ЕГЭ – диалог (интервью) 47 с вопросами и выбором ответов

1. What distinguishes people from dolphins and whales?
1) Our primary sense is vision.
2) We are warm-blooded.
3) We are very social.

2. What do people feel in the presence of those animals?
1) Curiosity.
2) Fear.
3) Excitement.

3. The largest creatures ever on the planet are
1) African elephants.
2) finbacks.
3) dinosaurs.

4. People affect marine life by
1) dumping waste in the ocean.
3) mismanaging mineral resources.
2) polluting the atmosphere.

5. Large ocean mammals will be able to survive in the changing environment because they
1) are able to adapt.
2) are eating fish.
3) can move very quickly.

6. In case of weather change, people will be at a disadvantage on land because
1) they are unable to relocate.
2) they have too little time for relocation.
3) they need special infrastructure for relocation.

7. In the future people should try
1) not to make mistakes.
3) to understand their mistakes.
2) not to repeat their mistakes.

1 – 1
2 – 3
3 – 2
4 – 1
5 – 1
6 – 3
7 – 2

Well, one of the most exciting aspects of our new film ‘Dolphins and Whales’ is that we are going to put a very large audience in the presence of creatures which represent, perhaps, the group of animals that are closest to the human species. We have a lot in common with them: we are warm-blooded just like they are, we give birth the same way and we are both very social. Sound is their primary sense whereas ours is vision so there is a little bit of difficulty in understanding each other. But their presence is something that is extremely exciting for the public because I don’t believe there has ever been any fear on the part of the public towards those animals. They are not aggressive at all. They are sometime even curious about our presence when we are underwater.

The entire show is underwater. The audience is going to be submerged in the presence of these creatures. And I think everybody will come out with a much better appreciation of their kindness and the importance of their role in the marine environment. The fact is that we are dealing with large creatures such as the finbacks, which are the biggest creatures ever on the planet. Finbacks can be 7 to 8 times heavier than the largest and heaviest land animal, the male African elephant. They are even bigger than any dinosaur, which we still admire today though none of them exist.

Part of our message is that we are affecting the quality of life of these animals by using the ocean as a garbage can, when in fact we have everything to benefit by not doing that anymore. It’s like polluting the air that we breathe. So hopefully, the public will come out of there having had a fabulous experience and a desire to protect these animals by stopping the mismanagement of marine resources, allowing our waste to end up in the ocean, which ultimately affects these extraordinary creatures.

We know that atmospheric temperatures go up as a result of climate change. So do the ocean surface temperatures, impacting the habitats of large ocean mammals like the ones we see in the film. However, there is one piece of good news: they can move, they can change, they can relocate. They can be eating fish and then they can start to eat other mammals like sea lions or harbor seals. Who knows, maybe one day some of them will even start to be vegetarians and eat plants just like we do.

So I think they have a chance to survive in that environment much more than many other species, whether they are crustaceans like crabs and lobsters and shrimp, or many different species of fish. We find a lot of resilience on their part. I am not sure polar bears will make it.

The effect that it has on the human species, on the other hand, is completely different. We may have hundreds of millions of people who are going to be displaced because of the weather change, because of the sea level rise, because of the increase of hurricanes and storms. Where are they going to go and what kind of infrastructure is going to be made available to those people in such a short period of time? So we are at a disadvantage on land. I think marine mammals will probably have a better chance than those of us who will have to relocate.

You know the ocean has been punished many times, which ultimately means that we’ve been punished many times. So we need to grow out of this. We will always make mistakes. Only people who do nothing don’t make mistakes. But in this particular case there are responsibilities, and there is a cost, and that cost should be paid. So let’s be serious, let’s take care of it, let’s clean up the mess and go on with life and then try to not have that happen again.