3. dubna 2002
13. MATURITNÍ OTÁZKA Z ANGLIČTINY
NATURE, ECOLOGY, WEATHER
Obsah: Nature, Ecology, Weather
The nature is everything around us, what was not made by people. All the plants, trees,
animals, rocks, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans etc. are nature.
In different parts of the World, the nature looks differently. In the tropical rain forests
along the equator there are high trees, many species of other plants and animals, and the air is
usually very humid – hot and wet. Further away from the equator, there are savannas, flat
countryside with few trees and bigger animals, like zebras, elephants and lions. The large
areas with an ideal soil for planting and without any trees are called steppes, in North
America prairies. Desert is the name for a sandy and dusty place with extremely high
temperature during the day and low temperature in the night, where only a few plant and
animal species can survive.
Especially in Europe, there are forests – some contain only deciduous trees, some only
needle-leaved trees (Russian or Canadian taiga) and some both of them – like many forests in
the Czech Republic. Many animals, for example furry mammals, live in these forests, which
covered a much larger area in the history. On the far north, there are tundras – cold places
with only a few inhabitants and plants, like elks and lichens. Around the poles, the land is
covered with ice the whole year. However, some animals, like ice bears, penguins and
walrusses live there. And we can not forget the fauna and flora of the seas and oceans, which
is very varied – there are large animals like sharks and whales, some ridiculously-looking
animals like octopusses, medusas and mussels, and many others.
Since the first people started the civilization, the environment in which we live has been
polluted. Pollution affects air, water, land, forests, and also people, animals and plants.
Air pollution is the biggest problem in large cities and industrial areas. The emissions,
like smoke, dust, or car and lorry exhaust, contain sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon
dioxide, which can lead to climate changes. The acid rains, formed by these substances and
water vapour, changed by the sunlight into poisonous oxidants, kill the trees. The trees are
vitally important for our planet, because they absorb carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. If
people cut them down for firewood and building materials, the production of oxygen will fall,
with more carbon dioxide the temperature will rise and the ice on the poles will melt, which
can cause flooding. The atmosphere traps solar radiation, which warms the earth. But
manmade emissions, like carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, CFCs (from refrigerators) or
methane, prevent the heat from escaping, which is called the greenhouse effect. This could
also result in flooding.
Ozone, which pollutes the air in hot summers and may cause heart attacks and
corrosion, is on the other hand a protector against UV rays, which cause skin cancer. The
ozone layer is being destroyed by CFCs. To solve these problems, we should firstly use
alternative sources of energy, such as solar, water, wind and geothermal energies. In the road
traffic, there are more ways to reduce air pollution. We should switch freight from roads to
railway, support public transportation, fit the cars with catalytic converters and use unleaded
petrol.
Water pollution results from industrial processes and household, chemicals used in
agriculture, waste disposal sites and ships. Concentrations of heavy metal and nitrate are
increasing. We have to control the industrial processes, minimize the usage of poisonous
pesticides and try to prevent oil and chemical spills at sea. In landfills, where much domestic
rubbish is disposed, soil can be contaminated. We can avoid the landfills by reusing, recycling
or energy recovery. That means to sort out domestic rubbish into bottles, cans, plastic, paper,
and turn the kitchen garbage into fertilizer. The contamination by radioactive substances
could be dangerous, so strict controlls over their storage, use and disposal should be made.
People have problems with noise, which causes stress, lack of concentration, defective
hearing or sleeplessness. The solution means to be considerate to one another and reduce air
traffic at night. Some animal and plant species are also threatened by human activity. Some
animals are protected, some are bred in captivity for release in the wild, the introduction of
new species is strictly controlled.
The establishment of national parks and nature reserves provide both protection and
opportunities for outdoor recreation. In the Czech Republic, there are three national parks
(Krkonoše, Šumava, Podyjí) and about 20 protected areas.
The weather is the situation in the atmosphere over a certain place at a certain moment.
It includes the quantity of sunshine, rain or snow, strength of wind, temperature, air pressure,
and many less important details, like the times of sunrise and sunset or the size of the ozone
layer. The weather is different not only in different parts of the world, but also in different
periods of the year – the seasons.
In spring, the weather is usually changeable. It can be windy or calm, sunny or with
sudden showers. In general it is mild, but sometimes a gale (strong wind) comes or it can hail
(small pieces of ice falling). In summer, the sky is usually cloudless, but on the contrary to
periods of drought, there are periods of rain or flooding. A cloudburst is a heavy rain
(downpour) which comes suddenly, we say it is raining cats and dogs.
In autumn, the temperature keeps falling. Indian summer is the name for warm October
and November. Sometimes it drizzles (light steady rain) and in the mornings there is fog. In
winter, the sky is overcast, sub-zero temperatures are reached (frigid – extremely cold), sleet
(partly frozen rain) or snow fall from the sky. Long snowstorms (blizzards) cause problems in
transport, and at the and of winter, large amounts of snow in the mountains can form an
avalanche.