[00:04.99]Lesson 21 1 Dialogue
[00:11.23]Mr Zhr is taking a school party to the seaside.
[00:17.11]They have just arrived at the beach.
[00:21.05]MR ZHU:OK,everyone.Less noise,please! Gather round and listen carefully.
[00:27.90]First we are going to search the beach and the rock pools.
[00:32.94]Let me remind you what we are looking for:seaweeds,fish,plants,all living things.
[00:41.80]When you find anything,make a note where it's found,
[00:46.94]and do a drawing in your notebook.
[00:50.78]Then we'll meet here at 12 o'clock and have a swim before our picnic lunch.
[00:57.23]Don't rush! There's plenty of time.
[01:01.60]An hour later.
[01:05.15]JANE:Mr Zhu,have you seen the sea?
[01:10.43]MR ZHU:Of course,I have!It's all around us!
[01:14.58]JANE:No! I mean,have you seen how dirty the water is?
[01:20.93]It looks as if it isn't clean enough to bathe here.
[01:26.00]MR ZHU:Goodness!Now I see what you're talking about.
[01:31.64]JANE:It seems that there is a big waste pipe coning down from the town.
[01:37.41]Do you see it,over there?
[01:40.65]MR ZHU:Yes,I see.How can they get rid of waste water in this way?
[01:48.20]What a terrible colour the sea is now!
[01:52.64]It looks as if our class won't be able to bathe at all.
[01:57.50]JANE:What a pity!
[02:00.74]MR ZHU:No matter how much you want to bathe,it just isn't safe.
[02:05.91]JANE:I suppose it's better to be safe than sick.
[02:10.87]Lesson 22
[02:19.62]2 Reading comprehension
[02:24.27]DEALING WITH WASTE
[02:27.83]How to get rid of waste is a great problem for the world today.
[02:33.70]Waste must be treated so that it does not become a danger to life.
[02:39.95]Unfortunately,
[02:43.00]in some countries waste from factories is still poured straight into rivers.
[02:50.16]People who use the water from one of these rivers ofthe get sick.
[02:56.82]The water may become so polluted that it kills all the fish in the river.
[03:04.08]When this river finally reaches the sea,it pollutes the ocean.
[03:10.64]In many countries with sea coastds,
[03:14.72]human waste is piped directly into the sea withort being treated.This is unsafe.
[03:23.55]Although the sea breaks up the waste,
[03:27.52]beaches may become polluted and fish may not be safe to eat.
[03:33.68]A better method is to take the waste far out to sea in ships
[03:40.16]where the wind and waver break it down.
[03:44.42]In 1989 an international law was passed to stop people putting waste into the sea.
[03:52.36]It is now against the law to throw anything into the sea
[03:57.92]within 5 kilometres of land.
[04:01.79]Plastics and other similar rubbish that soes not break down
[04:08.03]may not be thrown into the sea anywhere.
[04:12.40]Other waste may be thrown into the sea,either 19 kilometres from land,
[04:20.26]or morethan 40 kilometres from land,depending on the nature of the materials.
[04:27.42]Some dangerous waste is still put into metal containers
[04:33.37]and thrown into the deep sea.
[04:36.92]It will be many years before the chemicals start to escape from the containers.
[04:42.88]At the bottom of the ocean there is very little life
[04:47.92]and very little movement of the water.
[04:51.87]It is therefore unlikely that the chemicals will be carried upwards
[04:57.61]into the water where fish are found.
[05:01.87]At one time,certain types of radioactive waste
[05:06.91]were put in the sea in metal containers.
[05:11.04]Now,however,all radioactive waste must be stored on land.
[05:17.81]The problem of dealing with waste has become so great
[05:23.37]that several international organizations,such as "Friends of the Earth",
[05:29.82]have been set up to protect the world and to fight against pollution
[05:36.30]They seek to reduce waste,protect the earth,
[05:41.66]the oceans and all forms of life in them.
[05:46.51]Recently,China has made special laws to deal with waste and control pollution
[05:53.88]She has also been very active in protecting the environment.
[06:00.05]THE THROW-AWAY SOCIETY
[06:03.70]In western countries,mountains of rubbish are thrown away each day.
[06:10.34]This causes many problems.
[06:14.28]First,areas of land must be found where this rubbish can be put.
[06:21.13]This is a particular problem for large cities.
[06:25.88]Second,much energy is wasted producing things that are thrown away.
[06:33.25]In China,rubbish,such as used plastic bags
[06:39.20]and boxes known as "white pollution"is becoming a serious problem.
[06:46.28]Many lakes and rivers are polluted by the wastes from factories.
[06:52.34]As the wealth of the country increases,more waste will be produced.
[06:58.59]If everyone in the country bought one soft-drink can each day and threw it away,
[07:05.95]there would soon be a huge mountain of rubbish.
[07:10.60]Here is a game to play.
[07:13.87]The table below shows how much rubbish is thrown away in Britain every year.
[07:20.40]Imagine that China threw away as much rubbish as a country like Britain.
[07:27.03]China is 22 times larger than Britain.
[07:32.28]So,multiply the total for Britain by 22 (x 22)
[07:38.84]This will show you how much rubbish China would throw away each year.
[07:44.98]Lesson 23
[07:53.84]1 Reading comprehension
[07:58.69]RECYCLING WASTE
[08:02.04]European countries are now making an active effort
[08:07.99]to reuse materials more than they used to.This is called recycling.
[08:16.07]Materials such as paper,glass or metal are collected,sorted,
[08:24.11]treated and used again.Old newspapers are recycled.
[08:31.69]The ink is taken out by a special technique,and new paper is made.
[08:39.94]Oil from factories and motor oil can be treated and reused.
[08:47.52]In many cities in Europe rubbish kis coll ected separately.
[08:53.68]Empty glass bottles are collected,
[08:58.23]and the glass is brlien and reused for making new bottles.
[09:04.76]Developing countries all over the world already recyle materials.
[09:11.60]In India,waste paper is collected,sorted,and recycled.
[09:18.86]Paper bags are are made from unsold newspapers.
[09:24.51]In Egypt,waste is collected by rubbish carts and souted.
[09:30.88]Leftover food is given to pigs and vegetable matter is prt back onto the fields.
[09:39.24]In some Asian countries,shoes are made from the rubber of old car tyres.
[09:46.79]The Chinese government is also working hard against pollution.
[09:53.45]More than 60,000 small factories
[09:58.62]which seriously polluted the environment were shut down in 1996.
[10:06.38]Many materials like used rubber gloves,glass bottles
[10:12.73]cans and other containers are treated or recycled.
[10:19.10]However,no single country can save the environment alone |