A friend of yours wants to develop a programme to protect the city where he lives. Give him a piece of advice
First of all I would recommend him to consult ecologists about the types of local problems. Then it would be easy to plan some activities. Sometimes financial support is necessary. That’s why looking for some sponsors may also be necessary. But the most important thing is great wish of people who take part in such programmes.
5. Ecological problems have no borders. Can you explain this statement?
Ecological problems have no borders because we live on one and the same planet. All people understand it.
European states solve ecological problems together: the necessary measures are taken, congresses and conferences on these questions are organized, and these questions have already the reflection in the legislation of many countries.
№23
Let’s talk about the Republic of Belarus Of course a lot can be said about Belarus, but I’ll limit my story to some facts about its geographical and historical features.Belarus is situated in the eastern part of Europe. Its area is 207 600 square kilometres. It borders on Latvia and Lithuania, on Russia, on the Ukraine and on Poland. The population of the country is about 10 million people. The territory of Belarus is divided into 6 regions: Brest, Vitebsk, Grodno, Gomel, Minsk and Mogilev. The capital of Belarus is Minsk.
Our native land is very beautiful with its blue lakes and ribbons of rivers edged with thick forests, with its endless fields, meadows and swamps, with its varied and plentiful animal and plant kingdom. There are some 3000 rivers flowing over theterritory of Belarus. The longest rivers are the Dnieper, the Nieman, the Western Bug and the Western Dvina. There are over 10 000 lakes in Belarus. The largest of them is Lake Naroch. That’s why Belarus has often been referred to as the blue eyed country.
More than a quarter of the country is covered with forests. An ancient forest on the border between Belarus and Poland, Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a national reservation. The pride of the reservation is the aurochs (or bison) – a rare animal. Belarus has more than 70 mammal and 280 bird species.The climate of Belarus is continental with a comparatively mild winter and warm summer.The nature of Belarus has suffered much from the nuclear catastrophe that took place in Chernobyl in 1986. The radiation has spoiled our soil and air, rivers and lakes, it has poisoned our flora and fauna. Besides it has badly affected the health of people.
The geographical position of Belarus got our country involved in major European events over the centuries. The history of Belarus goes back to antiquity. The ancestors of the Belarusians were the Krivichi, Radimichi and Dregovichi. By the 9th century they formed local principalities of Pinsk, Turov, Polotsk, Slutsk and Minsk. There was a need in a united state, and Kievskaya Rus appeared. In the second half of the 13th century the Grand Principality of Lithuania was formed.
The advantageous geographical position – on the cross-roads from east to west – turned into disadvantage. Belarus was the arena of many wars, invasions and aggressions. All these events slowed down but didn’t stop the development of the nation.
On the 1st of January in 1919 the BSSR was formed. In December 1922 it joined the USSR. Belarus proclaimed its sovereignty on the 27 of July in1990. In 1994 the post of the president was introduced. Nowadays Belarus is a country of developed industry, agriculture, science and culture.
1. What parts of Belarus have you visited?Today Belarus is becoming more and more popular as a tourist destination. Different exciting routes have been offered both to foreign and local travelers. Mir and Nesvizh Castles have been visited by thousands of people from Belarus. I am not an exception either.I’ve been to Mir, Nesvizh, Lida, Novogrudok, Brest and Minsk. Much can be said about any of these places.
For example a small town Novogrudok is famed in legends and Belarusians believe that once Novogrudok was their capital, the second one after Polotsk. The emergence of this beautiful myth dates back to the times, when the Grand Principality of Lithuania was arising. Novogrudok was the richest and most captivating city of the land. Adam Mickiewicz is probably the most outstanding celebrity of the city. His name seems to train along the streets — from old houses to churches and cathedrals. If you stand in the centre of the marketplace, anywhere you look you will see the places touched by Mickiewicz’s presence: the house, where the would-be classic was raised, the church, where he was later baptised, the mount erected in his honour and the monument to the poet…
2. Do you know any symbols of our country?
I should say that there are official and non-official symbols of my country. The National Flag of the Republic of Belarus, the National Emblem of the Republic of Belarus and the National Anthem of the Republic of Belarus are official symbols of Belarus.
The most widely known symbols of Belarus are a bison, a stork and a cornflower. Also many other realities of Belarusian culture have turned into symbols of national identity. The Slutsk belts, the multi-coloured “kaflia” (tile), the cross of St. Yefrossinia of Polotsk, the artworks of Mark Shagall, Kazimir Malevich as well as Belarusian ballet are well-known markers of Belarusian contribution to the world heritage.
What questions about Belarus do you expect to hear from a British teenager?I think the questions will be mostly about our everyday life or places of interest.- What is your usual school day?- Have you got enough free time for your hobbies and interests?- What do you usually do during your holidays?- What is the most beautiful city in Belarus?
4. What Belarusian sights would you advise a foreigner to visit?
Whether you need inspiration for your trip, Belarus has everything you need to plan your perfect holiday. Everything denotes harmony on this land. Medieval castles, small village churches, remarkable landscape, sheer beauty of cool forests with primeval nature which are a paradise for hunters, and clear like tears silent lakes.. Since old times Belarus has been called ‘blue-eyed”. There are more than ten thousand lakes and twenty thousand rivers are considered to be a treasure for fishermen and for lovers of such sport activities as diving and boating. A special offer is rural tourism that became fashionable nowadays!Belarus is a unique country which is known for its rich and colourful heritage and culture. Places, people, myths and legends all come together to tell us stories that fascinate and inspire. They provide vital clues about our past and are therefore vital to our present and future. The birthplace of Chagall, Tadeush Kostsiushko, and Zhores Alferov, Belarus is full of customs and traditions, many with a very long history.The best starting point for travelling, I think, is Grodno. Besides, Grodno is the first city on the way from Europe.Grodno is our ancient and ever young town. It’s an eye-witness of many events that happened in it and its surroundings. The history of Grodno is in its architecture, in the names of its streets and squares, in its monuments. On the right bank of the River Neman you can see an imposing building of the Old Castle, many churches and cathedrals which are the architectural monuments of the past, the relics of the past.Great past of Grodno is connected with the world famous names —August Ponyatovsky, Stefan Batory, Knight Vitovt, Kastus Kalinovsky, Eliza Ozheshko, Maxim Bogdanovich.Then I will advise to go along the road of castles to Novogrudok, Mir, Nesvizh. It’s impossible to visit the country and not to visit its capital. That’s why Minsk would also be an interesting point in your route. Such places as Polotsk and Vitebsk are connected with certain events and names. Our famous Belarusian guides will tell a lot of interesting things about the history of our country.
5. What sights in our country belong to world heritage?
Belarus has four World Heritage Sites, with two of them being shared between Belarus and its neighboring countries. The four are: the Mir Castle Complex; the Niasvizh Castle; theBelovezhskaya Pushcha (shared with Poland); and the Struve Geodetic Arc (shared with Estonia,Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Moldova, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine).
№24
Let's talk about weather and climate
Weather is the mix of events that happen each day in our atmosphere including temperature, rainfall and humidity. Weather is not the same everywhere. Perhaps it is hot, dry and sunny today where you live, but in other parts of the world it is cloudy, raining or even snowing. Everyday, weather events are recorded and predicted by meteorologists worldwide.
Weather is basically the way the atmosphere is behaving, mainly with respect to its effects upon life and human activities. The difference between weather and climate is that weather consists of the short-term (minutes to months) changes in the atmosphere. Most people think of weather in terms of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, brightness, visibility, wind, and atmospheric pressure, as in high and low pressure.
In most places, weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season. Climate, however, is the average of weather over time and space. An easy way to remember the difference is that climate is what you expect, like a very hot summer, and weather is what you get, like a hot day with pop-up thunderstorms.
Climate in your place on the globe controls the weather where you live. Climate is the average weather pattern in a place over many years. So, the climate of Antarctica is quite different than the climate of a tropical island. Hot summer days are quite typical of climates in many regions of the world, even without the effects of global warming.
In short, climate is the description of the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area.
When scientists talk about climate, they're looking at averages of precipitation (выпадение осадков), temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind velocity, phenomena such as fog, frost, and hail storms, and other measures of the weather that occur over a long period in a particular place.
1. What is happening to weather and climate nowadays?
Our weather is always changing and now scientists are discovering that our climate does not stay the same either. Climate, the average weather over a period of many years, differs in regions of the world that receive different amounts of sunlight and have different geographic factors, such as proximity to oceans and altitude.
Climates will change if the factors that influence them fluctuate (колебаться). The heat that enters into the Earth system comes from the Sun. Sunlight travels through space and our atmosphere, heating up the land surface and the oceans. The warmed Earth then releases heat back into the atmosphere. However, the amount of sunlight let into the system is not always the same. Changes in Earth’s orbit over thousands of years and changes in the Sun’s intensity affect the amount of solar energy that reaches the Earth.
Heat exits the Earth system as the Earth’s surface, warmed by solar energy, radiates heat away. However, certain gases in our atmosphere, called greenhouse gases, allow the lower atmosphere to absorb the heat radiated from the Earth’s surface, trapping heat within the Earth system. Greenhouse gases are an important part of our atmosphere because they keep Earth from becoming an icy sphere with surface temperatures of about 0°F. However, over the past century or so the amounts of greenhouse gases within our atmosphere have been increasing rapidly, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Consequently, in the past one hundred years global temperatures have been increasing more rapidly than the historic record shows. Scientists believe this accelerated heating of the atmosphere is because increasing amounts of these greenhouse gases trap more and more heat.
The reason studying climate and a changing climate is important, is that will affect people around the world. Rising global temperatures are expected to raise sea levels, and change precipitation and other local climate conditions. Changing regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies. It could also affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems. Deserts may expand into existing rangelands, and features of some of our National Parks and National Forests may be permanently altered.
2. Are you weather dependent?
If you are talking about my mood I will say “Yes”, if you are talking about my physical state – the answer will be “No”.
3. What questions would you ask a meteorologist?
- What do meteorologists do?
- Where do you work?
- How often are you mistaken?
- Have you got any punishment for your mistakes?
4. What can you advise a person who wants to become a meteorologist?
When we hear the word "meteorologist," we often think of the person on the television screen who tells us about tomorrow's high and low temperatures and precipitation. Many radio and television weathercasters are professional meteorologists, but others are reporters who are passing on information provided by the National Weather Service or private weather forecasters. A meteorologist is a person with specialized education "who uses scientific principles to explain, understand, observe, or forecast the earth's atmospheric phenomena and/or how the atmosphere affects the earth and life on the planet." This education usually includes a bachelor's or higher degree from a college or university. Many meteorologists have degrees in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and other fields. The broader term "atmospheric science" often is used to describe the combination of meteorology and other branches of physical science that are involved in studying the atmosphere.
So I can advise a person to study physics.
5. They say there's no bad weather, there are bad clothes. What doyou think
about it?
Actually, the English sayings about weather are numerous. And there is an objective reason for the popularity of this topic. The English weather on the whole is the naughtiest thing in the world. It’s because of the geographical position of the British Isles. Nevertheless people try to adopt themselves to the weather so as to live in harmony with it. And sometimes they even make use of the situation having an opportunity to change their clothes more often.
Though O. Wilde said, “Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel certain that they mean something else.”
Personally I think each weather or season of the year possesses its own charm, has its own beauty and significance to man.
№25
Let's talk aboutGreat Britain.
The United Kingdom is very small compared with many other countries in the world. The total area of Great Britain is 244,820 square kilometres. The population of Great Britain is about 62 mln. people. The United Kingdom is an abbreviation of 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' which is the political name of the country, made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (sometimes known as Ulster).
The UK is an Island state it is composed of some 5.500 islands, large and small. It is situated off to the northwest coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the North Sea in the east and is separated from the European continent by the English Channel (or La Manche) and the Straits of Dover (or Pas de Calais).The two main islands are: Great Britain to the east and Ireland to the west. They are separated by the Irish Sea.
Geographically the island of Great Britain is subdivided into 2 main regions: Lowland Britain and Highland Britain. Lowland Britain comprises southern and eastern England. The main areas of high land are in Scotland and Wales. The highest mountains are Ben Nevis (1,343m.), and Snowdon (1,085 m.) Of course, these are very small compared with other mountains in the world - Everest. In fact everything in the United Kingdom is rather small - the longest rivers are the Severn, 354 km and the River Thames, 346 km. Despite its size, there is a great deal of variety within the islands of the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy, meaning that it is officially "ruled" by a monarch whose powers are controlled by constitutional law. In reality, the monarch is a powerless symbolic figurehead and the country is governed by its legislature: a Parliament made up by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Prime Minister is supposed to simply be the executive of a ruling political party. Now the British Conservative Party is the ruling party, and David Cameron is the prime-minister.
More concisely, the monarch is the head of state while the prime minister is the head of government compared to a nation like the US where the head of state and head of government are the same person.
1. Would you like to visit Britain? Why (not)?If I could, I would like to visit Britain, for the simple reason that I have heard so much about it and I want to experience it for myself. One of the main reasons I would choose London is that I would like to go to some of the places that I have seen in photographs and on television. Ever since I was a young child, I have been fascinated by spectacular images of magnificent architecture, huge parks and golden autumnal avenues. There is a burning curiosity in me that can only be satisfied by seeing it with my own eyes. One of the first places I would go to is Buckingham Palace, where I would have the chance to see at first hand the kind of luxury and splendor that we tend to associate with the royal family. After that, I would head for the Tower of London in order to soak up some of the atmosphere of a historically important place. Then I would make my way to famous parks: Hyde Park, St. James Park.
2. What are the state symbols of Great Britain?
The UK is inhabited by the English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish who constitute the British nation. English is not the only language. Scottish, Welsh and Irish are also used.
The flag of the UK is known as the Union Jack. It has its history. It all began in 1603 when Scotland was joined to England and Wales. The flag is made up of 3 crosses. The national anthem is “God Save the Queen”. The national currency is pound.
Every country has its own national emblem. The red rose is the national emblem of England the thistle is the national emblem of Scotland the daffodils and the leek are the emblems of Wales and the shamrock (a kind of clover) is the emblem of Ireland.
3.What would you ask a British teenager about nationalholidays in Britain? What is your favourite national holiday? How do you celebrate national holidays? Can you tell me about the history of your favourite holiday?