LISTENING UNIT 5

1 B

2 C

3 A

4 C

5 A

6 B

7 C

VOCABULARY

Water-saving measures = misure per conservare l'acqua

Clean-up = pulizia

Debris = detriti

Farming = agricoltura

Seed = seme

Crops = colture

Tasteless = insaporito

Fertiliser = fertilizzante

Pesticide = pesticida

To waste = sprecare

To prevent from = prevenire da

To be concerned with = esssere interessato a

To make somebody aware of = rendere qualcuno consapevole

To face up = affrontare

To bump up production = accrescere la produzione

To increase the production = accrescere la produzione

To be forced = essere costretto

SUMMARY

Listening 5 is about the environmental problem. It is a recording of a radio talk show where the participants are different callers who speak to Jack, the radio announcer.

The radio talk show starts with the opinion of the previous caller who was against all water-saving measures because he lived in Vancouver where there is a lot of water. Therefore, he ironically wondered why he should conserve water if it have to be sold to the States. About this, Jack says we have to make people aware of how much water we waste and adds that there are different ways to save water.

After that, a caller takes part to the discussion and tells he is interested in a clean-up work. An additional one claims the problem of global warming. In particular, after reading an article, he says forest fires are necessary and natural for renewal.

The talk show goes on with a debate about the ozone layer, which is reducing. For what concerns the problem, Jack invites people to protect it by not buying aerosol sprays.

Moreover, an additional caller joins the discussion, talking about farming.  In particular, he says farmers use fertilisers and pesticides to produce more crops and stronger seeds to increase the production. As a result, the crops are tasteless. However, the most important aspect is that products have to be visually attractive to be sold.

Finally, the last caller underlines that some countries are underfed.