Топики по английскому языку. Топики Тексты для чтения Экзаменационные вопросы Цветкова И. В. Клепальченко И. А
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THE EARTH IS OUR HOME The Earth is our home. What sort of home it is depends on how we treat it, just as the houses we live in depend on how we take care of them. Do you like to fish or swim? Do you like to walk through the woods? Do you like to breathe fresh air? Or to watch birds and hear them sing? If you do, we'll have to treat our Earth home in a different way. Why? Because we are making lakes and rivers too dirty for fish to live in or for people to swim in. Because we're cutting down our forests too fast, we are spoiling the nature. Because we're making so much smoke, dirty air often hides the sky and even nearby things. The dirty air makes it hard for us to breathe, and it can cause illness, and even death. Because we're putting so much poison on the things birds eat, they are finding it hard to live. Have you seen smoke pouring out of tall factory chimneys? Have you smelled the gas fumes from the back of a bus? Have you noticed the smoke from a jet plane taking off? All of these things make the air dirty — they pollute it. In crowded cities thousands of automobiles and factories may add tons of poison to the atmosphere each day. Have you wondered where the sewage from one house, many houses, a big city goes? It pollutes rivers and lakes and may even make them die. Fish can't live in them, and you can't swim in them. Have you wondered where the wood for houses comes from? And the paper for books and newspapers? From our forests. And what does the land look like when the trees are gone? Have you thought where the poison goes that we spray on gardens and grass to kill insects and weeds? Onto the things the birds eat, making it hard for them to live and share with us their beautiful colours and songs. Have you seen piles of old cars and old refrigerators? Not very nice to look at, are they? Have you seen piles of old boxes, glass jars, and cans? Not very beautiful, are they? If we don't do anything about this spoiling of the world around us — its air, its water, its land, and its life — our lives are not going to be so nice. But there is much that we can do. Factories can clean their smoke. Cars and planes can be made so that their fumes do not add to the pollution. The dirty water from factories can be made clean. Sewage, too, can be changed so that water is clean enough to use again. Fish can live again, and you can swim again in oceans, seas, rivers, and lakes. The mountains can still be covered with forests if the cutting of trees is done with care. We must plant again where we have cut. And we can have enough wood for houses and paper for books. There is no need to throw away things we do not want or cannot use any more. We can change many things back into what they were made of, and use them again. Old newspapers can become new paper. Old glass jars can be turned into new glass. Old iron can help to make new cars and refrigerators. We can also learn not to litter. We all know the sign: DO NOT LITTER. But not everyone does what the sign says. For a long time, people have used their Earth home without thinking of what was happening to it. Now we see that we must treat it better if it is to be a nice home. It can be. (from Speak Out, abridged) WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH OUR PACKED PLANET? The official number of people on our planet is 6,000,000,000. Six billion! The world's population is growing very quickly. It adds up to 184 people every minute, 11,040 every hour, 264,960 every day and 97 million every year! Just imagine how many people there will be on our planet by the year 2150 if the present trend continues. Of course, the world's population hasn't always grown so quickly. In fact, the number of people on the planet started off growing very slowly. That's because people didn't live as long as they do today. As time passed, better medical care and nutrition and cleaner water helped people live longer. Population growth began to pick up speed. Before long, the world's population doubled — and it has kept doubling! Every new person added to the planet needs food, water, shelter, clothes and fuel. More people mean more cars, roads, schools, hospitals and shops. The trouble is our planet's riches are limited. Take water, for example: although water covers most of the planet, less than 1% of it can be used for drinking and washing. One out of every 13 people around the world does not always have enough clean water. Food shortages are even more common. In many countries, there is simply not enough food to feed the growing populations. 150 million children in the world suffer from poor health because of food shortages. Worldwide, 1 of every 7 people does not get enough to eat. As more people drive more cars, use more electricity, throw away more litter, and cut down more trees, our planet becomes more and more polluted. Although every person uses the planet's resources, some people use a lot more than others. The richest billion people — especially Americans — use the most resources. They also produce the most waste. Of course, having 6 billion people also means that there is more brainpower around to find a way out. (from Speak Out, abridged) "SMOG" WAS INVENTED IN BRITAIN It was in Britain that the word "smog" was first used (to describe a mixture of smoke and fog). As the world's first industrialized country, its cities were the first to suffer this atmospheric condition. In the 19th century London's "pea-soupers" (thick smogs) became famous through descriptions of them in the works of Charles Dickens and in the Sherlock Holmes stories. The situation in London reached its worst point in 1952. At the end of that year a particularly bad smog, which lasted for several days caused about 6,000 deaths. Water pollution was also a problem. In the 19th century it was once suggested that the Houses of Parliament should be wrapped in enormous wet sheets to protect those inside from the awful smell of the River Thames. People who fell into the Thames were rushed to hospital to have their stomachs pumped out! Then, during the 1960s and 1970s, laws were passed which forbade the heating of homes with open coal fires in city areas and which stopped much of the pollution from factories. At one time, a scene of fog in a Hollywood film was all that was necessary to symbolize London. This image is now out of date, and by the end of the 1970s it was said to be possible to catch fish in the Thames outside Parliament. However, as in the rest of western Europe, the great increase in the use of the motor car in the last quarter of the 20th century has caused an increase in a new kind of air pollution. This problem has become so serious that the television weather forecast now regularly issues warnings of "poor air quality". On some occasions it is bad enough to prompt official advice that certain people (such as asthma sufferers) should not even leave their houses, and that nobody should take any vigorous exercise, such as jogging, out of doors. (from Britain, abridged) DO WE LIVE TO EAT? How much food do you think you will eat by the time you are seventy nine? The average Frenchwoman, for example, will eat: 25 cows 9,000 litres of orange juice 40 sheep 6000 litres of mineral water 3 5 pigs 1.37 tonnes of apples 1,200 chickens 768 kg of oranges 2.07 tonnes of fish 430 bags of carrots 5.05 tonnes of potatoes 720 kg of tomatoes 30,000 litres of milk 1,300 lettuces 13,000 eggs Hundreds of packets of coffee, 50,000 loaves of bread sugar, spaghetti, etc 12,000 bottles of wine 8 kg of dirt Delicious, isn't it? How many cows and pigs have you swallowed already? Scientists say that we eat about half-a-ton of food a year — not counting drink! Some people eat even more. According to WHO (World Health Organization), Americans are the fattest people in the world. 55% of women and 63% of men over 25 are overweight or obese. Britain has replaced Germany as Europe's most overweight nation. Russia, the Czech Republic and Finland also have some of the heaviest people in Europe. Even in such countries as France, Italy and Sweden, Europe's slimmest nations, people (especially women) are becoming fatter. The epidemic is spreading! So think twice before you start eating! (from Speak Out, abridged) THERE IS A DANGER HANGING OVER YOUR LIFE L he world is getting fatter. If you are young and fit, don't think this doesn't concern you. Teenagers, too, are getting fatter. Obesity rates in teens, according to experts, are doubling! Surveys show that the favourite foods among teenagers both in Europe and the USA are: • hamburgers (cheeseburgers, fishburgers, beefburgers, eggburgers ... in fact anythingburgers!) • chips (they are called French fries in America) • hot dogs • pizzas • ice-cream Besides, young people watch too much TV. The average British teenager, for example, spends 27 hours a week in front of the "box", and nobody knows how much time he sits in front of the computer. What will today's teenagers look like when they grow up? Imagine yourself as a lazy, fat old man or woman with eyes glued to the TV screen, hands down a packet of chips, munch-munch, staring at the glaring pictures. A real nightmare! But this is the danger hanging over your life! (from Speak Out, abridged) GAME OF CHANCE Are there any practical rules for healthy living? Very few. The formula for healthy life cannot be put into words — it can only be practised. Some people break the so-called health every day and escape punishment and some look after their health and don't live any longer in the end. There are hardly any rules worth having but there are some principles which will help to counteract the harmful genes. These principles are: love in childhood. Love from parents. Another principle is — healthy nutrition — with all elements in proper proportion. Then comes control of environment— air, water and especially the new pollutives. Remember, too, the animals — they have a right to share in the health we want for ourselves. Stresses are an essential part of being alive — but the art of life is to arrange rules that stress does not become strain. A healthy organism is extremely tough. It can withstand overwork, fatigue, anxiety, microbes — up to a certain point, of course. A personal belief— the most important element in a healthy life is some faith in life which mobilizes our faculties and makes the most of them. Perhaps these health principles seem too theoretical, but they are golden rules which can stretch our powers and help us in our fight against harmful genes. (from Health, abridged and simplified) MASS MEDIA WHAT IS NEWS? What is news? The kind of event that becomes news depends on several factors. When did it happen? To be news it must be immediate and current. What happened? Was the event important? If so, it's news. How and where did it happen? Who did it happen to, and what may happen as a result? The answers to all these questions make up what we call news. What kind of stories make news? Accidents, murders, awful fires — do only sad events make news? It depends on what is happening on a particular day. At first glance it may seem that newspapers print more "bad" news than "good" news. On certain bad days that may be true, but if you look through a typical newspaper, you may be surprised at the amount of good news on its pages. Events make news because they are out of the ordinary. To most people, a story that describes an unusual happening is far more interesting than one about what's happening and if an important event happens, it's news, good or bad. (from The World Around Us) AMERICAN PRESS Because of the great size of the USA, local newspapers are more important than national ones. Only the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal are read over a large part of the country. But there are other newspapers that have a wide interest and influence; they include the Washington Post, the popular Daily News, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the St Louis Post Dispatch and the San Francisco Examiner. Most US newspapers are controlled by large monopolists. The US press plays an important part in the business of government; the press conference is an American invention. In the 20m century newspapers have ranged from tabloids featuring pictures and sensational news to, "responsible journals". Their pages are varied and include columns devoted to news, editorials, letters to the editor, business and finance, sports, entertainment, art, music, books, comics, fashions, food, society, television and radio. As the great newspaper chains and news agencies grew, America's press lost its individualistic character; many features are common to newspapers all over the country, which therefore have a uniform appearance. Although there are no separate Sunday papers as there are in Great Britain, US daily papers do have special Sunday editions. Many of these are remarkable in size: the New York Times Sunday edition regularly has over 200 pages, and has had 946. The New York Times has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the US, selling more than two million copies each day. Aside from a few notable exceptions like the New York Times, the St Louis Post- Dispatch, the" Washington Post, the press is daily filled with sex and violence. It is a river of morbidity, murder, divorce and gang fights. It's a melange of chintzy gossip columns, horoscopes, homemaking hints, advice to the lovelorn, comics, crossword puzzles and insane features like: "Are you happily married? Take the following test..." Almost every American newspaper carries comic strips, usually at least a page of them. In contrast to daily newspapers, many magazines in the USA are national and even international. Those with the widest circulation are Time, Reader's Digest, TV Guide, Woman's Day, Better Home and Gardens, Family Circle, the National Geographic Magazine and Ladies' Home Journal. (from The USA by G.D.Tomakhin, abridged) NEWSPAPER WARS With so many modern forms of communication such as radio, TV and the Internet, newspaper companies now find it difficult to sell enough copies of their papers to survive. Many papers have a low circulation. They use many methods to increase their circulation and to decrease the circulation of the other papers. Such strong competition has created the paper wars. Newspaper companies use many methods to increase their circulation. One method is to offer cheap annual subscription; another is to sell a paper at a very low price for a month or two. Only big companies can afford this predatory pricing. Newspapers also try to introduce new ideas. The problem is, however, that every time one company introduces a new idea, the other companies simply copy it! (from BBC English) HOOKED ON THE NET The latest addiction to trap thousands of people is the Internet, which has been blamed for broken relationships, job losses, financial ruin and even suicide. Psychologists now recognize Internet Addiction Syndrome (IAS) as a new illness that could cause serious problems and ruin many lives. IAS is similar to other problems like gambling, smoking and drinking: addicts have dreams about the Internet; they need to use it first thing in the morning; they lie to their parents and partners about how much time they spend online; they wish they could cut down, but are unable to do so. Many users spend up to 40 hours a week on the Internet. Some of the addicts are teenagers who are already hooked on computer games and who find it very difficult to resist the games on the Internet. (from Sunday Times, abridged) WHAT KIND OF VIEWER ARE YOU? Everyone has a different way of using television. Here are some types of television viewers. The absent-minded This type of viewer leaves the TV on all day. In the meantime, he eats, phones, reads or does his homework. For him television is really just background noise for his day. The addict He won't give up TV for anything in the world. He watches the programmes in silence, with great concentration. Even during commercials, he won't leave the screen for fear of losing a second of the programme. He usually chooses the programmes he wants to watch very carefully. The bored He puts the TV on when he's got nothing better to do. For him TV is the last resort. He only watches it when it's raining or when he's ill. What sort of viewer are you? HOBBIES AND PASTIMES WHAT IS A HOBBY? In the 16th century a favourite toy for children of all ages was the hobbyhorse. In appearance a hobbyhorse could be as simple as a stick, or it could have a decorated wooden framework with an imitation horse's head attached. Whether simple or elaborate, children used them for the games of the time involving war and knighthood, much as children in the early part of the 20& century played cowboys and Indians. In time the popularity of the hobbyhorse declined, but the pleasure of doing something outside the routine activities of daily life had brought a new word into the language, the word hobby, which is a shortened form of hobbyhorse. Hobbies today include a vast range of activities. The definition that best covers all these activities is probably constructive leisure-time activities. It excludes games and leaves out purely spectator activities like watching television. It also excludes schooling and work done to make a living. A hobby, like playing with a hobbyhorse, is an activity apart from the ordinary routines of life. It should encourage the use of creativity and imagination and bring the reward of learning. Some hobbies bring monetary rewards as well. (from Compton 's Encyclopaedia) |