· 31 lists · 1550 words

Nature and science

From the bird at the window to the glacier and the quantum.

What holds these lists together

These lists run from the environment pages of a newspaper to the specialist lecture, and they share a trait: the technical words are almost all built from Greek or Latin, as in English, and so look easier than they are. That helps in reading and trips you up in speaking, because the stress falls elsewhere. English stresses «oxygen» and «hydrogen» on the first syllable; Spanish stresses oxígeno and hidrógeno on the second, and the written accent says so. Then there are words that mean something else in everyday use: el medio here is the surroundings a creature lives in, as in medio ambiente, and not the middle.

The 31 lists

B1The environment and the climateSorting, saving, using up — and beyond the weather.50 words C1AstronomyOrbits, brightnesses, distances — and the words that state them.50 words C1GeologyRock, layering, faulting, time — reading a landscape as a sequence.50 words C1Identifying birdsPlumage, flight, voice, migration — the marks that name a bird.50 words C1Forest and timberStand, tending, felling, sawn timber — a crop counted in decades.50 words C1Mapping and surveyingScale, contour, projection, parcel — from the pole in the field to the print.50 words C2Pure mathematicsSet, map, structure, theorem — the language mathematics is written in.50 words C2Quantum physicsState, superposition, measurement, entanglement — the terms the theory is described in.50 words C2CosmologyExpansion, background radiation, dark matter — how the universe as a whole is described.50 words C2Molecular geneticsGenome, transcription, regulation, mutation — how a sequence becomes a trait.50 words C2ThermodynamicsState variables, cycles and entropy — the language of a science about limits.50 words C2Organic chemistryFunctional groups, stereochemistry and mechanisms — how to talk about molecules nobody ever sees.50 words C2BiochemistryProteins, enzymes and pathways — the chemistry that happens in water at body temperature.50 words C2Climate scienceForcing, feedbacks, models and scenarios — the words the climate system is studied in.50 words C2OceanographyLayers, currents, the sea floor and life in the deep — the words of the science of the sea.50 words C2Evolutionary biologySelection, drift, speciation and relatedness — the language in which descent is studied.50 words C2Theoretical ecologyPopulations, niches, food webs and stability — the words in which ecosystems are studied.50 words C2GeomorphologyWeathering, erosion, transport and deposition — the processes that shaped a landscape.50 words C2BotanyStructure, reproduction, physiology and identification — the language in which a plant species is described.50 words C2Soil scienceStructure, chemistry, water and fertility of the soil — one layer nobody can manufacture.50 words C2HydrologyRainfall, runoff, groundwater and floods — how water in a landscape is measured and reckoned.50 words C2SilvicultureStands, regeneration, harvest and protection — the vocabulary of a trade that reckons in centuries.50 words C2Weather, preciselyEverything that lies between sun and rain.50 words C2BiotechnologyFrom the gene through the bioreactor to the product.50 words C2SeismologyFrom the break in the depths to the crack in the wall.50 words C2Wildlife managementCounting the animals, setting the quota, and the paperwork that follows.50 words C2VolcanologyWhat the magma is made of, what the mountain then does, and how it is watched.50 words C2PalaeontologyWhat the rock kept, how it is dug out, and what may be concluded from it.50 words C2MycologyThe parts of a fungus, how one is identified, and where the danger lies.50 words C2EntomologyHow an insect is built, how it develops, and how it is counted.50 words C2GlaciologyHow ice is made, how it moves, and how its loss is measured.50 words

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.

Level	Words	Share
B1	50	3 %
C1	250	16 %
C2	1250	81 %

Practise this category

Multiple choice and gaps, across all 31 lists and all 1550 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.