11 .1 Words and word combinations to the text

to embrace – охватывать

confluence – слияние

to crack – раскалывать(ся), давать трещину

shift – сдвиг, смещение

fault – разлом

trench – узкая продольная длина, впадина

lava – лава

to pour out – извергаться

freshwater lake – пресноводное озеро

hydrology – гидрология

to affect – влиять, воздействовать

astride – по обе стороны

to modify – изменять(ся)

big-game – крупный зверь

to roam – бродить

savanna – саванна

reserve – заповедник

suppler – поставщик

diamonds – алмазы

cobalt – кобальт

copper – медь

chromium – хром

platinum – платина

bauxite – боксит

manganese – марганец

tin – олово

processing plants – перерабатывающие заводы

developing nations – развивающиеся страны

11.2 Practise reading the following words

Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar, Sahara, Sub-Saharan Africa, Mountain Kenya, Mountain Kilimanjaro, Syria, Mozambique, Nyasa, Tanganyika, Nile, Congo, Benguela Current, Mozambique Current, Uganda, Tansania, South Africa, Zaire, Zambia

11.3 Read and translate this text Africa

Africa is the second largest continent on Earth, embracing one fifth of its land area and occupying 30,217,000 square kilometers, some 2 percent of which is inland water. The continent is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the confluence of the Atlantic and the Indian oceans off the Cape of Good Hope. There are a number of islands associated with Africa, the largest of those, lying to the southeast, is Madagascar.

Africa’s great area includes a variety of landforms and climates. The vast desert lands of the Sahara separate North Africa from the continent – central lands and southern Africa, which together are called Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of Africa’s interior consists of plateaus and hilly uplands. In southern and eastern Africa, high mountains surround the plateaus near the coast. The plateaus in eastern Africa were long ago cracked by a shift in the land that created a huge fault. When the land shifted, a series of deep trenches formed between the cracked surfaces. Lava poured out and built up higher plateaus, sometimes topped volcanic peaks. Mountain Kenya and Mountain Kilimanjaro in eastern Africa are two of the volcanic peaks formed when the land shifted.

The series of trenches extend all the way from Syria in the Middle East to Mozambique in the southern Africa. Together the trenches form the Great Rift Valley. In some places, the trenches are about 60 km wide and 450 m deep. Two of Africa’s largest lakes, Nyasa and Tanganyika, lie in Great Rift trenches. Lake Tanganyika, 676 km long, is the longest freshwater lake in the world. Africa’s hydrology is dominated by the Nile and the Congo river basins, which together drain nearly one-fourth of the continent’s area.

Africa’s climate is greatly affected by its position astride the equator. Temperatures are high for most of the year in the northern and the southern tropical zones, but they are modified by elevation in the mountains and by the influence of ocean currents on the coasts – e.g., the cooling Benguela Current (southwest) and the warming Mozambique Current (southeast). Only 6 percent of the African continent is arable while nearly one-fourth is forested or wooded. The continent is well known for its wide variety of animal life. Big-game animals are found roaming the savanna regions. Some of the world’s finest national parks were established as game reserves in Kenya, Uganga, Tansania, South Africa, and other countries.

African countries have abundant minerals resources. They possess some of the world’s richest deposits of certain minerals, gold and diamonds are among the most important. Zaire and Zambia supply most of the cobalt and copper used throughout the world. Other minerals important to the modern nations include chromium, platinum, bauxite, iron ore, tin and manganese, oil. Many countries have not yet developed the technology to use these resources efficiently. Africa still has few manufacturing industries and the governments try to set up more processing plants. Economists classify all the countries of Africa, except South Africa as developing nations. But there are definite signs of the economic growth of the African nations.