To talk about sharks (those large, voracious fish with several rows of teeth) is for many a
synonym of TV scenes of killer animals attacking innocent people; after all, who does not
remember a movie called Jaws made by Steven Spielberg 20 years ago? Hollywood's industry
has thus contributed to the creation of a black legend about these animals. However, now is the
time to change this point of view because it is them who are in danger.

According to the latest statistics, the shark is one of the animals which humans fear the
most. Such fears have no base at all because only 35 or 40 of the 250 known shark species are
actually dangerous. «People have invented many unfair legends about sharks», says John
Beam, coordinator of the Marine Program in WWF/Adena. He remarks how necessary sharks
are as an essential link in the marine cycle, precisely because of their role as superpredators.
Unfortunately, Mr. Beam warns, sharks are in danger of becoming extinct.

Although little is truly known about how sharks live, we know that they are being deeply affected by several factors. First, the fishing industry captures them by mistake when fishing for other big fish such as the tuna fish or the swordfish. Secondly, their biological characteristics make them extremely vulnerable: they grow up slowly, their reproductive cycles are very long –between nine months and two years– and they have very few children. Thirdly, according to FAO, in 1994 almost 800,000 tones of shark were captured, mainly in Asia where their meat is highly appreciated. However, Mr. Beam points out that the main reason why sharks may become extinct is because they possess a cartilage which is currently being used in the computer industry to produce microchips.

It is a contradiction that one of the animals that we fear most needs to be protected from us,
human beings. Sharks, crocodiles, tigers, whales, bears... More and more animals are now in
the list of the powerful creatures who once were the kings of Nature but who have finally lost
their kingdoms to a more powerful enemy: Humankind.

PART ONE: READING COMPREHENSION

1. Answer the following questions without copying from the text.
1. How have Hollywood's movies portrayed sharks?

2. Why shouldn't human beings be afraid of sharks, according to the text?

3. What biological characteristics make sharks vulnerable?

4. What factor poses most danger for sharks to become extinct?

5. What is the contradiction that the writer talks about?

6. Which of the following three titles (a, b, or c) best summarizes the main idea of the text? (Write the title you choose.)

a) Sharks: The victims of scared humankind.
b) Sharks: Hollywood's marine actors.
c) Sharks: The wonderful world of submarine life.

PART TWO: WRITING
Choose ONE. Write about either 1 or 2.
1. You work for a non-profitable organization which defends animals' rights. Write an advertisement that you would place in a magazine or a newspaper in order to collect funds to protect sharks and to convince people of how necessary they are.

2. Imagine you are a journalist and you have to interview Mr. John Beam about sharks. Write that interview. Don’t use your real name.

3. Vocabulary

Explain next words in English, write the phonetics and also an example: fear, powerful, to warn