Hell and High Water. The last few years have been the worst period on record for environment disasters and experts are predicting far worse to come.

The last few years have been the worst period on record for environment disasters and experts are predicting far worse to come.

Here is how to become a disaster statistic. Move to an area on the outskirts of a town near a tropical coast. Crowd together as more and more people arrive. Wait for the world to get a little warmer. One day, the land will turn to mud and the neighbourhood will begin to go downhill. Literally. And if the slope is steep enough, the landslide will accelerate to more than 200 miles an hour. Peter Walker, the member of international federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, has seen it all too often. “First, your house has been washed away. Second, the land that you farmed has disappeared. Third, the other bits of land you might have been able to farm are now useless.

In the last decade, floods, droughts, windstorms, earthquakes, avalanches, volcanic eruptions and forest fires have become increasingly common. There has been disastrous flooding in Asia, Africa, Central and South America and

Oceania. Even prosperous Europe has suffered and large areas of France, Britain and Germany have all been under water. Storms have been getting worse everywhere too, with a growing number of hurricanes hitting the US and Central America. Drought has affected large areas of Sub-Saharan Africa for years and many other zones are becoming drier.

Exercise 6. Answer these questions.

1.What is the attitude of the journalist towards the future?

2. Who is most likely to be a victim of natural disasters?

3.Why are there now more hurricanes, floods and droughts?

Exercise 7. Disasters: What would you do? Complete this table.

Exercise 8. A FORMAL LETTER/E-MAIL. Complete the letter with the more formal expression from each pair of phrases in the list.

Another thing/ Secondly

The first problem was / Firstly

Best wishes/Yours faithfully

I expect to receive/ You must send me

I know/1 can accept

Please write soon/1 look forward to hearing from you

I am writing to complain about/1 am really angry about

10 Hampton Road

Leeds LS42QT

May 17th 2001

UK Airtours

1231 Oxford Street

London W16AG

Dear Sir/ Madam,

1----------------my recent flight with your airline. The flight was UK789 from Leeds to Budapest via Frankfurt on May 13th 2001.

2----------------, the flight, which should have taken off at 10.00 a.m., was delayed until 1.00 p.m. Although

3-------------the delay was not your fault, we were not given any information until 12.00 p.m.

4---------------, during all this time we were not offered any refreshments. Thirdly, because of the delay, I missed my connection to Budapest. This meant that I missed a vital meeting, which was the whole reason for my trip to Budapest. Finally, your staff both at Leeds airport and on the plane itself were extremely rude and unhelpful.

I filled in a complaints form when I finally arrived in Budapest, which you may already have received, and

5------------- a full refund for the price of my ticket.

6-------------in the very near future.

7 -------------

Marion Wheeler (Ms)

Check yourself

GLOSSARY

Prepare a report “ The future of our planet: global warming”.

Write a business recommendation using a model, p.186

References

Main:

1. Clive Oxenden and Christina Latham-Koenig. New English File. Upper-Intermediate Students Book. Oxford 2010.

2. Clive Oxenden and Christina Latham-Koenig. New English File. Upper-Intermediate Workbook. Oxford 2010.

Additional:

3. Michael Harris, David Mower and Anna Sikorzynska. New Opportunities Upper-Intermediate Student’s Book.

2008.

4. Annette Capel and Wendy Sharp. Objective FCE. Upper – Intermediate Student’s book. Cambridge 2008.

Exercise 1. Look at the pictures and match the following masterpieces of engineering art with the names:

A B C D

Exercise 2. Discuss on the given themes:

1.What are the ways and means by which the artist’s painting is revealed and estimated?

2. The best way to get understanding and enjoyment of art is to view many paintings.

3. Great works of art seem to look different every time one stands before them.

Exercise 3. Read the text “Burj Al Arab” [5.]

Burj Al Arab is a hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the third tallest hotel in the world; however, 39% of its total height is made up of non - occupiable space. Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) from Jumeirah beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to mimic the sail of a ship. It was built to resemble the sail of a traditional Arabian vessel called a dhow. Two "wings" spread in a V to form a vast "mast", while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium.

Burj Al Arab was designed by multidisciplinary consultancy Atkins, led by architect Tom Wright. The architect Tom Wright said "The client wanted a building that would become an iconic or symbolic statement for Dubai; this is very similar to Sydney with its Opera House, London with Big Ben, or Paris with the Eiffel Tower. It needed to be a building that would become synonymous with the name of the country."

Burj Al Arab has attracted criticism as well "a contradiction of sorts, considering how well-designed and impressive the construction ultimately proves to be". The contradiction here seems to be related to the hotel’s decor.

Exercise 4. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘building’ and ‘developer’.

· Share your findings with your partners.

· Make questions using the words you found.

· Ask your partner / group your questions.

Exercise 5. [T.7] Listen and fill in the spaces “New Century Global Center”

China is (1) ____________ collection of the biggest things in the world. The latest addition is the world's largest building. It is called the New Century Global Center (2) ________________ in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in China's southwest. It is 500 meters long, 400 meters (3) _______________. The area inside covers an amazing 1.76 million square meters. The (4) ___________Sydney Opera Houses could fit inside. It is almost three times the size of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It took thousands (5) ________________ to build the enormous structure. The center is an important part of plans to make Chengdu a 21st-century city. It (6) __________________, "Chengdu – Can Do".

The inside of the center is almost (7) ____________. There are around 400,000 square meters of shopping space, a 15-screen IMAX movie theater complex and (8) ___________ to hold international competitions. There are also offices, hotels, a replica Mediterranean village and a water park. (9) ___________ will attract business and tourists from across China and the world. It is all (10) ____________ put Chengdu on the global map. Around 14 million people currently live in the city, but that is set to increase. The (11) ________________ investment and is one of China's most important industrial regions. The area is (12) ________________ largest giant panda nature reserve.

Exercise 6. According to the text mark the sentences T (true) or F (false)

GRAMMAR COMMENT

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