Period Text (Reading comprehension)

Week 1 (Nov 6-12) Pollution and its Negative Effects

Test (FA) 13.11 Charlie Chaplin
Week 2 (Nov 13-19) 3D printing: the future of food
Test (FA) 20.11 production?
Sylvia Earle: National Geographic
Explorer-in-Residence
Week 3 (Nov 20-26) History of the Internet
Test (FA) 27.11 Food

Week 4 (Nov 27 – Dec 3) Walt Disney and his heroes

Test (FA) 4.12 Looking for a job. (after M. Gold)
Week 5 (Dec 4-10) At the customs house
Test (FA) 11.12 Travelling

Read and translate the text. Learn the new words by heart.
Pollution and its Negative Effects
Pollution is the degradation of natural environment by external substances
introduced directly or indirectly. Human health, ecosystem quality and aquatic and
terrestrial biodiversity may be affected and altered permanently by pollution.
Pollution occurs when ecosystems cannot get rid of substances introduced
into the environment. The critical threshold of its ability to naturally eliminate
substances is compromised and the balance of the ecosystem is broken.
The sources of pollution are numerous. The identification of these different
pollutants and their effects on ecosystems is complex. They can come from natural
disasters or the result of human activity, such as oil spills, chemical spills, nuclear
accidents … These can have terrible consequences on people and the planet where
they live: destruction of the biodiversity, increased mortality of the human and
animal species, destruction of natural habitat, damage caused to the quality of soil,
water and air…
Preventing pollution and protecting the environment necessitate the
application of the principles of sustainable development. We have to consider
satisfying the needs of today without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs. This means that we should remedy existing
pollution, but also anticipate and prevent future pollution sources in order to
protect the environment and public health. Any environmental damage must be
punishable by law, and polluters should pay compensation for the damage caused
to the environment.

Charlie Chaplin
He was believed to have been born on April 16, 1889. There is some doubt
whether April 16 is actually his birthday, and it is possible he was not born in
1889. There is also uncertainty about his birthplace: London or Fontainebleau,
France. There is no doubt, however, as to his parentage: he was born to Charles
Chaplin, Sr. and Hannah Harriette Hill (aka Lily Harley on stage), both Music
Hall entertainers. His parents separated soon after his birth, leaving him in the
care of his unstable mother.
In 1896, Chaplin's mother was unable to find work; Charlie and his older
half-brother Sydney Chaplin had to be left in the workhouse at Lambeth, moving
after several weeks to Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children. His
father died an alcoholic when Charlie was 12, and his mother suffered a mental
breakdown, and was eventually admitted temporarily to the Cane Hill Asylum at
Coulsdon (near Croydon). She died in 1928 in the United States, two years after
coming to the States to live with Chaplin, by then a commercial success.
Charlie first took to the stage when, aged five, he performed in Music Hall
in 1894, standing in for his mother. As a child, he had to be in bed for weeks due
to a serious illness. In 1900, his brother helped get him the role of a comic cat in
the pantomime Cinderella at the London Hippodrome. In 1903 he appeared in
'Jim, A Romance of Cockayne', followed by his first regular job, as the
newspaper boy Billy in Sherlock Holmes, a part he played into 1906. This was
followed by Casey's 'Court Circus' variety show, and, the following year, he
became a clown in Fred Karno's 'Fun Factory' slapstick comedy company.

3D printing: the future of food production?

3D printing is becoming more and more popular. We are now able to print things
such as clothing, prosthetic limbs, musical instruments and prototype cars. People
and businesses are able to create the things they need very quickly and easily using
3D printers.
But can you imagine printing food? Some scientists are trying to revolutionize the
dining experience by doing this. Scientists say that they are easy to use: you simply
have to select a recipe and put the raw food 'inks' into the printer. You can also
modify the instructions to make the food exactly how you want it. This means that
it would be very quick and easy to create tasty and nutritious meals.
Using 3D printers to create your meals would also be saving the environment.
There would be less need for traditional growing, transporting and packaging
processes as food production would be a lot more efficient. For example,
alternative ingredients such as proteins from algae, beetroot leaves and insects
could be converted into tasty products!
Printing food could also help people who suffer from dysphasia (a swallowing
disorder). They could program the printer to print softer versions of their favourite
foods so that they would not have trouble swallowing them.
However, some people think that a future of 3D-printed food would be a disaster.
It could take away many jobs, including those for growing, transporting and
packaging food. Imagine a world where there was no need for farming or growing
crops and the same tastes and textures could be printed from a raw 'food ink'.
Likewise, traditional cafés and restaurants might lose business. Also, there are
concerns about the nutritional value of printed food: is it really possible to get the
nutrients we need from food-based inks and gels.
Sylvia Earle: National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence
Sylvia Earle was called a "Hero for the Planet" by Time magazine. She’s an
oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer.
Sylvia Earle is a world-famous ocean scientist and a National Geographic
Explorer-in-Residence. She loves diving in the ocean. She spends a lot of time
under the sea. Earle has been the leader on more than a hundred expeditions. She
also set a record for solo diving in 1,000-metre deep water. In total, she has spent
more than 7,000 hours underwater.
Earle describes the first time she went to the ocean: ‘I was three years old and
a big wave knocked me over. I wasn’t frightened, I was excited. That was the
beginning of my interest in the ocean.’
In the past, Earle was the chief scientist of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the USA. Now she works with Google
Earth’s Ocean. Earle’s special interest is the development of a network of areas on
the land and in the ocean. This network can protect the life systems that are
important to the Earth. She explains why this is important: ‘When I went to the
Gulf of Mexico in the 1950s, the sea was a big blue infinity. I didn’t understand
that the sea was in danger from the actions of people. That was an impossible idea.
Then, after thirty years (only thirty, not a thousand!), the blue paradise
disappeared. At the end of the 20th century, there were only about 10 percent of
the sharks, whales and other animals in the Gulf.’
Why is the ocean important to life on Earth? Earle says, ‘The ocean is alive.
The living things in the ocean generate oxygen and take up carbon. Our planet
doesn’t work without the ocean.’
There are many problems in the Gulf of Mexico. But Sylvia Earle says, ‘In
2003 I was in clear water in the Gulf. I was a long way from the mouth of the
Mississippi River. The area was full of healthy sea life. We can protect the ocean
and our future.’

History of the Internet

The history of the Internet has begun in the middle of the 20th century as a
result of rapid development of computer science. Computers of that age were
still relatively underperforming and needed constant maintenance. Some kind
of an effective and automated method of time-sharing between users needed to
be devised and implemented for them to work reliably.
The first idea that had emerged from that necessity was a concept of multi-
tasking. Nowadays we don’t pay much attention to the fact that our computers
perform many tasks at once, and that with our computers we can, for example,
work and listen to music at the same time.
The second idea would be a proposition to merge multiple computers into a
single network. Each participant of such a network would be able to exchange
data with the others. But the exact mechanism of implementation was still
largely a mystery. Roughly for ten years the scientists were developing and
discarding all kinds of ideas, one after another, preserving those that could be
at least somewhat handy bit by bit.
One should make a distinction between terms ‘the Internet’ and ‘the World
Wide Web’. The first one relates to the network architecture in itself. The
second one is more of a modern development and constitutes an interface that
allows the access to a network for a user. It emerged in 1990 courtesy of CERN
scientists, Tim Berners-Lee in particular. He was the inventor of terms such as
HTTP, HTML, and also of a web browser.
In 2020 nearly 4,5 billion people are using the Internet both for work and
communication.
This promising technology still continues its development nowadays, and for
now we can’t even fathom what new discoveries this further development can
bring.

Food
Food is an important substance for human organism. It mainly consists of
proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Besides these three nutritive materials, food can
also be divided into two groups – meals of plant origin and meals of animal origin.
The first group (plant meals) is everything that grows out of our earth. First of
all these are vegetables. Vegetables have a tiny amount of calories and are very
rich in fiber. Certainly fruit is there where vegetable is. Comparing with veggies,
fruit is more dangerous for one's figure, because any fruit is primarily a
carbohydrate product. In this respect an intake of fruits doesn’t have to exceed
500-700 grams per day. Any seeds are also included in our list – legumes and
cereals.
The second group (animal meals) is all elements of our nutrition, which are
obtained directly from animals. For the most part it’s milk and eggs. Consequently
all dairy products turn to be animal food automatically, that is – cheese, curds,
ryazhenka, kefir, organic yoghurts and so on. Honey also takes place in this list as
well as meat (beef, veal, pork) and meal products (sausages, cutlets).
The most wholesome food is the food from the first group. The thing is,
nourishment like that suits all people – the sick, the healthy, the little and the old.
Nonetheless, the second group won’t do harm to healthy people too, especially if
it’s not consumed in a processed form.

Walt Disney and his heroes

Walt Disney was born in Chicago, his father being Irish Canadian, his mother
of German-American origin. He revealed a talent for drawing and an interest in
photography early on and after service with the American Red Cross in the First
World War. In 1923 he left with his brother Roy for Hollywood and for some years
struggled against poverty while producing a series of cartoon films. In 1927 he had
some success with the series called "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", but it was not until
September 1928, when "Steamboat Willie" appeared, the first "Mickey Mouse"
with sound, that he achieved lasting success. Mickey Mouse became a household
word together with such companions as Minnie, Pluto, and — perhaps the
favourite of them all — Donald Duck. "The Three Little Pigs" and "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs", with their still familiar songs by Frank Churchill,
immediately spring to mind. After the Second World War Disney turned his
attention to real-life nature studies and non-cartoon films with living actors. After a
rather unsuccessful feature cartoon "The Sleeping Beauty", he made a triumphant
come-back with the very successful "Mary Poppins".
In 1955 he branched out into a different enterprise —"Disney-land", a huge
amusement park in southern California. Disneyland is situated 27 miles south of
Los Angeles, at Anaheim. Of all the show-places none is as famous as Disneyland.
This superb kingdom of fantasy linked to technology was created by Walt Disney.
The park is divided into six themes and there is so much to see and do in each
that no one would attempt to see all of them in one visit. For extended visits, there
are hotels nearby.
Walt Disney died in California at the age of 65. His works have given so
much pleasure for many years to many people, young and old, in many countries.

Looking for a job. (after M. Gold)

When I was twelve, I was one of the best pupils at public school. My parents
were proud of me. They wanted me to go to high school. I refused to go to high
school. There were four children in my family. My mother could not work. Could
my father get the money for all of us? Of course, not. Miss Barry, an English
teacher, tried to get me to go to high school, But I told her that my father was
unable to support me I would have to work. She asked me to promise her to study.
I told her that I would, though I knew it was a lie. But I loved books, I was carried
away by many books, I wanted very much to go to high school and college. Miss
Barry presented me with a book. I thanked her for it and threw it. I told myself that
I hated books, that they were lies and were different from life. It was not easy to
find my first job. I looked for it for months. At last I found a job. It was in a
factory. The place was dark and hot, the air was poisoned. I forgot my college
hopes, I could not sleep at night. My mother made me leave the job. Months
passed before I found another job, this time in a printing shop. Then it was a job in
a shop, at a chemist’s. Jobs. Jobs. I went from one to another without plan, without
hope. I was at a loss what to do. One day I stopped to listen to a man who was
speaking about the struggle for a better life. The words brought hope to me and
made me think, struggle and live. It was the great beginning for me.

At the customs house

A Frenchwoman decided to go to Great Britain for a holiday. She booked a
seat for a plane as she wanted to get there as soon as possible. At the booking –
office she found out that it would take her only two hours to get to London. She
was very happy. She hurried home and began packing her things as she was afraid
to leave something important behind. After she had packed everything, she found,
that she had two big suit-cases. She ordered a taxi in advance to come to the airport
on time. On the day of her flight, she checked her things again, when she suddenly
remembered about her nice little dog. She could not leave the dog at home as there
was no one who would look after it. So, she decided to take the dog to GB. The
flight was very pleasant. The Frenchwoman thought that nobody noticed her dog.
But just before the plane landed one of the passengers who was sitting near the
woman told her that the English did not let foreigners bring dogs to their country.
The woman did not know what to do. When the plane landed, she put the dog
under her coat and went to the Customs House. The dog was so little that she
hoped the Customs officer wouldn’t notice it. At the Custom’s House she filled in
all the necessary forms and came up to the Customs officer, who looked at her big
suit-cases and asked if she had anything to declare. “Oh, no,” she answered, “all
the things are for my own use.” “But do you know that you can’t bring dogs to this
country?” asked the officer. “But I have no dog,” answered the lady. ‘Then I
understand the tail which is hanging down below your coat is your own,” said the
Customs Officer.
Travelling
I’ve spent the last year wandering around the globe and exploring this
wondrous thing called life. I’ve learned that the timing will never be perfect
because rarely are we blessed with the perfect time to do something. When I was
planning on leaving to travel for a year, it was never the “right time” when
everything was going to be put on hold for my travels. I needed more money, or I
would lose my job. I realized that I was never going to be “ready” to drastically
change my life, as I was always going to have some new commitment or excuse.
So I left at the “wrong time” in life and it turned out to be the best thing that
happened to me. But once I got sick of missing out on things I wanted to do and
see, I started to just do them anyway. I’ve also learned friendships are everything. I
heard this one a lot before, but never really believed it that much. It was only when
I had no friends that I realized their importance. Another lesson I have learned is
that life doesn’t have to be “normal”. Go to school, get a job, or buy a big house.
When anyone strays from this path they are considered to be not “normal”. I began
to meet interesting characters from all over the world and saw firsthand how they
had gone “against the grain” and succeeded. I saw and experienced how happy
people are doing something completely different than normal jobs, because they
get to wake up every day and do what they want to do in the place they want to be.
So, while travelling you get a whole new perspective on what really matters and
you feel this sense of adventure and excitement that reminds you just how many
possibilities you have in life. It will teach you more about yourself and the world
around you than you could ever imagine.