Fill in prepositions or adverbs where necessary.

1. Great Britain lies __ the west __ Europe. 2. __ the south Great Britain is washed __ the English Channel. 3. __ the south this country borders __ Korea. 4. This island is separated __ the mainland __ a narrow straight. 5. We used to spend our mornings __ the seashore not far __ the lighthouse. 6. The indentation of the coastline gave the pirates a lot of small, secret harbours to shelter. 7. Suddenly we saw a ship __ the horizon swiftly moving __ our boat. 8. The south-eastern part of England is a low-lying land __ gentle hills and a coast which is regular __ outline. 9. The Amazon basin is rich __ numerous species of flora and fauna. 10. The position __ mountain ranges __ Eastern Siberia and Far East naturally determines the direction and length __ the rivers. 11. The Volga rises __ the Valdai Hills. 12. The young man couldn't keep his balance and rolled __ the steep slope __ the hill. 13. The isthmus __ the Crimea and the mainland is very narrow, it takes you about an hour to cross it. 14. Many islands of Polynesia are __ volcanic origin. 15. The Dead Sea in Israel is __ sea level. 16. Frenchman Alain Bombaire made a solo boat trip __ the Atlantic Ocean trying to prove the possibility __ surviving __ the ship wreckage; it took him 56 days and twenty kilograms of lost weight to reach America. 17. Nowadays it is proved that some birds __ passage carry the avian grippe. 18. The path ranges __ the brook. 19. One can find __ dwarf trees, mosses and lichen __ tundra __ the Arctic Circle. 20. The climate __ the Far East is characterized __ monsoon rains __ summer and strong cold winds and heavy snowfalls __ winter.  

Add an adjective from list A to fit each noun in list B. Make sentences of your own with these word combinations.

 Model: rocky mountains

A) Swampy, healthy, coal, flat, deep, dense, mountainous, mineral, gas, total, grassy, sandy, fertile, coniferous, leaf bearing, inland, shallow, navigable, continental, steep.

B) Fog, country, river, resources, climate, desert, field, waterway, lake, climate, wood, area, basin, land, region, deposits, soil, forest, waters, valley, slope, mountains.

 

Complete the sentences.

1. The longest river in the world is __. 2. What is higher: a hill or a __? 3. The Urals are rich in __. 4. Is St. Petersburg situated on the Lake Onega or the __? 5. Which is wider: a stream or a __? 6. Do you happen to know whether elephants live in America or __? 7. The greatest mammal in the world is __. 8. The highest mountain in Russia is __. 8. Among the large cats only __ live in prides. 9. The national tree of Australia is __, it is depicted on the coat-of-arms of this country. 10. I know some birds of prey: __. 11. The deepest lake in the world is __. 12. Poland has borders on __. 13. The smallest country of the world is __. 14. The Sahara is situated in __ of Africa. 15. The largest bodies of fresh water are in Great Lakes in __. 16. __ and other crops are raised in the Temperate Zone while raw rubber is cultivated in the __. 17. Liners can enter the estuaries of some British rivers only at a high __. 18. A mixed forest is a forest of __ and __ trees. 19. A good place of shelter for ships is called a __. 20. An artificial watercourse for inland navigation is called __.

 

Fill in articles.

A) 1. The pupils watched as their teacher showed them __ Indian Ocean to __ south of Asia, __ Arctic Ocean around __ cold North Pole, and __ Atlantic Ocean washing __ shores of __ icy lands at __ South Pole. 2. Gibraltar is built on __ narrow western shore of great rock - __ Rock of Gibraltar – which we can see towering up above __ harbour with __ signal-station on __ very top. If we climbed up there and looked across __ Straits, we could easily see __ mountains of Northern Africa in Morocco.

B) After quite __ long voyage we landed at __ mouth of __ second river – that runs down __ woody mountain. Then we began to ascend __ slope towards __ tableland. Little by little __ hill grew steeper and became stony under foot, __ wood began to change its character and to grow in __ more open order. It was indeed, __ most pleasant part of __ island that we were now approaching. Thickets of green trees were dotted here and there with __ red columns of __ pines. __ air was fresh and stirring.

How can we describe the geographical situation of a country? There are several examples of such stories given below. Make several questions to each story and retell them. Find the translation of the words printed in bald.

1. Belgium has an area of 30 519 square km. It extends 230 km north to south and 290 km east to west. The Belgian North Sea coast is 66 km long. Inland from the coast are fertile polders, the sandy Flanders plain, the heaths and woods of Kempen. Between these northern lowlands and the wooded Ardennes and Belgian Lorraine in the south lie the alluvial, fertile central plateaus. The country’s highest point is the Signal de Botrange (694 m) in the Hautes Fagnes (Eifel). The main rivers are the Scheldt and the Meuse. The Scheldt rises in northern France and flows through Ghent, Antwerp and a delta-like estuary in the Netherlands into the North Sea. The Meuse flows out of the French Vosges [vo:g], through eastern Belgium into the Netherlands. Rich rainfalls all year round allow farmers get good harvest. The climate is very mild, though in winter there are strong winds with rain and snow.         

2. Denmark is one of the flattest countries in the world. The highest point is only 173 m high. It occupies the territory of 43 080 square km. The country is situated on the Jutland peninsula which has a 67-km-long frontier with north Germany at its base, and 483 islands, of which about 100 are inhabited. The country is washed by the waters of the Baltic Sea. And the islands are separated by many channels greater part of which is navigable. The longest river is the Gudenå of 160 km long, but there are a lot of small rivers, springs, lakes and ponds. Due to mild climate they are rarely frozen in winter, though summers are seldom hot. But these even temperatures all year round allow pastures and meadows to be always green.

3. Austria is situated in the centre of Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia. It also has borders on Switzerland, Slovakia, Lichtenstein, Check Republic, Hungary and Germany. The country is landlocked. The total area of the country is 83,670 sq. km., slightly less than the Sverdlovsk region. The relief of the country is divided into two parts – in the west and south one can see mostly mountains, the Alps, along the eastern and northern margins it is mostly flat or gently sloping. The highest point is Grossglockener of 3,798 m; the lowest point is Neusiedler See at the height of 115 m. As the country is mainly mountainous there is always the danger of landslides, avalanches and earthquakes.

  Only 16,6 % of land is arable, but many slopes of the hills and the lower parts of the mountains are used as pastures and meadows.

Speaking about water bodies one can mention one of the largest rivers of Europe, the Danube, on which the capital of the country Vienna is, its tributary the Inn, the Muhr and a lot of minor rivers running from the mountains. But the only navigable river is the Danube. There are rather many lakes located mainly in the mountains on the height not less than one kilometre.

  Austria has rather large deposits of coal, lignite, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony, magnesite, tungsten, graphite, salt and oil, discovered not long ago. Due to large forests of the Alps timber is produced.  

  Austria has a temperate climate in the plains and continental in the mountainous part. So it means the inhabitants of the country have cloudy, cold winters with frequent rain and some snow in lowlands and heavy snowfalls in mountains. Summers are moderate with occasional showers.

4. One of the largest countries of the world is Canada that is situated in North America. Topographically Canada is divided into five regions: the Atlantic Provinces, consisting of rolling plains and rugged coasts; the Great Lakes - St. Laurence fertile lowlands, most densely populated; The Canadian Shield[12], as a whole accounting for almost 50% of the land area, with rocky, frozen subsoil and treeless plains in the north and thick forests to the south; the interior plains with large deposits of oil and potash; and the Cordillera region. The country’s chief rivers include the Yukon and the Mackenzie in the west, the North Saskatchewan, the South Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan and the Athabasca Rivers in central Canada as well as the Ottawa and the St. Laurence Rivers in the east. The country’s highest point is Mount Logan at 5,951 metres which is located on the Yukon Territory. The largest islands are those in the Arctic Archipelago, extending from St. James Bay to Ellesmere while on the Western coast they are Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands, as well as Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and some others, and Anticosti Island on the eastern coast. The climate is continental in interior of the country, arctic in the north and marine in the coastal provinces.