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22
1 grey squirrels
2 red deer
3 rabbits
4 apple snails
5 mitten crabs
ANIMAL INVADERS
Hоw much danger are we in? How many moaners are there?
Imagine you run a small food shop
in
your
local
neighbourhood.
Suddenly, a giant supermarket opens
for business opposite your shop. What
happens to you and your business?
In the natural world, things are
often the same. The red squirrel was
living happily in England when, in
the 1880s, many people brought grey
squirrels from North America as pets.
Since then, these pets have escaped
into the wild. They now eat the same
food as the red squirrels, and they eat
it more quickly. Consequently, now
there aren't many native squirrels in
England and they are in danger of
extinction.
There are many invaders that don't
cause extinctions, but they do destroy
plants and harm the economy. For
example, European red deer are
destroying the forests in South
America because they eat the young
trees. Rabbits have spread from
Europe and now eat farmers' crops all
over the world. These kinds of
invaders are causing problems for
humans, unlike the grey squirrels,
which cause little damage to plants
and don't damage the economy.
Few invaders are large land
animals; most of them are fish or
small animals like insects. There are
thousands of these invaders and these
smaller animals often mean farmers
lose a lot of money. The apple snail
from South America doesn't cause
much damage in Europe, but it causes
a lot of damage in southeast Asia
because it loves to eat rice plants.
There are very few positive sides to
these animal invasions. However, in
Britain today, one invasion story
offers some hope. Chinese mitten
crabs first came on ships from China.
These
crabs
destroy
local
environments and attack fish in fish
farms. However, in China these crabs
are an expensive food, so, now,
Britain is selling them back to China.
The crabs are travelling on ships
again, but this time they are food, not
invaders; and this time they are
helping the British economy, not
harming it.
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2c Post-reading activity
Read the article again and answer these questions.
1 What do you think happens to the
small food shop when a supermarket
starts business?
2 Is the red squirrel like the small
shop or the supermarket?
3 Why did the grey squirrel come to
Britain?
4 Do all invasive animals cause the
extinction of native animals?
5 Are there more large animal
invaders than small ones?
6 Why do you think the apple snail
doesn’t cause many problems in
Europe?
7 Is it common to find good things
about animal invasions?
8
Who is Britain selling mitten
crabs to, and why?
3. Language skills
3a Complete this paragraph with
much, many, a lot of, little or few.
There are many or a
lot of
animals that
are invaders, but perhaps there are
2) ________ , if any, invaders that are
worse than humans. 200,000 years ago
there were very 3) __________
humans. Now there are nearly six
billion of them. Unfortunately, there
isn't
4) _________ information about
the early history of this species, but it
seems certain that the first humans
came from Ethiopia in east Africa.
After 5) ___________ thousands
of
years (150-180) humans were living on
every continent on Earth. How 6)
_________
damage
have
these
invaders caused? They have destroyed
7) _____________ native plants and
animals. Before humans, there was 8)
__________ pollution. Now, there is 9)
_________ pollution and it is causing
10) ___________ harm to the global
environment. It seems that humans
need to change things about their
lifestyle if they want to survive.
3b Look at the sentences. How do we compare things in English? When do
we use as…as? When do we use than? When do we use more/less +adjective?
Cows are
as big as
horses.
Seals aren’t
as smart as
dolphins.
Alligators are
longer than
lizards.
Snakes are
more dangerous than
spiders.
Spiders are
less dangerous than
snakes.
3c Look at the pictures and compare these animals using as…as, less…than,
more…than.
24
3d Tick the correct sentence, as in the example.
1
a: A fish is less noisier than a cat.
b: A fish is less noisy than a cat
.
V
2
a: Lions are not as bigger as hippos.
b: Lions are not as big as hippos.
3
a: Going to the zoo is more entertaining watching TV.
b: Going to the zoo is more entertaining than watching TV.
4
a: Cheetahs run faster than zebras.
b: Cheetahs run as fast than zebras.
5 a: Was the film as exciting as the book?
b: Was the film as more exciting as the book?
6 a: My hair is less dark than yours.
b: My hair is not as dark as yours.
7 a: A zebra’s neck is long as a giraffe’s.
b: A zebra’s neck is not as long as a giraffe’s.
8 a: Are dogs more loyal than cats?
b: Are dogs loyal more than cats?
25
4. Listening
4a Look at the website below. What kind of organization is it?
a business an academic institution a charity a government department
4b Which link A-E do you click on for the following information?
1 people who kill animals illegally
2 special accommodation for animals
3 caring for ill animals
4 animals that are not free
5 saving animals from danger
4c Listen to the two parts of the conversation and answer the questions.
Track 06. Track 07.
1 In what order does Neil describe the photos A-D?
2 Which photo does he recommend for the website?
26
Background information
: the AAI Website Manager, Neil, is choosing some
photos for the new AAI website. He needs to discuss them with the
Communications Director, Katie. However, she is in the Congo and she does not
have access to the Internet to view the photos. Neil telephones her to describe
them and make his recommendations.
4d Listen to the first part of the conversation again and complete
Katie’s notes. Track 06.
Whale pictures
1)
There are 1)______ whales close to a beach. Two men are 2)_______ whale
off the beach. Loads of 3)_______ watching.
2)
On the left, we can see the large 4)_______ of a whale. Two people
throwing 5)_______ on the whale. Pic is 6)________ 1
st
pic is best – a
7)________ of people working together, they look very 8)_________ - more
dramatic.
4e Listen to the second part of the conversation again and complete
Katie’s notes. Track 07.
Bird pictures
1)
Man in the 1)______ passing a 2)______ to someone on beach.
2)
People 3)______ a bird. Woman in 4)______ shirt holding bird, woman
on the 5)______ cleaning bird.
1
st
pic more 6)______, makes you 7)______ the situation.
2
nd
pic shows what experts 8)______, but not very 9)______.