Comprehension Ex.1 Answer the following questions.

1. What are the main religions in India?

2. What is the official language in India?

3. Do many people speak English?

4. What spheres of life is English used in?

5. What is meant in the text by a phrase 'a country of many contrasts'?

6. What has changed since India became independent in 1947?

7. What are the main foods of India?

8. How much is the population of India?

9. What is the largest city?

10. What's the climate like?

Discussion

Ex.1 Answer the following questions.

1. What else do you know about India?

2. Do you want to visit India? Why?

3. What other countries would you like to go to? Think of some interesting facts about their climate, religion, culture.

4. Have you ever been to a country of 'many contrasts'? What are the contrasts?

5. Can we say that Russia is a country of many contrasts? Give some examples.

6. Tell about Russia according to the following points:

• the population

• the capital

• the largest city

• the main religion

• the main foods

• the climate

Iceland

More dramatic than the Canary Islands, more peaceful than European cities, but only the same distance away – that’s Iceland!

This island in the North Atlantic is larger than England and Wales, but few people live here – only about 290,000, with over half in the capital city, Reykjavik. Iceland has been independent from Denmark since 1944 and the capital comes alive on Independence Day (June 16), when Reykjavik feels more crowded than London.

But people don’t usually visit Iceland for the city life. This is a country of amazing landscapes – blue lakes and lagoons, fast rivers and waterfalls, mountains and volcanoes that erupt frequently. Mount Hekla, in the south of the country, has erupted sixteen times in the last 1, 000 years, and, in one of the most violent eruptions of recent times, the volcano on the island of Heimaey almost destroyed the town in 1973.

Notes

dramatic	впечатляющий, поразительный
to come alive	оживать

Comprehension

Ex.1 Are the sentences true or false? Correct the false ones.

1. The Canary Icelands are less dramatic than Iceland.

2. Iceland is smaller than England and Wales.

3. Not many people live in Iceland.

4. London never feels less crowded than Reykjavik.

5. Iceland has been independent for less than 50 years.

6. The volcano of Heimaey has erupted sixteen times.

Ex.2 Answer the following questions.

1. Where is Iceland situated?

2. How much is the population of Iceland?

3. What's the capital of Iceland?

4. What happened in 1944?

5. Why is Mount Hekla special?

6. What happened in 1973?

Discussion

Ex.1 Answer the following questions.

1. Suppose you are a travel agent. Make an advertisement so that to attract tourists to visit Iceland. Write 5-7 sentences and present them to the classmates.

2. What other places would you recommend to visit? Why?

What is life like in Antarctica?

Antarctica is like no other place in the world. It is unique. It is very big. It is like the United States and Australia together. Antarctica is the coldest place in the world. The temperature is sometimes -125°F (-87°C). August and September are the coldest months because there is no sun.

Antarctica is at the southern tip of the world. It is the highest continent. It is 10,000 feet high. Antarctica also has very strong winds. The wind sometimes blows two hundred miles an hour. It is also the driest place in the world. Antarctica is drier than the Sahara Desert!

Antarctica is also empty. There are huge glaciers and ice everywhere. A glacier is an area of ice that moves slowly. The ice and glaciers are beautiful. But most plants and land animals cannot live on the ice. It is too cold. There are no trees, no rivers, and no cities in Antarctica. There are no land animals. Only penguins and other sea birds live there.

Antarctica does not belong to any one country. In fact, every country owns Antarctica. More than twenty countries have stations in Antarctica. A station is a place where scientists do experiments. There are separate stations for different countries. The scientists are the only people who live in Antarctica. In all, over four thousand people live at the stations in the summer. Over one thousand people live there in the winter.

Life on an Antarctica station is hard. It is like life on a space station. The sun shines for six months, and then it is night for six months. People usually have problems with sleeping and eating. They eat more because they are not busy. In an emergency, it is hard to get help. In 1999, an American doctor named Jerri Nielsen realised she was sick. She had cancer. It was winter, and airplanes could not land in Antarctica. She was the only doctor there. Dr. Nielsen had no choice. She had to stay. An airplane dropped medicine to her, and she took care of herself. Several months later, Dr. Nielsen returned to the United States to get special medical help.

Today, more and more people visit Antarctica. Ships go to Antarctica during the summer months from November to February. People want to visit this unusual place, but they don't want to live there!

Notes

unique	уникальный
glacier	ледник, глетчер
emergency	экстренный случай

Comprehension

Ex.1 Choose the correct variant.

1. Antarctica belongs to _______.

1. the United States

2. every country

3. twenty countries

2. Scientists live in Antarctica _______.

1. in the summer

2. in the winter

3. in the summer and the winter

3. On an Antarctic station _______.

1. people eat less

2. there is no space

3. life is difficult

Ex.2 Are the sentences true or false? Correct the false ones.

1. Antarctica is drier than the Sahara Desert.

2. The wind blows three hundred miles an hour.

3. Most plants and animals can live on the ice.

4. People have problems sleeping in Antarctica.

5. People visit Antarctica in July and August.

6. Penguins live in Antarctica.

Discussion

Ex.1 Answer the following questions.

1. Would you like to visit Antarctica or any other unusual place? Why or why not?

2. Could you live in a place like Antarctica?

3. What other unusual places do you know? Describe one of them.

Top cities

Have you ever walked around a city and thought, 'this is Paradise'? Or, may be, 'this is the ugliest, most polluted, dangerous, frightening place I've ever been to and I can't wait to get out'?

Most of us have. And that's why most of us like to know about the place before we go there. One thing we can do is read a good guide book. Another is to look at a new survey conducted by William Mercer, one of the world's largest Human Resources consultancies.

Mercer decided to judge some of the world's great cities. They produced their results by giving marks for various criteria. These included political, economic and social environment, healthcare, educational provision, recreation and transport infrastructure.

So, which are the best cities to live in, and which should we avoid? In joint first place were Vancouver, Berne, Vienna and Zurich while Sydney, Geneva, Auckland and Copenhagen came second. Swiss cities occupied three of the top ten places, making it the single most successful country of all those surveyed.

New York was used as the base city with a score of 100, which put it in 50th place. Overall, US cities suffered because of high crime rates. The highest ranked US city was Honolulu with 104 points.

For Londoners, the news was not too bad. London was slightly ahead of New York with 101.5. The report named London's good international relations as a positive point. Its poorest scores – six out of ten – were awarded for its climate and traffic. Bottom of the list was Brazzaville, in the Congo, where there has been a civil war for many years.

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, last night said it was unfair to compare large international cities with small cities since the smaller ones were far easier to run. 'You have to look at cities of five million people plus. On that basis we're much better than Tokyo and New York,' said Mr Livingstone.

Notes

survey	обзор, исследование
to conduct	проводить
to judge	оценивать
provision	обеспечение, положение
recreation	отдых
score	счет, балл
the highest ranked	занимающий первое место, стоящий выше других