A striking example of how man can drastically alter the interdependence patterns of ocean life has occurred off the coasts of southern California. In the nineteenth century, these waters had a large population of that busy little animal called the sea otter, which ate sea 5 urchins*, which, in turn, fed on large brown algae called kelp. Sea
otters almost totally disappeared due to fur traders who encouraged hunters to kill off otters for their valuable furs. With the disappearence of the otter, sea urchins started to reproduce in vast numbers, leading to a great increase in their population. This caused sea urchins to 10 almost entirely exhaust kelp beds. At this point, man had replaced the
original balance of nature with a new pattern: The sea urchins, which previously had been the prey of the sea otter, had become the predator* and the kelp had become the new prey. As the kelp began to disappear, sea urchins began to starve. With the reduction of the 15 urchin population, the kelp managed to reproduce and increase their
numbers. Yet, the sea urchins again increased and so on. A cycle taking from 10 to 12 years started to repeat itself.
A further step came when sewage pollution caused an additional destruction of kelp - not because sewage kills kelp but because sewage 20 feeds sea urchins, which once again increased in numbers with this new source of food. If sea otters had been present in sufficient quantities, the kelp beds would still be abundant. In order to re-establish the proper balance in the eco-system, marine biologists have put forward a number of solutions. In time and with the help of man, nature may 25 regain its previous order.
* sea urchin: a small ball-shaped sea animal with a hard shell and many sharp points * predator: an animal that lives by killing and eating other animals
A. What do the following refer to? 1. 'these waters' (line 3):
2. 'this new source of food' (lines 20-21):
B. Find words in the text which mean the same as the following. 1. change (paragraph 1):
2. completely, totally (paragraph 1): 3. use up (paragraph 1):
4. but (paragraph 1):
5. more than enough (paragraph 2): 6. propose, suggest (paragraph 2): C.
1. Why did the number of sea otters in California fall abruptly?
2. What was the cause of the exhaustion of the kelp beds?
GROWING UP
When we are young, the house where we live is our whole world. Everything is provided for us - food and shelter, warmth and love. We obey our parents without question, because if mummy and daddy say it, it must be right. Every experience we have is classified as good or 5 bad according to their reaction. We quickly learn to do those things
which earn their praise, and to avoid doing those things which upset them and earn their disapproval.
As we grow older, we are more and more exposed to outside influences - school, friends and other adults. We soon start to realise 10 that there are other values which are different from those our parents hold. For example, your parents have told you that some words, such as 'bloody', are swear words, and they have forbidden you to use them. However, in your friend's house, everyone - children and grown-ups - says things like 'Bloody hell!' when they are annoyed and no-one 15 seems to think that there is anything wrong with it. You are confused;
you wonder what the right thing to do is. You try to resolve the conflict of values between two groups of people - your parents on the one hand, and your friend's parents on the other - for whom you have equal respect. Eventually what happens is that we start to lead double 20 lives; we reserve some forms of behaviour for the home, and others
for the world outside the home.
The real conflict starts when we reach adolescence. We begin to question everything and everyone, including our parents and their values, because we want to establish our own independent values. 25 Unfortunately, as long as we are living at home and are dependent on
of right and wrong. The trouble is that if our parents give us more freedom, we are bound to make mistakes, and they will wonder if they have given us too much freedom. On the other hand, if parents allow 30 too little freedom, their teenage children are likely to become resentful
and rebellious.
Somewhere between the two extremes, it ought to be possible to find a sort of 'democratic' alternative, which allows children the freedom to grow up and to make their own decisions, including 35 mistakes, but which also offers them help and protection when they
need it.
A. What do the following refer to? 1. "those" (line 10):
2. 'them" (line 12):
3. 'others' (line 20): other 4. 'the two extremes' (line 32):
B. Find words in the text which mean the same as the following. 1. do what you are told to do (paragraph 1):
2. adults (paragraph 2):
3. a feeling of approval and liking (paragraph 2): 4. state of disagreement (paragraph 3):
C. Mark the statements as True (T) or False (F).
1. Children believe that their parents know the best.
2. Outside influences affect children more and more as they grow up. 3. Questioning the people and the values around us starts during
adolescence.
4. Teenagers begin to live according to their own values as soon as they determine them.
5. Parents should have total control over their children's acts and decisions.
D.
1. How do children decide whether an experience is good or bad?
2. How do we try to resolve the conflict of values?
LONELINESS
Loneliness is a curious thing. Most of us can remember feeling most lonely when we were not in fact lonely at all,.but when we were surrounded by people. Everyone has experienced, at some 1 time, that utter sense of isolation that comes over you when you are 5 at a party. It suddenly seems to you as if everybody knows
everybody; everybody, that is, except you.
This feeling of loneliness, which can overcome you when you are in a crowd, is very difficult to get rid of. People living alone are 2 advised to tackle their loneliness by joining a club or a society, by 10 going out and meeting people. Does this really help?
There are no easy solutions. Your first day at work or at a new school is a typical situation in which you are likely to feel lonely. You feel lonely because you feel left out of things. You feel that 3 everybody else is full of confidence and knows what to do, but you 15 are helpless. The fact of the matter is that, in order to survive, we all put on a show of self-confidence to hide our uncertainties and doubts. Therefore, it is wrong to assume that you are alone.
The trouble is that you may not be able to hide the fact that you are lonely, and the miserable look on your face might put people 4 20 off. Thus, trying to look reasonably cheerful is a good starting point
to combat loneliness.
The next thing to avoid is finding yourself in a group where you are a stranger; that is, you are in the sort of group where all the people already know each other. There is a natural tendency for 25 people to stick together. You will do yourself no good by trying to establish yourself in a group which has so far managed to do very well without you. Groups generally resent intrusion, not because they dislike you personally, but because they have already had to work quite hard to turn the group into a functioning unit. To 5 30 include you means having to go over a lot of ground again, so that
you can learn their 'language' and get involved in their conversation at their level. In fact, the surest way of getting to know others is to have an interest in common with them. There is no guarantee that you will then like each other, but at least part of your life will be 35 filled with sharing experiences with others. It is much better than
feeling alone. If all this seems to be a rather pessimistic view of life, you have to accept the fact that we are all actually alone and that loneliness is sometimes unavoidable.