Dealing with awkward questions

/ haven't had time to look into that, sorry.

I really don't know/I'm not (quite) sure/I've really no idea.

I'd need to think about that.

I'm not absolutely sure, but I'd guess that...

I don't really have any experience of that, but X might like to comment?

I don't think there's enough evidence to say for sure.

I was just coming to that/I'll come back to that in a minute, if that's all

right. I just wanted to...

That's rather outside my field.

That isn't really my field, but perhaps X could say something about...?

That's an important question, but it's really too complex, to deal with

now.

That's really a whole different argument/discussion/topic.

There isn't really time to go into that now/here.

I think we're going off the point a little.

Well, I think you'd be wrong to assume that...

You seem to be assuming that...

Do I take it you don't think/believe/accept...?

ELSP TEXT BANK

Text 1. VEGETATION AND WILDLIFE

The humid and mild climate of Great Britain is good for plants and flowers. Some of them have become symbols in the UK. Probably you know that the poppy is the symbol of peace, the red rose is the national emblem of England, the thistle is the national emblem of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Festival. The daffodils and the leek are the emblems of Wales, the shamrock (a kind of clover) is the emblem of Ireland.

The UK was originally a land of vast forests, mainly oak and beech in the Lowlands and pine and birch in the Highlands, with great stretches of marshland and smaller areas of moors. In the course of time, much forest land was cleared and almost all the Lowlands outside the industrial areas were put under cultivation. Today only about 6 per cent of the total land area remains wooded.

Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in southeastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with their thin soil are largely moorland with heather and grasses. In the cultivated areas that make up most of Britain there are many wild flowers, flowering plants and grasses.

The fauna or animal life of the UK is much like that of northwestern Europe. Many larger mammals such as bear, wolf have been hunted to extinction, others are now protected by law. About 50 land mammals are still found in the UK. There are many foxes. Otters are common along rivers and streams, and seals live along much of the coast. Hedgehogs, hares, rabbits, rats and mice are numerous. Deer live in some of the forests in the Highlands of Scotland and England. There are several small lizards, two or three kinds of snakes and several kinds of frogs and toads.

Some 230 kinds of birds live in the UK, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrows and starlings. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of the UK. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years. Partridges, pheasants and other large and rare birds are protected by law. Gulls, geese and other sea birds nest near the coast.

There are many threats to wildlife and ecological balance around the coast. The biggest threat to the coastline is pollution. More than 3,500 million tons of industrial waste is pumped into the North Sea every year. "We cannot continue to use our seas as a dustbin and expect our coastline to survive", says Greenpeace. Many other ecological problems may be caused by privatization of the coast. The quality of rivers has also declined. Many of them are "biologically dead", i. e. unable to support fish and wildlife.

 

Text 2. SOIL

Soil plays a vital and important role in the life of the world and mankind. It is in fact a highly organized physical, chemical and biological complex all of us are dependent on. As the supporter of vegetable life, soil plays the most fundamental of roles in providing food for all animals and men.

Soils develop under the influences of climate, vegetation, slope and drainage, time, the nature of the parent material, and the culture. Climate influences plants, animals and soil directly. Plants influence the soil, the animals and the climate near the ground. Animals play a considerable role in soil development, the type of soil often influences the animals which are present in it, while the animals also influence the vegetation which is growing in the soil. Finally climate, through weathering, influences the rocks, which in time become part of the soil through the processes of soil formation.

All soils do not have the same utility, but man uses different soils in different ways. "Good" land for the production of food-stuffs must lie well and have good depth, for yields are dependent upon the ability of the soil to take up and use fertilizers and water. Man has done much to adapt crops to the soil and to provide various kinds of fertilizers for plant growth and development. Soils that are not good for the production of food-stuffs may be valuable in other ways. For example, podzols in high elevations are poor for crops but they comprise excellent forest soils.

Each soil series requires skilful handling if it is to produce to its maximum potential; but no two series make the same demands. From season to season conditions of temperature and moisture change, so the farmer must change the management to produce better drainage, improve tilth, prevent erosion, and test the soil to identify the proper kind and the correct proportion of fertilizer needed. Only by careful study of the soil, resulting in an understanding of the complexity of its nature and uses, will man be able to provide food for all the people who will inhabit the earth. The soil cannot reproduce itself. Therefore, man should improve it through good management and treatment so that future generations can farm more efficiently than their fathers and grandfathers have done. Man can improve the soil now in use and even dis­cover how more kinds of soils can be utilized more productively.

So, the results obtained in soil science can be applied to practical problems in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, engineering, and in planning the future use of land.

Text 3. FLORA

In the 1800s when the first Europeans arrived, about 70% of New Zealand was covered in native forest. Much of it was soon cleared for timber (as in the large kauri forests) or to make way for farming.

Despite there not being as much native forest around as there was before the arrival of Europeans, NZ still has some magnificent areas of native forest and bush. About 10% to 15% of the total land area of the country is native flora, much of it in protected parks and reserves.

The variety of vegetation types in NZ is enormous. Heading south from the giant kauri forests of Northland there are the luxuriant lowland kohekohe forests of the Bay of Plenty; the rainforests dominated by rimu, various beeches, tawa, matai and rata, and a great variety of tree ferns; the podocarp and hardwood forests of the lower parts of the North Island with its kahikatea, tawa, rimu, rata, and kohekohe; the summer-flowering alpine and subalpine herb fields; and the windswept scrub of the smaller islands.

In the South Island the vegetation changes dramatically as you climb into the mountains. The lowland supplejacks give way to rimu, miro, and then tree ferns at about 800 meters. Above 1000 metres the totara, wineberry, fuschias, rata and kaikomako are gradually left behind, to be replaced by subalpine scrub. At about 1200 meters the scrub gives way to the tussock grasses and alpine herb fields, and at the extreme heights only some hardy lichens hang on to the exposed rock.

Like the Australian species, most of the 72 NZ orchids are not large or brilliantly coloured; one exception is the beautiful Earina autumnalis, which has perfumed cream flowers.

Various introduced species have been planted in large tracts for the timber industry. The most obvious imports are the massive plantations of radiata or Monterey pine and Douglas fir (Oregon).

Tne Maori language has bestowed marvellous names on some of the native plants of NZ, names that are almost un­pronounceable to Europeans-tawhairauriki, kowhaingu-tukaka,to name a handful. Some of the English names are nearly as colourful, and it's interesting to speculate about their derivations – gum digger's soap, wild Irishman, seven-finger, bog pine, flower of Hades and Dieffenbach's Spaniard.