2020-08-05
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Names of the Months
The English names of the months all come from Latin. January, March, May and June were names of gods taken from Roman mythology. The god Janus, could look in two directions at the same time because he had two faces. He was the god of endings and beginnings. The name February comes from a Roman celebration called Februa, a celebration of cleaning. March is named after Mars, the mythological god of war. March is usually a month of storms and windy weather.
The origin of the word April is not known exactly. Probably the word comes from the Latin word “aperiri” – “to open”. In April the skies open and it rains very often. The trees and flowers also begin to open. The month of May is named after Maia, the mythological goddess of the fields.
The month of June was named after the goddess Juno. July is named after Julius Caesar, the Roman Emperor. Before the time of Caesar another calendar was used. The year began in March instead of in January. Caesar changed that. He made the calendar we use at present. After Julius Caesar came his son Augustus. The eights month August is called after him.
The months of September, October, November and December need little explanation. In the old calendar they were the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth months. The names for the months September, October, November and December therefore came from Latin words for seventh, eight, ninth and tenth.
Statements
1. Five English months were named after Roman gods and goddesses.
2. There are more months named after men than after women.
3. The names of autumn months show there place in the year cycle.
4. All summer months were called after Roman Emperors.
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5. Before Caesar introduced his own calendar all months had different names.
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6. The origin of one month’s name is still unclear.
7. One month’s name is connected with an English holiday.
XIII. Translate the following text into English. Pay attention to the words and expressions given below.
Кожен знає, що в році чотири пори року: весна, літо, осінь і зима. Кожна з них триває три місяці. Весна починається в березні і закінчується в травні. Навесні часто йдуть дощі, особливо в квітні.
Літо – найжаркіша пора року. Воно починається в червні і закінчується в серпні.. Влітку небо ясне і безхмарне.. Дні довгі, а ночі короткі і темні. Літо дарує багато фруктів та овочів. Приємно провести цей час біля моря.
Осінні місяці – вересень, жовтень і листопад. Дні стають коротшими, сонце втрачає свою силу. Часто йде дощ. Це час збирання врожаю.
Зима також триває три місяці: грудень, січень і лютий. Стає холоднішим день від дня. Рідко світить сонце, і часто йде сніг. Але все виглядає так красиво, покрите снігом.
Отже, у кожної пори року є свої хороші і погані сторони. Але ми повинні бути вдячними будь-якій погоді.
Vocabulary:
Everyone knows кожен знає
To last тривати
Cloudless безхмарний
By the seaside біля моря
To lose the force втрачати силу
Harvesting збір урожаю
Day by day день від дня
To look so pretty виглядати так чудово
Bright and dark sides хороші і погані сторони
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To be thankful бути вдячним
XIY. Read, translate and learn the dialogues about the weather:
A. The weather is fine today, isn’t it?
B. Yes, it is. The sun is shining and there are no clouds in the sky.
A. It is warm outside, isn’t it?
B. I don’t think so. It is November now.
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A. Shall I put a coat on?
B. As you like. You think you will catch cold, won’t you?
A. Certainly.
B. All right, then.
XY. a) Read and translate the words:
Water, ice, the moon, snow, fog, ice-cream, grass, the sun, clothes, stars, frost, clouds, butter.
b) Say:
1. what can melt; 2. what can be wet; 3. what you can see in the sky: a) only in the day-time, b) only at night, c) both in the day-time and at night; 4. what can cover the ground.
XYI. Change the given statements so that they will mean the opposite:
Example: We are having rough weather. – We are having calm weather.
1. The weather is really nasty today.
2. It is ten degrees below zero.
3. The roads are dry today; it is not dangerous to drive.
4. The sky is clear.
5. The weather will keep fine.
6. It was a bright day.
7. It is 30 degrees in the shade.
8. There is a bad fog in the mountains.
9. The weather is windless today.
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10. The frost is going to kill all the flowers in the garden.
XYII. Sort out the following adjectives into columns according to the nouns they can go with:
| Changeable Unfavourable Favourable Subtropical Unsettled Wretched Foggy Frosty Cloudy | Dry Fair Cool Bad Wet Beastly Bright Sunny | Good Fine Mild High Dull Warm Dark Hot Cold | |
| Sunny Windy Chilly Moderate Gloomy | Humid Misty Starry Insular Tropical
| Hot Rainy Nasty Unstable | |
Example.
| weather | climate | season | morning/day | night |
| Nice, | Insular, | Rainy, | Misty, | Starry, |
XYIII. Supply one word from those given in the box to fill in the gaps:
| Flood Sultry Drizzle Chilly Wet | Hot Dew Icy Cloudy shower | Lightning Sunshine To forecast Fahrenheit Centigrade/Celsius |
1. During a storm, _______ is followed by a clap of thunder.
2. The river overflowed and the town had to cope with a _______.
3. Because of the heavy _______ the grass was wet.
4. You cannot see the moon and stars now because the sky is _______.
5. In summer it is a spell of _______ and _______ weather usually ends with a thunderstorm.
6. I cannot say that it is very cold outside but it is rather _______, you should better put on your coat.
7. You cannot sit on the grass it is still _______ after the rain.
8. When it rains hard but for a shot period of time we call it a _______.
9. There will be plenty of _______ in the mountains and she will return with a fine tan.
10. I cannot say that it was really raining, it was ______ but we got wet all the same.
11. Ancient people did not know any other way of _______ the weather than watching the behaviour of animals and birds.
