Englich for Talking. Учебно-методическое пособие

15.If you’re together with your friend how do you pay the bill?

16.Do you often go to fast-food restaurants? Why are they so popular with the young people? What kind of food can you find at such a restaurant?

17.Which waiters do you prefer courteous or overbearing?

18.What are your food preferences?

Ex. 26. Try to explain the meaning of the following proverbs and sayings:

1.A hungry belly has no ears.

2.I am as hungry as a hunter.

3.Hunger is the best sauce.

4.Tastes differ.

5.Appetite comes with eating.

6.Eat at pleasure, drink with measure.

7.Hunger breaks stone walls.

8.The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

9.Too many cooks spoil the broth.

10.Who has not tasted bitter, knows not what is sweet.

11.You can’t eat your cake and have it too.

Things to Enjoy

Ex. 27. Read the poem:

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Text 1.

Weather Information

Nothing quite takes over our lives like the weather! It changes our plans, affects our mood, influences the way we dress, and often dominates our conversation.

Imagine, then, the impact of wild weather — а tornado, thunderstorm, blizzard, ice storm, hurricane, or other major storm condition. These fierce happenings can close down schools and businesses, block roads, knock down power lines, and completely disrupt our lives.

The word weather refers to the overall condition of the atmosphere at а particular time and place, including the temperature, humidity, degree of cloudiness, and so on. Under extreme conditions – powerful winds, heavy rain or snow, freezing temperatures – we get severe, or wild weather, such as blizzards, thunderstorms, hurricanes; tornadoes and other storms. The same basic principles that govern everyday weather – air pressure, temperature, evaporation, and condensation – also govern wild weather.

All weather takes place in the atmosphere, а blanket of air that surrounds the earth. The air in our atmosphere is made up of gases: nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, among others and their weight adds up! The higher up you go, the lower the air pressure becomes, because there's less air pressing down from the atmosphere. Air pressure is closely related to temperature. Hot air has lower air pressure. Correspondingly, cold air has higher air pressure. That's why cold air sinks. This relationship between hot air/low pressure and cold air/high pressure has а big impact on the weather.

The biggest single factor in temperature on earth is the sun. The sun doesn't directly heat up the atmosphere, though. Much of its heat passes through the atmosphere and reaches the earth itself. The earth's surfaces absorb this heat and then radiate it back into the surrounding air. That's what warms the layer of air closest to the ground. (And that's why it gets colder as you go into higher regions of the atmosphere where clouds and precipitation form.)

Rain and snow come from moisture that is always in the air in the form of water vapor, an invisible gas. As warm, humid air rises, it becomes cooled. The cooler air (which is more densely packed and therefore holds less water vapor) causes the water vapor to condense, that is, change back into а liquid. The liquid water then falls to the ground as rain, or it may freeze and fall as snow or hail.

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Weather changes when hot air and cold air meet. The collisions between warm and cold air and the warm rising air can lead to winds, clouds, rain, snow, and storms of all kinds.

Tornadoes create the fastest-blowing winds on earth. Meteorologists know that most tornadoes form in the central and southern United States, along а front that forms between cool, dry air from Canada and the North and warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricanes are also huge, violent storms, but they are different from tornadoes: in several important ways: their winds blow with less force, they begin not over land, but over tropical waters and cover а much wider area. Hurricanes form over parts of the Atlantic Ocean north of the equator and over the Pacific and Indian Oceans on both sides of the equator. They are also called “typhoons” and “cyclones.”

Weather forecasters, called meteorologists, make their own observations and collect data from others to get an accurate picture of current weather conditions. They study the figures for temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, precipitation, and air prеssure. Then they use their knowledge of how air masses move and the various other factors at work to forecast changes in the weather.

Besides just studying the weather, however, meteorologists share their knowledge with the general public in order to help protect our atmosphere and our environment. For example, they explain the way that rain becomes acid rain: Water, as it evaporates, carries sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and other pollutants into the atmosphere. These substances then rain down hundreds or even thousands of miles away as clouds are scattered by winds (just as dust and ash from an erupting volcano are scattered to distant places).

Other environmental questions meteorologists are investigating include: how large scale deforestation is affecting the earth's atmosphere and its climates, how the release of chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons has damaged our atmosphere's protective ozone layer, and how the carbon dioxide from the burning of oil, gas, coal, and wood might 1еаd to longterm global warming.

Today, meteorologists study both the weather itself and how humans have affected it. As we understand more about how pollution affects the weather, we can take action to change the situation.

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Text 2.

Climate change

Presenter: So, next on 'Costing the Earth', we go over to Heather Collins, for her report on climate change and global warming.

Heather: Thank you, John. Well, first, let's look at some examples of the unusual weather conditions the world has been experiencing in recent years. Scientists say these events support their claims that global warming really has taken effect. And let's start right here at home in the British Isles. Most people still associate Britain with rain and fog, so it may surprise you to learn that parts of it are becoming increasingly drought-prone. In Southeast England, there's been so little rain in the last few years that a large area has been designated semi-arid – that's very dry indeed. And it's bad news for farmers – prolonged drought leads to water shortages and harms agriculture. In contrast, in Northern and Central Europe, flooding is on the rise due to increased rainfall. The number of severe floods has increased significantly in recent years – which of course has had devastating consequences for the people living in those areas. Moving to the other side of the world, we find that Southeast Asia has also been experiencing some nasty weather. It's unusually frequent and violent cyclones that have been causing havoc there, destroying homes, damaging crops and putting the livelihoods of thousands at risk. It's the same story in the United States, with reports of freak spring snowstorms in the north American plains. Snowstorms in winter – that's normal, but in the spring? No!

So, what's behind it all? According to the scientists, it's all because the world is getting warmer. Average temperatures have risen by 0,5 degrees Centigrade over the last century alone. That may not sound like much, if you compare it to seasonal or even daily temperature fluctuations. But bear in mind that a drop of only three degrees Centigrade was enough to bring about the most recent Ice Age. And the past few years have been the warmest on record around the world. And what's the connection between severe weather and global warming? Well, if the earth really is warming, higher temperatures cause more water to evaporate from the seas, so that there's more moisture in the atmosphere. Scientists have found that there's

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been a ten per cent increase in the amount of moisture in the atmosphere over the course of the last few decades. And this extra moisture has a major impact on our weather, disrupting the weather patterns we're used to and producing the kind of severe weather conditions we've seen.

So what causes the global warming in the first place? The theory is that it's caused by the build-up of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases, which are produced in huge quantities by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil. When sunlight bounces off the earth some of the resulting heat is trapped by these gases - just as a greenhouse traps warmth. A certain amount of heat is necessary for our survival. But the signs are that it's getting too hot. So get ready for even more freak weather ...

Exercises:

Ex. 1. Read Text 1 and answer the following questions:

1.In what way can weather influence our life?

2.What does the word “weather” refer to?

3.What are the basic principles that govern everyday weather?

4.What gases is our atmosphere made up of?

5.What is the relationship of air pressure and temperature?

6.Where do precipitations form?

7.Where do rain and snow come from?

8.What is the reason for weather changes?

9.Where do tornadoes form?

10.What are other names of “hurricanes”?

11.In what way do meteorologists give weather forecasting?

12.In what way does the rain become acid rain?

13.What environmental questions do meteorologists study?

Ex. 2. Explain the following or give definition for:

–the impact of the weather

–basic principles that govern the weather

–the atmosphere

–weather changes

–a tornado

–a hurricane

–meteorologists

–weather forecasting

–environmental questions

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Ex. 3. Find the English equivalents for …

торнадо, гроза, буран, снежный шторм, ураган, штормовые условия, влияние (3), температура, влажность, облачность, суровый, давление воздуха, в экстремальных условиях, испарение, конденсация, атмосфера, азот, кислород, диоксид углерода, опускаться, осадки, испарение воды, замерзать, влага, выпадать снегом или градом, сухой воздух, влажный воздух, по обе стороны экватора, тайфун, циклон, метеорологи, наблюдения, получить точную картину погоды, окружающая среда, кислотные дожди, загрязнители, вещества, развеивать пыль и пепел, извержение вулкана, вырубка леса, опустынивание, выброс химикатов, озоновый слой, глобальное потепление

Ex. 4. Read Text 2 and answer the following questions:

1.What is Britain associated with? What changes has it been experiencing in recent years?

2.What part of the British Isles is classified as semi-arid? What does prolonged drought lead to?

3.What is incidence of flooding in Northern and Central Europe due to?

4.What are the consequences of ruining cyclones?

5.What freak weather conditions is North America suffered from in spring?

6.Why has a drop to 0,5 degrees become a reason for scientific discussions?

7.How is the extra moisture formed in the air?

8.What is conventional theory of global warming?

9.Is it likely to get hotter or colder in the next fifty years?

10.What will happen if there is an increase or decrease in temperature all over the world?

11.What will the effects be in your own country?

12.Can ordinary people do anything to prevent changes in the climate?

Ex. 5. Define the following words.

Model: drought – a long period of dry weather when there is not enough water.

–fog

–rainfall

–floods

–snowstorms

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–temperature fluctuations

–weather conditions

–moisture

–greenhouses gases

–freak

Ex. 6. Find the English equivalents for:

Склонный к засухе, семиаридный (полузасушливый), нехватка воды, затопление, атмосферные осадки, вызывать разрушение, средние температуры, сезонные и суточные температурные перепады, снижение на три градуса, Ледниковый Период, парниковые газы, ископаемое топливо, задерживать теплоту, странная (причудливая) температура, туман.

Ex. 7. Match the following definitions in the left column with the words in the right column.

a)Verbs:

1.shine with interrupted a) melt brightness

7.to produce small drops of g) freeze liquid

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