Examples. (JACK, Molly, arnold, and Yolanda are at yolanda's house watching the president on television. )

(JACK, MOLLY, ARNOLD, and YOLANDA are at YOLANDA'S house watching the president on television.)

JACK: The president l ooks very' tired. Maybe he has a cold.

MOLLY: Yeah, he does. Why is he looking at something over the camera?

JACK: I think he's reading his speech from a screen.

ARNOLD: Jack, you're frowning. What are you thinking about?

JACK: I'm thinking about all the money I spend on gasoline, and prices are going up again.

ARNOLD: Why do you have a big car?

JACK: I bought it secondhand⁶ a long time ago.

YOLANDA: Please stop talking. I'm having a hard time hearing anything. I think this is an important speech.

• ACTIVITY 3G

YOLANDA is a reporter for a television station. She is interviewing a scientist about the «greenhouse effect» Pill in the blanks using the simple present tense of the verbs m parentheses.

YOLANDA: I'm happy to have here with me today Dr. Ernest Brock, who is an expert on the environment, especially the climate. Dr. Brock does (do) research at Columbia University. Dr. Brock, many experts say that the 1980s had the four hottest years in this century, and some of us probably remember the heat wave in July and August of 1988. ____you ________(believe) that the heat wave was the result of «the greenhouse effect»?

DR. BROCK: Yes,_______ (short answer) I think we_______(need) to face the truth here.

YOLANDA: What exactly______ (mean) when we say«the greenhouse effect»? I________ this term all the time, (hear) but I __________ (negative, understand) it completely.

DR. BROCK: Well, the greenhouse effect» refers to a layer of gases in the air that is causing the earth to get warmer each year.

YOLANDA: How ________this layer of gases⁷_________ that? (do)

⁶ Secondhand means «previously owned and used by someone else.

⁷ Layer is the subject of the verb here.

DR. BROCK: Well, certain gases____________ (negative, permit) heat to escape into the earth's atmosphere. Take carbon dioxide, for example. CO₂ ___________(trap) the earth's heat. Each year we________(release) more and more CO₂ into the air. We _______(call) it «the greenhouse effect» because CO₂ _______(work)the same way as the panes of glass in a greenhouse⁸, they ______(allow)the sun's heat to enter the greenhouse and warm it, but they_______(prevent) part of that heat From escaping.

YOLANDA: _________the burning of fuels⁹ like oil and coal _______(give) off CO₂?

DR. BROCK: That's right. The burning of these fuels_______ (cause) most of the problems.

YOLANDA: But what about the trees? _______(negative) the trees _________ (absorb) CO₂?

DR. BROCK: Yes, but that _______(bring)us to the second big problem – deforestation. We are destroying the world's rain forests. Every year, farmers in Brazil down thousands of trees. Of course, they ________(need) to clear the land for farming. But every year, Brazil _______ (have) fewer trees, and more CO2______ (remain) in the air. Of course. I__________(negative, want) to blame Brazil for this problem. All countries _______(share) the responsibility.

YOLANDA: Yes, that's true. What other gases ______(add) to the problem?

DR. BROCK: Well, methane ________(block) the escape of heat into the atmosphere too.

YOLANDA: What _______(produce)methane?

⁸ A greenhouse is a building made of glass in which you can grow plants.

⁹ Burning is the subject of the verb here.

DR BROCK: Cattle. Cows _______off a lot of gas as a product of digestion. (give) Another greenhouse gas is nitrous oxide.

YOLANDA: And where______ that from? (come)

DR. BROCK: _______you______ a car? (own)

YOLANDA: Yes, I ______(short answer)._______ (contain) the exhaust nitrous oxide?

DR. BROCK: That's right. You don't look like a gardener to me, but______ (have) your dad a garden?

YOLANDA: My father ______(negative, enjoy) gardening, but my mother ________. She ________(spend) hours in her garden in the summer.

DR. BROCK: And ______she _______(use) chemical fertilizers?

YOLANDA: I think she_______. Is nitrous oxide in them too?

DR. BROCK: Uh, huh. So your mother's beautiful garden ________(contribute) to the problem too.

YOLANDA: And what about Freon¹⁰ in our refrigerators? I heard something about that.

Dr. BROCK: Yes, and your air conditioner ______(use) Freon for cooling too. And sometimes when we_______ (throw) out our old refrigerators or air conditioners, some of that Freon _______(escape) into the air and_______ (make) the problem worse.

YOLANDA: Well, thank you very much, Dr. Brock. for helping us all to understand «the greenhouse effect». I certainly _______(know) much more about it now.

¹⁰ Freon is a gas used for cooling.

o What predictions do scientists make about what will happen as a result of the earth's becoming warmer each year? Do you believe the scientists who warn us about the greenhouse effect? What can we do about this problem?

o Review the vocabulary and the facts in the interview with Dr. Brock. Then role play a similar interview between Dr. Brock and a reporter. You can include more students in the interview if there are three or four scientists and three or four reporters.

• ACTIVITY 3H

Fill in the blanks with either the present continuous tense or the simple present tense of the verbs in parentheses. (A reporter is interviewing a supervisor at a nu-clear power plant.)

REPORTER: We are inside the control room of the Apple Core Nuclear Power Plant. I am interviewing (interview). Mr. Wilkins and _____ (ask) questions about nuclear power in general and the Apple Core Plant in particular. What kind of material do power plants use for nuclear fuel?

MR. WILKINS: Well, for the most part we ______(use) uranium.

REPORTER: I'm going to follow Mr. Wilkins and ask him questions. Mr. Wilkins, what_______ you_______(do) right now?

MR WILKINS: I _______(check) the safety valves for the plant's cooling system.

REPORTER: How often ______you ________them?

MR. WILKNS: We________ (check) them several times a day.

REPORTER: How many men usually_______(work) in this room?

MR. WILKINS: Half a dozen or so.

REPORTER: What ______ those men _____(do)over there in the corner?

MR WILKINS: They _____ (put)on protective clothing. When we______ into many areas (go) of the plant, we ______ (wear) this protective clothing.

REPORTER: ________supervisors________ (monitor) the men and the plant for radioactivity every day?

MR. WILKINS: Oh, yes. Whenever a worker ______(leave) the plant, he_______ (check) himself for radioactivity at the door. The man over there _______(record) radiation levels in this room right now. We ______(monitor) all the time. In fact, the equipment shows that nothing_____(leak) into the environment right now.

REPORTER: ______(negative) your plant ever _______(have) leaks?

MR. WILKINS: Well, occasionally a small amount of radiation_______(escape) into

the environment. But this_______(negative, happen) very often.

REPORTER: Thank you very much, Mr. Wilkins. This has been most interesting.