Exercise 5. Match the English words with their Russian equivalents.

1. found

2. mention

3. replace

4. disappear

5. descend

6. cross

7. adjoin

8. build

9. stand

10. erect

11. rebuild

12. demolish

13. appear

14. lay out

15. serve

16. create

17. reduce

18. continue

19. add

20. mark

A. примыкать

B. появляться

C. отмечать

D. упоминать

E. разрушать

F. исчезать

G. уменьшать

H. добавлять

I. служить чем-либо

J. продолжать

K. пересекать

L. создавать

M. восстанавливать

N. заменять

O. стоять

P. основывать

Q. возводить

R. спускаться

S. строить

T. разбивать (сад, парк)

UNIT 3. WEATHER PROVERBS

People have been forecasting the weather for centuries. They once looked to plants and animals for hints about what the weather would do. For example, before it rained, some people often observed that ants moved to higher ground, cows lay down, pine cones opened up, frogs croaked more frequently, and sheep’s wool uncurled. Over the years, people began to notice other natural clues to upcoming weather, and several weather "sayings" grew up over the years.

When looking at weather proverbs, keep this in mind: they are usually based on someone’s observations and not on scientific studies. Because climates and weather patterns differ throughout the world, a weather proverb based on observations in one location may not be valid in another location. Some proverbs arose simply from coincidence, not weather patterns, and therefore may seldom hold true. But under certain circumstances, some proverbs do hold up to science.

Here are some that, under the right circumstances, have proven valid.

"Red Sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor takes warning."

When the western sky is especially clear, there is often a red sunset. That's because as the sun sets, its light shines through much more of the lower atmosphere, which contains dust, salt, smoke and pollution. These particles scatter away some of the shorter wavelengths of light (the violets and blues), leaving only the longer wavelengths (the oranges and reds.) If an area of high air pressure is present, the air sinks. This sinking air holds air contaminants near the earth, making the sunset even redder than usual. This would be the “red sky at night.” In the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, weather systems most often approach from the west. Since high pressure generally brings fair weather, this type of red sky at sunset would indicate that clear weather is approaching, which would "delight" a sailor. If the sky is red in the eastern morning sky for the same reasons as above, then the high pressure region has most likely already passed from west to the east, and an area of low pressure may follow. Low pressure usually brings clouds, rain or storms, a warning for sailors.

"Clear moon, frost soon."

If the atmosphere is clear, the surface of the earth will cool rapidly as heat is radiated away at night. There is no "blanket" of clouds to keep the heat that the ground absorbed during the day from radiating back up into space. If the temperature is low enough on these clear nights and there's no wind, frost may form.

"A year of snow, a year of plenty."

A continuous covering of snow on farmland and orchards delays the blossoming of fruit trees until the season of killing frosts is over. It also prevents the alternate thawing and freezing which destroys wheat and other winter grains.

"Halo around the sun or moon, rain or snow soon."

The halo around the sun or moon is a layer of cirrus clouds made of ice crystals. These ice crystals act as tiny prisms, forming a white or sometimes colorful halo around the sun or moon. It often indicates an approaching warm front and an associated area of low pressure. Rain or snow will not always follow, but there is a higher probability of it after a halo is seen, and the brighter the circle, the greater the probability.

"Rainbow in the morning gives you fair warning."

In the morning, when the sun is in the east, the shower and its rainbow are in the west. As the weather in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere moves mostly from west to east, the morning rainbow indicates that rain is moving from the west toward the observer.

"When the stars begin to huddle, the earth will soon become a puddle."

When clouds increase, whole areas of stars may be hidden by clouds with groups of stars, still in the clear sky, seem to huddle together. The clouds are increasing, so the chance of rain is increasing too.

EXERCISES

Exercise 1. Say whether these sentences are true or false and explain why.

1. People have been forecasting the weather looking to plants and animals for hints.

2. If ants move to higher ground and cows lay down, that is the sign of snow.

3. All weather proverbs are usually based on scientific studies.

4. A weather proverb based on observations in one part of the world is always valid in another one.

5. A red sunset is a sign of a rain.

6. If the sky is red in the morning there will be no rain.

7. If the atmosphere is clear, the surface of the earth cools very quickly.

8. If in winter you can see a lot of stars in the sky at night the day will be cold.

9. A continuous covering of snow on farmland destroys wheat and other winter grains.

10. The halo around the sun or moon is a layer of cirrus clouds made of ice crystals.

11. The halo around the sun indicates an approaching warm dry weather.

12. The morning rainbow indicates that rain is moving from the west.

13. Stars seem to “huddle” together because other groups of stars are completely hidden by clouds.

Exercise 2. Match each word with a word from the line to make compound words.

pressure stones drift storm warning rain wave pour clouds

1 thunder 4 down 7 snow

2 cirrus 5 heat 8 gale

3 torrential 6 hail 9 low

Exercise 3. What kinds of weather do you think caused the following to happen? Write a sentence which could go beforeeach of these.

1 We had to sit in the shade every afternoon.

2 The sweat was pouring out of us.

3 I can hardly breathe; I wish it would rain to cool us down.

4 Cars were skidding out of control.

5 Even the postman had to use a boat to get around.

6 They had to close the airport; the snow was a metre deep.

7 We were able to sit in the garden in the middle of winter.

8 The earth became rock-hard and a lot of plants died.

9 It blew the newspaper clean out of my hands.

10 A row of big trees had been uprooted like matchsticks.

11 I could hardly see my hand in front of my face.

Exercise 4. What types of weather are bad and good for doing these things?

Example: Skiing bad: mild weather which makes the snow melt; good: cold, clear days

1 Planting flowers in a garden 4 A day of sightseeing in a big city

2 Having an evening barbecue 5 Camping out in a tent

3 Going out in a small sailing boat 6 Looking at ships through binoculars

Exercise 5. This chart shows anyone who wants to visit the West of Ireland what weather to expect at different times of the year. Make a similar chart for your country or home region.

Exercise 6. Form adjectives from the nouns.

Exercise 7. A. Find the definitions for the underlined words. (cold weather)

In Scandinavia, the chilly days of autumn soon change to the cold days of winter. The first frosts arrive and the roads become icy. Rain becomes sleet and then snow, at first turning to slush in the streets, but soon settling, with severe blizzards and snowdrifts in the far north. Freezing weather often continues in the far north until May or even June, when the ground starts to thaw and the ice melts again.

(1) change from solid to liquid under heat (2) dirty, brownish, half-snow, half-water (3) snow blown by high winds (4) cold, but not very (5) change from hard, frozen state to normal (6) deep banks of snow against walls, etc. (7) staying as a white covering (8) rain and snow mixed (9) thin white coat of ice on everything

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