FROM THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE ON THE EARTH

1. The Earth is the only planet presently known to support life, and its natural features are the subject of many fields of scientific research. Earth is estimated to have formed 4.54 billion years ago from the solar nebula, along with the Sun and other planets. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water vapour, most or all of which came from ice delivered by comets, produced the oceans and other water sources. The highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago.

2. There is significant evidence, still being discussed among scientists, that a severe glacial action during the Neoproterozoic era covered much of the planet in a sheet of ice. This hypothesis has been termed the “Snowball Earth”, and it is of particular interest as it precedes the Cambrian explosion in which multicellular life forms began to proliferate about 530-540 million years ago. Since the Cambrian explosion there have been five distinctly identified mass extinctions. The last mass extinction occurred some 65 million years ago, when a meteoric collision probably triggered the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but spared small animals such as mammals, which then resembled shrews. Over the past 65 million years, mammalian life diversified.

3. Several million years ago, a species of small African ape gained the ability to stand upright. The subsequent advent of human life, and the development of agriculture and further civilization allowed humans to affect the Earth more rapidly than any previous life form, affecting both the nature and quantity of other organisms as well as global climate.

4. The present era is classified as part of a mass extinction event, the Holocene extinction event, the fastest ever to have occurred. Some scientists, such as E.O. Wilson of Harvard University, predict that the human destruction of the biosphere could cause the extinction of one-half of all species in the next 100 years. The extent of the current extinction event is still being researched, debated and calculated by biologists.

Определите, является ли утверждение:

Biologists can name at least 5 cases of mass extinction on the Earth.

1) в тексте нет информации

2) истинным

3) ложным

ЗАДАНИЕ 28 (выберите один вариант ответа)

Определите, является ли утверждение:

The Earth has evolved through geological and biological processes that have left traces of the original conditions.

1) истинным

2) в тексте нет информации

3) ложным

ЗАДАНИЕ 29 (выберите один вариант ответа)

Определите, является ли утверждение:

The first forms of life appeared on the Earth roughly 750 million years ago.

1) в тексте нет информации

2) ложным

3) истинным

ЗАДАНИЕ 30 (выберите один вариант ответа)

Определите, является ли утверждение:

Mammals began to diverse on the Earth owing to the Cambrian explosion.

1) в тексте нет информации

2) ложным

3) истинным

ЗАДАНИЕ 31 (выберите один вариант ответа)

Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) соответствует следующая информация:

More than 600 million years ago the Earth was covered with ice.

1) 4 2) 1

3) 2 4) 3

ЗАДАНИЕ 32 (выберите один вариант ответа)

Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) соответствует следующая информация:

Comets played an important role in the formation of oceans on the Earth.

1) 4 2) 3

3) 1 4) 2

ЗАДАНИЕ 33 (выберите один вариант ответа)

Ответьте на вопрос:

What are the results of human’s activities?

1) The advanced agriculture and developed industry allow humans to affect the Earth rapidly.

2) About one-half of all species are in danger because of man’s activity.

3) Humans are the only species which can affect the global warming.

4) Man can influence other organisms.

Task 34 (- выберите один вариант ответа)

Определите основную идею текста

1) The history of the Earth is very long.

2) The first self-replicating molecules were produced by the highly energetic chemistry.

3) The history of life on the Earth is the history of mass extinctions.

4) The Earth is a unique planet on which the presence of life forms creates an ecological balance.

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