyes reduced to slits that
synonyms:cut, incision, split, slash, gash
probably allow them to sense only the
direction and intensity of light. deteriorated / dɪˈtɪriəˌreɪtɪd /: becoming progressively
Although the senses of taste and smell worse
appear to have deteriorated, and vision in

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water appears to be uncertain, such

weaknesses are more than compensated
for by cetaceans’ well-developed acoustic
sense. Most species are highly vocal,
although they vary in the range of sounds
they produce, and many forage for food
using echolocation1. Large baleen whales
primarily use the lower frequencies and are
often limited in their repertoire. Notable
exceptions are the nearly song-like
choruses of bowhead whales in summer utterances / ˈʌtərənsɪz /: a spoken word, statement, or
and the complex, haunting utterances of vocal sound.
the humpback whales. Toothed species in
general employ more of the frequency synonyms:remark, comment, word, expression, statement
spectrum, and produce a wider variety of
sounds, than baleen species (though the
sperm whale apparently produces a
monotonous series of high-energy clicks
and little else). Some of the more
complicated sounds are clearly
communicative, although what role they speculation / ˌspɛkjəˈleɪʃən /: the forming of a theory
may play in the social life and ‘culture’ of or conjecture without firm evidence
cetaceans has been more the subject of
wild speculation than of solid science. synonyms:conjecture, theorizing, hypothesizing,

1echolocation:
the perception of objects by supposition, guesswork
means of sound wave echoes.

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What's the connection between your morning coffee, wintering North American birds
and the cool shade of a tree? Actually, unite a lot, says Simon Birch.

When scientists from London’s Natural

History Museum descended on the coffee
farms of the tiny Central American
republic of F.l Salvador, they were
astonished to find such diversity of insect
and plant species. During 18 months'
work on 12 farms, they found a third more
species of parasitic wasp than arc known wasp / wɑsp /: ong vò vẽ ( ong bắp cày )
to exist in the whole country of Costa
Rica. They described four new species
and are aware of a fifth. On 24 farms they
found nearly 300 species of tree when
they had expected to find about 100.
El Salvador has lost much of its natural
forest, with coffee farms covering nearly
10% of the country. Most of them use the
‘shade-grown’ method of production,
which utilises a semi-natural forest
ecosystem. Alex Munro, the museum’s botanist / ˈbɑtənɪst /: an expert in or student of the
botanist on the expedition, says: ‘Our scientific study of plants
findings amazed our insect specialist.
There’s a very sophisticated food web
present. The wasps, for instance, may
depend on specific species of tree.’
It's the same the world over. Species
diversity is much higher where coffee is
grown in shade conditions. In addition,

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coffee (and chocolate) is usually grown in

tropical rainforest regions that are
biodiversity hotspots. ‘These habitats hotspots/ ˈhɑːt.spɑːts /:
support up to 70% of the planets plant An area in which there is dangerous unrest or hostile action
and animal species, and so the
production methods of cocoa and coffee
can have a hugely significant impact,'
explains Dr Paul Donald of the Royal
Society for the. Protection of Birds.
So what does ‘shade-grown’ mean, and
why is it good for wildlife? Most of the
world's coffee is produced by poor
farmers in the developing world.
Traditionally they have grown coffee (and
cocoa) under the shade of selectively tracts / trækts /: area of indefinite extent, typically a
thinned tracts of rain forest in a genuinely large one
sustainable form of farming. Leaf fall from
the canopy provides a supply of nutrients
and acts as a mulch that suppresses
weeds. The insects that live in the canopy
pollinate the cocoa and coffee and prey
on pests. The trees also provide farmers
with fruit and wood for fuel.
Bird diversity in shade-grown coffee rivals / ˈraɪvəlz /: a person or thing competing with
plantations rivals that found in natural another for the same objective or for superiority in the
forests in the same region.’ says Robert same field of activity
Rice from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird
Center. In Ghana, West Africa. - one of synonyms:competitor, opponent, contestant,
the world's biggest producers of cocoa -
90% of the cocoa is grown under shade, contender, challenger
and these forest plantations are a vital
refuge / ˈrɛfjuʤ /: a condition of being safe or sheltered
habitat for wintering European migrant
birds. In the same way. the coffee forests from pursuit, danger, or trouble
of Central and South America are a
refuge for wintering North American
migrants.
More recently, a combination of the
collapse in the world market for coffee
and cocoa and a drive to increase yields
by producer countries has led to huge
swathes of shade-grown coffee and
cocoa being cleared to make way for a monoculture / ˈmɑː.noʊˌkʌl.tʃɚ /: the cultivation of a
highly intensive, monoculture pattern of single crop in a given area
production known as ‘full sun’. But this
system not only reduces the diversity of
flora and fauna, it also requires huge
amounts of pesticides and fertilisers. In
Cote d’Ivoire, which produces more than
half the world's cocoa, more than a third
of the crop is now grown in full-sun
conditions.

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The loggers have been busy in the

Americas too, where nearly 70% of all
Colombian coffee is now produced using
full-sun production. One study carried out
in Colombia and Mexico found that,
compared with shade coffee, full-sun
plantations have 95% fewer species of
birds.
In LI Salvador. Alex Munro says shade- significance / sɪgˈnɪfɪkəns /: the quality of being worthy
coffee farms have a cultural as well as of attention; importance
ecological significance and people are
not happy to see them go. But the synonyms:importance, import, noteworthiness,
financial pressures are great, and few of
consequence, substance
these coffee farms make much money.
‘One farm we studied, a cooperative of
100 families, made just S 10,000 a year
S100 per family and that's not taking
labour costs into account.’
The loss of shade-coffee forests has so
alarmed a number of North American harnessing / ˈhɑrnəsɪŋ /: control and make use of
wildlife organisations that they 're now (natural resources), especially to produce energy
harnessing consumer power to help synonyms:control, exploit, utilize, use, make use of
save these threatened habitats. They are
promoting a ‘certification' system that can
indicate to consumers that the beans
have been grown on shade plantations.
Bird-friendly coffee, for instance, is
marketed by the Smithsonian Migratory
Bird Center. The idea is that the small
extra cost is passed directly on to the
coffee farmers as a financial incentive to
maintain their shade-coffee farms.
Not all conservationists agree with such
measures, however. Some say
certification could be leading to the loss
not preservation of natural forests. John
Rappole of the Smithsonian Conservation
and Research Center, for example, incentive / ɪnˈsɛntɪv /: a thing that motivates or
argues that shade- grown marketing
encourages one to do something
provides ‘an incentive to convert existing
areas of primary forest that are too
remote or steep to be converted profitably
to other forms of cultivation into shade-
coffee plantations’.
Other conservationists, such as Stacey
Philpott and colleagues, argue the case
for shade coffee. But there are different
types of shade growing. Those used by
subsistence farmers are virtually identical
to natural forest (and have a
corresponding diversity), while systems citrus / ˈsɪtrəs /: cam,quýt
that use coffee plants as the understorey

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and cacao or citrus trees as the

overstorey may be no more diverse than
full-sun farms. Certification procedures
need to distinguish between the two. and
Ms Philpott argues that as long as the
process is rigorous and offers financial
gains to the producers, shade growing
does benefit the environment.

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The Rufous Hare-Wallaby is a species of

Australian kangaroo, usually known by its
Aboriginal name, ‘mala’. At one time, there may arid / ˈærəd /:(of land or a climate) having little or no
have been as many as ten million of these little rain; too dry or barren to support vegetation
animals across the arid and semi-arid
"synonyms:dry, dried up, waterless, as dry as a
landscape of Australia, but their populations,
like those of so many other small endemic bone, moistureless
species, were devastated when cats and foxes endemic/ ɛnˈdɛmɪk /: (of a disease or condition)
were introduced - indeed, during the 1950s it regularly found among particular people or in a certain
was thought that the mala was extinct. But in
area
1964, a small colony was found 450 miles
northwest of Alice Springs in the Tanami Desert.
And 12 years later, a second small colony was
found nearby. Very extensive surveys were
made throughout historical mala range - but no
other traces were found.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, scientists
from the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the
Northern Territory monitored these two
populations. At first it seemed that they were
holding their own. Then in late 1987, every one
of the individuals of the second and smaller of colonies / ˈkɑləniz /: a country or area under the full
the wild colonies was killed. From examination or partial political control of another country, typically a
of the tracks in the sand, it seemed that just one distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country.
single fox had been responsible. And then, in
October 1991, a wild-fire destroyed the entire synonyms:territory, possession, holding,
area occupied by the remaining colony. Thus dependency, province
the mala was finally pronounced extinct in the
wild.

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Fortunately, ten years earlier, seven individuals breeding / ˈbridɪŋ /: the mating and production of
had been captured, and had become the offspring by animals
founders of a captive breeding programme at
the Arid Zone Research Institute in Alice synonyms:reproduction, reproducing,procreation,
Springs; and that group had thrived. Part of this
multiplying, propagation
success is due to the fact that the female can
breed when she is just five months old and can
produce up to three young a year. Like other
kangaroo species, the mother carries her young joey / ˈʤoʊi /: a young kangaroo or other marsupial
- known as a joey - in her pouch for about 15
weeks, and she can have more than one joey at
the same time. feasible / ˈfizəbəl /: possible to do easily or
In the early 1980s, there were enough mala in conveniently
the captive population to make it feasible to
start a reintroduction programme. But first it was
necessary to discuss this with the leaders of the medicinal / məˈdɪsənəl /: (of a substance or plant)
Yapa people. Traditionally, the mala had been having healing properties
an important animal in their culture, with strong
medicinal powers for old people. It had also
been an important food source, and there were
concerns that any mala returned to the wild
would be killed for the pot. And so, in 1980, a
group of key Yapa men was invited to visit the
proposed reintroduction area. The skills and
knowledge of the Yapa would play a significant
and enduring role in this and all other mala
projects.
With the help of the local Yapa, an electric fence
was erected around 250 acres of suitable
habitat, about 300 miles'northwest of Alice
Springs so that the mala could adapt while
protected from predators. By 1992, there were
about 150 mala in their enclosure, which
became known as the Mala Paddock. However, paddocks / ˈpædəks /: a small field or enclosure
all attempts to reintroduce mala from the where horses are kept or exercised
paddocks into the unfenced wild were
unsuccessful, so in the end the reintroduction unfenced/ ənˈfɛnst /:
programme was abandoned. The team now not provided with fences
faced a situation where mala could be bred, but
not released into the wild again.
Thus, in 1993, a Mala Recovery Team was
established to boost mala numbers, and goals sites / saɪts /: an area of ground on which a town,
for a new programme were set: the team building, or monument is constructed:"the
concentrated on finding suitable predator-free or proposed site of a hydroelectric
predator-controlled conservation sites within the
dam"synonyms:plot, lot, area, plat
mala’s known range. Finally, in March 1999,
twelve adult females, eight adult males, and
eight joeys were transferred from the Mala
Paddock to Dryandra Woodland in Western
Australia. Then, a few months later, a second
group was transferred to Trimouille, an island off
the coast of western Australia. First, it had been

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necessary to rid the island of rats and cats - a transmits/ trænzˈmɪts /: cause (something) to pass
task that had taken two years of hard work. on from one place or person to another
Six weeks after their release into this synonyms:transfer, pass on, hand
conservation site, a team returned to the island on, communicate, convey
to find out how things were going. Each of the
malas had been fitted with a radio collar that recovery / rɪˈkʌvri /: a return to a normal state of
transmits for about 14 months, after which it health, mind, or strength
falls off. The team was able to locate 29 out of
the 30 transmitters - only one came from the synonyms:recuperation, convalescence, return to
collar of a mala that had died of unknown health, process of getting better
causes. So far the recovery programme had
gone even better than expected.
Today, there are many signs suggesting that the
mala population on the island is continuing to do
well.

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Planning an eco-friendly holiday can be a minefield for the well- meaning traveller,
says Steve Watkins. But help is now at hand

If there were awards for tourism phrases that hijacked/ ˈhaɪˌʤækt /: unlawfully seize (an aircraft,
have been hijacked, diluted and misused ship, or vehicle) in transit and force it to go to a different
then ‘ecotourism’ would earn top prize. The destination or use it for one's own purposes
term first surfaced in the early 1980s
reflecting a surge in environmental diluted / daɪˈlutəd /: make (a liquid) thinner or weaker
awareness and a realisation by tour by adding water or another solvent to it
operators that many travellers wanted to
believe their presence abroad would not synonyms:make weaker, weaken, thin out, thin, make
have a negative impact. It rapidly became the thinner
hottest marketing tag a holiday could carry.
surge / sɜrʤ /: a sudden powerful forward or upward
movement, especially by a crowd or by a natural force
These days the ecotourism label is used to
cover anything from a two-week tour living such as the waves or tide
with remote Indonesian tribes, to a one-hour synonyms:gush, rush, outpouring, stream, flow,
motorboat trip through an Australian gorge.
In fact, any tour that involves cultural
interaction, natural beauty spots, wildlife or a
dash of soft adventure is likely to be included
in the overflowing ecotourism folder. There is
no doubt the original motives behind the
movement were honourable attempts to honourable / ˈɑː.nɚ.ə.bəl /: bringing or deserving
provide a way for those who cared to make honour
informed choices, but the lack of regulations
and a standard industry definition left many synonyms:morally
travellers lost in an ecotourism jungle. correct, honest, moral, ethical, principled

It is easier to understand why

the ecotourism market has become so
overcrowded when we look at its wider role in
the world economy. According to World
Tourism Organisation figures, ecotourism is
worth US$20 billion a year and makes up
one-fifth of all international tourism. Add to

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this an annual growth rate of around five per bandwagon / ˈbænˌdwægən /: used in reference to an
cent and the pressure for many operators, activity, cause, etc. that is currently fashionable or
both in developed and developing countries, popular and attracting increasing support
to jump on the accelerating bandwagon is
compelling. Without any widely recognised accreditation / əˌkrɛdəˈteɪʃən /: the action or process
accreditation system, the consumer has of officially recognizing someone as having a particular
been left to investigate the credentials of an status or being qualified to perform a particular activity
operator themselves. This is a time-
consuming process and many travellers credentials / krəˈdɛnʃəlz /: Thư giới thiệu ( ủy nhiệm )
usually take an operator’s claims at face
value, only adding to the proliferation of
fake ecotours.

However, there are several simple questions

that will provide qualifying evidence of a
company’s commitment to minimise its
impact on the environment and maximise the
benefits to the tourism area’s local
community. For example, does the company
use recycled or sustainable, locally harvested
materials to build its tourist properties? Do
they pay fair wages to all employees? Do
entrepreneurs / ˌɑntrəprəˈnɜrz /: a person who
they offer training to employees? It is
organizes and operates a business or businesses,
common for city entrepreneurs to own tour
companies in country areas, which can mean taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to
the money you pay ends up in the city rather do so
than in the community being visited. By
taking a little extra time to investigate
the ecotourism options, it is not only possible
to guide your custom to worthy operators but
you will often find that the experience they
offer is far more rewarding.
operators / ˈɑpəˌreɪtərz /: a person who operates
The ecotourism business is still very much in equipment or a machine:"a radio operator"
need of a shake-up and a standardised synonyms:machinist, mechanic, operative,
approach. There are a few organisations that
have sprung up in the last ten years or so engineer, driver
that endeavour to educate travellers and
operators about the benefits of genuine / ˈʤɛnjəwən /: truly what something is said to
responsible ecotourism. Founded in 1990, be; authentic
the Ecotourism Society (TES) is a non-profit
synonyms:authentic, real, actual, original, pukka
organisation of travel industry, conservation
and ecological professionals, which aims to inherent /ɪnˈhɪrənt/: existing in something as a
make ecotourism a genuine tool for permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute
conservation and sustainable development.
Helping to create inherent economic value in initiative /ɪˈnɪʃjətɪv /: he ability to assess and initiate
wilderness environments and threatened things independently
cultures has undoubtedly been one of
the ecotourism movement’s most notable synonyms:enterprise, inventiveness, resourcefulness,
achievements. TES organises an annual
capability, imagination
initiative to further aid development of
the ecotourism industry. This year it is
launching ‘Your Travel Choice Makes a
Difference’, an educational campaign aimed
at helping consumers understand the

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potential positive and negative impacts of ecotour / ˈiː.koʊˌtʊr /: a tour of or visit to an exotic
their travel decisions. TES also offers natural environment, intended to support conservation
guidance on the choice of ecotour and has efforts and observe wildlife
established a register of
approved ecotourism operators around the
world.

A leading ecotourism operator in the United

Kingdom is Tribes, which won the 1999
Tourism Concern and Independent
Traveller’s World ‘Award for Most
Responsible Tour Operator’. Amanda Marks,
owner and director of Tribes, believes that
the ecotourism industry still has some way to
go to get its house in order. Until now,
no ecotourism accreditation scheme has
really worked, principally because there has
been no systematic way of checking that
accredited companies actually comply with
the code of practice. Amanda believes that
the most promising system is the recently re-
launched Green Globe 21 scheme. The
Green Globe 21 award is based on the
sustainable development standards sustainable / səˈsteɪnəbəl /: able to be maintained at
contained in Agenda 21 from the 1992 Earth a certain rate or level
Summit and was originally coordinated by the
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
The scheme is now an independent concern,
though the WTTC still supports it. Until
recently, tour companies became affiliates affiliates / əˈfɪliəts /: officially attach or connect (a
and could use the Green Globe logo merely subsidiary group or a person) to an organization
on payment of an annual fee, hardly a
suitable qualifying standard. However, in
November 1999 Green Globe 21 introduced
an annual, independent check on operators
wishing to use the logo.

Miriam Cain, from the Green Globe 21

marketing development, explains that current
and new affiliates will now have one year to
ensure that their operations comply with
Agenda 21 standards. If they fail the first
inspection, they can only reapply once. The inspection/ ɪnˈspɛkʃən /: careful examination or
inspection process is not a cheap option, scrutiny
especially for large companies, but the
benefits of having Green Globe status and
the potential operational cost savings that
complying with the standards can bring
should be significant. ‘We have joint ventures
with organisations around the world,
including Australia and the Caribbean, that
will allow us to effectively check all affiliate
operators,’ says Miriam. The scheme also
allows destination communities to become
Green Globe 21 approved.

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undergone / ˌʌndərˈgɔn /: experience or be

For a relatively new industry it is not subjected to (something, typically something
surprising that ecotourism has undergone unpleasant, painful, or arduous)
teething pains. However, there are signs that
things are changing for the better. With a
committed and unified approach by the travel
industry, local communities, travellers and
environmental experts could
make ecotourism a tag to be proud of and
trusted.

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Can native pollinators fill the gap?

A Recently, ominous headlines have ominous / ˈɑmənəs /: giving the impression that
described a mysterious ailment, colony something bad or unpleasant is going to happen;
collapse disorder(CCD)，that is wiping out threatening; inauspicious
the honeybees that pollinate many crops.
Without honeybees, the story goes, fields pollinate / ˈpɑləˌneɪt /: convey pollen to or deposit
will be sterile, economies will collapse, and pollen on (a stigma, ovule, flower, or plant) and so allow
food will be scarce. fertilization
B But what few accounts acknowledge is
that what’s at risk is not itself a natural state
of affairs. For one thing, in the United States,
where CCD was first reported and has had
its greatest impacts, honeybees are not a
native species. Pollination in modem alchemy/ ˈælkəmi /: Giả Kim ( thuật giả kim )
agriculture isn’t alchemy, it’s industry. The
total number of hives involved in the U.S.
pollination industry has been somewhere
between 2.5 million and 3 million in recent
years. Meanwhile, American farmers began organophosphate / ɔːrˌɡæn.oʊˈfɑːs.feɪt /: any organic
using large quantities of organophosphate compound whose molecule contains one or more
insecticides, planted large-scale crop
phosphate ester groups, especially a pesticide of this
monocultures, and adopted “clean farming”
kind
practices that scrubbed native vegetation
from field margins and roadsides. These
practices killed many native bees outright—
they’re as vulnerable to insecticides as any
agricultural pest—and made the agricultural
landscape inhospitable to those that
remained. Concern about these practices
and their effects on pollinators isn’t new—in
her 1962 ecological alarm cry Silent Spring,
Rachel Carson warned of a ‘Fruitless Fall’

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that could result from the disappearance of

insect pollinators.
C If that ‘Fruitless Fall, has not—yet—
occurred, it may be largely thanks to the
honeybee, which farmers turned to as the
ability of wild pollinators to service crops
declined. The honeybee has been semi-
domesticated since the time of the ancient
Egyptians, but it wasn’t just familiarity that familiarity / fəˌmɪlˈjɛrəti /: close acquaintance with or
determined this choice: the bees’ biology is knowledge of something
in many ways suited to the kind of
agricultural system that was emerging. For synonyms:acquaintance with, acquaintanceship
example, honeybee hives can be closed up with, awareness of
and moved out of the way when pesticides
are applied to a field. The bees are
generalist pollinators, so they can be used to
pollinate many different crops. And although
they are not the most efficient pollinator of
every crop, honeybees have strength in
numbers, with 20,000 to 100,000 bees living
in a single hive. “Without a doubt, if there
was one bee you wanted for agriculture, it
would be the honeybee, “says Jim Cane, of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The
honeybee, in other words, has become a cog / kɔg /: a wheel or bar with a series of projections
crucial cog in the modem system of on its edge, which transfers motion by engaging with
industrial agriculture. That system delivers projections on another wheel or bar
more food, and more kinds of it, to more
places, more cheaply than ever before. But
that system is also vulnerable, because
making a farm field into the photosynthetic
equivalent of a factory floor, and pollination
into a series of continent-long assembly
lines, also leaches out some of the resilience / rɪˈzɪliəns /:the capacity to recover quickly
resilience characteristic of natural from difficulties; toughness
ecosystems.
agronomist/ əˈgrɑnəmɪst /: an expert in the science
D Breno Freitas, an agronomist, pointed out of soil management and crop production
that in nature such a high degree of
specialization usually is a very dangerous equilibrium/ ˌikwəˈlɪbriəm /: a state in which
game: it works well while all the rest is in opposing forces or influences are balanced
equilibrium, but runs quickly to extinction at
the least disbalance. In effect, by developing synonyms:balance, symmetry, equipoise, parity, equality
an agricultural system that is heavily reliant
on a single pollinator species, we humans
have become riskily overspecialized. And
when the human-honeybee relationship is
disrupted, as it has been by colony collapse
disorder, the vulnerability of that agricultural
system begins to become clear.
E In fact, a few wild bees are already being
successfully managed for crop pollination.
“The problem is trying to provide native bees
in adequate numbers on a reliable basis in a

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fairly short number of years in order to

service the crop，” Jim Cane says. “You’re
talking millions of flowers per acre in a two-to
three-week time frame, or less, for a lot of
crops.” On the other hand, native bees can
be much more efficient pollinators of certain
crops than honeybees, so you don’t need as
many to do the job. For example, about 750
blue orchard bees (Osmia lignaria) can
pollinate a hectare of apples or almonds, a
task that would require roughly 50,000 to
150,000 honeybees. There are bee tinkerers
engaged in similar work in many comers of
the world. In Brazil, Breno Freitas has found
that Centris tarsata, the native pollinator of cashew/ ˈkæˌʃu /: hạt điều
wild cashew, can survive in commercial
cashew orchards if growers provide a source
of floral oils, such as by interplanting their
cashew trees with Caribbean cherry.
F In certain places, native bees may already
be doing more than they’re getting credit for.
Ecologist Rachael Winfree recently led a
pollination / ˌpɑləˈneɪʃən /: the transfer of pollen to a
team that looked at pollination of four
summer crops (tomato, watermelon, stigma, ovule, flower, or plant to allow fertilization
peppers, and muskmelon) at 29 farms in the
region of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Winfiree’s team identified 54 species of wild
bees that visited these crops, and found that
wild bees were the most important
pollinators in the system: even though
managed honeybees were present on many
of the farms, wild bees were responsible for
62 percent of flower visits in the study. In
another study focusing specifically on
watermelon, Winfree and her colleagues
calculated that native bees alone could
provide sufficient pollination at 90 percent of
the 23 farms studied. By contrast,
honeybees alone could provide sufficient
pollination at only 78 percent of farms.
G “The region I work in is not typical of the
way most food is produced，” Winfree interspersed / ˌɪntərˈspɜrst /: scatter among or
admits. In the Delaware Valley, most farms between other things; place here and there
and farm fields are relatively small, each
synonyms:scatter, distribute, disperse, spread, strew
fanner typically grows a variety of crops, and
farms are interspersed with suburbs and patchwork / ˈpæʧˌwɜrk /: needlework in which small
other types of land use which means there pieces of cloth in different designs, colors, or textures
are opportunities for homeowners to get are sewn together
involved in bee conservation, too. The
landscape is a bee-friendly patchwork that
provides a variety of nesting habitat and
floral resources distributed among different
kinds of crops, weedy field margins, fallow

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fields, suburban neighborhoods, and semi suburban / səˈbɜrbən /: of or characteristic of a

natural habitat like old woodlots, all at a suburb
relatively small scale. In other words,
’’pollinator-friendly” farming practices would synonyms:residential, commuter, dormitory, bedroom
not only aid pollination of agricultural crops,
but also serve as a key element in the over
all conservation strategy for wild pollinators,
and often aid other wild species as well.
H Of course, not all farmers will be able to
implement all of these practices. And
researchers are suggesting a shift to a kind
of polyglot agricultural system. For some
small-scale farms, native bees may indeed
be all that’s needed. For larger operations, a
suite of managed bees—with honeybees
filling the generalist role and other, native
bees pollinating specific crops—could be
augmented by free pollination services from
resurgent wild pollinators. In other words, augmented / ɑgˈmɛntəd /: having been made greater
they’re saying, we still have an opportunity to in size or value
replace a risky monoculture with something
diverse, resilient, and robust.

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One of London Zoo’s recent advertisements

caused me some irritation, so patently did it
distort reality. Headlined “Without zoos you
might as well tell these animals to get bordered / ˈbɔrdərd /: form an edge along or beside
stuffed”, it was bordered with illustrations of
(something
several endangered species and went on to
extol the myth that without zoos like London synonyms:surround, enclose, encircle, circle, edge
Zoo these animals “will almost certainly
disappear forever”. With the zoo world’s mediocre / ˌmidiˈoʊkər /: of only moderate quality;
rather mediocre record on conservation, one not very good
might be forgiven for being slightly sceptical
about such an advertisement.
Zoos were originally created as places of
entertainment, and their suggested
involvement with conservation didn’t
seriously arise until about 30 years ago,
when the Zoological Society of London held
the first formal international meeting on the
subject. Eight years later, a series of world
conferences took place, entitled “The conferences / ˈkɑnfərənsəz /: a formal meeting for
Breeding of Endangered Species”, and from discussion
this point onwards conservation became the
synonyms:discussion, consultation, exchange of
zoo community’s buzzword. This
views, debate
commitment has now been clear defined in
The World Zoo Conservation Strategy
(WZGS, September 1993), which although
an important and welcome document does
seem to be based on an unrealistic optimism
about the nature of the zoo industry.
The WZCS estimates that there are about
10,000 zoos in the world, of which around

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1,000 represent a core of quality collections

capable of participating in coordinated
conservation programmes. This is probably
the document’s first failing, as I believe that
masquerading / ˌmæskəˈreɪdɪŋ /: pretend to be
10,000 is a serious underestimate of the total
someone one is not
number of places masquerading as
zoological establishments. Of course it is zoological / ˌzuˈlɑʤɪkəl /: relating to zoology - động
difficult to get accurate data but, to put the vật học
issue into perspective, I have found that, in a
year of working in Eastern Europe, I discover
fresh zoos on almost a weekly basis.
flaw / flɔ /: a mark, fault, or other imperfection that
The second flaw in the reasoning of the mars a substance or object
WZCS document is the naive faith it places in
its 1,000 core zoos. One would assume that
the calibre of these institutions would have
been carefully examined, but it appears that
the criterion for inclusion on this select list criterion / kraɪˈtɪriən /: a principle or standard by
might merely be that the zoo is a member of which something may be judged or decided
a zoo federation or association. This might
be a good starting point, working on the
premise that members must meet certain
standards, but again the facts don’t support
the theory. The greatly respected American
Association of Zoological Parks and
Aquariums (AAZPA) has had extremely dubious / ˈdubiəs /: hesitating or doubting
dubious members, and in the UK the
Federation of Zoological Gardens of Great synonyms:doubtful, uncertain, unsure, in
Britain and Ireland has occasionally had doubt, hesitant,
members that have been roundly censured in
the national press. These include Robin Hill
Adventure Park on the Isle of Wight, which
notorious / noʊˈtɔriəs /: famous or well known,
many considered the most notorious
typically for some bad quality or deed
collection of animals in the country. This
establishment, which for years was protected
by the Isle’s local council (which viewed it as
a tourist amenity), was finally closed down
following a damning report by a veterinary
inspector appointed under the terms of the
Zoo Licensing Act 1981. As it was always a repute/ riˈpjut /: the opinion generally held of
collection of dubious repute, one is obliged
someone or something; the state of being generally
to reflect upon the standards that the Zoo
regarded in a particular way
Federation sets when granting membership.
The situation is even worse in developing synonyms:reputation, name, character, report
countries where little money is available for
redevelopment and it is hard to see a way of
incorporating collections into the overall
scheme of the WZCS.
Even assuming that the WZCS’s 1,000 core dedicated / ˈdɛdəkeɪtəd /: devote (time, effort, or
zoos are all of a high standard complete with oneself) to a particular task or purpose
scientific staff and research facilities, trained
and dedicated keepers, accommodation that synonyms:devote, commit, pledge, bind, obligate
permits normal or natural behaviour, and a
policy of co-operating fully with one another

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what might be the potential for conservation?

Colin Tudge, author of Last Animals at the
Zoo (Oxford University Press, 1992), argues
that “if the world”s zoos worked together in
co-operative breeding programmes, then
even without further expansion they could vertebrates/ ˈvɜrtəˌbreɪts /: an animal of a large
save around 2,000 species of endangered group distinguished by the possession of a backbone or
land vertebrates’. This seems an extremely spinal column, including mammals, birds, reptiles,
optimistic proposition from a man who must amphibians, and fishes
be aware of the failings and weaknesses of
the zoo industry the man who, when a
member of the council of London Zoo, had to
persuade the zoo to devote more of its
activities to conservation. Moreover, where
are the facts to support such optimism?
Today approximately 16 species might be
said to have been “saved” by captive resounding / riˈsaʊndɪŋ /: unmistakable; emphatic
breeding programmes, although a number of
these can hardly be looked upon as synonyms:enormous, huge, massive, very
resounding successes. Beyond that, about great, tremendous
a further 20 species are being seriously
considered for zoo conservation
programmes. Given that the international
conference at London Zoo was held 30 years
ago, this is pretty slow progress, and a long
way off Tudge’s target of 2,000.

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Jeff Chapman relates the story of history the most important vegetable

A The potato was first cultivated in South cultivated / ˈkʌltəˌveɪtɪd /: prepare and use (land) for
America between three and seven thousand crops or gardening.synonyms:till, plow, dig, turn, hoe
years ago, though scientists believe they
may have grown wild in the region as long as
13,000 years ago. The genetic patterns of
potato distribution indicate that the potato
probably originated in the mountainous west-
central region of the continent.
chroniclers / ˈkrɑnɪklərz /: a person who writes
B Early Spanish chroniclers who misused accounts of important or historical events
the Indian word batata (sweet potato) as the
name for the potato noted the importance of dehydrating / dɪˈhaɪdreɪtɪŋ /: cause (a person or a
the tuber to the Incan Empire. The Incas had person's body) to lose a large amount of water
learned to preserve the potato for storage by
dehydrating and mashing potatoes into a synonyms:dry up, dry out, lose water, become dry
substance called Chuchu could be stored in
a room for up to 10 years, providing excellent mashing / ˈmæʃɪŋ /: reduce (a food or other
insurance against possible crop failures. As substance) to a uniform mass by crushing it
well as using the food as a staple crop, the
Incas thought potatoes made childbirth
easier and used it to treat injuries.
C The Spanish conquistadors first
encountered the potato when they arrived in
Peru in 1532 in search of gold, and noted
Inca miners eating chuchu. At the time the
Spaniards failed to realize that the potato
represented a far more important treasure
than either silver or gold, but they did
gradually begin to use potatoes as basic
rations aboard their ships. After the arrival of
the potato in Spain in 1570，a few Spanish

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farmers began to cultivate them on a small

scale, mostly as food for livestock.
suspicion/ səˈspɪʃən /: cautious distrust
D Throughout Europe, potatoes were
regarded with suspicion, distaste and fear. synonyms:misgiving, doubt, qualm, wariness, chariness
Generally considered to be unfit for human
sustenance / ˈsʌstənəns /: food and drink regarded
consumption, they were used only as animal
fodder and sustenance for the starving. In as a source of strength; nourishment
northern Europe, potatoes were primarily synonyms:nourishment, food, nutriment, nutrition, fare
grown in botanical gardens as an exotic
novelty. Even peasants refused to eat from a nightshade / ˈnaɪˌʧeɪd /: a plant related to the
plant that produced ugly, misshapen tubers potato, typically having poisonous black or red berries
and that had come from a heathen
civilization. Some felt that the potato plant’s
resemblance to plants in the nightshade
family hinted that it was the creation of
witches or devils.
E In meat-loving England, farmers and urban
workers regarded potatoes with extreme
distaste. In 1662, the Royal Society
recommended the cultivation of the tuber to
the English government and the nation, but
this recommendation had little impact.
Potatoes did not become a staple until,
during the food shortages associated with the
Revolutionary Wars, the English government
began to officially encourage potato
cultivation. In 1795, the Board of Agriculture
issued a pamphlet entitled “Hints Respecting
the Culture and Use of Potatoes”； this was recipes / ˈrɛsəpiz /: a set of instructions for preparing
followed shortly by pro-potato editorials and a particular dish, including a list of the ingredients
potato recipes in The Times. Gradually, the required
lower classes began to follow the lead of the
upper classes. synonyms:cooking directions, receipt
F A similar pattern emerged across the
English Channel in the Netherlands, Belgium
and France. While the potato slowly gained
ground in eastern France (where it was often
the only crop remaining after marauding marauding / məˈrɔdɪŋ /: roam in search of things to
soldiers plundered wheat fields and steal or people to attack
vineyards), it did not achieve widespread
peasants / ˈpɛzənts /: a poor farmer of low social
acceptance until the late 1700s. The
status who owns or rents a small piece of land for
peasants remained suspicious, in spite of a
1771 paper from the Facult de Paris cultivation
testifying that the potato was not harmful but synonyms:agricultural worker, small farmer, rustic, son
beneficial. The people began to overcome of the soil, countryman
their distaste when the plant received the
royal seal of approval: Louis XVI began to
sport a potato flower in his buttonhole, and
Marie-Antoinette wore the purple potato
blossom in her hair.
G Frederick the Great of Prussia saw the
potato’s potential to help feed his nation and

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lower the price of bread, but faced the prejudice / ˈprɛʤədɪs /: preconceived opinion that is
challenge of overcoming the people’s not based on reason or actual experience
prejudice against the plant. When he issued
a 1774 order for his subjects to grow synonyms:preconceived
potatoes as protection against famine, the idea, preconception, preconceived notion
town of Kolberg replied: “The things have
neither smell nor taste, not even the dogs will
eat them, so what use are they to us?” Trying psychology/ saɪˈkɑləʤi /: the scientific study of the
a less direct approach to encourage his human mind and its functions, especially those affecting
subjects to begin planting potatoes, Frederick
behavior in a given context
used a bit of reverse psychology: he planted
a royal field of potato plants and stationed a
heavy guard to protect this field from thieves.
Nearby peasants naturally assumed that
anything worth guarding was worth stealing,
and so snuck into the field and snatched the
plants for their home gardens. Of course, this
was entirely in line with Frederick’s wishes.
H Historians debate whether the potato was
primarily a cause or an effect of the huge
population boom in industrial-era England
and Wales. Prior to 1800，the English diet supplemented / ˈsʌpləˌmɛntəd /: add an extra
had consisted primarily of meat, element or amount to
supplemented by bread, butter and cheese.
Few vegetables were consumed, most
vegetables being regarded as nutritionally
worthless and potentially harmful. This view
began to change gradually in the late 1700s. populace / ˈpɑpjələs /: the people living in a
The Industrial Revolution was drawing an particular country or area:
ever increasing percentage of the populace
into crowded cities, where only the richest
could afford homes with ovens or coal
storage rooms, and people were working 12-
16 hour days which left them with little time
or energy to prepare food. High yielding,
easily prepared potato crops were the
obvious solution to England’s food problems.
embraced / ɛmˈbreɪst /: accept or support (a belief,
I Whereas most of their neighbors regarded theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically
the potato with suspicion and had to be
persuaded to use it by the upper classes, the synonyms:welcome, accept, receive
Irish peasantry embraced the tuber more enthusiastically/wholeheartedly, take up
passionately than anyone since the Incas.
The potato was well suited to the Irish the
soil and climate, and its high yield suited the
most important concern of most Irish farmers:
to feed their families.
J The most dramatic example of the potato’s
potential to alter population patterns occurred
in Ireland, where the potato had become a
staple by 1800. The Irish population doubled
to eight million between 1780 and 1841，this
without any significant expansion of industry
or reform of agricultural techniques beyond

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the widespread cultivation of the potato.

Though Irish landholding practices were
primitive in comparison with those of
England, the potato’s high yields allowed
threshing/ ˈθrɛʃɪŋ /: the process of separating grain
even the poorest farmers to produce more
from corn or other crops
healthy food than they needed with scarcely
any investment or hard labor. Even children grinding/ ˈgraɪndɪŋ /: a crushing or grating sound or
could easily plant, harvest and cook motion
potatoes, which of course required no
threshing, curing or grinding. The infant / ˈɪnfənt /: a very young child or baby
abundance provided by potatoes greatly
decreased infant mortality and encouraged
early marriage.

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The continuous and reckless use of synthetic / sɪnˈθɛtɪk /: (of a substance) made by
synthetic chemicals for the control of pests chemical synthesis, especially to imitate a natural
which pose a threat to agricultural crops and product
human health is proving to be counter-
productive. Apart from engendering
widespread ecological disorders, pesticides
have contributed to the emergence of a new
breed of chemical-resistant, highly lethal
superbugs.
According to a recent study by the Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO), more than
300 species of agricultural pests have
developed resistance to a wide range of potent / ˈpoʊtənt /: formed of crutch-shaped pieces;
potent chemicals. Not to be left behind are (especially of a cross) having a straight bar across the
the disease-spreading pests, about 100 end of each extremity
species of which have become immune to a
variety of insecticides now in use.
One glaring disadvantage of pesticides’
application is that, while destroying harmful
pests, they also wipe out many useful non-
targeted organisms, which keep the growth
of the pest population in check. This results
in what agroecologists call the ‘treadmill
syndrome’. Because of their tremendous
breeding potential and genetic diversity,
many pests are known to withstand offspring / ˈɔfˌsprɪŋ /: a person's child or children
synthetic chemicals and bear offspring with
a built-in resistance to pesticides. synonyms:children, sons and
The havoc that the ‘treadmill syndrome’ can daughters, progeny, family
bring about is well illustrated by what
happened to cotton farmers in Central
America. In the early 1940s, basking in the
glory of chemical-based intensive agriculture,
the farmers avidly took to pesticides as a
sure measure to boost crop yield. The

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insecticide was applied eight times a year in insecticide/ ɪnˈsɛktəˌsaɪd /: a substance used for
the mid-1940s, rising to 28 in a season in the killing insects
mid-1950s, following the sudden proliferation
of three new varieties of chemical-resistant
pests.
By the mid-1960s, the situation took an
alarming turn with the outbreak of four more
new pests, necessitating pesticide spraying
to such an extent that 50% of the financial
outlay on cotton production was accounted
for by pesticides. In the early 1970s, the
spraying freopic 64quently reached 70 times
a season as the farmers were pushed to the
genetically / ʤəˈnɛtɪkli /: in a way that relates to
wall by the invasion of genetically stronger
genes or genetics
insect species.
Most of the pesticides in the market today
remain inadequately tested for properties that mutations / mjuˈteɪʃənz /: the changing of the
cause cancer and mutations as well as for
structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may
other adverse effects on health, says a study
be transmitted to subsequent generations
by United States environmental agencies.
The United States National Resource synonyms:alteration, change, variation,
Defense Council has found that DDT was the
most popular of a long list of dangerous modification, transformation
chemicals in use.
In the face of the escalating perils from
indiscriminate applications of pesticides, a
more effective and ecologically sound
strategy of biological control, involving the
selective use of natural enemies of the pest
population, is fast gaining popularity - though,
as yet, it is a new field with limited potential.
The advantage of biological control in
contrast to other methods is that it provides perpetual / pərˈpɛʧuəl /: never ending or changing
a relatively low-cost, perpetual control synonyms:everlasting, never-
system with a minimum of detrimental side- ending, eternal, permanent, unending
effects. When handled by experts, bio-control
is safe, non-polluting and self-dispersing.
The Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control
(CIBC) in Bangalore, with its global network of
research laboratories and field stations, is one of
the most active, non-commercial
research agencies engaged in pest control by parasites/ ˈpɛrəˌsaɪts /: ký sinh trùng
setting natural predators against parasites. CIBC
also serves as a clearing-house for the export
and import of biological agents for pest control
world-wide.
CIBC successfully used a seed-feeding
weevil, native to Mexico, to control the
obnoxious parthenium weed, known to exert
devious influence on agriculture and human
health in both India and Australia. Similarly
the Hyderabad-based Regional Research

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Laboratory (RRL), supported by CIBC, is now eradication / ɪˌrædəˈkeɪʃən /: the complete

trying out an Argentinian weevil for the destruction of something
eradication of water hyacinth,
another dangerous weed, which has become
a nuisance in many parts of the world.
According to Mrs Kaiser Jamil of RRL, ‘The
Argentinian weevil does not attack any other
plant and a pair of adult bugs could destroy
the weed in 4-5 days.’ CIBC is also defoliants / dɪˈfoʊliənts /: a chemical that removes
perfecting the technique for breeding the leaves from trees and plants, used in warfare
parasites that prey on ‘disapene scale’
insects - notorious defoliants of fruit trees in
the US and India.
How effectively biological control can be
groves / groʊvz /: a small wood, orchard, or group of
pressed into service is proved by the
following examples. In the late 1960s, when trees
Sri Lanka’s flourishing coconut groves were
plagued by leaf-mining hispides, a larval
parasite imported from Singapore brought
the pest under control. A natural predator
indigenous to India, Neodumetia sangawani,
was found useful in controlling the
beetle / ˈbitəl /:bọ cánh cứng
Rhodes grass-scale insect that was
devouring forage grass in many parts of the
US. By using Neochetina bruci, a beetle
native to Brazil, scientists at Kerala
Agricultural University freed a 12-kilometre-
long canal from the clutches of the weed
Salvinia molesta, popularly called ‘African
Payal’ in Kerala. About 30,000 hectares of
rice fields in Kerala are infested by this weed.

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The ants and their agriculture have been

extensively studied over the years, but the
recent research has uncovered intriguing
new findings about the fungus they cultivate,
how they domesticated it and how they
cultivate it and preserve it from pathogens.
For example, the fungus farms, which the
ants were thought to keep free of pathogens/ ˈpæθəʤənz /: a bacterium, virus, or
pathogens, turn out to be vulnerable to a other microorganism that can cause disease
devastating mold, found nowhere else but in
ants’ nests. To keep the mold in check, the
ants long ago made a discovery that would
do credit to any pharmaceutical laboratory.
Leaf-cutting ants and their fungus farms are
a marvel of nature and perhaps the best
known example of symbiosis, the mutual
dependence of two species. The ants’
achievement is remarkable -he biologist
Edward O. Wilson has called it “one of the
major breakthroughs in animal evolution” - breakthroughs/ ˈbreɪkˌθruz /: a sudden, dramatic,
because it allows them to eat, courtesy of and important discovery or development
their mushroom’s digestive powers, the
otherwise poisoned harvest of tropical forests laden: heavily loaded or weighed down.
whose leaves are laden with terpenoids,
alkaloids and other chemicals designed to
sicken browsers
Fungus growing seems to have originated
only once in evolution, because all gardening
ants belong to a single tribe, the descendants
of the first fungus farmer. There are more
than 200 known species of the attine ant
tribe, divided into 12 groups, or genera. The

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leaf-cutters use fresh vegetation; the other

groups, known as the lower attines because
their nests are smaller and their techniques
more primitive, feed their gardens with
detritus / dɪˈtraɪtəs /: waste or debris of any kind
detritus like dead leaves, insects and feces.
In 1994 a team of four biologists, Ulrich G.
Mueller and Ted R. Schultz from Cornell
University and Ignacio H. Chapela and
Stephen A. Rehner from the United States
Department of Agriculture, nanlyzed the DNA
of ant funguses. The common assumption derived / dəˈraɪvd /: obtain something from (a
that the funguses are all derived from a specified source
single strain, they found, was only half true.
synonyms:obtain, get, take, gain, acquire
The leaf-cutters’ fungus was indeed
descended from a single strain, propagated
clonally, or just by budding, for at least 23
million years. But the lower attine ants used budding/ ˈbʌdɪŋ /: (of a plant or animal) form a bud
different varieties of the fungus, and in one
case a quite separate species, the four
biologists discovered. Cameron R. Currie, a
Ph.D. student in the University of Toronto, it
seemed to Mr. Currie, resembled the
monocultures of various human crops, that
are very productive for a while and then disastrous / dɪˈzæstrəs /: causing great damage
succumb to some disastrous pathogen,
such as the Irish potato blight. Monocultures,
which lack the genetic diversity to respond to
changing environmental threats, are sitting
ducks for parasites. Mr. Currie felt there had
to be a parasite in the ant- fungus system.
But a century of ant research offered no
support for the idea. Textbooks describe how scrupulously / ˈskrupjələsli /: in a very careful and
leaf-cutter ants scrupulously weed their thorough way
gardens of all foreign organisms. “People
kept telling me, ‘You know the ants keep their
gardens free of parasites, don’t you?’ “ Mr.
Currie said of his efforts to find a hidden
interloper.
But after three years of sifting through attine
ant gardens, Mr. Currie discovered they are
far from free of infections. In last month’s
issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, he and two
colleagues, Dr. Mueller and David Mairoch,
isolated several alien organisms, particularly virulent /'virulənt/: do virut ( độc )
a family of parasitic molds called Escovopsis.
Escovopsis turns out to be a highly virulent
pathogen that can devastate a fungus garden blooms / blumz /: produce flowers; be in flower
in a couple of days. It blooms like a white
cloud, with the garden dimly visible synonyms:blossom, flower, be in blossom/flower, come
underneath. In a day or two the whole garden into flower
is enveloped. “Other ants won’t go near it
and the ants associated with the garden just

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starve to death,” Dr. Rehner said. “They just larvae/ ˈlɑrvi /: ấu trùng
seem to give up, except for those that have
rescued their larvae.”
Evidently the ants usually manage to keep
Escovopsis and other parasites under
control. But with any lapse in control, or if the
ants are removed, Escovopsis will quickly
burst forth. Although new leaf-cutter gardens
start off free of Escovopsis, within two years
some 60 percent become infected. The
discovery of Escovopsis’s role brings a new
level of understanding to the evolution of the
attine ants. “In the last decade, evolutionary
biologists have been increasingly aware of
the role of parasites as driving forces in
evolution,” Dr. Schultz said. There is now a
possible reason to explain why the lower
attine species keep changing the variety of
fungus in their mushroom gardens, and
occasionally domesticating new ones— to
stay one step ahead of the relentless
Escovopsis.
Interestingly, Mr. Currie found that the leaf-
cutters had in general fewer alien molds in
their gardens than the lower attines, yet they
alternative/ ɔlˈtɜrnətɪv /: one of two or more available
had more Escovopsis infections. It seems
that the price they pay for cultivating a pure possibilities
variety of fungus is a higher risk from swollen / ˈswoʊlən /: (especially of a part of the
Escovopsis. But the leaf-cutters may have body) become larger or rounder in size, typically as a
little alternative: they cultivate a special result of an accumulation of fluid
variety of fungus which, unlike those grown
by the lower attines, produces nutritious synonyms:expand, bulge, distend, become
swollen tips for the ants to eat. distended, inflate
Discovery of a third partner in the ant-fungus interloper / ˈɪntərˌloʊpər /: a person who becomes
symbiosis raises the question of how the involved in a place or situation where they are not
attine ants, especially the leaf-cutters, keep
wanted or are considered not to belong
this dangerous interloper under control.
Amazingly enough, Mr. Currie has again
provided the answer. “People have known for
a hundred years that ants have a whitish
growth on the cuticle,” said Dr. Mueller,
referring to the insects’ body surface. “People inert / ɪˈnɜrt /: lacking the ability or strength to move
would say this is like a cuticular wax. But synonyms:unmoving, motionless, immobile, still, stock-
Cameron was the first one in a hundred still
years to put these things under a
microscope. He saw it was not inert wax. It is cuticle / ˈkjutəkəl /: a protective and waxy or hard
alive.” Mr. Currie discovered a specialized layer covering the epidermis of a plant, invertebrate, or
patch on the ants’ cuticle that harbors a shell.
particular kind of bacterium, one well known
to the pharmaceutical industry, because it is
the source of half the antibiotics used in
medicine. From each of 22 species of attine
ant studied, Mr. Cameron and colleagues

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isolated a species of Streptomyces

bacterium, they reported in Nature in April.
The Streptomyces does not have much effect
on ordinary laboratory funguses. But it is a
potent poisoner of Escovopsis, inhibiting its
growth and suppressing spore formation.
Because both the leaf-cutters and the lower
attines use Streptomyces, the bacterium may
have been part of their symbiosis for almost
as long as theEscovopsis mold. If so, some
Alexander Fleming of an ant discovered feats / fits /: an achievement that requires great
antibiotics millions of years before people courage, skill, or strength
did. Even now, the ants are accomplishing
two feats beyond the powers of human prudently / ˈprudəntli /: in a way that shows care and
technology. The leaf-cutters are growing a thought for the future
monocultural crop year after year without
disaster, and they are using an antibiotic
apparently so wisely and prudently that,
unlike people, they are not provoking
antibiotic resistance in the target pathogen.

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Light is important to organisms for two

different reasons. Firstly it Is used as a cue
for the timing of daily and seasonal rhythms / ˈrɪðəmz /: a strong, regular, repeated
rhythms in both plants and animals, and pattern of movement or sound
secondly it is used to assist growth in
synonyms:pattern, flow, tempo, regular
plants.
features, recurrent nature
Breeding in most organisms occurs during
a part of the year only, and so a reliable
cue is needed to trigger breeding
behaviour. Day length is an excellent cue,
because it provides a perfectly predictable
pattern of change within the year. In the
temperate zone in spring, temperatures fluctuate / ˈflʌkʧəˌweɪt /: rise and fall irregularly in
fluctuate greatly from day to day. but day number or amount
length increases steadily by a predictable
amount. The seasonal impact of day synonyms:vary, differ, shift, change, alter
length on physiological responses is called
photoperiodism, and the amount of
experimental evidence for this
phenomenon is considerable. For
example, some species of birds’ breeding
can be induced even in midwinter simply
by increasing day length artificially
(Wolfson 1964). Other examples of
photoperiodism occur in plants. A short-
day plant flowers when the day is less than
a certain critical length. A long-day plant
flowers after a certain critical day length is
exceeded. In both cases the critical day
length differs from species to species.
Plants which flower after a period of

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vegetative growth, regardless of vegetative / ˌvɛʤəˈteɪtɪv /: relating to or denoting

photoperiod, are known as day-neutral reproduction or propagation achieved by asexual
plants. means, either naturally
Breeding seasons in animals such as birds
have evolved to occupy the part of the
year in which offspring have the greatest
chances of survival. Before the breeding
season begins, food reserves must be built
up to support the energy cost of
reproduction, and to provide for young
birds both when they are in the nest and fledging/ ˈflɛʤɪŋ /: develop wing feathers that are
after fledging. Thus many temperate-zone large enough for flight
birds use the increasing day lengths in
spring as a cue to begin the nesting cycle,
because this is a point when adequate
food resources will be assured.
The adaptive significance of
photoperiodism in plants is also clear.
Short-day plants that flower in spring in the
temperate zone are adapted to maximising
seedling growth during the growing
season. Long-day plants are adapted for
situations that require fertilization by
insects, or a long period of seed ripening. ripening/ ˈraɪpnɪŋ /: become or make ripe
Short-day plants that flower in the autumn synonyms:become ripe, mature, come to
in the temperate zone are able to build up maturity, mellow, become tender
food reserves over the growing season
and over winter as seeds. Day-neutral reserves / rɪˈzɜrvz /: refrain from using or disposing
plants have an evolutionary advantage of (something); retain for future use
when the connection between the
favourable period for reproduction and synonyms:put to one side, put aside, set aside, lay
day length is much less certain. For aside, keep back
example, desert annuals germinate, flower
and seed whenever suitable rainfall favourable / ˈfeɪ.vɚ.ə.bəl /: expressing approval
occurs, regardless of the day length. synonyms:approving, commendatory, commending
The breeding season of some plants can
, praising, complimentary
be delayed to extraordinary lengths.
Bamboos are perennial grasses that perennial / pəˈrɛniəl /: lasting or existing for a long
remain in a vegetative state for many or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually
years and then suddenly flower, fruit and recurring
die (Evans 1976). Every bamboo of the
species Chusquea abietifolio on the island
of Jamaica flowered, set seed and died
during 1884. The next generation of flowered / ˈflaʊərd /: having a floral design
bamboo flowered and died between 1916
and 1918, which suggests a vegetative
cycle of about 31 years. The climatic
trigger for this flowering cycle is not yet
known, but the adaptive significance is
clear. The simultaneous production of
masses of bamboo seeds (in some cases simultaneous/ ˌsaɪməlˈteɪniəs /: occurring, operating,
lying 12 to 15 centimetres deep on the or done at the same time
ground) is more than all the seed-eating

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animals can cope with at the time, so that

some seeds escape being eaten and grow
up to form the next generation (Evans
1976).
The second reason light is important to
organisms is that it is essential for
photosynthesis. This is the process by
which plants use energy from the sun to
convert carbon from soil or water into
organic material for growth. The rate of
photosynthesis in a plant can be measured
by calculating the rate of its uptake of uptake / ˈʌpˌteɪk /: the action of taking up or making
carbon. There is a wide range of
use of something that is available
photosynthetic responses of plants to
variations in light intensity. Some plants
reach maximal photosynthesis at one-
quarter full sunlight, and others, like
sugarcane, never reach a maximum, but
continue to increase photosynthesis rate intensity / ɪnˈtɛnsəti /: the quality of being intense
as light intensity rises. synonyms:strength, power, powerfulness, potency, vigor
Plants in general can be divided into two
groups: shade-tolerant species and shade-
intolerant species. This classification is
commonly used in forestry and
horticulture. Shade-tolerant plants have horticulture/ ˈhɔrtɪˌkʌlʧər /: the art or practice of
lower photosynthetic rates and hence have garden cultivation and management
lower growth rates than those of shade-
intolerant species. Plant species become
adapted to living in a certain kind of
habitat, and in the process evolve a series
of characteristics that prevent them from
occupying other habitats. Grime (1966)
suggests that light may be one of the
major components directing these
adaptations. For example, eastern
hemlock seedlings are shade-tolerant. understorey / ˈʌn.dəˌstɔː.ri /: a layer of vegetation
They can survive in the forest beneath the main canopy of a forest
understorey under very low light levels
because they have a low photosynthetic
rate.

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Cork - the thick bark of the cork oak tree Elastic / ɪˈlæstɪk /: (of an object or material) able to
(Quercus suber) - is a remarkable resume its normal shape spontaneously after contraction,
material. It is tough, elastic, buoyant, dilatation, or distortion.
and fire-resistant, and suitable for a wide
range of purposes. It has also been used synonyms:stretchy, elasticated, stretchable, springy, flexible
for millennia: the ancient Egyptians
sealed then sarcophagi (stone coffins) buoyant/ ˈbɔɪənt /:able or apt to stay afloat or rise to the
with cork, while the ancient Greeks and top of a liquid or gas.synonyms:able to
Romans used it for anything from float, light, floating, floatable
beehives to sandals.
coffins/ ˈkɔfɪnz /: a long, narrow box, typically of wood, in
And the cork oak itself is an extraordinary which a corpse is buried or cremated
tree. Its bark grows up to 20 cm in
thickness, insulating the tree like a coat insulating / ˈɪnsəˌleɪtɪŋ /: protect (something) by
wrapped around the trunk and branches interposing material that prevents the loss of heat or the
and keeping the inside at a constant intrusion of sound
20°C all year round. Developed most
synonyms:wrap, cover, encase, enclose, envelop
probably as a defence against forest
fires, the bark of the cork oak has a
particular cellular structure - with about
40 million cells per cubic centimetre - that replicating/ ˈrɛplɪˌkeɪtɪŋ /: make an exact copy of;
technology has never succeeded in reproduce
replicating. The cells are filled with air,
which is why cork is so buoyant. It also
has an elasticity that means you can
squash / skwɑʃ /: crush or squeeze (something) with
squash it and watch it spring back to its
force so that it becomes flat, soft, or out of shape
original size and shape when you release
the pressure. synonyms:crush, squeeze, flatten, compress, press
Cork oaks grow in a number of
Mediterranean countries, including
Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and
Morocco. They flourish in warm, sunny
climates where there is a minimum of
400 millimetres of rain per year, and no

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more than 800 millimetres. Like grape vines/ vaɪnz /: a climbing or trailing woody-stemmed plant
vines, the trees thrive in poor soil, putting of the grape family
down deep root in search of moisture and
nutrients. Southern Portugal’s Alentejo
region meets all of these requirements,
which explains why, by the early 20th
century, this region had become the
world’s largest producer of cork, and why
today it accounts for roughly half of all
cork production around the world.
Most cork forests are family-owned.
Many of these family businesses, and
indeed many of the trees themselves, are
around 200 years old. Cork production is,
above all, an exercise in patience. From sapling / ˈsæplɪŋ /: a young tree, especially one with a
the planting of a cork sapling to the first slender trunk
harvest takes 25 years, and a gap of
approximately a decade must separate
harvests from an individual tree. And for
top-quality cork, it’s necessary to wait a
further 15 or 20 years. You even have to
wait for the right kind of summer’s day to
harvest cork. If the bark is stripped on a
day when it’s too cold - or when the air is
damp - the tree will be damaged.
Cork harvesting is a very specialised
profession. No mechanical means of
stripping cork bark has been invented, stripping / ˈstrɪpɪŋ /: remove all coverings from
so the job is done by teams of highly
skilled workers. First, they make vertical
cuts down the bark using small sharp
axes, then lever it away in pieces as
large as they can manage. The most prise / praɪz /: use force in order to move, move apart, or
skilful cork- strippers prise away a semi- open (something)
circular husk that runs the length of the
trunk from just above ground level to the synonyms:lever, force, wrench, pull, wrest
first branches. It is then dried on the
ground for about four months, before
being taken to factories, where it is boiled
to kill any insects that might remain in the
cork. Over 60% of cork then goes on to
be made into traditional bottle stoppers,
with most of the remainder being used in
the construction trade, Corkboard and
cork tiles are ideal for thermal and
acoustic insulation, while granules of granules / ˈgrænjəlz /: a small compact particle of a
cork are used in the manufacture of substance
concrete.
Recent years have seen the end of the
virtual monopoly of cork as the material
for bottle stoppers, due to concerns
about the effect it may have on the
contents of the bottle. This is caused by a

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chemical compound called 2,4,6-

trichloroanisole (TCA), which forms
through the interaction of plant phenols, chlorine / ˈklɔrin /: the chemical element of atomic
chlorine and mould. The tiniest number 17, a toxic, irritant, pale green gas
concentrations - as little as three or four
spoil / spɔɪl /: diminish or destroy the value or quality of
parts to a trillion - can spoil the taste of
the product contained in the bottle. The synonyms:mar, damage, impair, blemish, disfigure
result has been a gradual yet steady
move first towards plastic stoppers and,
more recently, to aluminium screw caps.
These substitutes are cheaper to
manufacture and, in the case of screw
caps, more convenient for the user.
The classic cork stopper does have
several advantages, however. Firstly, its
traditional image is more in keeping with
that of the type of high quality goods with
which it has long been associated.
Secondly - and very importantly - cork is
a sustainable product that can be
recycled without difficulty. Moreover, cork
forests are a resource which support
local biodiversity, and prevent
desertification in the regions where they desertification / dɪˌzɝː.t̬ ə.fəˈkeɪ.ʃən /: the process by
are planted. So, given the current which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of
concerns about environmental issues, drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture
the future of this ancient material once
again looks promising.

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Back in early 1961, few outside the corridors / ˈkɔrɪdərz /: a long passage in a building from
corridors of dwindling British power had which doors lead into rooms
heard of the archipelago centred on the
main island of Tristan da Cunha, from
which the scattered islands that make up
the group took their name.
It would take a dramatic volcanic eruption, evacuation / ɪˌvækjəˈweɪʃən /: the action of evacuating
and an emergency evacuation that would a person or a place
grab the attention of the media, to bring synonyms:removal, clearance, shifting, expulsion, eviction
attention to this mysterious outpost of the
British Empire. It seemed that the islands,
no more than pin-pricks in the Southern
Atlantic Ocean, almost equidistant equidistant / ˌiː.kwəˈdɪs.tənt /: at equal distances
between Buenos Aires in South America
and Cape Town in South Africa, preferred
not to be found.
The same can be said of the 290 or so
residents of Tristan da Cunha at that time.
They lived on the remotest island on the
entire planet.There was no airport, nor was
there space to build one on this
mountainous carbuncle projecting from the
impenetrable / ɪmˈpɛnətrəbəl /: impossible to pass
ocean.The only harbour, impenetrable
during rough weather, was 1,500 miles through or enter
distant from the nearest mainland port. synonyms:impassable, unpassable,
Cape Town. Communications with the
outside world relied predominantly on inaccessible, unnavigable
signals to passing fishing boats and the

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annual visit of the vessel that supplied the

islanders with the goods they could not
produce themselves.
For this was a self-reliant community,
proud of their ability to survive and help
each other in times of adversity. Colonised
early in the 19th century, until December
1942, money had not been exchanged on
the island. However, war-time conditions
and new development, in particular a new
fishing industry, saw the beginnings of links
which meant that the islanders had to
accept they were now part of the modern
world, however much the older members of
the community might resist such change.
ticked / tɪkt /: make regular short sharp sounds,
The lives of the islanders ticked quietly typically one for every second of time that passes
along, largely ignored as the government of
Britain struggled with larger events on the
world stage, until the beginning of August
1961. Earth tremors and rock falls began
on the 6th, but by October the situation had
got so bad that the island had to be
evacuated.The entire population eventually
found themselves in England, where they
were met with unwanted and unexpected
attention from the media. They were
housed at a military camp just outside the
port of Southampton.
Coming from a sub-tropical island and
having had little exposure to the illnesses
and chill endured by the natives of the succumbed/ səˈkʌmd /: fail to resist pressure,
British Isles during winter, several of the temptation, or some other negative force
elder islanders succumbed. The
government did not seem to know what to synonyms:yield, give in, give way, submit, surrender
offer the islanders, there was no news
about what was happening to their bleak/ blik /: (of an area of land) lacking vegetation and
homeland, and the future looked very exposed to the elements:"a bleak and barren
bleak.These were people who had built up moor"synonyms:bare, exposed, desolate, stark, arid
their own way of life for over one hundred
and fifty years. They were a compact
community who shared only seven family
names between them, and now it seemed
that their way of life was to be destroyed.
Fortunately, and despite the islanders curiosities/ ˌkjʊriˈɑsətiz /: a strong desire to know or
reluctance to have any dealings with the learn something:"filled with curiosity, she peered through
media, who they suspected looked on them the window"synonyms:inquisitiveness, interest, spirit of
as historical curiosities, the attention inquiry
helped keep their plight in the public eye.
Eventually, word came through that the habitable/ ˈhæbətəbəl /: suitable or good enough to live
island was again habitable and, despite in
strong resistance from the British
Government, the vast majority of the

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islanders voted to return, turning their

backs on the temptations of the brighter
lights of their temporary home in favour of
their own. canning / ˈkænɪŋ /: preserve (food) in a can
The last of the returning islanders arrived in
November 1963 and, with the rebuilding of
the crawfish canning industry and a
growing demand for the island’s stamps
amongst dedicated collectors following the
publicity caused hy the volcanic eniption,
the local economy soon recovered,
although communications remained as
difficult as they had ever been. Michael
Parsons, a young British teacher who was
employed on the island, recalls that there
was no television and mail from the outside telegram/ ˈtɛləˌgræm /: a message sent by telegraph
world arrived just eight times a year. ‘I was and then delivered in written or printed form
allowed to send a 100-word telegram
home once a month,’he recalls,’and getting
news from home brought a lump to my
throat’
Things have changed with developments in
technology, but at the beginning of the
present century the island was again cut off
from the rest of the world when, on May satellite / ˈsætəˌlaɪt /: an artificial body placed in orbit
23rd2001, a hurricane tore through the around the earth or moon or another planet in order to
area. It caused extensive damage, collect information or for communication.
knocking out the radio station and satellite
telephone link as well as leaving the synonyms:space station, space
islanders without electricity. It would be a capsule, spacecraft, artificial satellite
week before news of the disaster reached
London and several more weeks before a
rescue package could be agreed to help
the islanders rebuild.
Today the island boasts its own internet
café. For the first time people can see what
the items they wish to obtain from abroad
actually look like before they purchase
them – a big bonus in a place where you
have to wait many months to receive an
order which might prove to be unsuitable
for the purpose you had in mind. At last, it
seems, Tristan da Cunha has joined the
world.

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A whale surprises researchers with her

journey. A lone humpback whale travelled
more than 9,800 kilometres from breeding humpback / ˈhʌmpˌbæk /: a baleen whale that has a
areas in Brazil to those in Madagascar, hump (instead of a dorsal fin) and long white flippers
setting a record for the longest mammal
migration ever documented.
Humpback whales (Megaptera
novaeangliae) are known to have some of
the longest migration distances of all
mammals, and this huge journey is about
400 kilometres farther than the previous
humpback record. The finding was made by
Peter Stevick, a biologist at the College of
the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.
The whale’s journey was unusual not only for
its length, but also because it travelled longitude / ˈlɑnʤəˌtud /:kinh độ ( bề dài )
across almost 90 degrees of longitude from
west to east. Typically, humpbacks move in a
north-south direction between cold feeding
areas and warm breeding grounds - and the
longest journeys which have been recorded
sites / saɪts /: an area of ground on which a town,
until now have been between breeding and
building, or monument is constructed
feeding sites.
The whale, a female, was first spotted off the synonyms:plot, lot, area, plat
coast of Brazil, where researchers fluke / fluk /: a parasitic flatworm which typically has
photographed its tail fluke and took skin suckers and hooks for attachment to the host. Some
samples for chromosome testing to
species are of veterinary or medical importance
determine the animal's sex. Two years later,
a tourist on a whale-watching boat snapped a chromosome / ˈkroʊməˌsoʊm /: Nhiễm sắc thể
photo of the humpback near Madagascar.

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To match the two sightings, Stevick’s team

used an extensive international catalogue of
photographs of the undersides of tail flukes,
which have distinctive markings.
Researchers routinely compare the markings
in each new photograph to those in the arc / ɑrk /: a part of the circumference of a circle or
archive. other curve
The scientists then estimated the animal’s
shortest possible route: an arc skirting the
southern tip of South Africa and heading detour / dɪˈtʊr /: a long or roundabout route that is
north-east towards Madagascar. The taken to avoid something or to visit somewhere along
minimum distance is 9,800 kilometres, says the way
Stevick, but this is likely to be an
underestimate, because the whale probably
took a detour to feed on krill in the Southern
Ocean near Antarctica before reaching its
destination.
Most humpback-whale researchers focus
hostile / ˈhɑstəl/: unfriendly; antagonistic
their efforts on the Northern Hemisphere
because the Southern Ocean near the synonyms:antagonistic, aggressive,
Antarctic is a hostile environment and it is
hard to get to, explains Rochelle confrontational, belligerent
Constantine, who studies the ecology of
humpback whales at the University of
Auckland in New Zealand. But, for whales,
oceans in the Southern Hemisphere are
wider and easier to travel across, says
Constantine. Scientists will probably observe
more long-distance migrations in the
Southern Hemisphere as satellite tracking record-breaking / ˈrɛkərd-ˈbreɪkɪŋ /: surpassing a
becomes increasingly common, she adds.
record or best-ever achievement
Daniel Palacios, an oceanographer at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa, says that the
record-breaking journey could indicate that
migration patterns are shifting as populations
begin to recover from near-extinction and the
population increases. But the reasons why
the whale did not follow the usual migration
routes remain a mystery. She could have
been exploring new habitats, or simply have Undoubtedly / ənˈdaʊtɪdli /: not questioned or
lost her way. 'We generally think of doubted by anyone
humpback whales as very well studied, but
then they surprise us with things like this,’
Palacios says. ‘Undoubtedly there are a lot
of things we still don’t know about whale
migration.’

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Imagine a world where the sun never sets.

Children can laugh and play in the streets all
through the night. Fishermen enjoy 24 hours
of daylight on the open sea. To get any daylight / ˈdeɪˌlaɪt /: the natural light of the day
sleep, people must block all the light from
their windows. synonyms:natural light, sunlight, light of
Now imagine a world with only darkness. day, daytime, daylight hours
Even in the middle of the day, the sun does
not shine. The only light comes from the
moon and the stars in the black sky. Cars
must drive with their lights on all the time.
When people awake in the morning, it looks
like the middle of the night.
This is the situation for people who live
above the Arctic Circle. The sun clearly
influences their lives. This includes people in
northern Russia, Canada, Alaska and
Greenland. For part of the year they cannot
see the sun. And part of the year the sun
never disappears.
But do you ever think about the sun? All life
depends on the power of the sun. Year after
year, the sun warms the earth, gives us light,
builds life on our planet, and even keeps us demonstrated/ ˈdɛmənˌstreɪtəd /: give a practical
healthy. exhibition and explanation of (how a machine, skill, or
Whatever early people thought about the craft works or is performed )
sun, they did not know much about it. But as
synonyms:give a demonstration of, show how
people began to use science they learned
more about the sun. In 1543, Nicholas something is done
Copernicus demonstrated that the earth
travels around the sun. One hundred years

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later, scientists estimated the distance to the

sun. And as recently as 1904, a man named
Ernest Rutherford showed how the sun
produced such large amounts of heat. These
people discovered that the sun is a star like
all the other stars in the sky. However, for our
planet, it is a very special star.
The earth is 150 million kilometers from the
sun. Here is one way to imagine this great
distance. Imagine that you are standing on
the sun. Your friends are on the earth. If they
turned on a light, it would take eight minutes
for you to see it! But this is the perfect
distance for the earth to use the sun's heat.
The temperature of the sun is around 6,000
degrees Celsius at its surface, and 15 million
degrees at its centre! If the earth were any freeze/ friz /: be turned into ice or another solid as a
closer, we would burn. But if the earth were result of extreme cold
any further away, we would freeze. And yet,
the sun is more than a big heater.
The sun also helps provide us with fresh air.
The sun heats the oceans. Then the water
heats the air. The changing air temperatures
create most of the world's wind. Wind moves oxygen/ ˈɑksəʤən /: a colorless, odorless reactive
air to different places so plants can remove gas, the chemical element of atomic number 8 and the
carbon dioxide from the air and create life-supporting component of the air
oxygen.
photosynthesis/ ˌfoʊtoʊˈsɪnθəsɪs /: Quang hợp
But the sun also affects plants directly. The
sun makes plants grow through the process
of photosynthesis. Plants can change light
from the sun into energy. They use the
energy to grow bigger and stronger. All life
on earth depends on plants. Without the sun,
we could not grow food for ourselves or for
our animals.
cells/ sɛlz /:a device containing electrodes immersed
Plants are not the only things who capture
the power of the sun. Human can turn in an electrolyte, used for current-generation or
sunlight into electricity with solar cells. A electrolysis
solar cell collects the power of the sun and
stores it. Then, this power can be used to run
anything that uses electricity: cars,
computers, or homes.
Besides all these amazing things, the sun
also helps us to do something very simple,
but needed. Without the sun, we would not
be able to see anything!
The sun also helps people to be healthy and bacteria / bækˈtɪriə /: Vi khuẩn
strong. It acts as a natural cleaner for our
skin. The sun can help kill harmful bacteria
that live on our skin. And the sun helps our

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bodies produce vitamin D. People need

vitamin D to have strong bones.
disorder/ dɪˈsɔrdər /:
The sun can also improve our mental health. lack of order or regular arrangement; confusion
In places where the sun does not shine,
people can suffer from seasonal affective
disorder. This is a kind of depression.
People with season affective disorder do not
have energy and feel sad. They are treated
by sitting near a special light. But nothing is
as good as being in real sunlight. Sunlight
can help prevent depression and keep
people happy. When the sun is shining, gravity / ˈgrævəti /: the force that attracts a body
people have more hope about the future. toward the center of the earth, or toward any other
physical body having mass.
The sun does many other things as well. It
helps us tell time. It controls the where and synonyms:attraction, attracting force, downward
when animals travel. The sun's gravity force, pull, weight
keeps the planet in orbit. It even lets us see
at night. This is because the sun shines on orbit/ ˈɔrbət /: the curved path of a celestial object or
the moon and the moon sends the light down spacecraft around a star, planet, or moon, especially a
to the earth. The sun makes the colors of a periodic elliptical revolution.
rainbow after it rains. And it paints the sky
during a sunset. synonyms:course, path, circuit, track, trajectory

There are many things we still do not know

about the sun. But the more we learn about
the sun, the more we can thank God for
giving us this wonderful gift.

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Animal migration, however it is defined, is far

more than just the movement of animals. It
can loosely be described as travel that takes
place at regular intervals - often in an annual
cycle - that may involve many members of a
species, and is rewarded only after a long
journey. It suggests inherited instinct. The
biologist Hugh Dingle has identified five
characteristics that apply, in varying degrees
and combinations, to all migrations. They are
prolonged movements that carry animals
outside familiar habitats; they tend to be linear/ ˈlɪniər /: arranged in or extending along a
linear, not zigzaggy; they involve special straight or nearly straight line
behaviours concerning preparation (such as
overfeeding) and arrival; they demand
special allocations of energy. And one more:
migrating animals maintain an intense
attentiveness to the greater mission, which
undistracted / ʌndɪˈstræktəd /: able to concentrate
keeps them undistracted by temptations
and undeterred by challenges that would fully on something; not distracted
turn other animals aside.
An arctic tern, on its 20,000 km flight from the
extreme south of South America to the Arctic
circle, will take no notice of a nice smelly
herring offered from a bird-watcher's boat
along the way. While local gulls will dive voraciously / vɔˈreɪʃəsli /: wanting or devouring great
voraciously for such handouts, the tern flies quantities of food
on. Why? The arctic tern resists distraction
because it is driven at that moment by an
instinctive sense of something we humans
find admirable: larger purpose. In other
words, it is determined to reach its

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destination. The bird senses that it can eat,

rest and mate later. Right now it is totally
focused on the journey; its undivided intent is
arrival. converged/ kənˈvɜrʤd /: (of lines) tend to meet at a
Reaching some gravelly coastline in the point
Arctic, upon which other arctic terns
have converged, will serve its larger synonyms:meet, intersect, cross, come
purpose as shaped by evolution: finding a together, connect
place, a time, and a set of circumstances in
which it can successfully hatch and rear
offspring. hatch /hæʧ/: an opening of restricted size allowing for
But migration is a complex issue, and passage from one area to another
biologists define it differently, depending in
part on what sorts of animals they study. Joe!
Berger, of the University of Montana, who
works on the American pronghorn and other
large terrestrial mammals, prefers what he
calls a simple, practical definition suited to
his beasts: 'movements from a seasonal
home area away to another home area and
back again'. Generally the reason for such
seasonal back-and-forth movement is to
seek resources that aren't available within a
single area year-round.
But daily vertical movements by zooplankton / ˌzoʊ.əˈplæŋk.tən /: plankton consisting
zooplankton in the ocean - upward by night of small animals and the immature stages of larger
to seek food, downward by day to escape animals
predators - can also be considered migration.
So can the movement of aphids when, aphids / ˈæfɪdz /: con rệp
having depleted the young leaves on one
food plant, their offspring then fly onward to a
different host plant, with no one aphid ever
returning to where it started.
Dingle is an evolutionary biologist who
studies insects. His definition is
more intricate than Berger's, citing those
five features that distinguish migration
from other forms of movement. They
allow for the fact that, for example, aphids
will become sensitive to blue light (from the
sky) when it's time for takeoff on their big
journey, and sensitive to yellow
light (reflected from tender young leaves)
when it's appropriate to land. Birds will
fatten themselves with heavy feeding in migrational / maɪˈgreɪʃən(ə)l /: di cư
advance of a long migrational flight. The
value of his definition, Dingle argues, is that it
focuses attention on what the
phenomenon of wildebeest migration shares
with the phenomenon of the aphids,
and therefore helps guide researchers

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towards understanding how evolution has

produced them all.
Human behaviour, however, is having a
detrimental impact on animal migration.
The pronghorn, which resembles an
antelope, though they are unrelated, is the
fastest land mammal of the New World. One
population, which spends the summer in the
mountainous Grand Teton National Park of
the western USA, follows a narrow route from sagebrush / ˈseɪʤˌbrʌʃ /: a shrubby aromatic North
its summer range in the mountains, across a American plant of the daisy family
river, and down onto the plains. Here they
wait out the frozen months, feeding mainly on
sagebrush blown clear of snow. These
pronghorn are notable for the invariance of
their migration route and the severity of its
constriction at three bottlenecks. If they can't
pass through each of the three during
their spring migration, they can't reach
their bounty of summer grazing; if they
can't pass through again in autumn, escaping
south onto those windblown plains, they are
likely to die trying to overwinter in the deep
snow. Pronghorn, dependent on distance
vision and speed to keep safe
from predators, traverse high, open
shoulders of land, where they can see and
run. At one of the bottlenecks, forested hills choke / ʧoʊk /: (of a person or animal) have severe
rise to form a V, leaving a corridor of open difficulty in breathing because of a constricted or
ground only about 150 metres wide, filled obstructed throat or a lack of air
with private homes. Increasing development
is leading toward a crisis for the synonyms:gag, retch, cough, struggle for air, fight for
pronghorn, threatening to choke off their breath
passageway.
Conservation scientists, along with some
biologists and land managers within
the USA's National Park Service and
other agencies, are now working to
preserve migrational behaviours, not just
species and habitats. A National Forest
has recognised the path of the
pronghorn, much of which passes across its
land, as a protected migration corridor. But bottleneck/ ˈbɑtəlˌnɛk /: the neck or mouth of a bottle
neither the Forest Service nor the Park
Service can control what happens on
private land at a bottleneck. And with resoluteness / ˈrɛzəˌlutnəs /:
certain other migrating species, the challenge Unwavering firmness of character, action, or will
is complicated further - by vastly
greater distances traversed, more
jurisdictions, more borders, more dangers
along the way. We will require wisdom and
resoluteness to ensure that migrating

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species can continue their journeying a while

longer.

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A lot of people around the world are

dependent, or partly dependent, on coral
reefs for their livelihoods. They often live adjacent / əˈʤeɪsənt /: next to or adjoining something
adjacent to the reef, and their livelihood else
revolves around the direct extraction,
processing and sale of reef resources such
as shell fish and seaweeds. In addition,
their homes are sheltered by the reef from
wave action. reef / rif /: a ridge of jagged rock, coral, or sand just
above or below the surface of the sea
Reef flats and shallow reef lagoons are
accessible on foot, without the need for a
boat, and so allow women, children and
the elderly to engage directly in manual
harvesting, or ‘reef-gleaning’. This is a
domain / doʊˈmeɪn /: an area of territory owned or
significant factor distinguishing reef-based
fisheries from near-shore sea fisheries. controlled by a ruler or government
Near-shore fisheries are typically the synonyms:realm, kingdom, empire, dominion, province
domain of adult males, in particular where
they involve the use of boats, with women
and children restricted mainly to shore-
based activities. However, in a coral-reef
fishery the physical accessibility of the reef
opens up opportunities for direct
participation by women, and consequently
increases their independence and the
importance of their role in the community. It
also provides a place for children to play,
and to acquire important skills and
knowledge for later in life. For example, in
the South West Island of Tobi, in the
Pacific Ocean, young boys use simple

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hand lines with a loop and bait at the end loop / lup /: a shape produced by a curve that bends
to develop the art of fishing on the reef. around and crosses itself.
Similarly, in the Surin Islands of Thailand,
young Moken boys spend much of their synonyms:bend, curve, kink, arc
time playing, swimming and diving in
subsistence/ səbˈsɪstəns /: the action or fact of
shallow reef lagoons, and in doing so build
crucial skills for their future daily maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level
subsistence. synonyms:maintenance, keep, upkeep, support, livelihood
Secondary occupations, such as fish
processing and marketing activities, are
often dominated by women, and offer an
important survival strategy for households
with access to few other physical assets gear/ gɪr /: equipment that is used for a particular
(such as boats and gear), for elderly purpose.
women, widows, or the wives of infirm
men. On Ulithi Atoll in the western Pacific, synonyms:equipment, apparatus,
women have a distinct role and rights in paraphernalia, articles, appliances
the distribution of fish catches. This is
because the canoes, made from infirm/ ɪnˈfɜrm /: not physically or mentally strong,
mahogany logs from nearby Yap Island, especially through age or illness
are obtained through the exchange of cloth
made by the women of Ulithi. Small-scale mahogany / məˈhɑgəni /: hard reddish-brown timber
reef fisheries support the involvement of from a tropical tree, used for high-quality furniture
local women traders and their involvement
can give them greater control over the
household income, and in negotiating for
loans or credit. Thus their role is not only
important in providing income for their underpins / ˈʌndərˌpɪnz /: a solid foundation laid below
families, it also underpins the economy of ground level to support or strengthen a building
the local village.
Poor people with little access to land,
labour and financial resources are
particularly reliant on exploiting natural
resources, and consequently they are
vulnerable to seasonal changes in fisheries/ ˈfɪʃəriz /: a place where fish are reared for
availability of those resources. The
commercial purposes
diversity of coral reef fisheries, combined
with their physical accessibility and the
protection they provide against bad
weather, make them relatively stable
compared with other fisheries, or land-
based agricultural production.
In many places, the reef may even act as a
resource bank, used as a means of saving
food for future times of need. In Manus,
Papua New Guinea, giant clams are clams / klæmz /: con sò ( chai )
collected and held in walled enclosures on
the reef, until they are needed during
periods of rough weather. In Palau, sea
cucumbers are seldom eaten during good
weather in an effort to conserve their

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populations for months during which rough

weather prohibits good fishing.
buffer / ˈbʌfər /: a person or thing that prevents
Coral reef resources also act as a buffer incompatible or antagonistic people or things from coming
against seasonal lows in other sectors, into contact with or harming each other
particularly agriculture. For example, in
coastal communities in northern
Mozambique, reef harvests provide key
sources of food and cash when agricultural
production is low, with the peak in fisheries
production coinciding with the period of
lowest agricultural stocks. In Papua New
Guinea, while agriculture is the primary
means of food production, a large
proportion of the coastal population
engage in sporadic subsistence fishing.
In many coral-reef areas, tourism is one of
the main industries bringing employment, livelihoods/ ˈlaɪvliˌhʊdz /: a means of securing the
and in many cases is promoted to provide
necessities of life
alternatives to fisheries-based livelihoods,
and to ensure that local reef resources are
conserved. In the Caribbean alone, tours
based on scuba-diving have attracted 20
million people in one year. The upgrading
of roads and communications associated
with the expansion of tourism may also
bring benefits to local communities.
However, plans for development must be
considered carefully. The ability of the
poorer members of the community to
access the benefits of tourism is far from
guaranteed, and requires development
guided by social, cultural and recognition / ˌrɛkəgˈnɪʃən /: identification of someone or
environmental principles. There is growing something or person from previous encounters or
recognition that sustainability is a key knowledge
requirement, as encompassed in small-
scale eco-tourism activities, for instance. synonyms:identification, recollection, recall, remembrance
Where tourism development has not been
carefully planned, and the needs and
priorities of the local community have not
been properly recognised, conflict has
sometimes arisen between tourism and
local, small-scale fishers.

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A. Although the name dinosaur is derived derived / dəˈraɪvd /: express contempt for; ridicule
from the Greek for "terrible lizard",
dinosaurs were not, in fact, lizards at all.
Like lizards, dinosaurs are included in the
class Reptilia, or reptiles, one of the five
main classes of Vertebrata, animals with
backbones. However, at the next level of
classification, within reptiles, significant skeletal / ˈskɛlətəl /: relating to or functioning as a
differences in the skeletal anatomy of skeleton
lizards and dinosaurs have led scientists to
place these groups of animals into two superorders/ ˌsupərˈɔrdərz /: a taxonomic category that
different superorders: Lepidosauria, or ranks above order and below class
lepidosaurs, and Archosauria, or
archosaurs.
B. Classified as lepidosaurs are lizards
and snakes and their prehistoric ancestors. ruling / ˈrulɪŋ /: exercise ultimate power or authority over
Included among the archosaurs, or "ruling (an area and its people)
reptiles", are prehistoric and modern
crocodiles, and the now extinct synonyms:govern, preside over, control, have control
thecodonts, pterosaurs and dinosaurs. of, be in control of
Palaeontologists believe that both
dinosaurs and crocodiles evolved, in the
later years of the Triassic Period (c. 248-
208 million years ago), from creatures
called pseudosuchian thecodonts. Lizards,
snakes and different types of thecodont
are believed to have evolved earlier in the
Triassic Period from reptiles known as
eosuchians.
C. The most important skeletal differences pelvis / ˈpɛlvəs /: xương chậu
between dinosaurs and other archosaurs
are in the bones of the skull, pelvis and

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limbs. Dinosaur skulls are found in a great

range of shapes and sizes, reflecting the
different eating habits and lifestyles of a
large and varied group of animals that
dominated life on Earth for an
extraordinary 165 million years. However,
unlike the skulls of any other known
animals, the skulls of dinosaurs had two
long bones known as vomers. These
bones extended on either side of the head,
from the front of the snout to the level of
the holes on the skull known as the
antorbital fenestra, situated in front of the antorbital : chống hấp thu
dinosaur's orbits or eyesockets.
D. All dinosaurs, whether large or small,
quadrupedal or bidepal, fleet-footed or quadrupedal / kwɑːˈdruː.pedɚl /: (of an animal) four-
slow-moving, shared a common body plan. footed; using all four feet for walking and running
Identification of this plan makes it possible
to differentiate dinosaurs from any other
types of animal, even other archosaurs. femur / ˈfimər /: the bone of the thigh or upper hind
Most significantly, in dinosaurs, the pelvis limb, articulating at the hip and the knee
and femur had evolved so that the hind
limbs were held vertically beneath the
body, rather than sprawling out to the
sides like the limbs of a lizard. The femur acetabulum / ˌæs.əˈtæb.jə.ləm /: the socket of the
of a dinosaur had a sharply in-turned neck hipbone, into which the head of the femur fits
and a ball-shaped head, which slotted into
a fully open acetabulum or hip socket. A
supra-acetabular crest helped prevent
dislocation of the femur. The position of
the knee joint, aligned below the
acetabulum, made it possible for the whole
hind limb to swing backwards and
forwards. This unique combination of
features gave dinosaurs what is known as
a "fully improved gait". Evolution of this gait/ geɪt /: a person's manner of walking
highly efficient method of walking also
developed in mammals, but among reptiles
it occurred only in dinosaurs.
E. For the purpose of further classification,
dinosaurs are divided into two orders:
Saurischia, or saurischian dinosaurs, and anatomy/ əˈnætəmi /: a study of the structure or internal
Ornithischia, or ornithischian dinosaurs.
workings of something
This division is made on the basis of their
pelvic anatomy. All dinosaurs had a pelvic synonyms:analysis, examination, inspection, survey, study
girdle with each side comprised of three
bones: the pubis, ilium and ischium. girdle / ˈgɜrdəl /: a belt or cord worn around the
However, the orientation of these bones waist.synonyms:belt, sash, strap, cummerbund, waistband
follows one of two patterns. In saurischian
dinosaurs, also known as lizard-hipped
dinosaurs, the pubis points forwards, as is
usual in most types of reptile. By contrast,
in ornithischian, or bird-hipped, dinosaurs,

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the pubis points backwards towards the

rear of the animal, which is also true of
birds.
F. Of the two orders of dinosaurs, the
Saurischia was the larger and the first to
evolve. It is divided into two suborders:
Therapoda, or therapods, and carnivores/ ˈkɑrnəˌvɔrz /: an animal that feeds on flesh
Sauropodomorpha, or sauropodomorphs.
The therapods, or "beast feet", were
bipedal, predatory carnivores. They
ranged in size from the mighty
Tyrannosaurus rex, 12m long, 5.6m tall
and weighing an estimated 6.4 tonnes, to
the smallest known dinosaur,
Compsognathus, a mere 1.4m long and
estimated 3kg in weight when fully grown.
The sauropodomorphs, or "lizard feet
forms", included both bipedal and
quadrupedal dinosaurs. Some omnivorous / ɑmˈnɪvərəs /: (of an animal or person)
sauropodomorphs were carnivorous or feeding on food of both plant and animal origin.
omnivorous but later species were
typically herbivorous. They included some synonyms:eating a mixed/varied diet, able to eat anything
of the largest and best-known of all
dinosaurs, such as Diplodocus, a huge
quadruped with an elephant-like body, a
long, thin tail and neck that gave it a total
length of 27m, and a tiny head. herbivores/ ˈhɜrbɪˌvɔrz /: an animal that feeds on plants
G. Ornithischian dinosaurs were bipedal
or quadrupedal herbivores. They are now
usually divided into three suborders:
Ornithipoda, Thyreophora and
Marginocephalia. The ornithopods, or "bird
feet", both large and small, could walk or stiffly / ˈstɪfli /: in a way that is firm and difficult to bend
run on their long hind legs, balancing their
or move
body by holding their tails stiffly off the
ground behind them. An example is
Iguanodon, up to 9m long, 5m tall and
weighing 4.5 tonnes. The thyreophorans,
or "shield bearers", also known as
armoured dinosaurs, were quadrupeds rows / roʊz /: a number of people or things in a more or
with rows of protective bony spikes, studs, less straight line
or plates along their backs and tails. They
included Stegosaurus, 9m long and
weighing 2 tonnes.
H. The marginocephalians, or "margined frill / frɪl /: a strip of gathered or pleated material sewn
heads", were bipedal or quadrupedal by one side onto a garment or larger piece of material as
ornithschians with a deep bony frill or a decorative edging or ornament.
narrow shelf at the back of the skull. An
example is Triceratops, a rhinoceros-like synonyms:ruffle, flounce, ruff, furbelow, jabot,
dinosaur, 9m long, weighing 5.4 tonnes
and bearing a prominent neck frill and
three large horns.

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A
Bats have a problem: how to find their way
around in the dark.They hunt at night, and
cannot use light to help them find prey and obstacles/ ˈɑbstəkəlz /: a thing that blocks one's way
avoid obstacles. You might say that this is a or prevents or hinders progress
problem of their own making, one that they
could avoid simply by changing their habits
and hunting by day. But the daytime
economy is already heavily exploited by
other creatures such as birds. Given
that there is a living to be made at night, and
given that alternative daytime trades are
thoroughly occupied, natural selection has
favoured bats that make a go of the night-
hunting trade. It is probable that the nocturnal / nɑkˈtɜrnəl /: done, occurring, or active at
nocturnal trades go way back in the night
ancestry of all mammals. In the time when
the dinosaurs dominated the daytime
economy, our mammalian ancestors
probably only managed to survive at all ancestry / ˈænsɛstri /: one's family or ethnic descent
because they found ways of scraping a living
at night. Only after the mysterious mass
extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 million
years ago were our ancestors able to emerge
into the daylight in any substantial numbers. substantial / səbˈstænʧəl /: of considerable
importance, size, or worth
B
synonyms:considerable, real, material, weighty, solid
Bats have an engineering problem: how to
find their way and find their prey in the
absence of light. Bats are not the only
creatures to face this difficulty today.
Obviously the night-flying insects that they

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prey on must find their way about somehow.

Deep-sea fish and whales have little or no
light by day or by night. Fish and dolphins muddy / ˈmʌdi /: covered in or full of mud
that live in extremely muddy water
synonyms:mud-caked, mud-
cannot see because, although there is light, it
spattered, muddied, dirty, filthy
is obstructed and scattered by the dirt in the
water Plenty of other modern animals make
their living in conditions where seeing is
difficult or impossible.
C
Given the questions of how to manoeuvre in manoeuvre / məˈnuː.vɚ /: move skilfully or carefully
the dark, what solutions might an engineer
consider? The first one that might occur to synonyms:steer, guide, drive, negotiate, navigate
him is to manufacture light, to use a lantern
or a searchlight. Fireflies and some fish lantern / ˈlæntərn /: a lamp with a transparent case
(usually with the help of bacteria) have the protecting the flame or electric bulb, and typically
power to manufacture their own light, but the having a handle by which it can be carried or hung
process seems to consume a large amount
of energy. Fireflies use their light for
attracting mates.This doesn't require a
prohibitive amount of energy: a male’s tiny
pinprick of light can be seen by a female pinprick / ˈpɪnprɪk /: a prick caused by a pin
from some distance on a dark night,
since her eyes are exposed directly to the
light source itself. However using light to find
one's own way around requires vastly more
energy, since the eyes have to detect the tiny
fraction of the light that bounces off each part
of the scene. The light source must therefore
be immensely brighter if it is to be used as a illuminate / ɪˈlumɪnɪt /: light up
headlight to illuminate the path, than if it is
to be used as a signal to others. In any synonyms:light, light up, throw light on, cast light
event, whether or not the reason is the upon, brighten
energy expense, it seems to be the case
that, with the possible exception of some
weird deep-sea fish, no animal apart from
man uses manufactured light to find its way
about.
D
What else might the engineer think of? Well,
blind humans sometimes seem to have an uncanny / ənˈkæni /: strange or mysterious,
uncanny sense of obstacles in their path. It especially in an unsettling way
has been given the name 'facial vision’, synonyms:eerie, unnatural, preternatural,
because blind people have reported that it
feels a bit like the sense of touch, on the supernatural, unearthly
face. One report tells of a totally blind boy
who could ride his tricycle at good speed
round the block near his home, using
facial vision. Experiments showed that, in
fact, facial vision is nothing to do with touch
or the front of the face, although the
sensation may be referred to the front of the phantom / ˈfæntəm /: a ghost

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face, like the referred pain in a phantom synonyms:ghost, apparition, spirit, specter, wraith
limb.The sensation of facial vision, it turns
out, really goes in through the ears. echoes / ˈɛkoʊz /: a sound or series of sounds
caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface
Blind people, without even being aware of back to the listener
the fact, are actually using echoes of their synonyms:reverberation, reverberating, reflection,
own footsteps and of other sounds, to sense
the presence of obstacles. Before this was resounding, ringing
discovered, engineers had already built
instruments to exploit the principle, for
example to measure the depth of the sea
under a ship. After this technique had been
invented, it was only a matter of time before
weapons designers adapted it for the
detection of submarines. Both sides in
the Second World War relied heavily on
these devices, under such codenames as
Asdic (British) and Sonar (American), as well
as Radar (American) or RDF (British), which
uses radio echoes rather than sound echoes. pioneers / ˌpaɪəˈnɪrz /: a person who is among the
first to explore or settle a new country or area.
E
The Sonar and Radar pioneers didn't know it synonyms:settler, colonist, colonizer,
then, but all the world now knows that bats, frontiersman/frontierswoman, explorer,
or rather natural selection working on bats,
had perfected the system tens of millions of feats / fits /: an achievement that requires great
years earlier; and their radar' achieves feats courage, skill, or strength
of detection and navigation that would strike
an engineer dumb with admiration. It is dumb / dʌm /: make dumb or unheard; silence
technically incorrect to talk about bat 'radar',
since they do not use radio waves. It is
sonar. But the underlying mathematical
theories of radar and sonar are very similar;
and much of our scientific understanding of sonar / ˈsoʊnɑr /: a system for the detection of
the details of what bats are doing has objects under water and for measuring the water's
come from applying radar theory to them.The depth by emitting sound pulses and detecting or
American zoologist Donald Griffin, who was measuring their return after being reflected
largely responsible for the discovery of sonar
in bats, coined the term 'écholocation' to
cover both sonar and radar, whether used by
animals or by human instruments.

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Begun in 1817 and opened in its entirety in

1825, the Erie Canal is considered by some
to be the engineering marvel of the
nineteenth century. When the federal
government concluded that the project was
too ambitious to undertake, the State of ambitious / æmˈbɪʃəs /: having or showing a strong
New York took on the task of carving 363 desire and determination to succeed
miles of canal through the wilderness, with
nothing but the muscle power of men and synonyms:aspiring, determined, forceful,
horses.
pushy, enterprising
Once derided as ‘Clinton’s Folly’ for the
Governor who lent his vision and political
muscle to the project, the Erie Canal
settlement / ˈsɛtəlmənt /: an official agreement
experienced unparalleled success almost
intended to resolve a dispute or conflict
overnight. The iconic waterway established
settlement patterns for most of the United synonyms:agreement, deal, arrangement,
States during the nineteenth century, made
New York the financial capital of the world, resolution, accommodation
provided a critical supply line that helped
the North win the Civil War, and
precipitated a series of social and economic
changes throughout a young America.
Explorers had long searched for a water
route to the west. Throughout the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the
lack of an efficient and safe transportation confined / kənˈfaɪnd /: keep or restrict someone or
network kept populations and trade largely something within certain limits of (space, scope, quantity,
confined to coastal areas. At the beginning or time)
of the nineteenth century, the Allegheny
Mountains were the Western Frontier. The synonyms:enclose, incarcerate, imprison, intern, impound
Northwest Territories that would later

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become Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio

were rich in timber, minerals, and fertile
land for farming, but it took weeks to reach
these things. Travellers were faced with
turnpike / ˈtɜrnˌpaɪk /: an expressway, especially one
rutted turnpike roads that baked to
on which a toll is charged
hardness in the summer sun. In the winter,
the roads dissolved into mud.
An imprisoned flour merchant named Jesse envisioned / ɛnˈvɪʒənd /: imagine as a future
Hawley envisioned a better way: a canal possibility; visualize
from Buffalo on the eastern shore of Lake
Erie to Albany on the upper Hudson River,
a distance of almost 400 miles. Long a
proponent of efficient water transportation, proponent / prəˈpoʊnənt /: a person who advocates a
Hawley had gone bankrupt trying to move theory, proposal, or project
his products to market. Hawley’s ideas
caught the interest of Assemblyman Joshua
Forman, who submitted the first state
legislation related to the Erie Canal in 1808,
calling for a series of surveys to be made
examining the practicality of a water route
between Lake Erie and the Hudson River.
In 1810, Thomas Eddy, and State Senator
Jonas Platt, hoping to get plans for the
canal moving forward, approached
influential Senator De Witt Clinton, former
mayor of New York City, to enlist his enlist / ɛnˈlɪst /: enroll or be enrolled in the armed
support. Though Clinton had been recruited services
to the canal effort by Eddy and Platt, he
quickly became one of the canal’s most synonyms:join up, join, enroll in, sign up for, volunteer for
active supporters and went on to fate / feɪt /: the development of events beyond a
successfully tie his very political fate to its
person's control, regarded as determined by a
success.
supernatural power
On April 15th, 1817, the New York State
Legislature finally approved construction of synonyms:destiny, providence, God's
the Erie Canal. The Legislature authorised will, nemesis, kismet,
$7 million for construction of the 363-mile
authorised / ˈɔθəˌraɪzd /: having official permission or
long waterway, which was to be 40 feet
approval
wide and eighteen feet deep. Construction
began on July 4th 1817 and took eight
years.
compensate / ˈkɑmpənˌseɪt /: give (someone)
Like most canals, the Erie Canal depended
something, typically money, in recognition of loss,
on a lock system in order to compensate
suffering, or injury incurred; recompense
for changes in water levels over distance. A
lock is a section of canal or river that is synonyms:recompense, repay, pay
closed off to control the water level, so that back, reimburse, remunerate
boats can be raised or lowered as they
pass through it. Locks have two sets of sluice / slus /: a sliding gate or other device for
sluice gates (top and bottom), which seal controlling the flow of water, especially one in a lock gate
off and then open the entrances to the
chamber, which is where a boat waits while valves / vælvz /: van
the movement up or down takes place.
In addition, locks also have valves at the
bottom of the sluice gates and it is by

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opening these valves that water is allowed

into and out of the chamber to raise or
lower the water level, and hence the boat.
The effect of the Erie Canal was both
immediate and dramatic, and settlers
prophesied / ˈprɑfəˌsaɪd /: say that (a specified thing)
poured west.
will happen in the future
The explosion of trade prophesied by
Governor Clinton began, spurred by freight
rates from Buffalo to New York of $10 per
ton by canal, compared with $100 per ton
by road. In 1829, there were 3,640 bushels
of wheat transported down the canal from
Buffalo. By 1837, this figure had increased
to 500,000 bushels and, four years later, it
reached one million. In nine years, canal
tolls more than recouped the entire cost of tonnages / ˈtʌnəʤəz /: weight in tons, especially of
construction. Within 15 years of the canal’s cargo or freight
opening, New York was the busiest port in
America, moving tonnages greater than
Boston, Baltimore and New Orleans
combined. Today, it can still be seen that
every major city in New York State falls
along the trade route established by the
Erie Canal and nearly 80 per cent of
upstate New York’s inhabitants live within
25 miles of the Erie Canal. spurred / spɜrd /: urge (a horse) forward by digging
one's spurs into its sides
The completion of the Erie Canal spurred
the first great westward movement of
American settlers, gave access to the
resources west of the Appalachians and
made New York the preeminent
inception/ ɪnˈsɛpʃən /: the establishment or starting
commercial city in the United States. At one
time, more than 50,000 people depended point of an institution or activity
on the Erie Canal for their livelihood. From
its inception, the Erie Canal helped form a
whole new culture revolving around canal
life. For those who travelled along the canal
in packet boats or passenger vessels, the
canal was an exciting place. Gambling and
entertainment were frequent pastimes, and
often families would meet each year at the
same locations to share stories and
adventures. Today, the canal has returned
to its former glory and is filled with pleasure
boats, fishermen, holidaymakers and trod/ trɑd /: walk in a specified way
cyclists riding the former towpaths where synonyms:walk, step, stride, pace, go
mules once trod. The excitement of the
past is alive and well.

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Taking Wing

To eke out a full-time living from their

honeybees, about half the nation’s 2,000
commercial beekeepers pull up stakes
each spring, migrating north to find more
flowers for their bees. Besides turning
floral nectar into honey, these
hardworking insects also pollinate crops
for farmers -for a fee. As autumn
approaches, the beekeepers pack up their
hives and go south, scrambling for
pollination contracts in hot spots like
California’s fertile Central Valley.

Of the 2,000 commercial beekeepers in the

United States about half migrate .This pays
off in two ways Moving north in the summer
and south in the winter lets bees work a pollinate / ˈpɑləˌneɪt /: convey pollen to or deposit
longer blooming season, making more honey pollen on (a stigma, ovule, flower, or plant) and so allow
— and money — for their keepers. Second, fertilization
beekeepers can carry their hives to farmers
who need bees to pollinate their crops. haul / hɔl /: (of a person) pull or drag with effort or
Every spring a migratory beekeeper in force
California may move up to 160 million bees
to flowering fields in Minnesota and every synonyms:drag, pull, tug, heave, hump
winter his family may haul the hives back to
California, where farmers will rent the bees to
pollinate almond and cherry trees. nectar / ˈnɛktər /: a sugary fluid secreted by plants,
especially within flowers to encourage pollination by
Migratory beekeeping is nothing new. The
ancient Egyptians moved clay hives, insects and other animals. It is collected by bees to
probably on rafts, down the Nile to follow the make into honey
bloom and nectar flow as it moved toward
Cairo. In the 1880s North American

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beekeepers experimented with the same barges / ˈbɑrʤəz /: a flat-bottomed boat for carrying
idea, moving bees on barges along the freight, typically on canals and rivers, either under its
Mississippi and on waterways in Florida, but own power or towed by another
their lighter, wooden hives kept falling into
the water. Other keepers tried the railroad
and horse- drawn wagons, but that didn’t
prove practical. Not until the 1920s when
cars and trucks became affordable and roads
improved, did migratory beekeeping begin to
catch on.
For the Californian beekeeper, the pollination
season begins in February. At this time, the
beehives are in particular demand by farmers
who have almond groves; they need two
bonanza / bəˈnænzə /: a situation or event that
hives an acre. For the three-week long
bloom, beekeepers can hire out their hives creates a sudden increase in wealth, good fortune, or
for $32 each. It’s a bonanza for the bees too. profits
Most people consider almond honey too
bitter to eat so the bees get to keep it for
themselves.
By early March it is time to move the bees. It
can take up to seven nights to pack the 4,000
or so hives that a beekeeper may own. stacked/ stækt /: (of a number of things) put or
These are not moved in the middle of the day arranged in a stack or stacks
because too many of the bees would end up
homeless. But at night, the hives are
stacked onto wooden pallets, back-to-back
in sets of four, and lifted onto a truck. It is not
necessary to wear gloves or a beekeeper’s pacified / ˈpæsəˌfaɪd /: quell the anger, agitation, or
veil because the hives are not being opened excitement of
and the bees should remain relatively quiet.
Just in case some are still lively, bees can be
pacified with a few puffs of smoke blown into
each hive’s narrow entrance.
In their new location, the beekeeper will pay fragrant / ˈfreɪgrənt /: having a pleasant or sweet
the farmer to allow his bees to feed in such smell
places as orange groves. The honey
produced here is fragrant and sweet and
can be sold by the beekeepers. To
encourage the bees to produce as much
honey as possible during this period, the
beekeepers open the hives and stack extra
boxes called supers on top. These temporary
hive extensions contain frames of empty stash / stæʃ /: store (something) safely and secretly
comb for the bees to fill with honey. In the
in a specified place
brood chamber below, the bees will stash
honey to eat later. To prevent the queen from inserted / ɪnˈsɜrtəd /: place, fit, or thrust (something)
crawling up to the top and laying eggs, a into another thing, especially with care
screen can be inserted between the brood
chamber and the supers. Three weeks later synonyms:put, place, press, push, thrust
the honey can be gathered.

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Foul smelling chemicals are often used to

irritate the bees and drive them down into the
hive’s bottom boxes, leaving the honey- filled
supers more or less bee free. These can
lilted / ˈlɪltɪd /: speak, sing, or sound with a lilt
then be pulled off the hive. They are heavy
with honey and may weigh up to 90 pounds uncapped / ʌnˈkæpt /: (of a player) never having
each. The supers are taken to a warehouse. been chosen as a member of a particular sports team,
In the extracting room, the frames are lilted especially a national one
out and lowered into an “uncapper” where
rotating blades shave away the wax that carousel / ˈkɛrəˌsɛl /: a rotating machine or device, in
covers each cell. The uncapped frames are particular a conveyor system at an airport from which
put in a carousel that sits on the bottom of a arriving passengers collect their luggage
large stainless steel drum. The carousel is
filled to capacity with 72 frames. A switch is centrifugal / ˈsɛntrɪˌfjugəl /: moving or tending to
flipped and the frames begin to whirl at 300 move away from a center
revolutions per minute; centrifugal force
throws the honey out of the combs. Finally
the honey is poured into barrels for shipment. mites/ maɪts /: con ve
After this, approximately a quarter of the
hives weakened by disease, mites, or an
ageing or dead queen, will have to be
replaced. To create new colonies, a healthy
double hive, teeming with bees, can be
separated into two boxes. One half will hold
the queen and a young, already mated
queen can be put in the other half, to make
two hives from one. By the time the flowers
bloom, the new queens will be laying eggs,
filling each hive with young worker bees. The
beekeeper’s family will then migrate with
them to their summer location.

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There are more than two hundred different

species and sub-species of birds in the
London area, ranging from the magpie to
the greenfinch, but perhaps the most
ubiquitous is the pigeon. It has been
suggested that the swarms of feral pigeons dovecotes / ˈdʌv.koʊts /: a shelter with nest holes for
are all descended from birds which escaped domesticated pigeons
from dovecotes in the early medieval
period; they found a natural habitat in the medieval / mɪˈdivəl /: relating to the Middle Ages
crannies and ledges of buildings as did
their ancestors, the rock doves, amid the synonyms:of the Middle Ages, Middle Age, of the Dark
sea-girt cliffs. ‘They nest in small colonies,’ Ages
one observer has written, ‘usually high up crannies / ˈkræniz /: a small, narrow space or opening
and inaccessible’ above the streets of
London as if the streets were indeed a sea.
A man fell from the belfry of St Stephens
Walbrook in 1277 while in quest of a quest / kwɛst /: a long or arduous search for
pigeon’s nest, while the Bishop of London something
complained in 1385 of ‘malignant persons’
who threw stones at the pigeons resting in synonyms:search, hunt, pursuit, pursuance
the city churches. So pigeons were already of, investigation into
a familiar presence, even if they were not
treated with the same indulgence as their
more recent successors. A modicum of indulgence / ɪnˈdʌlʤəns /: the action or fact of
kindness to these creatures seems to have indulging
been first shown in the late nineteenth
century, when they were fed oats rather synonyms:satisfaction, satisfying, gratification,
than the customary stale bread.
gratifying, fulfillment
From the end of the nineteenth century,
wood pigeons also migrated into the city;
they were quickly urbanised, increasing

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both in numbers and in tameness. ‘We

have frequently seen them on die roofs of
houses,’ wrote the author of Bird Life in tameness/ ˈteɪmnəs /:
London in 1893, apparently as much at changed from the wild or savage state; domesticated
home as any dovecote pigeon.’ Those who
look up today may notice their ‘fly-lines’ in
the sky. from Lincoln’s Inn Fields over
Kingsway and Trafalgar Square to
Battersea, with other lines to Victoria Park
and to Kenwood. The air of London is filled
with such ‘fly-lines’, and to trace the paths
of the birds would be to envisage the city in envisage / ɛnˈvɪzɪʤ /: contemplate or conceive of as
an entirely different form; then it would a possibility or a desirable future event
seem linked and unified by thousands of
thoroughfares and small paths of energy, synonyms:foresee, predict, forecast, foretell, anticipate
each with its own history of use.
The sparrows move quickly in public
places, and they arc now so much part of sparrows / ˈspɛroʊz /:chim sẻ
London that they have been adopted by the
native population as the sparred; a friend
was known to Cockneys as a ‘cocksparrer’
in tribute to a bird which is sweet and yet
watchful, blessed with a dusky plumage
similar to that of the London dust, a plucky
little bird darting in and out of the city’s darting / ˈdɑrtɪŋ /: move or run somewhere suddenly
endless uproar. They are small birds which or rapidly
can lose body heat very quickly, so they are
perfectly adapted to the ‘heat island’ of
London. They will live in any small cranny ventilation / ˌvɛntəˈleɪʃən /: the provision of fresh air to
or cavity, behind drainpipes or ventilation a room, building, etc.
shafts, or in public statues, or holes in
buildings; in that sense diet are perfectly topography/ təˈpɑgrəfi /: the arrangement of the
suited to a London topography. An natural and artificial physical features of an area
ornithologist who described the sparrow as
peculiarly attached to man’ said it never
now breeds at any distance from an
occupied building’. This sociability, bred
upon the fondness of the Londoner, is
manifest in many ways. One naturalist,
W.H. Hudson, has described how any
stranger in a green space or public garden
will soon find that ‘several sparrows are
keeping him company … watching his every
movement, and if he sits down on a chair or
a bench several of them will come close to
him, and hop this way and that before him,
uttering a little plaintive note of uttering / ˈʌtərɪŋ /: make (a sound) with one's voice
interrogation — Have you got nothing for synonyms:emit, let out, give, produce, give vent to,
us? They have also been described as die
urchins of the streets — ‘thievish, self- interrogation / ɪnˌtɛrəˈgeɪʃən /: the action of
assertive and pugnacious’ — a condition interrogating or the process of being interrogated
which again may merit the attention and
admiration of native Londoners.
Remarkably attached to their surroundings,

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they rarely create ‘fly-lines’ across the city;

where they are born, like other Londoners,
they stay.
There are some birds, such as the robin
and the chaffinch, which are less
approachable and trustful in the city than in
the country. Other species, such as the mallard/ ˈmælərd /: vịt trời
mallard, grow increasingly shyer as they
leave London. There has been a severe
diminution of the number of sparrows, while
blackbirds are more plentiful. Swans and
ducks have also increased in number.
Some species, however, have all but
vanished. The rooks of London are,
perhaps, the most notable of the
disappeared, their rookeries destroyed by
building work or by tree-felling. Areas of
London were continuously inhabited by
rooks for many hundreds of years. The burial / ˈbɛriəl /: the action or practice of interring a
burial ground of St Deinstalls in the East dead body
and the college garden of the Ecclesiastical
Court in Doctors’ Commons, the turrets of
the Tower of London and the gardens of
Grays Inn, were once such localities. There
was a rookery in the Inner Temple dating
from at least 1666, mentioned by Oliver
Goldsmith in 1774. Rooks nested on Bow
Church and on St Olave’s. They were
venerable London birds, preferring to venerable / ˈvɛnərəbəl /: accorded a great deal of
cluster around ancient churches and the respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character
like as if they were their local guardians.
Yet, in the words of the nineteenth-century
song, ‘Now the old rooks have lost their
places’. There was a grove in Kensington
Gardens devoted to the rooks; it contained
some seven hundred trees forming a piece
of wild nature, a matter of delight and blotted / ˈblɑtəd /:dry (a wet surface or substance)
astonishment to those who walked among using an absorbent material
them and listened to the endless cawing
that blotted out the city’s noise. But the synonyms:soak up, absorb, take up, suck up, draw up
trees were torn down in 1880. The rooks
have never returned.

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