Ex. 2. Read the text. Choose the correct words in brackets. Translate the text.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND (THE/-) INUIT

The threat posed by climate change in (the/-) Arctic and the problems faced by (the/-) Canada’s Inuit people

Unusual incidents are being reported across (the/-) Arctic. (The/-) Inuit families going off on snowmobiles to prepare their summer hunting camps have found themselves (cut/cutting) off from home by a sea of mud, following early thaws. There are reports of (igloos/iglooes) losing their (insulated/insulating) properties as the snow drips and refreezes, of lakes draining into the sea as (the/-) permafrost melts, and sea ice breaking up earlier than (usual/usually), carrying seals beyond the reach of hunters. Climate change (may still be / may be still) a rather abstract idea to (the/-) most of us, but in (the /-) Arctic it is already having dramatic (affects/effects) – if summertime ice continues to shrink (at/with) its present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon become virtually ice-free in summer. The (knock-on/knock-out) (affects/effects) are likely to include more warming, cloudier skies, increased precipitation and higher sea levels. Scientists are increasingly keen (to find/finding) out what’s going on because they consider (the/-) Arctic the “canary in the mine” for global warming – a warning of what’s in (the/-) store for (the/-) rest of the world.

For (the/-) Inuit the problem is urgent. They live (in/on) precarious balance with one of the toughest environments on earth. Climate change, whatever its causes, is a direct threat (for/to) their way of life. Nobody knows (the/-) Arctic as well as the (local/locals), (what/which) is why they are not (contend/content) simply to stand back and let outside experts (to tell/tell) them what’s happening in Canada, where (the/-) Inuit people are jealously guarding their hard-won autonomy in the country’s newest territory, (the/-) Nunavut. They believe their best hope of survival in this changing environment (lays/lies) in combining their ancestral knowledge with the best of (the/-) modern science. This is (a/-) challenge in itself.

(The/-) Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless polar desert that’s covered with snow for (the/-) most of (the/-) year. Venture into this terrain and you get some idea of the hardships facing anyone who calls this home. Farming is out of (the/-) question and nature offers meager pickings. Humans first settled in (the/-) Arctic (a /-) mere 4,500 years ago, surviving by exploiting sea mammals and fish. The environment tested them (to/at) the limits: sometimes the colonists were successful, sometimes they failed and vanished. But around (- /a) thousand years ago, one group (emerged/immerged) that was uniquely well adapted to cope with the Arctic environment. These Thule people moved in from (the/-) Alaska, bringing kayaks, sleds, dogs, pottery and iron tools. They are the ancestors of (the/-) today’s Inuit people.

Life for the descendants of (the/-) Thule people is still harsh. (The/-) Nunavut is 1.9 million square kilometers of rock and ice, and a handful of islands around the (North/Northern) Pole. It’s currently home to 2,500 people, all but a handful of them indigenous Inuit. Over the past 40 years, most (abandoned/have abandoned) their nomadic ways and settled in the territory’s 28 isolated communities, but they still rely (on/to) (the/-) nature to provide food and clothing. Provisions available in local shops have to be flown into (the/-) Nunavut on one of the most costly air network in the world, or brought by supply ship during the few ice-free weeks of summer. It would cost (to/-) a family around £7,000 a year to replace meat they obtain themselves through hunting with imported meat. (Economic/economical) opportunities are scarce, and for many people state benefits are their only income.

While (the/-) Inuit may not actually starve if hunting and trapping are curtailed by climate change, there has certainly been an impact (on/to) people’s health. (The/-) obesity, heart disease and diabetes are beginning to appear in a people for whom these have never before been problems. There has been a (crises/crisis) of identity as the traditional skills of hunting, trapping and preparing skins have begun to disappear. In (the/-) Nunavut’s ‘igloo and email’ society, where adults who were born in igloos have children who (may have never been/may never have been) out on the land, there’s (a /-) high incidence of (the/-) depression.

With so much (at/on) (the/-) stake, (the/-) Inuit are determined (to play/playing) a key role in teasing out the mysteries of climate change in (the/-) Arctic. (Having survived/Having been surviving) there for centuries, they believe their wealth of traditional knowledge is vital to the task. And Western scientists are starting (to draw/drawing) on this wisdom, increasingly (referred/referring) to as ‘Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit’, or IQ. ‘In the early days scientists ignored us when they came up here to study anything. They just figured these people don’t know very much so we won’t ask them’ says John Amagoalik, an Inuit leader and politician. ‘But in recent years IQ (had/has had) much more credibility and weight.’ In fact it is now a requirement for anyone hoping to get (a /-) permission (to do/to make) research that they consult the communities, who are helping to set research agenda to reflect their most important concerns. They can turn (down/up) applications from scientists they believe will work against their interests, or research projects that will impinge too much (on/with) their daily lives and traditional activities.

Some scientists doubt the value of traditional knowledge because the occupation of (the/-) Arctic doesn’t go back far enough. Others, however, point out that the first weather stations in the far north date back just 50 years. There are still huge gaps in our environmental knowledge, and despite the scientific onslaught, many predictions are no more than best guesses. IQ could help to bridge the gap and resolve the tremendous uncertainty about how much of (that/what) we’re seeing is natural capriciousness and how much is the consequence of (the/-) human activity.