Задать 10 вопросов к приведенному ниже тексту. At 3 p.m. on October 20, 1965, the very last PV-series Volvo drives off the assembly line in Lundby, Sweden. The car, a zippy black Sport PV544 with red interior trim, went straight to the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg. PV-series Volvos had been in production, first as the PV444 and then as the PV544, since 1947 and 440,000 sold in all. By the end of its run, the PV was old-fashioned–looking — the company had made very few cosmetic changes in the two decades the car had been on the market — but it remained a good, solid automobile. “Above all,” Road & Track magazine said in 1963, “the Volvo PV544 is such a practical car. Volvo’s most attractive appeal lies in its solidity and its quality in every single respect. There is nothing slapdash or under-dimensioned about any part of the car and that is more than enough to compensate for any perceived lack of glamour.
Volvo (the company’s name is Latin for “I roll”) was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1927 and quickly won a reputation for building sturdy, safe cars. After World War II, the company unveiled the PV444 — between 1947 and 1958 it sold more than 200,000 of the diminutive cars — and it introduced the PV544 in August 1958. The two cars were virtually identical — both were slightly humpbacked and dowdy — except that the PV544 had a one-piece windshield in place of the PV444’s divided one, a larger rear window and a bigger flip-out side windows, all of which brightened up the car’s interior considerably. Neither model ever had four doors, right-hand drive or an interior clock.
Despite the cars’ anachronistic appearance, people loved them. A PV Volvo might have looked stodgy, but it did not drive it: it could go from zero to 60 mph in 13 seconds, could cruise comfortably at 70 mph and got 27 miles per gallon on the highway. The PVs were great family cars but they were also powerful, sturdy racers: In 1965, for example, Kenyan brothers Joginder and Jaswant Singh won one of the toughest road races in the world, the 3,000-mile East African Safari rally, in their 1964 PV544. (Among other things, drivers in the safari had to negotiate falling boulders, mud puddles, errant herds of buffalo and giraffes blocking the road.)
Of the 440,000 PVs built, 280,000 stayed in Sweden. Most of the rest were exported to other European countries. In 1966, in place of the PV-series cars, the company introduced the 144 sedan, the car that is the ancestor of the boxy Volvos seen today.
Some people say that we should invest money in ecology projects, while others believe that nature is doing well by itself.
The earth is the only planet that people can live on, but nowadays they seem to be doing everything to make their home unfit for living. Industrialization has brought us into conflict with the natural environment. Our planet is in danger; air, water and land pollution have disastrous consequences which threaten human life on Earth.
I strongly feel that the more money is invested in ecology projects, the better our lives are going to be. People have technologies to make our planet cleaner: we can control pollution, recycle waste materials, protect rare animals and plants and install antipollution equipment. We need more disaster-prevention programs in order to control environmental pollution, fight the destruction of wildlife and preserve woodlands. There should be more newspaper articles, TV-programs and science-popular films about ecological problems. They help people become environment-educated.
However, many people still believe that nature is doing well by itself.
To conclude, ecological problems concern everybody and there are ways to solve them. People must always remember that the earth is our home and it depends on us what it will be like.
Many people think that they can't solve the world's environmental problems on their own and that the government and big companies must care about these problems. However, others say that individuals can do much to help the environment.
Our planet is in danger: air, water and land pollution have disastrous consequences which threaten human life on Earth. Most people are convinced that something must be done to stop pollution, but they don't know if they can help.
In my opinion, much can be done by an average citizen. People have to be smart about such things as driving a car or using electricity. Whenever we drive a car, we are adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. To make our planet cleaner and to use less energy we can try carpooling. That is when three people ride together in one car instead of driving three cars to work. We can also use public transport, ride a bike, or walk. People can save electricity by turning off lights, our TV-set and computer. We can use less washing up liquids to keep the water clean. We can also plant trees, collect litter and recycle cans, bottles, plastic bags and newspapers. Besides, we can buy products that don't use much energy.
There is a lot of discussion about the destruction of rain forests. Some people don't care about this problem, while others feel that the rain forest must be preserved.
Nowadays rainforests occupy a relatively small area. One can find them in South America and Indonesia, in Thailand and Sri Lanka. Worryingly, rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate owing to deforestation, river pollution and soil erosion. Quite a lot of people still don't know what effect the destruction of the rainforest may have on the world climate.
Tropical rainforests are called the "world's largest pharmacy" because a lot of natural medicines have been discovered there. More than half of the world's species of plants and animals are found in rainforests. They also offer a way of life to many people living in and around the forest. What is more, rainforests are the lungs of our planet because they produce a significant amount of the world's oxygen.
To conclude, if people want to be healthy and to live happily on Earth, they must preserve rainforests. I think that governments must work together with environmentalists to fight deforestation and to prevent the disappearance of "the lungs of our planet".
Everybody understands that we should recycle our waste. However, most people continue disposing of it in the usual way.
Recycling is an important issue nowadays. Unfortunately, people have always polluted their surroundings. The development of big industrial cities has led to the concentration of huge amounts of waste into small areas. So the obvious solution of this problem is recycling.
I strongly feel that everybody can help recycle waste by collecting litter and by sorting rubbish into different categories. Paper, glass and plastic can be sold to recycling companies. Recycled waste can be made into new products and it can help save natural resources.
But in spite of all the advantages of recycling, there is still a lot of waste everywhere. Many people don't want to sort their rubbish. Some areas still have plenty of landfill space and no recycling centres. They find it rather expensive to transport materials for recycling to big cities. To my mind, there must be more recycling centres not only in big cities, but in small towns as well.
In general, recycling is good for the environment. What is more, it is an interesting and profitable business.
However, all is not so bad. We have thousands of organizations and even corporations that are trying to popularize alternative energy sources. And their work is noticeable. Electric automobiles are becoming more and more popular. Plants and factories are using modern technologies to reduce emissions. Somebody could say "Hey, you're too optimistic and we all are going to the abyss." But I'm not an optimist, I just see all the improvements last years that are believed to change the situation all over the world.
You and I have only to help in this by promoting new harmless technologies. Maybe they aren't too profitable right now, but someday they will replace old and harmful one.
I believe that our future world will not be a big trash. It will be a pretty place with beautiful nature and complementary synthesis of nature and technology.