Questões de Concursos Professor de Inglês

Pollution

Thick black smoke curling out of smokestacks, horrible-tasting chemicals in your drinking water, pesticides in your food - these are examples of pollution. Pollution is any contamination of the environment which causes harm to the environment or the inhabitants of the environment. There are many kinds of pollution, and there are many pollutants. Some obvious kinds of pollution are pollution of the air, soil, and water. Some less obvious, or less salient kinds of pollution are radioactive, noise, light pollution, and green-house gasses.

Air pollution can be caused by particles, liquids, or gases that make the air harmful to breathe. There are two main types of air pollution: primary and secondary. Primary pollutants enter the air directly, like smoke from factories and car exhaust. Secondary pollutants are chemicals that mix together to pollute the air, like mixtures of emissions, or waste output, from vehicles and factory smoke that change to form more dangerous pollutants in the air and sunlight.

Soil pollution can be caused by pesticides, leakage..........................chemical tanks, oil spills, and other chemicals..........................get into the soil by dumping or accidental contamination. Soil pollution can also cause water pollution.............................underground water becomes contaminated by coming.............................contact with the polluted soil.

Water pollution can be caused by waste products, sewage, oil spills, and litter in streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Some scientists believe that water pollution is the largest cause of death and disease in the world, causing about 14,000 deaths in the world each day.

Radioactive pollution can be caused by leaks or spills of radioactive materials. These materials can come from medical sources, nuclear power plants, or laboratories which handle radioactive materials. Air, soil, and water can be polluted by radioactivity. It can cause damage to animals, both internally and externally, by eating, drinking, or touching it. It can cause birth defects and genetic problems. It can cause certain cancers and other deadly diseases.

Noise pollution can be caused by vehicle, aircraft, and industrial noise. It can also be caused by military or experimental sonar. Noise has health effects on people and animals. In people, it can cause high blood pressure, heart problems, sleep disturbances, and hearing problems. In animals, it can cause communication, reproductive, and navigation problems – they have difficulty finding their direction. Sonar has even caused whales to beach themselves because they respond to the sonar as if it were another whale.

Light pollution can be caused by advertising signs, stadium and city lighting, and other artificial lighting (like the light caused by night traffic). Artificial lighting has health effects on humans and animals. In people, it can cause high blood pressure and affect sleeping and waking rhythms and immunity. It might be a factor in some cancers, such as breast cancer. In animals, it can affect sleeping and waking rhythms, navigation, and reproduction.

In addition, greenhouse gases have caused a warming effect on the earth’s climate. The greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone. They are naturally–occurring gases in the atmosphere, but human activity has increased their concentration in the atmosphere. For example, the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere have risen due to the burning of fossil fuels. The effect is a rise in global temperatures. The higher temperatures cause the melting of glaciers, a rise in the water level of oceans, and the disruption of both land and marine life, including that of humans. Although carbon dioxide is necessary for plants to survive, it is also considered to be a kind of pollution because high levels of carbon dioxide have caused the oceans to become more acidic.

It is not possible for anyone to predict the exact timing and effects of global pollution and global climate change brought about by pollution. There is general agreement by scientists that the global climate will continue to change, that the intensity of weather effects will continue to increase, and that some species of animals will become extinct. There is also general agreement, or consensus, that humans need to take steps to reduce emissions of waste products and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, make adaptations to the changes that are occurring, and figure out ways of reversing the trends of pollution and global warming.

Text: “Why do people collect?”

Petra Engels owns 19,571 erasers, Carol Vaughn has 1,221 bars of soap, and Ralf Shrőder has a collection of 14,502 packets of sugar. Many people love to collect things, but why? Psychologists and collectors have different opinions.

The psychologist Carl Jung believed that collecting is part of our ancient human history. Thousands of years ago, humans collected nuts and berries. They kept them carefully and ate them when there was no food. The best collectors survived long cold winters or seasons without rain. Their genes passed to future generations. Nowadays, we still have a collecting instinct.

Historian Philipp Bloom has a different opinion. He thinks collectors want to make something that will remain after their death. By bringing many similar items together, the collector gains historical importance. Sometimes their collections become museums or libraries, for example, Henry Huntington, who founded a library in Los Angeles to house his collection of books.

Author Steve Roach thinks that people collect things to remember their childhood. Many children collect things, but few have enough money to buy the things they really want, and they lose interest. In later life, they remember their collections fondly. Now, they have enough money and opportunity to find special items, and they start collecting again. This way, they can re-live and enjoy their childhood years.

Art collector, Werner Muensterberger, agrees that collecting is linked to childhood. But he believes we collect in order to feel safe and secure. While babies hold blankets or toys to feel safe when their mother isn’t there, adults collect things to stop feeling lonely or anxious.

Autograph collector Mark Baker agrees that collecting is emotional, but he doesn’t collect to reduce anxiety. “For me, it’s the excitement,” he says. “I love trying to get a famous person’s autograph. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I fail. Also, by collecting autographs, I feel connected to famous people. I don’t just watch them on television. I actually meet them.”

These are just a few reasons for collecting. Do you know any people with collections? Why do they collect?

Questions related to the text above

TEXT I

Why do birds sing so loudly in the morning in spring? It’s the ‘dawn chorus’

As spring begins, so does a fresh song at daybreak, unique to the season. Just before the sun rises, birds start singing their melodies, creating a chirpy symphony.

This phenomenon is known as the dawn chorus, and it’s special for a number of reasons: There are more birds singing at this time of year, and they also sing more often. This energetic burst of birdsong is often louder than usual too. The dawn chorus’ early morning explosion of sounds has even inspired multiple poems and songs.

“It's the epitome of spring,” says Jordan E. Rutter, an ornithologist at the American Bird Conservancy. After the long and cold winter, “all of a sudden you have this influx of so many beautiful birds coming back and singing.”

This harmony of birdsong at dawn happens during a fundamental time of the year. The dawn chorus is, in fact, mostly composed of birds of both genders singing to find a mate so they can breed (though males may sing more).

“There is such a large increase in quantity of song by individuals and the collective,” Rutter says. “These birds sing louder to literally be heard. They need to compete with each other as well, and the louder the better in regards to who is the most impressive mate.”

During this time, males also sing to assert their dominance and claim their territory. “Those songs are how they communicate to other males of the same species, or even just other birds and predators in general, and say, ‘This is my home,’” says Rutter.

In the United States and Canada, the dawn chorus can be heard roughly from March through May, when many bird species migrate there from their winter homes to breed. Peak dawn chorus times might depend on where you live, Rutter says. For example, April is peak for the southern U.S., but birds in Washington, D.C., will put on the best show in early May. (Alternatively, in the tropics, the dawn chorus can be heard almost any time of year, as many birds have a prolonged breeding season in those warmer climates.)

Why is it a ‘dawn’ chorus?

But why birds sing in the early morning is still “an open question,” says Mike Webster, an ornithologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “There's a lot of debate, and I don't think there's any consensus on exactly why it is that everything happens at dawn."

One hypothesis is that weather conditions at daybreak make it easier for birdsong to travel.

“In general, sound travels farther when the air is cooler and more dense. Sound also transmits more clearly (and very slightly faster) when humidity is higher so that details of the song do not degrade as much over distance,” says Heather Williams, a professor at Williams College who has studied the neuroscience of birdsong. She notes that wind may also impede sound transmission. “At dawn, the cooler air results in decreased winds at ground level, so coupled with the higher humidity, sound carries farther and more clearly, with less distortion.”

Extract from

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/birds-dawn-chorus (Accessed on 14 April 2025.)