11	 Seasons and Weather 

1. Answer the following question:

1. What is your favourite season? (My favourite season is summer. / I like winter a lot.)

2. Read and translate the text:

There are four seasons in the year. They are spring, summer, autumn and winter. Every season has three months.

The spring months are March, April and May. In March the days become longer and the sun shines more brightly. It sometimes rains but the rain is warm. The weather in April and May is usually fine. In May the trees become green. Everything looks fresh and new.

Summer is the hottest season of the year. The weather is fine, the sun shines brightly. Sometimes it rains lightly, but usually it is dry and hot. There are occasional storms with flashes of lightning and loud claps of thunder, gusts of wind and heavy rain. In summer many people have their holidays and spend a lot of time in the open air. Some people go to the South to the sea. Others go abroad, or travel around Russia. Most people try to go out of town at least for the weekends.

After summer autumn comes. It is still warm and sunny in September. The leaves change colour to yellow, red and brown, and the parks are very beautiful. We call it the Indian Summer. In October and November it often rains and the sky is cloudy. The weather gets colder and the days become shorter. In autumn schoolchildren and students return to their studies. But it is still nice to go out of town during the dry sunny days of the Indian summer. Autumn is the harvest time when people in cities buy vegetables for the winter season.

Russian winter is famous for its sunny frosty days. There is usually much snow on the ground. The rivers and lakes are frozen. It gets dark early and we have the longest nights in winter. People like to spend a lot of time in the open air skiing, skating, and playing with the snow. But sometimes it gets very cold and we stay at home. The streets are quite slippery and you should try not to fall down. In the past few years winters in Russia have been unusually mild with frequent sleet and only occasional hard frosts.

Topical Vocabulary

season – время года

spring – весна

summer – лето

autumn – осень

winter – зима

month – месяц

weather – погода

fresh – свежий

dry – сухой, сухо

hot – жаркий, жарко

storm – буря, шторм

flash of lightning – вспышка молнии

clap of thunder – раскат грома

gust (of wind) – порыв ветра

have one’s holiday – быть на каникулах, в отпуске

in the open air – на открытом воздухе

go abroad – путешествовать за границу

travel around (Russia) – путешествовать по (России)

go out of town – выезжать за город

for the weekends – на выходные

warm – тёплый, тепло

sunny – солнечно

cloudy – облачно

frosty – морозно

snow – снег

on the ground – на земле

frozen – замёрзший

cold – холодный, холодно

slippery – скользкий, скользко

mild – мягкий

sleet – снег с дождём

frost – мороз

3. Make up 10 sentences using words from the box below:

Подлежащее	Сказуемое	Остальные члены предложения
It	is frosty is warm is cold is hot is dark is cloudy is slippery is pleasant	often usually sometimes in summer in winter in spring in the room in the street at the beginning of autumn