- •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 d The Soil Beneath our Feet
Task. Scan the text. Choose the one best alternative to each question following it. Answer all the questions on the basis of what is stated or implied in the text.
Soil, like faith, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is the starting point for all the living things that inhabit the earth. The flowers, fruits and vegetables that grow in the garden, the trees that tower in the woods and forests, and the grains and grasses that flourish in the fields, as well as animals that consume them – all owe their existence to the soil. And man himself, by way of the food he eats, is a product of the soil, and to the soil his body will be returned.
What is soil? In the largest part, soil is what is left of the rocks that originally covered the face of the earth after the winds and rains and the heat and cold of the centuries had broken them to pieces, and the water that fell as rain had dissolved and carried them away, largely out to sea.
But soil is more than a residue of rocks. It contains the remains of many generations of plants and animals that have lived on the earth. On and within a soil are the myriads of living things that use the soil as their abode. These are a part of the soil.
Considered as an entity in itself, the soil has certain readily apparent features, such as its color, the sizes, shapes, and arrangements of its component particles, and its internal air and water relationships.
The vegetation growing on any given area of soil in its virgin state provides a clue not only to the nature of the climate but to the nature of the underlying soil as well. The climate may vary all the way from that of the desert to that of the tropical jungles. And the vegetation, likewise, may vary all the way from the cactus of the arid regions and the short grasses of the semiarid regions to the tall tress of the high-rainfall regions, with the tall grasses and shrubs in between.
This means that soil must be considered in relation to its environment. Soil, climate and vegetation are so closely identified with each other that if one knows the facts about any two of these he can deduce most of the facts about the third. In other words, if one knows the nature of the soil and climate, he can predict quite accurately the nature of the natural vegetation. If he knows the nature of the soil and the vegetation, he can predict the nature of the climate. And if he knows the nature of the climate and vegetation, he can predict the nature of the soil.
Russian scientists were responsible for the development of the first systematic scheme for grouping soils on the basis of climatic and vegetative factors. If one takes the train from Odessa to Moscow, whether by way of Kiev to Krakow, he will travel over more than one thousand miles of to rolling plains that are covered with deep black soil, which the Russians named chernozem, meaning “black earth”. This is the great wheat belt of the Ukraine. A peculiar fact about this deep black soil is the whitish layer of a limestonelike deposit that is found in the subsoil.
The same kind of deep black soil are found in a number of other regions over the earth where climatic conditions are essentially the same as those in the Ukraine. In the United States they, and their close relatives, cover an extensive area from North Dakota Southward to the Rio Grande and eastward across Illinois and into Indiana. Other large areas of these black soils are found in Southern Canada, Northern Argentina, central Rumania and South Africa.
North of the Ukraine in Russia is another large area of quite different soil. The Russians named these soils podzols, meaning “ashes”. The explanations for this name lies in a highly bleached grayish-white layer that is found just below the fertile layer of topsoil.
These gray to gray-brown soils are dominant throughout central Europe. In North America they extend Southword from eastern Canada to the cotton belt and from Minnesota eastward to Nova Scotia. Similar soils are found in the temperature zones of South America.
Colors of soils vary from the deep reds of the tropics, the yellow-reds of the semitropical regions, and the gray-browns of the warmer portions of the humid temperature zones to the grays of the cooler, moister regions farther north. Going from the more humid to the drier temperature climates, the gray-brown soils of the once forested areas are displaced by the black-brown soils of the prairies and plains, the regions, and the gray-red soils of the deserts. Under conditions of poor drainage, as in a wet subsoil or under a manure heap, blue-green and mottled colors will be noted. Along the seashore the white sands are found in abundance.
The sizes of soil particles vary from coarse sands, the grains of which are readily apparent to the eye, to the very fine clays that, when broken down into their individual units, can be seen only with a microscope. In between are the fine sands and the intermediate sized silt particles. Every soil is made up particles of a wide range of sizes. One or another of these sizes may be predominant in any given soil, but most soils contain particles of all sizes between the coarsest sands and the finest clays.
In the tropics, where rainfall is heavy and the natural cover is an almost impenetrable forest, one is impressed by the deep red colour of the soil. This color has led to the soil’s being named latosol, a word derived from the Latin “later”, meaning “brick”.
According to the text what remains does soil contain?
winds
plants and Animals
rains
minerals
The word soil is closest in meaning to:
mineral
plant
earth
air
According to the text who was responsible for the development of the first systematic scheme for grouping soils on the basis of climatic and vegetative factors?
American scientists
British scientists
German scientists
Russian scientists
According to the text in relation to what must soil be considered?
to its place
to its environment
to its nature
to its development
According to the text what can one predict quite accurately if he knows the nature of the soil and climate?
the nature of deposits
the nature of grasses
the nature of natural vegetation
the nature of shrubs
According to the text how did the Russians name deep black soil?
clay
chalk
ashes
chernozem (black earth)
According to the text in what country is there a great wheat belt?
Belarus
The Ukraine
Poland
Russia
According to text where is another large area of quite different soil?
South of the Ukraine
North of the Ukraine in Russia
in Sweden
in Canada
According to the text where are gray to gray-brown soils dominant?
throughout North Europe
throughout Canada
throughout Central Europe
throughout South America
According to the text where are white sands found in abundance?
along the rivers
along the lakes
along the oceans
along the seashore