Name:_______________ Number: _______ Save Our Soils!

Save Our Soils! SOS, um pedido de socorro, seria a abreviao da frase save our souls (salvem as nossas almas). O que o ttulo do texto a seguir tem em comum com essa mensagem? Save Our Soils! Soil is essential for life, but soil conservation is a world problem today. Many countries suffer the effects of the excessive pressure of human activities: mining, accumulation of toxic herbicides and pesticides, pollution, deforestation, and erosion. Soil can perform many functions, but two of them are particularly important: a biological function (it contains many plant and animal species), and a nutrition function because it contains elements necessary for life such as mineral salts, air and water. Plants eat, drink and breathe what comes from the soil. Soil is a non-renewable natural resource, just like coal or oil. Nature needs from 3,000 to 12,000 years to form a soil layer equivalent to the length of this page. Humanity cannot wait so long. We need soil protection now. (Adapted from Save our soils!, by France Bequette, in the Unesco Courier, June 1997.) Fonte: Marques, A. Password: Special Edition. Editora tica, 1999. p. 8-13. 1. Em textos de carter cientfico como Save our soils! comum encontrarmos um grande nmero de palavras cognatas ou transparentes, cuja forma e sentido em ingls so muito parecidos com o portugus e facilitam a compreenso do texto. Em duplas ou trios, identifique pelo menos 20 palavras transparentes no texto (no considerar repeties). __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________

__________________________________________ __________________________________________ ___________________________________ 2. Encontram-se no texto algumas palavras estruturais (conjunes, preposies, etc.) chamadas marcadores do discurso (discourse markers), que ajudam a organizar as idias do texto e so palavraschave para a compreenso. Veja alguns exemplos: and = e adio, acrscimo or= ou alternativa but = mas oposio, contraste like = igual a comparao such as = tais como exemplificao because = porque causa Agora complete cada frase com a palavra adequada. * Soil conservation is important _____________ soil is essential for like. * Soil contains essential elements ___________ mineral salts, air and water. * Coal _________ oil are non-renewable resources. * Is it possible ________ impossible to renew soil? * Soil is a non-renewable natural resource, just _________ coal or oil. * Soil conservation is essential for like _________ it is a problem in many countries. 3. Procurando informaes especficas: identifique o pargrafo do texto no qual se encontra cada uma das seguintes informaes: * Duas das mais importantes funes do solo so a funo biolgica e a da nutrio. * O problema da conservao do solo atinge muitos pases do mundo. * O solo contm muitas espcies biolgicas. * Como o carvo e o petrleo, o solo um recurso natural no-renovvel. * O ar, a gua e os sais minerais so essenciais vida animal e vegetal. * O processo natural de formao do solo extremamente demorado.