Unit 3. Climate and vegetation

TASK 1. Read the text paying attention to the words in bold type. Look up their meaning in the Glossary:

1. Climate is the average pattern of weather and temperature in a particular area over a long period of time. Similar types of climate are found in different places around the world. For example, there are regions of hot, dry desert in Africa and North America, as well as across central Australia. It is a region’s climate, together with its physical landscape, that determines the kind of vegetation, or plant life, that is usually found there. Cold areas near the poles and icy mountain peaks support little, or no, vegetation. Hot, wet rain forests near the equator, however, encourage the fast growth of a variety of plants.

2. As the Earth travels around the Sun, the tilt on its axis means that each place leans gradually nearer the Sun, and then farther away from it. This causes the seasons. When the northern hemisphere leans toward the Sun it has summer. When it tilts away it has winter. In the southern hemisphere this is reversed. Between the warm days of summer and the cold days of winter you can enjoy spring and fall. The Earth also spins on its axis, turning once every 24 hours to give us day and night. The side facing the Sun has day, while the other side has night.

3. A region’s climate is influenced by how far to the north or south of the equator it lies. This is called its latitude. The equator, an imaginary line running around the Earth, lies at 0 degrees latitude. Other lines of latitude include the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Regions around the equator are the hottest in the world, while the closer to the poles you go, the colder it gets. There are also longitude lines that run from north to south, known as meridians.

4. Scientists divide the Earth into a number of different vegetation zones, also known as “biomes”. The plant and animal life found in each zone depends on the region’s climate, landscape, and latitude. Over millions of years, plants and animals have adapted to life in this range of climates, often developing special features that have helped them to survive. The map also highlights how similar landscapes, such as taiga or desert, occur at the same latitude across the world.

 

TASK 2. Read the text and choose an appropriate title for each part of it:

a) Seasons of the Year

b) Vegetation Zones

c) Latitude and Longitude

d) Climate is the Average Pattern of Weather

 

TASK 3. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following words and word combinations and write them down:

1. Средний образец

2. Определенная область

3. Подобные типы

4. Сухая пустыня

5. Физический ландшафт

6. Определять

7. Вид растительности

8. Горные пики

9. Помогают быстрому росту

10. Наклон ее оси

11. Северное полушарие

12. Воображаемая линия

13. Зависеть

14. Особые черты

15. Похожие ландшафты

 

TASK 4. Answer the questions in writing:

1. What is the definition of climate?

2. Where are similar types of climate found?

3. What determines the kind of vegetation, or plant life?

4. What do hot, wet rain forests near the equator encourage?

5. What causes the seasons?

6. When does the northern hemisphere have summer?

7. What is a region’s climate influenced by?

8. Which regions are the hottest in the world?

9. What does the plant and animal life found in each zone depend on?

10. What does the map also highlight?

 

TASK 5. Match the columns:

1. Vegetation 2. Influence 3. Equator 4. Latitude 5. Weather

f) the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something g) the state of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc. h) the angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator, usually expressed in degrees and minutes i) an imaginary line drawn around the earth equally distant from both poles, dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres j) plants considered collectively, esp. those found in a particular area or habitat

 

TASK 6. Match the questions and the answers to make up a dialogue using the underlined words:

1. What is shaped like a sphere? 2. Where is it squashed? 3. What is heated by the decay of the radioactive elements? 4. What is called the crust? 5. What is made of dense rocks? 6. What do scientists try to explain?

a) It is slightly squashed at the poles. b) The Earth is shaped like a sphere. c) The solid surface that we live on is called the crust. d) The inside of the Earth is heated by the decay of radioactive elements. e) Scientists try to explain why the Earth's crust is divided into continents separated by oceans, and why some parts of the continents are flat and others have mountain range. f) The crust under the sea is called oceanic crust, and is made of denser rocks than the continental crust.