Skills Development
Lesson 3: The Earth’s Resources
Water for Life
Using the sea to satisfy our needs
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Skills Focus – skimming; scanning; summarizing
Language Focus – Using the present simple for facts.
Vocabulary Development – synonyms; paraphrasing
Read the sentences, then draw lines to match the words and their meanings.
We need fresh water; it is essential. We use water every day and we take it for
granted. We think it will always be available and we don’t consider how lucky we are.
Unfortunately there is a shortage of fresh water. Fortunately we can overcome this
by using salt water from the sea! We can convert salt water into fresh water by removing
the salt.
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2
3
4
5
6
Essential
A shortage
Take for granted
Fortunately
Overcome
Convert
A
B
C
D
E
F
Luckily; with good luck.
To change into a different form.
Absolutely necessary.
Not enough of something.
To expect something to be there all the time
To succeed when there is a problem
Ahmed and Khalid are talking about the problem of providing enough fresh
water to meet the world’s needs.
Work in pairs. Predict the answers. Write two numbers and countries.
Did you know that the need
for fresh water is a major
problem in the world today?
1) ____ % of the Earth is
covered by water, but we can
only drink 2) ____%!
The rest is too salty!
Yes, that’s true. But there is a solution!
Some countries take the salt out of
seawater to make it drinkable. It’s called
desalination. The countries of the Arab
Gulf use this process a lot. The biggest
desalination plant* in the world is in
3) ________________. And 25% of the
world’s desalinated water is produced in
4)________________________.
It is the world’s biggest producer!
*plant: a production centre; a kind of factory
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Skills Development
Lesson 3: The Earth’s Resources
Read the text and check your answers:
Water is essential to life and we depend on it, yet many people take water for
granted. As the population of the world increases, and with it the demand for water, there is a
real danger that there will not be enough for mankind in years to come. In areas near the coast
an obvious solution is to find ways of utilizing the plentiful supply of water from the sea.
Although we may think there is plenty of water to use every day, this is actually not
so. Water covers 70% of the surface of the Earth, but 98% of this is undrinkable salt water. For
this reason man has experimented through the ages with different methods of converting salt
water into fresh water in a process called desalination, in which salt is removed from the water.
The challenge nowadays is to do this on a much larger scale, and fortunately this is now
happening.
A particularly successful producer of desalinated water is the United Arab Emirates,
which installed its first desalination plants in 1972 and is home to the world’s largest
desalination plant at Jebel Ali. The UAE now uses this process to supply drinking water to most
of the country. In neighboring Saudi Arabia desalination is used on a large scale, with many
desalination plants producing 25% of the world’s desalinated water; more than any other
country.
China, with its rapid industrial growth, has also experienced an increased demand for
water as well as energy. To overcome both of these shortages, China built a combined power
and desalination plant in Zhejiang Province in the 1970s. Salt water is taken from the East
China Sea and converted into fresh water. Some of this fresh water is then sold to industry,
some is used to produce energy and the rest is sold as drinking water.
Unfortunately desalination is a costly process using lots of energy, so many countries
do not use it. However, new technology is making this process much more efficient, effective
and economical, which is very positive for the future. Indeed, with 25% of the world’s population
living within 25 kms of the sea, desalination may be the answer to one of the major problems
facing the world today.
Which of these is the best title for the text? 
1) __ Why We Can’t Live Without Water.
2) __ Water: A Problem and a Solution.
3) __ Desalination in the Arab Gulf.
4) __ The History of Water.
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Skills Development
Lesson 3: The Earth’s Resources
Read the text again. Are these sentences TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN
(i.e. there is no information on that subject)?
1) Most of the World is covered by water. ___
2) Desalination is a totally new idea. ___
3) The UAE was the first Arab country to have a desalination plant. ____
4) Saudi Arabia has the world’s biggest desalination plant. ____
5) There is a plant in China that produces both water and power. ____
6) Technology is making desalination cheaper. _____
7) Almost half the world’s population lives less than 25 km from the sea. ____
Use the information from the text to label the diagram.
1) _________ water from the 2) ________ _________ _________
Combined Power
and
Desalination Plant
3) __________ water
4) ____________
Production
of
5) ____________
3
6) ____________ water
Skills Development
Lesson 3: The Earth’s Resources
Skills Focus: Summarizing
There are 6 rules to follow when we write a summary:
1) Know the topic and understand the task.
2) Identify the main idea. This is the thesis. This will be your topic sentence.
3) Identify the main points. Underline the key information and opinions.
4) Find the evidence. Underline the facts supporting the information and/or opinions.
This will form the content of your summary. Then….
5) Leave out things you don’t need: extra words, details….
And finally….
6) Paraphrase: use your own words when you can. Do not repeat sentences or
‘copy and paste’ chunks from the text.
Read the summary of the text on desalination and do the tasks:
Summary of the Text on Desalination.
Desalination – the conversion of salt water into fresh water – may be the
solution to water shortages facing future generations. With the undrinkable oceans
making up 98% of the earth’s water and 25% of the population living within 25 kms of the
coast, the current increase in the scale of desalination is a practical and welcome
development. The UAE has the world’s largest desalination plant at Jebel Ali, while Saudi
Arabia is the world’s largest producer of fresh water through desalination. China also uses
this process at its plant in Zhejiang, where both fresh water and power are produced.
Consequently, although desalination is expensive, technology is making it a much more
practical solution to possible future fresh water shortages.
1) Underline or highlight the main idea. (The thesis; the topic sentence).
2) In the second sentence underline or highlight TWO pieces of evidence and an
additional point.
3) The words below (a, b, c) are in the summary. Find words or expressions that mean the
same in the main text. Example: Ocean(s) – Paragraph 1 (1 word) - Sea
a) Future generations – Paragraph 1 (5 words) - ________________________
b) Expensive – Paragraph 5 (1 word) - _____________
c) Solution – Paragraph 5 (1 word) - ____________
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Skills Development
Lesson 3: The Earth’s Resources
Read the text about air pollution in Cairo and give synonyms (words
or phrases with the same meaning) for the highlighted words.
Getting Harder to Breathe
The increasing danger of air pollution in Cairo.
Air pollution in Cairo is now a serious problem and the cost to the nation is
huge, in terms of both the health of the population and money. The World Health
Organization reports that the air pollution in downtown Cairo is 10 to 100 times worse
than the minimum safe limit, making it one of the most polluted cities in the world, along
with such places as Bangkok, Delhi, Shanghai and Beijing. The result, according to the US
Environmental Protection Agency, is toxic air that can cause serious lung diseases,
including cancer.
The main causes of this air pollution in the Egyptian capital are open-air
waste-burning, traffic, industry and the dust blown in from the desert. A study by the Cairo
Air Improvement Project found that the burning of waste in the open air was the major
cause, amounting to 36% of all pollutants in the air. Scientists and environmentalists are
trying to solve this problem, but with the rapidly increasing population, the situation is
actually getting worse.
One of the major problems is that the toxic air is not dispersed – blown away
by the wind - but instead remains over the city. Experts say that the lack of rain, tall
buildings and narrow streets hold the air in place, causing a thick haze to develop that
looks like fog. This is similar to the conditions in Los Angeles, although the American city
has the benefit of cleaner air coming in from the sea, while in Cairo the desert wind adds to
the problem.
Considering all of these factors, the future is not bright for the residents of the
historic metropolis. Experts predict that the quantity of harmful particles in the air over
the city will increase, causing a corresponding rise in the number of people affected by
respiratory illnesses such as asthma, lung cancer and emphysema. “We need to act now”,
said Ahmed Zaki, a specialist in lung disease at the Ain Shams University Hospital, “The
air quality in this city is terrible and the people are paying the price with their health.”
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Skills Development
Lesson 3: The Earth’s Resources
1. nation: __________________
2. minimum: _________________
3. result: ___________________
4. increasing: ________________
5. major: ___________________
6. similar to: ________________
7. quantity: _________________
8. people: __________________
Write a summary of the text about air pollution in Cairo.
Remember to give the main ideas and present evidence.
Use your own words wherever possible (paraphrase).
You should write approximately 100 words.
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