Г.Н. Волошина, Н.М. Ильичева, Г.В. Рогожина УЧЕБНОЕ ПОСОБИЕ по темам «SEASONS AND WEATHER» и «TIME» для студентов I курса филологического факультета специальности «АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК И ЛИТЕРАТУРА» Самара 2003 МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ САМАРСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ФАКУЛЬТЕТ Кафедра английской филологии Г.Н. Волошина, Н.М. Ильичева, Г.В. Рогожина УЧЕБНОЕ ПОСОБИЕ по темам «SEASONS AND WEATHER» и «TIME» Для студентов I курса филологического факультета специальности «АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК И ЛИТЕРАТУРА» 2-е издание Издательство "Самарский университет" 2003 Печатается по решению Редакционно-издательского совета Самарского государственного университета Волошина Г.Н., Ильичева Н.М., Рогожина Г.В. Учебное пособие по темам «SEASONS AND WEATHER» и «TIME». Самара: Изд-во "Самарский университет", 2003. - 64 с. ББК 81.2 УДК 2/20 В 686 Настоящее учебное пособие предназначено для студентов I курса РГФ (английское отделение) и имеет целью помочь студентам выработать навыки устной и письменной речи на основе тематически подобранных текстов, которые расширяют возможность работы над темами «Seasons and Weather» и «Time», соответствующими программным требованиям I курса. Пособие состоит из разделов, включающих тематические тексты, словарь, подлежащий активному усвоению, и послетекстовые упражнения, способствующие развитию навыков монологической и диалогической речи. Данное пособие может быть использовано как в аудитории для выполнения заданий под руководством преподавателя, так и для самостоятельной работы студентов. ББК 81.2 УДК 2/20 Рецензент ст. преп. И.В. Кожухова Отв. редактор канд. филол. наук, проф. А.А. Харьковская © Волошина Г.Н., Ильичева Н.М., Рогожина Г.В., 2003 © Издательство "Самарский университет", 2003 PART I. CLIMATE. SEASONS AND WEATHER 1. Topical Vocabulary 1) WEATHER weather (n. U) - if you talk about the weather, you say whether it is hot or cold outside or whether it is raining, snowing, windy, etc.: - What was the weather like on your vacation? - We want to have a picnic on Saturday, but it depends on the weather. - If the weather keeps fine till Saturday, we’ll go to the forest to pick snowdrops. hot / warm / wet etc. weather - a period of warm sunny weather - I don’t feel like going to work on my bike in wet weather. weather forecast - a report on television or radio saying what the weather will be like: - Here is the weather forecast for Central Europe. - What does the weather forecast say? - Scattered showers. it (pronoun) - you can use it when you are saying what the weather is like: - What is it like in Spain at this time of the year? Is it really hot? it’s lovely / nice / awful etc. - Isn’t it nice today? - It is very close and humid today. it’s cold / sunny / cloudy etc. - The weather forecast says it’s going to be cloudy tomorrow. - It is unbearably hot today. climate ( n. C) - the usual weather conditions in a particular country or area: - Queensland has a warm tropical climate. - ... flowers that will not grow in a cold climate. - arctic / continental / mild / moderate / tropical / subtropical / insular / dry / equable / wet / humid / damp / moist climate 2) GOOD WEATHER good weather - weather that is sunny and warm: - We go to Greece every Easter, and we usually get good weather. 3 glorious / beautiful / gorgeous / marvellous (adj., especially spoken) - very sunny and warm: - a beautiful sunny morning - a glorious summer - We had three weeks of absolutely gorgeous weather. - What glorious weather we are having today! nice / lovely / bright (adj., especially British) - pleasantly warm and sunny: - Morning, Bill. Nice weather, isn’t it? - What lovely weather! it is a nice / bright day / it’s a lovely morning etc. - It’s a lovely day, why don’t we go for a walk? fine (adj.) - if the weather is fine, it is not raining and the sky is clear: - Next week will be fine but a little cooler. - a fine spring evening dry (adj.) - if the weather is dry, it does not rain: - If it stays dry, I’ll hang out the washing. - The dry weather will continue for several days. - the dry season (dry - drier - driest) sunny (adj.) - if the weather is sunny, the sun is shining: - It is going to be sunny all day. - a lovely sunny afternoon (sunny - sunnier - sunniest) sunshine (n. U) - warm bright light from the sun: - We sat on the patio enjoying the autumn sunshine. - Northern regions will start dry with some sunshine. in the sunshine - The children ran out to play in the sunshine. in the sun - where the sun is shining down: - I’m just going to lie here in the sun and get a nice tan. 3) BAD WEATHER bad weather - when it is raining a lot or very cold: - The game was cancelled because of bad weather. awful / terrible / horrible / nasty / beastly / filthy / wretched / hazy / dull / dreary (adj., especially spoken) - very unpleasant, cold, wet etc.: 4 - Awful weather, isn’t it? - It’s been absolutely horrible all day. - What a dull day! - The weather was so beautiful yesterday. 4) WEATHER THAT CHANGED A LOT unsettled (adj.) - if the weather is unsettled, it keeps changing and it often rains: - Tomorrow will continue unsettled, with showers in most areas. changeable (adj.) - likely to change suddenly = variable: - changeable weather with strong winds and some sunshine 5) RAIN rain (n. U) - water falling from the sky in small drops: - The rain was falling against the window. - We haven’t had a drop of rain ever since last month. - The rain has laid the dust. - It looks (feels) like rain. - These clouds promise (omen) the rain. - A drizzling piercing rain continued all day. - The rain was accompanied by a strong wind. - It’s spotting with rain. in the rain - I like walking in the rain. - I was (got) caught in the rain. - I’ve been standing in the rain for an hour. heavy rain / lot of rain / a pelting rain / a downpour / a torrent rain falls = comes down from the sky it’s raining - use this to say that rain is falling: - Look! It’s raining again. - Is it still raining? - It rained all day yesterday. - Take a coat in case it rains. - It rained now and then. - It keeps on raining. it’s raining hard / heavily (= raining a lot) - It had been raining heavily and the ground was very soft. - It’s raining cats and dogs. - It’s raining pitchforks. 5 it’s pouring (esp. spoken) - use this to say that it is raining very hard: - As soon as I got outside it started pouring. - It’s pouring. - It’s coming on to pour. it’s pouring with rain - It was pouring with rain, and she had forgotten her umbrella. it’s drizzling (esp. spoken) - use this to say that it is raining a little, with very small drops of rain: - I think I’ll walk to work, it’s only drizzling. - It drizzled a little and then ceased. Will it clear up do you think? a drizzling rain = a drizzle wet / rainy (adj.) - if the weather is wet or rainy, it rains a lot; if smth. is wet, it has a lot of liquid on it or in it; if someone is wet, their clothes and hair are wet. - wet weather - a rainy weekend in November - It has been wet all week. - You had better change out of those wet clothes. - The grass was wet after the rain. to get wet = to get caught in the rain - Hurry up with the umbrella, I’m getting wet! to be soaking wet / wet through = very wet - A pipe has burst and the carpet was soaking wet. - By the time the bus arrived, we were wet through. - When it began raining I got caught in the rain and was soaking through. to be all wet = very wet (wet - wetter - wettest) - Oh no! My socks are all wet now! to be (get) drenched / soaked (adj.) - if you are drenched or soaked you are ex- tremely wet, so that drops of water are falling from your clothes: - By the time we got home we were all drenched. - I’m soaked through! I’ll have to go and change. to be (get) soaked to the skin = completely soaked - I was exhausted, and soaked to the skin. - I’m wet to the bone! - I’m simply soaked through! - I’m wet like a drowned cat! 6 - I’ve got a good ducking. damp (adj.) - something that is damp is slightly wet: - Clean the counter with a damp cloth. - My hair was still damp. Note: Use damp to say that something is wet especially in an unpleasant way: - a dark, damp cellar -It was a cold, damp, windy night. - At first I hated the damp weather in Britain. moist (adj.) - smth. that is moist is slightly wet, and this is the way it should be: - Water the plants regularly to keep the soil moist. - The cake mixture should be slightly moist, but not sticky. soggy (adj.) - smth. that is soggy is softer than usual and looks or feels unpleasant, because it has become wet: - horrible soggy toast - He always leaves the towels in a soggy heap on the bathroom floor. when the air feels wet = humid, damp humid (adj.) - humid air or weather is hot and wet in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable: - the humid heat of a tropical rainforest - Summers in Tokyo are hot and humid. shower (n. U) - a short period of light rain: - It was just a shower, so we didn’t get too wet. heavy showers - when a lot of rain falls during short periods - Heavy showers are forecast for the weekend. torrent (n. C) - a large amount of water moving very rapidly and strongly in a particular direction; a raging torrent - a very violent torrent: - After five days of heavy rain the Telle river was a raging torrent. torrential rain = very heavy rain the rainy season / the Monsoon (n. sing.) - a time when it rains a lot in hot countries thaw (n. sing.) - a period of warm weather during which snow and ice melt: - The thaw begins in March. 6) SNOW AND ICE 7 snow (n. U) - soft white pieces of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather: - The tops of the mountains were still covered with snow. - Large flakes of snow are falling. snow falls - Some snow is expected to fall on high ground. - The snow is falling thick. deep snow - a lot of snow that has fallen on the ground - Tony and I trudged home through the deep snow. it’s snowing - use this to say that snow is falling: - Look! It’s snowing! - Do you think it’s going to snow tonight? it’s snowing heavily / hard - snowing a lot - It snowed heavily all day long. snowfall (n. C, U) - the amount of snow that falls, or the amount that falls in a particular period of time: - Heavy snowfalls are forecast. - We had a heavy snowfall. snowdrift (n. C) - a deep mass of snow piled up by the wind: - It’s snowing hard. There are huge snowdrifts everywhere. - Snowdrifts surrounded us from all sides. snowstorm (n. C) - a storm with strong winds and a lot of snow snowflake (n. C) - a small soft flat piece of frozen water that falls as snow: - Snowflakes blind your eyes and you can hardly see a yard in front of you. - Large flakes of snow are falling. snowdrop (n. C) - a European plant with a small white flower which appears in early spring: - If the weather keeps fine till Saturday, we’ll go to the forest to pick snowdrops. hail (n. U) - frozen raindrops that fall as small balls of ice: - Hail was battering the roof of the car. sleet (n. U) - a mixture of snow and rain. 8 slush (n. U) - partly melted snow: - The hailstones were turning into slush on the road. frost - 1. (n. U) white powder that covers the ground when it is very cold (= hoar-frost) - The grass and trees were white with frost. 2. (n. C) very cold weather, when water freezes: - It’s pleasant when the frost lasts and there’s a nip in the air. - The frost breaks. late / early frost - Even in May we can sometimes get a late frost. sharp / hard / severe / ringing frost - extremely cold weather - It was a ringing frost. - Our pipes burst in the hard frost. frosty (adj.) - frosty winter mornings - The air is frosty. icy (adj.) - covered with ice and very slippery (icy / icier / iciest): - Be careful! The roads are icy this morning. icicle (n. C) - a long thin pointed piece of ice hanging from a roof / other surface: - Look! The icicles are sparkling in the sun. slippery (adj.) - a slippery surface is so smooth or wet or icy that it is difficult to stand or walk safely on it: - Be careful! The floor is very slippery. - Ice is making the roads slippery today. 7) CLOUDY cloudy (adj.) - if the weather is cloudy, there are a lot of clouds in the sky. - a cloudy day - cloudy / cloudier / cloudiest dull (adj.) - if the weather is dull, it is cloudy and there is no sunshine. - It will be dry but dull this morning, with the possibility of showers later in the day. grey (adj., especially written) - cloudy and not at all bright 9