Английский язык: Экспресс-репетитор для подготовки к ЕГЭ, «Говорение».
Урок 5: «Окружающая среда. Диалоги. Задание 2».

Task 2

You and your friend are discussing the ecological situation in your city. Discuss the following ecological problems and choose the one you both find most serious:
• air pollution         • rubbish
• water pollution    • noise

’What’s your opinion about the ecological situation in our city?’

’I don’t think that it is awful but of course there are some problems.’

‘I can’t agree with you. In my opinion, our city is in a sorry state. And the most important problem is air pollution. Every day a huge number of plants and factories emit lots of harmful substances into the atmosphere of our city so the concentration of harmful substances in the air is over ten times the admissible level. Besides, a great increase in the use of private cars has caused an increase in a new kind of air pollution. The most dangerous pollutant from cars is lead. Even small amounts of it can affect the brain and nervous system of people. What is more, breathing poisonous air may lead to serious lung diseases. Do you agree with me?’

’Absolutely! However, we can do something to decrease the level of harmful substances in the air. For example, car owners should install special filters on their cars, besides the government should move all plants and factories outside the city. And of course we should plant more parks because trees produce oxygen and clean the air. In my opinion, water pollution is a far more serious problem.’

’Why do you think so?’

’First of all, industrial pollution has made the water in our river completely undrinkable and thousands of fish die every | year as a result of the illegal dumping of waste into our river by factories and plants. If this trend continues, one day we won’t have any fish at all. Another problem is that people consume too much water so in the future we won’t have enough fresh water for everybody.’

’I don’t think that the situation is so critical because we have lots of water underground. We can also improve the quality of water in our river by installing different purifying systems. What is more, we can recycle rain water and use it to water plants or for washing.’

’Yes, I agree with you. The building of new water facilities is now less important than using what we already have efficiently and wisely. And what about rubbish? Don’t you think that our city is slowly turning into a big landfill site? Then I is loads of litter everywhere. People throw it on HIP ground instead of putting it into a litter bin.’

’I can see what you mean but the reason is that there aren’t enough litterbins in public places. If there were more litterbins, our city would be much cleaner.’

’But the main problem is that we’re producing a huge amount of rubbish each year — millions and millions of tonnes of it. And the existing landfill sites are nearly full. Where are we going to put all our rubbish in the future? Finding new sites isn’t easy. I’m afraid that soon we won’t have enough landfill sites to dispose of our rubbish.’

’I’m with you there. Of course we’ve all got to try and reduce the amount of rubbish we throw away. We can do that by buying unpackaged goods, like fruit and vegetables, rather than goods which are wrapped and packaged in plastic. Besides, we shouldn’t dump our rubbish without thinking which things, such as bottles and paper, can be recycled. But what about noise?’

’You can’t be serious! Is it an ecological problem?’

’Of course it is. Although noise is not a chemical and cannot be seen like a broken car, it is a kind of pollution. Noise is all around us, wherever we live, and we do not notice it most of the time because we’ve got used to it. Yet excessive noise can lead to serious psychic disorders. And don’t forget about people living near the airport. They suffer from the noise of large and powerful jet airliners taking off and landing.’

’I’ve never thought that noise can be a real problem:’

’Yes, it’s a serious problem because loud noise can make people ill. People who are exposed to loud noises all the time become very nervous and upset. Moreover, they run a risk of going deaf.’

‘That’s terrible. But I think that other people in our city are also exposed to loud noise, for example, noise from cars, buses or trains. Besides, when people listen to loud music they may disturb their neighbours. And the power of our music centres is growing all the time. Of course, we don’t pay attention to it but the effects can be dangerous.’

’I completely agree with you. We can install different air filters and water treatment facilities or recycle rubbish but we don’t know how to fight against the growing noise around us. That’s why I think that noise pollution is the most serious environmental problem in our city.’

’You are absolutely right! To sum up, we’ve chosen noise as the most serious ecological problem for our city.’