Make notesofthe following passage, using deviceslike headings,sub-headings, numbering, shortened devices, whichever you think is appropriate.
They have changed life for most of us. In a span of less than fifty year’s time, they have influenced practically every field of activity. And they have done it neither with a bang nor with a whimper, but efficiently and silently. Not a shot has been fired, not a drop of blood has been shed, but a revolution has all the same been accomplished by the ubiquitous computer. The computer hasremoved the tediousness of many a job. Robots controlled by computers carry out routine jobs in industry. The economist is able to make graphs and tables at the press of a button.
In the medical field too, doctors use computers to help diagnose diseases. Artificial intelligence system enables computers programmed with vast amount of data to ‘think’ about numerous possibilities and make a diagnosis.
The personal computer-a desktop or handheld affair-has actually invaded the home now and taken over the tasks of writing and keeping household accounts. Networks can now be established enabling people to exchange news, financial and travel information and other data.
Computers have made their presence felt most in the field of communication. Today the entire world is interlinked through satellite. On a smaller scale, computer networks allow people to communicate by using electronic mailing in a matter of minutes over long distances.
The most complicated machines in history, computers are arguably the most useful as well. Even art has not escaped the computer’s attention. Who could have conceived of Jurassic Park if computers had not been there? Computers are increasingly indeed indispensable in the home,school and work place even in a developing country like India. And they make no noise about it.
Read the following passage and answer the following questions:
During the past few centuries, with the increase in human population, biodiversity has come under tremendous pressure. Biological extinction, which led to the disappearance of one species in several hundred years, has now been replaced by an accelerated rate of extinction-one species every year. This is the result of the extensive habitat changes brought by mankind. If the same pace continues, an estimated one-fourth to one-third ofspeciesislikely to become extinct within the next few decades. Over all, roughly 1000 birds and mammals are now thought to be in jeopardy. Although endangered animals, e.g. tigers in Asia, cheetahs in Africa, whales in the Antarctic, whooping cranesin NorthAmerica, etc., receive great public attention, plant extinctions are often more significant ecologically. According to Peter H. Raven, Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, a disappearing plant can take with it ten to thirty dependent species such as insects, higher animals, and even other plants. The International Union for Conversation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) finds about 10 per cent of the world’s flowering plants to be dangerously rare or under threat.
These estimates ofspecies at risk understate the true problem’, for they deal onlywith known and higher life forms. Itseems probable that many unnamed species are disappearing in scientifically uncharted tropical areas. In his book The Sinking Ark, Norman Myers surmises on the basis of exploitation that, right now, at least one species might be disappearing each day in tropical forests alone. Even outside the tropics, many small, obscure organisms such as worms, mites, beetles and herbs may be disappearing. without our knowledge. Besides, an examination of the survival prospects of all forms of plant and animal life- including obscure, fens, shrubs, insects, mollusks, elephants and wolves - indicates that huge number of them have little future. Loss of sucha multitude ofspecies would constitute an irreversible alternation in the nature ofthe biosphere even before we understand its workings- an evolutionaryRubicon whose crossing Homo sapiens would do well.
1) A) 1) Why has the natural environment suddenly come under great pressure? Give example from the passage to show the pressure.
2) If extinction continues at this place, what is the prediction for the present and the future?
3) Name the different life formsthat are affectedbyourindifference toour environment.
4) What are Norman Myers comments about the tropical forest in his book “The Sinking Ark”?
5) What will be the effect of the loss of various living things on earth, mean for mankind?
6) Give your opinion and solution as to what we can do to save our environment.