Exercises
Exercise 9. a) Explain the absence of articles with the geographical names in the following rhymes. Learn them by heart.
There was an Old Person of Gretna
Who rushed down the crater of Etna,
When they said 'Is it hot?' he replied 'No, it's not'
That mendacious person of Gretna.
* # *
There was an Old Man of Vesuvius,
Who studied the works of Vitruvius;
When the flames burnt his book, to drinking he took,
That morbid Old Man of Vesuvius.
* * *
There was an old man of Cape Horn
Who wished he had never been born;
So he sat on a chair, till he died of despair,
That dolorous Man of Cape Horn.
* * *
There was a young man of South Bay
Making fireworks on summer day,
He dropped his cigar in the gunpowder jar.
There was a young man of South Bay.
Decide what may have happened to the Old Man of Vesuvius;
Discuss how the miserable fate of the Old Man of Cape Horn could have been avoided.
Exercise 10. a) Is it difficult to make up a list of all the planets of the solar system? Will your task get easier after reading the next extract?
b) Read the following passage and comment if the arguments of the astronomers are convincing.
A growing body of astronomers is now convinced that the correct answer about the number of planets is eight and that Pluto should be demoted from its position as a planet. Pluto is certainly the runt of the planets: it would take 25 Plutos to make the next smallest, Mercury. It also follows a most unplanetlike orbit, a tilted oval path that crosses the orbit of Neptune. Astronomers have found another 12 small bodies orbiting the Sun beyond the orbit of Neptune. They cannot all be classified as planets. It would be more logical to describe Pluto as merely the largest of this swarm of asteroids (LC).
Exercise 11. a) Do you know what discovery Jonathan Swift made in Gulliver's Travels? Try to guess it with your partner.
b) Read the following passage and see if your guess is right:
In Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift described two moons of Mars Phobos and Deimos, giving their exact size and speed of rotation. He did this more than a hundred years before either moon was discovered (ABC-K).
c) Decide how Jonathan Swift managed to discover the moons of Mars.
Exercise 12. a) Do you know where Mount Erebus is situated? Discuss it with your partner.
b) Read the passage and decide if Mount Erebus can influence the climate of this region.
Mount Erebus is a bubbling volcano in Antarctica. An eight-legged robot named Dante had to find out how much chlorine, the main ozone-depleting gas in the atmosphere, is being produced by Mount Erebus. Ozone is one of the most important gases in the atmosphere. Not only does it soak up dangerous ultraviolet radiation which could destroy life on earth, it also controls temperature and therefore the weather system of the world (LC).
c) Decide what other volcanoes can deplete the ozone layer of the atmosphere.
Exercise 13. a) Revise the use of articles with names of bridges and make up a list of well-known bridges throughout the world.
b) Try to guess when Tower Bridge was built. Read the passage and comment what makes Tower Bridge famous.
Tower Bridge was opened on 30 June 1894. Since its inauguration till 1955, Tower Bridge was opened 325 358 times. Over the years, since then, the number of 'lifts' has dropped because of the closure of wharfs in Inner London, which means that large ships don't need to go under Tower Bridge. The architectural style of Tower Bridge is the Victorian Gothic, very typical of the nineteenth century England. Of the twin towers, the north tower (the nearest to the Tower of London) is the entrance to the recently opened, glass-covered Tower Bridge Walkways which are accessible by a lift or stairs and afford a superb view of the Thames River and the London skyline (ELD).
c) Make up a story about a bridge as famous as Tower Bridge.
Exercise 14. a) Do you know what is the Golden Gate (USA)? Ask your friend's opinion.
b) Read the passage and explain what is the Golden Gate in the USA.
In the 1930s long before the Europeans had constructed suspension bridges on such a huge scale, the Americans spanned the Golden Gate, the entrance to San Francisco Harbor, with a mighty suspension bridge. It was in those days by far the largest suspension bridge in the world, and is still one of the most beautiful (B-USA).
c) Make up a list of well-known suspension bridges.
Exercise 15. a) Ask your fellow-students if any of them knows what is Yellowstone. In case nobody does pass over to the next part of the exercise.
b) Read the following passage and single out the peculiarities of Yellowstone.
The first national park, founded in America in 1872, was Yellowstone, in the state of Wyoming. Yellowstone has everything which appeals to the romantic. There are snowy mountain peaks, tree-fringed lakes and vast forests, as well as broad water meadows, across which the Yellowstone
River glides gently on its way to canyon. No tree-felling is allowed in Yellowstone. When a tree falls, it is left to rot and enrich the soil and so encourage young trees to grow. Even natural forest fires, those not started by man, are allowed in many parts to burn themselves out (B-USA).
c) Find out what parks like Yellowstone exist in this country or other countries of the world.
Exercise 16. a) Isn't it strange that the personal name 'Hudson' is used in two geographical names 'Hudson Bay' and 'the Hudson River'? Explain why.
b) Read the passage and decide why Henry Hudson is the real discoverer of what is now New York.
A huge suspension bridge, the second largest span in the world, now crosses the Verrazano Narrows through which every ship must pass on its way to New York Harbor and the docks alongside the banks of the Hudson River. Giovanni de Verrazano, an Italian explorer, was the first person to approach these narrows, while searching for a northwest passage to the Pacific in 1524. He pausedfbut decided there was no point in exploring any further. The English explorer, Henry Hudson, was the first to sail into New York Harbor and up the river to which he gave his name (B-USA).
c) Explain the absence of the article with the names 'Heniy Hudson', 'Hudson Bay' and the use of the definite article with the name of the Hudson River.
d) Make up a list of geographical names bearing names of famous discoverers. Compare your list with that of your partner.
Exercise 17. a) Do you know what the Gobi (desert) is famous for?
b) Read the following passage and characterize the Gobi. The Mongolian Gobi Desert is one of the harshest places on Earth; it
is also the world's biggest dinosaur graveyard. According to a major expedition from the American Museum of Natural History the Gobi holds clues to how early mammals established a hold on the planet and how the age of dinosaurs was left behind. As more specimens are examined it might also prove that dinosaurs never truly became extinct and that today's birds are their living descendants (LC).
c) Discuss how you can organise an expedition to the Gobi.
Exercise 18. a) Have you heard about the Sonora Desert?
b) Read the passage and decide if the Sonora Desert is a good place for summer rest.
The
sun-seekers have now moved eastwards again and about half a million
people have colonized large areas of the Sonora Desert in Arizona
(the USA), destroying much of its lonely beauty with an ugly sprawl
of unplanned
buildings. The newcomers have brought money and employment
to the little cities of Tucson and Phoenix, but they have ruined the
environment. More serious, they are rapidly using the water which
lies under
the Sonora Desert near Tucson. Arizona is consuming its water twice
as fast as is replenishing it. There are settlements in the desert
where only
the roads have been built, and which will remain empty through lack
of
water (B-USA).
c) Decide how the problems of the Sonora Desert and Arisona can be solved.
Exercise 19. a) The following extract is taken from an article about Antarctica. Read it and decide what the rest of the article may be about.
There was a time when only strong men ventured to Antarctica. Now the vast and beautiful wilderness is far more accessible. Several companies, for example, are offering cruises on ships with ice-hardened hulls. Going to the Antarctic is still an adventure, but one that can be enjoyed in comfort (FT).
b) Decide how you will advertise a cruise to the Antarctic (Antarctica).
Exercise 20. a) Can you explain the origin of the name of the Mississippi River? Ask if any of your fellow-students can.
b) Read the passage and explain what the name of the Mississippi means.
The Mississippi is a romantic river whose relationship with man goes way back beyond its discovery by Spaniards in the 16th century. Indians used it as a highway and as a source of food, and it was they who gave it its name - 'misi', meaning 'great' and 'sipi', meaning 'water'. When the length of its tributary, the Missouri, is added to it, the Mississippi becomes the third longest river in the world (B-USA).
c) Decide about the possible origin of the name of the Missouri River.
Exercise 21. a) Do you know what New York Harbour is famous for?
b) Read the passage and make up a list of the landmarks of New York Harbour.
No single monument in the USA is as famous as the Statue of Liberty. Standing on Liberty Island, in New York Harbour, is the crowned lady, holding the torch of freedom. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the USA from France in 1886. About a mile from Liberty Island there is another small island, called Ellis Island, which was looked upon with dread by immigrants. For it was here that they had to wait their turn to be examined by doctors and officials. Today immigrants no longer have to endure the indignities of Ellis Island. The grirn building was closed down in 1924. In 1976, Ellis Island became an historic monument. Most immigrants from Europe now pass through New York City via Kennedy Airport (B-USA).
c) Make up a story about the landmarks of New York Harbour for your friend who is going to the USA by ship.
Exercise 22. a) Nowadays there is much talk about the Bermuda Triangle. Do you know where it is situated?
b) Read the passage and find the Bermuda Triangle on the map.
There is a section of the Western Atlantic, off the southern coast of the United States, forming what has been termed a triangle, extending from Bermuda in the North to southern Florida, and then east to a point through the Bahamas past Puerto Rico to about 40° west longitude and then back again to Bermuda. This is usually referred to as Bermuda Triangle, where more than a hundred planes and ships have literally vanished into thin air, most of them since 1946, and more than a thousand lives have been lost in the past 33 years without a single body or even a piece of wreckage from the vanishing planes or ships having been found (ABC-K).
c) Discuss how you must travel in the Western Atlantic toavoid the Bermuda Triangle.
Exercise 23. Try the following quiz on two of your fellow-students. Afterwards decide who of you three is the most knowledgeable in Geography.
What is the capital of Australia?
What is the national emblem of Canada?
Which is closer to London: Oxford or Cambridge?
Where does Cyprus lie?
Which is higher: Vesuvius or Everest?
Where is Elbrus situated?
What is farther from Cape Horn: Australia or Europe?
Where is London Bridge situated?
Where did the Titanic sink?
Where is Baffin Bay situated?
Exercise 24. Speak on the following situations.
Make up a list of London's famous parks. Decide which of them would suit the tastes of each of your friends.
Decide which of the water expanses your teacher wants to see with his (her) own eyes. Substantiate your opinion.
3. Tell your friend how he can spend his vacation either in the Carpathians or in the Caucasus.
Make up a plan of your climbing Mount Hoverla (the Carpathians).
Invent names for the bridges of your city (town) if they haven't any.
You are an architect. Recommend the plan of a city to meet the requirements of young people. Give names to the main sights of the city.
Mark Twain wrote the book 'Life on the Mississippi'. Decide what you would write in the book (article) 'Life on the Dnieper (Oster)'.
Decide how different places of your city (town) can be modernised.
Decide what river you would like to go down.
10. You are going to open a shop selling picture-cards of famous places of the world. Decide what views are likely to be popular with customers.