1) They are the tops1

What’s the biggest? The tallest? The widest? The absolute “tops” of its kind in the world?

The longest river? The Nile, which is more than 4.000 miles long, or about twice the distance by air from London to Beirut. But it beats South America’s Amazon by only a few miles.

The biggest island? Greenland, which belongs to Denmark and it is about 840.000 square miles in extent, though a good deal of this is barren, icy territory where nobody would want to live. And the largest city?

For “top” population, it is Tokyo, Japan’s capital, with 11 million inhabitants. London comes second with something like 2.000.000 fewer.

they are the tops¹ - это самые, самые …

2) They are the tops

What's the biggest? The tallest? The widest? The absolute “tops” of its kind in the world?

The largest lake? The Caspian Sea. Yes, geographers count it as a lake, because it doesn’t connect with any of the great oceans. It has an area of 170.000 square miles. So there is a very big difference between this and the next largest, North America’s Lake Superior, which covers only some 32.000 square miles.

The deepest sea? So far as we know at present ( but this is one of the things science is trying hard to find out more about these days ), the greatest depth is in the Pacific Ocean off the Philippines where a great “dip” called the Marianas Trench goes down to nearly 37.000 feet or much more than the Everest.

Next greatest known depth occurs in the Atlantic where the Puerto Rico Trench is 27. 498 feet deep.

3) They are the tops

What’s the biggest? The tallest? The widest? The absolute “tops” of its kind in the world?

The highest mountain? Few of us are likely to have any doubts about that. Yes, it is Mount Everest of course – 28.250 feet high or just 104 feet higher than Kangcheniunga.

The largest ocean? The right answer is the Pacific, which is reckoned as having a total area of 63.986.000 square miles. According to the reckoning of the geographers, the Atlantic Ocean the next largest is only 31.530.000 square miles in extent the Indian Ocean with 28.350.000 square miles, coming third.

4) They are the tops

What’s the biggest? The tallest? The widest? The absolute “tops” of its kind in the world?

The biggest volcano? Of these which are still active, Cocopaxi, in Ecuador, South America, is the highest – 19.612 feet. Aconcagua, between Argentina and Chille is more than 3.000 feet higher, but it is believed to be extinct.

The biggest waterfall? If you go by height, you must give the prize to the Angel Falls in Venezuela, where the water falls 3.212 feet from the top.

Compared with this the Niagara Falls between Canada and the USA, though much better know to most people have a drop of only between 158 and 167 feet.

If you go by quantity of water the Guayra Falls in Brasil beat either of these with an average flow of 470.000 cubic feet of water per second.

X. Выполните итоговые задания по теме, проверив прав. по

ключ. ответ данным в конце.

Задание I. Назовите степени сравнения прилагательных и

наречий:

1. fewer

2. the most difficult

3. further

4. least

5. thinnest

Задание II. Выпишите словарную форму слов:

1. weakest

2. easier

3. earliest

4. thinner

5. wider

Задание III. С опорой на таблицу IV поставьте прилагательные

и наречия в соответствующую степень сравнения

(устно):

1. My room is (small, cp.cm.) than his, but it is (good, cp.cm.) it is (good, np, cm.) room in the flat.

2. I know English (well, cp.cm.) than he, he knows (many, cp.cm.) words than I but he speaks (badly, cp.cm.) he has ( little, cp.cm.) time for study than I.

Задание IV. С опорой на таблицу V переведите выражения:

1. twice as much (many)

2. half as much (many)

3. four times as large

4. the (more) … the (better)

5. as early as 1917

6. as far back as 1917

7. nearly

Задание V. С опорой на таблицу V переведите предложения:

1. The speed at which the Earth revolves round the Sun is nearly as high as that of Venus.

2. The Moon is as far as 384 thousand kilometers from the Earth.

3. The new radio-set is half the size of the old one.

Задание VI. Скажите по-английски:

1. главным образом.

2. едва (ли)

3. так же, как и

4. также (тоже)

5. вдвое больше

6. вдвое меньше