2. Text B
The Weather in Great Britain
"Other countries have a climate; in England we have weather.” This state-ment, often made by Englishmen to describe the peculiar meteorological condi-tions of their country, is both revealing and true. It is revealing because in it we see the Englishman insisting once again that what happens in England is not the same as what happens elsewhere; its truth can be ascertained by any foreigner who stays in the country for longer than a few days.
In no country other than England, it has been said, can one experience four seasons in the course of a single day! Day may break as a balmy spring morning; an hour or so later black clouds may have appeared from nowhere and the rain may be pouring down. At midday conditions may be really wintry with the tem-perature down by about eight degrees or more Centigrade. And then, in the late
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afternoon the sky will clear, the sun will begin to shine, and for an hour or two before darkness falls, it will be summer.
In England one can experience almost every kind of weather except the most extreme. (Some foreigners, incidentally seem to be under the impression that for ten months of the year the country is covered by a dense blanket of fog; this is not true.) The snag is that we never can be sure when the different types of weather will occur. Not only do we get several different sorts of weather in one day, but we may very well get a spell of winter in summer and vice versa.
This uncertainty about the weather has had a definite effect upon the Eng-lishman’s character; it tends to make him cautious, for example. The foreigner may laugh when he sees the Englishman setting forth on a brilliantly sunny morning wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella, but he may well regret his laughter later in the day! The English weather has also helped to make the Eng-lishman adaptable. It has been said that one of the reasons why the English colo-nized so much of the world was that, whatever the weather conditions they met abroad, they had already experienced something like them at home!
And, of course, the weather’s variety provides a constant topic of conversa-tion. Even the most taciturn of Englishmen is always prepared to discuss the weather. And, though he sometimes complains bitterly of it, he would not, even if he could, exchange it for the more predictable climate of other lands.
2.1. Vocabulary Practice
Exercise 1. Do the following points.
1) What is the difference between the words climate and weather?
2) What is to ascertain the truth?
3) What does balmy mean?
4) What is meant by the extreme kinds of weather?
5) Find another word for dense in the phrase "dense blanket of fog”.
6) What does to appear from nowhere mean?
7) What is a snag?
8) What is "a spell of winter”? What is the other meaning of the word?
9) What are the countries called that are colonized? What are the inhabitants of those countries called?
10) Find a word or phrase meaning taciturn.
11) What does predictable mean? What is its opposite?
Exercise 2. Answer the questions on the text "The Weather in Great Britain”.
1) How would you distinguish the weather in England from that in many other countries?
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2) How long do you think it would take you to discover the characteristics of English weather?
3) Describe briefly how you could experience "four seasons in one day” in Eng-land.
4) What misapprehension are many foreigners under concerning Britain’s weather?
5) What is the one constant characteristic of English weather?
6) How has the English weather affected the Englishman’s character?
7) What connections, if any, do you think there may perhaps be between English weather and the growth of the British Empire?
8) Why is the weather a constant topic of conversation in England?
9) What is the Englishman’s fundamental attitude towards his weather?
Exercise 3. Write an essay on the kind of weather you like best, giving your rea-sons.
2.2. Reading Practice
Exercise 1. Read the following paragraphs and decide in which numbered gap each paragraph goes in the text "Lightning Strike” below. There is one para-graph you do not need to use.
A. Predicting when and where lightning is likely to strike is one of the ways we have made it less of a danger. Forecasting lightning is taken most seriously in America, where scientists keep a constant lookout for weather patterns that could lead to violent storms using weather satellites and ground-based sta-tions. Once the storms appear, teams of observers in the areas at risk report back on where the storm is and where it is going.
B. Things used to be much worse. According to research by Dr Derek Elsom the number of fatalities has dropped by 80 per cent since the mid-1850s. This isn’t because lightning is less common, but because fewer people now work in the open.
C. Before scientists started this vital work people could not do very much to pro-tect themselves or their buildings from lightning. In fact up until the 18th cen-tury people were given dramatic proof that lightning really can strike the same place twice. Between 1388 and 1762, the famous bell tower of San Marco in Venice was severely damaged or completely destroyed nine times.
D. Many people - including scientists - claim to have seen ball lightning and are in no doubt about its existence. The experiences of a certain William Morris during a thunderstorm in 1936 are typical: "I saw a red-hot ball come down from the sky. It struck our house, cut the telephone wire, burnt the window frame and then buried itself in a tub of hot water. The water boiled for some 46
time afterwards, but when it was cool enough for me to search I could find nothing there.”
Lightning Strike
It is not surprising that people in the past were afraid of lightning and thought it was a sign of anger from their gods. In fact we still find lightning thrilling and fascinating. It is now also an important area of research for scien-tists, who are trying to uncover its secrets and are looking for ways to predict storms and protect people against lightning strikes.
(1____)
In England and Wales things are not quite as bad as they were in Italy, but about a dozen people are struck by lightning every year and a quarter of those are killed as a result. Men are six times more likely to be struck by lightning than women.
(2____)
The experience of Roy Sullivan shows how dangerous it can be to work outside. Roy, a former park ranger in Virginia, USA, held the world record for being struck by lightning. He was first hit in 1942, losing just the nail from his big toe. He was struck again in 1969, 1970, 1972 and 1973. In 1976 a strike hurt his ankle and in 1977 he suffered chest and stomach burns. After surviving all this, he killed himself in 1983.
(3____)
But even the most advanced forecasting systems can sometimes be caught out when the weather springs one of its surprises. In March 1993, Florida and other states of America were struck by driving blizzards and severe lightning storms. At the peak the "Sunshine State” was hit by an astonishing 5.000 strikes an hour. The cause of the storm and the reason it suddenly died out as it trav-elled north, is yet another mystery of the lightning phenomenon.
2.3. Listening Practice
Exercise 1. Listen to this account of the months of the year as seen in England.
The Months of the Year.
by Sara Coleridge (1802-1852)
January brings the snow;
Makes the toes and fingers glow.
February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen ponds again.
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March brings breezes loud and shrill,
Stirs the dancing daffodil.
April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet,
May brings flocks of pretty lambs
Skipping by their fleecy dams.
June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children’s hands with posies.
Hot July brings cooling showers,
Strawberries and gillyflowers.
August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the Harvest home is borne.
Warm September brings the fruit,
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.
Fresh October brings the pheasant,
Dull November brings the blast,
Then to gather nuts is pleasant,
Then the leaves are falling fast.
Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire and Christmas treat.
Exercise 2. a) Listen to this weather forecast for the British Isles.
b) What is today’s weather forecast where you are?
Tapescript: The Weather.
And now here is the weather forecast for the next twenty-four hours for the whole of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Ah starting with Southern England and the Midlands, well it’ll be mainly dry and sunny, but quite cold, with temperatures around six or seven degrees Celsius. It should stay dry all day, but there’ll be quite a wind, so wrap up warm.
And the West country, Wales and Northern Ireland. You can expect some rain in the morning and afternoon and quite strong north easterly winds, and the temperature will be lower than yesterday, around the three or four degrees mark. I don’t think you’ll see much of the sun: cloudy all day, I’m afraid. The East coast of England will see the best of today’s weather. It’ll be warmer than yes-terday, no winds, and sunshine, so quite warm for the time of year.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland, however, there will be heavy rain and maybe some snow during the afternoon, and on the hills temperatures will drop to below freezing, minus four and five, and on the highest spots minus ten. Over much of Scotland it will be cloudy, and windy too as the cold front moves in
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over the Atlantic. Northern Ireland can expect the same, but the rain will end be-fore dark. But again very cold, with temperatures not going above freezing.
And that’s all from me.
2.4. Writing Practice
Exercise 1. Write a summary of the following text.
Cold? Britain Is Actually Getting Hotter.
Most Britons could be forgiven for thinking a new Ice Age is upon us. Small comfort, then, as we struggle through snowdrifts and cope with burst pipes, that the present cold is a sign the British climate is generally getting milder.
Ironically, most scientists now believe the short sharp shock of severe cold that has struck Europe for three winters running is an indicator that the world is growing warmer. The burning of fossil fuels is building up a blanket of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, creating a "greenhouse” effect.
Britain and Europe have certainly experienced weather this cold before. In the 17th century, the Thames froze solid so often that it became a regular winter sports attraction. The weather then was so severe that it is sometimes referred to as a little Ice Age. Even in the early 19th century, Britain’s climate was still colder than it is today. We still have a cherished picture of Charles Dickens’ Christmases - although, in fact, snow at Christmas has been a rarity in Southern England for 150 years.
Studies of temperature trends around the world show that it has been warm-ing up since the middle of the 19th century. Most experts agree that it is a result of human activities. By burning coal and oil, we are putting carbon dioxide into the air. This acts like a blanket around the earth, trapping heat that would other-wise escape into space. As long as we keep burning fossil fuel, the trend is likely to continue. So why have we had such severe cold spells in Europe recently? According to the researchers of the University of East Anglia, it is all part of the same process. When the climate of the globe changes, it doesn’t do so evenly. Britain and Western Europe are just unlucky in being in the path of a particu-larly significant wind shift.
By comparing the weather in different seasons, during the 19th century and the coldest years of the 20th century, the researchers have built up a picture of what is going on. Their key new discovery is that although spring, summer and autumn are all warmer, severe cold spells in winter are most likely over the
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whole of Central Europe. So then, short cold spells mean it’s generally getting warmer - but the bad news is it could get TOO warm. If the predictions come true - and the present changes are exactly in line with computer forecasts - within the next 40 or 100 years we shall see a change in climate as dramatic as the shift which ended the last Ice Age.
Note:
A summary is the expression of the essence of some piece of writing in a condensed form. The main ideas of the piece should be presented clearly, con-cisely and precisely. The length of a summary makes up approximately one third of the length of the original source. Writing a summary includes seven stages:
1) reading the original text to grasp the main idea;
2) re-reading the passage to check up your understanding;
3) selecting the essential points;
4) linking the points in a logical order;
5) writing a rough copy of a new concise text;
6) comparing the summary with the original passage to see whether all essentials are included;
7) writing a fair copy of a summary.
In writing a summary only the information taken from the passage should be used. A summary does not contain repetitions, illustrative details, figures of speech, wordy phrases consisting of meaningless words. A good summary shows one’s ability to understand and present ideas.