In the United States, it had been common practice since the late 1960s not to suppress natural forest fires. The “let it burn” policy assumed that forest fires would burn themselves out quickly, without causing much damage. However, in the summer of 1988, forest fires in Yellowstone, the most famous national park in the country, burned for more than two months and spread over a huge area, encompassing more than 800,000 acres. Because of the large scale of the damage, many people called for replacing the “let it burn” policy with a policy of extinguishing forest fires as soon as they appeared. Three kinds of damage caused by the “let it burn” policy were emphasized by critics of the policy.
First, Yellowstone fires caused tremendous damage to the park’s trees and other vegetation. When the fires finally died out, nearly one third of Yellowstone’s land had been scorched. Trees were charred and blackened from flames and smoke. Smaller plants were entirely incinerated. What had been a national treasure now seemed like a devastated wasteland.
Second, the park wildlife was affected as well. Large animals like deer and elk were seen fleeing the fire. Many smaller species were probably unable to escape. There was also concern that the destruction of habitats and the disruption of food chains would make it impossible for the animals that survived the fire to return.,
Third, the fires compromised the value of the park as a tourist attraction, which in turn had negative consequences for the local economy. With several thousand acres of the park engulfed in flames, the tourist season was cut short, and a large number of visitors decided to stay away. Of course, local businesses that depended on park visitors suffered as a result.
The reading passage discusses three kinds of damage that are cited by critics of the "let it burn' policy. However, the speaker in the lecture casts doubt on the claims made in the article. She mentions that the forest fires are part of an ecological cycle and they are fundamentally good.
First of all, the author holds that Yellowstone fire scorched almost one third of the land and destroyed most of the vegetation. In contrast, the lecturer brings up the fact that smaller plants were able to grow in the areas cleared by the fire. These plants needed open unshaded fields and could not survive while the forest was inhabited by giant trees. In addition, the fire generated high level of heat that helped certain seeds to germinate. Therefore, the species in the forest were more diverse after the fire, according to the lecture.
Secondly, the writer contends that the flames negatively affected wildlife in the park causing big animals to flee, such as deers and elks. Moreover, the smaller ones were not capable of escaping. Furthermore, the destruction of the habitat and disruption of food chains made it impossible for surviving animals to return. Nevertheless, the lecturer points out that the growth of smaller plants allowed a population of rabbits to occupy the forest again attracting predators and other species.
Finally, the excerpt posits that the fire hurt the local economy cutting short the tourism season. Conversely, the lecturer indicates that what occurred in 1988 was a rare incident due to a unique combination of factors like low rainfall, unusually strong winds and accumulation of dry undergrowth and this does not take place every year. As a result, the lecturer avers that visitors and tourists came back to the park.
- In 1995 a microscopic fungus called phytophthora ramorum, or P. ramorum, was first detected in the forests of the western United States. P. ramorum infects trees and causes particularly serious damage in oak trees: in many infected oaks, leaves wither rap 85
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?One of the best ways that parents can help their teenage children prepare for adult life is to encourage them to take a part-time job.Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 76
- Hail—pieces of ice that form and fall from clouds instead of snow or rain—has always been a problem for farmers in some areas of the United States. Hail pellets can fall with great force and destroy crops in the field. Over the last few decades, a met 80
- Communal online encyclopedias represent one of the latest resources to be found on the Internet. They are in many respects like traditional printed encyclopedias collections of articles on various subjects. What is specific to these online encyclopedias, 81
- Archaeologists have recently found a fossil of a 150-million-year-old mam-mal known as Repenomomus robustus (R. robustus). Interestingly, the mammal's stomach contained the remains of a psittacosaur dinosaur. Some researchers have therefore suggested 80
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 9, column 495, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...attracting predators and other species. Finally, the excerpt posits that the fir...
^^^^^^^
Line 13, column 422, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ors and tourists came back to the park.
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
conversely, finally, first, furthermore, however, if, moreover, nevertheless, second, secondly, so, therefore, third, while, in addition, in contrast, such as, as a result, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 8.0 10.4613686534 76% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 1.0 5.04856512141 20% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 7.30242825607 123% => OK
Relative clauses : 10.0 12.0772626932 83% => OK
Pronoun: 16.0 22.412803532 71% => OK
Preposition: 38.0 30.3222958057 125% => OK
Nominalization: 7.0 5.01324503311 140% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1483.0 1373.03311258 108% => OK
No of words: 291.0 270.72406181 107% => OK
Chars per words: 5.09621993127 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.13022058845 4.04702891845 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.5705386168 2.5805825403 100% => OK
Unique words: 184.0 145.348785872 127% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.632302405498 0.540411800872 117% => OK
syllable_count: 454.5 419.366225166 108% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 3.25607064018 61% => OK
Article: 13.0 8.23620309051 158% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 15.0 13.0662251656 115% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 21.2450331126 89% => OK
Sentence length SD: 42.0743257687 49.2860985944 85% => OK
Chars per sentence: 98.8666666667 110.228320801 90% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.4 21.698381199 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 12.3333333333 7.06452816374 175% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 4.45695364238 224% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.27373068433 47% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.128848535106 0.272083759551 47% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0373164846943 0.0996497079465 37% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0373402253437 0.0662205650399 56% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0740903930687 0.162205337803 46% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0531293919571 0.0443174109184 120% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.3 13.3589403974 92% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 52.19 53.8541721854 97% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 11.0289183223 97% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.3 12.2367328918 101% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.19 8.42419426049 109% => OK
difficult_words: 85.0 63.6247240618 134% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.0 10.7273730684 75% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 10.498013245 91% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 70.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 21.0 Out of 30
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.