083　the natural world

Worlds
River lake stream pool coast sea ocean waterfall cliff rocks mountain hill valley cave forest island peninsula mountain range desert sand dune peak plateau climate erosion

Phrases
Erode rocks
Change the landscape
Dominate the landscape
Be covered with
Compare with
Be made up of

Beginner
A: what are you doing?
B: I’m just looking at this map of the world. I’m preparing for a geography class.
A: there are no countries marked on the map.
B; no, there aren’t. this map just show the geographical features. Look at the Himalayan plateau with the highest peaks in the world.
A: the thing that I find most surprising is that most of the world is covered with water. Compared to the oceans, most countries are tiny.
B; I find it incredible how millions of years of volcanic activity have created mountains thousands of metres tall.
A; rivers have created deep valleys and canyons like the grand canyou.
B: the oceans and landscapes all influence our climate.
A; it’s all so interesting. I’ll have to find more information about it on the internet. or perhaps I should try and attend your geography class.

Intermediate
A: bout our countries are quite small. How would you describe the landscape in your country?
B: my country is well know for being very flat. There are some hills in the southeast of the country.
A: is it really completely flat?
B; pretty much. The land rises and falls only a few meters. The southeast, the hills rise to a height of a few hundred meters. There are mountains over 1000 meters high in your country.
A; yes, there are. They are not very big compared with the mountains in other countries.
B; the coast of your country is very varied. The coast of my country is just made up of sandy beaches.
A; that doesn’t sound too bad. Great for sunbathing! The coast of my country changes even within a few kilometers. There are cliffs, then sandy beaches. Then rocks. There are lots of caves in the cliffs. There are also many small islands off the coast, but few people lives on them.
B: there are many lakes and rivers in your country too. We also have many rivers, but only a few lakes.
A: we also have waterfalls in the mountains. They make the landscapes look very scenic. The landscape has been shapes by millions of years of erosion, especially by water.