Severn Cullis-Suzuki is one of the world’s most remarkable youth environmental activist, speaker, television host as well as author. With some schoolmates she raised money in 1992, when she was only 12 years of age, to attend the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where Severn received a standing ovation for a speech to the delegates.

I. Listening Comprehension - Listen to each paragraph and do the tasks.

1. Complete with the missing words.

“Hello, I am Severn Suzuki ________________ for

E.C.O - the ________________ Children’s

Organization. We are a group of 12 and 13 year-

olds trying to make a ____________________, Vanessa Suttie, Morgan

Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We’ve raised all the ________________ to

come here ourselves, to come 5,000 miles to tell you ________________ you must

change your ways. Coming up here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for

my ________________. Losing my ________________ is not like losing

an__________________ , or a few points on the stock market.”

2. Some words aren’t correct. Underline them and write the correct word. Refer to

the line number, the incorrect word and the correct one.

“I am here to speak for all parents to come. I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children

around the world whose cries go unheard. I am here to speak for the countless people dying across

this planet, because they have nowhere left to go. I am afraid to go out in the sun now, because of

the holes in our ozone. I am afraid to smell the air, because I don’t know what chemicals are in it. I

used to go fishing in Vancouver, my home, with my Dad until, just a few years ago, we found a

duck full of cancers. And now we hear of animals and plants going extinct every day, vanishing

forever. In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests

full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to observe.”

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3. Are these statements True or False?

a) The delegates know exactly what must be done to save the planet.

b) Suzuki asks the delegates to stop harming the planet.

c) Suzuki believes we all belong to the same family.

d) The diversity in our world can disappear if politicians want.

e) We must work together to accomplish a common goal.

Now complete the last two paragraphs of the speech and do the tasks below.

“In my anger, I am not blind and in my fear I am not ________________ of telling the world how I feel. In my ________________ we make so much ________________, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, buy and throw away and yet Northern countries will not share with the ________________. Even when we have more than enough we are afraid

to share, we are afraid to let go of some of our wealth. In Canada, we live the privileged life. We have plenty of ________________, ________________ and ________________. We have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets. The list could go on for 2 days. Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent time with some children living on the ________________. This is what one child told us, ‘I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, ________________, ________________, shelter and ________________ and affection’. If a child on the street who has nothing is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so ________________? I can’t stop thinking that these are children my own age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born. And that I could be one of those children living in the favelas of Rio. I could be a child ________________ in Somalia, or a victim of ________________ in the Middle East or a beggar in India. I am only a child, yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on finding environmental answers ending ________________ and in finding treaties, what a ________________ place this ________________ would be.”

“At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us how to behave in the world. You teach us to not to ________________ with others, to work things out, to respect others and to ________________ up our mess, not to hurt other ________________, to share, not be greedy. Then, why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? Do not forget why you are attending these conferences, who you are doing this for. We are your own children. You are deciding what kind of a world we are growing up in. ________________ should be able to comfort their ________________ by saying ‘Everything is going to be all right, it’s not the ________________ of the world, and we are doing the best we can’. But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My dad always says, ‘you are what you do, not what you say’. Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us. But I challenge you, please, make your actions reflect your words. Thank you.”

1. Find evidence in the text for the following:

a) Although people have more than they need, they find it difficult to give to others.

b) It seems easier for the poor to share.

c) Had your birthplace been in a different country and you could be a needy person.

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2. Complete WITH YOUR OWN WORDS (No quotation allowed)

a) Although adults teach children good values, _____________________________ .

b) Actions are ________________________________________________________ .

II. Use of English1. Complete the text with the words from the box. Refer only to the numbers.

2. Report the statements.

a) “In my anger, I am not blind and in my fear I am not afraid of telling the world

how I feel.”

Severn Suzuki stated ___________________________________________________________

b) “Are we even on your list of priorities?”

Severn Suzuki asked the delegates ________________________________________________

c) “Make your actions reflect your words.”

Severn Suzuki challenged _______________________________________________________

III. WritingAnswer the following questions in about 40-50 words each.

1. Comment on the Severn Suzuki’s speech.

2. Is there anything in common between this text and the ones

you read in your Extensive Reading Project? (Starfish Story,

Happy Feet, Science World magazine article)

A new report from the World Wild Fund (WWF) shows how fish populations are in ____ (1)____ danger from Global Warming. The report “Are we putting our fish in hot ____(2)____ ?” describes how ___(3)___ change is increasing the water ___(4)___ in rivers, lakes and seas. This means there is less food and ___(5)___ available for fish. It also means the fish may not grow fully and may have fewer offspring.

Some fish cannot reproduce if winter temperatures are not cold enough. Warmer water means fish could mass ___(6)___ to cooler areas. Some species will become ___(7)___ if temperatures rise even by one or two ___(8)___ .

WWF (adapted)

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“Hello, I’m Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. – The Environmental Children’s Organisation. We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference: Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come five thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future. Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.

I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.

I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals are in it.

I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going extinct every day “” vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.

Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I’m only a child and I don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!

1. You don’t know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.2. You don’t know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.3. You don’t know how to bring back an animal now extinct.4. And you can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.

If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or politicians – but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles – and all of you are somebody’s child.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil “” borders and governments will never change that.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.

In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.

In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.

In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter “” we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.

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Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: “I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.”

If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?

I can’t stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

I’m only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:

1. not to fight with others,2. to work things out,3. to respect others,4. to clean up our mess,5. not to hurt other creatures,6. to share – not be greedy.

Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you’re attending these conferences, who you’re doing this for “” we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying “everything going to be alright” , “we’re doing the best we can” and “it’s not the end of the world”.

But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says “You are what you do, not what you say.”

Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you.”

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