About their problems. They try to find answers for their problems together. For example
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128 THE SAMARITANS The Samaritan organisation was established in the 1950's by Reverend Chad Varah. He decided to form this organisation to be able to help people who were thinking of committing suicide. He believed that if the people who wanted to kill themselves had a friend to talk to on the phone, they would probably decide not to commit suicide. People who work as Samaritans don't earn any money. They are volunteers. They are carefully selected and trained so that the highest standards of caring and befriending are achieved. A Samaritan has to be trained because he has to learn how to deal with a person who is in psychological distress since a person who wants to commit suicide cannot think clearly, feels lonely, left-out and hopeless. A Samaritan should know about how to put such a person at ease and make him change his mind. He ought to be able to persuade the person on the other end of the line that killing himself is not the only solution to his problem, that there are alternatives in life, and that life is worth living in spite of all the difficulties. They have to be very careful while talking to the people. They never indoctrinate them or preach at them; that is, they never tell them what they must or should do. In countries where the telephone is readily available, i.e., where finding a phone is not a problem, a telephone number which is easily remembered is advertised so that people who are likely to take their own lives can find someone to talk to easily. The Samaritans have developed a very careful publicity programme because they want the public to know that there are people who care and are ready to help them 24 hours a day. They want every person who is about to commit suicide to be able to contact them. In their publicity programmes they tell that the phone calls are always confidential. In other words, the phone calls are kept secret and the Samaritans will not tell other people about the calls and no one else, except for them, will know about the situation. This organisation has been very successful so far. Between 1983 and 1994, the suicide rate in England and Wales fell from 12 to 7 per 100,000.
in spite of -e rağmen 129 WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DINOSAURS? A number of different theories have been proposed to explain the death of the dinosaur. We know that about thirty species lived in North America from 120 to 200 million years ago. We also know that the dinosaur was not a very intelligent animal - most dinosaurs had very small brains - and that they lived on earth for 100 million years. What we don't know is why they suddenly disappeared. Obviously something very unusual happened, which caused their death. There are a lot of possibilities. One is that North America was hit by an enormous drought. However, bones from thirty-five dinosaur species have just been discovered in China, and it has been found out that they died at the same time as the ones in America, so it seems very unlikely that drought was responsible. It was a world problem, not a local one, that killed them all. The popular idea that human beings killed the dinosaur is also wrong. Humans didn't arrive until a million years ago. Acid rain, surprisingly, is one of the newer theories. It is possible that pollution from acid rain was caused by a meteor crashing into the earth. Changes in climate might also have been responsible. Either an ice age (there have been two ice ages since then) or an increase in world temperatures could have been enough to kill the dinosaurs. Anyway, there is a lesson here for human beings. If the dinosaurs can all disappear, so can we. drought (i.) kuraklık, susuzluk; kıtlık, eksiklik. droughty (s.) kurak, susuz; kıt. 130
THE ELEPHANTS' GRAVEYARD I'm going to have a very unusual holiday this year. I'm going to photograph elephants in Africa'. If you would like to do the same, you'd better book your ticket soon. There won't be any wild elephants in twenty years time. They'll all be dead, except maybe for a few in nature reserves. An elephant is a walking bank as far as hunters are concerned. The reason is the price of ivory, which was $5 a kilogram in the 1960's but is $50 a kilogram now. As the price went up, the killings started. Elephant populations in eastern Africa started falling and now the total African population is declining fast. The largest estimate says that there are about 800.000 African elephants. In ten years' time, this figure will be halved if hunting continues as it is now. Another ten years, and the wild elephant will hardly exist. Sixteen of the thirty-five African countries which have elephants are going to restrict trade in elephant products and some of these are going to start special nature reserves, where elephants are protected. But it may be too late. If the hunting continues on its present scale, the elephant will soon be a thing of the past.
131 A NATION OF PET-LOVERS Julia Elliot discusses the English love of pets. A recent survey in the United States showed that the average family there spent more money on its pets than on its children. This is a rather shocking statistic. It is possible that Americans are unique in caring for their pets, but the information we have would suggest that the English too do their best to take good care of their pets. This can clearly be seen when we look at pet foods, which often contain more vitamins than human food. They certainly cost as much. Last year the British public spent two hundred million pounds on pet food alone. It is difficult not to feel sad about this when one thinks what the same amount of money could do for poor or old people, especially when I read about another old person who has left all his/her money to a dog or cat home. There are a variety of reasons why I, personally, find the popularity of British pets alarming. First of all, they cause physical problems. An example of this is London, where there is great difficulty in getting rid of the mess that dogs leave on the streets. Many people find this funny, but in a number of large cities it is a major problem. Animals can cause disease, too. It is the threat of rabies – a disease with no known cure - that has made the English government take some measures by restricting animals coming into the United Kingdom. Another problem is the carelessness of some pet owners. Most little children want a dog or cat. It is only when the 'sweet little thing' has been brought home that parents realize how much time and money must be spent on 'Bonzo' or 'Bulky'. Therefore, many of these owners abandon their pets. Pets which are allowed to run free are not sweet at all. English farmers lose hundreds of sheep a year, killed by someone's pet. You may think that I dislike all pets, but this is not true at all. We are a nation of pet-lovers. Wouldn't it be betiü to be lovers of human beings?
132 BUSINESS GOES GREEN! Many cities around the world today are heavily polluted. Careless manufacturing processes employed in some industries and lack of consumer demand for environmentally safe products have contributed to the pollution problem. One result is that millions of tons of glass, paper, plastic, and metal containers are produced, and these are difficult to dispose of. However, today, more and more consumers are choosing 'green'. They think the products they buy should be safe for the environment. Before they buy a product they ask questions like "Will this hairspray damage the ozone layer?", "Can this metal container be recycled or can it be used once?". A recent survey showed that three out of five adults now consider the environmental safety of a product before they buy it. This means that companies must now change the way they make and sell their products to make sure that they are 'green', that is, friendly to the environment. Only a few years ago, it was impossible to find green products in supermarkets, but now there are hundreds. Some supermarket products carry labels to show that the product is green. The concern for a safer and cleaner environment is making companies rethink how they do business. No longer will the public accept the old attitude of "Buy it, use it, throw it away, and forget it". The public pressure is on, and gradually business is cleaning up its act.
133 A GREENER WORLD When Herbert Girardet and John Seymour decided to write Blueprint for a Green Planet, they directed their advice at people, not at governments. This is what they wrote: It is our belief that the planet will only be saved by people acting as responsible individuals. We believe that people are good. If they are shown that their actions are damaging the environment, they will try to be careful. Unfortunately, many people believe that saving the planet should be left to governments. Yet, governments are only in power for five years and then must put themselves up for re-election. What, then, can we all do? Here are five rules by which we might all live, part of Blueprint for a Green Planet: 1. Be aware and responsible. Don't just believe what is 'on the label' - that was written by somebody trying to sell the stuff! Demand to know how we get things that we use and what effect this has on Nature or our planet. 2. Be moderate. Moderate your demands on the planet. Walk instead of driving. Walking will do you good. It will save fossil fuels, and avoid pollution. 3. Keep things local. Avoid buying products which have been brought from far away. Transport is one of the great polluters. 4. Keep things simple. We do not need the vast complexity of most modern devices. Consider what you really need and be content with that. 5. Try to live less violently. The most savage violence is chemical violence. The soil, our crops and our animals are all being subjected to constant contact with poisonous chemicals. We can do without many of them .Pressure groups, such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, are splendid, but they can only exist as a result of the action taken by you and me. We are all there is and we must stop the assault on the life of our planet somehow. We are not apart from Nature, we are part of Nature.
134 A 90-DAY STRETCH "Now I've heard it all," sniggered the girl at the travel agency. "Someone who wants to ride a bike all the way across America!" She shouldn't have been surprised because since 1976, some 12,000 people have done i i , riding Bikecentennial's 4,450-mile Trans-America Trail from Oregon to Virginia. Bikecentennial was dreamed up by four Americans who had cycled from Alaska to Cape Horn. They thought a cross-America route would encourage cycling; and their idea coincided with the 1976 Bikecentennial celebrations, when the US government was handing out money for such worthy projects. The Trans-America Trail was bom. Because the trail follows small roads and only goes through small towns, "you see places and people you'd never see otherwise," said Carol Coutts, an American teacher (and novice cyclist) who tackled the trail. An English cyclist, Norman Hall, found that in Missouri their group "ended up in someone's living room every evening." The route was worked out with great care, and Bikecentennial's five sectional booklets not only have incredibly detailed maps but also a guide to camp sites and flora and fauna, for those who admire plants and animals. There are 90-day 'package tours' for cyclists who want to travel in a group. (They'll cost about $1200 next year.) Bikecentennial's address is Claire Creswell, P0 Box 8308, Missoula, MT 59807, USA (tel. 406 721 1776). A free information leaflet is available to anyone who writes; their quite excellent booklets contain advice on preparation for a long tour, as well as route details (for the Trans-America Trail or the five shorter routes). UK cyclists should be able to take their bikes free of charge on any regular transatlantic flight, if it comes within their 20 kg. baggage allowance (and if it doesn't, you probably have too much luggage for a cycle tour); but always check with the airline first.
135 GLENN CURTIS Glenn Curtis was born in Hammondspcin, New York on May 21, 1878. His father died when he was a boy and Glenn went to work as a -telegraph messenger. He became interested in bicycle and motorcycle racing and won a number of trophies. (In 1907 he established the speed record on motorcycle of 137 miles /220 kilometres - per hour.) Anxious to get as much power from his motorcycles as possible, Curtis turned his considerable mechanical talents to building motorcycle engines. He became so well known in this area that he was asked to build the engine airship constructed by the United States government – U.S. Army Dirigible No. 1. In 1908, Curtis designed and flew airplane called The June Bug. It had a tail and was controlled by ailerons (hinged flaps on the wings). This feature differed from that used by Wilbur and Orville Wrig,ht, which employed a method of twisting wings for flight control. The Wright Brothers claimed that Curtis' ailerons violated their patent on airplane design, and they filed a law; suit against Curtis and his company. Years later, a settlement was finally reached but by that time, Curtis's innovations, that is, his new ideas on wing design, had become standard features on aircraft. On May 29, 1910, Curtis won the $ 10,000 prize sponsored by the newspaper, The New York World, for his flight from Albany to New York City, a distance of 150 miles covered in two hours and fifty-one minutes. The next year, with an airplane which he had equipped with pontoons, he took off from and landed on the surface of Lake Keuka. For his development of this flying boat or hydroplane, Curtis received the Langley Medal from the Smithsonian Institution. Yüklə 0,88 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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