Zero-First Conditional

Read the text . Choose the correct alternative.

Australia is an island in the southern hemisphere – the smallest continent in the world, but the sixth largest country. It is a land of extremes, with temperatures ranging from about 40°C in the inland desert regions to below freezing in the southeast of the country. At the same time, the north of Australia – where there are tropical rainforests – can be very wet, although it is the second driest country in the world.

In recent years, the impact of global climate change seems to be causing more extreme weather conditions in Australia than ever before. For example, 2000 saw the country’s highest ever rainfall recorded and the summer of 2013 was hotter than any other on record.

What is worrying for Australia is that this extreme weather could get worse in the future. If temperatures continue to increase, there will be more droughts in the country. The worst drought on record lasted from 1995 to 2009, with less rainfall than ever in some regions. An overall rise in temperature will de­finitely result in more bush­fires too, due to very dry weather conditions. One of Australia’s worst bush­fires was in Victoria in 2009 and the devastation destroyed 2000 homes and killed 173 people.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation, tropical cyclone rainfall will increase by 20–30% in the future if global warming continues. Australia experiences a lot of cyclones in its northern tropical zone and Cyclone Yasi in 2011 was the most destructive to hit the country in nearly 100 years. An increase in precipitation during a cyclone is often severe enough to cause large-scale ‑ floods in the affected areas, and even a rise in sea level in extreme cases.

These recent climatic changes are causing concern and the Commonwealth Scienti­fic and Industrial Research Organisation thinks that extreme weather events are going to become more common than ever in Australia as they predict more bush­fires, droughts, heatwaves, rainfall and ‑ floods in the next decade.

1 Australia experiences both a dry and            [an island, a tropical] climate.

2 The country has had the highest               [temperatures, precipitation] on record in the last decade.

3 Hotter weather conditions will result in more bushfires and          [droughts, floods].

4 A cyclone is a tropical storm with a lot of rainfall and            [a heatwave, high winds].

5 These tropical storms can also lead to changes in                [global warming, sea level].

Read the text, look at the timeline and write the correct weather events.

Australia is an island in the southern hemisphere – the smallest continent in the world, but the sixth largest country. It is a land of extremes, with temperatures ranging from about 40°C in the inland desert regions to below freezing in the southeast of the country. At the same time, the north of Australia – where there are tropical rainforests – can be very wet, although it is the second driest country in the world.

In recent years, the impact of global climate change seems to be causing more extreme weather conditions in Australia than ever before. For example, 2000 saw the country’s highest ever rainfall recorded and the summer of 2013 was hotter than any other on record.

What is worrying for Australia is that this extreme weather could get worse in the future. If temperatures continue to increase, there will be more droughts in the country. The worst drought on record lasted from 1995 to 2009, with less rainfall than ever in some regions. An overall rise in temperature will de­finitely result in more bush­fires too, due to very dry weather conditions. One of Australia’s worst bush­fires was in Victoria in 2009 and the devastation destroyed 2000 homes and killed 173 people.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation, tropical cyclone rainfall will increase by 20–30% in the future if global warming continues. Australia experiences a lot of cyclones in its northern tropical zone and Cyclone Yasi in 2011 was the most destructive to hit the country in nearly 100 years. An increase in precipitation during a cyclone is often severe enough to cause large-scale ‑ floods in the affected areas, and even a rise in sea level in extreme cases.

These recent climatic changes are causing concern and the Commonwealth Scienti­fic and Industrial Research Organisation thinks that extreme weather events are going to become more common than ever in Australia as they predict more bush­fires, droughts, heatwaves, rainfall and ‑ floods in the next decade.

1995 the start of the worst         in Australia’s history

2000 more          than ever recorded

2009 a severe          enough to kill more than a hundred people

2011 a        as destructive as the one of 1918, which is the worst on record

2013 a          with temperatures hotter than ever before

Complete the zero conditional sentences with the correct form of the verbs in the box.

x2 be • cycle • happen • help • rain • x2 save • stay • switch off • use

1 If you            the television when you’re not watching it, you      energy.

2 A drought         if there    no rain for a long period of time.

3 You      a lot of water if you     less water in the shower.

4 If you       to work, you      the environment and you also      fit!

5 If it       heavily for a long time, there     floods.