Write down your own sentences with these words.

II. Scan the text and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F):

1. The climate of Australia can vary a great deal from place to place, although in summer it’s basically cool everywhere.

2. Due to the size of the continent, there is not one single seasonal calendar for the entire continent. Instead there are ten climatic zones.⁵

3. The Temperate zone occupies the coastal hinterland of New South Wales, much of Victoria, Tasmania, the south-eastern corner of South Australia and the south-west of Western Australia

4. The long end of year break for students is commonly known as the 'winter holidays', or the 'Christmas holidays'.

5. The tropical regions of Australia, in the north of the country, including the equatorial and sub-tropical zones have high temperatures and high humidity and distinct wet and dry seasons.

6. In the Australian tropics the wet season¹⁰, called the monsoon season, lasts about six months, between April and September. It is hotter than the dry season, with temperatures between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius.

7. The dry season lasts about six months, usually between June and August. Temperatures are lower and the skies are generally clearer during the dry. The average temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius

8. The 'build up' is the humid time of year between the wet and dry seasons. It usually lasts for three or four months. Things become quite tense during the 'build up' as people sit and swelter in the humidity while waiting and hoping for the first snowstorms to come.

9. The humidity continues day and night with no respite, so when the rains finally do come everyone enjoys their warming relief.

10. Since the 1950s, Australian temperatures have, on average, fallen by about 1°C with an increase in the frequency of heat waves and a decrease in the numbers of frosts and cold days, except in the regions immediately to the west and north-west of Sydney.

11. Indigenous people's knowledge about the weather, and their descriptions of the seasons and climatic conditions is recognized today¹⁴ in work with scientists and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

12. The tropics are affected by the extremes of cyclones in the dry season and the inland deserts can remain totally dry for years whilst rains can produce floods. The wettest months in the southern capitals are from May to July.

13. Along the Great Dividing Range¹⁷ the mountain range that passes through New South Wales and Victoria, there are regular winter floods¹⁸. The snow season in the Alps in south-eastern Australia¹⁹ is June to September.

14. Overall, rainfall patterns have also changed – the northwest has seen an increase in rainfall over the last 50 years while much of eastern Australia and the far southwest have experienced an increase in rainfall too.

15. The ability to provide accurate forecasts and warnings for rainfall, floods and tropical cyclones has helped mitigate and lessen the loss of lives in natural disasters.

III. Read the text about the climate of Australia. Choose the phrase from A to K to fill in the gaps. There is one phrase that you won’t need to use:

Due to 1 _____ of the continent, Australia has several different climatic zones. The northern section of Australia has a more 2 _____ , hot and humid in the summer, and quite warm and dry in the winter, while the southern parts are cooler with mild summers and cool, 3 _____.

The seasons are 4 _____in the Northern Hemisphere - when it's summer in the north - it's winter 5 _____. December and January are the hottest months in Australia, July and August - the coldest.

The southern areas of Australian Continent are generally more temperate, with summer daytime temperatures usually between 25 and 30°C and winter temperatures between 5 and 10°C The Tasmanian mountains and the "Australian Alps" in the southeast of Australia have 6 _____; the winter can be very harsh there, and the highest peaks are usually covered by snow year-round.

Another extreme, but completely different are the conditions in the 7 _____in central Australia; the temperature reaches sometimes 50°C and more, and rain may not fall for years. Most rain falls 8 _____of Australia (Darvin), with an annual average of 100 inches and more. Sometimes 9 _____can occur in the northern coastal areas, causing 10 _____; these storms usually occur in the Southern summer months between November and April.

A) the opposite to those

B) in the northeastern coastal parts

C) tropically influenced climate

D) a typical mountain climate

E) south of the equator

F) tropical cyclones

G) heavy wind and rainstorms

H) the huge size

I) tropical floods

J) desert and bush ("outback") areas

K) sometimes rainy winters

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1185