Ex. 5a – Parts I and II.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 521.

Ex. 4a

Part II

Going on a voyage is one of the ways to experience the awesome beauty of the Arctic and see its fauna.

While you are in the waters around Spitsbergen, meeting whales is always a big plus. There are few words that describe the graceful beauty of these peaceful creatures as they skim the surface of the Barents Sea.

Bird Cliffs can be 100m high and run several km. They are home to about 60, 000 guillemots ['gɪlɪmɒts]. Packed tightly together on narrow rocks across these cliffs, the guillemots occupy virtually every niche [ni:ʃ, nɪtʃ].

Of the 20 to 25,000 polar bears in the world, about 5,000 live in Svalbard.

Typically loners, these massive creatures walk the land, the ice and cold water of the North hunting mostly for seals.

In 2008, the polar bear was classified as a Threatened Species under the Endangered Species Act. This decision was largely influenced by climate change – their habitat continues to disappear as temperatures continue to rise. Seeing these extraordinary creatures, which can weigh up to 770 kg, is alone worth voyaging the Arctic.

There is another endangered species – the walrus. This giant lives on selected beaches around Spitsbergen. Weighing up to 2,000 kg, this animal spends most of its time in the water, diving for mollusks ['mɒləsks] and other marine organisms.

By the middle of the 20th century people had killed almost all the walruses, that's why this species was given a protected status here in 1952. Since then its Svalbard ['svɑːlbɑː] population has risen slowly. Nowadays about 2,000 individuals live in Svalbard.

Besides, there are a lot of reindeer, artic foxes, seals and birds. I'd like to see this wonderful place again!

[1] Especially [ɪˈspeʃ(ə)li] – особенно