While reading the texts, do the following tasks:
| A. Fill in the gaps with the prepositions where necessary.
HUMAN ENCROACHMENT
1) _____ a population 2) ____ 6.7 billion – and set 3) ____ pass 9 billion 4) ____ 2050 – human beings are crowding 5) _____ other species through sheer numbers. As a rising middle class 6) _____ countries like India begins consuming 7) _____ Western rates, we could leave 8) _____ little room 9) _____ wildlife.
| B. Fill in the gaps with the following words:
deforestation species biodiversity tropical cleared acres
DEFORESTATION AND HABITAT LOSS
1) __________ forests are home to the greatest concentration of 2) __________ on the planet – but when the trees are lost, 3) __________ soon follow. From 1990 to 2005 the world lost 172 million 4) __________ (70 million hectares) of forest – much of it in South American countries like Brazil, where 5) ________ has accelerated as land is 6) _________ for pastures.
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| C. Open the brackets and use the verbs in the correct form.
POACHING
From the illegal slaughter of elephants for the ivory to the hunting of apes and gorillas for food, poaching 1) ____ (remain) a serious threat to some of the world’s most charismatic endangered species. The rising global trade in animal parts 2) _______ (make) killing even more profitable. In the Congo Basin three fifth of all large mammals 3) __________ (hunt) at unsustainable rates – many or “bushmeat”, which 4) ____ (be) increasingly popular in Africa’s market.
| D. Fill in the gaps with articles where necessary.
ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
1) _____ buying and selling of endangered live animals – as pets, performers and more – is 2) _____ new and growing menace to wildlife. Total wildlife trade is believed to be 3) _____ second largest direct threat to many species, after habitat loss. 4) _____ problem has become so severe that 5) _____conservationists have coined 6) _____ term empty-forest syndrome to describe habitats that remain standing but have been stripped of 7) _____ animals that once lived there. 8) _____ South East Asia has long been 9) _____ hub of 10) ______ wildlife trade; almost anything can be found in 11) _____ live markets of Bangkok or Guangzhou. And 12) _____ Internet has allowed 13) _____ sale of species to go global.
| E Use the word given in CAPITALS to form a word which fits in the space.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Even if we do manage to reduce forest 1) _______ (LOSE) and stop wildlife trade, a greater threat looms on the horizon: global 2) ________ (WARM). As the climate changes 3) ________ (RAPID), the territory to which species have adapted may become 4) _________ (LIVE) faster than they can respond. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has reported that warming could put as much as 70% of species at a greater risk of 5) _____ (EXTINCT) – with the Arctic animals like the 6) _________ (POLE) bear potentially among the first to go.
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| 1.3. Which species of animals and plants face extinction? Why?
1.4.Listen to the person speaking about the animals and the problems they face. When listening, try to find out what these figures refer to:
1). 7 000 ___________________________________________________
2) 1 in 4 ____________________________________________________
3) 84-143 ___________________________________________________
4) 40% _____________________________________________________
Listen to the recording once again and fill in the gaps.
The Red List is looking at classifying species according to 1) _____________________________________________________.
It’s the most 2) __________________________ of the world’s mammals.
We are at 3) ________________________________________________.
The Iberian lynx has just been listed on the 4) _____________________.
The main threats that are affecting species are 5) ____________ and degradation, overexploitation, 6) _________________ getting into the environment, and 7) ____________________________.
We need to make sure that 8) _________________ stopping habitat loss.
We need to make sure that we are making commitment and actually act on reducing 9) ________________________.
| 1.5. Paraphrase the quotations below. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Why not?
The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" (Jeremy Bentham)
Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game. (Paul Rodriguez)
If a ferret bites you it is nearly always your own fault. (Phil Drabble)
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