SOUTHERN SPAIN 'DUST BOWL' THREAT
By Kate Forbes
BBC, Marbella
1. Fill in the gaps with ONE suitable word:
........
Thud! The car pops out of one pothole, crashing down into the next. We skirt sheer drops on the road up to a farm in the Andalucian hills, hang on to our lunches and head towards the fields of aloe vera plants that welcome you to Roberto Viega´s farm.
We are ________ (1) southern Spain ________ (2) the trail of climate change - something climatologist Dr David Viner thinks ________ (3) cause resorts like Marbella, and the surrounding farmland, to turn to dust bowls. Mr Viega cuts open an aloe vera ________ (4) he is growing, the thick wet jelly inside a stark contrast to the dusty ground. Here we find the start of the trail - he is ________ (5) experiencing climate change, he says, throwing his arms wide to express alarm as he talks.
"I can say that the summers are definitely ________ (6) longer and dryer," he says, kicking ________ (7) the soil with his boot.
"The rains, when they come, they are heavier and shorter - it´s a disaster as erosion is very, very bad." Where´s the harm?
Dr Viner nods as Roberto explains. His predictions are based ________ (8) a model for the future climate of southern Europe prepared ________ (9) a Nato conference on climate change. It shows that ________ (10) 2020, temperatures could ________ (11) increased by 2.5C. And by 2050, the increase ________ (12) be nearly 5C, with a quarter of the already sparse rainfall they have now.
So sunny Spain ________ (13) get sunnier. Where is the harm in that? ________ (14) we heard, farmland will be affected. But many people sold their land long ________ (15) - it is now tourists that are farmed here. Real estate banners advertising "a place in the sun" line 60 km of motorway between Malaga airport and Marbella.
Dr Viner explained ________ (16) for some people investing ________ (17) southern Spain, their last mortgage payment may come at a time when they can no ________ (18) use their holiday homes in the hottest summer months.
"the close heat here, ________ (19) than what attracts tourists, may well become something that drives them ________ (20)."
"The 2.5C increase by 2020 may not sound much, but remember it was only a three degree increase last year in the ________ (21) wave that killed ________ (22) thousands of people ________ (23) Europe.
Acclimatise.
Although Dr Viner´s predictions are just that - predictions based ________ (24) a climatic model, it is ________ (25) alarming. But will it put people ________ (26)?
We spoke to interior designer Sharon Shonn, on holiday here hunting for a house ________ (27) the coast. She does not seem convinced.
"To be honest, I´m sceptical," she says.
"Spain is beautiful, and so popular - if the heat does increase, we´ll just get ________ (28) to it. I´m not worried, and ________ (29) warming is not something that will make me think twice ________ (30) changing my life. There is no summer in Britain - how noticeable is a couple of degrees going to be? Would you rather be in rainy Manchester or sunny Spain?"
So it is people ________ (31) Sharon that this kind of research needs to convince, before the British colony on the Costa starts taking any threat of climate change seriously.
1. Find a word or expression in the text for the following definitions:
Paragraph 1:
1. a dull, heavy sound: _________
2. go round or past the edge of: ________
3. hold tightly: ________
Paragraph 2:
4. after a track: ________
5. area of land where vegetation has been lost and soil reduced to dust and eroded, especially as a consequence of drought or unsuitable farming practice: ________
6. unpleasantly or sharply clear: ________
Paragraph 3:
7. lower and raise one´s head slightly and briefly, especially greeting assent, or understanding, or to give someone a signal: ________
8. thinly dispersed, little: ________
Paragraph 4 (onwards)
9. the charging of real (or personal) property by a debtor to a creditor as security for a debt (especially one incurred by the purchase of the property): ________
10. a prolonged period of abnormally hot weather: ________
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