Compulsory English Grade 12 || Language Development || Unit 9, Ecology and Environment || Living in a Redwood Tree || NEB

 

Unit-9, Ecology and Environment

 

Living in a Redwood Tree (Luna)

-Grace Wyatt

 

Working with words

A. The words/phrases in the box are from the text. Check their meaning in a dictionary and use these words to complete the given sentences.

 

redwood, propane, occasional, wake-up call, logging, detrimental, stint, resolution, transformation, debris

 

a. Logging is one of the main reasons behind the rapid deforestation in the world.

b. That's one example of how the pandemic should be a wake-up call.

c. Propane is a gas used as a fuel for cooking and heating.

d. Emergency items are still clearing the debris from the plane crash.

e. What a great transformation! You look great.

f. My father made a New Year resolution to give up smoking.

g. He has worked in the Army for two years. He hates that two-year stint.

h. Emissions from the factory are widely suspected of having a detrimental effect on health.

i. My father is an occasional smoker. He doesn't some often.

j. Redwood is a very tall type of tree that grows especially in California and Oregon.

 

B. The words redwood, barefoot, single-burner, short-term, fast-paced, mudslide, windstorm and childhood from the above text are made of two words and they yield a new meaning. Compounds words can be written in three ways: open compounds (spelled as two words, e.g., ice cream), closed compounds (joined to form a single word, e.g., doorknob), or hyphenated compounds (two words joined by a hyphen, e.g., long-term). Choose one word from each box to make sensible compound words.

 

rattle, sun, touch, moon, day, fire, water, basket, pass, wash, weather, grand, cross

down, port, light, snake, cloth, mother, walk, flower, dream, man, ball, works, melon

 

open compounds	closed compounds	hyphenated compounds
touch light, water ball, pass ball, cross down	rattlesnake, sunflower, moonlight, daydream, fireman, fireball, fireworks, fireball, firelight, watermelon, basketball, passport, grandmother	N/A

 

C. Match the following words/phrases related to the ecology with their meanings.

Words/phrase	Meanings
a. sustainability	ii. to keep in existence; maintain. To supply with necessities or nourishment
b. tree line	i. the height on a mountain above which the climate is too cold for tree to grow
c. precipitation	iv. water that returns to the earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow
d. tropical zone	x. the region between latitudes 23.5 degrees S and 23.5 degrees N
e. Kyoto Protocol	iii. an agreement between countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It was established in Japan in 1997 but didn’t become international law until 2004
f. pollutants	vii. substances that destroy the purity of air, water, or land
g. geo-sphere	Vi. The soils, sediments, and rocks layers of the Earth’s crust, both continental and beneath the ocean layers
h. deciduous	ix. a plant that sheds all or nearly all its leaves each year
i. ephemeral	viii. an organism that has a short life cycle
j. trash	v. items that are discarded

 

 

 

D. Pronounce the following pairs of words and notice the differences.

Men: main         gem: game        sell: sale              dell: dale

Pen: pain           bell: bell             well: wale           knell: nail

Met: mate                   hell: hail             shed: shade      fell: fail

Fed: fade            bed: bade          bet: bait             pet: pate

Set: sate             get: gate            let: late               cell: sail

 

Comprehension

A. Choose the best answer.

a. The author of the text above has the opinion that Julia Hill did a wonderful job.

i. did a wonderful job

ii. made her pastime in a tree for two years more

iii. chose redwood forest to learn environmental skills

 

b. The sentence “Julia had occasional visitors” indicates she had a few visitors now and then.

i. a host of visitors around the tree

ii. a few visitors now and then

iii. no visitors at all

 

c. The logging company managed 24-hour security service around the tree to discourage her from her campaign.

i. protect Hill form the wild animals

ii. discourage her from her campaign

iii. provide her with supplies

 

d. Ms. Hill began to respond the loggers with songs and conventional conversations because she had unconditional love for all nature’s creations.

i. was sorry for them

ii. had unconditional love for all nature’s creations

iii. wanted to influence them

 

e. Julia Hill climbed down the tree after 478 days when her demands were fulfilled.

i. fulfilled

ii. partially fulfilled

iii. about the be fulfilled

 

B. Answer the following questions.

a. Who was Julia Butterfly Hill? How did Hill’s campaign gain popularity?

Ans: - Julia Butterfly Hill was an American environmental activist and tax redirection advocate. Her campaign gained popularity because she lived in a 200 ft. tall, 1000-year-old redwood tree (Luna) for more than two years (738 days) to draw attention to the continued clear cutting of California’s remaining redwood forest.

 

b. What made Hill start her mega campaign to save redwood trees?

Ans: - The merciless cutting of the majestic trees called redwood in California and her soul’s appeal to save them made her start her mega campaign to save them.

 

c. What kinds of amenities were there to support Hill’s life in the tree?

Ans: - Hill had a sleeping bag, a solar-powered cell phone, and single-burner propane stove to support her life in the tree.

 

d. Did Hill’s value of life change after her car accident? How?

Ans: - Yes, after the car accident her value of life was changed. It was like a wake-up call and she turned to be spiritual one. She understood the purpose of her life, and dedicated her life to draw attention to the plight of the redwood forest.

 

e. Deforestation causes natural calamities. What evidence do you have in the text to prove this?

Ans: - The main reason of natural calamities such as land slide and flooding is deforestation. Even in the text, evidence of a huge 20-ft-high mudslide in Stafford, California due to cutting down of trees is mentioned. 

 

f. How did the logging company try to discourage Hill in the early days of her sit-in?

Ans: - The logging company hired 24-hours security guards to harass her and to ensure her support team stop delivering her supplies, she was menaced with a helicopter at a dangerously close range, a neighboring tree was felled causing Hill to fall and was verbally abused, threatened with violence, rape and death, and disturbed with various noises in the early days of her sit-in.

 

g. How were the vagaries of nature unwelcoming to Hill?

Ans:- A 16-hour, 70-mph windstorm shredded the tarps surrounded her, sleet and hail sliced through her roof and walls made of tattered pieces, the gust of wind flipped the platform up into the air. She was suffered with frostbite, lightening too. 

 

h. What is the purpose of the author to write a review on Hill’s book? Do you think that author stand for ecological sustainability? Give reasons.

Ans: - The purpose of the author to write a review on Hill's book is to draw attention of concerned authority and people on the adverse effect of deforestation. I think that the author stands for ecological sustainability because to support his idea he has selected the sacrifice of Julia Butterfly Hill to preserve redwood forest in California. She is one of the most admired women in America and she inspired many people to protect and preserve forest in the world. She sacrificed her comfort and safety in order to bring the attention to the last stands of California's majestic redwood forests leaving an important legacy.   

 

Critical Thinking

Suppose you are Julia Butterfly Hill. After staying one year in the tree, the government offered you five million dollars and requested you to drop the strike. Write in about 100 words responding them that the money is a mean thing for you in comparison with the wood.

 

Ans:- I am Julia Butterfly Hill born in America on 18 February 1974. In 1996 I had a severe car accident losing my short-term memory and motor skills. I recovered after one year of that accident. That accident changed my life. I understood the purpose of my life. I visited redwood forests in California in my spiritual pursuit. The redwood forests were being cleared by logging company. One of the redwood trees, which I named Luna, was marked to be cut. A group of environmental activists were fighting for it but because of the winter, they were planning to end their protest. I continued the tree-sitting to prevent Luna's fall down. I climbed on the tree on 10 December 1997 to continue my campaign. The logging company, in support of the Department of Forestry of California wanted to fall down Luna. I stayed in the tree for not allowing them to cut down. They tried several tricks to drive me away from the tree for one year and being unable to success, the government proposed to offer five million dollars if I gave up my strike. I didn't accept their offer and continued my protest until they were agreeing not to fall down Luna. For me the redwood forest was everything and I had incomparable love to Luna. Nothing could buy me for allowing the tree to be cut down. Money is a mean thing for me and it can't compensate any loss caused by the deforestation. Only on 18 December 1999, I came down the tree and once walked on the earth, when the logging company made an agreement with me for not cutting Luna.