- •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
Text c The Earth. Size. Shape.
Task. Scan the text and compare the early measurements of the Earth’s circumference made by Aristotle, Archimedes and Eratosthenes. Explain what gives the Earth a spherical shape.
Size
The ancient Egyptians saw the universe as a great box, with Egypt in the centre of its long, narrow floor. The top of the box was the sky, from which lamps were suspended by means of ropes. These were the stars. Other lamps, which were carried in heavenly boats, travelled about the sky and appeared as planets. They thought the Milky Way was the equivalent of the Nile, and the regions through which it flowed were where dead Egyptians lived.
As time went on, people began to put together a remarkably accurate picture of the earth and the solar system. As early as the fifth century B.C., Parmenides declared that the earth was a sphere. It is probable that he realized this from listening to travellers. These discovered that, when they went north, a greater number of stars remained above the horizon all night. They also realized that, when they went south, they could see other stars (for instance, Canopus, which can not be seen from Greece). The early travellers also reported that the length of the day changed with what we now call latitude. This was rather difficult to explain in terms of a flat earth.
In time, when the ancient Greeks accepted that the earth was round, attempts were made to estimate its size. Aristotle quotes 400,000 stadia for the circumference. This is much too big. He does not say where he got this figure from. Probably he took it from the earlier work of Eudoxus, a mathematician and astronomer. Archimedes later gave the circumference as 300,000 stadia. This is better, though still 20 percent in error.
Eratosthenes made the best of the early measurements of the earth’s circumference. He worked in the great library at Alexandria. He knew that, at Syene, which was due south of Alexandria, the sun was directly overhead at midday on the first day of summer. On the first day of summer in 250 B.C., he carefully measured the extent to which the sun’s rays slanted away from the vertical at midday in Alexandria. He found that this angle was 1/50 of a complete circle, of a little over 7º. Since the distance from Syene to Alexandria was 5,000 stadia, the circumference of the earth, corresponding to a full circle of 360º, must be 50 times 5,000, or 250,000 stadia.
How long is a stadium? There were several different stadia in use in the ancient world. Eratosthenes probably used the stadium of 517 ft. This means a circumference of 24,500 mi. This is not far from more recent calculations of 24,860 mi. In round numbers, the earth's radius is 4,000 mi, the same as 6,400 km.
Shape
Why is the earth round? Why does it not look like an egg or a pyramid?
We can understand the shape of the earth by considering the pressures beneath the earth's surface. Pressure in water is familiar enough: a dam must be much thicker at the bottom than at the top in order to withstand the greater pressure. A submarine can descend only a few hundred feet under the surface of the sea. Below that its hull will collapse. These forces are due to the weight of the overlying liquid. This in turn is a consequence of the earth’s gravitational pull. With increasing distance below the surface of the earth’s pressures quickly become enormous. No material can resist these pressures without flowing in response. This means that one part of the earth cannot project outward very much farther than other parts; if it did, the pressure under it would be greater than under surrounding regions. The rock beneath the bump would then flow out to the sides until the pressures were equalized.
Thus gravity is what gives the earth a spherical shape and keeps all parts of its surface the same distance from the centre. Such minor irregularities as mountains and ocean basins do not greatly disturb the pressure balance, but no large protuberance can exist.
Ex. 1. Put the sentences in the logical order.
It is probable that he realized this from listening to travellers.
The early travellers also reported that the length of the day changed with what we how call latitude.
As early as the fifth century B.C. Parmenides declared that Earth was a sphere.
This is much too big. He does not say where be got this figure from.
Aristotle quotes 400,000 stadia for the circumference.
He worked in the great library at Alexandria.
Eratosthenes made the best of the early measurements of the Earth’s circumference.
The travellers discovered that, when they went north, a greater number of stars remained above the horizon all night.
Ex. 2. Complete the chart below.
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Date
Scientists
Discoveries
Ex. 3. Discuss in groups the problems raised in the text.