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    U4S - 3. Weather

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    Maru C.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    U4S - 3. Weather

    Uploaded by

    Maru C.
    11 views2 pages

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    11 views2 pages

    U4S - 3. Weather

    Uploaded by

    Maru C.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Weather

    Task 1: Pre-reading discussion.


    Match the pictures with the words in each group.

    a b c d e f

    g h i j k l

    m n o

    sunny spells tornado breeze


    …….. …….. ……..
    sleet …….. humidity …... drought …… storm ……… hail ………. gale ……..
    flooding …… shower ……. hurricane …. mist ……….. blizzard ….. fog ……..

    Task 2: Collocations.
    It is useful to know which adjectives collocate strongly with which nouns. For example, we
    don’t say “strong rain”, but “heavy rain”.
    Can you match an adjective below in column A to a noun in column B so that they form
    strong collocations? In some cases there will be more than one possibility. Use a
    monolingual dictionary to help you.

    Task 3: Pre-reading discussion.


    1 In what ways can we predict the weather?
    2 There are many sayings in English about the weather. For example: Red sky at night,
    shepherd’s delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.
    3 What do you think this saying means? Are there any similar sayings in your own
    language?
    4 Do you think the weather can influence our moods? If so, in what way?
    5 Do you think the weather can influence the personalities of people living in different
    countries or regions? If so, in what way?
    Task 4: Reading.

    Weather
    by Mike Rayner
    It's hardly surprising that weather is a favourite topic for so many people around the world –
    it affects where we choose to live, what we wear, our moods, and perhaps even our national
    characteristics. A sunny day can relieve the deepest depression, while extreme weather can
    destroy homes and threaten lives.

    The effects of weather


    Palm trees bent double in hurricane force winds, cars stranded in snow drifts, people
    navigating small boats down flooded city streets – images we are all familiar with from news
    reports of severe weather spells. But many of the effects of the weather are less newsworthy.
    ‘I’m feeling a bit under the weather’ is a common complaint in Britain, especially on Monday
    mornings, and it seems that weather really can be responsible for moods. Studies have
    shown that changeable weather can make it hard to concentrate, cloudy skies slow down
    reflexes, and high humidity with hot, dry winds makes many people irritable and snappy.
    Some suggest that the weather also leaves its mark on character, giving people from the
    same region similar temperaments, although it seems that economic, political and social
    factors are likely to have a much stronger effect than the weather.

    What causes changes in the weather?


    If you live in a place like Britain, where the weather seems to change daily if not hourly, you
    could be forgiven for thinking that the weather is random. In fact the weather is controlled
    by systems which move around areas of the globe. In the UK the weather depends on
    depressions, often called ‘lows’, and anticyclones, also known as ‘highs’. These systems
    start in the Atlantic Ocean, and make their way across the British Isles from the west to the
    east. Highs bring sunny weather, while lows bring rain and wind.
    The weather systems in tropical climates are very different from those in mid and high
    latitudes. Tropical storms develop from depressions, and often build into cyclones, violent
    storms featuring hurricanes and torrential rain.
    In modern times, human activity seems to be altering weather patterns. Gases produced by
    heavy industry change the temperature of the Earth’s surface, and affect cloud formation.
    Some researchers say that factories in Europe and North America may have been one of
    the causes of the droughts in Africa in the 1980s.

    Answer the following questions.


    1 According to scientific studies, what effects can the weather have on people?
    2 What causes changes in the weather in the British Isles?
    3 According to some researchers, what effect has human activity in Europe and North
    America had on Africa?

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