addition

Материалы для выполнения контрольной работы III-II
за третий курс

4.6. Definite the author's communicative intentions and express it with the help of these patterns:

4.8. Reproduce the text to your fellow-students indicating the author's communicative intentions and using the the topical words and phrases.

The role of clouds in regulating climate is still largely a mystery, and the treatment of clouds in conventional climate models may be seriously inadequate. If cloud effects are as strong as some recent research suggests, considerable uncertainty must characterize the result of even the most advanced present-day models of climate. Predictions of the climate changes resulting from burning fossil fuels, which adds CO₂ to the atmosphere, for example, depend strongly on how clouds are modelled: clouds may tend to amplify changes, or they may act as a giant global thermostat, helping to stabilize the climate.

The potentially large influence of clouds on climate arises from their effect on the transfer through the atmosphere of both incoming solar and outgoing terrestrial radiation. That clouds may dramatically affect surface temperature by both these mechanisms is a matter of everyday experience. Daytime maximum temperatures are substantially lower on cloudy days than on fair ones, and cloudless nights are cooler than overcast ones, other factors being equal

The commonplace examples illustrate the two major influences of clouds on the planetary radiation budget: clouds can alter both the planetary albedo, or reflectivity, and the greenhouse effect, by helping to trap radiation which otherwise would be lost into space.

In the extract I've read from the International scientific journal "Nature" Richard C. J. Somerville speaks about the close relation between clouds and climate.

He mentions the fact that there re conflicting ideas about the role of clouds in climate models and that there is still a lot of mystery about the phenomenon of Nature.

The author informs us about two factors due to which we have the potential large influence of clouds on climate. They are incoming solar radiation and outgoing terrestrial radiation.

He also declares that clouds may affect surface temperature. The author illustrates the influence by a very convincing example. He says that daytime temperatures on cloudy days are lower than on fair days and cloudless nights are cooler than overcast ones. The other factors are equal at that. This example in the author's opinion is good evidence of the other two major effects: clouds can influence the planetary reflectivity and greenhouse effect; clouds help to trap radiation.

Those who complain about our weather may be surprised to learn that there are some people in England who want more rain, in fact need it badly. We certainly have more than many other countries, but we don't get as much as we need. Two or three weeks in the summer without rain and we have problems. The trouble is partly that the rain falls in the wrong place, partly that we can't store enough of it, and partly that we use much more than we need.

Most of Britain's rain falls in Wales and Scotland; it isn't there but in the drier South-East England and Midlands that we need it. Of course we store this water and send it to other parts of the country. Birmingham, for example, the second largest city in England gets all its water from North Wales. But our reservoirs are now a hundred years old and need to be much larger.

The British Isles have a maritime type of climate which is marked by mild and variable temperatures. Although they lie within the belt of the westerly depressions or cyclones, they are also subject to the weather brought by air masses which may originate over Siberia, the Sahara, or the Atlantic. The winters are kept relatively warm by the winds that blow over the Atlantic Drift, the western continuation of the warm Gulf Stream. In the warmest months, July and August, the monthly averages do not exceed 65⁰ F in the North. The temperature rarely rises to more than 90⁰F or falls 0⁰F. January is the coldest month, but the mean monthly temperatures do not generally fall below 37⁰F.

Cities modify their own climate. Narrow confined streets obstruct and deflect the wind; houses and pavements absorb radiation and the issue of hot air from houses, furnaces and restaurants generally cause towns to have temperatures a few degrees higher than the surrounding country. Snow goes to slush under the wheels of the traffic and swept or melted down the gutter. But perhaps the most important feature of the urban climate is its degree of atmospheric pollution from domestic chimneys, from factories, from chemical industries, from gas works. Smog reduces the sunshine, absorbs the sun's rays, checks the escape of heat like a glasshouse, smothers the grass, blights the miserable trees and does immeasurable harm to the health of the town-dwellers.

Scientists have unanimously agreed that natural and climatic conditions greatly affect the health and activities of Man. The science of our time has now developed entirely new branches which study such important interrelations as climate-man, climate-labour, climate-relaxation, climate-health and climate-sickness.

As a rule, the organism is affected by a whole complex of factors: atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, the speed of the air flow, solar radiation, clouds, etc. The organism responds to all phenomena by developing physiological reactions, many of which are linked with acclimatization in the unusual environment.

The first 20-25 days' stay in the new climate leads, as a rule, to considerable changes in the organism's physiological functions, including breathing, blood circulation, digestion, etc.

Experience shows that Man usually easily adapts to the climatic changes. However, people who suffer from some aliment find it hard to get acclimatized.

4.9. Check your fellow-students' comprehension and attention through multiple-choice technique.

Model: a) Scientists and researchers are 100% sure that clouds can regulate climate to a great extend.

4.10. Check if your fellow-students remember the most important words and phrases from the story you've told them by asking them

4.11. Ask your fellow-students to give the gist of the information they got in 1-2 sentences.

4.12. Check if you remember these facts from the stories told by your fellow-students:

4) Is it easy or is it difficult to get acclimatized in new climatic conditions?

4.13. Check how many topical words and phrases from the above stories you remember:

дождевые осадки, среднее количество атмосферных осадков, морской климат, область пониженного давления, понижаться/повышаться (о температуре), воздушные потоки.

A wise old owl lived in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird?

В дремучем лесу то ли век, то ли два
Жила молчаливая птица - сова
Чем дольше она молчала -
Тем больше она замечала,
Чем больше она замечала,
Тем дольше она молчала.
Так, может быть, стоит и нам поучиться
У этой неглупой и опытной птицы?

1) Tails (A. A. Milne)

The lion has a tail,
And a very fine tail.
And so has the elephant,
And so has the whale,
And so has the crocodile,
And so has the quail,
They've all got tails, but me.
If I had a sixpence, I would buy one.
I'd say to the shopman,
"Let me try one!"
Then I'd say to the lion,
"Why, you've got a tail,
And so has the elephant,
And so has the whale,
And look! There's the crocodile.
He's got a tail.
You've all got tails like me!"

A carrion-crow sat on an oak
Watching a tailor shape his cloak;
Wife, cried he, bring me my bow,
That I may shoot you, carrion-crow.
The tailor shot and missed his mark
And shot his own sow through the heart;
Wife, bring brandy in a spoon,
For our poor sow is in a swoon.

I do not like the winter wind
That whistles from the North.
My upper teeth and those beneath,
They jitter back and forth.
Oh, some are hanged, and some are skinned,
And others face the winter wind.

I do not like the summer sun
That scorches the horizon.
Though some delight in Fahrenheit,
To me it's deadly pizen.
I think life would be more fun
Without the shimmering summer sun.

I do not like the signs of spring,
The fever and the chills,
The icy mug, the puny bud,
The frozen daffodils.
Let other poets gaily sing,
I do not like the signs of spring,

I do not like the foggy fall
That strips the maples bare,
The radiator's mating call,
The dunk, rheumatic air.
I fear that taken all in all,
I do not like the foggy fall.

The winter sun, of course, is kind,
And summer wind's a saviour,
And I merrily sing of fall and spring
When they're on their good behaviour.
But otherwise I see no reason
To speak in praise of any season.

6) Why do some people think that many pet owners make the mistake of treating their animals as if they were human beings?

8) Should pet owners know all about the habitat, the anatomy and the habits of their pets? If yes, why?

10) Why do many animal species become extinct? What animals are in danger now? Is it possible to save vanishing animals? How?

11) Do you sometimes have a feeling that animals behave in a similar way people do? Can animals communicate? If they can, how are their messages expressed? What kind of information do they exchange?

12) Do you think animals are teachable? What can we teach them? How? Using remuneration, patience, love and consideration? Punishment?

14) Keeping animals in captivity? Is it human? Why do you think animals sometimes escape from their owner's house or from zoos?