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Laboratory work (pre-intermediate level) The Natural world
Reading
Read the text and mark the sentences 1- 7 as True (T) or False
(F).1 It will be very difficult to remove all the mice from Gough
Island.2 The albatross chicks are almost 30 times bigger than the
mice.3 New Zealand has tried to remove rats from some islands but
without success.
4 The mice first arrived on Gough Island in the 19th century.5
Gough Island is near the coast of South America.6 No-one spends
more than a few days on Gough Island because it is so remote.7 The
mice destruction hasnt been started yet.
Mice eating rare seabirds aliveGough Island is a small hilly
island in the cold South Atlantic, 2,000 miles from the coast
of
South America. It is home to tens of thousands of seabirds. For
tens of thousands of years the birdsof Gough Island lived safely on
their rocky island, which some people say is the most important
homefor seabirds in the world. Today there are still 22 species of
birds and Gough Island is protected bythe World Heritage Committee
of UNESCO.
But now something terrible is happening to the birds on Gough
Island. When the first whalingships landed there 150 years ago, a
number of mice escaped from the ships and made their home onthe
island. Now there are more than 700,000 mice on an island which is
only 25 square miles in size.
Ornithologists are shocked that the British house mouse has
somehow changed and nowgrows to almost three times the size of
normal house mice. House mice usually eat insects andseeds but the
mice on Gough Island have changed and are now meat-eaters. They eat
baby birdsalive in their nests and they are now the largest mice in
the world. Birdlife International, a globalconservation group, says
that the mice on Gough Island are out of control and could make
several ofthe worlds rarest bird species extinct.
Birdlife International keeps a list of endangered bird species
and has now put two of GoughIslands bird species on the list of the
worlds most endangered species, the highest level of danger.There
is also a danger that five other bird species on the island will
become extinct.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has
suggested using helicopters to dropthousands of tonnes of rat
poison on Gough Island. New Zealand has removed rats completely
frommany islands, so it is possible. The mice will eat the poison
and just go to their nests and die. Wethink it will be quite easy
to do and it will cost about 2.6m, an RSPB spokeswoman said.
Things are getting worse on Gough, said Dr Geoff Hilton, an RSPB
scientist who has beenstudying conservation problems in the UKs
overseas territories. The presence of house mice meansthat rare
birds have no chance of survival. The only hope for these birds is
to remove the micecompletely. The mice are eating this island
alive. Without help Gough Island will probably lose mostof its
seabirds, said Hilton.
People who have seen the mice in action say they attack at night
either alone or in groups,eating through the nests to attack the
baby birds. The birds parents cant defend them. Studies showthat
about 60% of all the baby birds on Gough Island die in their nests.
Its disastrous. The albatrosschicks weigh ten kilograms but they
are easy to attack. The mice weigh 35 grams; it is like a pet
catattacking a hippopotamus, said Hilton.
The RSPBs spokeswoman added: The study shows there is some hope.
The UK governmenthas helped us to discover the problem, to conduct
the study, and now to finalize our plan to destroythe mice. The big
question is whether the UK will provide the big money needed to
actually destroythe mice. Without this money, we cant help these
endangered bird species.
Richard Cuthbert, a professional ornithologist who spent a year
on the island in 2001, was theman who first discovered that the
mice had changed their diet and increased in size. It sounds
incredible that a mouse could attack a baby bird, but these
birds are so fat and big that they cannotdefend themselves, he
said.
Guardian News & Media 2008
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Vocabulary practice
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the
text.
species extinct endangered poison conservation defend t
8 If a creature is ____________________, it no longer exists
anywhere in the world.
9 A ____________________ is an animal group whose members have
the same features and canproduce young together.10
____________________ is a substance that can kill you if you eat
it.11 ____________________ is the opposite ofattack.12 An
____________________ species is one that may soon become extinct.13
____________________ is the protection of the environment and the
animals in it.
Word formation
Fill in the gaps in the sentences using a suitable derivative of
the words given on the right.
Thanks to the Internet, we are now living in a (14) _____
GLOBE
village. We have more information about other countries
than ever before. We know as much about the (15) _____
SITUATE
in the US as in Russia. (16) _____ which is produced POLLUTE
in one country will affect other countries too. For
example, nuclear power is not (17) _____ only for one DANGER
country but is an international problem. If we do not take
actions soon, the (18) _____ of a nuclear disaster is very
POSSIBLEreal. We should all (19) _____ our rubbish not hope
CYCLE
green people will do it for us. Some people think
(20) _____ resources will go on forever, but they wont.
NATURE
We all have anobligation to protect the environment.
Grammar
21 My boyfriend doesn't really enjoy ______ to parties.
a) go b) to go c) going
22 James used ______ the drums when he was younger.a) play b) to
play c) playing
23 Did you manage ______ your keys?a) find b) to find c)
finding
24 Would you like to go ______?a) swim b) to swim c)
swimming
25 I chose money instead of ______ a birthday present. (have)a)
have b) to have c) having
26 Then, after ______ some expensive trainers, it felt much
easier.a) buy b) to buy c) buying
