Revision

Ex. 1. Fill in the text with the appropriate word from the box.

stretched, direction, route, find, set out, exploration, sail, reach, voyage, approaching, globe, sailor, discoveries

While the Portuguese were trying to find a sea (1) _____ to Asia by sailing around Africa, a Genoese (2) _____ named Christopher Columbus thought of a different way of getting there. He decided to (3) _____ west, convinced that, as the world is round, sooner or later he must (4) _____ Asia from the opposite (5) _____. He (6) _____ in 1492, Having persuaded the Spanish king and queen to pay for his (7) _____. In those days, people thought that the (8) _____ was much smaller than it really is. They imagined that one huge piece of land – made up of Europe, Asia, and Africa – (9) _____ most of the way around the world, and had no idea that the Americas existed. As a result, Columbus made one of the biggest mistakes, yet greatest (10) _____, in the history of (11) _____. He came to some islands roughly where he expected to (12) _____ Asia and thought that he was (13) _____ the East Indies near mainland Asia. He made four voyages across the Atlantic without realizing that instead of finding Asia, he had found a “New World”.

Ex. 2. Read the text and answer the questions following it.

Atlas

The name Atlas has, with reason, been a popular one for the professional strongmen of the circus and stage, inasmuch as the first Atlas was powerful Greek demigod who tended the pillars that were believed to hold the heavens and earth apart. We moderns think of Atlas as a strong man who holds the globe on his back. This was the conventional picture printed on the covers of our gradeschool geographies but it represents a much later idea, for in Ancient Greece the earth was not thought of as a sphere. The picture of Atlas supporting the world was first used by the 16^th-century geographer Mercator as a frontispiece in a collection of his own remarkable maps, and this use caused the figure of Atlas to appear in our later geographies and the name atlas to be applied to a collection of maps.

Questions:

1. Of what origin is the word Atlas?

2. What was it used for?

3. Who was Atlas according to the Greek mythology?

4. What do the modern people think of Atlas?

5. What idea does the picture of Atlas on the covers of geography textbooks represent?

6. Who used the picture of Atlas for the first time?

7. Why is the name atlas applied to a collection of maps?

Ex. 3. Translate the text into Russian (in writing). Give the title of the text.

Early European explorers found their way in unknown seas by sailing along the coast from one land mark to the next. Once ships began sailing out of sight of land, however, they needed more reliable methods of navigation. Navigation is the art of sailing a ship by the best course, from one place on Earth to another.

Nature provided the first navigators with some help. Before navigation instruments were invented, early explorers sailed by dead reckoning, which really means intelligent guesswork. They used their knowledge of winds and currents to estimate distance and direction. In unknown waters, clues such as floating driftwood and certain types of seabird suggested that land was not far away. For example, the frigate bird was a welcome sight in tropical waters. This bird cannot land on water, so sailors knew that when they saw one, they must be nearing land.

European sailors started to calculate their position in terms of latitude in the Middle Ages. By measuring the height of the Sun at noon or of the Polar Star at night, a sailor could work out his latitude. By the 15^th century – the great age of European sea exploration – navigators had developed a few instruments to guide them. For example, the compass, allowed ships to follow a set course, and the astrolabe or quadrant helped calculate position. Many of these tools were rough and inaccurate but, as ocean voyaging became more common, navigational instruments gradually started to improve.

Today navigators can pinpoint the position of any place on Earth by referring to a set of imaginary lines round the globe, called lines of latitude and longitude. Lines of latitude circle the Earth from east to west and are measured in degrees north or south of the Equator. Lines of longitude circle the Earth from north to south and are measured in degrees east or west of a line, called the prime meridian, which runs through Greenwich in England.

Ex. 4. Translate into English.

I. 1. Особенно много важнейших географических открытий было сделано европейскими путешественниками в середине XV – середине XVII века.

2. Стремление найти новые рынки сбыта товаров и бесценные сокровища вынуждало людей отправляться в опасные путешествия.

3. Экспедиция под руководством Колумба в 1492 году отплыла от Пиренейского полуострова искать морской путь в богатую пряностями Индию.

4. Колумб был уверен, что достиг Индии, и поэтому острова, открытые им, известны как Вест-Индийские.

5. С 1519 по 1522 год, испанская экспедиция под руководством Фернана Магеллана совершила первое кругосветное плавание.

6. В 1821 году русскими моряками под командованием Ф.Ф. Беллинсгаузена и М.П.Лазарева открыт южный материк Антарктида.

7. Благодаря решительности путешественников на Земле практически не осталось неизвестных и малоизученных мест.

8. Ф.Нансен внес большой вклад в открытие и исследование Арктики.

9. Новый этап развития географии начался с конца XX века.

10. Целью географических исследований в современный период является изучение влияния деятельности человека на природную среду.