There are four seasons in a year: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Every season is beautiful in its own way. When spring comes nature awakens from its long winter sleep. The days become longer and the nights become shorter. The ground is covered with emeraldgreen grass and spring flowers. The air is fresh, the sky is blue and cloudless, and the sun shines brightly. The trees are in full blossom. The nightingale begins to sing its lovely songs, and sweet melodies may be heard from every wood and park. The days are warm and everything is full of life and joy. Spring is followed by summer. The weather is usually fine in summer, but it can be very hot, especially in July. Sometimes there are storms with thunder and lightning. In summer people try to get away from the city noise and spend more time in the open air. They pick mushrooms and berries in the forest, swim in the rivers and lakes, go fishing and boating. Most people prefer to have their holidays in summer. Autumn begins in September. The days become shorter and the nights become longer. The leaves turn yellow, red and brown and fall to the ground. Most birds fly away to warm countries. There's a short spell of dry sunny weather in September which is called Indian Summer. It's a beautiful time when the sky is cloudless, the trees around are golden, the air is transparent and it's still warm. But gradually it gets colder and colder. It often rains in October and November which makes autumn an unpleasant season. In winter the sun sets early and rises late. The rivers and lakes are frozen over. Everything is covered with snow. Sometimes it's very cold, about 25-30 degrees below zero. Going out in such weather isn't very pleasant. Winter is a good time for sports. People go in for skating and skiing. Tobogganing is also popular, not as a kind of sports, but rather as fun. As for me, I like all seasons, but I think there's nothing like late spring.
Vocabulary season ['si:zn] время года to be in blossom быть в цвету nature ['neitja] природа nightingale ['naitiqgeil] соловей to awaken [a'weikn] пробуждать(ся) lovely [1/wli] красивый, прекрасный ground [graund] земля sweet зд. приятный to cover ['k/wa] покрывать melody ['meladi] мелодия emerald-green [,етэгэИ 'gn:n] изумрудно-зеленый joy [d30i] радость fresh свежий thunder ['G/vida] гром lightning [laitnirj] молния to pick mushrooms and berries собирать грибы и ягоды to go fishing заниматься рыбной ловлей to go boating кататься на лодке to prefer [pri'fa:] предпочитать transparent [traen'spearant] прозрачный to freeze (froze, frozen) замерзать tobogganing [ta'boganig] катание на санках there's nothing like нет ничего лучше
Questions 1. How many seasons are there in a year? 2. When does nature awaken from her long winter sleep? 3. Why do we like spring so much? 4. Why do people try to spend more time in the open air in summer? 5. Is summer the best season for tourism? 6. Where did you go last summer? 7. Do you like Indian summer? Why? 8. Do you like late autumn? 9. What do you usually do on a nasty rainy day? 10. What is the weather like in whiter? 11. Do you go in for skating or skiing? 12. Were you fond of playing snowballs and making snowmen when you were a child? 13. Most people prefer summer to any other season of the year. What about you? 14. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each season?
