Reading. Earth Hour A. Every year, in late March, people and institutions come together to switch off all non-essential lights for sixty minutes at 8.30 p.m. local time. They do this to show their support for the fight against the climate crisis and loss of biodiversity. Millions of people all around the world join in, as do governments, businesses and institutions. By switching off their lights and measuring the reduction in the amount of energy that is being used, people are showing that it is possible to make a difference. 1). It's part of a movement of people who are working together all year round to protect the environment. B. The World Wide Fund for Nature in Australia introduced the idea in 2007. They wanted to find a way to raise awareness about climate change. And they wanted to show that when millions of individuals work together, they can make a difference. The first Earth Hour was held on 31 March 2007 at 7.30 p.m. in Sydney. 2). The lights also went out on the famous Sydney Opera House. The people of the city of San Francisco were so inspired by the event in Sydney that they held their own 'Lights Out' event in October of the same year. This was the beginning of the Earth Hour movement. C. The event has grown over the years, with more and more people, businesses, organisations and governments taking part every year.In 2008, a year after the first Earth Hour event, 35 countries and more than 400 cities joined in. 3) . By 2012, 152 countries and more than 7,000 cities and towns were taking part. In recent years, the numbers have kept increasing, with more than 188 countries and territories worldwide taking part each year. In 2019, more than two billion photos were shared on social media platforms. D. The Earth Hour movement has achieved much more than getting people to turn off their lights. Since 2007, among other actions, they have planted trees in various countries around the world, including a 2,700 hectare forest in Uganda and 17 million trees in Kazakhstan. 4). And they have sponsored solar power projects in India and the Philippines. Task 1. Read the text carefully. Four sentences are missing in the text. Match the sentences 1-4 with the paragraphs A-D. 1. Websites also took part, turning their homepages black in support of the initiative. *

A

B

C

D

2. But Earth Hour is more than one hour without lights, once a year. *

A

B

C

D

3. More than two million residents and 2,000 businesses turned their lights out for one hour. *

A

B

C

D

4. They worked together to ban the use of plastics on the islands of the Galapagos, one of the most important nature reserves on the planet. *

A

B

C

D

Task 2. Read the text again and answer the questions. 1. Why do people and institutions switch off all non-essential lights for 1 hour every year? *

2. Where and when was the first Earth Hour was held? *

3. How many countries took part in the event in 2008? *

4. What organisation introduced the idea for Earth Hour? *

Task 3. Change Direct speech into Reported speech. 1. “I work hard every day,” Jillian said. *

2. “They are playing in the gym now,” Nick said. *

3. “I can't swim,” Anna said. *

Writing. You are asked to write a story with the title ‘My homeland’ for your school magazine. Write 3 paragraphs using the plan below: (Paragraph 1) - description of your homeland; (Paragraph 2) - events that happened with you in your homeland; (Paragraph 3) - your feelings about your homeland.