The document discusses the advantages and disadvantages of living in the countryside. It begins by describing how traditional views of nature do not include human presence or habitation. However, humans have historically constructed and altered the natural environment through activities like farming and building homes. Since the 1980s, suburban sprawl has been a major driver of landscape change in the US as housing developments and strip malls have spread out from cities. This has impacts on both local ecosystems and global issues like climate change by promoting car-dependency. The document argues for a view of nature that recognizes humans as integral parts of the environment and acknowledges how human activities shape natural selection over time.

2. Environmental sound

3.  Predictions: Advantages and disadvantages of living in the countriside.
Instructions: describe advantages and disaddvantages according to you
kwnoledge about the theme.
Living in the countryside
Advantages Disadvantages

4. According to the text, identify the statement if it is and advantage (A) or
disavtanges (D).
1. When I think of nature, I conjure up an image of a landscape
unadulterated by human presence.
2. The image doesn't include people in either their make-shift
encampment or permanent residence the same way we might picture a
bird in its nest.
3. We are currently facing enormous environmental problems.
4. Native Americans were forcefully removed from the landscape and put
onto reservations.
5. Since the 1980s, the primary cause of the changing landscape in the
United States has been suburban sprawl
6. Selection in this environment has been for increasing profits and
economic growth as opposed to a strict biological interpretation
of fitness.
7. Americans fled the cities for the suburbs.
8. Globally, sprawl has contributed to global warming due to increased
emissions from cars, which are the primary mode of transportation
outside of urban areas, and increases in energy consumption for the
heating and cooling of spacious suburban houses
9. A more contemporary version of nature makes humans an integral
part of it.

5. An Ecology of Houses
Guest blog post by Kevin Burke.
1 When I think of nature, I conjure up an image of a landscape unadulterated by human presence. In my mind, I am standing
in an open grassland with a pristine forest in the not-too-distant background and I hear birds chirping and mosquitoes
buzzing in my ear. Others may picture thick tropical foliage where bright flowers pop out against a background of varying
greens, set to a soundtrack of running water that snakes through seemingly uncharted territory. The exact image probably
varies from person to person, but I think it's a safe bet that humans are conspicuously absent from these landscapes, or, at
most, they are visualized as a few hunter-gathers roaming a forest in search of food. The image doesn't include people in either
their make-shift encampment or permanent residence the same way we might picture a bird in its nest. Nature, it is thought, is
not our houses, nor does it exist in our backyards or along the banks of a polluted or drying-up river.
2 Despite the fact that we are currently facing enormous environmental problems, we have inherited an image of nature
invented by 19th century American romantics, who were writing not long after Native Americans were forcefully removed from
the landscape and put onto reservations. This is one way in which nature has been constructed - in our imagination.
However, nature is (and always has been everywhere humans have ever lived) at least partially constructed by human activity
in a very real sense, and this process has (and has had) implications for human evolution by altering the process
ofnatural selection.
3 This process, which is called ecological niche construction, views an organism as embedded in an environment that the
organism itself is capable of altering. These modifications then change selection pressures on that organism, and they change
selection pressures on other evolving organisms too. Since the 1980s, the primary cause of the changing landscape in the
United States has been suburban sprawl - i.e. the construction of strip malls, roads, and, particularly housing along the
outskirts of cities in a seemingly haphazard and unplanned fashion]. Selection in this environment has been for increasing
profits and economic growth as opposed to a strict biological interpretation of fitness. In many ways, it is Darwinian, but is
itnatural (in terms of ‘Natural Selection')?
4 Whenever construction of this sort is mentioned, the word economics is usually mentioned in the same breath. This is
probably more so now than ever, especially with the recent downturn in the economy that resulted from the collapse of the
housing market, whose boom and subsequent bust was caused by speculative trading on Wall Street. Ecology usually isn't
mentioned in this regard, and I doubt the trading floors of Wall Street enter into the image of a fictitious nature for anyone.
However, it is interesting to note that the words economy and ecology share the same word part, eco-, which actually comes
from the ancient Greek word oikos, meaning house.

6. 5Starting in the 1950s, major US industrial cities saw a decrease in population size as middle class (primarily white)
Americans fled the cities for the suburbs. While some cities (such as New York) maintained their population as the US
economy shifted from industrial capitalism to finance capitalism, many cities continued to lose residents, who moved
into newly constructed houses outside of the city. Land that was previously used for farming or was covered with forest
has increasingly been converted to residential neighborhoods, which has a major impact on the local and global
environment.
6Globally, sprawl has contributed to global warming due to increased emissions from cars, which are the primary mode
of transportation outside of urban areas, and increases in energy consumption for the heating and cooling of spacious
suburban houses. This consumption is also a primary driver behind resource extraction including oil drilling, hydraulic
fracturing (a.k.a. ‘fracking') for natural gas, and coal mining - all of which have major implications for the local
environments from which they are taken.
Probably the most notable consequence of resource extraction for local environments is water contamination.
Unfortunately, the number of cases is steadily increasing, but one only needs to recall the BP Deepwater Horizon
disaster from 2010 to get a feel for the scale of environmental contamination we are talking about. Besides indirectly
causing contamination, sprawl is directly linked to water depletion. For example, water supply is not only becoming a
concern for cities in deserts such as Las Vegas, which saw major development throughout the 90s and early 2000s, but
also other metropolitan areas that are experiencing major population growth. As a case in point, the Raleigh-Durham-
Chapel Hill area in North Carolina experienced a drought in 2007-08 that was exacerbated by the increased pressure on
water supplies due to residential development.
7In light of the environmental problems we are facing, it is necessary that we rethink what natural selection is. Instead
of being analogous to Adam Smith's invisible hand, we must realize that there are very real hands at work
that construct the environment and alter the course of evolution for humans and non-humans alike. This construction,
however, should not only be for short-term economic growth. The romantic image of nature that we have inherited sees
nature as some entity detached from humans. This view is (and probably always has been) a bit anachronistic, only
really existing in the time before modern Homo sapiens evolved and dispersed around the globe. A more contemporary
version of nature makes humans an integral part of it. I don't mean to suggest that we should completely forget
romanticism and reduce nature's beauty to simple (and selfish) utilitarian calculations. I am, admittedly, a bit of a
romantic myself who loves a good ramble in the woods every now and again. It is simply a reminder that part of what is
so beautiful about a clean river and expansive forests is that we depend on them. We simultaneously construct and are
constructed by the environment; we envelop and are enveloped by it. If the environment we build for ourselves is only for
the short term, then that's how long it'll last.

7. Inferences.
 Working in pairs.
From the paragraph chosen, infer the main idea.
Paragraph 3:
This process, which is called ecological niche construction, views an
organism as embedded in an environment that the organism itself is capable
of altering. These modifications then change selection pressures on that
organism, and they change selection pressures on other evolving organisms
too. Since the 1980s, the primary cause of the changing landscape in the
United States has been suburban sprawl - i.e. the construction of strip
malls, roads, and, particularly housing along the outskirts of cities in a
seemingly haphazard and unplanned fashion]. Selection in this environment
has been for increasing profits and economic growth as opposed to a strict
biological interpretation of fitness. In many ways, it is Darwinian, but is it
natural (in terms of ‘Natural Selection')?

8. Create a situation.
Each group have to create an specific situation about the text. For
example:
“ Joshua and his family live in Santiago, and they are tired of the city
lifestyle. Fortunately, Joshua’s mom has the possibility to applied for a
job at Gaete’s Company, located 200 miles from their town, at the
countryside. Unfortunately, the distance is too long so the have to
move to there and buy a car to go to the place and they also should pay
for a moving truck. They’re going to make a couple of back and forth
trips…
After finished, each group should expose their history to the class.

9. Concept Map.
 Create a concept map refering to the causes and consequenses of Globally
Spraw.
Global
Spraw
Consequenses
Causes

10. Scrabble: is a word game in which two to four
players score points by forming words from
individual lettered tiles on a gameboard marked
with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across
and down in crossword fashion and must appear in
a standard dictionary.
Instructions:
-Team work.
-The class will be divided into 2 group, each group
will receive a printed gameboand with a vast
amount of letters. Each team will receive 10
concepts.
-after selected the synonyms, the teams have to
search them on the dictionary to make sure the
words chosen are correct.

11. 1. Grassland
2. Pristine
3. Background
4. Inherted
5. Ecological
6. Embedded
7. Organism
8. Suburban
9. Outskirts
10. Downturn
11. Fictitious
12. Residents
13. Sprawl
14. Cooling
15. Resource
16. Contamination
17. Depletion
18. Detached
19. anachronistic
20. Ramble

12.  Science Nation - Sandfish Lizard Slithers into
Science Spotlight
 Reading Comprehension questions

13. Information about the author
Alfred Tennyson is one of the most well-loved Victorian
poets. At the age of twelve he wrote a 6,000-line epic poem.
His father, the Reverend George Tennyson, tutored his sons in
classical and modern languages. He and his brother Charles
published Poems by Two Brothers. Although the poems in the
book were mostly juvenilia, they attracted the attention of the
"Apostles," an undergraduate literary club led by Arthur
Hallam.
Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical and in 1832 he
published a second volume entitled simply Poems. Some
reviewers condemned these books as "affected" and
"obscure." Tennyson's Poems in two volumes was a
tremendous critical and popular success. He became one of
Britain's most popular poets.
At the age of 41, Tennyson had established himself as the most
popular poet of the Victorian era.

14. Literary devices: also known as “figures of speech”
Simile Foreshadowing
Metaphor Free verse
Hyperbole Dialect
Personification Flashback
Alliteration Point of view
Allusion Irony
Imagery Humor
Onomatopoeia Satire
Characterization Suspense

16. To the Queen is a poem extracted from ‘Idylls of the King’ which retells the legend
of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him,
and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom. The whole work recounts Arthur's
attempt and failure to lift up mankind and create a perfect kingdom, from his
coming to power to his death at the hands of the traitor Modred.
Tennyson's descriptions of nature are derived from observations of his own
surroundings, collected over the course of many years. The dramatic narratives
are not an epic either in structure or tone, but derive elegiac sadness from
the idylls of Theocritus. Idylls of the King is often read as an allegory of the
societal conflicts in Britain during the mid-Victorian era.

17. 1 O loyal to the royal in thyself,
2 Is this the tone of empire? here the faith
That made us rulers? this, indeed, her voice
And loyal to thy land, as this to thee-- And meaning, whom the roar of Hougoumont
Bear witness, that rememberable day, Left mightiest of all peoples under heaven?
When, pale as yet, and fever-worn, the Prince What shock has fooled her since, that she
Who scarce had plucked his flickering life should speak
again So feebly? wealthier--wealthier--hour by hour!
From halfway down the shadow of the grave, The voice of Britain, or a sinking land,
Past with thee through thy people and their Some third-rate isle half-lost among her seas?
love, There rang her voice, when the full city pealed
And London rolled one tide of joy through all Thee and thy Prince! The loyal to their crown
Her trebled millions, and loud leagues of man Are loyal to their own far sons, who love
And welcome! witness, too, the silent cry, Our ocean-empire with her boundless homes
The prayer of many a race and creed, and For ever-broadening England, and her throne
clime-- In our vast Orient, and one isle, one isle,
Thunderless lightnings striking under sea That knows not her own greatness: if she
From sunset and sunrise of all thy realm, knows
And that true North, whereof we lately heard And dreads it we are fallen. --But thou, my
A strain to shame us 'keep you to yourselves; Queen,
So loyal is too costly! friends--your love
Is but a burthen: loose the bond, and go.‘

18. 3 Not for itself, but through thy living love 4 And fierce or careless looseners of the
For one to whom I made it o'er his grave faith,
Sacred, accept this old imperfect tale, And Softness breeding scorn of simple life,
New-old, and shadowing Sense at war with Soul, Or Cowardice, the child of lust for gold,
Ideal manhood closed in real man, Or Labour, with a groan and not a voice,
Rather than that gray king, whose name, a ghost, Or Art with poisonous honey stolen from
Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain France,
peak, And that which knows, but careful for itself,
And cleaves to cairn and cromlech still; or him And that which knows not, ruling that which
Of Geoffrey's book, or him of Malleor's, one knows
Touched by the adulterous finger of a time To its own harm: the goal of this great world
That hovered between war and wantonness, Lies beyond sight: yet--if our slowly-grown
And crownings and dethronements: take withal And crowned Republic's crowning common-
Thy poet's blessing, and his trust that Heaven sense,
Will blow the tempest in the distance back That saved her many times, not fail--their fears
From thine and ours: for some are scared, who Are morning shadows huger than the shapes
mark, That cast them, not those gloomier which
Or wisely or unwisely, signs of storm, forego
Waverings of every vane with every wind, The darkness of that battle in the West,
And wordy trucklings to the transient hour, Where all of high and holy dies away.