Satisfacción laboral

By the year 2000, the world population is expected to be about 7,000 million. This great increase in the world population, or

'demographic explosion' as it has been called, will cause many problems: shortage of housing, shortage of facilities and psychological 5 stress. But the biggest problem of all will be the shortage of food. In

1973, in West and Central Africa, there were serious deficiencies of basic foods such as corn, rice, milk and meat. This was partly because of natural disasters such as drought (not enough rain) and floods, that is, too much rain, but basically it was because of a real shortage of 10 these foods. Everywhere in the world, the prices of basic foods rose and it became impossible for many people to buy enough of them. Nutritional experts estimated that half the world's population was under-nourished and that millions were near starvation. And in 1973, the population of the world was only half of what U may be in the year 15 2000!

Agricultural experts are trying to increase the output of food in the world without great increase in price. They are working on projects for breeding plants and animals which are bigger, grow faster and are resistant to diseases. In India, for example, new strains of rice have 20 been developed, which has greatly increased yields. In Mexico,

excellent new varieties of wheat have been produced by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work.

However, increasing yields in this way may be expensive, and may 25 require large quantities of fertiliser to 'feed' the land. If the population continues to grow, more and more agricultural land will be needed for housing. For many years now, experts have been experimenting with techniques of cultivating plants by using mixtures of chemical compounds and water only. This is called 'hydroponics', and if it 30 becomes economical, vegetables and fruit could be produced in

factories instead of fields. In addition, agricultural scientists have been cross-breeding livestock - cattle, pigs, chickens, etc. - to produce better animals.

Mechanisation is another way of producing more food. Machines 35 can do work faster, more efficiently and more cheaply than man and they are being used in industrialised countries to do almost all farming jobs.

One of the best hopes scientists have for solving the food crisis is to find new sources of food, especially protein. Experimental food is 40 now being produced from petroleum, from seaweed and from other

surprising raw materials. A. What do the following refer to?

1. This' (line 7):

2. them' (line 11): . 3. 'if (line 14):

4. 'they' (line 36):

B. What do the following mean? 1. 'drought' (line 8):

2. 'livestock' (line 32):

C.

1. Why were there serious deficiencies of food in Africa?

2. What will the world population probably be in the year 2000?

3. Where have new strains of rice been developed?

4. What did Borlaug produce?

5. What is experimental food being produced from?

7. What is "demographic explosion'?

8. What problems will arise due to the demographic explosion? a)

b) c)

d)

9. How are agricultural experts trying to increase the output of food in the world?

a) b) c) d) 10. What is 'hydroponics'?

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CRUDE OIL

Many years ago, when most people got their water directly from wells under the ground, they were sometimes annoyed by a dark liquid which came out of the ground and contaminated the water. It smelled bad and was extremely dirty. Some people discovered that it was good 5 for caulking boats - it prevented water from getting in through the

cracks in the wood. Others found it was a good medicine for the stomach. However, most people didn't like it. Today, we have a rather different opinion on this substance known as crude oil.

In 1855, a young teacher at Yale University, Benjamin Silliman, 10 became interested in crude oil. He soon found that it could be used as

a fuel for heating and lighting. After the first oil well started production, the age of oil was just around the corner. Today, LP. Getty and Howard Hughes, two of the richest men in the world, both have fortunes based on oil - the former on the Standard Oil Co. and the 15 latter on a highly efficient oil-drilling bit.

The first oil from the sea was produced some decades ago by the off-shore drilling rigs in Maracaiba Bay, Venezuela. There, the water

is shallow and the oil is very near the surface. The tropical forest comes right down to the water's edge, and today it seems to continue 20 into the sea. The oil is quite easy to get out in this area, but men are now also drilling in more difficult areas like the cold, deep North Sea between Great Britain and Norway.

The petroleum which comes out of the ground cannot really be used for anything. It must first be refined. Refineries are huge 'factories' 25 where crude oil is separated into 'fractions', which are commonly known as gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil, lubricating oil and fuel oil. Then, these fractions must be distributed by pipeline or tanker to the final distributors, such as petrol stations, which sell them to the users.

Every person in industrial societies depends on crude oil. Its 30 fractions provide fuel for electricity generators, power for vehicles,

heat for homes and materials for clothing. In the future, we may use some of its fractions to produce food.

The question is: how long will the world's reserves of crude oil last? We use more and more oil every year. Crude oil is a 35 non-renewable resource and one day it will probably run out. Many

things will be different when this happens, but the most interesting and important question is what alternative sources of energy will be successfully developed.

A. What do the following refer to? 1. "if (line 6):

2. 'both' (line 13): 3. There' (line 17): 4. 'this' (line 36):

B. What do the following mean? 1. 'caulking' (line 5):

2. 'crude oil* (line 25):

C.

1. Why were people annoyed by the dark liquid in their wells?

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