Управление общего и профессионального образования

Муниципальное общеобразовательное учреждение

«Научное общество учащихся средней общеобразовательной школы № 7»

Секция: Английская филология

An Evergreen topic in British classical literature, children’s poems and everyday speech: patterns of climate in the British isles

Чайковский 2007

Introduction

The theme: “An evergreen topic in British classical literature, children’s poems and everyday speech: Patterns of climate in the British Isles”.

The topic of the weather is the most interesting and most often discussed topic in the British Isles because the weather is very changeable there. A fine morning can change into a wet afternoon and evening. And a nasty morning can change to a fine afternoon. That’s why it’s natural for the British to use the comparison as changeable as the weather “of a person who often changes his mood or opinion about something”. “Other countries have "climate, in Britain we have weather". This statement is often made by the British to describe the meteorological conditions of their country.

Many British authors describe British weather in their books and poems. And what’s more there are a lot of poems for children about seasons and weather.

The aim of our work is to present a short survey of the average weather conditions in the British Isles and to show how these conditions are reflected in British classical literature, in children’s poems and in everyday speech.

The goals are:

1) to describe the UK climate

2) to describe seasons and months and to show their descriptions in British literature and children’s poems

3) to present the British climate as a favourite topic of conversations

Hypothesis: we expect that the topic of the weather is the most interesting, most favourite and most often discussed topic in the British Isles. That’s why, many British authors describe British weather in their books and poems.

While working at the topic, we used different classical literature, textbooks, and children’s poems which helped us to describe the weather in different seasons, months and everyday speech.

The description of the UK climate and factors which influence the climate of Britain

The climate in the UK is generally mild and temperate due to the influence of the Gulf Stream.

In England the climate is mild, temperate, soft and damp thanks to the warmth of washing it seas. The average temperature is about 11˚C in the south and 9˚C in the north-east. The warmest month is July and the coldest is January. The average July temperature in London is about 11-17˚C, the average January temperature is about 3-7˚C. The north-eastern region is the coldest in England whereas the south-east and the Westland are the warmest. The average rainfall is 600-750 mm. The largest part falls from September till January. Fogs are frequent there.

The climate of Northern Ireland is mild and humid. In winter the waters of nearby sea influence the coastal regions. Inside the country there are rather low temperatures because of cold air downwards. The average temperature is about 10˚C. It’s about 14,5˚C in July and 4,5˚C in January. The Ireland is a little cloudier and wetter than England because of its hilly landscape. The quantity of rainfall in the north is more than 1016 mm a year, in the south it is about 760 mm a year.

Scotland is the coldest region in the UK, although the climate is rather mild. The average January temperature is about 3˚C, it often snows in the mountains in the north. The average July temperature is about 15˚C. The largest rainfall is on the west of the Highlands (about 3810 mm), less in some eastern regions (about 635 mm a year). Sometimes it rains more than 240 days a year.

The climate of Wales is as mild and humid as in England. The average January temperature is 5,5˚C. The average July temperature is about 15,5˚C. The coldest places are distant from the Sea Shore. The average rainfall is 762 mm in the central coastal region and more than 2540 mm near Snow don.

So, rainfall is more or less even throughout the year. Annual rainfall decreases from west to east and increases with height. The highest parts of Britain, where rain falls two days out of three, receive mote than 100 inches. In East Anglia, rain falls only one day out of three and evaporation often exceeds rainfall. Elsewhere in Britain, rain falls about one day out of two.

One can see the considerable contrasts of climate within the comparatively small area of Britain. They are partly due to the elongated shape of the country. The pronounced regional contrasts are also due to Britain’s position between a great land mass and a vast ocean.

The climate of the western part of Britain is maritime in character (humid and cloudy), while eastern and south-eastern England have certain of Europe’s climatic attributes, including biting cold, wind and snow showers in winter.

“The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere” (Robert Browing);

“In winter, when the dismal rain comes down in slanting lines, and wind, that grand old harper, smote his thunder-harp pf pines…” (Alexander Smith);

“The winter’s rains and ruins are over, and all the season of snows and sins; the days dividing lover and lover, the light that loses, the night that wins” (Algernon Charles Swinburne). ............