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Файл:A guide to effective communication in English. Учебное пособие по практике устной и письменной речи английского языка
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contributed to weather conditions, goes back to the great philosopher and
scientist, Aristotle, in the 4th century BC.
In the 6th century AD it rained blood on Paris. The terrified local people
saw this as a sign from Heaven and responded by repenting for their sins. The
true cause of the strange event was the sirocco, the wind that sometimes blows
from the Sahara across the Mediterranean into Europe. It carries a fine, red dust
from the desert, and this had dyed the rain that fell on Paris.
In 1986 twelve schoolchildren in West China were sucked up by a
tornado. It put them down again on some sand dunes 29 km away – completely
unharmed.
The highest wind speeds ever officially recorded have occurred at the top
of the Mount Washington in the USA, where gusts have reached 370 km/hou r.
The Indians of Northern America believed that the Earth lay on the back of
a giant tortoise, and when it shuffled its feet the Earth would quake. One ancient
Japanese legend held that the movement of a vast underground spider caused
earthquakes; a later account said it was a monster catfish. The ancient Greeks
blamed huge giants wrestling underground.
An average of 708 tornadoes strike the United States each year. In April
1974, 148 tornadoes hit thirteen states in just 24 hours, leaving 315 people dead.
If you are stuck out in a storm, never shelter under a tall isolated tree. Try
to get indoors, or into a car. Get away from metal objects and get rid of any
metal you are carrying. If you are with other people, spread out. Unfortunately,
sometimes even being indoors is no protection. In July 1982 a woman was struck
by a bolt that came through the window and hit the metal tea strainer she was
holding. The force of the bolt threw her across the kitchen.
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(Richard A. First Certificate Gold. Coursebook. – United Kingdom, Harlow:
Pearson Education Ltd, Longman, 2008.)
Tasks
1. Transcribe the following words.
Wind, weather, temperature, nasty, plough, ski, sky, autumn, dawn, harvest,
zero, yield, meadow, shower, hurricane, squall, blizzard, bathe, unbearable,
freeze, twilight.
2. Form adjectives or verbs from the following words.
Wind, rain, storm, sun, chill, cloud, dust, frost, drizzle, thunder, light, hail, sleet,
thaw, dawn, blossom, mud, fog, beast, snow, heat.
3. Form nouns from verbs.
to breathe, to freeze, to pour, to fall, to rain, to lighten.
4. Translate into Russian. Compare the structure of English and Russian
sentences.
It is freezing; it is rainy; it is drizzling; it is muddy; it is slushy; it is raining
heavily; it is thundering; it is lightening; it is hailing; winter is yielding to spring;
it is clearing up; it is 25 degrees above zero; it is close; it is bitterly cold today.
5. Match the following words with the suitable definitions.
a breeze, a gust, a shower, a drizzle, twilight, dusk, crop, harvest, slush, sleet,
hail, snow, sunrise, dawn.
Definitions: a heavy fall of rain; a sudden, violent rush of wind; a light wind;
frozen rain falling from the sky; snow and rain mixed; half-melted snow; the
darker part of twilight; the faint light just after sunset or just before sunrise; the
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beginning of the day; the time for gathering in crops; a fine dense rain; soft white
flakes falling from the sky like rain; the amount of fruit, grain etc. produced in
one season; the rise of the sun.
6. Explain the difference between the words.
to rain-to shower-to pour-to drizzle; mud-dirt; snow-sleet-hail; sunrise-dawn;
foggy-misty; cold-chilly-cool; damp-wet-rainy.
7. Match a sentence from column A with a sentence from column B.
A.
1. It’s freezing out there.
2. There were these awful gusts.
3. It’s very humid at the moment.
4. There is a gentle breeze coming off the sea.
5. The gales have been terrible.
6. It’s very mild for this time of the year.
7. Did the storm wake you up last night?
8. Did you know there was a serious earthquake in the capital this morning?
B.
a) Yes, the thunder and lightning was really scary.
b) They kept blowing my umbrella inside out.
c) It’s great because it stops you getting too hot.
d) Lots of trees have been blown over.
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e) You must put your scarf and gloves on.
f) We’ve normally had some snow by now.
g) I know. The government has declared a state of emergency.
h) I just can’t stop sweating all the time.
8. Say what adjectives can combine with the nouns “weather”, “day”,
“wind”, “rain”, “snow”, “morning”, “evening”, “season”.
9. Make up exclamatory sentences according to the patterns. Use the active
vocabulary.
What a beautiful day (it is/ we’re having today)! It is such a beautiful day!
How beautiful the day is! The day is so beautiful!
Speaking
10. How may people feel under the following weather conditions? Describe
the feelings of these people.
1). It was cold and rainy. The sky was covered with dark grey clouds. I didn’t go
anywhere and spent most of the time watching TV.
2). Strong winds kept blowing the whole time we were there. On the third night a
terrible storm broke. It was pouring with rain and the lightning lit up the sky.
3). It was hot and sunny. We sat in the guesthouse garden enjoying the sunshine.
In the afternoons a light breeze blew in from the sea and cooled us.
4). We woke up to see that everything was white. Snow was falling lightly and it
was freezing. We spent the day making snowmen and skiing on the slopes.
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Here are some prompts for you to depict the feelings: excited, frightened,
unhappy, calm, miserable, depressed, gloomy, relaxed, scared, uneasy, happy,
refreshed, sad, cheerful, joyful, moody, delightful etc.
11. Speak about other weather conditions and your feelings and emotions
that this weather arouses in you.
12. Describe a thaw spell on a frosty day, a snowstorm, Indian summer
using the suggested words:
Warm, a soft carpet of dying leaves, nature is slowly falling asleep, still
green, yellow, red, soft bronze, stir the air, cobweb, to enjoy the last warm days,
golden autumn.
The sky is pale gray, it continues freezing, snowy, to blow, a piercing
wind, chilly, to snow heavily, severe frost, low clouds, it keeps on snowing, large
flakes, to be caught in a snowstorm, to be snow bound, the snow lies deep, what
nasty weather, bitterly cold, to be cut out from the outside world, to stay indoors.
The snow lies on the ground, frozen into a thick crust, bare trees, to slip
and fall, a thaw sets in, the ground is covered with a sleet, icicles hang from the
roof, the roads become slushy and slippery, it often sleets, a cutting wind,
unpleasant time.
Listening
Listen to the stories describing the experiences of people who were struck by
lightning. Render these stories. If you have your own experience like that, share
it with the group.
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UNIT 2. YOUR FAVOURITE SEASONS. ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES.
Vocabulary
13. Insert the missing words.
There are four seasons in the year… Each season lasts …In spring the trees shoot
out …, the fields grow …, the flowers begin … In June the weather becomes …
Summer lasts till … Summer … Autumn begins in … The days gradually
become … Then winter … The rivers and lakes are … The wind is … The frost
is often … In frosty weather people enjoy …
14. Agree or disagree with the following.
January is the last month of the year. Snowflakes are green. The sky is cloudless
when it is raining. Autumn is the season of ploughing and sowing. Trees shoot
out little buds in summer. Autumn is the season of fresh vegetables and fruit. In
winter Nature awakens from its long sleep. It lightens and thunders when it
snows. A rainbow appears after a good snowfall. The snow lies deep in winter in
England. Summer yields to spring. Birds lay eggs in autumn. Fruit trees break
into blossom in September.
15. Describe a day using the words.
A rainy day: to walk in the rain, a big puddle, to step over it, to slip in the mud,
to fall down, to get up and look at yourself, you are all muddy, to go back to the
puddle, to step in it, to stamp your foot, to jump up and down, to get out of the
puddle, now you are all wet, to go home and change clothes.
A beautiful day: to look out of the window, to sigh and go outside, to stretch and
yawn, to lie down in the sun, Oh, it’s too hot!, You are sweating, to sit up and
look for a shady place, to see a big shady tree, to walk over to it, to sit down in
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the shade, nice and cool here, sigh and stretch and yawn, lie down in the shade,
go to sleep.
Translation skills
16. Translate the following passages into Russian.
1). About midnight Joe awoke and called the boys. The air was oppressive.
The boys sat still round the fire waiting. It was very dark. Presently there came a
flash of lightning, by-and-by another came, a little stronger. Now a flash turned
night into day and showed three frightened faces. A deep peal of thunder went
rolling. The boys were in terror. It began to rain. And now a heavy rain poured
down. The storm rose higher and higher (Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist).
2). The night was bitter cold. The snow lay on the ground, frozen into a
hard thick crust, so that only the heaps that drifted into by-ways and corners were
affected by the sharp wind that howled abroad, which caught it savagely up in
clouds, and scattered it in the air (Ch. Dickens. Oliver Twist).
3). The rich, sweet smell of the hay-ricks rose to the chamber window; the
hundred perfumes of the little flower garden beneath scented the air around; the
deep-green meadows rose in the morning dew that glistened on every leaf as it
trembled in the gentle air; and the birds sang as if every sparkling drop were a
fountain of inspiration to them (Ch. Dickens. The Posthumous Papers of the
Pickwick Club).
4). (From a diary). December, 5. – Sydney. The wind which had been
blowing all the morning from the N.E., increased to a heavy gale, and I shall
never forget its withering effect…The blasts of heat were so terrific that I
wondered the very grass did not take fire. Everything, both animate and
inanimate, gave way before it. The horses stood with their backs to the wind and
their noses to the ground, without the muscular strength to raise their heads; the
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birds were mute and the leaves of the trees fell like a shower all round… The
mercury in the thermometer had risen to 125 degrees in the shade. That hot wind
sweeps over Sydney sometimes, and brings with it what is called a dust storm
(Mark Twain. Following the Equator: A Journey around the World).
Note. 125 degrees in the shade (in December) (on the Fahrenheit scale) –
but December is a summer month in Australia.
5). When an ice-storm comes, the news flies through the house and
everybody joins the rush for the windows.
The ice-storm occurs in mid-winter, usually in the silence and darkness of
the night. A fine drizzling rain falls hour after hour upon the naked twigs and
branches of the tree, and as it falls it freezes. In time, the trunk and every branch
and twig are encased in hard, pure ice; so that the tree looks like a skeleton tree
made all of glass. Along the under side of every branch and twig is a comb of
little icicles – the frozen drip.
The weather clears toward dawn, and leaves a brisk, pure atmosphere. The
dawn breaks and spreads. The sun fires a sheaf of rays into the ghostly tree and
turns it into a white splendour of glittering diamonds! The sun climbs higher and
still higher, flooding the tree. Then, in a moment, without warning, comes the
great miracle! A gust of wind sets every branch and twig swaying, and in an
instant turns the whole white tree into a dancing world of rubies, emeralds,
diamonds, sapphires, - the most blinding spectacle, the most exquisite vision of
fire, colour and splendour that ever any eye has rested upon (Mark Twain.
Following the Equator: A Journey around the World).
6). It chanced that one day towards dusk I was overtaken by a storm. I had
seen the great dark clouds massed in the North-West but after a while I felt
something strange in the air and looking up saw that the dark clouds were on a
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sudden charging down upon the forest. The rain came suddenly and then the
thunder, not a single peal but roll upon roll reverberating down the sky, and
lightning that blinded me, darting and slashing fiercely. I was deafened and
confused by the noise, and lightning startled me. The rain fell not as in our
temperate zone, but with angry vehemence, in sheets, storming down as though
the heavens were emptying themselves of flooded lakes (Somerset Maugham.
The Gentleman in the Parlour).
Speaking
17. Describe a summer shower; a harvest time; twilight; sunset.
18. What kind of weather is bad / good for: skiing; planting flowers; having a
barbecue; going out in a small boat; a day of sightseeing; camping out in a tent;
looking at ships through binoculars?
19. Describe today’s weather.
20. Describe your favourite season (you may use a picture or a photo). What
season do you associate your personality with?
21. Discuss with your friend pluses and minuses of different seasons.
UNIT 3. WEATHER IN DIFFERENT CLIMATE ZONES. RUSSIA.
GREAT BRITAIN. WEATHER FORECASTS.
Listening
22. Listen to the weather descriptions made by people from different
countries. Say which season each person likes most and why. Then speak about
the weather conditions in these countries in detail. Afterwards enrich the
descriptions with more details which could be peculiar for these climate zones.
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23. Listen to the weather forecasts. Try to guess the country whose weather
conditions are being described. Then talk about the weather in each country.
Pay attention to the following grammar constructions: There will be….. (fog,
rain, a thunderstorm etc.). It will be ….. (cold, sunny, rainy, chilly etc.). It will be
…. a (hot, rainy, sunny etc.) day. Make the difference between them clear and
use them describing the weather.
Reading and Speaking
24. Describe the weather in Britain using the information below.
The British Isles, which are surrounded by the ocean have an insular
climate; thus the climate is moister and more equable than that of Central
Europe.
The British Isles are situated in the temperate zone. The climate is mild,
and strong frosts are rare. Due to the moderating influences of the sea and of the
Gulf Stream, the January temperature is higher and the July temperature is lower
than in any other country of the same latitude. That is why the British ports are
ice-free and its rivers not frozen throughout the year.
There is an abundance of rainfall in the west. As a result, there are thick
fogs which last for days and weeks at a time during the autumn and winter. The
lack of sunshine hinders the cultivation of many species and plants, especially
grain crops. However, grasses grow all over the year round, providing fodder for
cattle and giving the English countryside its characteristic verdant green.
January – the coldest month. February – very wet; it is known for its great
variety of weather – snow, hail, frost, rain, high winds, showers, sometimes mild
days.
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