April-June - generally cool, often wet and windy but improving

July-August - the .warmest months; bright with showers; cool sea breezes September-November - often mild becoming cold; mist and fog

III. Fill the gaps with the suitable words.

My first experience of real winter was when I went to Northern

Canada. I was used to the sort of snow that falls in London, which quickly turns into brown _____ with all the people walking on it. In fact, most of the time I

was in London, it didn't really _____ properly, it was mostly .

Apart from that, British winters meant a bit of white on my garden and

occasionally having to drive very carefully on icy roads early in the morning. I had

never experienced the and that can paralyse a

whole city jn less than an hour and close roads completely. However, when the

earth finally and all the snow away in spring,

everything comes to life again and looks more beautiful than ever.

IV. Read the text and answer the questions after it.

SEASONS

There are four seasons in the year - spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring is the season of hope and happiness. It is the season when nature awakens from winter sleep: the ice is broken, the grass is beginning to shoot, here birds are showing, there the trees are already bursting into leaf, fresh, green and lovely. Spring has come!

Summer is the hottest season in the year. The bright sunshine scorches the earth. Not a single cloud is in the sky. It is pleasant to get out of town where one is so oppressed with the heat and ramble through woods, among hills and valleys, following winding paths that are hardly seen to the naked eye in the thick green grass. The fields are green and shorn, here and there big stacks of hay are seen. The days are long in summer.

But on moves the earth in its race round the sun. The days are becoming shorter, the sun rays are losing their glittering force - autumn is approaching. The beautiful nature has thanked the laborious farmer for his toil in the fields, meadows and orchards. The trees that not long ago bloomed with flowers are laden with ripening fruit. But the beautiful Indian Summer is over, it's deep autumn now. We don't hear any more the sweet melody of birds in the woods and forests, they have flown away to far distant warm countries. Everything is beginning to take a different colour and garment in the lonely quiet of the countryside: the trees look bare, for they have cast off their leaves, the fragrant flowers have faded away. The sky is overcast with low, black, heavy clouds - the period of rains has set in. It is . unpleasant to be out in the drizzling piercing rain that is accompanied by a cold wind.

December is approaching. There is a breath of winter in the autumn air. It is getting colder day by day. The cold makes the hands cold and stiff. It is on a morning in December that you get up and look out of the window, and lo!... the ground, the roofs of the houses are thick with snow. In the woods the branches of

the trees are also feathered with snow. Everything around looks so beautiful! Winter has set in..

1. When can we see the grass shooting?

2. When are the days becoming shorter (longer)?

3. What does 'Indian Summer' mean?

4. Why do you think the writer calls December 'a breath of winter in the autumn

: air'?

5. Do the back-translation of the text.

V. Fill the gaps with the suitable words.

The single greatest influence on Japanese weather is the wind. During the summer

it from the Pacific, causing and humid weather, but in

winter, the north-westerly from Siberia are very cold and it

_____ heavily on the mountains of the north west. The south-eastern parts

receive cold dry . Between June and mid July, there is a

of wet weather when the rice fields get the water vital for growth.

After that, there is less rain, but the air is still . Autumn,

however, is drier, and usually very pleasant.

VI. Discussion point

Step A. Decide whether the sentences are true or false. If necessary, write a true sentence.

1. It often pours with rain in the desert.

2. It gets quite chilly in the desert in the evening. 3. Thunder makes a noise.

4. Lightning can kill people. 5. A shower is a gentle breeze.

6. A spell of hot weather may end in a thunderstorm. 7. If it is humid, the air will be very dry.

8. Below zero, water turns to ice.

9. Heavy rain means that it is pouring with rain.

10. When it's foggy you need sunglasses.

Step B. Work in groups. First, read the text about the weather in East Texas. Then

complete the text about the weather in Britain using the words and expressions

from the table.

The weather in East Texas.

to East Texas, in the area of the Gulf of Mexico, the climate is generally hot and often very humid. Temperatures in summer range from 30 to 40 C; 25 С is a normal winter temperature. It is sometimes cold, but only for two or three days at a time; it snows perhaps once every twenty years. It quite often.rains heavily for two or three days or more, but the most of the time the weather is sunny with bright blue skies. Occasionally there are droughts - periods when there is no rain for a long time. It is usually very windy, but there are hurricanes.every few years, with

wind speeds reaching over 150 kilometres an hour.

The weather in Britain.

at a time but changeable does fairly know lightning like long often

people rains shines short skies

sometimes spring temperature weather

winters

In Britain, the is very ; it ___ a lot, but the sun

often too. can be cold and damp, with an

average of 5 С in the south; there is often snow. Summers can be

cool or warm, but the temperature not usually go above 30 C. It is

cloudy, and there are grey for days or weeks

. Days are in summer and in winter. There is

sometimes fog, especially in and autumn, it is not so

common as foreigners think. Thunderstorms (storms with thunder and

) are quite common in mountainous areas. British never

what tomorrow's weather will be .

Step C. Work in groups. Imagine a country with what you think is the ideal weather. Write the weather description for each season and explain why you think it is the ideal weather.

VII. Reading comprehension (1). Read the text and do the tasks after it.

ON ENGLISH CLIMATE

The climate of England is milder than that of other countries. English people are apt to complain of it 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. 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 before 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 of London are, indeed, awful; they surpass all imagination. In a fog the air is hardly fit for breaming; it is grey, yellow, of deep orange, and even black because of the smoke of many thousands of chimneys. In a dense fog all traffic is stopped, no vehicle can move from fear of dreadful accidents.

The three things that can chiefly determine the climate of England are: the position of the island in the temperature belt; the fact that the prevailing winds blow from the west and south-west; the warm current - the Gulf Stream that flows from the Gulf of Mexico along the western shores of England. All this combined makes the climate more moderate - that is, the winters warmer and the summers cooler. The winters are never cold enough to freeze the rivers and the summers are seldom hot.

The plentiful rainfall enables agriculture and the rearing of cows, sheep, etc., to be carried on successfully whenever the soil is suitable. In wet, warm regions grass grows best, and we find most of the cattle-breeding and dairy-fanning in the rich pastures of the plain lands of South-West England, the cities of which are noted for their cheese, cream, and butter. Sheep can be reared where grass is not

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good enough for cattle and so we find them on the steep hillsides Of.the west. Pigs are bred in most parts of England, especially in the eastern countries of England. But while the moist lands of the west are most suitable for grass, the drier east with its hot summers is better for the growing of cereals generally, and wheat in particular, which needs a hot summer and a dry autumn to ripen. The principal cereal crop, however, is oats. Oats are used for feeding horses and for making oatmeal for porridge. After cereals root and green crops are the most important cultivated plants, the principal of which are potatoes. Large quantities, too, of turnips, carrots, cabbages, etc., are grown, and a considerable sugar-beet industry has been developed, especially in East England and Scotland.

We must not forget, too, the growing of fruit. There are few leveller sights than the cherry orchards of Kent or the apple, pear and plum blossom of Hereford, Devon and Somerset in early spring. There are, too, valuable quantities of 'soft' fruits, raspberries, strawberries, etc., grown, and the jam-making and fruit-preserving industries that have grown up in these districts are important.

Finally, in discussing the harvests of the country we must not forget the silver harvest of the sea", its fisheries. The east coast fisheries are the most valuable, and three quarters of the fish landed in England come from there.

Paraphrase the following sentences:

1. English people are apt to complain of their climate.

2. The winter fogs of London surpass all imagination.

3. The winters are never cold to freeze the rivers.

4. Sheep can be reared where grass is not good enough for cattle.

5. The principal cereal crop is oats.

6. There are few leveler sights.

7. The silver harvest of the sea is fisheries. Explain in English what is meant by:

1. damp

2. to be fit

3. a dense fog

4. the temperature belt

5. the prevailing winds

6. the plentiful rainfall

7. to enable

h) pasture

i) on the steep hillsides j) cultivated plants Answer the questions.

1. What are the general characteristics of English climate?

2. What are the main things determining the climate of England?

3. What is English winter like?

4. What is English summer like?

5. Where can we find most of the cattle-rearing and dairy-farming? Why?

6. What is the principal cereal crор?

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