Class 12 English Section I Lesson 9 Note
#Unit -9 Ecology and Environment
Working with words
A. The words/phrases in the box are from the text. Check their meanings in a dictionary and use these words to complete the given sentences.
a. Logging is one of the main reasons behind the rapid deforestation in the world.
b. That’s one example of how the pandemic should be a wake-up call.
c. Propane is a gas used as a fuel for cooking and heating.
d. Emergency teams are still clearing the debris from the plane crash.
e. What a transformation! You look great.
f. My father made a New Year resolution to give up smoking.
g. He has worked in the Army for two years. He hates that two-year detrimental.
h. Emissions from the factory are widely suspected of having a/an stint effect on health.
i. My father is an occasional smoker. He doesn’t smoke often.
j. Redwood is a very tall type of tree that grows especially in California and Oregan.
B. Choose one word from each box to make sensible compound words.
Rattle : Rattlesnake
Sun : Sunflower
Touch : Touchdown
Moon : Moonlight
Day : Daydream
Fire : Fireworks
Water : Watermelon
Basket : Basketball
Pass : Passport
Wash : Washcloth
Weather : Weatherman
Grand : Grandmother
Cross : Crosswalk
C. Match the following words/phrases related to the ecology with their meanings.
Sustainability – to keep in existence; maintain. To supply with necessities or nourishment
Tree line – the height on a mountain above which the climate is too cold for trees to grow
Precipitation – water that returns to the earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow
Tropical Zone – the region between latitudes 23.5 degrees S and 23.5 degrees N
Kyoto Protocol – an agreement between countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It was established in Japan in 1997 but didn’t become international law until 2004
Pollutants – substances that destroy the purity of air, water, or land
Geosphere – the soils, sediments, and rock layers of the Earth’s crust, both continental and beneath the ocean floors
Deciduous – a plant that sheds all or nearly all its leaves each year
Ephemeral – an organism that has a short life cycle
Trash – items that are discarded
Comprehension
A. Choose the best answer.
a. The author of the text above has the opinion that Julia Hill made her pastime in a tree for two years more.
b. The sentence ‘Julia had occasional visitors’ indicates she had a few visitors now and then.
c. The logging company managed 24 hour security service around the tree to discourage her from her campaign.
d. Ms. Hill began to respond the loggers with songs and conventional conversations because she had unconditional love for all nature’s creations.
e. Julia Hill climbed down the tree after 738 days when her demands were about to be fulfilled.
B. Answer the following questions.
a. Who was Julia Butterfly Hill? How did Hill’s campaign gain popularity?
Ans 👉 Julia Butterfly Hill was a person who lived in a 200-ft-tall redwood tree for more than two years to draw attention to the continued clearcutting of California’s remaining redwood forests. Her campaign gained popularity when she started to have occasional visitors.
b. What made Hill start her mega campaign to save redwood trees?
Ans 👉 When she arrived in the redwood forest, she was gripped by the spirit of the forest. She dropped to her knees and began to sob seeing the clearcutting of redwood trees. She sat and cried for a long time and finally decided to start her mega campaign to save redwood trees.
c. What kinds of amenities were there to support Hill’s life in the tree?
Ans 👉 Hill had a sleeping bag, a solar-powered cell phone for media interviews, and a single-burner propane stove to cook and heat water to support her life in the tree. She had few necessities, and no luxuries.
d. Did Hill’s value of life change after her car accident? How?
Ans 👉 Yes, Hill’s value of life changed after her car accident. She said the experience was a wake-up call. Before the accident her main focus had been work but later on she became clear that value as people is not in their stock portfolios and bank accounts, but in the legacies they leave behind.
e. Deforestation causes natural calamities. What evidence do you have in the text to prove this?
Ans 👉 Yes, it’s true that deforestation causes natural calamities. In the text we can see that the cutting of redwoods destabilized the hillside and caused a mudslide which carried trees, stumps, and debris from that hillside down into the town, leaving seven families without homes.
f. How did the logging company try to discourage Hill in the early days of her sit-in?
Ans 👉 The logging company tried to discourage Hill in the early days of her sit-in by hiring 24-hour security guards to harass her and to ensure her support team couldn’t deliver her supplies. She was menaced with a helicopter at a dangerously close range. A neighboring tree was felled, hitting Luna’s outer branches and nearly causing Hill to fall. She was verbally abused, threatened with violence, rape, and death, kept awake with floodlights, and bugles and air horns were blown through the night.
g. How were the vagaries of nature unwelcoming to Hill?
Ans 👉 The logging company wasn’t her only problem. One of her scariest times was a 16-hour, 70-mph windstorm that shredded the tarps that surrounded her, and even ripped huge branches off the tree. When lightning struck nearby during an electrical storm, her hair stood straight up. In this way the vagaries of nature were unwelcoming to Hill.
h. What is the purpose of the author to write a review on Hill’s book? Do you think the author stands for ecological sustainability? Give reasons.
Ans 👉 The purpose of the author to write a review on Hill’s book is to bring a spotlight to the issue of deforestation. He wants people to learn about deforestation and its ill effects through his review and make people aware of what should be done to prevent it. Yes, I think the author stands for ecological sustainability.
Writing
A. Write a review of a book/film which you have read/watched recently.
The Time Machine
Ans 👉 The story follows a Victorian scientist who claims that he has invented a device that enables him to travel through time, and has visited the future, arriving in the year 802,701 in what had once been London. The narrator recounts the Traveler’s lecture to his weekly dinner guests that time is simply the fourth dimension and demonstrates a tabletop model machine for travelling through the fourth dimension. He reveals that he has built a machine capable of carrying a person through time and returns at dinner the following week to recount a remarkable tale, becoming the new narrator.
The novel reflects how human greed and class division can lead to decay and degeneration. It is both a fascinating story and a thought-provoking warning about the future of humanity.
B. Your school is going to organize a speech competition on coming Friday. The subject of the speech is “Let’s save the trees and protect our environment.” Draft a speech using the following prompts.
Let’s Save the Trees and Protect Our Environment
Ans 👉 Good morning everyone, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on such an important topic “Let’s Save the Trees and Protect Our Environment.” Trees are the lifelines of our planet. They provide us with oxygen, purify the air, give us shade, food, and shelter. Yet human beings continue to destroy forests in the name of modernization and development.
Deforestation causes global warming, air pollution, and loss of biodiversity. It also leads to soil erosion and natural calamities. We must understand that without trees, life on earth cannot exist. Therefore, it is our duty to protect them by stopping deforestation and promoting afforestation.
Let us plant more trees, reuse paper, and protect our green cover. By saving trees, we save our lives, our future, and our planet. Let’s promise today to live in harmony with nature and make our earth green and clean. Thank you.
Grammar
B. Someone says something to you which contradicts to what they told you earlier. Match the beginnings of the conversations with the correct endings.
a. I’m going to Pokhara on holiday. – You said you were going on business.
b. He’s a lawyer. – You told me he was a teacher.
c. She’s had a baby girl. – You said she’d had a boy.
d. I haven’t seen Binesh for ages. – You told me you’d seen him previous week.
e. I love these new boots. – You said you hated them.
f. I only cheated in one exam. – You admitted you cheated in all your exams.
g. She doesn’t speak Hindi or Chinese. – You told me she was fluent in both.
h. He works in Kathmandu. – You told me his office was in Biratnagar.
C. Rewrite the following sentences with the sentence beginnings given below.
a. The principal said, “You can phone from my office, Rita.”
Ans 👉 The principal said that she could phone from his office.
b. “You must not neglect your duty,” said the teacher to tf. “Work hard if you want to rise in life,” said the old man.
Ans 👉 The old man suggested working hard if they wanted to rise in life.
g. He said, “Goodbye, my friends!”
Ans 👉 He said goodbye to his friends.
h. She said to me, “Have a pleasant journey ahead.”
Ans 👉 She told me to have a pleasant journey ahead.
i. “Don’t give me the book, please,” Sharmila said.
Ans 👉 Sharmila pleaded not to give her the book.
j. “Where have you been these days?” she spoke on the telephone.
Ans 👉 He asked on the telephone where I had been those days.
k. The teacher said, “Have you submitted your assignments, students?”
Ans 👉 The teacher asked students if they had submitted their assignments.
D. These are the exact words Dinesh said to you yesterday. Now, you’re telling your friend what Dinesh told you. Complete the text.
Ans 👉 He said he had just got engaged. He told me that they were getting married next month. He told me they were going to Pokhara for their honeymoon. He mentioned that it was all going to be very expensive. He said that his friend was a photographer and he would take the photos for them. He mentioned that they would be having the reception in his parents’ garden. He admitted that his mum was baking the cake for them. He said his sister’s band was playing free for them. He said he hoped I’d come to the wedding.
