Rethink Rubbish

Come on, admit it. We’ve all got clothes in our wardrobe that we haven’t worn for years and we know we’ll never wear again. Taking your clothes to a local charity shop or recycling bin is a great way of getting rid of a load of rubbish and creating extra space at the same time!

Buying second-hand clothes is now definitely in vogue too. Vintage boutiques offer range of designers classics, but can be a bit on the expensive side, so why not raid your local charity shop to pick up a real bargain? You can create your own distinct look and feel good about your recycling effort.

Hate junk mail? Around one million tones of junk mail and magazines get binned each year. But it’s easy to cut down on the rubbish in your bin by registering with the Mailing Preference Service. Send them your details and they’ll make sure that you don’t receive piles of unwanted offers and advertisements through your letterbox.

A massive 60% of the contents of your dustbin can be recycled. So why not give your bin a break and drop off your paper, card, glass bottles, jars and cans at the recycling banks located at most supermarkets? By doing this you’ll reduce your household waste by nearly one third!

Did you know that if you’re really clever, there’s ₤34 million worth of empty aluminium drink cans in the UK just waiting to be collected and recycled? The reason is that aluminium is really valuable and the sort that’s made into the billions of drink cans we see on our supermarket shelves can be recycled and used time and time again to make new drink cans.

We produce over 26 million tones of household rubbish in the UK every year, so there is plenty of scope for us to Rethink Rubbish in the home! By thinking about the types of goods we buy, how we use them and where we dispose of them, we can dramatically reduce the amount of rubbish our homes produce. Whilst we can’t get rid of rubbish altogether, there are hundreds of ways in which we can cut down what we throw away.

1. a) Beetle, grasshopper, ladybird, mosquito… what do you know about these insects? What other insects do you know the names of in English? / if you could study an insect, what kind would you choose and why?

b) Read an article about ants. Seven sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from sentences A-H the one which fits each gap (1-7). There is one extra sentence you don’t need to use.

A They are fed enormous quantities of honey until their bodies become so big that they can’t move.

B They destroy every living thing in their path.

C Ants follow the trail that other ants have left to locate a food source.

D These are all female and infertile.

E These ants don’t have a permanent home.

F Once this critical period is over and the first workers are at work, the colony rapidly develops.

G This is generally the best way to get rid of ants from your garden.

H All ant species will fight to protect their colony and some will attack other species.

An Ant’s Eye View

They are found all over the world. They can lift up to 50 times their own body weight. They seem to behave in complicated ways, yet each individual is typically no more than a couple of centimeters long. There are more than 4,500 species of ants, with most of them found in the rainforests. Unfortunately, due to deforestation in these areas, many species will never be recorded.

Ants live in a colony, which is built around the queen. She is the largest ant and her sole occupation is producing eggs, while all her physical needs are taken care of by the worker ants around her. 1_________ They perform such functions as foraging for food and defending the colony from attack, as well as tending to the queen and the colony’s eggs.

A colony is founded when a new queen sets off in search of a possible location. Once she has chosen her spot, she begins to lay eggs, some of which are for eating during the difficult first few months. 2_________ Each species has its own characteristic way of doing things. The leafcutter ant, for example, cuts sections from leaves which it carries back to the nest. These are used as a kind of fertilizer for fungus gardens the ants create underground. There, the leaves provide a rich source of nutrients for the fungus, which the ants eventually consume.

Besides, there’s the honeypot ant. These ants select certain workers to act as living containers for food. 3________ They act as a store for the food and feed other ants by producing the honey when they receive the right chemical signals. These signals are an important part of all ants’ lives and are used for, among other things, establishing identity and indicating the source of food. This also helps to explain how such simple beings can display such a complex behavior. 4_________ If an obstacle blocks the ants’ path, they swarm in all directions, attempting to go around. The ants who discover the shorter way will get there faster and leave a stronger scent trail. Gradually, as more and more ants follow this trail, it becomes even stronger, until all the ants are following the quicker route.

This kind of communication is very important in nomadic species, such as the army ant. 5_________ Instead, they form a nest using their own bodies, with millions of them hanging from a tree. When they decide to move on, the whole colony marches through the forest, carrying the queen and the eggs. The sight of a column of these ants on the move is one of the most frightening sights in the rainforest. 6_________ Insects, young birds, lizards and other small animals that fail to escape in time can look forward to a rather unpleasant end.

It’s not just the army ant, though, that can be a threat. 7__________ They do this using acid produced in their bodies as a weapon. After a successful attack, some species of ant will take eggs from the losing colony and return them to their own, raising the ants to work as slaves.

4. Study and translate challenges for water conserving. Can you think of any other?

a)More than a billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water and face problems caused by pollution, diseases and droughts in some areas.

b) Problem of leaking pipes and faulty equipment that cause loses of water.

What to do:

c)Take short showers instead of baths to save water.

d) To turn down water tap while brushing teeth or washing hands.

e)To fill a sink with water to wash up instead of leaving the tap running.

f) To use dishwashers and washing machines when they are full and if possibly on a short cycle.

g) To use rainwater for the garden that is recycled to water plants.

h) To sweep pavements and balconies instead of washing them.

i) To report to local council about any leaks or waste in neighborhood.

BLOCK IV

Дата добавления: 2015-10-24