Part II. The British Climate
1. Text A
The climate of Britain is more or less the same as that of the north-western part of the European mainland. The popular belief that it rains all the time in Britain is simply not true. The image of a wet, foggy land was created two thou-sand years ago by the invading Romans and has been perpetuated in modern times by Hollywood.
The amount of rain that falls on a town in Britain depends on where it is. Generally speaking, the further west you go, the more rain you get. The mild winters mean that snow is a regular feature of the higher areas only. Occasion-ally, a whole winter goes by in lowerlying parts without any snow at all. The winters are in general a bit colder in the east of the country than they are in the west, while in summer, the south is slightly warmer and sunnier than in the north.
Why has Britain’s climate got such a bad reputation? Perhaps it is for the same reason that British people always seem to be talking about the weather. This is its changeability. There are many jokes about the English climate. One of them is that there is no climate in England, only weather. And it is true that there is no time of the year when we can really count on its being fine or rainy, warm or cold. It may not rain very much altogether, but you can never be sure of a dry day; there can be cool (even cold) days in July and quite warm days in January.
When two Englishmen meet, their first words will be "How do you do?” or "How are you?” and after the reply "Very well, thank you. How are you?” the next remark is almost certain to be about the weather. It is almost a formality, like shaking hands. "Yes, it’s wonderful weather we are having. I hope it will keep fine, it seems almost too good to last long”, or "How do you do? A bit parky, isn’t it?” Parky means cold, and it is only used when talking about the weather. Other typical comments on the weather are, "What is the weather like down your way?” or "What time did the rain get to your part of the world?”
Then there are people who pretend they know exactly what the weather will do next. That sort of person is always convinced that it will get worse.
English people are apt to complain of the British climate as being damp and rainy, and foreigners laugh at it and say that the English summer is made up of three fine days and a thunderstorm.
The British Isles which are surrounded by the ocean have an insular climate. The three things that chiefly determine the climate of England are: (1) the posi-tion of the island in the temperature belt; (2) the fact that the prevailing winds blow from the west and south-west; (3) the warm current - the Gulf Stream that flows from the Gulf of Mexico, along the western shores of England.
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The climate is mild. It is hard to say that England has typical weather because of the sudden changes that occur - showers from what was only a few hours be-fore a clear blue sky; sunshine that makes you want to leave off most of your clothes followed by winds that set you wishing for two overcoats. The winter fogs are, indeed, awful; they surpass all imagination.
So, what is the weather like in England in winter? It is not so cold as in Rus-sia. The temperature seldom falls below 3 or 4 degrees. The usual temperature is about zero; the landscape doesn’t change very much in winter. The grass re-mains green all the year round. The air is frequently damp and foggy. It often rains and it seldom snows. The snow usually melts very quickly. The English ports are ice-free and its rivers are not frozen throughout the year. But still, in the winter months. Britain is affected by Polar air. Then there is a cold, dry, bit-ing wind which brings black frosts. February and March are the months with most snow though it can fall as late as June in the Scottish Highlands.
The seasons do not differ too sharply from one another, one merges gradually into another. Spring comes slowly in England and it grows warmer gradually. Spring is the driest season. Cold, dry winds blow, the skies are calm and clear. The weather in spring, however, is changeable, and even if the sky is blue, with-out a single cloud in the morning, it is always wise to take a mac or an umbrella.
In early summer the winds send fine sunny weather with blue skies in which clouds may build up by day and die away at night. If the temperature goes above 23 or 25 degrees they call it a heatwave, because it is above the usual average temperature for their summers. Thunderstorms are common in summer and the counties in the east get most rain in this season. But the rain is heavier in the hills and it is here that great floods occur which do the most damage in narrow valleys.
Because of its climate England is a land of gardens and flowers. Indeed, they have flowers all the year round. Roses, for example, can be found in flower-beds from late spring until December.
In early autumn, especially after a fine summer, the air is damp as the sun sinks lower. The temperature falls and mist and fog form in the evening after a fine day. At first they melt in the warmth of the early morning sun but as the days get shorter they may last throughout the day. At other times strong winds bring stormy weather with heavy rains and gales.
The English people find it difficult to convince foreigners that England is not always, or most of the year covered with a thick blanket of fog. It is true that they do have some fog, but only rarely there is such a thick fog that all the traffic comes to a standstill. These thick fogs that are called "pea-soupers” (pea-soup fogs) belonging more to fiction than to fact are very bad for the lungs and can kill people who suffer from bronchitis or asthma.
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The weather changes with the change of the season. Winter cold comes back when spring seems already to be here, or warm fine summer days return in mid-October (Indian summer) gilding the autumn leaves.
The highlands and the mountains lie mainly in the west and are affected by the winds off the ocean. The plains lie mainly in the east, and are affected by frosts and drought. But there is a feel of wind almost everywhere. The moods of British weather are really surprising. On the whole the warm moist winds off the warm waters of the North Atlantic Drift are so common that the general climate is very mild.
Droughts occur, but crops are never a complete loss, nor do animals perish. Sometimes a little whirlwind (a "twister”) can destroy houses, heavy snowfalls and the much commoner icy roads can stop traffic but fog is the greatest disaster that can happen, causing accidents on roads and railways. These events fill the newspapers, but in contrast with the heatwaves in New York, or blizzards on the prairies, floods in China, droughts in Australia, hurricanes in Florida or torna-does in Kansas, British weather seems indeed mild.
In England they always have the weather to talk about. So whenever you strike up a conversation in England, may be at the barber’s, in the street or on a train journey, you inevitably get around to two subjects - the weather and sport, which are as much part of English life as bacon and eggs, roast beef and the Houses of Parliament.
1.1. Notes on Text A
1) a belief - the feeling that something is definitely true or definitely exists
2) to perpetuate - to make something continue to exist for a long time - увекове-чивать, сохранять навсегда
3) to count on... - to depend on or to be certain of someone or something - рас-считывать на...
4) a comment on smth. - an opinion you express about someone or something
5) to be apt to do smth. - to have a natural tendency to do smth. - быть склон-ным к...
6) a prevailing wind - a wind that blows over a particular area most of the time
7) black frost - a low temperature that causes intense cold without ice crystals - мороз без инея
8) to merge into smth. - to seem to disappear into smth. and become part of it
9) skies (sg. sky) - the space above the earth. Used mainly in the singular - "не-бо, небеса”. The plural form enters many idiomatic expressions such as "to praise to the skies”. In the text the plural form is used for emphasis.
10) clouds build up ≠ die away / disperse / lift - clouds, that is the mass of water-vapour which can be seen floating above the earth gather together (disappear) - облака собираются (исчезают)
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11) a heat-wave - a rather long period of very hot weather - полоса сильной жары
12) throughout the day - весь день, с утра до вечера
13) a gale - a rather strong wind between a breeze and a storm - сильный штормовой ветер
14) a pea-soup fog - a thick, yellow fog especially in London - густой желтый туман
15) to gild - (literally) to make smth. look as if it is covered in gold
16) off the ocean - the adverb "off” usually means "from” or "away from” smth. In the text the phrase means "ветры, дующие с океана”.
17) a drought [draut] - a period of dry weather that makes the land hard and af-fects the crops - засуха
18) a whirlwind [wз:lwind] - a swift circular movement of the air, a windstorm - вихрь
19) a blizzard - a severe snowstorm with a strong wind - буран
20) a tornado [to:'neidзu] - a very strong whirlwind - сильный вихревой шквал.
1.2. Phonetic Practice
Exercise 1. Look up the words in a dictionary, transcribe and learn them:
gild, blizzard, flood, hurricane, European, image, lowerlying, changeability, al-together, exactly, laugh, insular, occur, surpass, throughout, heatwave, blanket, bronchitis, asthma, drought, complete, whirlwind, Australia, Florida, Kansas, journey, perpetuate.
Exercise 2. Practise the sounds and sound combinations in the following words.
[з:] - first, early, worst, whirlwind, occur, return, further, word, world, merge;
[ei] - rain, great, late, create, invading, shaking, way, say, remain, gale, train;
[ai] - mild, night, biting, higher, while, slightly, fine, dry, July, quite, reply, nice, island, find, icy;
[зu] - low, most, ago, Romans, snow, go, only, whole, cold, polar, blow;
[br] - Britain, bring;
[dr] - dry, drought
[gr] - great, grass, grow
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[kr] - Christmas
[fr] - frost, frosty, freezing, frozen
[kl] - clear, cloud, climate
[nøs] - months
[mø] - warmth
Exercise 3. Write the degrees of comparison of the following adjectives.
Transcribe them. Practise their reading.
dry, heavy, low, cold, early, soft, icy, great, bad, near, wet, hot, sunny, cloudy, chilly
Exercise 4. Read the rhythmic groups beating the rhythm:
a) two stressed syllables, each followed by an unstressed syllable:
'narrow ¬ valleys
'early ¬ autumn
'winter ¬ weather
a) three stressed syllables:
the 'sun 'sinks ¬ lower
the 'days 'get ¬ shorter
'get 'most ¬ rain
'bring 'stormy ¬ weather
a) three stressed syllables, each preceded by an unstressed syllable:
the 'skies are 'calm and ¬ clear
may 'last through 'out the ¬ day
are a 'ffected by 'frosts and ¬ droughts
the 'bitter 'easterly ¬ winds
the 'moods of 'British ¬ weather
a) four stressed syllables:
'cold 'dry 'winds ¬ blow
'warm 'fine 'summer ¬ days
a 'cold 'dry 'biting ¬ wind
a) four stressed syllables, each followed by several unstressed syllables:
'melt in the 'warmth of the 'early ¬ morning
'causing 'accidents on 'roads and ¬ railways
'crops are 'never a com'plete ¬ loss
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1.3. Vocabulary Practice
Exercise 1. Find the English equivalents in the text:
• европейский материк
• общеизвестный факт (мнение)
• количество выпадающих осадков
• ...чем дальше на запад, тем дождливее
• мягкие зимы
• иметь плохую репутацию
• ...исходя из того, что британцы, кажется, постоянно говорят о погоде
• об английском климате ходит много шуток
• ...рассчитывать на то, что погода будет хорошей (рассчитывать на хорошую погоду)
• следующая фраза будет наверняка о погоде
• англичане склонны (привыкли) жаловаться на свой климат
• острова, окруженные океаном
• ...три параметра, в основном определяющие климат Великобритании
• ... ветры, преимущественно дующие с запада и юго-запада
• ...из-за внезапно происходящих перемен в погоде
• ливни, за несколько часов до которых было чистое голубое небо
• трава остается зеленой круглый год
• в зимние месяцы британские острова находятся под воздействием полярного воздуха
• погода постепенно становится теплее
• весна - самое сухое время года
• собираться / исчезать (об облаках)
• летом часто бывают грозы
• температура падает и вечером образуется туман
• туман рассеивается в теплых лучах раннего утреннего солнца
• иногда сильные ветры несут с собой грозовую погоду
• ...убеждать иностранцев
• быть покрытым густым туманом
• густой туман скорее из области вымысла, нежели действительности
• ветры, дующие с океана
• причуды английской погоды удивительны
• иногда бывают засухи
• климат Англии кажется умеренным
• разговориться / завести разговор о...
• вы неизбежно коснетесь двух аспектов...
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Exercise 2. Answer the following questions.
1) Is the climate of Britain different from that of the north-western part of the European mainland?
2) Why do English people always seem to be talking about the weather?
3) What do Englishmen usually start talking about when they meet?
4) What are the three things that chiefly determine the climate of England?
5) What is the weather like in Britain in winter?
6) What does the cold winter wind bring?
7) Which months are marked by most snow?
8) Which is the driest season in Britain?
9) What is the weather like in Britain in spring?
10) Are thunderstorms common in summer?
11) What is the weather like in Britain in autumn?
12) Why is the climate of the British Isles mild?
13) How does the North Atlantic Drift influence the weather of the British Isles?
Exercise 3. Find answers to the following questions in the text.
1) Who is supposed to have created the image of Great Britain as that of a wet foggy land?
2) What do the mild winters mean?
3) Why had Britain’s climate got such a bad reputation?
4) What does "parky” mean?
5) What affects British weather in winter?
6) Where can snow fall as late as June?
7) Which countries get most rain in summer?
8) Where is the rain heavier?
9) Where do great floods occur?
10) What is Indian summer?
11) Why do English people find it difficult to convince foreigners that England is not always covered with a thick blanket of fog?
12) What is a "twister”?
13) Do heavy snowfalls occur in Great Britain?
Exercise 4. Find factual information in the text to prove that.
1. The climate of Great Britain is more or less the same as that of the north-western part of the European mainland.
2. There are many jokes about the English climate.
3. It is hard to say that England has typical weather.
4. Winters in England are not so cold as in Russia.
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5. Spring comes slowly in England.
6. England is a land of gardens and flowers.
7. Fog is the greatest disaster that can happen.
8. British weather can be favourably compared with the weather of other coun-tries.
Exercise 5. Explain the italicized part.
1) ...there is a cold, dry, biting wind which brings black frosts.
2) ...it is here that great floods occur which do the worst damage in narrow val-leys.
3) ...fine summer days return in mid-October gilding the autumn leaves.
4) ...icy roads can stop traffic.
5) The moods of British weather are really surprising.
6) ...thick fogs which are called "pea-soupers” belong more to fiction than to fact.
Exercise 6. a) Break up the text into several parts.
b) Give a title to each part.
Exercise 7. Translate the following texts into Russian. Retell the texts in Eng-lish.
a) It is Raining Cats and Dogs.
When it pours with rain we often say: "It’s raining cats and dogs.” But we don’t know why, and what this saying’s original meaning was. In distant times, people thought that witches could turn themselves into cats and ride across the stormy skies on their broomsticks, and cats were thought to be a big influence on the weather. The dog was the servant of the North storm God, Odin, and rep-resented the wind. Cats and dogs from that time have meant the wind and the rain.
b) London Fogs.
Because of its geographical position in a deep river valley London is occa-sionally enveloped by unusually thick fog. The worst of these fogs began on De-cember 4th, 1952 and there was a similar one in December 1962. All traffic was forced to a standstill as visibility fell to nil. The streets near the centre of London were jammed with buses crawling along at two miles per hour.
At Convent Garden a performance of La Traviata had to be abandoned after the first act because so much fog penetrated into the building that the audience
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could no longer see the singers clearly. It was a terrible fog and counted the death of some 4.000 people in London.
As a matter of fact this "deadly” kind of fog is called by Londoners "smog”. It is the kind of fog you get only in towns - particularly in the industrial areas. It is a mixture of smoke and fog together, and it is dangerous and deadly especially for people who are suffering from any kind of respiratory troubles.
And this now belongs to the past. In 1959 the Clean Air Council began their work of freeing London from the worst kinds of smoke. Now it is no longer al-lowed to make a fire with ordinary coal, only smokeless fuel can be used. Sun-shine in winter has increased by 50 per cent. London has become a fairly clean city, cleaner than most large capitals in the world.
Exercise 8. Render the following text into English.
Климат Великобритании очень влажный, с мягкой зимой, сильными туманами и ветрами и прохладным летом. Погода переменчива даже в те-чение одного дня. В сводках погоды обычны слова "пасмурная или дожд-ливая погода, временами - солнце”. Поэтому важной деталью британского обихода является зонтик, с которым почти никогда не расстаются.
На климат страны действуют циклоны Атлантики. С запада приходят воздушные массы, согретые теплым североатлантическим течением, и не-сут с собой дожди, наименее влажная часть Великобритании - юго-восток.
Снег выпадает редко, обычно на севере в горах в течение одного - двух месяцев в году. Случается, что снег выпадает и в других районах, но тут же тает. Осенью, зимой и весной обычны сильные ветры, большей частью за-падные. Зимой часты туманы.
Самый холодный зимний месяц - январь, а самый теплый летний - июль. В январе температура воздуха редко опускается ниже - 60 , а летом редко превышает + 150.
(по кн. Н.М. Польской "Великобритания”)
1.4. Grammar Practice
Exercise 1. Complete the passage by translating the Russian adjectives and
adverbs in brackets into English in the proper degree.
In England the weather changes (гораздо быстрее) than on the Continent; a fine morning may change into a wet afternoon and evening. And vice versa, a miserable morning may give place to a glorious afternoon.
In England people depend on weather (больше) than on other facts of life. Important football and other matches are often given up because of bad weather.
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The two (самые плохие) months in Britain are January and February. Then the days are (гораздо хуже) than in any autumn months, (самое хорошее) place then is at home by a big fire. (Самая холодная) weather of all, when it freezes night after night and remains cold during the day is (гораздо приятнее) than the wet weather. One feels that one has (гораздо больше) energy than usual. This is the time when hundreds of people put on skates and enjoy one of (самый пре-красный) exercises in the world, skating on ice. If the ground is dry, the snow remains for some time without melting; (больше) snow falls on top of it and soon the whole countryside is coloured white. Nothing is (более приятно) than to wake up one morning and find the whole world covered with a white blanket.
Exercise 2. Translate the following sentences into English.
1) Если завтра погода будет такая же, как сегодня, мы поедем за город, ес-ли же погода будет хуже, то мы останемся в городе.
2) Трудно сказать, какое время года я люблю больше всего.
3) Прошлая зима была намного теплее, чем зима три года назад. Было мно-го снега, но он быстро таял. В этом году снега гораздо больше, но и тем-пература гораздо ниже.
4) Погода на Британских островах испытывает на себе сильное влияние те-чения Гольфстрим. Даже в горах на севере страны климат мягче, чем на юге.
5) Климат, погода в разные времена года имеют, возможно, больше влия-ния на характер людей, их традиции и мировоззрение (outlook), чем мы думаем.