my newspaper here.

L e o n : What does it say?

G e o r g e : (reading) "Pressure will remain high to the southwest of the

British Isles. There will be occasional rain or drizzle, but bright weather with a

few scattered showers will spread to England and Wales."

L e о n: I fear a thunderstorm is coming.

G e o r g e : The sky is overcast and the sun is going in.

L e o n : It looks like rain. Actually it's beginning to rain. And 1 have left my

umbrella at home. It never rains but it pours!

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G e o r g e : Fortunately enough, I've got my folding umbrella ^vith me. Let

me put it up.

; L e o n : What a tremendous clap of thunder!

G e o r g e : And what a flash of lightning!

L e o n : But the English have a saying about the weather: If |you don't like it

now, just wait a bit.

G e o r g e : Look! It's clearing up. The clouds are lifting. L e o n : It has

stopped raining. Look at this wonderful rainbow!

G e o r g e : Bright sunshine again. Now I know why English weather is

something worth talking about.

(After "English by Radio")

VOCABULARY NOTES

keep (kept, kept) vt/i держаться; оставаться (в известном состоянии); to

keep fine, е. д. The weather kept fine, dull adj пасмурный; Ant. bright

splash vt забрызгивать, брызгатъ(ся), е. д. The driver splashed mud on the

passers-by.

fog n туман; a thick fog густой туман; foggy adj туманный, e. g. It is foggy.

spread (spread, spread) vt/i простираться, расстилаться, е. д. A green valley

spread before us; to spread over smth., e. g. The water spread over the floor.

light (up) (lit, lit/lighted) vt/i зажигать(ся), освещать, е. д. The lamps are lit

in the streets. Our houses are lighted by the electricity.

beastly adj ужасный, противный; Syn, nasty; beast л зверь, животное; Сотр.

animal

hardly adv с трудом, едва, е. д. I could hardly understand her.

hard adv сильно; Syn. heavily, e. g. It is raining hard (heavily), hard adj

сильный, as a hard frost

frost л мороз; frosty adj морозный; freeze (froze, frozen) vt замерзать,

покрываться льдом; е. д. It's freezing hard.

sparkle vi сверкать; Syn. shine

icicle n сосулька

slide (slidr slid) vi/t скользить; кататься no льду thaw n

оттепель

float vi/1 плыть (по течению, по воздуху), e. g. A lot of red and green balloons

floated in the air.

harvest n жатва, уборка хлеба; урожай

degree л градус, е. д. We had 25 degrees above (below) zero yesterday.

close adj душный, e. g. Open the window. It's very close here Syn. stuffy

breath л дыхание; зд. дуновение, е. g. At last we felt a breath of fresh air;

breathe vt/i дышать, e. g. The child was breathing hard, weather-forecast л

прогноз погоды

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remain vi оставаться, е. д. In England the fields and the parks remain green

even in winter; Syn. stay

drizzle л мелкий дождь, изморось; drizzle vi, е. д. It's drizzling,

thunderstorm л гроза; thunder л гром; a clap of thunder удар

грома

overcast adj покрытый облаками; хмурый (о небе)

pour vt/i лить, литься; наливать, е. д. It's pouring, Льет дождь.

Pour yourself a cup of milk.

fortunately adv к счастью; Ant. unfortunately tremendous adj страшный,

громадный; Syn. awful, terrible lightning л молния, е. д. A flash of lightning lit

up the sky. worth predic. adj заслуживающий, стоящий; to be worth doing

smth., e. g. It's not worth thinking about.

TOPICAL VOCABULARY

season, to shine brightly; to be out-of-doors; to be in blossom (to be in bloom);

flower-bed; to cycle; to boat; to fish; to go cycling (boating, fishing); to bathe, to

swim; to lie in the sun; to play with a ball; to play tennis (football); to play a game

of chess (tennis); to pick flowers, to pick (gather) berries and mushrooms; to

travel by car; at the seaside; on the beach; on the bank of the

river

' ifiWviS

to blow; to go skating; skating-rink; to toboggan; fraifes of

snow; sleet; sledge; slush; to get wet through; melt

CONVERSATIONAL PHRASES

Weather remarks: What a marvellous (shocking) day! It seems to be getting

more settled (clearing up), doesn't it? It's very windy (mild, wet, stormy) today. I'll

be glad when the rain's over (the fog's cleared), won't you? It's nice (cold, warm,

chilly, hot), isn't it?

Hesitation devices: um, er, well, actually, in fact, you see, you know, the

thing is, it's like this, how shall I put it, thee (lengthening of the), ayyy

(lengthening of a), tooo (lengthening of to), I think..., I believe I suppose.

Memory Work:

When the weather is wet We must not fret, —

When the weather is cold We must not scold.

When the weather is warm We must not storm, —

But be thankful together Whatever the weather.

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EXERCISES

I. a) The material below is to be prepared for reading. Mark the stresses and tunes.

Concentrate your attention on sounds, b) Let your fellow-student read the sentences for

you to detect his errors in sounds and tell him what must be done to eliminate them:

[e] 1. Get ten eggs ready for breakfast.

2. Every day in every way.

The weather is getting better and better.

3. East or West home is best.

4. All is well that ends well.

5. Better late than never.

6. Health is above wealth.

II. Before you start working at the texts practise the sounds in the following word

combinations from the texts:

A.

1. [rj] raining a little, wearing a mackintosh, carrying an

umbrella, spreading over London, floating across the sky, having a flight;

2. [ 3 :J their first words, almost certain, the other person,

turned ripe;

3. [зи — э: — D] almost, can only crawl along, the ponds

are frozen over, a fight with snowballs.

B.1. Alveolars replaced by dentals: read the weather-fore-

cast, and the sun, but the English, about the weather, look at this.

2. Nasal plosion: it must be, it never, let me, like it now.

3. Loss of plosion: must be, what does it, but bright, spread to, it pours.

III. 1. a) Listen to the recording of the text "Seasons and Weather**.

Mark the stresses and tunes, b) Practise the text for test reading. Listen

to it carefully until you can say it in exactly the same way.

2. a) Listen to the dialogue. Mark the stresses and tunes, b) Practise the dialogue for

test reading. Listen to it very carefully until you can say it in exactly the same way. c)

Memorize and dramatize it.

IV.

Copy out of Text 1 all the words with digraphs ai, ei, ее, oo,

ow and transcribe them.

V. Give the four forms of the following verbs:

come, blow, drive, fall, prefer, freeze, ski, put, sweep, hang, show, sew, awake,

sleep, build, stop, sit, read, write, play, leave, begin, become.

VI.

Give the degrees of comparison of the following adjectives and transcribe them: