The History of Life on Earth

Introduction

Listen to the account of the history of ideas concerning the generation of life on Earth and discuss in pairs whether the following sentences are true or false.

1. Several centuries ago no one thought it difficult to answer the question of how living things had arisen. T / F

2. Earlier people thought that life had appeared spontaneously from nonliving things and other forms of life. T / F

3. In Medieval texts the authors suggested ways of creating nonliving things from living things. T / F

4. People thought that microorganisms had arisen from broth and wheat. T / F

5. Francesco Redi proved that maggots did not arise from rotting meat. T / F

6. Louis Pasteur’s ideas did not answer the question of how life on Earth had originated. T / F

7. Alexander Oparin thought that complex organic molecules could be formed spontaneously only if oxygen was around. T / F

8. Oxygen keeps molecules simple. T / F

9. Oparin and Haldane argued that the primordial atmosphere consisted of hydrogen gas, methane and ammonia and free oxygen. T / F

10. Prebiotic evolution means evolution of nonliving matter to become living matter. T / F

Reading

Prebiotic Conditions Would Allow Organic Molecules to Accumulate

Prebiotic synthesis would not have been very efficient or very fast. Nonetheless, in a few hundred million years, large quantities of organic molecules could accumulate, especially because they didn’t break down nearly as fast back then. On Earth today, most organic molecules have a short life; either they are digested by living organisms or they react with atmospheric oxygen. Primeval Earth lacked both life and free oxygen, so these sources of degradation were absent. However, the primordial atmosphere also lacked the ozone layer, a region high in the atmosphere that is enriched with ozone molecules, which absorb some of the sun’s high-energy ultraviolet (UV) light before it reaches Earth. During the early history of Earth, before the ozone layer formed, UV bombardment, which can break apart organic molecules, must have been fierce. Some places, however, such as those beneath rock ledges or at the bottoms of even fairly shallow seas, would have been protected from UV radiation. In these locations, organic molecules may have accumulated to relatively high levels.

Even in areas protected from the sun, however, it’s unlikely that molecules dissolved in a huge ocean could reach the concentrations necessary to form spontaneously the more complex molecules that arose in the next stage of prebiotic evolution. The chemical reactions in which simple molecules combined to form larger molecules such as RNA and proteins required that the reacting molecules be packed closely together. Scientists have proposed several mechanisms by which the requisite high concentrations might have been achieved on early Earth. One possibility is that shallow pools at the ocean’s edge were filled with water by waves crashing onto the shore. Afterward, some of the water in the pool might have evaporated, concentrating the dissolved substances. Given enough cycles of refilling and evaporation, the molecules in these pools could have become a concentrated “primordial soup” in which spontaneous chemical reactions could generate complex organic molecules. These molecules could then have become the building blocks of the first living organisms.

I. As in the example a, choose the definitions for the words in bold from the following list:

a related to the period when the universe or the Earth first began to exist - …primeval…

b the process of the change of a liquid into gas or steam - …………………

c necessary for a particular purpose - ……………………

d the process of changing into a worse condition - ………………………

e with only a short distance from the top or surface to the bottom - …………………..

f formed when the Earth or universe began - …………………..

g very strong or severe - …………………

ha narrow surface that continues out from the side of a cliff, wall or other surface - …………

II. List the conditions that prevented life from appearing on the primeval Earth. How do scientists solve the problems arising from these conditions?

Language focus 1

-Ing and –ed Participles

I. Translate the following word combinations:

a developing organism

a developed frog

a dividing cell

the divided world of the XXth century

intriguing results of latest experiments

intrigued observers of the advance of science

a misleading hypothesis

a proved theory

guided reactions

the guiding role of genes

failed attempts

to develop specialized structures

life-sustaining water

II. What is the general meaning of the –ed participles and of the –ing participles?

Fill in the gaps with a suitable form of an –ing or –ed participle

1. A …….……… (reproduce) organism can be called a ………………. (live) organism.

2. A ……………. (catalyze) reaction proceeds faster than a …………………. (non-catalyze) one.

3. The ideas ………………. (include) concerned not only the biological science but also other fields of knowledge.

4. In the 1980s, Thomas Cech and Sidney Altman offered an ………………. (intrigue) solution to the question of how self-reproducing molecules appeared.

5. A ……………….. (develop) human body needs more care than a …………………… (develop) one.

6. The ………………….. (intrigue) spectators waited for the outcome of the competition.

7. It is sometimes difficult to draw a ………………. (divide) line between living and non-living matter.

8. A house ……………….. (divide) cannot stand.

9. A …………….. (prove) hypothesis becomes a part of a scientific theory.

10. We don’t know how many ………………… (fail) experiments led to the discovery of many simple things.

Language focus 2

-Ing and –ed Participle Constructions

1 The photosynthetic reactions of the first cyanobacteria converted water and carbon dioxide to organic compounds, releasing oxygen as a by-product.

(The –ing participle construction is here an adverbial modifier and it modifies the whole of the main clause.)

2 Oxygen and nutrients going into the cell and waste products going out must diffuse through the plasma membrane.

(The –ing participle constructions are here attributes and they modify the words oxygen and nutrients and waste products.)

3 An organism may be multicellular - that is, it may consist of many small cells packaged into a large, unified body.

(The –ed participle construction is here an attribute, modifying the word cells.)

I. Say whether the –ing or –ed participle construction is an adverbial modifier or an attribute.

1. If an aerobe was captured by an anaerobe cell it could absorb half-digested food molecules residing in the cytoplasm of the anaerobe and its oxygen to complete its metabolism, gaining enormous amounts of energy as it did so.

2. The oxygen expelled by cyanobacteria reacted with iron atoms in Earth’s crust, or surface layer, forming huge deposits of iron oxide, known as rust.

3. Mitochondria, chloroplasts and centrioles each contain their own minute supply of DNA, which some researchers interpret as a remnant of the DNA originally contained within the symbiotic bacterium.

4. Waterproof coatings on the aboveground parts reduced water loss by evaporation, and rootlike structures delved into the soil, mining water and minerals.

5.Specialized cells formed tubes called vascular tissues to conduct water from roots to leaves.

6. Extra-thick walls surrounding certain cells enabled stems to stand erect.

7. A wide variety of Precambrian invertebrate animals (animals lacking backbones) appear in rocks laid between 650 million and 544 million years ago.

8. A new and different set of fossil animals appears just as suddenly in strata from the Cambrian period, marking the beginning of the Paleozoic era, about 544 million years ago.

9. Most invertebrates in the Silurian period possessed either an internal hydrostatic skeleton, much like a water-filled tube (worms) or an external skeleton covering the body (arthropods such as trilobites).

10. Soon a more efficient means of feeding evolved: A separate mouth and anus, found today in almost all animals, was developed.

II. Translate into Russian, using participle constructions.

1. Анаэробный организм не нуждается в кислороде для метаболизма, используя другие метаболические механизмы.

2. Земная кора содержит значительные по объему залежи минералов, используемые как источник энергии и строительный материал большим количеством организмов.

3. Реакции фотосинтеза, происходящие в хлоропластах, превращают энергию солнечного света в другие формы энергии.

4. Митохондрии, находящиеся в цитоплазме эукариотических клеток, играют важную роль в их метаболизме.

5. Водоотталкивающие покрытия, сформированные на поверхности листьев, предотвращают потерю воды путем испарения.

6. Организмы, у которых нет хорды, называются беспозвоночными.

7. Цианобактерии, содержащие хлорофилл прямо в цитоплазме, варьируют в цвете от сине-зеленого до фиолетового.

8. Цианобактерии, поглощенные клеткой-хозяином, развились в первые хлоропласты.

9. Согласно общепризнанной гипотезе, первые хищники были специализированными прокариотическими клетками, у которых не было клеточных стенок и которые, следовательно, были способны поглощать целые бактерии.

10. Кислород, освобожденный цианобактериями, реагировал с железом, образуя соединение, известное как ржавчина.

Words, Words, Words

I. Prepare to discuss the development of: a) microspheres and their qualities, and b) the first living things and their qualities, using some of the expressions given.

- to create favorable conditions for the formation of complex organic compounds

- to possess significant stability

- to form microspheres

- to absorb various substances

- to be transformed in a series of reactions

- to be expelled into the environment

- to be only partially similar to living things

- to control the synthesis of specific compounds

- to develop the mechanism of reproduction and inheritance

- to determine the order of amino-acids in the synthesis of proteins

- to gain energy from the environment

- to give off energy in the process of decay of organic compounds

- to lead to giving off oxygen into the atmosphere and water

II. Render the following extract into English, using the expressions from I.

Большое количество данных говорит о том, что средой возникновения жизни могли быть прибрежные районы морей и океанов. Здесь, на стыке моря, суши и воздуха, создавались благоприятные условия для образования сложных органических соединений. Например, растворы некоторых органических веществ (сахаров, спиртов) обладают большой устойчивостью и могут существовать неограниченно долгое время. В концентрированных растворах белков, нуклеиновых кислот могут образовываться сгустки подобно водным растворам желатина. Такие сгустки называют коацерватными каплями, или коацерватами (зд. microspheres). Коацерваты способны адсорбировать различные вещества. Из раствора в них поступают химические соединения, которые преобразуются в результате реакций, проходящих в коацерватных каплях, и выделяются в окружающую среду.

Коацерваты – это еще не живые существа. Они проявляют лишь внешнее сходство с такими признаками живых существ, как рост и обмен веществ с окружающей средой. Поэтому возникновение коацерватов рассматривают как стадию развития преджизни.

Коацерваты претерпели очень длительный отбор на устойчивость структуры. Устойчивость была достигнута вследствие создания ферментов, контролирующих синтез тех или иных соединений. Наиболее важным этапом в происхождении жизни было возникновение механизма воспроизведения себе подобный и наследования свойств предыдущих поколений. Это стало возможным благодаря образованию сложных комплексов нуклеиновых кислот и белков. Нуклеиновые кислоты, способные к самовоспроизведения, стали контролировать синтез белков, определяя в них порядок аминокислот. А белки-ферменты осуществляли процесс создания новых копий нуклеиновых кислот. Так возникло главное свойство, характерное для жизни, - способность к воспроизведению подобных себе молекул.

Живые существа представляют собой так называемые открытые системы, то есть системы, в которые энергия поступает извне. Без поступления энергии жизнь существовать не может.

По способам потребления энергии организмы делятся на две большие группы: автотрофные и гетеротрофные. Очевидно, первые организмы были гетеротрофными, получающими энергию путем бескислородного расщепления органических соединений. На заре жизни в атмосфере Земли не было свободного кислорода. Возникновение атмосферы современного химического состава теснейшим образом связано с развитием жизни. Появление организмов, способных к фотосинтезу, привело к выделению в атмосферу и воду кислорода. В его присутствии стало возможным кислородное расщепление органических веществ, при котором получается во много раз больше энергии, чем при бескислородном.

Unit 6

Biotechnology

Introduction

I. In groups of four answer the questions:

1. What is the definition of biotechnology?

2. What are the goals of genetic engineering?

II. Share your ideas with the class.

III. Check if you know the following words:

alteration yeast selective breeding rind wild prehistoric remains

utilize threefold disorders valuable

IV. Listen to the abstract answering these two questions and decide how close your answers were to the information you’ve heard.

Reading

Read and translate the text. Summarize some of the methods of biotechnology.

A DNA Library

Within the past few years, the technologies of recombinant DNA have mushroomed. We will follow a typical sequence of procedures that might be used to solve a particular problem or to produce a specific product.

The first task in recombinant DNA technology is to produce a DNA library – a readily accessible, easily duplicable assemblage of all the DNA of a particular organism. The entire set of genes carried by a member of any given species is called a genome. Why build a DNA library of a species’ genome? A DNA library organizes the DNA in a way that researchers can use it. restriction enzymes, plasmids, and bacteria are the most commonly used tools in assembling a DNA library.

Many bacteria produce restriction enzymes, which sever DNA at particular nucleotide sequences. In nature, restriction enzymes defend bacteria against viral infections by cutting apart the viral DNA. (The bacteria protect their own DNA, probably by attaching methyl groups to some of the DNA nucleotides.) Researchers have isolated restriction enzymes and use them to break DNA into shorter strands at specific sites.

Most restriction enzymes recognize and sever palindromic sections of DNA, in which the nucleotide order is the same n one direction on one strand as in the reverse direction on other strand. (A palindrome is a word that reads the same forward and backward, such as “madam”.) These single-stranded cut pieces of the DNA fragment are called ‘sticky ends’, because they will stick to (form hydrogen bonds with) other single-stranded cut pieces of DNA with the complementary series of bases. If the appropriate DNA repair enzyme (called DNA ligase) is added, DNA from different sources cut by the same restriction enzyme can be joined as if the DNA had occurred naturally. Segments of DNA from fundamentally different types of organisms, such as bacteria and humans, can be joined if they have complementary sticky ends.

Many different restriction enzymes have been isolated from various species of bacteria. Each cuts DNA apart at different but specific palindromic nucleotide sequences. The variety of restriction enzymes has enabled molecular geneticists to identify and isolate specific segments of DNA from many organisms, including humans.

Suppose now that human DNA is isolated from white blood cells and is cut apart into many small fragments with a restriction enzyme. The same restriction enzyme is then used to sever the DNA of bacterial plasmids. Now both human and plasmid DNA have complementary sticky ends that, when mixed, form hydrogen bonds. When DNA ligase is added, it bonds the sugar-phosphate backbones together, inserting segments of human DNA into plasmids.

The new rings of plasmid-human DNA (recombinant DNA) are mixed with bacteria, which take up the recombinant DNA. Millions or billions of plasmids collectively could incorporate DNA from the entire human genome. Usually, 100 to 1000 times more bacteria than plasmids are used, so that no individual bacterium ends up with more than one recombinant DNA molecule. The resulting population of bacteria containing recombinant plasmid-human DNA constitutes a human DNA library.

Language focus 1

Types of Infinitives

I. Read the sentences below and discuss them with your partner: are they true for you?

1. I was grown up to believe that life was a gift, and that I had to treasure it.

2. If there is some work to do, I prefer to do it alone.

3. Relatives can never become a source of problems.

4. I don’t mind seeing a film, even if it is thought of as a bore.

5. I am looking forward to finding a good job with an international laboratory.

6. It’s fun to be working together on one problem.

7. My best friend is thought to have studied in a biologically-biased class at school.

8. One of my teachers is known to have been working on the same problem for ten years.

9. If you are in university to study, most work is to be done at home.

10. I always suggest choosing the shortest way in solving any problem.

II. What do you know about the Infinitive? What is its typical form?

III. Now find the Infinitives in the sentences above. There are three sentences without an Infinitive. There may be more than one infinitive in a sentence.

IV. Now fill in the gaps in the following table. Put in the table the number of sentences where each type of the infinitive has been used. Can you guess why passive progressive infinitives are not commonly used?

INFINITIVES

	Simple	№	Perfect	№
Active	to do		to have …..
Passive	to …. done		to have … done
Active progressive	to be doing		to … been doing
Passive progressive	-		-

Types of Infinitives

Infinitives are forms like (to) write, (to) stand. Unlike verb tenses, (for example, writes, stood), infinitives do not usually show the actual times of actions and events. They usually refer to actions and events in a more general way, rather like –ing forms.

Beside simple infinitives like (to) write, there are also progressive infinitives (for example, (to) be writing), perfect infinitives ((to) have written) and passive infinitives ((to) be written). Perfect progressive and perfect passive are also common.

The progressive infinitive is used to suggest that actions and events are/were/will be continuing around the time we are talking about:

It’s nice to be sitting here with you.

This time tomorrow I’llbe passing my final exam in English.

Perfect infinitives can have the same kind of meaning as perfect tenses:

It’s nice to have finished work. (= It’s nice that I have finished work).

I’m sorry not to have comeon Tuesday. (=I am sorry that I didn’t come…)

We often use perfect infinitives to talk about ‘unreal’ past events: things that did not happen or may not have happened:

I meant to have telephoned, but I forgot.

You should have told me you were coming.

V. Choose the correct option in the sentences given below:

1. I always try to be/to have been as good as I can.

2. He is thought to leave /to have left the army because of a quarrel with an officer.

3. Everything should be done/have done very carefully.

4. I suggest going/to go to the cinema in the evening.

5. She was trained to help/to be helping the disabled.

6. I am looking forward to see/seeing you soon.

7. My friend is said to go/have been going in for yoga for quite a long time.

Can you now say which expressions or words are not followed by the Infinitive?

VI. Make three sentences from these words that have been jumbled. The first and the last words are given.

1. are The the students be not universities early too said of to religious.

2. your silly have not You locked were to car.

3. be is working, like supervisor my he to When doesn’t disturbed.

Negative infinitives are normally made by putting not before the infinitive:

Try not to be late.

You are not to skip classes.

Language focus 2

Infinitives in grammatical structures

I. Explain the difference in the use of the infinitive in the following two sentences.

a. Scientists want to get a solution for practically every problem they face.

b. The scientist used two different ways to get this particular solution of the problem he had faced.

Which of the infinitives allows us to put “in order to/so as to” instead of “to” before it?

II. Mark the sentences below by “a” if the use of the infinitive in it corresponds to that in sentence (a) from I, and “b”, if you can use “in order to/so as to” instead of “to” in this sentence.

1. ⁯ We expect to solve all major problems in biology by the end of the century.

2. ⁯ Genetic engineering was created to use the most of the nature’s resources.

3. ⁯ To be domesticated, a species needs more than one generation of breeding in captivity.

4. ⁯ Scientists claim to have understood the whole of the human genome.

5. ⁯ Research on human genome must be stopped not to interfere with that shrine of Nature.

6. ⁯ A classic is something which nobody wants to read, but everybody wants to have read. (This saying is supposed to belong to M. Twain.)

Do you agree with the ideas expressed in these sentences?

Infinitive of purpose

We often use the infinitive to talk about a person’s purpose – why he or she does something.

I sat down to rest. (not for to rest or for resting!)

He went abroad to study.

In this case we can also use in order to or so as to. They are normal before ‘stative’ verbs like be, know and have.

I watched him in order to knowmore about him.

In order to/so as to are normally used before a negative infinitive.

I am going to leave now, so as not to belate.

III.Compare the meaning of the infinitive in the following two sentences:

1. This book has been written to broaden our knowledge of genetic engineering.

2. These concepts were immediately applied to practice to give rise to a new branch of science.

Change the structure of these sentences in order to clarify the difference in the meaning of the infinitive.

“Infinitive of Consequence”

Infinitives can be used to say what consequences the fact expressed by the verb of the main clause had. The infinitives commonly used in this way in scientific language are:

to bring about – вызывать, порождать

to give – давать, порождать

to give rise to – порождать, приводить к

to form – образовывать, давать

to make – производить, делать

to produce – производить, давать

to yield [ji:ld]– производить, давать

For example: The new book was soon published to produce a storm of criticism. =

The new book was soon published and it produced a storm of criticism.

IV. Give sentences equivalent to these:

1. Three oxygen atoms combine to form an ozone molecule.

2. The new substance reacts well with most metals to give rise to alloys which have useful characteristics.

3. A new theory was publicized at this stage, to produce a revolutionary change in the understanding of the Earth’s global processes.

4. Careful selection has taken place, to yield a pure albino dove.

5. The analysis was too far-fetched, to bring about many critical reviews in scientific journals.

V.Translate into English:

1. Чтобы облегчить понимание данной проблемы, были выпущены несколько научных трудов.

2. Были защищены две диссертации по проблеме генной инженерии, и это вызвало бурю недовольства в научных кругах.

3. Что нужно сделать, чтобы отделить железо от примесей?

4. Этот сплав был вскоре использован в ракетостроении, и это стало началом новой эпохи аэронавтики.

5. Для того чтобы начать заниматься наукой, нужно, прежде всего, иметь желание познать окружающий мир.

6. Чтобы не выглядеть несведущим, оппонент прочитал пару работ по теме диссертации, написанной молодым ученым.

7. Две эти идеи столкнулись, породив новую область знания.

Language focus 3

Infinitive Constructions Equivalent to Clauses

I.Think of rephrasing the following sentences:

a) I expect that this method will open a new perspective for further research. –

I expect this method …

b) I saw how a great scientist turned into a wreck in a week as a result of exposure to severe radiation.

I saw a …

c) Professor Jason does not object to young scientists staying in the laboratory in the evening.

Professor Jason allows …

The sentences you have created are examples of the so called Objective Case with the Infinitive.

Subj.…Verb…Object… Infinitive

Example: We found this method to yield amazing results.

I made you leave on purpose.

Remember the verbs commonly used in this structure:

(1) Verbs of mental and sensual perception and estimation:

to believe, to consider, to estimate, to expect, to find, to hate, to know, to regard as, to show, to suppose, to think;

to feel, to hear, to see, to watch – followed by an infinitive without to

(2) Verbs of causation and initiation:

to allow, to cause, to enable, to force, to get (добиваться), to permit, to require, to want;

to have (добиться желаемого), to make (заставить) + inf. without to

II. Match two parts of the sentences:

1) One can assume this 2) We expect the scope of the research 3) Most people consider science 4) I made my roommate 5) One can watch more and more people 6) You begin naturally to think 7) The author’s major concern is to make the reader

a) move into biology from other branches of science. b) to be far from ordinary life. c) clear the room after the party. d) such course of events to be a disaster. e) to expand greatly. f) realize the consequences of tampering with nature g) to be a very simple question.

III. Not only simple infinitives can be used in this construction. Translate the following sentences into Russian[1].

1. The history of the last 30 years shows him to have done very well. 2. This allowed the rules to be followed. 3. We know him to have established a school of his own. 4. They considered all water on the surface of the planet to have been liberated by volcanic action. 5. This analysis permitted them to tackle the problem directly. 6. This information enabled forecasts for the next few years to be made. 7. We know him to have objected to this style of research on previous occasions. 8. We do not expect such an opportunity to be thrown away by him like this.

Words, Words, Words

Complete the text with the correct option A-C. Consult the dictionary if necessary.

DNA Fingerprinting: A Tool for Medical Detective

The use of (1) ______ fragment length (2) ______ (RFLPs) in DNA fingerprinting has caused a (3) ______ in many fields of biology. Nowhere has the impact of this technique been felt more than in forensics, the (4) ______ of information to be used as evidence in court proceedings. First used in a court case in 1986 in which blood (5) ______ from males in an entire British village were tested to solve the rape and murder of two young women, DNA testing has since entered the mainstream of forensic science. Because the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique allows (6) ______ of minute quantities of DNA, enough DNA to produce a NDA fingerprint can easily be obtained from a semen stain, cells at the base of a (7) ______, skin fragments found under a victim’s fingernails after a struggle, or a speck of dried blood. Forensic scientists have recently discovered that they can swab off objects regularly handled by a suspect, such as a telephone handset, a briefcase handle, or the inside of vinyl gloves, and use DNA fingerprinting on the collected “fingerprints” themselves.

Some fascinating cases have used DNA from other species to solve murders. When a Phoenix, Arizona, woman was found strangled near a palo verde tree in 1992, the prime suspect denied having been at the crime scene. However, palo verde (8) ______ were found in the bed of the suspect’s pickup truck. Homicide (9) ______ turned to Dr. Timothy Helentjaris, then at the University of Arizona. In his research on the evolution of crop plants, he had found considerable differences of the DNA fingerprints of (10) ______ plants.

Helentjaris was given the seeds from the suspect’s truck along with seeds collected from a dozen palo verde trees in the area, only one of which was near the body. Without knowing which was which, Helentjaris (11) ______ DNA from the seeds and used PCR to amplify it. DNA fingerprinting showed that the pattern from the seeds found in the truck exactly matched the pattern from only one of the dozen trees – the one nearest the body. In an important additional test, Helentjaris found that this pattern was also different from that of seeds collected from 18 trees at random sites around Phoenix. This information was (12) ______ in (13) ______ the suspect’s alibi, and he was found guilty of first-degree murder.

DNA fingerprinting, combined with PCR, promises to revolutionize other areas of biology and medicine as well. For instance, a group of British and Russian scientists used PCR to identify the remains of the Russian royal family, Tsar Nicholas Romanov II, his wife, Alexandra, and three of their five children.

In 1997, Oxford researchers using DNA fingerprinting were able to (14) ______ the longest (15) ______ (16) ______ ever traced. They extracted DNA from the bones of a 9000-year-old skeleton found in 1903 in a (17) ______ near the town of Cheddar, England. Wondering if (18) ______ of the “Cheddar Man” might still live in the area, they analyzed DNA from local families; amazingly, they found a match in a Cheddar schoolteacher.

1 A destruction B restriction C retraction

2 A polymerisms B polymorphisms C polylithisms

3 A revolution B revolt C revolt

4 A collocation B gathering C collection

5 A examples B species C samples

6 A amplification B implication C simplification

7 A shaft of bone B shaft of feather C hair shaft

8 A weeds B reeds C seeds

9 A researchers B investigators C explorers

10 A individual B separate C detached

11 A elicited B derived C extracted

12 A critical B crucian C crucial

13 A demolishing B embellishing C abolishing

14 A pounce B renounce C announce

15 A humane B human C humanistic

16 A lineage B linkage C linage

17 A cave B cavity C hollow

18 A descendants B ancestors C ascendants

Language focus 4

Infinitives and the structure of argumentation

I. Read the title of the text below and say what you think it is about. Any associations?

II. Read the text. Do you agree with the author?

A Throw-away Society

I entered a big supermarket to shop: I needed several cans of drinks, a few chocolates, a disposable tablecloth and some paper tissues, plastic glasses and plates (not to wash the dishes afterwards) and a number of items one would buy when their friends are coming to your place to relax and have fun. I packed everything into big celluloid bags, free to be taken by anyone, and left carrying with me two dozens of objects wrapped in various kinds of plastic to throw away 40% of what I had bought as rubbish.

I think it doesn’t surprise anyone nowadays that we have to throw many things away after using them. We do not know what to do with a colourful wrapping or an empty box of chocolates. These things can be easily bought next time you are in a shop. So we throw them away. We do not know where to put industrially used materials. So we pour them into the sea or deposit them in huge cemeteries of rubbish. A human being has become so used to having everything new and shining that one would spend all his or her money to buy a new mobile phone even if the old one is still working. It is fashionable. It is reliable.

For a society to become environmentally aware, more than just a course of lectures at a school or college is needed. One may listen to a hundred lectures but what can he do if he is made to throw away half of the things he’s bought? We do not pay attention to that – it has become normal. Dustbins are being filled every day with new tons of rubbish.

Recycling has become a major issue in the previous century and no doubt it is being much thought about today. Most European and some Asian countries have started recycling programs, and one can find three dustbins for different kinds of waste products in the garden of the average Englishman. The garbage is then collected and sent to special factories that use recycled materials to produce new things. To recycle is to survive.

As far as Russia is concerned ….

III. In groups of four discuss a current situation of utilizing waste products in Russia. Think of some examples. Your task will be to complete the text with your ideas in writing.

Before writing, look at the expressions given below:

We often use different expressions to connect ideas in our texts. Here are some of them:

To begin with - прежде всего, начнем с того, что…; во-первых, для начала

To mention smth. – если упомянуть…

Not to mention – не говоря уже о… (To begin with, I don’t agree with the writer at all.)

To say nothing of – не говоря уже о…

To put it briefly – короче говоря

So to say – так сказать

To illustrate – для иллюстрации, например

To make a long story short – короче говоря

To put it another way – иначе говоря, иными словами

To take an example – например