Read the texts. Find the answers to the given questions

Why is the sea between Africa and Arabia called the Red Sea?

We all know from our maps that the Red Sea is the part of ocean between Africa and Arabia. At the top of it is the Suez Canal. But does any reader know why it is called red? After all its water is just like the water of any other sea – it doesn’t look like red ink. One of the answers is that much of the bottom of the sea, and much of the land around it is red sandstone. It also has red coral reefs and seaweed. Perhaps it looked red enough to the ancient Greeks and Romans, because it was known as the Red Sea even in those times.

How were the Victoria Falls discovered?

Have you ever seen a really big waterfall? At the Victoria Falls the blue Zambezi River, about two kilometres wide, falls down for over a hundred metres. These Falls were first discovered by an explorer called David Livingstone in 1855. He was trying to follow the Zambezi River to its mouth in a small boat when he came to the fall. At first he did not see the great waterfall from his boat. But the noise of the falling water made him stop at an island in the river and he was saved. He called it “Livingstone island”. Nowadays there is a road and a railway bridge across the river, but in those days it was very difficult even to walk near the fall because of the thick tropical jungle.

9.10 Read the dialogue and say what it is about. Read the dialogue once again and answer the following question:

What mountain turns out to be the highest one and how has it been proved?

A: I say, can you name the highest mountain in the world?

B: Certainly, it’s Mt. Everest. I’m sure every school-boy knows that.

A: Well, that’s not quite so. The thing is that if you measure from sea level, Everest – at 29,028 feet – still claims the prize. But if you measure from the centre of the earth, the highest point turns out to be the top of Mount Chimborazo.

B: Chimborazo? Where is that?

A: It’s an Andean peak in Ecuador. It lies just 2 degrees south of the equator. Since our planet is not a perfect sphere, it has a measurable bulge around the equator. Having used satellite data, it was calculated that the radius of the earth at this point plus the altitude of Chimborazo makes 20,946,233 feet between the summit and the earth’s centre whereas Everest sits at a comparatively low-lying latitude of 28 degrees north by 7,058 feet.