Studying Nature
READING
  Hurricanes
I. Read the text.
 A hurricane is a powerful, rotating storm that forms over warm oceans near the Equator. Another name for a hurricane is a tropical cyclone. Hurricanes have strong, rotating winds (at least 74 miles per hour or 119 kilometers per hour), a huge amount of rain, low air pressure, thunder and lightning. The cyclonic winds of a hurricane rotate in a counterclockwise direction around a central, calm eye.
If this type of storm forms in the western Pacific Ocean, it is called a typhoon.
Hurricanes often travel from the ocean to the coast and on to land, where the wind, rain, and huge waves can cause extensive destruction.
Generally, when a hurricane moves over land (or over cold ocean waters) the storm begins to weaken and quickly dies down because the storm is fueled by warm water.
On average, there are about 100 tropical cyclones worldwide each year; 12 of these form in the Atlantic Ocean, 15 form in the eastern Pacfic Ocean and the rest are in other areas.
Hurricane season is the time when most Atlantic Ocean hurricanes occur; it is from June 1 until November 30. In the eastern Pacific Ocean, hurricane season is from May 15 until November 30.
The weather symbol for a hurricane is:  .
The marine flags that alert boaters to a hurricane are two square red banners, each with a black square in the middle:  .
Equator – экватор
counterclockwise – против часовой стрелки
II. Answer the questions.
1. What is a hurricane?
2. In what direction do hurricanes rotate?
3. What is a typhoon?
4. Which way do hurricanes travel?
5. How many tropical cyclones are there each year?
6. What is the weather symbol for a hurricane?
READING
All About Rainforests
I. Read the text.
 Where are tropical rainforests?
Tropical rainforests are located in a band around the equator (Zero degrees latitude), mostly in the area between the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° N latitude) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5° S latitude). This 4800 km wide band is called the “tropics.” The equator is an imaginary circle around the earth, halfway between the north and south poles. Temperatures at the equator are high. These high temperatures cause accelerated evaporation of water, which results in frequent rain in forested areas in the tropics.
There are rainforests in South and Central America, Africa, Oceania (the islands around Australia), and Asia. Tropical rainforests cover only about 7% of the Earth’s surface.
The largest rainforests are in the Amazon River Basin (South America), the Congo River Basin(western Africa), and throughout much ofsoutheast Asia. Smaller rainforests are located in Central America, Madagascar, Australia and nearby islands, India, and other locations in the tropics.
There are only two seasons in a  tropical rainforest, the wet season and the dry season.
Temperate rainforests are found along the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada (from northern California to Alaska), in New Zealand, Tasmania, Chile, Ireland, Scotland and Norway. They cover less area than tropical rainforests.
The Olympic rain forest (located on the O-lympic peninsula in the state of Washington, United States of America) is a temperate rain forest near the Pacific ocean.
What is a rainforest?
Rainforests are very dense, warm, wet forests. They are havens for millions of plants and animals. Rainforests are extremely important in the ecology of the Earth. The plants of the rainforest generate much of the Earth’s oxygen. These plants are also very important to people in other ways; many are used in new drugs that fight disease and illness.
Animals of the rainforests
An incredible number of animals live in rainforests. Millions of insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals call them home. Insects are the most numerous animals in rainforests. Tropical rainforests have a greater diversity of plants and animals than temperate rainforests or any other biome.
In temperate rainforests, most of the animals are ground dwellers and there are fewer animals living in the forest canopy.
Where are rainforests?
Tropical rainforests are found in a belt around the equator of the Earth. There are tropical rainforests across South America, Central America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia (and nearby islands).
Temperate rainforests are found along the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada (from northern California to Alaska), in New Zealand, Tasmania, Chile, Ireland, Scotland and Norway. They are less abundant than tropical rainforests.
Rainfall
It is almost always raining in a rainforest. Rainforests get over 80 inches (2 m) of rain each year. This is about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) of rain each week.
The rain is more evenly distributed throughout the year in a tropical rainforest (even though there is a little seasonality). In a temperate rainforest, there are wet and dry seasons. During the “dry” season, coastal fog supplies abundant moisture to the forest.
Temperature
The temperature in a rainforest never freezes and never gets very hot. The range of temperature in a tropical rainforest is usually between 24–27° C. Temperate rainforests rarely freeze or get over 27° C.
The Soil in a Rainforest
The soil of a tropical rainforest is only about 3–4 inches (7.8–10 cm) thick and is ancient. Thick clay lies underneath the soil. Once damaged, the soil of a tropical rainforest takes many years to recover.
Temperate rainforests have soil that is richer in nutrients, relatively young and less prone to damage.
The Importance of Rainforests
Tropical rainforests cover about 7% of the Earth’s surface and are VERY important to the Earth’s ecosystem. The rainforests recycle and clean water. Tropical rainforest trees and plants also remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their roots, stems, leaves, and branches. Rainforests affect the greenhouse effect, which traps heat inside the Earth’s atmosphere.
Some of the foods that were originally from rainforests around the world include cashew nuts, Brazil nuts, Macadamia nuts, bananas, plantains, pineapple, cucumber, cocoa (chocolate), coffee, tea, avocados, papaya, guava, mango, cassava (a starchy root), tapioca, yams, sweet potato, okra, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, mace, ginger, cayenne pepper, cloves, oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, passion fruit, peanuts, rice, sugar cane, and coconuts (mostly from coastal areas).
People Living in Tropical Rainforests
There are many indigenous groups of people who live in tropical rainforests. Many of these groups, like the Yanomamo tribe of the Amazon rainforests of Brazil and southern Venezuela, have lived in scattered villages in the rainforests for hundreds or thousands of years. These tribes get their food, clothing, and housing mainly from materials they obtain in the forests.
Forest people are mostly hunter-gatherers; they get their food by hunting for meat (and fishing for fish) and gathering edible plants, like starchy roots and fruit. Many also have small gardens in cleared areas of the forest. Since the soil in the rainforest is so poor, the garden areas must be moved after just a few years, and another part of the forest is cleared.
Most indigenous populations are declining. There are many reasons for this. Their primary problems are disease (like smallpox and measles, which were inadvertently introduced by Europeans) and governmental land seizure.
II. Answer the questions.
1. What is a rainforest?
2. What strata are the rainforests divided into?
3. What animals live in the rainforests?
4. Where are rainforests located?
5. What seasons are discriminated in a tropical rainforest?
6. What is the range of temperature in a tropical rainforest?
7. What have you learnt from the text about the soil of a tropical rainforest?
8. Are tropical rainforests important to the Earth’s ecosystem?
9. Who inhabits tropical rainforests?
Rainforest Strata
I. Read the text.
“Strata” means “layers.” Scientists divide rainforests into different strata (or layers) for easy reference. Each of these layers is a very different environment and supports different life forms. These strata differ in many ways, including temperature, the amount of sunlight that they receive, the wetness of the environment, and the amount and types of life forms living in it.
The emergents consist of the tops of the tallest trees, which are much higher than the average canopy height (ranging up to 270 feet or 81 m). It houses many birds (like the scarlet macaw), insects, and more.
The canopy is the name given to the upper parts of the trees (about 65 to 130 feet or 20 to 40 m tall). This leafy environment is full of life: insects, arachnids, many birds (like the keel-billed toucan, the scarlet macaw, the cuckoo, and the hornbill), mammals (like the howler monkey, which is the second-loudest animal in the  world, and the orangutan), reptiles (like snakes and lizards), and others. Plants in the canopy include thick, snake-like vines and epiphytes (“air plants”) like mosses, lichens, and orchids (which grow on trees).
The understory is a dark, cool environment that is under the leaves but over the ground. Most of the understory of a rainforest has so little light that plant growth is limited. There are short, leafy, mostly non-flowering shrubs, small trees, ferns, and vines (lianas) that have adapted to filtered light and poor soil. Some of these plants include ferns, palms, philodendrons, and heliconias. Animals in the understory include insects (like beetles and bees), arachnids, snakes, lizards, and small mammals (like the kinkajou) that live on and in tree bark. Some birds (like antbirds) live and nest within tree recesses and eat the abundant insects. Some larger animals, like jaguars, spend a lot of time on branches in the understory, surveying the area, looking for prey.
The floor of the forest is teeming with animal life, especially insects and arachnids (like tarantulas). The largest animals in the rainforest generally live here, including gorillas, anteaters, wild boars, tapirs, jaguars, and people.
II. Answer each of the questions below.
1. The very tallest trees in a rainforest are called ____
a) understories b) emergents
2. Are rainforests important to the environment?
a) no b) yes
3. The upper parts of the trees in a rainforest are called the __________
a) understory b) canopy
4. Rainforests supply food, medicine, oxygen, and clean water.
a) false b) true
5. Does it ever freeze in a tropical rainforest?
a) yes b) no
6. Rainforests get over 100 feet of rain each year.
a) False b) True
7. The understory, the area between the leaves and the ground, is usually ______
a) shady and cool b) bright and hot
8. Are tropical rainforests always found near the equator?
a) yes b) no
9. How many species of insects live in rainforests?
a) millions b) hundreds
10. Do the largest animals live on the forest floor?
a) yes b) no
LISTENING
Rainforest Animals
I. Listen to the text.
 Rainforests are tremendously rich in animal life. Rainforests are populated with insects (like butterflies and beetles), arachnids (like spiders and ticks), worms, reptiles (like snakes and lizards), amphibians (like frogs and toads), birds (like parrots and toucans) and mammals (like sloths and jaguars).
Different animals live in different strata of the rainforest. For example, many birds live in the canopy (upper leaves of the trees) and in the emergents (the tops of the tallest trees). Large animals (like jaguars) generally live on the forest floor, but others (like howler monkeys and sloths) are arboreal (living in trees). Insects are found almost everywhere.
Many species of rainforest animals are endangered and many other have gone extinct as the number of acres of rainforest on Earth decreases.
As in any food web, there are more plant-eaters than meat-eaters (and many more plants than plant-eaters). There are also more small animals than large animals. Insects are the most numerous animals in rainforests.
Although there is intense competition between animals, there is also an interdependence. When one species goes extinct, it can affect an entire chain of other species and have unpredictable consequences.
Protection from Predators
Animals are always in danger of being eaten and have developed many methods of protecting themselves from hungry animals.
Hiding: Some animals simply hide from predators, concealing themselves in burrows, under rocks or leaves, in tree hollows, or in other niches where they are hard to find.
Camouflage: Camouflage is another way of hiding in which the animal blends into its  environment. Many animals, like the “walking stick” insect and the Indian Leaf Butterfly (Kallima inachus) are camouflaged so well that they are virtually invisible when they are standing still. Sloths are covered with a greenish layer of algae which camouflages their fur in their arboreal environment. Sloths also move very slowly, making them ever harder to spot.
Scaring predators: Some animals try to convince predators that they are bigger and more fierce than they really are. For example, the larva of the lobster moth, whose larva looks like a scorpion, but is in fact completely defenseless. Many butterflies have large “eye” designs on their animal instead of a harmless butterfly, and scares many predators away.
Warning colors: Poisonous animals openly advertise their defense methods, usually with bright colors and flashy patterns. When a predator eats one member of the group, it will get sick. This memory will stay with the predator, who will avoid that type of animal in the future. This method sacrifices a few individuals in order to protect the entire group. Examples of poisonous animals include the Monarch butterly. Other animals (poisonous or not) have come to mimic poisonous butterflies, obtaining the benefits of their poisonous “twins”. This is called mimicry.
 II. Answer the questions.
1. What insects live in rainforest?
2. What animals live in the canopy?
3. What animals live on the forest floor?
4. Which animals – large or small – are more common in rainforest?
5. In what danger are animals in rainforest?
6. How do animals protect themselves from being eaten by hungry larger animals?
READING
 Niagara Falls
I. Read the text.
 The family’s summer vacation ends at Niagara Falls. It’s a wonderful day, and they are all in a good mood.
They are all standing next to the falls. The sun is shining brightly on the water as it plunges to the depths below.
Everyone is talking excitedly. Tim exclaims, “Wow! Look at all that water! I would hate to fall over the edge!”
“Be quiet!” says Linda. “Listen to the sound of the falls.”
Everyone stops to listen to this amazing sound from nature. They stand quietly for a while. Then they move on to get on the bus.
As they leave, Hank asks, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to listen to a rock concert here? What an echo!”
 II. Answer the questions.
1. Where does the summer vacation end?
2. What kind of a day is it?
3. How do they feel?
4. What does Tim say?
5. What does Linda answer?
6. When they stop talking, what do they hear?
7. Where do they go when they leave the falls?
8. What does Hank say as they leave?
III. Write the words.
1. summer vacation
2. Niagara Falls
3. shining
4. plunges
5. depths
6. nature
7. rock concert
8. echo
LISTENING
 The Sound of the Ocean Breathing
I. Listen to the poem.
II. Answer the questions.
1. Where did the author spend his holidays?
2. What was he supposed to do?
3. Describe what the boy did at the beach?
4. Did he like the ocean?
5. What does the boy wish?
READING
Storms
I. Read the text.
 Who doesn’t like to talk about the weather? It is important to all of us, and storms are an important part of weather. Storms can produce hard rain, blowing snow, large hail, or damaging winds.
One kind of storm is a blizzard. It is a heavy snowstorm with very strong winds that whip the snow around so hard and fast it can be blinding. A blizzard happens in the winter, when very cold air from the Arctic flows south and meets warmer air, causing clouds to form and a blizzard to start.
Because of the blowing snow, a blizzard makes it difficult for people to drive or walk anywhere. And since it is usually very cold during a blizzard, keeping safe and warm is important, so people try to stay indoors.
Another storm is the hurricane, which starts over the ocean. The winds get faster and rain clouds form. The hurricane grows, and then it moves winds and heavy rains. The entire storm can be hundreds of miles wide and can last days or weeks. But it always keeps moving on to new areas, until finally it gets weaker and disappears.
 Hurricanes form between June and December, but they occur most often in September. They usually occur along the Atlantic Coast or in the Gulf of Mexico.
In hurricane season, the weather service keeps a close watch. If a storm starts, warnings are sent out so that people in the area can go indoors or leave town, waiting for the storm to pass.
The hurricane also gets a name. The first storm of the year gets a person’s name that starts with the letter A. The second storm gets the letter B. Each storm that year gets a name beginning with a new letter of the alphabet.
One of the strongest windstorms of all is the tornado. It typically starts on a hot, sticky, cloudy afternoon.
The tornado forms when dry air from the north meets wet air from the south, causing dark clouds to form. The dark clouds start to change at the bottom, and a funnellike shape forms. This funnel grows until it reaches the ground, and then it starts to travel, roaring as it goes. This storm is sometimes called a “twister”, because the winds blow in a tight circle and the funnel seems to twist around.
 Tornadoes hit mostly in the Midwest, but they can also occur in other areas of the country. Usually tornadoes occur in the spring or the summer. The storm usually does not last long, and the funnel soon disappears or moves on. Some people stay in a storm cellar; everybody waits until the storm is over.
There are gentle rainstorms, too. When people hear the soft sounds of quiet, falling rain, they often feel peaceful. Sometimes rainbow appears in the sky as an enormous arch of colored stripes.
There are other types of storms, too, which add beauty and excitement to our lives. A snowstorm brings billions of snowflakes. When they are examined, no two are exactly alike. Each tiny snowflake has its own shape and beauty.
Almost everyone has awakened during a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. The noisy thunder and the bright lightning startle and excite spectators.
There are many kinds of storms, some of which cause extreme kinds of weather. Others bring a simple beauty to us. Storms of all kinds are a part of our lives.
 II. Answer the questions.
1. What do the strong winds of a blizzard do?
2. Where does a hurricane start?
3. Why is a tornado sometimes called a twister?
4. What sometimes happens after it rains?
5. Why is it important to know about storms?
III. Write on your own.
Write five sentences telling what you saw and heard in a storm you experienced.
VOCABULARY
African Animals
 Match the animals with the captions. Make use of dictionary if necessary.
African rock python
chimpanzee
elephant
giraffe
impala
lion
ostrich
red-billed oxpecker
rhinoceros
zebra
READING
Down by the Sea
Do you like the sea? The sea is a fun place to go.
At the sea children play in the sand with a big, red and white ball. they have fun as they run about and call to  each other. They try not to let the ball fall in the sea. They do not want to go in after it!
Other people like to make animals out of sand at the sea. And some people go out on the sea in a boat.
Out on the sea there is a man with a hat on in a small boat. He would like to catch some fish to take home. With him in the boat is his dog. The dog looks at the man. He would like to tell the man that dogs like fish, too!
There is a long orange boat out on the sea too. This boat has ten people on it. Some of the people fish from the back of the boat. Other people like to ride on the boat and look out at the pretty sea.
The orange boat and the boat with the man and his dog in it are about to go back to the land. But they stop. Something is wrong.
The orange boat has hit the smaller boat. The hat falls from the man in the small boat and lands in the sea. The dog looks at the man and then at the hat. What do you think the dog will do?
 What a dog! He is about to jump out of the boat to get the hat.
“Over there,” the man calls out to his dog, “it is over there.”
At last, the dog has the hat. As the man begins to thank his dog, two fish jump out of the hat.
“Look,” the man calls out. “We have two fish and we do not have to fish at all.”
The man and the dog will go back home now, and so will the people on the orange boat.
Each of the people who was at the sea had a good time there. They will go back again soon. Would you like to go to the sea too?
Compiled by Galina Goumovskaya |
