Section VGrammar: Nominative Infinitive Construction. Word-formation: suffix –ist. Speaking: Drought disaster. Learn the pronunciation and meaning of the words:
Vocabulary development: word building: Exercise 1 . Translate the original and derivative words:
Text A European Sahara? The great desert has leaped over the Mediterranean. Is climate change to blame – or man and his works? It looked and felt like hell. Swirling winds whipped flames along a 17–kilometer front of pine-forest scrub parched by the fiercest drought on the Iberian Peninsula in 60 years. A dozen firefighters, dwarfed by the massive blaze, fought the flames amid smoke, heat, and the blackening countryside of one of the regions in Spain. Before they could turn to flee, the fire swept over them. Eleven men and women died; the twelfth barely survived. The hurricane of fire was very big. With historic droughts and dozens of fires ranging from Portugal to Greece, it isn’t hard to imagine an apocalyptic future for southern Europe, almost as if the vast Sahara Desert were reaching out across the Mediterranean. If this merely a long, hot summer, or are these the initial symptoms of enduring climate change, exacerbated by overpopulation and overdevelopment of a fragile ecological landscape? The Desert Watch project, led by the European Space Agency, reports that 300.000 square kilometers of Europe’s Mediterranean coast – an area larger than Britain – with a population of 16.5 million, is threatened by “desertification”. The Spanish minister of Environment warned about a long–term decrease in rain and an increase in temperatures: “the beginning of a long cycle” of extreme drought. The head of the University of Valencia’s Desertification Investigation Center says, that while severe dry spells may be a normal component of Europe’s climate, a weakening of the soil’s resistance to drought among other things, along with human factors, are enhancing the risks of desertification. The word “desertification”, in Europe, essentially means that the land itself dies and becomes agriculturally unproductive, even if people still build apartments on it or, indeed, greenhouses. And as with the broader debate on global warming there is plenty of room for error when it comes to long–term forecasts. Remember the killer summer heat wave of 2003, when thousands of elderly French died. That was the most intense in the 150 years of accurate weather history. This year’s baking drought hasn’t brought the same record heat – as yet. Before the end of the century, summer temperatures in Italy are expected to increase by 7 to 8 degrees Celsius, according to the international panel on climate change. Such changes would transform everything from natural ecosystems – which can change dramatically with a tiny temperature variation – to basic water supplies, agriculture and tourism. Rainfall is expected to decline by 15 percent on average and 40 percent in the scalding summers before the end of the century. Experts warn that sea levels could rise as glaciers melt, even affecting the Mediterranean. Warmer weather and changing climates could bring Malaria to Europe. And in North Africa the situation will surely be worse, as governments have far fewer resources with which to prepare for the future.
Grammar study: Nominative Infinitive Construction Nominative Infinitive Construction (именительный падеж с инфинитивом). Эта конструкция представляет собой подлежащее (существительное в общем падеже или местоимение в именительном падеже) + сказуемое (как в страдательном, так и действительном залоге) + инфинитив + второстепенные члены предложения. В качестве сказуемого служат глаголы: to seem, to appear, to happen, to turn out (в активном залоге); to prove, to say, to know, to believe, to suppose, to assume, to claim, to think, to expect, to report, to see, to hear (в страдательном залоге) и другие. Переводится этот оборот на русский язык сложноподчиненным предложением, при этом сказуемое становится главным предложением в виде неопределенно-личного оборота (известно, ожидают, сообщается, вероятно), затем следует дополнительное придаточное предложение с союзом «что», подлежащее исходного предложения становится подлежащим придаточного, а инфинитив – сказуемым. Sample: Rainfall is expected to decline by 15 percent. – Ожидается, что выпадение дождя уменьшится на 15 %. Sample (from Section 3): The agency is also seeking to improve monitoring of the impacts of climate change, particularly in poorer countries which are expected to bear the brunt of floods, droughts and storms. – Агентство также стремится улучшать анализ воздействия изменения климата, особенно в более бедных странах, которые, как ожидается, примут на себя главный удар в результате наводнений, засухи и бурь. Exercise 2 . Define the forms of the –ing words from the text and translate them into Russian: swirling, blackening, ranging, reaching, enduring, beginning, weakening, enhancing, warming, baking, scalding, affecting, changing.
Exercise 3 . Insert the proper word into the sentences: 1. Several (пожарные) among the massive (пламя) fought severely the flames. 2. (Вихри) whipped flames along a 17 - kilometer front. 3. The large area along Mediterranean coast is threatened by (образование пустыни). 4. A weakening of the soil’s resistance to (засуха) (усиливает) the risks of desertification. 5. This year’s (палящая засуха) hasn’t brought the same record heat. 6. (Осадки) are expected to decline in the (палящий) summers before the end of the century. 7. The great (пустыня) has (перешагнула через) the Mediterranean. 8. The people are warned about a (долгосрочный) decrease in rain and an increase in temperature. Exercise 4 . Translate into English: 1. Климат изменяется к худшему по вине человека. 2. Люди и животные едва могут выжить во время сильной засухи или пожара. 3. Приближение пустыни к Европе угрожает хрупкой экологической системе. 4. Причиной «опустынивания» является снижение осадков и повышение температуры. 5. Ослабление сопротивляемости почвы засухе, наряду с человеческим фактором, также усиливает риск «опустынивания». 6. Из-за засухи почвы становятся непригодными для сельского хозяйства. 7. Уровень морей может подняться из-за таяния ледников. 8. Из-за палящего солнца и чрезвычайно жаркой погоды могут погибнуть тысячи людей.
Exercise 5. Read the text without dictionary
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