13   I can describe the climate

A    The weather

 

Word/Phrase      Example      Meaning

pour (with rain)  It’s pouring outside!  rain heavily.

soaking wet  SYN soaked  It was pouring with rain and I got soaking wet.  extremely wet.

drizzle V, N  It was drizzling when I left the office.  rain lightly, with very small drops.

rainbow  Did you see the rainbow?  

bitterly cold  It’s bitterly cold today.  extremely cold.

chilly  It gets chilly in the evening.  a little too cold to be comfortable.

mild  It’s been a very mild winter.  warmer than usual for the time of year.

heatwave  I hate this heatwave!  a period of unusually hot weather.

muggy  SYN humid  It’s really muggy today.  warm and damp in an unpleasant way.

mist N  misty ADI   You get a lot of mist in the mornings in autumn.  thin cloud near the ground which is difficult to see through (not as thick as fog).

frost N  frostyADJ  There was a frost last night: there’s ice on the car.   the weather condition when the temperature is below 0°C and ice forms on windows, the ground, etc.

breeze N breezy ADI   It’s hot today, but there’s a lovely breeze.   a light wind.

gale   There were gales last night.  a strong wind.

3     Test yourself. Cover the words/phrases and examples in the table and look at the meanings. What are the words?

B    Climate change

OUR ENVIRONMENT

Global warming is the gradual increase in the average temperature of the earth’s¹ atmosphere, and is caused by harmful gases. Many environmentalists believe that most of this pollution is the result of human activities. Here are some of the effects:

As the ice at the poles² melts, sea levels could rise by almost a metre in the next century.

There will be more extreme and unpredictable weather, e.g. heatwaves or floods.

The earth will become even warmer because the rainforests³ are disappearing.

Famine and disease will spread, and this will especially affect people in poor countries.

 

Glossary 

climate  the normal weather conditions of a particular region.

(the) environment  the natural world; the air. land, and water in which people, plants, and animals live (an environmentalist is sb who studies the environment).

gradual  happening slowly over a long period of time. gradually ADV.

the atmosphere  the gases around the earth. planets, etc.

harmful  causing damage, injury, or illness. harm sth/sb V.

gas  a substance like air, e.g. oxygen and hydrogen.

pollution  dirty and dangerous gases, chemicals, etc. that harm the environment. pollute V.

human   connected with people.

melt  If you heat ice, it melts: it changes from a solid to a liquid.

rise  increase; go higher. rise N. OPP fall V, N.

extreme  much hotter, colder, or more violent than usual.

unpredictable  If sth is unpredictable, you can’t say how it will change in the future, OPP predictable, predict V.

disappear   stop existing. SYN vanish.

famine  A famine is when there is not enough food in a country.

disease   illness in people, animals, or plants.

spread   affect more and more people or things.

 

spotlight  effect N, affect V

An effect is a change which is caused by something.

What are the effects of global warming?

To affect something means to make it change in a particular way.

Climate change will affect all our lives (= will make our lives change). 

8     ABOUT YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY Write your answers, or ask another student.

1     How worried are you about global warming?

________________

2     Do you have rainforests in your country? If so, what is happening to them?

________________

3     Has the climate changed in recent years in your country? If so, how?

________________

4     Which human activities do you think are harming the environment most?

________________

5     What kind of pollution is common in your country?

________________

Answers from a Polish person

1     I’m quite worried about global warming, but what worries me most is the fact that scientists and politicians talk about this problem a lot, but nothing is being done about it.

2     We don’t have rainforests in Poland.

3     Summers have become warmer and winters are milder now. Also, summer starts earlier, almost right after winter, so sometimes it seems as if we haven’t had spring.

4     The changing of natural habitats, the construction of roads and buildings, and the growth of industry are all harming the environment.

5     1 think industrial pollution is probably most common in Poland. 

9     Test yourself. Cover the glossary meanings and look at the words. What are the meanings?