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Unit 4
DIALOGUE I
Pollution Control
A: So you're from London, Dave. Some time ago I read an interesting story about London fog.
B: Oh yeah, I think I know the one you mean. It's about a blind woman leading a man with good eyesight to his home in a dense fog.
A: That's right. Since then, I've always thought of London as a city full of fog. It must be terrible living there.
B: That's already history. London is no longer like that. The yellow-black winter fog has disappeared since the Clean Air Act was enforced in 1956. Since then the average winter sunshine has doubled. And the Thames is swarming with fish.
A: Wow! I wish we could do away with air pollution and dust here. It's been tormenting us for years.
B: It's not as bad as that, is it? I've found this city clean.
A: Ah, but this is a suburban area. Go to the industrial zone and you'll be bothered by the air and water pollution.
B: The factories must have been set up a long time ago. Old factories are usually not equipped with pollution control devices. That was the same in my country. It took us many years to make our industrial cities clean and healthy.
A: But the trouble we have is that even some of the newer factories didn't include pollution control measures when they were built. Besides, quite a number of factories were built in the middle of residential areas.
B: That really makes life intolerable. New factories should've been built out of town.
A: Yes. They shouldn't have been built in an urban area. And they should've been equipped with treatment devices to control smoke, dust, and water pollution.
B: And the noise pollution in the city should also be controlled. Every time I go downtown, I'm irritated by all the noises in the streets.
A: The blowing horns?
B: Yes. The motorists blow their horns whenever they like. Especially the taxis and scooters, they have added considerably to this noise pollution. They totally ignore the city restrictions on horn blowing. They don't seem to consider noise harmful to humans.
A: Well, more and more people have come to know how harmful noise disturbance is. In some cities in China attempts have been made to reduce street noise and they've been quite successful.
B: That's good. In my country it's against the law to blow car horns in any street in town.
A: I think we ought to make stricter laws to that effect, too, and more importantly, to enforce them!
B: Perhaps it's difficult to bring pollution completely under control all at once. It takes time, and it takes money.
A: Fortunately, our government has been working hard to raise people's awareness of the importance of environmental protection and has taken drastic measures to control pollution. I'm looking forward to living in a much cleaner and healthier city in the not too distant future.
DIALOGUE II
Dialogue:
A: I hear you once went sailing.
B: Oh, yes. I'll never forget the time I borrowed a boat and tried my hand at sailing! It was a terrible experience...
A: Tell me about it.
B: Well, the first two days went marvellously. The weather was perfect and I felt so happy that everything was going smoothly.
A: Then what happened?
B: Well, 10 miles off shore, the boat suddenly started letting in water.
A: No!
B: At first I looked around for a bucket or something, but I couldn't find anything. I was in such a panic!
A: What were you doing when the boat started leaking?
B: Well, I was preparing my lunch, but I just had to drop everything.
A: Why hadn't you checked your safety equipment?
B: I know. I ought to have checked it, but I just hadn't.
A: Why didn't you send up an emergency flare?
B: I should have, but everything happened so fast, and then ... the boat capsized.
A: Oh, no! How awful!
B: Yes, dreadful! You see, I couldn't swim, either!
A: Oh, no! It gets worse! Why didn't you learn to swim when you were younger?
B: I could have had swimming lessons, but I never got round to it somehow. I should have learnt to swim. That's what I kept thinking while I was in the water, before the fishing boat came along. Why didn't I learn to swim?
A: What would you have done if the boat hadn't appeared when it did?
B: Oh, I don't know. I suppose I might have drowned. I don't like to think of the consequences. I could have shouted for help or tried to swim for the shore. I think I could have made it too.
READING I
Environmental Pollution
Environmental pollution is a term that refers to all the ways by which man pollutes his surroundings. Man dirties the air with gases and smoke, poisons the water with chemicals and other substances, and damages the soil with too many fertilizers and pesticides. Man also pollutes his surroundings in various other ways. For example, people ruin natural beauty by scattering junk and litter on the land and in the water. They operate machines and motor vehicles that fill the air with disturbing noise. Nearly everyone causes pollution in some way.
Environmental pollution is one of the most serious problems that mankind faces today. Air, water, and soil - all harmed by pollution - are necessary to the survival of all living things. Badly polluted air can cause illness, and even death. Polluted water kills fish and other marine life. Pollution of soil reduces the amount of land on which we can grow food. Environmental pollution also brings ugliness to man's naturally beautiful world.
Everyone wants to reduce pollution. But the pollution problem is as complicated as it is serious. It is complicated because much pollution is caused by things which benefit people. For example, exhaust from automobiles causes a large percentage of all air pollution. But the automobile provides transportation for millions of people. Factories discharge much of the material that pollutes air and water, but factories provide jobs for people. Too much fertilizer or pesticide can ruin soil, but fertilizers and pesticides are important aids to the growing of crops.
Thus, to end or greatly reduce pollution immediately, people would have to stop using many things that benefit them. Most people do not want to do that, of course. But pollution can be gradually reduced in several ways. Scientists and engineers can work to find ways to lessen the amount of pollution that such things as automobiles and factories cause. Government can pass and enforce laws that require businesses and individuals to stop or cut down on certain polluting activities. And - perhaps most importantly - individuals and groups of people can work to persuade their representatives in government, and also to persuade businesses to take action toward reducing pollution.
Man has always polluted his surroundings. But through much of history, pollution was not a major problem. Most people lived in uncrowded rural areas, and the pollutions they produced were widely scattered. People had no pollution-causing machines or motor vehicles. The development of crowded industrial cities in the 1700s and 1800s made pollution a major problem. People and factories in these cities put huge amounts of pollutants into small areas. During the 1900s urban areas continued to develop and automobiles and other new inventions made pollution steadily worse. By the mid-1900s pollution had affected the water in every major lake and river and the air over every major city in the industrial countries. Since the late 1960s millions of people have become alarmed by the dangers of pollution. Large numbers of people are now working to reduce pollution.
READING II
Preserving the Environment in the U.K.
Recently more and more attention has been focused on the problems of preserving the environment. The fact that a Government Ministry called the Department of the Environment has been created shows how important the issue is considered to be.
Over the past thirty years or so the quality of many people's lives has deteriorated in some respects because of technological progress. These people living near airports are constantly assailed by the noise of increasingly larger and more powerful jet aircraft taking off and landing. The motor car has been responsible for many changes in the environment. On the one hand it has brought mobility to millions of people but on the other it has led to the construction of more and more noisy and dangerous roads and has polluted the atmosphere with exhaust fumes.
The countryside has been affected by the large-scale use of insecticides. For one thing the killing of insects has resulted in a loss of balance in the ecology. Insects, although a nuisance to farmers, provide food for birds. Many people are afraid that fruit and vegetables sprayed with chemicals may have some poisonous effect upon the people who eat them.
Recently, however, certain countermeasures against the destruction of the environment have been introduced. One of the first acts of Parliament to counter pollution was the Clean Air Act, which opened the way to smokeless zones in large towns and cities. This followed a very bad winter in which many people with bronchial complaints became very ill or died through the effects of a mixture of smoke, fog and fumes known as "smog". Rivers which used to be fouled up with industrial chemical waste are now being cleaned and fish which could not live there a few years ago can be caught again.
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