Practical english for the third-year

 
  
 Read the text below. Then do exercises on the text. 
Science in the News: The Dangers of Mercury 
                  
 
 
Does your family still have an old fashioned mercury thermometer? These days, most people 
use the new digital thermometers. They measure temperature faster, and they‘re a lot easier to read. 
 
How can you get rid of your old thermometer? You can‘t just dump it in the trash. That tiny 
drop of mercury inside can be very dangerous to human health. The half gram of mercury in one 
broken thermometer is enough to pollute 5 million gallons of water! That‘s why a mercury 
thermometer should never be incinerated or buried in landfill. Instead, old thermometers should be 
taken to the nearest household hazardous waste site. 
 
Mercury in the environment carries unique risks. It affects the brain, spinal cord, kidneys, and 
liver. In humans, elevated mercury levels can cause mental and physical retardation.  
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working to reduce human exposure to 
mercury. In 1998, the American Hospital Association signed an agreement with the EPA  to start 
eliminating mercury from hospitals and clinics. A number of states and cities have recently passed 
laws making the sale of mercury thermometers illegal.
 
 
WORD SEARCH 
What seven-letter adjective in the reading 
means ―displaying data numerically 
rather than physically‖?                                                      d _______________________ 
 
2. What 11-letter noun in the reading means 
―the conditions that surround a person, 
animal, or plant and affect its character 
and growth‖?                                                                    e _________________________ 
 
3. What four-letter noun in the reading 
means ―the basic unit of weight in the 
metric system: about 1/28 of an ounce‖?                         g _________________________ 
 
4. What eight-letter noun in the reading 
means ―a place where garbage or rubbish 
is disposed of by being buried under a 
shallow layer of earth‖?                                                   l_________________________