TEST. Nature and the Environment

English, 9th Form
Unit 3. What's Your Knowledge?
Lesson 2.Nature and  the Environment

TEST .NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT                                               

 1.Read the following four Internet posts. Match each paragraph with the corresponding heading. Fill in the gaps (1-4) with the correct answer (A-F) according to the texts. There are two extra headings that you do not need to use.

A Special organisations are the answer

B It's a matter of education

C We should all play our part

D It's not only our fault

E Governments should do more

F It's too late for action

HELPING THE ENVIRONMENT

___1 Brian, from Bristol, UK

In my opinion, the dangers to the environment are so big that we can't do much to help - at least not people like you and me. We've been contributing to the problems for so long now that I don't see that there's any real answer. Some people think that governments can introduce new laws to help, but I think we've passed that point now. It's our own fault and we have to live with the consequences of our actions.

___2 Janine, from Rouen, France

There's no doubt that we've done a lot of damage to the environment with pollution and all our rubbish. However, I don't think that climate change is just because of us. Our planet, Earth, is enormous and powerful and we are so small. I don't believe that humans can change nature. Not many people agree with me, but I'm sure global warming is part of a natural pattern of events. OK, we haven't helped, but it's not all down to us.

___3 Hans, from Oslo, Norway

I don't think the government can do much to help the environment - it's the people who can help. If we all do our bit, we can make a big change to what's happening to our planet. Imagine that everyone rode bicycles instead of driving cars or just switched off their computers, TVs and lights for a while. We wouldn't need so much fuel. Also, if we could change our habits and not buy so much food and try to reuse or recycle our rubbish, we would make a difference!

____4 Micky, from Washington, USA

I definitely agree that we should try to help, like join an environmental campaign group or be careful about saving energy. But there's something that I'm convinced can really help. I'm not sure that everyone realises how important it is to teach people about what's happening to

the world. Children need to learn about it when they're very young and it should be a big topic for them to study.They will be making the decisions in the future, won't they?I hope they'll be better at it than the adults now.

2. Read the text given below. For questions (1–8), decide if the statements are T (True) or F (False).

We may take it for granted, but water is the most important resource on Earth. It covers 80 % of the Earth’s surface and it’s the only substance that can be found natu­rally in three forms: solid, liquid and gas. Water also makes up 66 % of the human body and without it we can’t live for more than a week.

Although water is the most common substance on Earth, we should use it carefully because only 1% is drinkable and 1/3 of all the people in the world can’t get enough clean water. Today, we use 3 times more water than in 1950, and people in rich coun­tries use 10 times more than those in poor ones. So where does it all go? Well, a single dripping tap can waste up to 7,600 litres of water in a year and a leaking toilet can waste about 260 litres in a day.

At home, we can help by fixing broken taps and toilets. Having showers instead of baths could save about 300 litres of water a week. We should also avoid using chemicals that pollute the water supply, because we can’t increase the amount of fresh water in the world. We can only change the way we use it.

___1. Water can exist in solid, liquid and gas forms.

___2. 66 % of the Earth’s water is drinkable.

___3. Humans can live for seven days without water.

___4. Water is the most common substance on our planet.

___5. People use 1/3 of the water on Earth.

___6. Having baths instead of showers wastes water.

___7. We shouldn’t use so many chemicals.

___8. We can’t increase the water supply.

3.Complete the text with the correct answer A, B, C or D.

THE GEOTHERMAL POWER

The Earth’s biggest problem today is 1)___ . We usually use four things to make electricity: oil, coal, water or nuclear power. All of these produce terrible 2)____problems. Nuclear power leaves dangerous radioactive waste. The others all produce gases — and these gases cause 3)___ rain and the greenhouse effect.

The geothermal power is an alternative source of energy. The first geothermal 4)___ station in the world opened in Larderello in Italy. Today New Zealand is the country with the biggest percentage of its electricity from geothermal power.

The centre of the Earth is very hot. In some places that heat is not too far below the ground. We can pump cold water down into the hot rocks, and get hot water back. From this hot water we get steam to make 5)_____ .

	A	B	C	D
1	greenhouse	energy	rain	air
2	pollution	iron	steam	ozone
3	spring	heavy	light	acid
4	habitat	power	forest	protect
5	ice	heat	tea	energy

4. Complete the sentences with the appropriate modal verbs.

have to         must       shouldn’t            can       should          could               mustn’t

1) We …. recycle things to get rid of garbage.

2) One ton of recycled paper …. save 17 trees.

3) People …. protect all the forests as they are keys to our survival.

4) We …. be interested in saving more animals.

5) People …. kill the African elephant for its tusks.

6) Eco-friendly people …. keep the environment clean.

7 )You …. turn up the heating all the time to reduce the use of energy.

Date_________________               Name_________________________________  Mark_____

GOOD LUCKJ