This addition to the new edition of the book should be of special help to users searching for British equivalents of particular American words and phrases. The American equivalents given in the main, A–Z section of the book are listed alpha- betically in the Index, together with the equivalent Briticisms, which the reader will find treated in full in the main section. | 1TUDIES ENVI ẠỊỊỊr FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY UNIT 1 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 1 UNIT 1 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY WARM-UP 1 What do you think the term environment refers to 2 What environmental issues are you concerned about 3 Have you ever heard of the word ecology READING The term environment broadly indicates the surroundings of an individual organism or a community of organisms ranging on up to the entire biosphere the zone of Earth that is able to sustain life. By surroundings is meant all the nonliving and living materials that play any role in an organism s existence from soil and air to what the organism feeds on and the organisms that may feed on it. Any other factors acting on the organism such as heat and light and gravitation make up its environment as well. In the case of human beings cultural factors may also be included in the term. Figure
