- •Reading Material Text a
- •Before reading the text try to discuss the following questions.
- •Now read the text, translate it and get ready to do the exercises after the text. Geography
- •Word Study
- •Comprehension and Discussion
- •Origin and development of geography. Early history
- •Geographic methods. Map location and measurement
- •The Round Earth on Flat Paper
- •Dialogue
- •Listening Comprehension Text “Geography”
- •Revision
- •What is science?
- •Становление географии как науки
- •Active Vocabulary
- •Additional Reading Geography and people: Ptolemy
- •Components of maps
- •Maps and graphs Maps
- •Isoline maps
- •Choropleth
- •Topological maps
- •Proportional flow maps
- •Dot maps
- •Line graphs
- •Scattergraphs
- •Pie charts
- •Reading Material Text a
- •The History of Exploration
- •Word Study
- •Comprehension and Discussion
- •Captain Cook
- •Text c The Mystery of the Franklin Expedition
- •Text d
- •The History of Maps
- •Dialogue
- •Listening Comprehension Text “Christopher Columbus”
- •Revision
- •Questions:
- •II. Первое русское кругосветное путешествие
- •Active Vocabulary
- •Additional Reading Famous Russian navigators
- •Navigation Tools
- •Unit III
- •Reading Material Text a
- •Before we start reading let’s recollect the composition of the solar system.
- •What does the solar system consist of?
- •What heavenly object is the most beautiful (mysterious, important)?
- •The Universe and the Solar System
- •Word Study
- •Comprehension and Discussion
- •Our local star
- •Text c The Evolution of the Universe
- •Text d Galaxies
- •Dialogue
- •Is the Sun Good or Bad for Us?
- •Is the sun good or bad for us?
- •Listening Comprehension Text “Stars”
- •Fill in the gaps.
- •Note down the temperature of:
- •Note down the colours of :
- •Revision
- •The Lunar Surface
- •Active Vocabulary
- •Additional Reading The Planets
- •Mercury
- •Jupiter
- •Uranus and Neptune
- •Stellar Evolution
- •Unit IV
- •Reading Material Text a
- •Before reading the passage discuss these points with a partner.
- •Is the earth a perfect sphere?
- •This Earth of Ours
- •Word Study
- •Comprehension and Discussion
- •Volcanic Eruptions
- •Text c The Earth. Size. Shape.
- •Text d The Earth
- •Dialogue Discussing the age of the earth
- •Listening Comprehension Text “The Earth’s shape”
- •1. What is the “equatorial bulge”?
- •2. Are all three models only approximations?
- •Revision
- •History of the Earth
- •Latitude and Longitude
- •Active Vocabulary
- •Additional Reading Yellowstone National Park
- •The geological setting
- •Hydrothermal features
- •Reading Material Text a
- •The Atmosphere: Properties and composition
- •Word Study
- •Comprehension and Discussion
- •Oxygen-Carbon Dioxide Cycle
- •The Ozone Layer
- •The Ionosphere
- •Dialogue
- •Listening Comprehension Text “The Atmosphere”
- •Part b. Listening activities
- •Revision
- •Air pollution
- •Active Vocabulary
- •Additional Texts Greenhouse gases
- •The air we breathe
- •Unit VI
- •Reading Material Text a
- •Before reading the text discuss these points with a partner.
- •Now read the text, translate it and get ready to do the exercises after the text. Climate
- •Word study
- •Climate
- •Comprehension and Discussion
- •The climate of the uk
- •The World’s Inconstant Climate
- •Methods of weather modification
- •Weather
- •Days of Abnormal Weather
- •Vocabulary
- •Days of Abnormal Weather Text 1
- •Interpretation
- •Weather Forecast
- •Listening Comprehension Text “The Climate”
- •Revision
- •Climate
- •Weather maps
- •Project Writing
- •Active Vocabulary
- •Additional Reading Climatic Change
- •Origin of Climatic Change
- •Ocean Currents
- •Unit VII
- •Reading Material Text a
- •Before reading the passage discuss these points with a partner.
- •Into how many parts is the earth’s surface divided?
- •How are land and sea distributed?
- •Now read the text, translate it and get ready to do the exercises after the text. Land Forms of the Earth
- •Word Study
- •The Alps
- •Comprehension and Discussion
- •The Surface of the Ground
- •Continental Drift
- •Wegener’s Theory
- •Text d The Soil Beneath our Feet
- •Dialogue Discussing the process of erosion
- •Listening Comprehension Text “Continental drift”
- •Fill in the gaps.
- •Note down the terms used by the lecturer.
- •Note down the thickness of the asthenosphere.
- •Revision
- •Relief form of the earth
- •Earthquake waves
- •Earthquakes
- •Active Vocabulary
- •Additional Reading Erosion
- •Weathering
- •1999 A bad year for earthquakes
- •Limestone in Europe
- •Vulcanism
- •Volcanic Eruptions
- •Glaciers
- •Minerals
- •What Minerals Are
- •Mineral Properties
- •The Earth’s Interior
- •Interior Structure
- •Rock Classification
- •Igneous Rocks
- •Sedimentary Rocks
- •Grammar focus the system of tenses
- •Charles Robert Darwin
- •Passive voice
- •The Greenhouse Effect
- •Participle
- •The gerund
- •Функции герундия в предложении и способы его перевода на русский язык
- •Infinitive
- •I. Образование
- •II. Функции инфинитива в предложении.
- •Complex Object
- •Complex Subject
- •Subjunctive mood
- •Subjunctive Mood Conditional Sentences
- •Modal verbs
- •(Выражение «вероятности», «предположения»)
- •The system of tenses
- •Charles Robert Darwin
Unit III
THE UNIVERSE AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM |
Reading Material Text a
Task
Before we start reading let’s recollect the composition of the solar system.
What does the solar system consist of?
What heavenly object is the most beautiful (mysterious, important)?
b) Now read the text, translate it and get ready to do the exercises after the text.
The Universe and the Solar System
The Earth and the sun and the other seven planets are isolated in space. This set of eight spheres that circles the bright sun is poised in emptiness1 and separated by unimaginable distances from everything else in the universe. Because the sun is its central figure, the family of bodies that accompanies it is called the solar system, which in its turn2 is a part of a galaxy and eventually of the Universe.
Until the 17th century the solar system was thought to consist of only five planets besides the earth and moon. In 1609, soon after having heard of the invention of the telescope in Holland, Galileo built one of his own and was able to add four new bodies to the system: the brighter of the moons (or satellites) that revolve around Jupiter. Since Galileo’s time telescopic improvements have made possible the discovery of many more members of the sun’s family.
It is common knowledge now that our neighborhood in space consists of our local star, the sun, and its family of eight planets, nearly 70 moons, millions of comets and countless asteroids. The mean diameter of the solar system is approximately 7 billion miles.
Dominating the entire solar system is the sun, which is nearly a thousand times more massive than all the planets put together. The energy the sun generates by nuclear fusion makes it luminous and provides the rest of the solar system with heat and light. Its gravity pulls the planets so that they move around it in almost circular orbits.
The list of planets now includes eight; in order from the Sun they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. All planets are divided into two groups: four small rocky ones close to the sun and four big gassy ones farther out. All except Mercury and Venus have satellites.
Planets revolve around the sun and rotate on their axes. Nearly all the revolutions and rotations are in the same direction, but the rotation rate is different, slow with some planets, rapid with others. Only the rotation of Venus and the revolutions of a few satellites are in the opposite direction. Uranus is an exception of a different kind since it rotates about an axis only 80 from the plane of its orbit.
All the orbits except those of the comets lie nearly in the same plane. Planets stay on their orbits according to the law of universal gravity. All celestial bodies have an attraction of their own and pull each other. This force decreases sharply the greater the distance. At the same time the force of their movements tends to pull them away from each other. This interaction was discovered by the great British scientist Isaak Newton in the 17th century.
Astronomers have identified more than 4.000 pieces of rock, known as asteroids, orbiting the sun. However there are probably millions of these minor planets, some only a few metres across. Most are in the Asteroid Belts lying between Mars and Jupiter.
The farthest, Chiron, orbits the sun beyond Saturn.
The sight of a great comet hanging in the sky, looking like a ghostly dagger poised to strike3, is an impressive spectacle. Yet, comets are all snow and no substance – a “dirty snowball”, or lump of ice. The long, oval orbit of a comet carries it close to the sun and far away again. As it approaches the sun, the frozen surface starts to evaporate, forming a great head of gas, which the solar wind sweeps4 into a long tail. The comet’s moment of glory lasts a brief few weeks before it heads back to the icy outer reaches of the solar system.
Planets, asteroids and satellites are only visible by virtue5 of the sunlight they reflect. What we see of any of these objects at a particular time is limited to the half that faces the sun. Planets with orbits larger than that of the earth never come between us and the sun, so we can always see nearly the whole of their illuminated sides. Mercury and Venus, however, have orbits smaller than the earth’s and are between us and the sun for a good part6 of each revolution. In this position their dark sides are turned toward us, and we see them either not at all or as crescents.
Notes:
to be poised in emptiness – находиться в невесомости
in its turn – в свою очередь
a ghostly dagger poised to strike – призрачный кинжал занесенный для удара
to sweep – зд.: преобразовывать
by virtue of smth. – посредством чего-либо
a good part of smth. – значительная часть чего-либо