Drowning Polar Bears
3/17/2023 5:28:31 PM
Do you know?
- The image of a polar bear stranded on melting sea ice is often used as a symbol of the world’s rapidly changing climate.
- The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as the global average, causing the ice that polar bears depend on to melt away.
Let's explore more in the following passage!
PREPARING TO READ
The words and phrases in bold below are used in the text "Drowning Polar Bears". Read the sentences and match the word or phrase to its definition.
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It has now become evident to us that a mistake has been made. Early warnings of rising water levels prevented another major catastrophe. The flood waters slowly retreated. Soft metals are easy to become deformed when struck with a heavy object. The point at which the solid and the liquid are in equilibrium is called the freezing point. If consumers start losing confidence, it will diminish demand for household goods. |
(adj.): clear; easily seen
(v.): to reduce or be reduced in size or importance
(n.): a state of balance
(adj.): spoiled by not having a usual or regular shape or structure
(v.): to move away or back
(n.): a sudden event that causes very great trouble or destruction
Read and complete the tasks.
Drowning Polar Bears
There is perhaps no place on Earth where the effects of global warming are more evident than in the Arctic. Covered in ice, this region has been the first to feel the effects of a looming environmental catastrophe as greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, causing temperatures to rise and glaciers to melt.
The large masses of ice are home to polar bears, who hunt on the edges of the glaciers. They eat mainly seals, who swim in the icy water beneath and are caught when they surface through holes in the ice to breathe. In a normal summer, as the temperature rises, the glaciers retreat to the north, but the polar bears do not follow them. Instead, they leave the glaciers for the shore, where the temperatures are warmer and the seals are plentiful. They have to swim to make this journey, and as the glaciers retreat further and further, the polar bears’ voyage from glacier to land gets longer. Though they are strong swimmers, the increasing distance has resulted in polar bears drowning as they try to swim ashore for the summer months.
Not only are polar bears drowning, but they are also having trouble hunting because the thinner ice tends to get deformed more easily, making hunting seals more difficult. The polar bears’ lack of nourishment not only threatens their lives, but it also makes reproduction less successful, so new generations of polar bears are not being born to replace the dying ones. As polar bear populations decrease, the ecosystem is thrown out of equilibrium. With fewer polar bears to eat seals, seal populations increase. They then eat more fish, threatening those populations. As fish populations diminish, so do food supplies for all the people, birds, and animals that depend on them for nourishment.
Source: Reading for the Real World 2
Mark each statement as either true (T) or false (F) according to the reading.
The Arctic suffers the first impact of the Greenhouse Effect.
In a normal summer, polar bears swim to the North along with the glaciers.
The decrease in the population of polar bears has no effect on the ecosystem.
What can you know from the text?
- In summer, polar bears expend a greater amount of energy while swimming.
- The polar bears' insufficient food intake is the only factor contributing to their unsuccessful reproduction.
- The population of seals significantly decreases due to the thinning of the ice.
- Despite being skilled swimmers, polar bears cannot withstand the extended journey to the shore.
What can be concluded from the text?
- The easy deformation of the ice causes the polar bears to drown.
- The decreasing population of polar bears has a knock-on effect on the ecosystem.
- All living beings are under threat from the decline in the number of fish.
- Due to the rise in temperature, the frequency of seal sightings in the Arctic has increased.
The author wrote this text to _____.
- emphasize the urgency of addressing global warming and its worldwide consequences
- raise awareness about the impact of the melting of Arctic glaciers on the world
- highlight the dangers faced by a particular animal due to an environmental catastrophe
- call on worldwide environmentalists to protect the inhabitants of the Arctic
Drag and drop to complete the summary.
The melting of Arctic ice due to global warming has for polar bears. With the glaciers retreating further, polar bears have to swim longer distances to reach warmer shores where they hunt seals, causing many of them to drown. Additionally, the thinning ice is also their lives and reproduction by making it more for them to catch seals. The decline in polar bear populations the ecosystem and has for the food supply of other animals and humans that depend on them.
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
Build your vocabulary by learning these intensive idioms in the topic area of Nature & The Environment
The financial fraud uncovered by the police was just the _____ of the iceberg, revealing a much larger and intricate scheme.
- top
- cap
- tip
- steer
I was still hurt by the way my parents had lied to me, but I decided to _____ by going home for Christmas.
- offer an olive branch
- hit the ground running
- drop a clanger
- get bent out of shape
Choose the word(s) CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word(s).
The senator is in hot water with constituents over his callous remarks.
- is severely punished
- gets into a mess
- is relieved of his office
- provokes controversy
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first one, using the word in brackets. You must use between 3 and 8 words, including the word given. Do NOT change the word given.
He always exaggerates small problems into big issues. (MOLEHILL)
=> He always .