D GOAL 4 DISCUSS THE PROS AND CONS OF TOURISM
C. Match the columns to complete the reasons.
Khumbu, Nepal
Tourists
or Trees?
Reading
A. Discuss the questions with a partner.
1.Which places in your country get the
most tourists?
2. Do the tourists cause any problems?
B. Find the information in the text.
1.What did Khumbu look like 50 years
ago?
a. ___________________________
b. ___________________________
2.What does much of Khumbu look like
today? ________________________
3.What problems are caused by tourists
in Khumbu?
a. ___________________________
b. ___________________________
c. ___________________________
d. ___________________________
4.What actions are people taking in
Khumbu?
a. ___________________________
b. ___________________________
118 Travel
Around the bottom of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in
the world, is a beautiful region of Nepal called Khumbu. Fifty
years ago, it had thick forests, and the mountains were covered
with red and pink flowers. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing
Norgay started from Khumbu when they became the first
people to climb Everest in 1953.
Since then, thousands of visitors have come to Khumbu to
enjoy the spectacular mountain scenery and take an adventure
vacation. Many tourists go trekking or hiking between villages.
They sleep in very small family guesthouses.
Now everything has changed. Much of Khumbu has
become a desert, in part because more than 25,000 trekkers
pass through every year. Most sightseers arrive by small plane
from Kathmandu, the capital. The planes land at the airport in
Lukla. In the past, it was just a grassy field, but in 2000 a new
terminal was built to allow planes and helicopters to bring in
more visitors.
“We must reduce the number of tourists,” says one local
man. “They destroy the trails when they all walk in the same
place. The guesthouses are crowded. People drop their water
bottles and soda cans everywhere.”
But the biggest problem of tourism is deforestation.
Khumbu has lost most of its trees. They were cut down to
build more tea houses, and to use for firewood. You can only
see the big old trees in the wide floorboards in old houses.
“Tourists don’t think about the problems they cause,”
says a scientist. “Especially about the wood that is used to
cook their foreign food and heat water for their baths. One
trekker uses as much wood in a day as five local families.
They don’t have to use so much wood.” Now the forests have
disappeared, and local people have to walk many miles to
find firewood.
One possible solution is to cook and heat water with
kerosene. But it’s too expensive for many local people. “The
government has got to distribute kerosene to local people,”
says the scientist. “It’s the only way to save the forest.”
People in Nepal are taking action. One group has started
a program to sell cheap kerosene. The Himalayan Trust, an
organization started by Edmund Hillary, has planted more
than a million baby trees in Khumbu. This will save the
land, and produce
wood products that
people can sell. In
30 years, Khumbu
will have forests and
flowers again.
1.Tourists visit
Khumbu __
2.More tourists come
to Khumbu now__
3.The forests in
Khumbu are gone __
4.Tourists use a lot
of wood __
5.People don’t burn
kerosene __
6.Groups have planted
baby trees ___
a.because it’s too
expensive.
b.because they
want hot baths
and foreign food.
c.because they want
to start new forests.
d.because the wood
was used for tourists.
e.because the
mountains are
beautiful.
f.because it’s easy
to get there.
Communication
A. Talk to a partner. What can tourists do about
the problems in Khumbu? Use must, must
not, have to, and don’t have to.
They don’t have to take
a hot bath every day.
B. The Department of Tourism in your country
has asked your group to make a report for
foreign visitors in your country about how
they can be good tourists. List as many
ideas as you can.
C. Put all your ideas together. With the class,
choose the three most important things.
trekkers
Writing
firewood
How can tourists help the country they visit
and not hurt it? Write a paragraph about
your ideas.
Goal 4 Discuss the
pros and cons
of tourism
trail
kerosene
Take turns. Read your paragraphs to a
small group of students. Discuss each
other’s opinions.
Lesson D 119