Unit 9 : Ecology And Environment Excercise Solution
(Living in a Redwood Tree)
Working with words
A. The words/phrases in the box are from the text. Check their meanings in a dictionary and use these words to complete the given sentences.
a. Logging is one of the main reasons behind the rapid deforestation in the world.
b. That’s one example of how the pandemic should be a wake-up call.
c. Propane is a gas used as a fuel for cooking and heating.
d. Emergency teams are still clearing the debris from the plane crash.
e. What a transformation! You look great.
f. My father made a New Year resolution to give up smoking.
g. He has worked in the Army for two years. He hates that two-year detrimental.
h. Emissions from the factory are widely suspected of having a/an stint effect on health.
i. My father is an occasional smoker. He doesn’t smoke often.
j. Redwood is a very tall type of tree that grows especially in California and Oregan.
B. Choose one word from each box to make sensible compound words.
Rattle : Rattlesnake
Sun : Sunflower
Touch : Touchdown
Moon : Moonlight
Day : Daydream
Fire : Fireworks
Water : Watermelon
Basket : Basketball
Pass : Passport
Wash : Washcloth
Weather : Weatherman
Grand : Grandmother
Cross : Crosswalk
C. Match the following words/phrases related to the ecology with their meanings.
Sustainability
to keep in existence; maintain. To supply with necessities or nourishment
Tree line
the height on a mountain above which the climate is too cold for trees to grow
Precipitation
water that returns to the earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow
Tropical Zone
the region between latitudes 23.5 degrees S and 23.5 degrees N
Kyoto Protocol
an agreement between countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It was established in Japan in 1997 but didn’t become international law until 2004
Pollutants
substances that destroy the purity of air, water, or land
Geosphere
the soils, sediments, and rock layers of the Earth’s crust, both continental and beneath the ocean floors
Deciduous
a plant that sheds all or nearly all its leaves each year
Ephemeral
an organism that has a short life cycle
Trash
items that are discarded
Comprehension
A. Choose the best answer.
a. The author of the text above has the opinion that Julia Hill made her pastime in a tree for two years more.
b. The sentence ‘Julia had occasional visitors’ indicates she had a few visitors now and then.
c. The logging company managed 24 hour security service around the tree to discourage her from her campaign.
d. Ms. Hill began to respond the loggers with songs and conventional conversations because she had unconditional love for all nature’s creations.
e. Julia Hill climbed down the tree after 738 days when her demands were about to be fulfilled.
Answer the following questions.
a. Who was Julia Butterfly Hill? How did Hill’s campaign gain popularity?
Ans.: Julia Butterfly Hill is an American born environmental activist. Hills campaign gained popularity after she lived in a redwood tree for more than 2 years.
b.What made Hill start her mega campaign to save redwood trees?
Ans.: Hill knew that Luna would be cut down as soon as the tree-sitters leave the site that made her stay for a long time and start the mega campaign.
C.What kinds of amenities were there to support Hill’s life in the tree?
Ans.: Hill had a sleeping bag, a solar-powered cell phone for media interviews, and a single-burner propane stove to cook and heat water in order to support her life in the tree.
d.Did Hill’s value of life change after her car accident? How?
Ans.: Yes, Hills value of life changed after her car accident. She became clear that our values as people was not in our stock portfolios and bank accounts, but in the legacies, we leave behind. She started visiting spiritual sites and after seeing the redwood during one of her visits, she planned to start a campaign to protect the redwood trees which later changed her life and made her popular too.
e.Deforestation causes natural calamities. What evidence do you have in the text to prove this?
Ans.: Yes, it is obvious that deforestation causes natural calamities. In the text, a huge 20 ft mudslide occurred due to clear-cutting or deforestation which carried trees, debris
and stumps down into the town, leaving seven families without homes.
f.How did the logging company try to discourage Hill in the early days of her sit-in?
Ans.: In the early days of her sit-in, the logging company tried to distract from her campaign by harassing and threatening her with rape, murder as well as by blocking her supply to starve her and by menacing her with a helicopter from a close range.
g.How were the vagaries of nature unwelcoming to Hill?
Ans.: The occurrence of a 16-hour, 70 mph storm was very strong and worst of the decade that made her fear her death which she found unwelcoming to her as well as to her campaign.
h.What is the purpose of the author to write a review on Hill’s book? Do you think the author stands for ecological sustainability? Give reasons.
Ans.: The sole motive of the writer is to praise Hill for what she did is to convey a message to people to protect and conserve the environment as their degradation may result in detrimental effects. His presentation about nature and the environment and resulted effects of degradation makes him stand for ecological sustainability.
Critical thinking
Suppose you are Julia Butterfly Hill. After staying one year in the tree, the government offered you five million dollar and requested you to drop the strike. Write in about 200 words responding them that the money is a mean thing for you in comparison with the woods.
Ans.:
Dear concerned authority,
I am Julia Butterfly Hill, an environmental activist who is leading this campaign in order to save redwood trees and restore ecological balance. I am very happy and excited now that I took the right decision to initiate this movement at right time. We were raising voices countless times to
stop logging and clear-cutting of redwood trees and requested each and every concerned authority to stop this destruction.
At that moment nobody cared about us, instead, we were threatened and harassed to stop our campaign and they threatened us not to go to any media. After we came to know, there were only a few people who wanted to stand with redwood trees. Most people and authorities wanted economic returns from these trees. Everybody saw them as a source of earning money. Nobody dared to care about them and the impact and ecosystem balance they are maintaining on the environment. So today I am covered by most of the media and this issue now is not only my issue, rather it has become a national issue.
Now at a point where I am dreaming of the success of my campaign, you are offering me to give up the movement and receive five million dollars. I don’t have habits of living and enjoying the materialistic pleasure and I have given them up a long time ago. My passion and dreams are not affected by your money and power. In fact, they are worthless to me. I had gone through a lot of hurdles, difficulties and faced various deadly calamities but I am still standing with the trees. The breath I take today is the gift from them. I would no way change my mind for your greed. Instead, I want to request you to join our campaign and make yourself a responsible and proud authority.
Regards
Julia Butterfly Hill
WRITING
A.Write a review of a book / film which you read / watched recently.
Ans:
The film that I have watched recently is Avatar. “Avatar” is seriously a blockbuster movie. The stunning visual effects, explosive action, dauntless heroes, and immoral villains all collide in a classic, although it possesses an overused storyline. The level of detail and creativity surrounding the look of director James Cameron’s new world is simply astonishing. Seeing the film in 3-D is the icing on the cake as it further focuses the viewer on the incredible visuals that already dwarf previous efforts in mimicking realism.
In fact, it’s these nearly faultless CG effects that allow one to so easily accept a world full of floating mountains, stingray dragons and giant blue natives. When his brother is senselessly murdered, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There, he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge’s (Giovanni Ribisi) intentions of driving off the native humanoid “Na’vi” in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang), while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na’vi people with the use of an “avatar” identity. Essentially, he controls the avatar creature with his mind, inhabiting it as if it were his own body. As Jake begins to bond with the local tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand – and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.
“Avatar” looks as if it is certainly not a great film, but the elements of technology generously scattered throughout are of the absolute grandest ever seen in a motion picture. From the spacecraft floating in the sky to the dropships entering the atmosphere to the not a single detail. No background creature, flying jellyfish, monstrous dragon or slender forest-covered planet Pandora to the massive machinery mining the earth, “Avatar” spares blue alien is without the most impressive, jaw-droppingly lifelike computer graphics imaginable, giving it that extra bit of utter realism.
The acting could be better, the dialogue is stale, and the character designs stink of “Aliens” Colonial Marines. Cameron has recycled the power loader as well, even after the “Matrix” trilogy used it for the APU hydraulic power suits, and the primitive, aboriginal humanoid Na’vi don’t shout of originality. It can also be compared to every other fish-out- of-water, “Romeo and Juliet” patterned script, with a lead character who realizes the adversary isn’t the real villain, and with allies who make the alien the enemy to justify stealing their stuff. “Avatar” is an achievement in computer imagery so mind-bogglingly futuristic and stunningly beautiful that it demands to be seen on the big screen, in 3D and more than once.
B.Your school has organized a speech competition on coming Friday. The subject of the speech is “Let’s save the trees and protect our environment.” Draft a speech using the following prompts.
Ans:
Respected chairperson, teachers and my lovely friends.
I am going to present my speech on the topic “Let’s save the trees and protect our environment.”
The natural world is the home of all living beings and is composed of plants, elements and animals. In this natural world, billions of living creatures and billions of trees are found. These all living beings and plants comprise the environment. Each and every element of the naure like the entire air, soil, trees, water, etc. are in coexistence with each other in the environment. This coexistence of all elements makes a good environment.
Among all living beings, human beings are the finest and intelligent member of this world who have turned to be greedy and selfish and have become a consumerist. Human beings think themselves as an owner of this world and all plants and elements as their own property. Hence, due to this behaviour of humans, they have invited several hazards and problems. Rapid urbanization for human settlement, industrialization, construction of roads, airports, etc. are some of the human activities that have invited great destruction to nature. For the construction of these infrastructures, many trees have been cut down and as a result, this has caused a great loss to the environment and nature. Humans need to control their greed and appetite for building infrastructures by the destruction of the natural world. As we all know, a good and healthy environment is a sign of a sound and qualitative life and vice versa, we all must be serious from the present moment in order to save the environment.
Thank you!
Grammar
B. Someone says something to you which contradicts to what they told you earlier. Match the beginnings of the conversations with the correct endings.
a. I’m going to Pokhara on holiday.
You said you were going on business.
b. He’s a lawyer.
You told me he was a teacher.
c. She’s had a baby girl.
You said she’d had a boy.
d. I haven’t seen Binesh for ages.
You told me you’d seen him previous week.
e. I love these new boots.
You said you hated them.
f. I only cheated in one exam.
You admitted you cheated in all your exams.
g. She doesn’t speak Hindi or Chinese.
You told me she was fluent in both.
h. He works in Kathmandu.
You told me his office was in Biratnagar.
C. Rewrite the following sentences with the sentence beginnings given below.
a. The principal said, “You can phone from my office, Rita.”
The principal said that she could phone from his office.
b. “You must not neglect your duty,” said the teacher to the student.
The teacher told the student that he/she must not neglect his/her duty.
c. The student said, “Sir, please, grant me a leave for two days.”
The student requested to grant him leave for two days.
d. I said to her, “Go to school or you will be fined.”
She was told to go to school or she would be fined.
e. The headmaster said, “Don’t make any noise, boys.”
The headmaster asked boys not to make any noise.
f. “Work hard if you want to rise in life,” said the old man.
The old man suggested working hard if they wanted to rise in life.
g. He said, “Goodbye, my friends!”
He said goodbye to his friends.
h. She said to me, “Have a pleasant journey ahead.”
She told me to have a pleasant journey ahead.
i. “Don’t give me the book, please,” Sharmila said.
Sharmila pleaded not to give her the book.
j. “Where have you been these days?” she spoke on the telephone.
He asked on the telephone where I had been those days.
k. The teacher said, “Have you submitted your assignments, students?”
The teacher asked students if they had submitted their assignments.
D. These are the exact words Dinesh said to you yesterday.
“I’ve just got engaged! We’re getting married next month. We’re going to Pokhara for our honeymoon. It’s all going to be very expensive. Luckily, my friend is a photographer so he’ll take the photos for us. We’ll be having the reception in my parents’ back garden. My mum is baking the cake for us and my sister’s band is playing free for us. I hope you’ll come to the wedding.”
Now, you’re telling your friend what Dinesh told you. Complete the text.
He said he (1) had just got engaged. He told me that he (2) they were getting married next month. He told me (3) they were going to Pokhara for their honeymoon. He mentioned that it (4) was all going to be very expensive. He said that his friend (5) was a photographer and he (6) would take the photos for them. He mentioned that they (7) would be having the reception in his parents’ garden. He admitted that (8) his mum was baking the cake for them. He said his sister’s band (9) was playing free for them. He said he (10) hoped I’d come to the wedding.