Questions. 1. Why is our planet in danger?

1. Why is our planet in danger?

2. Who is to blame for the disaster?

3. What is happening to our forests?

4. Why are the seas in danger?

5. The Aral Sea is on the brink of extinction. Do you think it's possible to save it?

6. A lot of animals are dying out. But people wear fur coats, crocodile handbags, leather shoes, etc. Are you for or against hunting?

7. Is air pollution a serious problem? Why?

8. The car is now the world's number one polluter. Do you think it's possible to make it cleaner and safer? Have you heard about electric cars?

9. Why are nuclear power stations dangerous? What were the tragic consequences of the Chernobyl disaster?

10. What is the main cause of the greenhouse effect and acid rams?

11. What will happen to our planet if the present trends continue? Do you think that one day it may become uninhabitable?

12. What can we do to save the planet?

CAN WE LIVE LONGER?

Scientists say that in the future people will live longer. With healthier lifestyles and better medical care the average person will live to 90 or 100 instead of 70 and 75 like today. When the human genome is decoded, we'll probably live up to 150. Incurable diseases will be cured and "bad" genes replaced.

But that's tomorrow. And today, we continue to stuff ourselves with fast food — chips and pizzas, hamburgers and hot dogs. We are always in a hurry.

We have no time to enjoy a home-cooked dinner with family and friends. We want to eat now and we want to eat fast.

What is tasty is not always healthy. Doctors say that chips and pizzas are fattening, cola spoils our teeth and coffee shortens our lives.

If we eat too much, we'll become obese, and obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes and other serious illnesses. But the world today is getting fatter and fatter. America is the world's leader in obesity, but Europe is quickly catching up.

Lack of exercise is another serious problem. We spend hours in front of our computers and TV-sets. Few of us do morning exercises. We walk less, because we prefer to use cars or public transport.

Research shows, however, that young people who don't take enough exercise often suffer from heart attacks.

It's common knowledge that smoking and drinking can shorten our lives dramatically. Cigarette-smoking, for example, kills about 3 million people every year. Many of them die from lung cancer. Some aren't even smokers. They are people who live or work with heavy smokers.

Yet many young people smoke and drink. Why? One answer is that tobacco and drinks companies invest enormous sums of money in advertising their products. For them cigarettes and alcoholic drinks mean money. For us they mean disease and even death.

We all know that the healthier we are, the better we feel. The better we feel, the longer we live. So why not take care of ourselves?