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| Africa
Africa is the second largest continent on Earth, embracing one fifth of its land area and occupying 30,217,000 square kilometers, some 2 percent of which is inland water. The continent is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the confluence of the Atlantic and the Indian oceans off the Cape of Good Hope. There are a number of islands associated with Africa, the largest of those, lying to the southeast, is Madagascar. Africa’s great area includes a variety of landforms and climates. The vast desert lands of the Sahara separate North Africa from the continent – central lands and southern Africa, which together are called Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of Africa’s interior consists of plateaus and hilly uplands. In southern and eastern Africa, high mountains surround the plateaus near the coast. The plateaus in eastern Africa were long ago cracked by a shift in the land that created a huge fault. When the land shifted, a series of deep trenches formed between the cracked surfaces. Lava poured out and built up higher plateaus, sometimes topped volcanic peaks. Mountain Kenya and Mountain Kilimanjaro in eastern Africa are two of the volcanic peaks formed when the land shifted. The series of trenches extend all the way from Syria in the Middle East to Mozambique in the southern Africa. Together the trenches form the Great Rift Valley. In some places, the trenches are about 60 km wide and 450 m deep. Two of Africa’s largest lakes, Nyasa and Tanganyika, lie in Great Rift trenches. Lake Tanganyika, 676 km long, is the longest freshwater lake in the world. Africa’s hydrology is dominated by the Nile and the Congo river basins, which together drain nearly one-fourth of the continent’s area. Africa’s climate is greatly affected by its position astride the equator. Temperatures are high for most of the year in the northern and the southern tropical zones, but they are modified by elevation in the mountains and by the influence of ocean currents on the coasts – e.g., the cooling Benguela Current (southwest) and the warming Mozambique Current (southeast). Only 6 percent of the African continent is arable while nearly one-fourth is forested or wooded. The continent is well known for its wide variety of animal life. Big-game animals are found roaming the savanna regions. Some of the world’s finest national parks were established as game reserves in Kenya, Uganga, Tansania, South Africa, and other countries. African countries have abundant minerals resources. They possess some of the world’s richest deposits of certain minerals, gold and diamonds are among the most important. Zaire and Zambia supply most of the cobalt and copper used throughout the world. Other minerals important to the modern nations include chromium, platinum, bauxite, iron ore, tin and manganese, oil. Many countries have not yet developed the technology to use these resources efficiently. Africa still has few manufacturing industries and the governments try to set up more processing plants. Economists classify all the countries of Africa, except South Africa as developing nations. But there are definite signs of the economic growth of the African nations. 11.4 Find these African countries on the map and name their capitals 56 Алжир – Algeria – Algiers Ангола – Angola – Luanda Бенин – Benin – Ботсвана – Botswana – Буркина-Фасо – Burkina Faso – Бурунди – Burundi – Габон – Gabon – Гамбия – Gambia – Ганна – Ghana – Гвинея – Guinea – Гвинея-Бисау – Guinea-Bissau – Джибути – Djibouti – Египет – Egypt – Заир – Zaire – Замбия – Zambia – Западная Сахара – Western Sahara – Зимбабве – Zimbabwe – Камерун – Cameroon – Кабо-Верде – Cape Verde – Кения – Kenya – Коморские острова – Comoros – Конго – Congo – Кот-д’Ивуар – Côte d’Ivoire – 57 Либерия – Liberia – Ливия – Libya – Лесото – Lesotho – Маврикий – Mauritius – Мавритания – Mauritania – Мадагаскар – Madagascar – Марокко – Morocco – Малави – Malawi – Мали – Mali – Мозамбик – Mozambique – Намибия – Namibia – Нигер – Niger – Нигерия – Nigeria – Руанда – Rwanda – Сан-Томе и Принсипи – Sāo Tomé & Principe – Свазиленд – Swaziland – Сейшельские острова – Seychelles – Сенегал – Senegal – Сомали – Somalia – Судан – Sudan – Сьерра-Леоне – Sierra Leone – Танзания – Tanzania – Того – Togo – Тунис – Tunisia – Уганда – Uganda – Центральная Африка – Central African Republic – Чад – Chad – Экватор. Гвинея – Equatorial Guinea– Эритрея – Eritrea – Эфиопия – Ethiopia – Южная Африка – South Africa – 11.5 Say whether the following statements are true or false 1. Madagascar is the largest of islands associated with Africa. 2. Sub-Saharan Africa includes central lands of the continent and its northern part. 3. Plateaus and hilly uplands make up Africa’s interior. 4. The plateaus were long ago cracked by a shift and it caused a huge fault. 5. Together the trenches form the Great Barrier Reef. 6. Half of the continent’s land is drained by the Nile and the Conge river basins. 7. There is no arable land in Africa. 8. Economists classify all the countries of Africa as developing nations. 58 11.6 Complete the following sentences 1. Africa occupies ………. . 2. The continent is bounded on the south by ………. . 3. Mountain ………. and Mountain ………. were formed when ………. . 4. The series of trenches extend all the way from ………. . 5. Temperatures are modified by ………. . 6. Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and some other countries have ………. . 11.7 Read this text and render it into English К северу и югу от Саванн в Африке располагаются зоны тропических пустынь и полупустынь. В Северной Африке – это грандиозная Сахара (площадь 8,7 млн. км 2 ). В Южной Африке – пустыни и полупустыни впадины Калахари, пустыня Намиб на побережье Атлантического океана. В пустынях Африки экстремальные климатические условия. Годовая сумма осадков не превышает 100 – 200 мм; иногда годами не бывает дождей. Характерны крайняя сухость воздуха; очень высокие дневные и сравнительно низкие ночные температуры, пыльные и песчаные бури. Растительность африканских пустынь представлена в основном ксерофитами. Животный мир пустынь и полупустынь приспособился к жизни в аридных условиях. В поисках скудной жизни и воды они могут преодолевать большие расстояния (например, мелкие антилопы) или подолгу обходиться без воды (пресмыкающиеся, верблюды). Основная хозяйственная деятельность в пустынях сосредоточена в оазисах. Отдельные народы и племена (берберы в северной Африке, бушмены и готтентоты в Калахари) ведут кочевую жизнь, занимаясь скотоводством, собирательством и охотой. 11.8 Answer the following questions. Where is Africa situated? What oceans and seas wash the coasts of Africa? Where is the boundary between North Africa and the rest of the continent lie? How were the trenches formed? What are the largest rivers and lakes of Africa? What factors affect the climate of the continent? What mineral resources are found in Africa? 59 11.9 Text for written translation Africa’s overall population density is low by world’s standards, because much of its vast desert area is uninhabitable; the population per unit of arable land, however, its near the world average. Wide variations in density occur from country to country and within countries. Africa’s effort to achieve sustained economic growth have been plagued by the region’s very high fertility level. The continent is a developing region with all the associated demographic and social problems. It is estimated that the continent’s annual rate of population growth is about 3 per cent, the highest of any continent and several times higher than Africa’s real economic growth. Birth and death rates, the major factor in population growth, vary widely from region to region. Southern Africa, for example, has the lowest crude birth rate and the lowest rate of growth and western Africa has the highest birth rate. The peoples inhabiting Africa probably speak more separate and distinct languages (800 to 1,000) than those of any other continent. The most homogeneous region, in terms of language, is North Africa, where Arabic is predominant. The languages spoken by the Sub-Saharan peoples are known collectively as Bantu. The forest-dwelling Pygmies, inhabiting various parts of central Africa, form a distinctive ethnic and cultural group but have no distinctive language of their own. In southernmost parts of the continent, people of European descent are found. Dutch migrations began in the 17 th century. The English first settled in what is now Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the East African Highlands in the 19 th century. The Portuguese settled in Angola and Mozambique, while Germans settled in what is now Namibia. 11.10 Make up all possible types of questions to the text 11.9 11.11 Speak on: 1. geography of Africa 4. population; 2. flora, fauna, climate 5. African deserts 3. mineral resources and industry 11.12 Get ready to speak about any African country you like (see Lesson 9, ex. 9.12) |