Reading for Success 1

UNIT 5
FOOD SHORTAGE

Facts about "Food Shortage":

- Demand for food, as the world population grows, is expected to

double by 2030.

- Already 1 billion people in the world go to bed hungry every

single night.

- A third of all children in the world under the age of five suffer
from serious malnutrition.

Pre-reading Questions:

1. What does the picture say?

2. What are the causes of food shortage?
3. Is there any relation between food shortage and bad diet habits?
If yes, how? If no, why?

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 Unit 5: Food Shortage

In Search of Food

Food prices are increasing worldwide. The world’s poorest countries

which have the highest population are most at risk. Worldwide grain
supplies are decreasing. Exporting nations are now themselves running
out of grain. As a result, hunger is spreading worldwide. Already, several
African nations have had citizens killed in food riots1. Food-related
tensions and unrest are spreading in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and
South America. Estimates are that 33 nations are at risk of conflict and
social unrest because of food shortage.

While you often do not hear about it on the news, and while we can all
walk into supermarkets and buy as much food as we want right now, the
truth is that a global food shortage is coming. Already somewhere in the
world, someone starves2 to death every 3.6 seconds and 3/4 of them are
children under the age of 5. And the bad news is that the world simply
does not have enough water to grow much more food. Not only that, but
because of pollution, we are rapidly losing farm land.

Today almost 25% of the world’s farm land is affected by serious

environmental degradation3. That is up from 15% two decades ago. For
example, it is estimated that 75% of India's surface water is polluted by
human and agricultural waste.

Not only that, but the world cannot get much more food out of the
oceans either. 29% of world fisheries4 are in danger and in the years
ahead the world fishing industry may actually produce less food rather
than more food.

The really sad thing is that people waste so much food right now. In
developed countries they throw away from one-third to one-half of all
food produced. The truth is that now is the time to start preparing. Now
is the time to make the people aware of this fact that the food shortage,
which is on the way, can be a horrible danger.

1
a violent protest by a crowd of people
2
become very weak or die because there is not enough food to eat
3
destroying or spoiling something
4
an area of water where fish are caught so they can be sold

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Reading for Success 1

Reading Comprehension

A. Choose the correct answer for each question:

1. Hunger is the result of reducing………
a. grain supplies
b. food prices
c. population

2. What does the underlined "it" in paragraph 2 refer to?

a. food shopping
b. supermarkets
c. global food shortage

3. The main causes of food shortage are……….

a. population and food prices
b. water and farm land
c. population and agricultural waste

4. In …… countries, people waste so much food.

a. developed
b. developing
c. poor

B. Read the sentences; put T for TRUE or F for FALSE. If a sentence is false,
change it and make it true:
1. The higher population, the less in danger of food shortage.
2. Some reasons of losing farmland can be social unrest and water shortage.
3. It is not felt that the world food shortage is coming.
4. We are facing less production of food on land and more of it in the
oceans.

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 Unit 5: Food Shortage

C. Read the passages and find the following information

Paragraph Answer
number
1. The amount of food which is wasted
2. The number of countries that are in danger of
fighting and social unrest for food shortage
3. The problem ahead in world fishing industry
4. Most of the victims of hunger

D. Match two halves of each sentence:

1. Food shortage is not heard
about on the news,
2. While in rich countries people
throw away even half of all
their food,
3. Although food shortage is an
important problem,
4. India not only experiences
water shortage,
a. many people are not aware of this
problem.
b. but its water supply is being polluted
by agricultural waste.
c. but it is a fact that is on the way.
d. people in poor countries are starving
to death.

E. In each sentence, circle the best answer. The words in italics are from the
passage:

1. Because of food shortage, African countries are not at risk of conflict.

They are in …………. of social unrest.
a. direction b. danger c. thought

2. If world fisheries are in danger, they cannot ………enough food.

a. grow b. provide c. spread

3. Exporting nations are now running out of grain. They ……..enough food.
a. lack b. have c. produce

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Reading for Success 1

Vocabulary Comprehension

F. Match the words with their definitions:

( ) tensions a. a troubled state
( ) unrest b. happening in all parts of the world
( ) grain c. disagreement or fighting
( ) conflict d. a feeling of nervousness
( ) worldwide e. very unpleasant or bad
( ) horrible f. seed from a plant

G. Odd Word Out: for each group, circle the word that does not belong. The
words in italics are vocabulary items from the passage:
1. a. peace b. tension c. conflict d. unrest
2. a. citizen b. society c. country d. nation
3. a. shortage b. scarcity c. lack d. waste

Vocabulary Skill
The prefix un-
The prefix "un-" means "not". "un-" can come before an adjective
(for example, "un" + "usual" = not usual, not common).
Before a verb, "un-" means the opposite (for example, he locked
the door. Please unlock it).

H. Look at the words below. Add the prefix "un -" to each one to make it
negative.
- important ……………..
- able ……………..
- employment ……………..
- fortunately ……………..
- rest ……………..

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 Unit 5: Food Shortage

I. Complete the following sentences with the above words:

1. The capital city is facing a growing political ………… .
2. Enough food is available, but …………. It is very expensive.
3. Famine in Somalia was seen as an ……………event.
4. The society suffers from poverty and …………….
5. The neighbor countries are either unwilling or …………..to provide food.

Language Focus
Adverb (2)

Adverbs of time tell when something happens and adverbs of frequency tell
how often something happens. Below are some common adverbs of time and
frequency which you should learn:
Time: now / then / today / soon / at present/ still / since
Frequency: always /sometimes / usually /never/ often / daily / rarely
- Frequency adverbs can be placed at various points in the sentence, but are
most commonly used before the main verbs and after be verbs.
- Nations are usually at risk of conflict and social unrest.

J. Read the following sentences, then circle the adverbs of time and frequency:
1. The children drinking soda at a high rate often suffer from obesity.
2. Today, the fishing industry produces less food.
3. People in developed countries usually throw away a lot of food.
4. People waste so much food right now.
5. Poor countries are rarely able to grow enough food for all people.

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Reading for Success 1

K. Now read the passage, then find all of the adverbs of manner, time and
frequency:
- Manner: ………………………………………….
- Time: ………………………………………….
- Frequency: ………………………………………….

Cloze

L. Complete the passage by filling in the blanks with the words in the box:
toll - poorer - mostly - causes - nourish - able - unfortunately

About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related ……….,

according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half
seconds. The death………. is worst in Africa. ………., it is children who die
most often. Yet there is plenty of food in the world, the problem is that
hungry people ………. living in poor countries lack the money to buy enough
food to ………. themselves. Being constantly malnourished, they become
weaker and often sick. This makes them increasingly less………. to work,
which then makes them even ………. and hungrier.

Pair Work

M. According to the above passage, answer the following questions in pairs:

1. Which continent has the worst situation? Why?

2. What is the relationship between malnourishment and poverty?

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 Unit 5: Food Shortage

N. Now look at the words used in the cloze. Are they nouns, verbs, adjectives or
adverb?
- Nouns: ……………………………

- Verbs: ……………………………

- Adjectives: ………………………….

- Adverbs: ………………………….

Discussion

O. Discuss the following question with your classmates:

- How can we manage food shortage in the future?

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