Module 4

I.A. Track (route), direction, pole, shrink, increase, grow, islanders, Muscovites, New Yorkers, threat, danger, drop, rise, grow, fund (monetary), unusable.

B. Inland, ashore, detached, remote, abandoned, desolate, desert, derelict, prevent, avoid, escape (from), settle down (in), treat (cure), heal, blindness, lameness (limpness), disability, retirement.

II.Extinct species, survive a catastrophe, widespread famine, off the beaten track, out of the blue, thatched roof, as soon as, put up with, give a hand, take advantage of the opportunity, humorous incident, road accident.

III.1. Many people in the world suffer from lack of pure drinking water.

2. The criminal did not get away with it because he had left a chain of evidence and was eventually arrested.

3. The population of many major cities suffers from the air filled with exhaust fumes of the cars.

4. Unfortunately, there are many homeless people who beg for money in the streets of this city.

5. The richest film star in the world experienced poverty and hardships which left a very deep impact on her character.

6. Nowadays it is impossible to become an educated person without gaining knowledge on the Internet.

7. As a journalist I find it my duty to report on the poor, the sick, the deprived, the unemployed and the homeless (people).

8. Avalanches (snow slides) in the mountains pose a great danger not only for individuals, but for whole villages.

9. The jury are still out on whether the famous (renowned) sportsman is guilty of the grave crime or not.

10. Eventually, my friend was able to get a fulltime well-paid job as a programmer.

11. The charity was able to raise a considerable sum of money to help those suffered during the forest (wild) fires.

IV.1. – You must have heard about the miners trapped deep underground.

– Yes, I admire their willpower, sense of humor and patience.

– They will have to spend underground at least three months before the rescuers (rescue workers) will have reached the cave where they are.

– It’s good there is a chance to send them down water, food, medicine and even souvenirs from their families.

2. – Yesterday there was such miserable weather, that we were home the whole day.

– And we made up our mind to go on a boat tour on the Neva despite the weather.

– In such weather, with rain, wind and cold?

– Just fancy, it was very warm on the touring (pleasure) boat, and we were even served hot tea and coffee with sandwiches.

3. – You do not seem to know the story of the three Russian sailors who survived after nearly two months on the board of the rescue boat.

– I can hardly believe it. But how could they survive (go) without food and water?

– They had a small supply of water with them, and they used for food everything they had, including leather belts from the navy uniform.

– Indeed, we still know too little about the human capacity to survive in extreme circumstances.

4. – I wonder whether people will ever be able to survive on Mars.

– Perhaps they will if the created living conditions would at least approximately remind them of life on Earth.

– Does this mean that we will have to build stations for people to stay on the planet Mars?

– Yes, there is no other way out. Otherwise people will never be able to set up their colonies on other planets in space.

5. – I would like to know how much time a person can survive in solitude.

– I think that solitude is a difficult challenge for a person who lives and develops in the society.

– I agree. Even in small groups a person may find it difficult to survive. The conflicts arise, people become easily frustrated (irritable) and lose their ability to work.

– Yes, no wonder that scientists study human behavior in social isolation. This knowledge will be useful for training people for space flights.

V.On the 26 December, 2004 one of the most devastating earthquakes took place in Asian countries, including Sri-Lanka, India, Indonesia, and Thailand isles. The epicenter of the earthquake was far away in the ocean. The earthquake of the magnitude 8.9 points Richter scale unleashed (generated) a tsunami that was a huge wave of 30 feet high, that razed whole sea coasts with hotels, beaches, parks and thousands of tourists and local people off the face of the earth, leaving huge devastations behind. A million people were displaced, and 250 thousand people were rendered homeless. All this happened at 7 a.m. instantly without any hope for escape. Many countries, governments, charity funds responded to this disaster, and the aircrafts with humanitarian aid were landing non-stop at the airports of the most hit countries. At present these popular places of tourist holidays don’t remind us of the catastrophe, but many people keep memories of those events, and scientists are actively involved in working out the ways to forecast earthquakes and tsunami.