W riting 6 Coniuga al Simple Present, al Present Continuous o Imperative, i verbi tra parentesi. Nature under threat! When you look out of your window, you (1) (can) see trees, grass, flowers and maybe a bird. Now (2) (imagine) life without the variety of plants and animals, without fresh air and clean water: this scenario (3) (be) closer than you think! The loss of biodiversity is one of the main problems that we (4) (face) at the moment. Humans are responsible for accelerating the loss of species: as the population (5) (grow), so does our toll on the environment. Through our intensive agriculture, constructions, pollution, felling of trees and exploitation of the seas and oceans, we (6) (damage) ecosystems. A simple example is bees. Their population (7) (drop) dramatically at present: intensive farming and the destruction of meadows (8) (make) these insects vulnerable to disease. Because many of the fruits and vegetables that we (9) (eat) must be pollinated by bees, their disappearance could affect the entire food chain, not only honey lovers. Climate change (10) (be) another problem: the destruction of forests and the emission of carbon dioxide in the air (11) (lead) to global warming in this century with serious consequences. More frequent droughts, heat waves, flooding and fires can endanger animals, plants and ... people! We (12) (must) remember, in fact, that we are part of this biodiversity, that we need nature: it (13) (provide) us with clean air, fresh water and food; it recycles waste and regulates the climate. And all this (14) (be) free. So it is up to us to make sure natural ecosystems are maintained and flourish. USEFUL WORDS bee = ape; carbon dioxide = anidride carbonica; disease = malattia; drought = siccità; to drop = scendere, calare; to endanger = mettere in pericolo; exploitation = sfruttamento; to face = affrontare; farming = coltivazione; felling = taglio; flooding = inondazione; food chain = catena alimentare; grass = erba; to grow = crescere; heat wave = ondata di calore; to lead = condurre; loss = perdita; meadow = prato; to provide = fornire; to pollinate = impollinare; toll = tributo; warming = riscaldamento. 29