Listening

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Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. a wrapper
    • ex. After eating all the chocolate bars that were on the table, only the wrappers were left.
  2. litter
    • ex. Tourists left many pieces of litter at the park.
  3. endanger
    • ex. Eating too much sweets will endanger your health.
  4. a cleanup
    • ex. Our club does a cleanup project every Saturday to keep the parks clean.
  5. ambitious
    • ex. The group has an ambitious project to decrease air pollution.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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A group of scuba divers went diving in New York City. They’ve seen pretty sea creatures like crabs, sea robins, blackfish, and angelfish. But that’s not all they’ve seen. There were plastic bottles, candy wrappers, and a very long fishing line too. These pieces of litter are endangering sea life and make the divers worry.

The litter may not always be seen from the shore. But it has been a concern of the founder of the dive school SuperDive, Nicole Zelek. Four years ago, she started monthly cleanups at a small bay in the community of Far Rockaway. “Every month we have a prize for the weirdest find,” she said.

According to Nick Mallos, the vice president of the group Ocean Conservancy, there are many ambitious cleanup projects to get more of the floating litter in deeper waters. But small-scale coastal cleanups like Zelek’s are an important part of the battle against ocean pollution. Every September, the group does a month of international coastal cleanups.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Scuba Diving and the Undersea Environment

  • Have you ever tried scuba diving? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • In your opinion, what kind of litter is most harmful to the undersea environment (ex. plastic, chemical wastes)? Why? Discuss.
  • Nicole Zelek is the founder of a dive school that does undersea cleanups regularly. Why do you think the dive school does undersea cleanups? Discuss.

Cleanup Projects

  • Have you ever joined any cleanup projects? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • In your country, is the problem of litter and pollution serious? Why do you think so? Discuss.
  • Aside from cleanup projects, what can people do to keep our environment clean? Discuss.