exercice 5 anglais 2 annee bac

The environmental outlook for the future
is mixed. In spite of economic and political changes, interest in and
concern about the environment remains high. Air quality has improved in
some areas in the developed world but has deteriorated in many
developing countries. Problems of heavy air pollution still require
solutions and concerted action. Water pollution will remain a growing
problem as increasing human populations put additional stress on the
environment. Growing demand for water will bring agricultural,
industrial and urban use of water into conflict. This shortage will
force water usage restrictions and will increase the cost of water
consumption. Water could become the ‘energy crisis’ of the current
century.
Without concerted efforts to save habitats and reduce the illegal
worldwide wildlife trade, many species will become extinct. In spite of
our knowledge of how to reduce soil erosion, it continues
to be a worldwide problem. Finally, the destruction of wild lands
could result in massive extinctions of animal and plant life. To reduce
environmental degradation and for humanity to save its habitat,
societies must recognize that the environment is finite.
Environmentalists believe that, as populations and their demands
increase, the idea of continuous growth must give way to a more
rational use, sustainable exploitation of the environment, but this can
be accomplished only by a dramatic change in the attitude of the human
species. Whatever a society’s attitude may be towards continuous
growth, humanity should recognize that the human attack on the
environment threatens our survival.


A. Are these sentences ‘true’ or ‘false’? Justify your answer.

1. Most people do not care about the environment.
   
2. It is absolutely inevitable that many species of wild animals will die.
   
3. Mankind’s current treatment of the environment cannot continue if we are to survive.
   

B. Answer these questions.

1. How should mankind’s attitude to the environment change according to the writer?
   
2. Why could water become an ‘energy crisis’?
   

C. Find in the text words that mean the same as …

1. has become worse
   
2. scarcity
   
3. flora and fauna
   
4. ruin
   

D. What do the underlined words in the text refer to?

1. our (§ 2)
   
2. it (§ 2)