In SpaceText A. It is one of nine planets revolving in nearly circular (elliptical) orbits around our star, the sun. This planet is the third planet out from the sun and the fifth largest planet in our solar system, having a diameter of about 7,918 miles. It completes one orbit around the sun in about 3651/4 days, the length of time that gives us our unit of time called a year. Text B. Theyvary in size, composition, and orbit. Mercury, with a diameter of 3,112 miles, is the planet nearest to the sun. It orbits the sun in just three earth months. Jupiter, about ten times the diameter of Earth (88,000 miles), is the largest planet and fifth in distance from the sun, taking about 113/4 earth years to orbit the sun. Pluto, the most distant planet, takes about 2473/4 earth years to orbit around the sun. The inner planets have densities, and probably compositions similar to Earth’s; outer planets are gaseous, liquid, or frozen hydrogen and other gases. Text C. It is an average-sized star which makes up about 99 percent of the mass of the solar system. Its size may be illustrated by visualizing it as a marble. At this scale, the earth would be the size of a small grain of sand one yard away. Pluto would be a rather smaller grain 40 yards away. Text D. These thingsrevolve around seven planets. Including the earth’s moon, there are 61 satellites altogether; Mars has 2, Jupiter 16, Saturn 18, Uranus 15, Neptune 8, and Pluto 1. Text E. These objects are among the oldest members of the solar system. They orbit the sun in extremely long, elliptical orbits. As comets approach the sun, their tails begin to glow from friction with the solar wind. Text F. It is the earth’s natural satellite, it has about 1/4 the diameter, 1/81 the weight, and 3/5 the density of our planet. The moon completes one orbit around the earth every 271/3 days. It takes about the same length of time, 291/2 days, to rotate on its own axis; hence, the same side, with an 18% variation, always faces us. The moon’s surface, cratered by meteorite impact, consists of dark areas (maria) which are separated by lighter mountainous areas (terrae). Terrae are parts of the original crust, formed about 4.5 billion years ago; maria are basins, excavated by meteorite falls, filled by basaltic lavas formed from 3 to 4 billion years ago. Text G. These objects are the so-called minor planets, are rocky, airless, barren, irregularly shaped objects that range from less than a mile to about 480 miles in diameter. Most of the asteroids that have been charted travel in elongated orbits between Mars and Jupiter. The great width of this zone suggests that the asteroids may be remnants of a disintegrated planet formerly having occupied this space. Text H. These objects, loosely called shooting stars, are smaller than asteroids, some being the size of grains of dust. Millions daily race into the earth’s atmosphere, where friction heats them to incandescence. Most meteors disintegrate to dust, but fragments of larger meteors sometimes reach the earth’s surface as “meteorites.” About 30 elements, closely matching those of the earth, have been identified in meteorites. Exercise 8. Read the text “In Space” once again and decide true or false are the following statements:
Statements: 1. The Earth is five times smaller than Jupiter in diameter. 2. Mars has five satellites. 3. The Earth completes one orbit around the sun in about 3651/4 days. 4. The Sun is the biggest star in the universe. 5. The moon’s surface is cratered by meteorite impact. 6. The comets’ tails glow from friction with the solar wind. 7. The asteroids are the remnants of a disintegrated star. 8. Meteorites consist of quite different elements from those that are found on the Earth. 9. 99% of mass of the solar system belongs to the sun. 10. The moon completes one orbit around the earth every 20 days. Exercise 9. Listen to the “Galaxy Poem” twice and answer the following questions: Questions: What are there in the sky? How many stars are there? What kind of planets are there in the sky? Is there life on other planets? Are the stars and planets moving? Can we meet life on another planet?
Exercise 10. In a form of a round table ask each other questions about the earth, planets and other objects of the solar system using the information from the texts above and from the table below (underlined words may be substituted):
Questions: 1. Why is there life on the Earth? 2. Are we alone in the universe? 3. How large is the Earth in the solar system? 4. Which planet is the largest? Which is the smallest? Which is the hottest? Which planet is the most distant from the sun? Which is the nearest planet to the sun? 5. In what time does the Earth complete its orbit around the sun? 6. How long is the diameter of the Earth? How long is its circumference? 7. What are the compositions of different planets? 8. How large is the sun in the solar system? 9. How many satellites does Jupiter have? 10. Why do the comets have tails? 11. How fast does the moon complete its orbit around the Earth? 12. What is the moon’s surface like? 13. What are terrae areas and what are maria areas on the moon? 14. What is asteroid? 15. What are the shapes and size of asteroids? 16. In what part of the solar system do most of asteroids travel in their elongated orbits around the sun? 17. What are the suggestions about asteroids? 18. What object in the solar system are loosely called shooting stars? 19. Why are meteors heated in the atmosphere to incandescence? 20. How many elements, closely matching those of the earth, have been identified in meteorites?
Table:
Exercise 11. Work in pairs. Read and translate the following text into Russian and using the questions given in the task make up a dialogue and present it to the group. (See Students’ Individual Task Unit 4)
|
