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Focus on Bats
Bats are furry, intelligent, social, flying mammals spending hours grooming daily. Their wings are skin supported by arms and elongated fingers. They do not breed until their second to fourth year and produce a single baby, but not necessarily every year. Mating occurs in autumn or winter but with delayed fertilization the young are not 5 born until June or July. The baby is raised with great care by its mother and is suckled frequently both by day and by night. At 3 weeks the young bat can fly and after 5 weeks is weaned. Bats can live for up to 30 years. Unlike many other mammals, bats do not have a steady body temperature. In flight their body temperature of 42°C and pulse rate of 1,000 per minute are much higher than man's 37°C and 75 per minute. After landing, their temperature rapidly falls 10 degrees for digestion and later falls to the surrounding temperature. British bats feed upon insects caught in flight or picked off water, ground or foliage. During summer they consume vast numbers, many of whom are crop pests. One pipistrelle may eat over 3,500 insects each night. Because few insects are available in winter, bats put on about one-third extra weight during autumn and then hibernate from October to April with their body temperature down to zero centigrade. In Britain, bats may occasionally be seen flying in winter, often in daylight, but when they do this they may lose more weight than they can replace by feeding. When disturbed in hibernation, bats use up vital energy reserves and may die. Bats can be found in almost any well-protected situation, but there are three major types of roost. Buildings - houses, farms, ancient monuments, churches and industrial buildings-are the most important in summer. Cave-like places - natural caves, mines, cellars, tunnels of all kinds (railway, canal and service tunnels) - are used mostly for hibernation. Hollow trees - in hedges and woodlands - are used throughout the year. Each bat species - and there are 15 resident in Britain - has its own preferred types of roost. Some are confined almost exclusively to hollow trees, while others have become adapted to using various parts of buildings such as hollow walls and roof spaces. Whatever the situation there is always at least one exit hole which may be many metres from where the bats actually roost during the day. Individual roosts are not usually occupied throughout the year, since bat colonies frequently move, but the same site tends to be occupied by the same colony at the same season each year. Distances between roosts may be only a few metres or many kilometres. The largest colonies (which rarely exceed 500 bats) are found during June to August when pregnant females all congregate in one favoured nursery roost to have their young. The bats often gather from several hundred square kilometres and therefore these roosts are vital. When weaning is complete, the adult females leave, followed later by the young. Adults begin leaving the nursery in early August and in almost every case they have gone by the end of that month. Nursery roosts are mostly on the south side of buildings. Bats prefer clean and fairly draught-free buildings, not liking dust or cobwebs. As a result 47 per cent of colonies are found in houses less than 25 years old. For these reasons bats tend not to like old barns, although some barns do house large colonies. Roosts are selected very critically, depending on season, temperature and body conditions.
1. Skimming Read through the passage quickly, and try to get a general idea of what it is about. Choose from the list given below the sentence which, in your opinion, covers the main topic of the passage.
(a) Bats are dangerous to man. (b) Old buildings are frequently damaged by bats. (c) The text describes the life of the bat. (d) Bats are in danger of extinction. (e) Crop pests like bats must be killed. (f) Animals like bats need protection.
2. Understanding the text: True or False? According to what is contained in the text, decide which of these statements are true, and which are false. (a) A young bat feeds on its mother's milk for only three weeks. (b) A bat's body temperature is never lower than a man's. (c) British bats eat nothing but insects. (d) Bats put on extra weight in the winter. (e) In Britain you might see a bat flying in winter. (f) Disturbing a hibernating bat might kill it. (g) All bats like the same kind of place to sleep in. (h) Colonies of bats often change from one home to another. 3. Find in the text the following words and expressions and translate them into Russian
delayed fertilization to use up vital energy reserves with great care a roost a steady body temperature draught-free buildings one’s pulse rate the nursery to feed upon depending on season to be available throughout the year to hibernate the same site 4. Scanning Answer these questions either "Yes" or "No". Base your answers on information contained in the text.
(a) Do bats digest their food while they are flying? (b) Can bats be helpful to farmers? (c) Can bats ever find anything to eat in the winter? (d) Are underground roosts preferred for winter sleep? (e) Do colonies of bats usually stay in the same place for a year? (f) Do young bats leave the roost before their parents? (g) Do bats ever live in farm buildings? (h) Do bats mate in the spring? 5. Grammar Reference
In the article you can see the underlined word expressions. Can you translate them into Russian?
The rule: You form the Present Simple Passive with am\ is\ are + Past Participle Shops are filled with different goods A new building is built in our street We use the Passive when we are more interested in the object of the sentence or we don/t know who or what does smth. If we want to know who or what does smth., we use by
Look at these pairs of active and passive sentences. In each pair, which do you think is the better sentences? 1. They make Fiat cars in Italy. Fiat cars are made in Italy. 2. They sell Macdonalds hamburgers in many countries. Macdonalds hamburgers are sold all over the world. 3. My mother does a lot of cooking. A lot of cooking is done by my mother. 4. My brother writes poetry. Poetry is written by my brother. 5. Coffee is drunk in most countries. They drink coffee in most countries.
Rewrite these sentences in the Passive 1. People smoke a lot of cigarettes a day. 2. Many children play the piano. 3. You change money in a bank. 4. They often buy the bread in markets. 5. They arrange the gifts around a wooden frame. 6. Making a summary Pick out five key sentences and use them to make a summary of the whole passage 7. Retelling The author of the text describes British bats. List the words and phrases used to describe the body temperature, body weight and food consumption of bats, then retell the text using these words, the words and expressions from exercise 3 and the phrases given below Дата добавления: 2015-12-15 | Просмотры: 568 | Нарушение авторских прав |