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Date : 28/05/2020

Professeur : Maliki Sanoussi DIALLO

Classes : L1 CA et L1GEII S2

Objectif : Lire le texte et comprendre l’essentiel du contenu, enrichir le vocabulaire de l’étudiant,

renforcer ses capacités en grammaire et l’initier à la traduction.

Travail à faire : (work to be done) : lire attentivement le texte et comprendre l’essentiel du contenu,
chercher le sens des mots que vous ignorez s’ils ne sont pas expliqués par le professeur, répondre
aux questions de compréhension basées sur le texte, faire les exercices de vocabulaire et de
grammaire et faire la traduction.

Titre : TEXT : ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Environmental pollution is one of the most serious problems facing humanity. Air, water, and soil
all harmed by pollution are necessary to the survival of all living things. Badly polluted air can
cause illness, and even death. Polluted water kills fish and other marine life. Pollution of soil
reduces the amount of land available for growing food. Environmental pollution also brings
ugliness to our naturally beautiful world.

Throughout history, man changed his physical environment in order to improve his way of living.
With tools of technology, he has altered many physical features of the earth. He has transformed
woodlands and prairies into farmland and made lakes and reservoirs out of rivers for irrigation
purposes or hydroelectric power. Man has also modified the face of the earth by draining marshes
and cutting through mountains to build roads and railroads.

However, man’s changes to the physical environment have not always had beneficial results.
Today, pollution of air and water is an increasing danger to the health of the planet. Each day,
thousands of tons of gases come out of the exhaust of motor vehicles. Smoke from factories
pollutes air of industrialized areas and the surrounding areas of countryside. The air in cities is
becoming increasingly unhealthy.

The pollution of water is equally harmful. In the sea, pollution of oil is increasing and is killing
enormous numbers of algae, fish and birds. The whole ecological balance of the sea is being
changed. The same problem exists in rivers. Industrial wastes have already made many rivers
lifeless. Conservationists believe that it is now necessary for man to limit the growth of
technology in order to survive on earth.

VOCABULARY STUDY : sens et explication en français de quelques mots clés du texte.

Survival : la survie
Living things: les êtres vivants, choses vivantes
illness=sickness= desease: maladie
death: la mort
To kill: tuer
Land: la terre, un pays, un morceau de terrain
Available : disponible
To grow : (regular verb) grew – grown: granger, pousser, croitre, se développer
Growing : grandissant, en développement
Growth : l’agrandissement, le développement ; la croissance
Ugliness: la laideur, le fait d’etre vilain
Ugly : vilain, laid, pas joli
To improve= to ameliorate: augmenter, améliorer
Tools: outils
To alter / altered: transformer, changer, modifier
Features: aspects, caractéristiques, qualités
Earth: la terre, le globe terrestre
Wood : le bois
Woodlands : zones forestières, les forêts
Farmland: zones de culture
Lakes: les lacs
Reservoirs: les réservoirs
Rivers: les rivières
Draining / to drain: drainer l’eau, faire le drainage
A marsh: un marais
Railroads: les chemin de fer
Increasing / to increase: augmenter
Health: la santé
Unhealthy: malsain, pas de santé
Exhaust: échappement
Areas: les zones, les régions les lieux
Countryside: la campagne le pays
Algae : les algues, plantes aquatiques
Fish: poisson
Birds: les oiseaux
Wastes: les déchets
Solid wastes : déchets solides
Liquid wastes : déchets liquides
Chemical wastes : déchets chimiques
Lifeless : sans vie, pas de vie

QUESTIONS :

I. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

A. A. True / false questions: Read the following statements and decide whether they
are true or false. Then copy the true statements and correct the false ones.
1. Man’s action on his physical environment is aiming at ameliorating his life
conditions.
2. Conservationists believe that pollution is creating harmony in the sea life.

B. Multiple choice questions: choose the letter of the best answer and copy down
the complete sentence it contains.
 1. For the health of the planet the pollution of air and water is
a. harmless b. harmful
c. something good d. to be encouraging

2. The ecological balance of the sea is being changed by.

a. tons of gases b. the building of roads.
c. smoke from factories d. polluted oil.

C. Information questions:

1. Cite from the text two beneficial results of man’s action on his environment.
2. What are the things that pollute air and water?
3. What does pollution kill in the sea?
4. What pollutes the rivers and what’s the consequence of this pollution?

II. VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR

A. Vocabulary: explain and use each of the following words in a meaningful

sentence of your own: harmful, wastes, to pollute, purpose.

B. Grammar: select all the irregular verbs contained in the text.

III. TRANSLATION: translate into French the 3rd paragraph of the text, from:
‘’However……………. increasingly unhealthy’’

IV. COMPOSITION:

Topic: suppose you are the leader of an association of young people in your city, and it’s facing
serious environmental problems in terms of solid and liquid wastes. Write an essay about
sensitising your people on how to make their environmental conditions much better.

I hope you will enjoy this lesson before the others follow. Thank you for reading me.
Have a nice day.