4. Choose the best answer and discuss the following.

first rains came a month later than normal, b The villagers... (1) agree with what Julius says.

(2) have not harvested any maize this year. (3) have rice as their staple diet, c Global warming will... (1) make summers colder. (2) make growing seasons longer. (3) make sea levels fall, d In southern Africa... (1) they have had extremes of weather for a long time. (2) the climate is becoming more predictable. (3) severe weather is becoming less frequent.

B.

a Does global warming affect us all, or just people in Africa?

bWhat would happen if the ice caps melted?

c How are these things affected by global warming?

d What practical things could be done to reduce the effects of global warming?

e Many people do not care about global warming. Why is this? Do you care?

Text 2

1. Read and translate the text using a dictionary if needed.

THE 75 TOXIC CHEMICALS IN OUR BLOOD

THEY are an ordinary hard-working British family with three happy children and a jolly granny. Lined up outside their Devon home, the Clements are typical of a million other mums, dads, teenagers, kids and pensioners up and down the country. But behind their smiles lies a shocking reality. Each member of the family has been contaminated with more than 25 hazardous, man-made chemicals which could be slowly destroying their health. And the rest of us are likely to have similar levels of chemicals in our blood. Mum Sara, dad Ian, their children Louis, Amy, and Mollie, and grandmother Patricia Humphries all took part in a WWF study of seven families to find out how polluted our bodies are. It is the first time that three generations of the same family have been subjected to such a rigorous battery of tests for a total of 104 man-made chemicals. It was thought that grandparents - having been exposed to chemicals that are now banned and with many more years of exposure behind them - might have been more contaminated than the younger generations. But the children were actually found to have 75 different chemicals in their blood compared to the 56 in their grandparents' blood. Many of the chemicals are used in the manufacture of furniture, TVs, non-stick pans, carpets and clothing. Experts believe the children may have inherited older toxins from their mother's blood in pregnancy or through breast milk, as well as being bombarded by scores of newer chemicals in the course of their daily lives. Many are so new that scientists have no idea how they will react with older chemicals already in the body - and we don't know what the long term effect on health will be. " This is a wake-up call to the UK government and the European Union to stop repeating the mistakes of the past and ensure these chemicals are banned and replaced with safer alternatives, " says Justin Woolford, WWF Chemicals and Health campaign director.

2. Choose the best answer and discuss the following.

A.

a The survey showed that...

(1) all the Clements family have at least 25 chemicals in their blood.

(2) Mollie's grandmother has 75 chemicals in her blood.

(3) children have fewer chemicals in their blood than older people.

b The WWF study...

(1) tested nine different families.

(2) tested Mollie's great grandparents.

(3) tested for 104 man-made chemicals,

c Scientists...

(1) understand the long-term effects of these chemicals.

(2) expected children to have fewer chemicals than their grandparents.

(3) have no idea how chemicals are passed from one generation to the next.

d You can reduce the harmful chemicals in your blood by...

(1) dry cleaning all your clothes.

(2) eating more dairy food.

(3) ventilating the rooms you live and work in.

B.

a Should we ban all man-made chemicals from household products and food?

b Are you worried by the findings of the WWF report, or do you think it is all scaremongering, a fuss about nothing?

c Do people worry too much about such reports? Should we all just live for today and take life as it comes?

d Should we test man-made chemicals on animals to see if they are safe for humans?

Text 3

1. Read and translate the text using a dictionary if needed.

OCEANS COULD CONTAIN 750, 000 UNDISCOVERED SPECIES

Giant sea spiders the size of dinner plates. Wriggly creatures nicknamed " Squid worms" because of their strange-looking tentacles. A blind lobster whose Latin name means " terrible claw". These are among the new types of animal discovered in the most ambitious-ever survey of the world's oceans, which concludes with the publication of the first Census of Marine Life.

The report marks the first attempt to provide a definitive record of all the species of plants and animals living in the sea. It will reveal that almost 250, 000 have now been identified, predicting there may be at least another 750, 000 still waiting to be discovered beneath the waves.

The Census has been 10 years in the making, and during the project scientists from around the world have identified more than 6, 000 new species. Yet despite this great diversity of life, the report will warn that humans are having a devastating impact on the numbers of many species through fishing and pollution.

" Marine scientists are at present unable to provide good estimates of the total number of species that flourish in the ocean, " it will say. " It will probably take at least another decade of the Census before we can defensibly estimate the total number of marine species. “

More than 2, 700 scientists have helped to compile the Census, with more than 540 expeditions to visit all of the world's oceans.

British scientists have made huge numbers of finds in the cold and inhospitable ocean around Antarctica. In these conditions, marine life grows larger than anywhere else in the world. Sea spiders, a family of eight-legged creatures which rarely grow bigger than a fingernail in UK waters, have been discovered up to nine inches (23cm) across in Antarctic seas.

The deep sea floor, previously thought to be an almost lifeless desert due to the huge pressure and cold water found at depths greater than 6, 000 feet (1. 8km), has provided some of the biggest surprises. Researchers have discovered huge communities of different species scattered across the ocean floor, living at the mouth of thermal vents and rifts that seepnutrients into the ocean.

The " Squidworm", a new species of worm, was found living in the deep water of the Celebes Sea in south east Asia. A furry crab, named the Yeti Crab or Kiwa hirsuta, was also among the discoveries when it was found beside a vent in the deep sea off Easter Island in the south Pacific. Not only was it a new species but part of a new family previously unknown to science.

Dr Maria Baker, a researcher at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton and a project manager on the Census, said: " Life is much more widespread on the ocean floor than was thought. The Census provides us with a baseline to measure the effects that humans are having, but it also shows us that we still have no idea of exactly what we are sharing our planet with. "

Genetic testing now allows scientists to work out whether newly-discovered creatures are new species or just differently-coloured or shaped variants of those already known.

Dr Huw Griffiths, a marine scientist at the British Antarctic Survey who has gone on some of the Census expeditions, said: " About 80 per cent of the species in the Antarctic live on the sea floor. It is incredibly rich and varied there. They are the sort of creatures that a palaeontologist might be more likely to recognize than a marine biologist because they seem to be communities we normally see in the fossil record than in modern oceans elsewhere. "