Answer the questions about the text.

1. How can we overcome the serious environmental problems of our times?

2. What has given rise to a new milieu to which humanity itself has not adapted?

3. What does a major direction for bio-history concern?

4. What must we do in order to survive and to protect the environment?

5. How can environmental consciousness in the course of human history be distinguished?

These are answers to the questions about the text. Write the questions.

1. These changes have given rise to a new milieu to which humanity itself has not adapted.

2. The most viable species have survived through the powerful selec­tion of evolution.

3. By establishing close links between biologi­cal evolution and human history.

4. A major direction for bio-history concerns the in­teractions between the biosphere and humankind in different histor­ical eras.

5. Environmental consciousness in the course of human history.

Are the following sentences true or false? If they are false correct them.

1. Under the influence of our developing civilization the environment hasn’t been drastically changed.

2. In order to survive and to protect the environment, we mustn’t t find a way not only to adjust to the changes in the environment, but also to compensate for the deleterious effects of our activities.

3. Life has been tested in unlimited varieties for millions of years, and the most abortive species have survived through the powerful selec­tion of evolution.

4. A major direction for bio-history concerns the in­teractions between the biosphere and humankind in different histor­ical eras, the ways that the environment has influ­enced the evolution of human civilization and has shaped our societ­ies, present and past.

5. Environmental consciousness in the course of human history can be considered as the philosophical interpretation of the natu­ral world and an integrated conception of the environment.

Translate into Russian.

Text 2.

Read the text.

Ever since life appeared on Earth, living organisms have engaged themselves in a perpetual process of adaptation to their natural envi­ronment, as life comes from and depends on nature. Through this struggle, species have been developing and creating their identities. But the only species that developed extensively enough to become conscious of its bio-environment and provoke alterations through interventions is the human species.

All of human development during the last few thousand years could be interpreted as the result of the struggle for adaptation to the bio-environment. From the most basic needs of survival (water, food, shelter, energy) towards the absolute domination of nature, the hu­man being has been observing, deifying, thinking, understanding, controlling and dominating the world into which he was born. Out of this bilateral exchange, behavioral patterns, culture, experience, knowledge and science have resulted.

The consequences of this millennium-long development have had such a great and sometimes devastating impact on the environment that the conservation and protection of bios has grown into one of the most acute needs at the dawn of the third millennium.

We have to learn from the past, and have to realize that most of the fields of bio-environmental interaction between man and nature have already occupied the conscious thought or unconscious knowl­edge in previous times and other cultures.

Protection of nature, the urge to dominate it and to have the choice of decision upon natural phenomena, is to be observed in every human society or culture, independently from its geographical location or chronological appearance. These matters become of an important didactic interest in our times.

The understanding of changing environmental circumstances and of the fluidity of the concept of environmental protection requires the development of a critical appreciation of the numerous influences af­fecting the interactions between humanity and the environment. Bio-history can be seen as a new promising research direction, of interest both to the scientific community and to the general public. Its aim is to bring history and the sciences closer together, with the intention of constructing long and well-founded perspectives on environmental is­sues, past and present. As part of an integrated bio-centric education, the main ideas of bio-history need to be promoted worldwide.

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