Unit 2 The Environment Task 高二必修 5

Task Designing a poster

If you hear ‘ Yet another skyscraper has been built in Shanghai. ’ What can you conclude? There are already some skyscrapers in Shanghai.

If you hear the following dialogue Man: The train is going to be late today. Woman: I ’ m not surprised. What can you conclude? The train is often late.

A. Listen to these short descriptions from news reports and draw a conclusion about what kind of natural disaster occurred in each situation. earthquake typhoon drought flood fire floodfire earth- quake typh- oon drought

Tapescript 1. It had been raining for ten days and then the river burst its banks and water was everywhere. The field that we had just planted with rice was completely covered with water. 2. The house just went up in flames. We could not stop it from burning down.

3. One minute I was standing and the next I had fallen on the ground. The ground was moving all around me. Several cars were trapped in big holes on the roads. It was really frightening. I am lucky to be alive.

4. The wind was very strong and the rain just poured down. Many shop windows were broken and lots of street signs were destroyed. 5. There has been no rain for more than five years here. The crops have failed and there is hardly anything to eat.

1. The fires have been burning for quite some time. 2. Many people have lost their homes. B. Listen to the news report and decide if each conclusion below is logical. If it is, tick (√) the box. √ √

3. The police suspect citizens of Los Angeles helped start the fires. 4. The reporter thinks it is very sad that old trees will be burnt. 5. The fire department has given up hope of stopping the fires. √

Tapescript Reporter: This is Sally Smith reporting for World News from Los Angeles, California. California is still battling against huge fires that are sweeping across the state. Thousands of people have lost their homes although thankfully, no one has been killed. Firefighters are trying new ways to help

save people’s homes. This includes using helicopters to bring water from the sea. It is thought that some teenagers may have started the fires. About three hours ago the police arrested two suspects. I can see from here that the damage to the environment is very bad. The fires have already damaged two hundred and sixty

square kilometers of forest. These were mainly old redwood trees which were very important to the ecology of the area. Some of the trees were hundreds of years old and will be damaged or lost completely if the fires are not brought under control quickly. At the moment, there is no sign of the fires coming

under control. High winds in the area are helping the fires to spread. I will bring you another update in an hour. This is Sally Smith, reporting to you live from Los Angeles, California.

A. Your Science teacher has asked your group to make a poster about desertification for a nationwide contest. Before you can begin your poster, you must learn about desertification. Listen to your teacher ’ s lecture and collect information about your topic.

1. What is desertification? ____________________________________________________ 2. Where does it happen? __________________________________________________ 3. How are people affected by it? ________________________________ ______________________________________________________ It is when useable land becomes dry and turns into a desert. It happens in Africa, the USA, South America and China. People lose their homes and farms; many families starve and others move to the cities to find work.

4. Why does it happen? ______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ 5. Who should be concerned? _____________________________ People plant too much on the land without giving it a rest; too many animals all depend on the same land to eat; and people cut down trees for full and to make space for more farms. Everyone should be concerned.

B. Check your understanding of what you have just heard. Read the following statements and match them with the conclusions that can be made from them.

1. Your teacher wants you to help educate people about desertification. 2. A desert is an area of dry land. Desertification is what we call it when land turns into desert. a. The ending -ification means a process. b. Many people around the world do not know about desertification.

3. People plant things without giving the land a chance to rest. 4. The wind carries sand from the deserts to the cities, causing air pollution. c. Some people become ill after breathing this air. d. One way to stop desertification is to allow the land a chance to rest between plantings.

Tapescript Teacher: Okay, class, there is a nationwide poster contest being held. Every school has been given a topic, and ours is desertification. Desertification is what we call it when useable land (farmland, forests, etc) becomes dry and turns into a desert.

One poster from each school will be picked to be part of an exhibition that will travel around the world, educating people about environmental problems. Problems associated with desertification affect around two hundred and fifty million people every year. About four billion hectares, that is a third of all Earth’s land, suffers from this problem.

We really need to get the world’s attention so we can start trying to fix the problem. Although desertification is everyone’s problem, it is an especially big problem in Africa. It is also a problem in the USA. Thirty percent of the land there is in danger of becoming desert. A quarter of the area of South America is threatened

as well. Here in China, we also must deal with it. Since the nineteen fifties, seven hundred thousand hectares of farmland, two point three five million of range land (that is where animals go to eat the grass), and six point four million hectares of forest have been lost—all that land has turned into desert!

Europe has been affected too, because the sand from deserts in Africa actually gets carried to Europe by the wind, and it is very unhealthy to breathe. It is worse for the people who live in these desert areas. Not only do they breathe in this dusty air, but they also lose their homes and farms because the

land is too dry to use. Many families starve, and others move to the cities to find work. These people’s lives are being ruined because of desertification. There are many reasons why this is happening. Some parts of the world are naturally becoming drier —this has always happened, but the actions of humans are making it much worse.

People plant too much on the land without giving it a rest; too many animals depend on the same land to eat; and people cut down trees for fuel and to make space for more farms — all of this dries out the land. When it gets too dry and there are no trees to stop the wind, the top soil (the part of the earth we grow food in) blows away. I hope this

has been enough information to get you interested, and to make you understand that desertification is everyone’s problem. You can be part of the solution by making posters and educating people around the world about this growing problem. Now go out and do some research and good luck with your posters!

Solutions to desertification: ① To encourage farmers to building fences ② To provide money to plant more trees and bushes in dry areas ③ To do scientific research on the problem ④ To have a better management of the potential desert

⑤ To train people in responsible water usage ⑥ To share information and solutions between countries ⑦ To use satellites to pick out areas likely to be affected by desertification Solutions to desertification:

When you present your point of view, you usually want people to accept your ideas. There are certain things you can do to make what you say more polite so that people will be more likely to agree with you. Presenting your point of view Skills building 3:

You can use these words to help you introduce your point of view: I think / believe that … From my point of view it seems that … It seems to me that … Personally I agree / disagree because …

Use these words to explain your point of view: because … as a result of … due to … on account of …

Desertification is caused by people cutting down trees and digging up bushes. People should not keep on planting things on the same place of land. The land needs to rest! Deserts form naturally. We shouldn’t worry about desertification. It will fix itself. We must stop building factories. They pollute the water and all the plants die. Then the land turns into desert.

We need to learn how to use water better. If we are careful, we’ll have enough water for people, animals and plants and then no deserts will form. Farmers should stop letting their animals eat all the grass. If there is no grass, a desert will form. Out-dated farming methods cause desertification.

1. How can desertification be prevented? 2. Can areas of desert be turned back into farmland and forests? You have decided to focus on the following areas in your poster. Discuss the questions below with your group. Designing a poster

3. Is desertification a global problem? 4. Why is it important to fight desertification? 5. What progress has been made to fight desertification so far? 6. Can young people do anything to help fight this problem?

Heading _______________________ Content _______________________ Pictures /layout _________________ Discuss the content and layout of your poster with your group. Use the space below to help with your planning.

祝同学们学习进步！