- •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
The World’s Inconstant Climate
The world’s climate is not and never has been constant. Climate, the long-term behaviour of weather, is inherently changeable. Not only are there gross changes over geological time scales (ice ages and interglacial warm periods) but smaller changes on much shorter time scales occur, too. Temperatures in Europe during the medieval warm period were on average 0,5 0 C warmer than they are now. But just two hundred years later it was a different story. The sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were up to 1 0 cooler than today’s average temperatures. This was the time of the so-called ‘Little Ice Age’.
Recent climatic changes have been less marked1 than our changes in mental attitude, and our perception2 of the weather. During the 1980s there has been increasing concern3 that the weather has become more extreme, that the climate is changing for the worse, and that it’s man’s fault. This may be true, but there is no evidence4 to show that freak5 events are likely to become6 more frequent. It’s unlikely, for example, that major floods are occurring with any greater frequency than they have in the past, but modern reporting ensures7 that greater numbers of people are rapidly informed about such disasters. While freak weather is nothing new, it is a good talking-point when it does occur.
The 1780s experienced a historically interesting pattern of climatic variations which in some ways echo the changes now in evidence.8 Several extremes in temperature and rainfall during that decade resulted in9 extreme variability of the weather from year to year and season to season. The unstable climate began to be a major cause for concern. Complaints about sunless summers, prolonged winters, droughts and unseasonal frosts were the order of the day. Europe was experiencing the tail-end10 of the Little ice Age, and beginning to warm out of this cold period. But increased volcanic activity in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries produced dust veils11 in the upper atmosphere which may have prolonged12 the cold spell. The two conflicting influences were possibly the cause of the extreme variability.
Although the dust veils probably had an overall effect of keeping global temperatures down by partially blocking and scattering the sun’s rays, it is not believed that volcanic activity was responsible for the climatic change which caused the Little Ice Age in the first place. Some scientists believe that the Little Ice Age could have been the result of13 changing solar output rather than dust in the atmosphere. The sun’s output probably varies by about 0,1% during the eleven-year solar cycle, and this fact has recently been related to sunspot activity; the fewer the sunspots, the less the sun’s output. There were very few sunspots during the seventeenth century, so this is the most likely cause for the cool period.
The next Ice Age is still in the distant future, and our present concern is for the climate during the coming hundreds, rather than thousands, of years. But human concern is unavoidable. If the current global warming trend continues, and if it is due to man’s activities, we could be creating major problems for our children. Climatic change is a natural phenomenon, but Man’s excessive burning of fossil fuels may have begun to create climatic14 changes of a magnitude15 unprecedented in human history.
Notes:
mark v – замечать
perception n – восприятие
concern n – беспокойство, тревога
evidence n – доказательство
freak adj – необычный, странный
… are likely to become … – вероятно станут
ensure v – обеспечивать, гарантировать
in evidence – заметный
result in – приводить к
tail-end n – окончание, заключительная часть
veil n – покров, завеса, пелена
... may have prolonged … – возможно продлили
… could have been the result of …– возможно произошел в результате
… may have begun to create … – возможно спровоцировала появление
magnitude n –величина, размер
Ex. 1. Complete the table below.
climatic change |
origin of climatic change |
historical pattern |
consequences of climatic change |
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Ex. 2. Draw a diagram of temperature variations described in the text and explain it.
Ex. 3. Five of the ten sentences below are accurate summaries of the five paragraphs in the text. Connect these five sentences to their appropriate paragraph.
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Ex. 4. Explain and expand on the following.
Climatic changes have been more extreme in recent years.
1780s were the most significant in determining climatic changes.
Man is responsible for climatic changes.
Text D
Task. Scan the text. Choose the one best alternative to each question following it. Answer all questions on the basis of what is stated or implied in the text.