Air and Land Pollution - Reading Comprehension
материал для подготовки к егэ (гиа) по английскому языку (9 класс) на тему

Read and translate the text. The words in bold are given in the vocabulary under the text.

Air and land pollution

Thick black smoke in the sky, horrible–tasting chemicals in your drinking water, pesticides in your food –– these are examples of pollution. Pollution is any contamination of the environment which causes harm to the environment or the inhabitants of the environment. There are many kinds of pollution, and there are many pollutants. Some obvious kinds of pollution are pollution of the air, soil, and water. Others kinds of pollution are radioactive waves, noise, light pollution, and green-house gasses.

Air pollution can be caused by particles, liquids, or gases that make the air harmful to breathe. There are two main types of air pollution: primary and secondary. Primary pollutants enter the air directly, like smoke from factories and car exhaust. Secondary pollutants are chemicals that mix together to pollute the air, like mixtures of emissions, or waste output, from vehicles and factory smoke.

 The effects are quite severe. When it comes to health problems, the effects of air pollution include a wide range of diseases, bronchitis, asthma, headaches, heart problems, and even life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks. Air pollution also has adverse effects on the environment in which we live. It has the tendency to cause severe environmental issues such as global warming and acid rains.

Soil pollution can be caused by pesticides, leakage from chemical tanks, oil spills, and other chemicals which get into the soil. Soil pollution can also cause water pollution when underground water becomes contaminated by coming into contact with the polluted soil.

 The pollution of soil affects the health of children. It can damage the brain and stop the development of intelligence.

Water pollution can be caused by waste products, sewage, oil spills, and litter in streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Some scientists believe that water pollution is the largest cause of death and disease in the world, causing about 14,000 deaths in the world each day.

Noise pollution can be caused by vehicles, aircraft, and industrial points. It can also be caused by military actions. Noise has health effects on people and animals. In people, it can cause high blood pressure, heart problems, sleep disturbances, and hearing problems. In animals, it can cause communication, reproductive, and navigation problems – they have difficulty finding their direction.

Vocabulary

acid - кислотный

contamination - отравление

development of intelligence – развитие интеллекта

emissions - выбросы

exhaust - выхлоп

green-house - парниковый

horrible–tasting – ужасный на вкус

issues - проблемы

leakage - утечка

life-threatening – угрожающий жизни

liquids - жидкости

litter - мусор

obvious - очевидный

oil spills – утечки нефти

particles - частицы

pollutants – загрязняющие вещества

primary - первичный

secondary - вторичный

severe - суровый

sewage - канализация

sleep disturbances – расстройство сна

smoke - дым

streams - ручьи

tanks - резервуары

thick - густой

vehicles - машины

waves - волны

Answer the questions

1) The text is about …

 2) According to the text what is pollution?

2) What are the types of pollution mentioned in the text?

3) Think of other forms of pollution, causes and effects.