Từ vựng IELTS 5+ - Geography and Geology

Transcription

1 Từ vựng IELTS 5+ - Geography and Geology 1 I. VOCAB Topography (təˈpɒɡ.rə.fi): the physical appearance of the natural features of an area of land, especially the shape of its surface. Surroundings (səˈraʊn.dɪŋz): the place where someone lives and the conditions they live in. Crude oil (krud ˈɔɪl): oil from underground that has not yet been made into other products. Bamboo (bæmˈbuː): a tall tropical grass with hard, hollow stems, or the stems of this plant. Calcium (ˈkæl.si.əm): a chemical element that is present in teeth, bones, and chalk. Minerals (ˈmɪn.ər.əl): a valuable or useful chemical substance that is formed naturally in the ground. Territory: (an area of) land, or sometimes sea, that is considered as belonging to or connected with a particular country or person. Pole: either of the two points at the most northern and most southern ends of the earth. Continent: one of the seven large land masses on the earth s surface. Terrain (n): An area of land, when considering its natural features. Horizon (n): the line at the farthest place that you can see, where the sky seems to touch the land or sea. Dunes (n): a hill of sand near a beach or in a desert. Pile (n): a mass of something that has been placed somewhere. Slope (n): the side of a hill or mountain Soil: the material on the surface of the ground in which plants grow. Equator (n): an imaginary line drawn around the middle of the earth. 1 1

2 2 Precipitation (n): water that falls from the clouds towards the ground, especially as rain or snow. Drizzle (n): rain in very small, light drops. Damp (adj): slightly wet, especially in an uncomfortable way. Moisture (n): a liquid such as water in the form of very small drops, either in the air, in a substance, or on a surface. Atmosphere (n): the mixture of gases around the earth. Mediterranean (n): the sea surrounded by southern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. Polar (adj): relating to the North or South Pole or the areas around them. Stretch (v): to cause something to reach, often as far as possible, in a particular direction. Edge (n): the outer or furthest point of something. Obtain (v): to get something. Drought (n): a long period where there is little or no rain. Magnitude (n) : the large size or importance of something. Tremor (n): a slight earthquake. Dam (n): a wall built across a river that stops the river s flow and collects the water. Climate (n): the general weather conditions usually found in a particular place. Tsunami (n): an extremely large wave caused by a violent movement of the earth under the sea. Typhoon (n): a violent wind that has a circular movement. Forecast (n): a statement of what is likely to happen in the future. Hemisphere (n): one of two halves of the earth, especially above or below the equator. 2 2

3 3 II. EXERCISE Exercise 1: Choose the answer (A, B, C or D) that best fits each space. What is the world s largest desert? I m sure the first that (1).. to mind is the legendary Sahara - but that s 3 rd. It s actually the desert on the Antarctic (2) measuring just under 14,000,000 kms 2, closely followed by the Arctic desert. Most people living away from deserts associate this kind of (3) with sand, but only 10% of deserts are actually made up of sand (4)... The term desert in fact describes a (5)..which receives almost no (6), meaning rainfall, snow, ice or hail. The term can also apply to regions where there is greater evaporation of (7).than rainfall. In other words, more water is absorbed back into the (8) than stays on or within the ground. So, in (9).deserts, you re mainly talking about ice sheets and a little rock, not sand, of course. The surface of many other deserts is comprised of loose rock where the finer particles of dust and sand have been (10).. away. It may surprise you to know that deserts exist all over the (11) from the Kalahari in Africa to the Great Victoria in Australia and so on, and that they (12)..just over a fifth of the earth s_land area. The world s largest hot desert, the Sahara, actually (13).. temperatures of 122 F. Other arid deserts may not be so hot but in common with the Sahara, they (14) considerably at night. An issue that is worrying geologists, governments and the people that live on the (15)..of deserts, is the way they are spreading. You might think that the reason for this is (16)..- but lack of rain is not the cause. 1 A. jumps B. leaps C. rises D. springs 2 A. country B. continent C. territory D. pole 3 A. terrain B. plain C. horizon D. nature 4 A. hills B. dunes C. piles D. slopes 5 A. base B. landscape C. ground D. soil 6 A. wildlife B. agriculture C. precipitation D. alteration 7 A. moisture B. drops C. dampness D. drizzle 8 A. setting B. atmosphere C. environment D. surroundings 9 A. extreme B. Mediterranean C. typical D. polar 10 A. left B. disappeared C. blown D. removed 11 A. globe B. sphere C. atlas D. orb 12 A. contain B. expand C. cover D. cross 13 A. obtains B. reaches C. stretches D. raises 14 A. cool B. fall C. freeze D. decrease 15 A. sections B. edges C. outlines D. sides 16 A. storms B. climate C. heat D. drought 3 3

4 4 Exercise 2: Complete the dialogues by writing a word from the box in each space. volcanoes waves destruction stress tremors construction magnitude James: So how about Italy? Do you have earthquakes? Agostino: Yes, because we have a few active (1).., but mostly the quakes are minor so we just get small (2)... you hardly notice. James: And major earthquakes? Agostino: Well, its possible to have a (3)...7 or 8 earthquake, yes. James: Caused by seismic (4)... that come up to the surface? Agostino: That s right. They can lead to the (5)... of whole villages. James: So when engineers are planning the (6)... of new buildings, do they have to take potential quakes into account? Agostino: Yes, definitely. The building has to sway, rather than break, under the (7).of a quake. Exercise 3: Geography Studying geography helps us to understand: the effects of different processes on the 1 of the Earth the dynamic between 2. and population Two main branches of study: physical 3 4 4

5 5 human lifestyles and their 4. Specific study areas: biophysical, 5., political, social, economic, historical and 6. geography, and also cartography Key point: geography helps us to understand our 7. and the associated 8.. Topography: the area that looks at the 9 of the land and oceans Social geography: the study of 10 of people III. Keys + Tape script Exercise 1: 1. D 2. B 3. A 4. B 5. B 6. C 7. A 8. B 9. D 10. C 11. A 12. C 13. B 14. A 15. B 16. D Exercise 2: 1. Volcanoes 2. Tremors 3. Magnitude 4. Waves 5. Destruction 6. Construction 7. Stress 5 5

6 6 Exercise 3: 1. surface 2. environment 3. features 4. impact 5. topographic 6. urban 7. surroundings 8. problems 9. shapes 10. communities Tape script: So, welcome to your introductory geography lecture. We ll begin with some basics. Firstly what do we learn by studying geography? Well, we learn a great deal about all the processes that have affected and that continue to affect the earth's surface. But we learn far more than that, because studying geography also informs us about the different kinds of relationships that develop between a particular environment and the people that live there. Okay. We like to think of geography as having two main branches. There's the study of the nature of our planet-its physical features, what it actually looks like - and then there's the study of the ways in which we choose to live and of the impact of those on our planet. Our current use of carbon fuels is a good example of that. But there are more specific study areas to consider too, and we ll be looking at each of these in turn throughout this semester. These include bio-physical geography, by which I mean the study of the natural environment and all its living things. Then there's topography- that looks at the shapes of the land and oceans. There's the study of political geography and social geography too, of course, which is the study of communities of people. We have economic geography - in which we examine all kinds of resources and their use-agriculture, for example. Next comes historical geography- he understanding of how people and their environments and the ways they interact have changed over a period of time-and urban geography, an aspect I'm particularly interested in, which takes as its focus the location of cities, the services that those cities provide, and migration of people to and from such cities. And lastly, we have cartography. That's the art and science of map- making. You'll be doing a lot of that! So, to summarize before we continue, we now have our key answer studying this subject is important because without geographical knowledge, we would know very little about our surroundings and we wouldn't be able to identify all the problems that relate to them. So, by definition, we wouldn't be in an informed position to work out how to solve any of them. 6 6