4 Water, food, and energy

R E A D IN G S K IL L S Finding information from more than one source • Identifying language for rephrasing and giving examples
LA N G U A G E FO R W R IT IN G Introductions and conclusions • Rephrasing and giving examples
W R IT IN G S K IL L S Introductions • Developing a thesis statement • Conclusions
Checking your writing (3) • Writing to describe and explain
V O C A B U L A R Y D E V E LO P M E N T Compound nouns • Compound adjectives

REA D IN G Water, water, everywhere

1 Discuss the statements.
• ‘W ater ju s t comes o u to f a tap. I don't think about w here it comes fro m .’
• ‘Bottled w ater is good fo r you.’
• ‘W ater is more valuable than o il.’

2 Survey Texts A and B on page 29. Where could they come from? W ho are
they written for?
3 Scan the texts. W hat do the numbers in the box refer to?

70% 98% 1972 300 billion 25% 32,000 2.7 billion 150

4 Look at questions 1-10. Read Text A and underline any

information which answers the questions.

S T U D Y S K IL L
F in d in g in f o r m a t io n fr o m m o r e t h a n o n e s o u r c e

You w ill often have to read tw o or more texts about the same subject.
The information you need w ill depend on the task.
■ Read the first te xt and underline the information you need.
■ Read the second te xt and underline any new or different information
which is relevant.
■ Make notes from the information you have underlined.

1 W hat is desalination?
2 W hat is removed during desalination?
3 Which two methods are used in desalination?
4 Name three countries which use desalination.
5 W hen was desalination first used in China?
6 How have the Chinese made the process of desalination more efficient?
7 W hen was desalination first used in the UAE?
8 Why is there a water shortage in some countries with adequate rainfall?
9 How can water be managed more efficiently?
10 How can the problems of water be solved in the future?
5 Read Text B and underline any information which you could not find in
Text A or which is different.
6 Make notes to answer the questions, using the information you have
underlined in both texts.

28 U nit 4 • W ater, fo od, and energy

A World o f water B Providing water for the world
Water is essential to life and we depend on it, yet Global demand for water is increasing as many countries are
many people take water for granted. As the experiencing large population growth. Even in countries
population of the world increases, and with it the where the water supply is adequate, people are beginning to
demand for water, there is growing concern that our realize how precious it is. As a result, many countries are
water supplies will not prove adequate. In areas near developing ways to increase and conserve their supplies of
the coast, an obvious solution to this problem is to fresh water.
find ways of utilizing the abundant supply of water
One such solution is desalination, the process by which salt
from the sea.
water is converted into drinkable fresh water. This involves
Water covers 70% of the surface of the earth, but the removal of salt compounds and other chemicals from the
98% of this is undrinkable salt water. However, for salt water, a process which has traditionally been carried out
centuries man has experimented with different by heating the water (the thermal method). The main
methods of converting salt water into fresh water in disadvantage of this method has been the cost. Consequently,
a process called desalination, whereby salt and a cheaper and more flexible method has been developed,
contaminants are removed from the water. The whereby salt water is purified by passing it through
challenge, nowadays, is to do this on a much larger membranes. This method is used most effectively in
scale. combination with the thermal method.
One place which has used desalination for many Since 1958, China, one of the driest countries in the world,
years is the United Arab Emirates. It installed has used these two methods to exploit its 32,000-kilometre
the first desalination plants in 1972, and nowadays coastline and convert sea water into fresh water. To
most of the drinking water in the country is maximize efficiency, the Chinese have successfully combined
supplied by this process. New filtration systems have a desalination plant with a power station in Zhejiang
been developed to replace the traditional methods, Province, using water from the Pacific Ocean to produce
which used a heating process. Another example is fresh water to generate electricity.
Saudi Arabia, whose desalination plants produce
almost 25% of the world’s desalinated water. One In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), desalination has also
of the largest plants in the world has been helped compensate for the lack of natural fresh water. The
constructed there, producing 300 billion litres first desalination plant was established in the UAE in 1960,
annually. producing 56,250 litres of fresh water a day As the demand
for fresh water has grown, so has the importance of
China, with its rapid industrial growth, has also
desalination. Experts forecast that in 2015, 2.7 billion litres
experienced an increased demand for water as well of fresh water will be required daily in the UAE, the majority
as energy. To overcome the shortage of both, China
of it being produced by desalination.
built a combined power and desalination plant in
Zhejiang Province in the 1970s. Since then, salt The water crisis is not a problem unique to dry countries. In
water has been taken from the East China Sea and countries with relatively high rainfall, water shortages can
converted into fresh water. Some of this fresh water still occur because of leakages and the subsequent loss of
is then sold to industry, some is used in the billions of litres of water. In addition, the average daily
production of energy, and the remainder is sold as consumption of water has risen to as much as 150 litres per
drinking water. person in recent years, due to the increased use of modern
technology in our homes. To overcome these problems, the
Unfortunately, desalination is an expensive process
public are encouraged to limit their consumption, and the G
using large amounts of energy, but research is
water companies are being forced to repair pipes.
currently being carried out into the development of
more efficient technology using a combination of The demand for water wUl increase throughout this century,
different methods. To supply water to 25% of the and consequently more countries will turn to desalination as
world’s population living within 25 kilometres of the the solution to their decreasing water supplies. However, as
sea, more desalination plants are expected to be water shortages become more widespread due to global
built in the future. The hope is that the technology warming, this alone wiU not be enough to solve the problem. 7 O
currently being developed will lower the costs and Governments wiU be obliged to ensure that water companies
o y
help solve the problem of water shortages in many operate efficiently and the public will learn that water is a
’/ O ’
parts of the world. precious resource to be used economically.
{380 words) (436 words)
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 Food chains
7 Look at the diagram of the food chain and W hat is a food chain?
answer the questions. A food chain shows the relationship between organisms which feed on
1 W hat is a food chain? each other. This essay will describe the three types of organisms which
a a type of supermarket form food chains, and explain how each organism acts as a food source
b a line of people handing out food for the next one in the chain.
c a group of plants and animals which The first organism in the food chain cannot feed on other organisms
depend on each other for food and is called a producer because it makes its own food. Green plants
2 W hat is usually a producer in a food chain? are an example of a producer. They use ^____________, that is, the
a a plant process of turning carbon dioxide and water into organic compounds
b an animal using energy from sunlight. These organic compounds are found in
c a person various parts of the plant such as the leaves, fruit, and roots, and are a
source of energy for the organism in the next step in the chain, a
3 W hat is usually a consumer in a food chain?
consumer.
a a plant
b a hum an or an animal producer
prim ary consumer
c a microrganism
8 Scan the text. Were your answers correct?
9 Check the meanings of the words in the box in
a dictionary. source o f energy

decomposers photosynthesis
herbivores omnivores carnivores

10 Read the text more carefully and put the words

from exercise 9 in the correct place.
11 Underline six phrases in the
text which are used to rephrase or give
examples.

S T U D Y S K IL L
I d e n t if y in g la n g u a g e f o r re p h r a s in g
a n d g iv in g e x a m p le s

A w ell-w ritten te xt w ill have discourse markers

or signals to help you understand it. They are
Consumers are generally animals and humans who eat the products of
used for:
photosynthesis. Examples of this are sheep eating grass, and birds
eating seeds. Consumers are classified depending on their place in the
■ rephrasing or explaining, e.g. in other words
chain. For instance, when humans eat vegetables, they are primary
m giving examples, e.g. for instance, for
consumers. In other words, they are directly eating a product of
example photosynthesis. When they eat meat, they are secondary consumers.
Consumers can also be divided into groups according to what they eat:
12 Read the text more carefully and answer the ^____________, which eat only plants or plant products,
questions. ^____________, which eat animals, and *____________ , which eat
both plants and animals.
1 W hat three types of organisms are found in
The transfer of energy from one species to another can occur several
every food chain?
times, but eventually the chain ends. When the final consumer dies, its
2 Give an example of each type.
body is broken down into simple molecules by ^____________such
3 Explain how one organism can be both a
as bacteria and fungi, in the final steps in the chain. These molecules
primary and a secondary consumer.
are returned to the soil, where they are used by plants, and the food
4 W hat happens to dead animals and plants? chain begins again,
To summarize, a food chain shows that every organism is dependent on
another for its source of energy, and in turn acts as a food source for
the next organism in the chain.

30 U nit 4 • W ater, fo od, and energy