Oil spill

ursulapg — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:48:40 +0000

A Big Oil Disaster ( from Times for Kids)
Crews in the Gulf of Mexico are racing to contain a growing oil spill. The slick is the result of an explosion that occurred on April 20 aboard an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. Huge amounts of oil continue to leak into the sea from a well 5,000 feet below the rig site.
An estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day are spewing out from the ocean floor. By April 26, the sticky spill had grown to more than 1,800 square miles. That’s larger than the state of Rhode Island.
The dark ooze is threatening hundreds of species of wildlife. The waters are home to dolphins, sea turtles and other marine animals. If the slick keeps growing, it could affect the coastlines of four states. “The problems are going to be the beaches,” says George Crozier, an oceanographer. “That’s where it will be really visible.”
On April 28, the Coast Guard tested a plan to burn off the oil slick. This will cause the oil to harden into balls of tar that can be removed from the water more easily. Officials do not expect the burn area to affect marine life. The cost of the cleanup could total $1 billion.
There were 126 workers on the rig at the time of the blast. Eleven of them are missing. The cause of the explosion is under investigation.

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
CHOOSE THE BEST ANSWER:
1. What does “slick” mean in the text? A) a type of tyre used in F1. B) a military helicopter. C) a film of oil floating on water.
2. What is an “oil rig”? A) a frying pan. B) a platform to extract oil. C) a diesel engine.
3. What does “to leak” mean? A) to go through an opening B) to pass the tongue over something. C) to jump.
4. To spew means…A) to see. B) to send out. C) to disappear.
5. “A sediment at bottoms of lakes, seas, etc” is … A) a turtle. B) a blast. C) an ooze.
6. Which of these uses of “tar” is wrong? A) as an anti-dandruff agent in shampoo. B) as a spice for food. C) as an agent in paint. D) as a component in cosmetics.
7. If you were in a “blast”, would you have a good time? A) Yes, if I were Superman. B) Yes, my family and I usually go to one every weekend. C) No, I hate eating so much.
KEY: 1.A, 2.B, 3.A, 4.B, 5.C, 6.C, 7.A.

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. What type of accident does the text refer to?
2. When and where did it happen?
3. Were there deaths?
4. What ecological consequences can it have?
5. Have they thought of any solution?
6. How much will they spend to solve the problem?

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Oil spill