Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment [ 22 ]

22- ] Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment .

The Weather .

A-] Cold weather :

In Scandinavia , the ‘chilly’ [ cold , but not very ] days of autumn soon change to the cold days of winter . The first ‘frosts’ [ thin white coat of ice on everything ] arrive and the roads become icy . Rain becomes ‘sleet’ [rain and snow mixed ] and then snow , at first turning to ‘slush’ [ dirty , brownish , half-snow ,

 half-water  ] in the streets , but soon ‘settling’ [ staying as a white covering ] , with severe ‘blizzards’ [ snow blown by high winds ] and ‘snowdrifts’ [ deep banks of snow against walls , etc.] in the far north . ‘Freezing’ [when temperatures are below 0 centigrade ] weather often continues in the far north until May or even June , when the ground starts to ‘thaw’ [change from hard , frozen state to softer state ] and the ice ‘melts’ [ change from solid to liquid under heat ] again .

B-] Warm / hot weather :

- ‘close’ [ warm and uncomfortable ] . – ‘stifling’ [ hot , uncomfortable , you can hardly breathe ] . – ‘muggy’ [ very warm and a little damp ] . – ‘humid’ [ hot and damp , makes you sweat a lot ] – ‘scorching’ [ very hot , often used in positive contexts ] –‘boiling’ [ very hot , often used in negative contexts ] – ‘mild’ [ warm at a time when it is normally cold ] – ‘a heatwave’ [ very hot , dry period ]

C-] Wet weather :

This wet weather scale gets stronger from left to right .

‘damp’-------‘drizzle’ -------‘pour down’ [verb]------‘torrential rain’-----‘flood’ .

-  Autumn in London is usually ‘chilly’ and ‘damp’ with ‘rain’ and ‘drizzle’ .

- It was absolutely ‘pouring down’ . or There was a real ‘downpour’ .

- In the Tropics there is usually ‘torrential rain’ most days , and the roads often get ‘flooded’ . or There are ‘floods’ on the roads .

- This rain won’t last long ; it’s only a ‘shower’ . [ short duration ]

- The ‘storm’ damaged several houses . [ high winds and rain together ]

- We got very wet in the ‘thunderstorm’ . [ thunder and heavy rain ]

- ‘Hailstones’ were battering the roof of our car . [ small balls of ice falling from the sky ] . ‘Hail’ is uncountable . There was ‘hail’ yesterday .

- The sky’s a bit ‘overcast’ ; I think it’s going to rain . [ very cloudy ]

- We had a ‘drought’ last summer . It didn’t rain for six weeks .

D-] Mist and fog :

Nouns and adjectives : ‘haze’ / ‘hazy’ [ light mist , usually caused by heat ]  ‘mist’

/ ‘misty’ [ light fog , often on the sea , or caused by drizzle ] , ‘fog’ / ‘foggy’ [ quite thick , associated with cold weather ] , ‘smog’ [ mixture of fog and pollution ( smoke + fog) ]

E-] Wind :

- There was a gentle ‘breeze’ on the beach , just enough to cool us .

- There’s a good ‘wind’ today ; fancy going sailing ?

- It’s a very ‘blustery’ day ; the umbrella will just blow away .

- There’s been a ‘gale’ waning ; it would be crazy to go sailing .

- People boarded up their windows when they heard there was a ‘hurricane’ on the way .

Global problems .

A-] Disasters / tragedies .

- ‘ earthquakes’ [ the earth moves / trembles ] – ‘volcanoes’ [ hot liquid rock and gases pour from the earth ] – ‘hurricane’ / ‘tornado’  / ‘typhoon’[ violent winds /storms ]

- ‘drought’ [ no rain ] – ‘ famine’ [ no food ]  - ‘flood’ [ too much rain ]

- ‘epidemic’ [ diseases affecting large numbers of people ]

Disasters not caused by human beings can be called ‘natural disasters’ .

- ‘major accidents’ [ e.g. plane crash ] – ‘war’ / ‘civil war’ [ civil war is war between people of the same country ]

B-] Verbs connected with these disasters :

-A ‘volcano’ has ‘erupted’ in Indonesia . Hundreds are feared dead .

- The flu ‘epidemic’ ‘spread’ rapidly throughout the country .

- Millions are ‘starving’ as a result of the ‘famine’ .

- A big ‘earthquake’ ‘shook’ the city at noon today .

- The area is ‘suffering’ its worst ‘drought’ for many years .

- ‘Civil war’ has ‘broken out’ in the north of the country .

- A ‘tornado’ ‘swept’ through the islands yesterday .

B-] Words for people involved in disasters /tragedies :

- The ‘explosion’ resulted in 300 ‘casualties’ . [ dead and injured people ]

- The real ‘victims’ of ‘civil war’ are children left without parents .

           [ those who suffer the results ]

- There were only live ‘survivors ‘ . All the other passengers were reported dead .

           [ people who live through a disaster ]

- Thousands of ‘refugees’ have crossed the border looking for food and shelter .

- During the battle , the 'dead’ and the ‘wounded’ were flown out in helicopters .

           [ wounded : injured in a battle / by a weapon ]

C-] Headlines :

Here are some headlines from newspapers all connected with disasters and epidemics .

- ‘Rabies’ [ disease can be caused by bite from a dog , fox etc. very serious ]out of control in many parts of Asia .

- ‘Cholera’ and ‘typhoid’ [ diseases causing sickness , diarrhea etc. ; caused by infected food and water ] injections not needed’  says Tourism Minister .

- New ‘malaria’ [ usually caught because of mosquito bites ] drug tested .

- ‘ Yellow fever’ [ tropical disease ; skin goes yellow ] figures drop .

- New ‘AIDS’ [ acquired immune deficiency syndrome ; often caused by sexual contact or contact with contaminated blood ] unit to be opened this month .

- Minister says fight against ‘leprosy’ [ terrible skin disease ; leaves the skin deformed ]

goes on .