Indian summer – Бабине літо

to fall to the ground – падати на землю

to set (set) – заходити, сідати

to be frozen over - замерзати

an icicle – бурулька

to hang from the roofs – звисати з дахів

slippery - слизький

a tiny snowflake – крихітна сніжинка

to cover the ground – вкривати землю

Exercise 2. Read and retell the text:

Seasons and Months of the Year

A year has four seasons. They are: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

I. Spring is one of the 4 seasons. March, April and May are spring months. In spring the days are long and the nights are short. It is very nice in spring. The birds come back from the South. The first spring flowers appear in the forests and in the fields. The sky is often blue. The sun shines brightly in the blue sky. It is warm. It some­times rains, but the rain is warm and pleasant. We can see light green leaves in the trees. The air is fresh. The ground is covered with light green grass.

The trees are in blossom in May. The nightingales begin to sing their lovely songs. There is a lot of work to do in the fields. Sometimes people are busy from morning till night. Tractors work in the fields day and night.

Children do not work in the fields. They go to school. They should work hard at the end of the school year.

We have some holidays in spring. They are: the Women's Day on the 8th of March, Easter and Victory Day on the 9th of May.

II. Summer is as nice as spring. June July and August are summer months. The sun shines brightly. It is warm and sometimes hot. It is warmer and hotter than in spring. The days are longer than in spring. The longest day of the year is the 22 nd of June.

In summer children do not go to school. They have summer holidays. They often help fathers and mothers in the garden or in the field. They can bathe in the rivers or in the lakes, lie in the sun and go fishing or boating. But summer is the time of rain, shower, lightning and thunderstorm. It’s very dangerous to walk in such weather.

Summer is a pleasant season. This is the season of berries and mushrooms. People can pick them in the forests. There is a lot of fruit and vegetables at this time. Some people like summer best of all.

III. Autumn comes after summer. September, October and November are autumn months. The days are shorter than in sum­mer. The weather is not so pleasant as in spring and in summer. The sky is often cloudy. It often rains. The rain is cold and not pleasant at all. There are a lot of puddles of water in the streets and in the yards. It’s also unpleasant to walk in the streets owing to the constant fear of being splashed with dirty water and mud. In September, the first autumn month, the school year begins in our country. The first of September is the Day of Knowledge.

Autumn is the season of fruit and vegetables. The farmers and workers should work hard in the fields. Pupils always help farmers with fruit and vegetables in autumn. There are some sunny days in late September. They are called Indian summer.

The leaves in the trees turn yellow, red and brown. They fall to the ground. It is the time of the beautiful golden leaves. Many birds fly away to warm countries.

November is the coldest autumn month. It sometimes rains and it often snows.

IV. Winter is the coldest season. The winter months are: December, January and February. In winter we have often hard frost. In winter the sun shines rarely. It rises late and sets early. The temperature is low. The sky is often covered with grey heavy clouds. The rivers and lakes are frozen over. They are covered with ice. Icicles hang from the roofs of houses. The nights are long and the days are short. The sun shines, but it doesn’t warm. It is slippery in the streets.

Sometimes the weather is pleasant. It often snows. The snow is clean and white. The ground is all white with snow. It is pleasant to walk when it snows. We can see tiny snowflakes covering the ground.

In January schoolchildren and students have winter holidays. Win­ter is the season for winter sports and games, such as: skiing, skating, sledging, playing ice-hockey or snowballs and making snowmen.

We have many holidays in winter. They are: Saint Nickolas’ Day on the 19-th of December, New Year’s Day on the first of January, Nativity on the 6-th of January, Christmas on the 7-th of January, St. Basil’s Day or the Old New Year on the 14-th of January, Epiphany on the 19-th of January and some others.

Exercise 3. Answer the following questions:

1. How many seasons are there in a year?

2. What season comes after winter?

3. What spring months do you know?

4. What is the weather like in spring?

5. What is dangerous and pleasant in summer?

6. Why is autumn nice and unpleasant?

7. What is the weather like in winter?

8. When is it pleasant to walk and why?

9. What winter sports do you know?

10. What holidays are there in winter?

Exercise 4. Say when does it happen?Then make up the sentences as in the example below:

	spring	summer	autumn	winter
People ski and skate.
They swim in the river and sunbathe.
There is a lot of snow on the ground.
Icicles hang from the roofs of houses.
Light green leaves and the first flowers appear in the trees.
The leaves in the trees turn yellow, red and brown.

Example: There is a lot of snow on the ground in winter.

Exercise 5. Put these words into the proper column:

The Sun, a plum, an apple, a swan, a crow, a tomato, a violet, a pear, a poppy, a lady-bird, a daffodil, a snowdrop, a fly, a bee, an ant, the sky, a snowflake, a rose, a bluebell, a berry, a cherry, a cucumber, a carrot, a cabbage, a leaf, a cloud, grass, soil, a fox, a grasshopper, a tulip, a sunflower, a forget-me-not, a cuckoo, a frog, a bear, a crocodile, a carnation, a corn-flower, a dadelion, a lily of the valley, a fir-tree, a sqirrel, a pine-tree.

red	yelow	blue	white	green	black

Exercise 6. Read the following sentences and put their numbers in the corresponding column. The first one is done for you: