Unit 2. Land

Warming –up activity

1. Work in groups. Give your understanding of a disaster. What is it? What are your associations with this word?

DISASTER – 1. a very bad accident, e.g. a crash or a fire, that causes great damage or loss of life; a CATASTROPHE; an air/sea/train disaster, a natural disaster, a disaster area.

2. an event that causes suffering or unfortunate consequences, a MISFORTUNE.

3. (inf.) a person/thing that is a complete failure:

As a teacher, he’s a disaster.

Adj. DISASTREOUS flood/marriage/decision.

Adv. DISASTREOUSLY

2. I n groups make up 3 sentences with the word DISASTER to show different meaning of it.

What kinds of disaster do you know?

Here is presented a number of definitions of the disasters. You must match the term and its definition. NB!!! Make sure you pronounce the words correctly.

Hurricane /’harikən/	A time when there is very little food in a region
Tornado /to:’neidəu/	A violet tropical storm in the Western Pacific
Typhoon /tai’fu:n/	A sudden violet movement of the earth’s surface
Drought /draut/	A violent storm with strong winds esp. in the Western Atlantic Ocean
Famine /’fæmin/	A violent storm in which strong winds move over the ground in a circle
Earthquake /’з:Өkweik/	A large quantity of water covering an area that is usually dry
Cyclone /’saikləun/	A period of continuous dry weather esp. when there is not enough water for people’s needs
Flood /flad/	A violent storm with strong wind circular winds over a small area

3. Up to now people in different countries have suffered from the catastrophes. Give the examples of the disasters which have already happened. What effect can these phenomena have on the landscape and on the development of a country?

4. What can be the reasons of a disaster? Some scientists say about the ocean floor movement, others support the idea of nature revenge upon us. Environmentalists speak about people’s negative influence on the earth. What do you believe in?

5. Read the text on pp.24-26 “Inner forces change the earth’s surface”. Find the English equivalents for the following phrases in Russian:

• морское дно медленно двигается вдоль океанических хребтов;

• большие трещины разделяют землю на огромные части;

• …по мере того, как они двигаются рядом друг с другом;

• это движение происходит…;

• происходит в считанные секунды;

• сильны настолько, чтобы люди, живущие на этой территории, почувствовали…;

• для измерения силы землетрясения;

• ..5 баллов по шкале Рихтера;

• вызвать большие разрушения и смерть людей;

• говорить о приближающихся извержениях;

• говорят, что этот вулкан бездействующий;

6. Translate the following sentences from the text into Russian. Pay special attention to the underlined phrases.

1. An active volcano is one that always shows signs of volcanic action.

2. Great cracks divide the earth into huge sections called plates – 7 larger ones and several smaller ones.

3. Clouds of dust and ashes shot as high as 6 km into the air.

4. The eruption blew off 390 m of the mountain’s top, sent smoke and ash as high as 18 km, and took 61 lives.

5. It was the first volcanic eruption to take place in the United States since 1917.

7. Here is a report about a volcano that has erupted in southern Italy. It had laid dormant for over 20 years. Underline all the examples of the Passive, then using the report complete the sentences.

“Here I am standing on top of a pile of rubble. Yesterday it was a school. It seems that over 2000 people have been found so far. Many hundreds more have still to be traced. The volcano erupted just as everyone in this sleepy little town was having breakfast. Some were killed by the blast and the heat. Some were killed when their houses collapsed – they were buried alive in the rubble. Children were killed as they were being driven to school by their parents. Most of the people who died had been born here, and had lived all their lives in this village. The blast was felt 50 miles away.”

1. Many people have not yet been ………..

2. Because so many buildings fell down, lots of people were …… alive.

3. Many of the children were in cars which were being …… by their parents.

4. The effects of the eruption were …. by people living many miles away from the scene.

5. The school has been….

6. Most of the dead were people who had been …. in the area.

7. It may be weeks before we know how many people have been…..

8. Imagine you are a journalist. You must write a report about a disaster that has just happened. The previous task can be an example for you. Use the Passive as much as possible.

9. Here are some reports about different disasters. Identify a disaster and match the titles to the stories (or you can give your own variants for the titles).

Monsoon flooding kills 200

Thirty-six killed and 45 injured in miles of flame

At least 36 people, including a family of five in a car, were burnt to death within hours yesterday as vast tracts of the southern part of Australia, parched by months of drought, burst into flames. Another 450 people were injured. Uncontrollable bush fires fanned by high winds engulfed nearly 300 houses in the states of Victoria and South Australia. And such was the fear, that 50 people evacuated from threatened or dying towns waded into the sea to evade walls of flames. Five small towns in Victoria were destroyed and ten others evacuated. Several towns in South Australia were also evacuated.

Flooding and landslides have killed up to 200 people and made about 2 million homeless in north-east and north Bangladesh, and monsoon rains are continuing to lash the region, officials said yesterday. In the eastern part of West Bengal state, at least 70 people have been killed by floods and landslides and 350,000 made homeless.

10. Read the text “Predicting Earthquakes”, pp. 32-33.

Can we predict the natural disasters?

Find in the text the methods we can use to predict the earthquakes.

11. It is widely known that the disasters can be natural and man-made. You have found out that we can somehow predict the natural disasters, but the man-made disasters are unexpectable. Here is the text about one of the most terrible catastrophe in out country. Read and do the exercise after the text.

On April 26 1986, one of history’s worst nuclear accidents occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant in the Ukraine. At 1:23 AM, technicians at the Chernobyl plant allowed the power in the fourth reactor to fall to low levels as part of a controlled experiment, which went terribly wrong. The reactor overheated and caused a meltdown of the core. This resulted in the explosive force of steam, which blew off the lid of the reactor. Large amount of radioactive material were released into the atmosphere. Wind carried the lighter radioactive material over the Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and parts of Europe.

Many people were affected by this catastrophe. The accident caused 31 immediate deaths that were mainly the result of exposure to radiation. The main casualties were among those who fought the fires caused by the explosion. Many children in the surrounding areas developed cancer due to the radiation emitted.

Today reactor-4 is buried in a cement tomb which was quickly built in order to allow the other reactors at the power station to continue working. However, this shelter is not strong and will not last and there are plans to replace it. Many people have suffered in some way as a result of the Chernobyl disaster and millions of dollars are still being spent today to contain reactor-4 and assure that no further radiation leakage occurs.

1. The Chernobyl disaster is thought to be…

   1. as serious as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

   2. a minor accident with no future consequences.

   3. one of many similar accidents.

   4. Europe’s greatest catastrophe.

2. When the Chernobyl-4 reactor overheated….

   1. technicians turned it down.

   2. it melted the core.

   3. the power plant was filled with steam.

   4. it sealed the lid of the reactor shut.

3. The reactor-4 explosion resulted in the …

   1. spread of the heavier radioactive material by the wind.

   2. immediate death of 200,000 people.

c) release of dust and debris into the atmosphere.

d) release of reactor-4’s cover.

4. Most of the people who died as a result of the explosion were..

   1. firefighters.

   2. members of the clean up crew.

   3. operators of the reactor.

   4. children.

5. Reactor-4…

   1. is still leaking radiation.

   2. is enclosed in cement.

   3. will be replaced in the future.

   4. cost millions of dollars.

12. Think of the examples of the man-made disasters.

13. Read the text “The Earth’s Surface Has a Variety of Landforms” on pp. 26-27 and finish the following sentences:

1. Mountain building is the process which …..

2. There are two types of ….

3. The Sierra Nevada Range in California was formed by ….

4. Surface is changed by …

5. There are two types of weathering ….

6. The agents of erosion are …..

7. The variety of landforms include …. and have ….

Do the exercises after the text.

XIV. Read the text “The Continental Shelves” on pp. 29-30 and give the definition and characterize the continental shelves.

Why are the continental shelves important to people?

Why do many nations value the continental shelves?

XV. Read the text “Physical Geographers” on pp. 30-31 and find the English equivalents for the following Russian expressions:

• Довольно часто

• Беспокоиться об окружающей среде

• Необходимость в знаниях

• Отношение причины и следствия

• Безжалостная обработка крутых склонов

• Влияние добычи угля на ландшафт и растительность

• Изменять дождевую погоду

• Те, кто заинтересован в окружающем мире

XVI. Read the text on p. 31 “Geomorphologists” and list the main responsibilities of this profession.

Credit on the unit “LAND” – see page 31 “Oral Practice”.