Human Being and Climate
Now read the text below and find answers to the above questions.
Human being can neither change the sun’s radiation nor the earth’s orbit around the sun. But they can control the increase in the amount of greenhouse gases and its effect on the atmosphere. Only during the last hundred years the carbon dioxide concentration has been raised alarmingly in the atmosphere and we humans can be held responsible for this.
The main cause of the increase in carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels. Since the end of the 19th century, industrial activities increased rapidly giving rise to many factories. These factories required energy, which was produced through the combustion of coal. Besides coal, other sources of energy such as mineral oil and natural gas were also burned to heat our houses, run cars and airplanes or to produce electricity. Nowadays, about 85 million barrels of crude oil are burned daily. Every time a fossil raw material is burned, it releases carbon dioxide into the air.
Therefore, it is clear that more and more greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are being generated worldwide by humans. Moreover, we are also strengthening the greenhouse effect by deforestation, which means cutting down trees. Every year enormous areas of forests are destroyed by people to obtain wood and to clear regions for mining and to create pasture. This loss of the forest causes dual problems. Trees that are burned up release large volumes of carbon dioxide gas into the air. On the other hand, as forests absorb a lot of carbon dioxide from the air and deliver oxygen instead, we also destroy an important storehouse of carbon dioxide when we clear forests.
Vocabulary List (English
1. Human – মানুষ
2. Radiation – বিকিরণ
3. Orbit – কক্ষপথ
4. Atmosphere – বায়ুমণ্ডল
5. Greenhouse gases – গ্রীনহাউস গ্যাস
6. Concentration – ঘনত্ব
7. Increased – বৃদ্ধি পেয়েছে
8. Responsible – দায়ী
9. Main cause – প্রধান কারণ
10. Emissions – নির্গমন / ছড়ানো
11. Fossil fuels – জীবাশ্ম জ্বালানি
12. Industrial activities – শিল্প কার্যক্রম
13. Combustion – দহন / পোড়ানো
14. Mineral oil – খনিজ তেল
15. Natural gas – প্রাকৃতিক গ্যাস
16. Electricity – বিদ্যুৎ
17. Crude oil – অপরিশোধিত তেল
18. Burned – পোড়ানো হয়
19. Generate – উৎপন্ন করা
20. Deforestation – বন উজাড়
21. Cutting down trees – গাছ কাটা
22. Obtain – সংগ্রহ করা / পেতে
23. Pasture – চারণভূমি
24. Enormous – বিপুল / প্রচুর
25. Release – নিঃসরণ করা / ছাড়ানো
26. Absorb – শোষণ করা
27. Storehouse – ভাণ্ডার
28. Loss – ক্ষতি
29. Effect – প্রভাব
30. Increase – বৃদ্ধি
বাংলা অনুবাদ
মানুষ সূর্যের বিকিরণ বা পৃথিবীর কক্ষপথ পরিবর্তন করতে পারে না। কিন্তু মানুষ বায়ুমণ্ডলে গ্রীনহাউস গ্যাসের পরিমাণ বৃদ্ধিকে নিয়ন্ত্রণ করতে পারে, আর এর প্রভাবও নিয়ন্ত্রণ করতে পারে। কেবলমাত্র গত একশ বছরের মধ্যেই বায়ুমণ্ডলে কার্বন ডাই–অক্সাইডের ঘনত্ব বাড়ছে এবং মানুষ তার জন্য দায়ী।
বায়ুমণ্ডলে কার্বন ডাই–অক্সাইড বৃদ্ধির প্রধান কারণ হলো জীবাশ্ম জ্বালানির দহন। উনবিংশ শতাব্দীর শেষ দিক থেকে শিল্পকারখানার সংখ্যা বৃদ্ধি পায়। এসব কারখানার জন্য প্রচুর জ্বালানি প্রয়োজন হতো, যা মূলত কয়লা পোড়ানো থেকে উৎপন্ন হতো। কয়লার পাশাপাশি খনিজ তেল এবং প্রাকৃতিক গ্যাসও ঘর গরম করতে, গাড়ি ও বিমান চালাতে বা বিদ্যুৎ উৎপাদনে ব্যবহৃত হতো। বর্তমানে প্রতিদিন প্রায় ৮৫ মিলিয়ন ব্যারেল অপরিশোধিত তেল পোড়ানো হয়। যখনই কোনো জীবাশ্ম জ্বালানি পোড়ানো হয়, তখনই তা বায়ুমণ্ডলে কার্বন ডাই–অক্সাইড ছাড়ে।
এখন স্পষ্ট যে মানুষ আরও বেশি পরিমাণে কার্বন ডাই–অক্সাইডসহ অন্যান্য গ্রীনহাউস গ্যাস উৎপন্ন করছে। আরও একটি উপায়ে আমরা গ্রীনহাউস প্রভাবকে বৃদ্ধি করছি—তা হলো বন উজাড় করা, অর্থাৎ গাছ কাটা। প্রতিবছর প্রচুর বনভূমি মানুষ কাঠ সংগ্রহ করতে এবং খনি বা চারণভূমি তৈরির জন্য পরিষ্কার করে ফেলে। বন হারানোর ফলে বিভিন্ন সমস্যা তৈরি হয়। গাছ পোড়ানোর সময় অনেক কার্বন ডাই–অক্সাইড বায়ুতে ছেড়ে দেয়। অন্যদিকে, গাছপালা বায়ু থেকে প্রচুর কার্বন ডাই–অক্সাইড শোষণ করে এবং অক্সিজেন সরবরাহ করে। তাই আমরা যখন বন পরিষ্কার করি, তখন আমরা একটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কার্বন ডাই–অক্সাইডের ভাণ্ডারও ধ্বংস করি।
Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs)
1. What can humans NOT change regarding the Earth?
A. Greenhouse gas levels
B. The sun’s radiation
C. Industrial production
D. Fossil fuel use
Answer: B
2. What can humans control, according to the passage?
A. The Earth’s rotation
B. The increase of greenhouse gases
C. The movement of continents
D. The strength of sunlight
Answer: B
3. When did carbon dioxide levels begin rising rapidly?
A. Middle Ages
B. Ancient times
C. Last hundred years
D. Last five years
Answer: C
4. What is the main cause of increased CO₂ in the atmosphere?
A. Ocean currents
B. Burning of fossil fuels
C. Volcanoes
D. Solar flares
Answer: B
5. When did industrial activities begin to rise significantly?
A. 12th century
B. End of the 19th century
C. 15th century
D. 21st century
Answer: B
6. What did factories mainly use to produce energy?
A. Wind turbines
B. Coal
C. Solar power
D. Hydropower
Answer: B
7. Which of the following is NOT a fossil fuel mentioned in the text?
A. Coal
B. Mineral oil
C. Natural gas
D. Hydrogen
Answer: D
8. Fossil fuels were used in the past to ______.
A. Grow crops
B. Heat houses and run vehicles
C. Build roads
D. Produce clothes
Answer: B
9. How many barrels of crude oil are burned daily today?
A. 5 million
B. 50 million
C. 85 million
D. 100 million
Answer: C
10. Burning fossil fuels releases ______.
A. Nitrogen
B. Carbon dioxide
C. Oxygen
D. Water vapor
Answer: B
11. What is increasing due to human activities?
A. Freshwater supply
B. CO₂ and greenhouse gases
C. Moonlight intensity
D. Earth’s orbit speed
Answer: B
12. What activity strengthens the greenhouse effect besides burning fuels?
A. Tree planting
B. Recycling
C. Deforestation
D. Cloud formation
Answer: C
13. Why do people cut down forests?
A. To build spaceships
B. To obtain wood and create pasture
C. To increase wildlife
D. To reduce CO₂
Answer: B
14. What problem arises from forest loss?
A. Less sunlight
B. Soil turning into gold
C. Greater greenhouse effect
D. More rainfall
Answer: C
15. What happens when trees are burned?
A. They trap CO₂
B. They release carbon dioxide
C. They produce minerals
D. They produce electricity
Answer: B
16. Forests naturally absorb ______.
A. Gold
B. Carbon dioxide
C. Methane
D. Ice crystals
Answer: B
17. Why is cutting forests harmful?
A. It reduces birth rates
B. It reduces CO₂ absorption
C. It increases soil fertility
D. It produces more animals
Answer: B
18. What are forests described as in the passage?
A. A source of energy
B. A storehouse of carbon dioxide
C. A source of minerals
D. A water reservoir
Answer: B
19. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. Agriculture
B. Human contribution to rising CO₂
C. Ocean currents
D. Volcano eruptions
Answer: B
20. What is the greenhouse effect?
A. The cooling of the Earth
B. Trapping of heat by greenhouse gases
C. The movement of glaciers
D. The solidification of air
Answer: B
21. What do industries need that causes CO₂ emissions?
A. Plastic
B. Energy from combustion
C. Air
D. Cotton
Answer: B
22. What is released when crude oil is burned?
A. Oxygen
B. CO₂
C. Helium
D. Nitrogen
Answer: B
23. Why are forests important for the atmosphere?
A. They create metal
B. They absorb CO₂
C. They increase storm activity
D. They produce fossil fuels
Answer: B
24. Clearing forests reduces ______.
A. Rainfall
B. CO₂ absorption
C. Car production
D. Solar radiation
Answer: B
25. How often does burning fossil raw materials release CO₂?
A. Only yearly
B. Only sometimes
C. Every time they are burned
D. Never
Answer: C
26. Why are more greenhouse gases generated now?
A. People sleep less
B. Increased human activities
C. The moon is closer
D. Birds migrate more
Answer: B
27. What does deforestation mean?
A. Planting trees
B. Cutting down trees
C. Painting trees
D. Selling wood
Answer: B
28. Why do factories need energy?
A. To cool oceans
B. To run their production processes
C. To fly airplanes
D. To reduce CO₂
Answer: B
29. What are the two main results of cutting forests?
A. More trees and less CO₂
B. Wood supply increases, CO₂ absorption decreases
C. Higher oxygen levels and more wildlife
D. Decreased industrial activities
Answer: B
30. What is the consequence of clearing forests?
A. Increased storage of CO₂
B. Loss of a major CO₂ absorber
C. More oxygen
D. Less fuel consumption
Answer: B
Questions and Answers Based on the Text
1. What natural factors influencing the Earth’s climate can humans not change?
Humans cannot change the sun’s radiation or the earth’s orbit around the sun.
2. What can humans control regarding the climate?
Humans can control the increase in greenhouse gases and their effect on the atmosphere.
3. When did the carbon dioxide concentration start increasing rapidly?
It started increasing rapidly during the last hundred years.
4. What human activity is identified as the main reason for the increase in carbon dioxide levels?
The burning of fossil fuels for energy.
5. When did industrial activities begin to rise significantly?
Since the end of the 19th century.
6. What produced the energy needed by factories?
Energy produced through the combustion of coal.
7. Besides coal, name two other fossil fuels mentioned in the text.
Mineral oil and natural gas.
8. For what purposes were fossil fuels used historically?
To heat houses, run cars and airplanes, and produce electricity.
9. How many barrels of crude oil are burned daily today, according to the text?
About 85 million barrels.
10. What gas is released every time fossil fuel is burned?
Carbon dioxide.
11. What does the text say humans are generating more of nowadays?
More and more greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.
12. What human activity strengthens the greenhouse effect besides burning fossil fuels?
Deforestation (cutting down trees).
13. Why do people cut down forests, according to the text?
To obtain wood and to clear land for mining and pasture.
14. What problem is caused by the loss of forests?
It worsens the greenhouse effect.
15. Why does burning trees worsen the greenhouse effect?
Because burning trees releases large volumes of carbon dioxide into the air.
16. What important environmental function do forests serve?
They absorb carbon dioxide and deliver oxygen instead.
17. What happens to the carbon dioxide absorption capability when forests are cleared?
It decreases significantly because there are fewer trees to absorb CO₂.
18. What is meant by the term “storehouse of carbon dioxide”?
Forests naturally store large amounts of carbon dioxide within their biomass.
19. Why is the clearing of forests described as “another important storehouse of carbon dioxide being destroyed”?
Because cutting trees removes one of the biggest natural absorbers of CO₂.
20. What is the main purpose of the text?
To explain human contributions to rising carbon dioxide levels and the greenhouse effect.
21. What is the greenhouse effect?
A process where greenhouse gases trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, warming the planet.
22. What do industrial activities require that contributes to CO₂ emissions?
Energy produced mainly through the combustion of fossil fuels.
23. What is released when crude oil is burned?
Carbon dioxide.
24. Why are trees important for balancing carbon dioxide levels?
They absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
25. How do humans increase greenhouse gases besides burning fossil fuels?
By cutting down forests.
26. What happens when trees are burned?
They release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
27. Why is deforestation described as a serious environmental issue?
Because it reduces the planet’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
28. What fuels were used in factories during industrial growth?
Coal, mineral oil, and natural gas.
29. What is one reason people clear forests mentioned in the text?
To create pasture for livestock.
30. What does the text imply about the future if humans continue current activities?
Greenhouse gases will continue to rise, worsening environmental problems.
