Basic Vocabulary: The Environment
Basic Vocabulary: The Environment
Basic Vocabulary: The Environment
1. Basic Vocabulary
Use these words to complete the sentences:
waste pollution recycled
protect factory damage
environmentalists emissions
1. During the last hundred years we have done great ___________ to the environment.
2. There’s a large chemical ___________ in our town which has polluted the river twice
in the last year.
3. The government is very worried about the ___________ of our rivers and beaches.
4. A lot of household ___________ like bottles and newspapers can be ___________
and used again.
5. ___________ are furious with the American government for delaying measures
which will reduce greenhouse gas ___________.
6. There are lots of things we can all do to ___________ the environment.
3. Consequences
Match a word on the left with a word on the right to make common expressions:
1. global a. rain
2. greenhouse b. warming
3. ozone c. effect
4. acid d. layer
4. Global Warming
Use these words to complete the text:
Scientists have shown that the temperature on Earth is increasing by 0.1 0C every ten
years. That’s one degree every country. The (1) ___________ that are produced by
factories and cars are allowing more (2) ___________ from the sun to reach Earth. In
the future this will have a very serious consequences for humanity.
As the Earth gets hotter, the Arctic and Antarctic (3) ___________ will slowly melt and
the level of the (4) ___________ will rise. A recent report says that the (5) ___________
will rise by 70 meters over the next hundred years, causing (6) ___________ in many
low-lying parts of the world.
There will be (7) ___________ changes, too. Some areas will become wetter while
others will become much drier. Some areas which today are green and fertile will
eventually turn into (8) ___________. Tropical diseases like malaria will become
common in areas where today they are unknown.
5. Environmental Problems
Use these expressions to complete the text:
The (1) ___________ of the rainforest is very worrying. Thousands of acres of forest are
being cut down every year and the (2) ___________ of many animals are being
destroyed. As a result, many species are (3) ___________.
This, in turn, threatens the traditional (4) ___________ of many of the (5) ___________
who live in some of the most remote areas of our planet. As with most environmental
issues, we need to think more (6) ___________ and realize that everything we do has
implications for (7) ___________. If we want to hand our world to our grandchildren, we
simply can’t continue to misuse the world’s (8) ___________ as we are at the moment.
The (9) ___________ in many of the world’s largest cities is so poor that we have seen
as enormous increase in chest and lung illnesses such as asthma. These cities are (10)
___________ and some are permanently covered by a (11) ___________. Unless we
begin to take the problems more seriously and start to do something about them, many
of our biggest cities, particularly in the developing world, will become (12) ___________.
6. Protecting the Environment
Match a word on the left with a word on the right to make common expressions:
1. unleaded a. bank
2. public b. friendly
3. recycling c. energy
4. bottle d. point
5. environmentally e. transport
6. renewable f. petrol
If you want to protect the environment, here are some things you should do. Use
the expressions above.
1. Make sure your car runs on ___________ and your home uses sources of
___________.
3. Take glass, paper and plastic to a ___________ and your empty bottles to a
___________.
7. Green Politics
Use a dictionary to fill the gaps below: