[00:00.00] CHAPTER FIVE Reading
[00:-1.00]page 78 GREEN ORCHIDS
[00:-2.00]Life is a series of choices,and we cannot always foresee the consequences.
[00:-3.00]Harry Saleem,an obese man with too much money and power,faced a choice now.
[00:-4.00]Outside his office waited his personal doctor,
[00:-5.00]bringing him vital news about the only medicine which could save his life.
[00:-6.00]On the other side of the world,
[00:-7.00]one of his engineers waited for his decision
[00:-8.00]on an important matter of business.
[00:-9.00]His secretary asked whether she should bring the doctor in.
[00:10.00]And then the billionaire businessman made his decision.
[00:11.00]'No,let the fool wait,'growled Saleem.'Business comes first.'
[00:12.00]Despite the health problems caused by his huge weight,
[00:13.00]he was still obsessed with making money.
[00:14.00]He raised a fat finger,
[00:15.00]and one of his staff hurried to switch on a large television set.
[00:16.00]The screen flashed into life,and Saleem's engineer appeared.
[00:17.00]The man talked by satellite directly to his master
[00:18.00]although they were thousands of miles apart.
[00:19.00]'It's all ready to blow,Mr Saleem,'he said.
[00:20.00]'Just say the word.''Wait,ordered Saleem,
[00:21.00]while he considered the situation.
[00:22.00]His engineer was standing above a wide valley in South America.
[00:23.00]A few months ago,Rakan Valley had been a rain forest.
[00:24.00]Then Saleem's men had come.
[00:25.00]They had cut down all the valuable trees
[00:26.00]and forced the villagers to move out.
[00:27.00]Across the bottom of the valley,a dam had been built.
[00:28.00]This would provide hydro electric power
[00:29.00]for the many factories which Saleem planned to build in the area.
[00:30.00]Saleem finished his mental review of the situation.
[00:31.00]It was an operation which would bring vast profits.
[00:32.00]He cared nothing for the destruction of the environment.
[00:33.00]That was not his problem.
[00:34.00]He saw no reason to delay.
[00:35.00]He ordered the engineer to press the button.
[00:36.00]The camera panned away into the distance,and then a cloud of dust rose up,
[00:37.00]followed shortly by a dull explosion.
[00:38.00]A mighty river changed its course,
[00:39.00]and water flooded into the doomed Rakan Valley.
[00:40.00]In the big office,there was a short silence.
[00:41.00]But Saleem never wasted time.
[00:42.00]'Good, that's that.Turn it off.
[00:43.00]Now,get that doctor in here,he commanded,
[00:44.00]and his staff fell over themselves to obey their bullying employer.
[00:45.00]The doctor,a tall,thin, American with a worried look,
[00:46.00]came in and started to examine his wealthy patient nervously.
[00:47.00]'You're doing very well, Mr Saleem.'he said finally.
[00:48.00]'The new medicine is a great success.
[00:49.00]The only problem is getting more of it.'
[00:50.00]Saleem asked the doctor if he would be able to get more.
[00:51.00]'Money is no problem,you know,'he said.'
[00:52.00]Tell me what you need,and we'll get it.'
[00:53.00]But the doctor explained that the main ingredient of this new,life saving medicine came from a plant.
[00:54.00]'It's a small,green orchid,'he said,
[00:55.00]'which has just been discovered.
[00:56.00]We'll need many plants to make enough medicine.'
[00:57.00]'Well,get them!'ordered Saleem.'What's the problem?'
[00:58.00]'Er,there's no problem,sir said the doctor,'except that they are very rare.
[00:59.00]There's only one place in the world where they grow.'
[-1:00.00]'Where?'demanded the fat businessman,impatiently.The doctor smiled.
[-1:-1.00]He was pleased to have good news.
[-1:-2.00]'Well,luckily the orchids come from some land which you own,sir,
[-1:-3.00]so there won't be any difficulty.
[-1:-4.00]They're from a place in South America known as Pakan Valley.'
[-1:-5.00]LISTENING SKILLS Page 82 Changing a text
[-1:-6.00]SPEAKING page 88
[-1:-7.00]A Saying the sounds and
[-1:-8.00]1 ear air hear hair
[-1:-9.00]cheers chairs beer bear
[-1:10.00]pier pear clear clare
[-1:11.00]dear dare tear(n) tear(v.)
[-1:12.00]steered stared
[-1:13.00]2 here year idea appear
[-1:14.00]easier nearly Austria engineer
[-1:15.00]3 care square wear where
[-1:16.00]there scarce stairs
[-1:17.00]4 a dear chair a bearded engineer
[-1:18.00]5 He has very scarce hair.She can't bear the taste of beer.
[-1:19.00]Clare's here and Lear's over there.
[-1:20.00]MORE LANGUAGE INPUT
[-1:21.00]A Reading page 92 Helping the Environment
[-1:22.00]These days we are all aware of the many threats to the environment
[-1:23.00]and the need to act in a responsible manner
[-1:24.00]to protect the world which we all share.
[-1:25.00]Many people say that they are in favour of the 'green' movement.
[-1:26.00]However,it is often difficult to find anything practicalwhich you can do to help.
[-1:27.00]If you live in a big city,
[-1:28.00]you may feel that you cannot take any action to support the cause.
[-1:29.00]But one thing you can do is to try to buy'green' products.
[-1:30.00]For example,let us consider the problem of the ozone layer.
[-1:31.00]Around the earth,there is a thin layer of ozone.
[-1:32.00]This gas protects us from many of the harmful rays of the sun.
[-1:33.00]A few years ago,scientists in the Antarctic first became aware of holes in the ozone layer.
[-1:34.00]If these holes continue to get bigger,
[-1:35.00]more and more harmful rays from the sun will reach us.
[-1:36.00]As a result,more people are likely to get skin cancer.
[-1:37.00]Further research into the problem showed that the ozone layer is being destroyed by gases called CFCs.
[-1:38.00]These gases are released into the atmosphere by the chemicals used in aerosol cans and refrigerators.
[-1:39.00]When this became known,
[-1:40.00]many manufacturers stopped using CFCs in their aerosol cans.
[-1:41.00]They switched to other less harmful chemicals,
[-1:42.00]and labelled their cans 'ozone-friendly'or 'no CFCs'.
[-1:43.00]So when you next buy any type of spray can
[-1:44.00](such as a deodorant or insect spray),look for these labels.
[-1:45.00]The problem of refrigerators was more difficult to solve.
[-1:46.00]These machines could not be adapted as quickly as aerosol cans.
[-1:47.00]However,a German manufacturer,working with Greenpeace,
[-1:48.00]has now produced an ozone safe fridge.
[-1:49.00]It has been named the'Qreenfreeze' fridge and will soon be available.
[-1:50.00]Other manufacturers are rushing to produce similar models.
[-1:51.00]So the next time you or your parents go out to buy a fridge,
[-1:52.00]choose one of the ozone friendly models.
[-1:53.00]Then you will be doing something to help the environment.
[-1:54.00]B.Listening page 93
