On climate and weather

There are many jokes about the English climate. One of them is that there is no climate in England, only weather. And it is true that there is no time of the year when we can really count on its being fine or rainy, warm or cold.

One of the most striking things about the British Isles is the rapidity with which the weather changes from day to day or even during the day.

The British Isles are situated in the temperature zone between the parallels on which Kyiv is situated. The cli­mate is mild and strong frosts are rare. Due to the mo­derating influences of the sea and of the Gulf Stream, the January temperature is higher and the July temperature is lower than in any other country of the same latitude. That is why the British ports are ice-free and the rivers are not frozen throughout the year.

It is hard to say that England has typical weather be­cause of the sudden changes that occur — showers from what was only a few hours before a clear blue sky; sunshine that makes you want to leave off most of your clothes followed by winds that set you wishing for two overcoats.

There is an abundance of rainfall in the west. As a result, there are thick fogs which last for days and weeks at a time during autumn and winter. The winter fogs of London are, indeed, awful. They surprass all imagination. In a fog the air is hardly fit for breathing.

The outstanding features of the climate of Britain are its humidity, mildness and variability.

16. Ask as many questions on the text as possible:

WEATHER FORECAST

Two men were travelling in a very wild part of America. One day they met an old Indian who was sitting near his tent. He was smoking. The Indian was a hunter and knew everything about the forest and the animals living in it and many other things. He could also speak English rather well.

"Can you tell us what weather will be like during next few days?" asked one of the travellers.

"Oh, yes", answered he. "Rain is coming and wind. Then there will be snow for one or two days, but then the sunshine will come again and the weather will be fine."

"These old Indians know more about world than we with all our knowledge of physics, mathematics and other sciences." "Tell me", asked he,"How do you know all that?"

The Indian answered: "I heard it over the radio".

17. Learn the poems by heart:

Thirty days have September,

April, June and November,

All the rest have thirty-one,

Excepting February alone,

And that has twenty-eight days clear

And twenty-nine each leap year.

THE WIND

Oh, I want to know:

What does the wind do?

Where does the wind go?

Mother, when it does not blow?

No one can tell me,

Nobody knows,

Where the wind came from,

Where the wind goes.

LESSON 8