English for Geographers

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The boot of the bronze statue of Sir Winston Churchill, which stands in the members’ lobby, is highly polished by the constant stream of MPs touching it for luck before making a speech in the Chamber.

The second largest party becomes the official opposition with its own leader and the Shadow Cabinet. The two leading parties in Great Britain are the Conservative (the Tories) and the Labour Party.

There is no written constitution in Great Britain, only precedents and traditions.

Britain’s largest cities are: London, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow,

Sheffield, Edinburgh.

London is the capital of the United Kingdom. Covering 1,580 sq. km it is the largest conurbation in Europe. Nearly seven million people live in London and a further million travel in each day to work. Their city is both the capital of Britain and a major economic centre. London’s economy benefits from its favourable location as a sheltered port facing across the North Sea to mainland Europe. Excellent communications give access to markets both inland and abroad. As a great trading city London has long drawn people from across the world to live and work there. The resulting cosmopolitan mix contributes to the diversity of London’s arts, culture and entertainment and the vitality of London life.

London is situated on the banks of the river Thames which divides it into two parts – the West End and the East End. The other two important sections are the City and Westminster.

The City is the financial and business centre of the country. One of the great English churches – St. Paul’s Cathedral is here.

Adjoining Parliament Square is a road called Whitehall. This is the traditional heart of the British state, and the word "Whitehall" is widely used to describe either the government or the civil service. Both sides of its wide route are lined with the offices of several of the great departments of state through which the business of government is carried out, as well as the London offices of the Scottish and Welsh offices.

There are many famous historical places in London, such as the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral,

Buckingham Palace and others.

Birmingham is Britain’s second largest city and its engineering centre.

It produces iron and steel for making cars, ships, aeroplanes and machinery. Leeds, the third largest city in the United Kingdom, produces woollen goods. Sheffield is a centre of steel goods production. Glasgow is famous for heavy industry. Besides, it is an important cultural centre. It is noted for its architecture and art galleries. Edinburgh is the city of science. It is associated with science, beautiful historic buildings and the annual festival of arts. Edinburgh is called "Athens of the North".

II. Translate into English:

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У світі цікавого

1. "Сюрпризи Амазонії"

Там така жара, що сорочка відразу ж прилипає до мокрого від поту тіла… Там несе свої води найбільша ріка у світі… Це – Амазонія – величезна країна, повна життя, барвів і небезпек.

У пекельній жарі Амазонії (+42°С у тіні, волога – 98 %, і ніде ні найменшої прохолоди) живуть понад 8600 видів птахів і понад 1500 видів різних риб.

Із всіх риб, які живуть в Амазонці та її притоках, найзнаменитіші, звичайно, піраньї. Невеликі хижі рибки довжиною 15-30 сантиметрів, з гострими, як лезо бритви, зубами наганяють страх на жителів прибережних сіл. Однак піраньї не тільки небезпечні, але й смачні, ось чому для місцевих жителів це найулюбленіший делікатес. Небезпеку від цих риб сильно перебільшують. Піраньї нападають, тільки коли почують у воді кров, а в інших випадках поводять себе не гірше окунів. Крім цього, піраньї живуть у замуленій воді тихих заток. Кому ж заманеться прати чи купатися в смердячому болоті?

А ось справжню небезпеку для мандрівників у джунглях Амазонії становлять мурахи. Якщо шукачі пригод раптом помітять на березі маленькі червоні крапки, то повинні негайно тікати, тому що від мурахів теока, так, як і від мурахів, яких індійці називають "вогняна смерть", іншого порятунку немає. Вони хмарою накидаються на жертву, і тоді починається бенкет хижаків. Так що якщо кому-небудь з вас заманеться провести відпустку в Амазонії, рекомендуємо вам все продумати, поки ще не пізно…

2.Дивовижний світ печер

Узаповіднику Гулунг-Мулу, який розташований у Малайзії, є Біла гора, всередині якої знаходяться печери. Печери вперше знайшли британські спелеологи в 1984 році. Вони вражають не тільки своїми колосальними розмірами, але і виключним багатством тварин – їхніх мешканців.

Углибині Білої гори зручні тунелі й зали раптово обриваються бездонними проваллями, в інших місцях шлях перегороджують обривисті скали. В деяких печерах з височенних склепінь звисають сталактити, в інших виростають з-під землі сталагмити, створюючи цілі зали якоїсь фантастичної неземної архітектури.

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У цій лякаючій неживій красі живе багато тварин. У повній темряві живі істоти розвиваються, звичайно, зовсім по-іншому, ніж на поверхні, але вони прекрасно пристосувались до незвичайних умов життя. Крім законних мешканців печер – кажанів, тут можна зустріти деякі види черепах, риб, саламандр, змій, ящірок, не кажучи вже про хмари комах, безхребетних організмів і рослин.

Але людині довго перебувати в Білій горі не можна. Інакше вона захворіє на "ногу Мулу" – ноги вкривають червоні прищі, вони розпухають і сильно болять.

Такий дивовижний світ печер острова Борнео.

3. Остання крапля

Вторгнення на Американський континент іспанських конкістадорів, голод, міжусобні війни і, як результат, занепад культури майя навряд чи можна пояснити однією причиною. Недавні дослідження показали, що останній удар індійцям майя завдали кліматичні умови – три довготривалі посушливі періоди.

Учені провели аналіз відлогів у бухті Каріако біля берегів Венесуели і дійшли таких висновків: в ІХ столітті н. е. в регіоні Центральної Америки повторювалися катастрофічні посухи. Особливо довготривалими були посушливі періоди в 810, 860 і 910 роках. Імовірно, в цей час був порушений весь колообіг води в тропічній Південній Америці.

Протягом століття випадало дуже мало дощів. Індійці майя користувались хитромудрою системою каналів для бережного витрачання водяних ресурсів і поповнення запасів води – ось чому цей народ спокійно переживав посушливі роки. А ось проти столітньої посухи їхня зрошувальна система не допомогла. Посуха, неврожаї, голод ще більше посилили всі інші труднощі й нещастя. Принаймні, три посушливі періоди раз і назавжди "добили" імперію майя, яку роздирали багато внутрішніх протиріч і яка була не в змозі протистояти іноземним завойовникам.

Part 3

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Additional texts for reproduction

1. Damage to Oceans Is out of Control, Says UN

Damage to once pristine habitats of the deep oceans by pollution, litter and overfishing is running out of control, the United Nations warned. In a report that indicates that time is running out to save them, the UN said humankind‘s exploitation of the deep seas and oceans was “rapidly passing the point of no return”.

Last year some 85m tonnes of wild fish were pulled from the global oceans, 100 million sharks and related species were butchered for their fins, some 250,000 turtles became tangled in fishing gear, and 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses, were killed by illegal longline fishing.

Into the water in their place went 3 bn individual pieces of litter – about 8 m a day – joining the 46,000 pieces of discarded plastic that currently float on every square mile of ocean and kill another million seabirds each year. The water temperature rose and its alkalinity fell – both the result of climate change.

Coral barriers off Australia and Belize are dying and newly discovered reefs in the Atlantic have already been destroyed by bottom trawling.

“Humankind’s ability to exploit the deep oceans and high seas has accelerated rapidly over recent years. It is a pace of change that has outstripped our institutions and conservation efforts”.

Mining, for example, could soon spread to the sea floor for the first time. The Canadian company Nautilius Minerals plans to dig for deposits of gold and copper off Papua New Guinea.

More than 90 % of the world’s living organisms are found in the oceans, but a new UN report says that researchers are only now beginning to understand the nature of their ecosystems”. Today these environments are considered to have been the very cradle for life on Earth”.

2. Closer to the Melting Point

Half of Greenland and vast areas of Antarctica are destined to melt if global warming continues at the same pace until the end of the century, scientists warned. Their research shows that the loss of so much ice will trigger dramatic rises in sea levels, ultimately swamping low-lying regions of England – Essex, Lincolnshire and Norfolk – and threatening the flood defences of cities such as London, Liverpool and Bristol. The last time so much ice was lost from the poles – in a period between ice ages 129,000 years ago – global sea levels rose by four to six metres.

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Experts believe many coastal regions would suffer long before sea levels rose significantly, because even a minor rise will make storm surges more devastating and increase the risk of flooding. A rise of one metre would in effect close the port of London as the Thames barrier would need to be raised for 300 days a year to protect the city, according to one scientist.

The warning comes from climate scientists who combined historical records of Arctic and Antarctic ice melting with advanced computer models capable of predicting future environmental conditions. They found that if nothing is done to put the brakes on climate change, Greenland, the west Antarctic ice sheet and other expanses of polar ice will be warmed beyond a “tipping point” after which their melting is inevitable.

If temperatures do rise as the scientists predict, the ice at the poles will not be lost immediately. Enough ice is likely to melt witnin the next 100 years to raise sea levels by a metre, but ultimately the fresh water pouring into the North Atlantic would slow down the Gulf stream, which bathes Britain in warm water from the tropics, by a quarter.

The major concern is that unless climate change slows down significantly, the eventual loss of polar ice and subsequent six-metre rise in sea levels will be unavoidable.

The melting 129,000 years ago was driven by natural processes. This time greenhouse gas emissions have been warming the planet since the industrial age. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere stand at around 380 parts per million, but many scientists believe they will rise to 550 ppm by the middle of the century.

3. Drought Threatens Amazon Basin for Second Year Running

Amazon Indians and church leaders have blessed the vast expanse of the Amazon in a ceremony just where the silty river mingles with the coffeecoloured Rio Negro. They asked the river to protect them from drought.

The prospect of dryness seems incredible in Manaus, a Brazilian port city where both the Amazon and Rio Negro are more than 8 km wide and 300 m deep. At more than 1,600 km from the sea, the two waterways can be navigated by ocean-going ships and dwarf every other river in the world in volume. But last year the worst drought in more than a century hit the Amazon basin, drying up tributaries 1.5 km wide and prompting Brazil to declare a state of emergency across the entire region.

Tens of thousands were cut off as rivers that are the main means of transportation became mudflats and grasslands, leaving boats stranded among millions of rotting fish.

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Locals hoped that the drought was a once-in-a-generation event, but there are signs that the extreme conditions are returning. In the Acre region close to Brazil’s borders with Bolivia and Peru, where last year’s drought began, sandbanks have started to appear in rivers that are normally larger than any European counterparts.

Such conditions usually occur only at the end of the dry season in September, but this year Acre unprecedentedly went without rain for 40 days in June and early July. The government’s technical foundation in Acre said vegetation was so dry that there was a serious danger of forest fires.

The blessing of the rivers came at the start of a conference examining the deterioration of the Amazon basin. It brings together religious leaders, politicians and scientists aboard a fleet of boats anchored in Manaus, the

Amazon’s main city.

Brazil’s environment minister said that the drought was linked to record sea temperatures in the south-west Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico that contributed to last year’s record hurricane season. But the destruction of the rainforest by illegal loggers has also been blamed as a cause, as rivers become choked with silt swept from the denuded land.

4. Climate Studies Can Predict Malaria Epidemics

Scientists have developed an early-warning system for the outbreak of malaria epidemics. They claim that the system, which is based on computer models of climate change, can predict outbreaks up to five months in advance.

Malaria kills more than 1 million people every year, and infects 500 million worldwide. Although endemic in many parts of the world, the disease is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for almost 90 % of all cases. “Although the greatest burden of malaria in Africa is suffered by those living in endemic regions, epidemics pose a serious threat to many millions of people and their prevention remains a priority”, wrote the researchers in their paper, published in Nature.

Climate is key in the development of not only the malaria parasite but also the mosquitoes that carry it. In Botswana the national malaria control programme has developed an early-warning system based on population vulnerability, rainfall, and health surveillance to predict and detect unusual changes in the seasonal pattern of disease. The risk of an epidemic in Botswana increases dramatically just after a season of good rainfall.

A separate study published last year showed that monitoring rainfall and sea surface temperature could predict the peak of a malaria season up to

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a month in advance. But the earlier warning could give health workers more time to build up drug stocks or to target insecticides. Preventive and protective measures – spraying stagnant waters, providing anti-malarial drugs, bed nets, etc – can be targeted on the regions most at risk, thus making better use of existing resources.

5. Oslo Beats Tokyo as World’s Costliest City

For 14 years Tokyo was ranked as the most expensive city in the world for visitors, but Japan’s capital has been robbed of its dubious title by Europe’s relative economic resurgence. Oslo, the ancient Viking port at the heart of Norway’s oil-fuelled boom, is now the costliest place on the planet to do business or stay as a tourist.

Eight of the priciest 10 locations are European, including London in seventh place. America has slipped significantly, according to the detailed cost of living survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit. New York is the most expensive US city – in 27th position.

Whether being most expensive adds prestige or deters cost-conscious travellers, the rankings reflect shifting global patterns of prosperity. The topping of Tokyo marks the end of an era. Since 1991 a Japanese city has held the top spot; at one stage the biannual survey placed Tokyo and Osaka joint first. Before Tokyo’s ascendancy, Tehran was deemed to be the city that emptied visitors’ pockets fastest due to an overvalued official exchange rate.

Currency revaluations have helped Tehran become one of the cheapest places to stay: it is now in 128th position – at the foot of the table.

Tokyo still occupies second place, but its decline comes as the Japanese economy continues to fight the effects of a weakening yen compounded by years of low inflation and deflation.

Norway, always thought of as relatively expensive thanks to high taxes to support a generous social system, has had its economy boosted by cash from offshore oilfields. It has enjoyed “high consumer confidence, rampant investment and still-low interest rates”, the survey comments.

Other fast European risers include Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, which jumped to third place ahead of Osaka, Paris, Copenhagen, London, Zurich, Geneva and Helsinki occupied the next six places.

6. Clean Water is a Human Right

Latin America’s largest metropolis, with more than 20 million people, is sinking. Mexico City is built on an ancient lake that has been drained, and now the underground aquifers are collapsing. But that is only half the

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problem. In what is developing into one of the world’s most pressing environment problem, rivers of sewage flow through many poor neighbourhoods, the city loses 40-50 % of all its water in leaks, and 100 cubic metres of hard-to-dispose waste is generated every second.

Yet every day more than 1,000 people come to live in Mexico City, and the local authorities are overwhelmed. Last year a million people depended on water trucks, or “pipas”, to meet their basic need for water. The rich bought it bottled, the poorest paid by the bucketful, and there were clashes between neighbours as people stole water from each other. Even though more than 800 km of new pipes have been laid in the past few years, 40 % of people still refuse to pay or do not receive bills. The whole system urgently needs several billion dollars’ investment.

Moreover, the problems are worsening. The United Nations has declared that water quality is declining in most regions, that there is an increasing demand for water to grow crops for burgeoning populations, and that urban areas are exploding. By 2030 some 2 billion people will live in illegal squatter settlements and slums without access to water. But what may shock people most is that after almost 15 years of promises by world bodies, national governments, water companies and others, the world’s poorest are still not getting the most basic human need.

There is now no chance that the millennium development goal of halving the proportion of people without access to clean water by 2015 will be met. At this rate of progress, says the World Water Council, “access to clean water cannot be guaranteed until beyond 2050 in Latin America and the

Caribbean”. Blame for the failure will be put on large institutions, states and international companies that have the money, or access to it, but that have failed to target the poor.

Додаток 1

Таблиця хімічних елементів, які використовуються в науковій літературі

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Ar	argon	Аргон
Ac	actinium	Актиній
Ag	silver	Аргентум (срібло)
Al	aluminium	Алюміній
An	actinon	Актиній
As	arsenic	Арсен (миш’як)
At	astatine	Астат (астатин)
Au	gold	Аурум (золото)
B	boron	Бор
Ba	barium	Барій
Be	beryllium	Берилій
Bi	bismuth	Бісмут
Bk	berkelium	Берклій
Br	bromine	Бром
C	carbon	Карбон (вуглець)
Ca	calcium	Кальцій
Cd	cadmium	Кадмій
Cl	chlorine	Хлор
Cm	curium	Кюрій
Co	cobalt	Кобальт
Cr	chromium	Хром
Cu	copper	Купрум (мідь)
F	fluorine	Фтор
Fe	iron	Ферум (залізо)
H	hydrogen	Гідроген (водень)
He	helium	Гелій
Hg	mercury	Меркурій (ртуть)
I	iodine	Йод
In	indium	Індій
K	potassium	Калій
Li	lithium	Літій
Mg	magnesium	Магній
Mn	manganese	Манган (марганець)
N	nitrogen	Нітроген (азот)
Na	sodium	Натрій
Ni	nickel	Нікель
O	oxygen	Оксиген (кисень)
P	phosphorus	Фосфор
Pb	lead	Плюмбум (свинець)
Pt	platinum	Платина
Pu	plutonium	Плутоній
S	sulphur	Сульфур (сірка)
Sb	antimony	Стибій (сурма)
Si	silicon	Силіцій (кремній)
Sn	tin	Олово
Sr	strontium	Стронцій
Ta	tantalum	Тантал

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Ti	titanium	Титан
U	uranium	Уран
V	vanadium	Ванадій
Wn	tungsten	Вольфрам
Zn	zinc	Цинк

Додаток 2

Математичні символи Numerals – Числівники

One	first	один	перший
Two	second	два	другий
Three	third	три	третій
Four	fourth	чотири	четвертий
Five	fifth	п’ять	п’ятий
Six	sixth	шість	шостий
Seven	seventh	сім	сьомий
Eight	eighth	вісім	восьмий
Nine	ninth	дев’ять	дев’ятий
Ten	tenth	десять	десятий
Eleven	eleventh	одинадцять	одинадцятий
Twelve	twelfth	дванадцять	дванадцятий
Thirteen	thirteenth	тринадцять	тринадцятий
Fourteen	fourteenth	чотирнадцять	чотирнадцятий
Fifteen	fifteenth	п’ятнадцять	п’ятнадцятий
Sixteen	sixteenth	шістнадцять	шістнадцятий
Seventeen	seventeenth	сімнадцять	сімнадцятий
Eighteen	eighteenth	вісімнадцять	вісімнадцятий
Nineteen	nineteenth	дев’ятнадцять	дев’ятнадцятий
Twenty	twentieth	двадцять	двадцятий
Twenty one	twenty first	двадцять один	двадцять перший
Twenty two	twenty second	двадцять два	двадцять другий
Thirty	thirtieth	тридцять	тридцятий
Forty	fortieth	сорок	сороковий
Fifty	fiftieth	п'ятдесят	п’ятидесятий
Sixty	sixtieth	шістдесят	шістдесятий
Seventy	seventieth	сімдесят	сімдесятий
Eighty	eightieth	вісімдесят	восьмидесятий
Ninety	ninetieth	дев’яносто	дев’яностий
One hundred		сто
Six hundred		шістсот
One thousand		тисяча
Six thousand		шість тисяч
One million		мільйон

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