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Habitats and homelands
Topic III Natural wonders of America
Countries a USA and Canada
Vocab ulary a Adjectiv es of m easu rem en t
Li nks III 2d . Sf . 7e
I The seven natural wonders
of America
2 Giant Redwood
and Bristlecone Pine Trees <California)
General Sherman, a giantredwood tree in theSequoia National Park
measuring 84metres tall, isthe largest plant intheworld. It isalso 3,000
yearsold,butit isn't the oldest tree inthe worldI That's also in Califomia.The
bristleconepine growsintheWhite Mountains, and it isthe oldest living
thing onearth.Themostfamous, named Methuselah, isover 4,000 years old.
1 Death Valley
<California)
3 The Grand Canyon
(Arizona)
Death Valleyisa 250 km valley between two
the lowest place inthe western hemisphere
The Grand Canyon,eroded over
thousands of years by the Colorado River
and its e trlbutaries, is400 km long. It is
2,000 metres deep at its deepest point
and30km wide at its widest point. It is
(86 metres below sea level). Summer
one of the mostimportant geological
temperatures inDeath Va lley can reach 54°C,
and for several months of the yearthe average
sites in theworld (some of therocks are
over 1,800 million years old) and it is
home to a great diversity of wildlife.
Californian mountain o ranges. It isthe hottest
and thelowest place in the USA, and at one
famous point - Badwater Basin - youarrive at
night-timetemperature is over 27"C.
r
Before y-o u read
D Look at the photos. Do you recognise any of these places?
Can you locate numbers3, 5, 6 and 7 on the map?
VocabularyEl Putthe adjecti ves into six pairs of opposites.
deep high large long low narrow shallow short short small
tall wide
Reading
ID illE) Read the texts quickly. Which of the natural w onders:
1. are partly in Canada?
2. are further north than Ca nada?
3. are in California?
4. consist entirely of water?
o Read the texts again. Complete the tables with the correct
statistics .
Length
Death Valley:
Grand Canyon:
.................
.................
Depth
Death Valley: .................
Grand Ca nyon: .................
Height
General Sherman: .................
Old Faithful:
.................
Niagara Fa lls:
.................
Width
Grand Canyon: .................
Age
General Sherman: .................
Methuselah:
.................
Oldest rocks in
the Grand Can yon: .................
Size
La ke Superior: .................
• ••
to erupt a to eject something viole ntly
ge y se r CI a spr tnq t hat eje cts steam and hot water
glacier D a large mass of ice
ra ng e D a group of mou nt ains
sp ri ng a w here water comes up fro m below th e gr ound . f or m ing
the start of a riv er
tr ibutary a a small river th at flo w s in to a lar ger river
w ilde rness a a w ild . nat ural pl ac e
4 Old Faith ful
(Idaho)
Much of the
Yellowstone National
Park (which extends
into Idaho, Montana
and Wyoming) is
volcanic rock, and
there are over 10,000
ageysersand hot
a springs inthe park
- the biggest
concentration in the
world. The most
5 The Great Lakes
(Michigan, Wisconsin,
Minnesota and Ontario,
Canada)
famous geyser, called
Old Faithful, aerupts
about every 75
6 Glacier Bay <Alaska)
minutes. The
aGlacier Bay is a awilderness of mountains, glaciers, estuaries,
eruptions last for1-5
beachesand lakes which was covered by ice only 200 yea rs ago.
minutes, and shoot
The glaciers of Glacier Bay arestill retreating, revealing new
landscapes every few yea rs. Glacier Bay is now a nature reserve and
is used extensively for scientific research.
hot water upto 50
metres in theair.
The Great lakes (la kes Superior, Michigan,
Huron, Erie and Ontario) form the largest
systemof fresh water on earth,containing
18%of the world'ssupply. l ake Superior is
the largest and the deepest. It has the
largest surface area of any freshwater lake
in theworld (81,000 sq. km) and holds
enough water to cover the entirecontinents
of North and SouthAmerica with a third of
a metre of water.
7 Niagara Falls (New York State
and Ont ario , Canada)
The Niagara Falls are formed where the Niagara River flows between
Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.There are two main waterfalls:the
Horseshoe Falls in Canada and the American Falls in the USA. The
fallsare 55 metres high, and 160,000 cubic metres of water flows
overthem every minute.
5 eak i ng
Ii) How can humans pose a dangerto natural features such as
the ones in this unit?
Listening
o ~ (!) You are going to hear a ranger talking about the
negative effects 01 tourism on the Grand Canyon. Guess which
of the following environmental problems he will talk about,
then listen and see il you were right.
o litter
o fires
o danger to animals
o erosion of paths
o noise
o traffic
o vandalism
~ (I) listen again and answ er the questions.
1. How many people visit the Grand Canyon each year?
2. What two problems can pollution cause in the canyon7
3. Which tw o months does the ranger say are particularly hot
and dry?
4. What are tw o ways in which visitors start fir es?
5. Why should visitors not feed the animals in the canyon (two
reasons)?
Sp-eaking
mDiscuss in pairs. What are the most-visited attractions in
your country (natural or man-made)? Are they being damaged
by tourism? Is anything being doneto preservethem?
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