To: 8A, 8C, 8D students
Read the following texts and study for the comparative and superlative test.
San Francisco Vs. London
Joanna
is an artist from San Francisco who moved to London in 1988. We asked her to
compare life in San
Francisco
and London. Here's what she told us.
A) The cities
San
Francisco is a lovely city in a beautiful bay. It's got lots of great buildings
and places. It's smaller and much more modern than London, but it's less
interesting. London has a lot more theatres and museums. The Americans are
usually more interested in money than culture! The architecture in London is
incredible and very stimulating, and the parks and markets are wonderful.
London isn't as dangerous as San Francisco, and it's less violent. I feel much
safer living here - nobody carries a gun, not even the police!
B) The cost of living
People
have a higher standard of living in the States because generally, it's much
less expensive than England. For example, petrol is less than half the price
and things like food, clothes, and cameras are much cheaper. It's a shopper's
paradise and I always spend a fortune when I go back! It's a bit more expensive
to rent a flat in London and my bills are much bigger tan they were in San
Francisco. So, although my salary in London is about the same as it was in the
States, I have to work harder to get the same quality of life as I had before.
C) Public transport
In
San Francisco you can walk everywhere because it's a small city. There's less
traffic than in London, and public transport is great. There are cablecars to
go up all the hills and electric buses which make the city much cleaner. Public
transport in London is terrible and really expensive. It takes
me
an hour to get to work and the journey is usually stressful. London's dirtier
too and much more polluted. The traffic is awful, because there are too many
cars and the streets are narrow. But English drivers aren't as aggressive as
American drivers!
D) The food
Food
in the States is generally much better. It's fresher, cheaper, and there's much
more choice. Restaurants aren't as expensive as in London and the service is
much better. In some restaurants they put a clock on the table when you arrive,
and if they haven't served your meal in five minutes, they'll give you the food
free! I'm usually disappointed when I eat out in London, although the Indian
restaurants are excellent.
Text 2:
African and Asian Elephants
There are many differences between Asian and African elephants. Both
types of elephant are members of the same taxonomical family, elephantidae, but
are of a different genus; elephas maximus (Asian elephants, Loxodonta
africana (African savanna elephants) and Loxodonta cyclotis (African
Forest Elephant).
Size
The African
elephant is significantly larger, with bulls growing up to 4m tall. The biggest
Asian males reach no more than 3.5m
Weight
Adult
African elephants weigh between 4,000-7,500kg. Asian males weigh between
3000-6,000kg.
Head Shape
African elephants
have fuller, more rounded heads. The top of the head is a single dome whereas
Asian elephants have a twin-domed head with an indent in the middle.
The lower lips of the two species also differ, being long and tapered in Asian
elephants and short and round in Africans.
Size of the
Ears
It is said
that you can tell where an elephant comes from by looking at the size of his
ears. African ears are like a map of Africa and Asian ears smaller like the
shape of India. African ears are much bigger and reach up and over the neck,
which does not occur in Asian elephants.
Skin
African
elephants' skin is more wrinkled
Ribs
In general,
African elephants have more ribs than the Asian species, though the number of
ribs varies in individual animals. African elephants have up to 21 pairs,
Asians up to 20.
Tusks
All African
elephants, male and female, have tusks - whereas only some male Asian elephants
have tusks. African tusks are generally bigger. About 50% of female Asian
elephants and a small percentage of males have small tusk like teeth known as
tushes.
Teeth
The lamella
profile along the top of the molar teeth of the two species is different with
ridges on Asian elephants' teeth being more tightly compressed.
The Trunk
The African
elephant’s trunk is visibly more heavily ringed and is not as hard as the Asian
trunk.
The trunk tip is a major difference between the species. The African trunk has
two distinct fingers which it uses to pick up and manipulate objects. The Asian
elephant has only one ‘finger’. The Asian compensates for this by holding
objects against the underside of the trunk and appears not to suffer from any
lack of maneuverability.
Toenails
Toenails in the two different species of African elephants vary. As they do
between the African and Asian elephants.
African forest elephant 5 nails on front feet
4 on the back
African savanna elephant 4 nails on front feet
3 on the back
Asian elephant 5
nails on front feet 4 on the back (rarely 5)
Diet
Although
both species of elephant eat a wide variety of plant matter, in general, the
Asian elephant’s diet is made up of a greater proportion of grass and the
African’s of leaves.
Text 3:
The nine planets of our Soler System
There are
nine planets in our Solar System. These planets circle around
the sun this is called orbits.
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. It orbits the Sun quickly,
once every 88 days. It rotates slowly, however, only once every 59 days.
Mercury is small, about 4850 kilometers (~3000 miles) in diameter. Because
Mercury is so close to the Sun, the side of its surface that faces the Sun is
very hot, ~700oK. The surface of Mercury is gray to orange in color, and is
covered with craters. Mercury is named for a mythical god who ran very fast.
Venus, the second planet away from the Sun, is Earth’s closest neighbor.
It is about the same size as the Earth, a little over 12,000 kilometers (7300
miles) in diameter. Venus has a very thick atmosphere, composed largely of
sulphuric acid and CO2. We could not breathe on Venus, because the atmosphere
would be very toxic to humans. This atmosphere gives Venus a brownish-yellow
color. It also traps heat (the greenhouse effect) making the surface of Venus
the hottest in the Solar System, about 750oK. Venus rotates very slowly, taking
243 days to complete one turn. It is named for the Roman goddess of love.
Earth is a little more than 12,000 kilometers in diameter. It
differs from the other planets because it has liquid water on its surface,
maintains life, and has active plate movement. It rotates on its axis every 24
hours (a day) and revolves around the Sun every 365 days (a year). The Earth
has one moon.
Mars is a little more than half the size of the Earth, having a
diameter of 6,790 kilometers. It takes Mars 687 days to revolve once around the
Sun. It rotates at about the same speed as the Earth, taking 24.6 hours. Mars
has a very thin atmosphere which is composed largely of CO2. Its surface is
very cold, and is covered with craters, volcanoes, and large canyons. Mars is
reddish in color. Mars has two small moons. It is named for the Roman god of
war.
Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, with a diameter of
142,980 kilometers, more than 11 times wider than the Earth. Jupiter orbits the
Sun once every 12 years. It rotates very fast, in only 10 hours. Its surface is
made up of gas (mostly hydrogen), so that if you landed on the surface you
would sink into it. Jupiter probably has a core of metallic hydrogen and rock,
although evidence for this is theoretical. The outer gaseous part of Jupiter is
broken into bands of white, yellow, red, and brown clouds. Huge oval-shaped
storms also occur on the surface. Jupiter has 63 known satellites (as of 2004)
including the four large Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Callisto, and
Ganymede) plus many more small ones some of which have not yet been named.
Jupiter is named for the Roman supreme god of heaven.
Saturn is well known for its system of three rings. It is a large
planet: at 120,536 kilometers it is only a little smaller than Jupiter. It
revolves around the Sun in 12 years, and rotates a little more than 10 hours.
Like Jupiter, Saturn is composed of mostly gas, and has a core composed of rock
and metallic hydrogen. The surface of Saturn looks banded, and has a
brown-yellow, butterscotch color. Saturn’s rings are probably composed of small
particles of ice and rock. Saturn has 47 moons (2004). It is named for the
Roman god of agriculture.
Uranus is 51,118 kilometers in diameter, about 4.4 times the size of
the Earth. It revolves around the Sun slowly, taking 84 years to complete one
orbit. It rotates in about 17 hours. It is covered by a thick layer of gas, and
has a fairly uniform blue-green color. Uranus has 21 named moons and six
unnamed ones and is surrounded by a system of nine rings. It is named for
another Roman god, the grandfather of Jupiter
Neptune is slightly smaller than Uranus, with a diameter of 49,500
kilometers. It circles the Sun once every 165 years, and rotates in 16 hours.
Its atmosphere appears blue, and is marked by large dark blue storm systems. It
is surrounded by a system of five rings and at least 13 moons. Neptune is named
for the Roman god of the ocean.
Pluto is the most distant planet from the Sun. It has an eccentric,
oval-shaped orbit, which is tilted with respect to the rest of the Solar
System. Pluto revolves around the Sun in 248 years, and rotates in a period of
6.4 days. Pluto is probably composed of rock. Its surface and color are
unknown. It has one large moon that is almost like a twin with 2 smaller
moons. Pluto is named for the Roman god of outer darkness.
Text 4:
Comparing three cities: Paris, Stockholm and Beijing
Paris
Paris is the capital of France, located on the River
Seine, in the north of the country. Paris has
a population of 9.93 million people in its urban area,
which occupies 1,200 square kilometres.
In fact, almost 20% of the country´s population live
within the metropolitan area of Paris. The
city is the main economic centre of the country too.
Over 30 million foreign tourists visit Paris every year.
The city has lots of interesting places to
visit, such as Notre Dame cathedral, the Louvre museum
and lots of nice outdoor cafés where
you can have delicious croissants and coffee.
It is a very old city. The Romans founded it and called
it Lutetia. But at the end of the Roman
empire, in the 5th century,
the city was renamed Paris.
Paris has a mild weather. The average lowest temperature
is –2ºC (minus 2 degrees Celsius)
in January and the highest average temperature is 24º C
in the months of July and August. It
can rain at any time in the year. The city´s average
yearly precipitation is 641.6 mm.
Beijing
Beijing is the capital of the People´s Republic of China
and is located in the north of the
country. It is a very old city, founded over 2,000 years
ago. It has 8.5 million inhabitants in its
urban area and it is China's second largest city in terms
of population, after Shanghai. It is also
one of the largest cities in the world. It has an area of
1,377 square kilometres.
The capital of China has a humid continental climate
influenced by the monsoon. The lowest
average temperature is –7ºC (minus 7 degrees Celsius) in January,
while the highest average
temperature is 26ºC and occurs in July. Summer is the
rainy season and the annual
precipitation is over 600 mm.
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, located by the lake
Mälaren on the east coast of the
country. It is a beautiful city with a very important
port. The city´s population is approximately
1.2 million and it has an area of 375.25 square
kilometres.
Stockholm has lots of museums, open spaces and palaces.
Probably the most important
cultural event of Stockholm is the annual ceremony of the
Nobel Awards. These are awarded
by the Nobel Foundation, created in 1900.
The city dates from the 13th century but it did not become the capital of the country
until the
16th
century.
Winters in Stockholm are quite cold, with temperatures as
low as –7ºC (minus 7 degrees
Celsius). However, summers are much warmer. The highest
temperature in July is 25ºC. The
annual precipitation is 539 mm.
Which city is the most interesting, modern, beautiful,
cold, hot, wet, big population…?
