The earth

The Earth is a planet. It rotates on its axis, revolves around the Sun and moves with the Sun through space. The Earth gets its warm and light from the Sun all around the Earth is atmosphere. We breathe it, and it gives us our weather. The air is always moving. The movements of the air make our winds. Small drops odf water in the air form clouds. And as the clouds move about they bring us rain and snow and storms.

The equatorial diameter of the Earth is 12.756 kilometres. The Earth is like a sphere, but flat at the poles. This makes a difference of only 43 kilometres between the Earth’s diameter at the equator and the diameter at the poles. The weight of the Earth is the figure 6 followed by 21 zeros if count in tons.

The terrestrial globe revolves on its axis for 24 hours. When the terrestrial globe faces to the Sun, we can see sunlight and we have day. When terrestrial globe turns away from the Sun’s light, we have night. When our part begins to turn toward the Sun and we see the first sunlight, we call it morning. When we are facing the Sun most directly, it is noon. When the Earth begins to turn away from the Sun, we have afternoon and evening, and night.

The average speed revolution of the Earth round the Sun is 29.8 kilometres per second. The small eccentricity the orbit of the Earth does the little difference in its speed, but there is a difference in the length of the season because of this variation. The number of days between the beginning of spring and of autumn, in the northern hemisphere is 186, but the number of days between the beginning of autumn and the beginning of spring is 179.

The Earth takes 365 ¼ days to travel around the Sun. This makes our year. As the Earth travels around, first one pole then the other is tilted toward the Sun. When the North Pole tilts toward the Sun, the rays of the Sun fall straighter down on the northern half of the world. It is warmer and it has its summer (June, July and August). It also has longer days, because it turns to the Sun more of the time. When the South Pole is toward the Sun, the southern half of the world is warmer, and it has its summer in December, January and February). Then the northern half is getting less direct sunshine because it tilts away from the Sun. It has shorter days. It has winter. The seasons between them we call spring and autumn.

Grammar Review

I. Translate into English using phrases from Unit 11:

1. До сих пор такой подход только осложнял решение этой проблемы, которая в настоящее время требует поиска новых путей. 2. Прежде всего, нам следует обсудить этот вопрос. 3. Данная проблема будет рассматриваться в целом, хотя некоторые ее аспекты надо обсудить подробно. В частности, необходимо оценить, в какой-то степени, фактор времени. 4. В конце концов, это неплохо выход. 5. Во всяком случае, ваши основные положения правильны. 6. Отчасти вы правы. 7. Более того, существует много других возможностей для решения это проблемы, помимо только что упомянутой. 8. Во многом такой подход вполне оправдан. 9. Если взглянуть на проблему широко, то можно выделить, три основных положения, которые, по мнению автора, представляются спорными. 10. Однако, по-моему, это слишком категоричное утверждение. В научном плане может быть и неплохо, что наши возможности ограничены.

II. Identify the structures and give Russian equivalents:

1. It is not claimed that the research is aimed at deriving an entirely different set of axioms. 2. A bit of work was needed to establish this but once the result was accepted, it was the best instrument for exploring the atom. 3. In the early days of World War II many engineers were faced with the task of mastering the techniques of using radar. 4. Methods employed in solving a problem are strongly influenced by the research objective. 5. The inquiry could be greatly helped by distinguishing two different classes of research techniques. 6. In one’s research to understand what happens in this particular case, one cannot help being influenced by the history of quite another problem. 7. The question of collective scientific discoveries has already been raised, it having been suggested that a solution of some urgent problems can be best achieved that way. 8. During such experiments interfering influences must be excluded and an artifical environment created in which the contribution of the individual components can be taken account of and possibly even measured. 9. If the scientist succeeds in confirming his repeated observations it may be stated that an empirical law or rule of nature has been discovered. 10. Let us examine various types of such mispronunciations, remembering, of course, that they are mispronunciations only in the sense of being looked upon unfavourably by cultural speakers. 11. Social scientists and physical scientists, each group representing a diversity of specialized disciplines, were brought together to review some implications of the interaction between science and society. 12. The oceans and the atmosphere are strongly coupled systems and cannot very well be treated separately. The final circulation pattern is determined by the interaction of the two systems, each system influencing the other in a complicated cycle of events.

33