Задание 3. Прочитайте и переведите текст, пользуясь словарем.

Weather. Seasons

Задание 1. Прочитайте текст и заполните пропуски следующими фрагментами:

a) because the winter snow is melting

b) and the nights are long

c) where you can swim and go sailing

d) change to wonderful colours

Norway

When to go

Norway has four wonderful seasons andthere are places to visit all year round.

Spring: The weather gets warmer after the long winter and you can experience the Norwegian Fjords by boat. At this time of the year, the waterfalls are strong and dramatic 1 ___. The days are warmer, but you need to bring an umbrella!

Summer: People think that Norway is a cold country all year round, but in fact the temperatures can reach 25 - 30 degrees ˚С during the summer. This is the ideal time to visit the sandy beaches of southern Norway. There are also many beautiful lakes 2 ___.

Autumn: This is a quiet time in Norway and it is one of the best times to visit because the countryside is very beautiful. The trees 3 ___ when autumn comes. The air is also clear and fresh. This means it is the perfect time to go mountain trekking.

Winter: When the temperature drops, Norway becomes a special place to visit. In the mountain areas you can go skiing and snowboarding. It is also the ideal time to visit the north of Norway - the Arctic region. When the weather is right 4 ___, you can see the spectacular Northern Lights - an unforgettable experience.

Задание 2. Прочитайте и переведите текст.

Weather forecasting - why we do it

Weather forecasts help ordinary people plan their daily life, but accurate forecasts are more important for farmers and sailors. Farmers can decide when to collect their crops and sailors can plan for storms.

The natural world can help us forecast the weather. For example, this is a popular saying: 'Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor's warning.' The red night sky means good weather the next day. The red morning sky means bad weather later that day.

Most weather data comes from small weather stations on land which measure wind speed, air pressure, temperature and rainfall. Scientists also use weather balloons to collect the same information from high in the atmosphere.

Nowadays, satellites provide useful measurements and images. This information helps us understand how weather works and this means we can make better forecasts with fewer mistakes.

Scientists use the data from weather stations and satellites to make forecasts. They also use it to create different models of the atmosphere. However, they still can't predict the weather more than five days in advance.

Определите, верны или нет следующие утверждения:

1. Farmers don't need weather forecasts.

2. Sailors prefer a red sky in the evening.

3. Weather balloons don't measure wind speed.

4. Satellite pictures are useful for weather forecasters.

5. Scientists make good forecasts for two-week periods.

Задание 3. Прочитайте и переведите текст, пользуясь словарем.

The islanders of Kiribati and Tuvalu do not need to read about climate change and global warming - they can see it happening all around them. Sea levels are rising, and this is changing the way the people in these small Pacific islands live. Farmers have to grow crops in tin cans because there is too much salt in the ground, the fish are dying because the sea is too warm, and drinking water is harder and harder to find. The small island of Tebua Tarawra has already disappeared, and the islanders of Kiribati and Tuvalu are afraid that more of their land will soon be under water.

Most scientists around the world agree that the Earth is getting warmer. They believe that some places are already 2˚ hotter than they were 50 years ago, and that temperatures will go up another 5˚ in the next hundred years. This means that the ice at the North and South Pole will melt, the oceans will expand and the sea will rise by as much as one meter. In the atmosphere above the earth, gases like carbon dioxide naturally trap the sun's heat and keep the air warm. This stops most of the world from becoming covered in ice. However, the problem is that human beings are now making this happen more quickly and dramatically in what scientists call the 'greenhouse effect'. We are creating more and more carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels (coal and oil) to make electricity and drive cars. In the USA alone, each person creates six tons of carbon dioxide a year.

Nobody knows what will happen if global warming continues, but we can look at an example from the past to see what might happen. In the Pacific Ocean there is another small island, a rocky, treeless place called Easter Island, which has many strange old statues. Hundreds of years ago it was green and rich and covered in trees. However, the islanders cut down their trees to make fires, build boats and move their statues. As the forests got smaller, they had less fruit and fewer wild animals and birds to eat; and the people began to go hungry. In the end, there were no trees at all. The islanders started wars and killed each other, until there was almost no-one left.

Some scientists believe that in the future the weather will be more extreme - there will be stronger hurricanes, bigger floods and longer droughts. Some parts of the world may get warmer and wetter, and others may get colder. This may affect forests, the food we grow and the animals that live in the wild, and cause disease to spread more quickly.

In many ways we are luckier than the Easter Islanders, we know about the problems and dangers and what we should do. Let us hope that we do not make the same mistakes and we learn to look after the environment.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29