Explore how Canada's wild landscapes are changing — and practise the present perfect to talk about actions connected to now, at B1/B2 level.
Read the text carefully, then answer the comprehension questions using the dropdown menus.
Canada is famous for its vast, wild landscapes: enormous forests, thousands of lakes, and the frozen Arctic in the far north. However, this beautiful environment has changed a great deal in recent decades, and not always for the better.
Climate change has hit the Canadian Arctic especially hard. Temperatures there have risen almost three times faster than the global average. As a result, the sea ice has become thinner, and many communities have had to change the way they live. Indigenous peoples, who have protected the land for thousands of years, have watched the ice they once relied on slowly disappear.
Canadians have not ignored these problems. In recent years, the government has created new national parks and has promised to cut greenhouse gases. Many young people have joined climate marches, and thousands of volunteers have planted trees and cleaned up rivers. Companies have started to use cleaner energy, such as wind and water power.
There is still a long way to go. Nevertheless, most Canadians agree that protecting their extraordinary natural environment is one of the most important challenges they have ever faced.
1 Canada is famous for its vast, wild .
2 The Canadian Arctic has warmed almost times faster than the global average.
3 As the climate warms, the sea ice has become .
4 peoples have protected the land for thousands of years.
5 The government has created new national .
6 Many young people have joined climate .
7 Companies have started to use cleaner , such as wind power.
8 Protecting the environment is one of Canada's biggest .
Use the present perfect for actions connected to now (with since, for, so far, recently) and the past simple for finished actions at a specific past time. The verb is in brackets.
1 Temperatures sharply in recent years. (rise)
2 In 2019, Canada a climate emergency. (declare)
3 Indigenous peoples the land for thousands of years. (protect)
4 The sea ice thinner since the 1980s. (become)
5 Last summer, wildfires huge areas of forest. (destroy)
6 Scientists the Arctic for many decades. (study)
7 So far, the government several new parks. (create)
8 Two years ago, she her first climate march. (join)
Choose the correct time word to complete each present perfect sentence.
1 The ice has started to melt earlier each year.
2 Have you visited a Canadian national park?
3 I have seen the northern lights.
4 Canada has protected these forests 1885.
5 Scientists have studied the ice over a century.
6 The government has not reached its climate goals .
7 We have finished planting the new trees.
8 This is the warmest winter they have recorded.
Write a text (100–130 words) about an environmental problem in your own country or region, and what people have done about it. Use the present perfect at least four times.
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