Language Cake/Топики на английском

Suddenly a snowy mound wiggles and reveals two dark eyes. The lump is transformed into the furry white body of a lone arctic fox. They live on the land and sea ice within the Arctic Circle. Winter in the Arctic is unlike winter in most parts of the world. From October to February, the sun never rises to shine warmth and light.Luckily, these small foxes have some useful adaptations for living in the icy Arctic. Their thick fur coat keeps the fox’s body at a toasty 104°F.When it’s not trying to keep warm or avoid predators, an arctic fox is on the hunt for food. They prefer to eat small rodents called lemmings, but when times are tough they’ll eat whatever they can find: insects, berries, and even the droppings of other animals. Sometimes an arctic fox will follow a polar bear on a hunting trip and eat the bear’s leftovers.mound - насыпьlump - комокarctic fox - песецwarmth - теплоadaptation - адаптацияpredators - хищникиrodents - грызуныdroppings - пометleftovers - остатки#intermediate

Black Friday is an informal name used to describe the day after Thanksgiving. It's often the busiest shopping day of the year because it kicks off the holiday season. This day can be crucial for the economy, especially for certain retailers.The term "Black Friday" has its roots in the middle of the 20th century. Police in Philadelphia initially used the term "Black Friday" to refer to heavy, disruptive traffic on the day after Thanksgiving.The term spread and businesses latched onto it. It worked well for retail businesses that depended on holiday shopping to put their finances "in the black" (earning profit) rather than "in the red" (operating at a loss).Thanksgiving - День Благодаренияcrucial - ключевойretailers - розничные торговцыinitially - изначальноdisruptive - разрушительныйspread - распространятьearning profit - получение прибылиoperating at a loss - работает в убыток#intermediate

Hawaii is the world’s largest island chain, and it’s the only U.S. state completely made up of islands. But only 7 of its 132 islands are inhabited.The Hawaiian Islands are volcanic islands. They have formed as the Earth’s crust, made up of giant rocky slabs called tectonic plates, moves over a particularly hot spot in the molten layer beneath the crust. Though Hawaii has thousands of plants and animals, it has only one native land mammal: the Hawaiian hoary bat. Hawaii’s other mammals, including the mongoose, rat, and feral pig, were brought to the islands by humans.Hawaii’s rich soil is considered one of its most important natural resources. Sugarcane, pineapples, coffee, macadamia nuts, and flowers are all important sources of income for the state’s economy. Tourism is the state’s leading source of income.island chain - цепь острововinhabited - обитаемыйcrust - кораslabs - плитыmolten - расплавленный mammal - млекопитающееferal pig - дикая свиньяsugarcane - сахарный тростник#intermediate

Television is really a three-part invention: the TV camera that turns a picture and sound into a signal; the TV transmitter that sends the signal through the air; and the TV receiver (the TV set in your home) that captures the signal and turns it back into picture and sound. When TV was first developed, all it could handle was black-and-white pictures; engineers struggled to figure out how to cope with color as well, which was a much more complex problem. Now the science of light tells us that any color can be made by combining a mixture of the three primary colors, red, green, and blue. So the secret of making color TV was to develop cameras that could capture separate red, green, and blue signals, transmission systems that could beam color signals through the air, and TV sets that could turn them back into a moving, multicolored image.transmitter - передатчик receiver - получательcapture - захватыватьstruggle - прилагать усилия, боротьсяcombining - комбинирование beam - передавать#elementary

Whatever kind of man you are, whether you have a full-grown beard or are shaven clean, you know how important it is to have a good razor.Cartridge razors are often seen as an essential part of men’s shaving kits. They are available in a wide range of blade counts. They even come with soothing aloe strips to protect your skin from irritation.Each package of heads may be disposed of according to your preferences. This makes them very convenient for traveling business travelers, making them the most popular type of razor.Pros:Cartridges are changed as needed. Each cartridge provides three to four shaves.In addition to being safe to use, they take only ten minutes to do a good shave.Cons:The blade gets stuck in the hair follicles as it goes through the beard, so it takes multiple passes to shave cross-sections of stubble, leading to irritation and ingrown hairs.razor - бритваkit - комплектsoothing - смягчающийirritation - раздражениеpreferences - предпочтенияblade - лезвие#advanced

Cactuses, or cacti, are desert plants. They grow in dry places where other plants have trouble living. Their ability to store water keeps them alive. Cacti are also protected by sharp spines, or needles. These discourage animals from eating them.Cacti are known for their pointy spines. These grow in different patterns on the plant’s surface. Some cacti also have flowers and branches. Most do not have leaves. If a cactus has leaves, they are very small and fall off as the plant grows.Cacti are often grown for decoration. Many unusual and beautiful varieties are prized as houseplants. In South America cacti are sometimes used as fences. Arizona has adopted the saguaro as its state flower.Some types of cacti are also grown for food. The egg-shaped fruit of the saguaro can be eaten. People also eat the fruit of the prickly pear.trouble living - проблемы с проживаниемstore - хранитьspines - шипыdiscourage - обескуражитьhouseplants - комнатные растенияfences - заборыprickly pear - опунция#elementary

Since the beginning of civilization, humans have needed to maximize the usefulness of water resources and minimize destruction from floods and drought. To this end, dams have been used for millennia, providing storage for drinking water and irrigation, flood control, and open water for navigation and recreation as well as improving water quality and generating electricity. While dams are essential components of our infrastructure systems, they also present potential hazards. The mass and potential energy of the water impounded by a dam can be devastatingly destructive if the dam were to fail and the water were to be released uncontrolled. When properly constructed, designed, and maintained, dams pose a very low risk of failure. Poor design, neglect, and catastrophic natural events such as massive rainstorms or earthquakes can cause dams to fail. destruction - разрушениеmillennia - тысячелетияirrigation - орошениеhazards - опасностиdevastatingly - разрушительноneglect - пренебрегать#advanced

Over 200 years ago, when locomotives were first being developed, people worried their speed would make passengers “unable to breath” or that “they would be shaken unconscious by the vibrations.”Clearly, trains have changed dramatically since they first took to the rails. Like any other mode of transportation, trains, as we know them today, have been centuries in the making!Today, it’s relatively simple to purchase a train ticket and travel freely—depending on what part of the world you’re in.Railways existed as early as 1550, in Germany. These pathways of wooden rails called “wagonways” were the beginning of modern rail transport, making it easier for horse-drawn wagons or carts to move along dirt roads.By the late 1700s, iron replaced the wooden rails and wheels as wagonways evolved into “tramways” and became popular throughout Europe. unable - не в состоянииunconscious - без сознанияdramatically - резко, сильноrelatively - относительноpathways - путиcart - тележка#elementary

A map is a symbolic representation of selected characteristics of a place, usually drawn on a flat surface. Maps present information about the world in a simple, visual way. They teach about the world by showing sizes and shapes of countries, locations of features, and distances between places. Maps can show distributions of things over Earth, such as settlement patterns. They can show exact locations of houses and streets in a city neighborhood.Mapmakers, called cartographers, create maps for many different purposes. Vacationers use road maps to plot routes for their trips. Meteorologists—scientists who study weather—use weather maps to prepare forecasts. City planners decide where to put hospitals and parks with the help of maps that show land features and how the land is currently being used.representation - представлениеfeatures - особенностиdistributions - распределенияsettlement patterns - схемы расселенияvacationers - отдыхающие to plot routes - для построения маршрутов #intermediate

Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way you respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to your overall well-being.Stress can sometimes be mistaken for anxiety, and experiencing a great deal of stress can contribute to feelings of anxiety. Experiencing anxiety can make it more difficult to cope with stress and may contribute to other health issues, including increased depression, susceptibility to illness, and digestive problems.Stress and anxiety contribute to nervousness, poor sleep, high blood pressure, muscle tension, and excess worry. In most cases, stress is caused by external events, while anxiety is caused by your internal reaction to stress. Stress may go away once the threat or the situation resolves, whereas anxiety may persist even after the original stressor is gone.anxiety - беспокойствоcontribute - способствоватьsusceptibility - восприимчивостьdigestive - пищеварительныйnervousness - нервозностьmuscle tension - мышечное напряжениеresolve - решать#advanced