WEATHER

WEATHER
What is the weather going to be like? This question is really several questions in one. It means: will the sky be cloudy or clear? Will it rain or snow? How warm or cold will it be? How much moisture will there be in the air? From what direction will the wind come? Will the wind be gentle or strong?
Rain, snow, hail, sleet, frost, and dew are all parts of the weather. So are cold spells, heat waves, clouds, breezes, gales, thunderstorms, and hurricanes.
In some parts of the world the weather stays very much the same day after day. In other places it changes often. A summer day that starts out bright and sunny may end with a thunderstorm. In the same way, a cold and cloudy winter morning may be followed by a clear and springlike afternoon.
In places where the weather changes often, everyone is interested in it. But not everyone wants the same kind of weather. A farmer may want a rainy day because his crops need rain. His neighbour may want a sunny day because it is time for him to harvest. Some people may be glad to see a heavy snowstorm because they want to go skiing. Others may not like the snow at all because it blocks the roads and makes travelling hard. Not everyone is happy when there is a week of warm, sunny weather in early spring: some people know that the snow is melting so fast that rivers will flood.
Even if a person does not mind heat or cold or rain or snow, the weather is important to him. Bad weather may ruin crops so that food will cost more. It may cause forest fires, flood homes and so on. The weather affects the lives of all of us in a great many ways.
Once Mark Twain said: "Everyone talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it". Today this saying is not altogether true.
We have learned to make the "weather" inside our houses anything we want it to be. We can make the air warmer, or we can cool it. We can put more moisture in it if it is too dry. Or, if it is too damp, we can take some of the moisture out of it. We can turn on lights if it is dark and cloudy out of doors. And by simply turning the switch of an electric fan we can start a pleasant breeze blowing.
Even out of doors we have begun to experiment with changing the weather. We can make fogs disappear from aeroplane landing fields and we can cause rain. But we probably still have to take the weather as it comes.
Usually the weather depends upon the season. The season is characterized by a distinctive temperature, rainfall, vegetation and the like, which occur at different times in different regions and is determined by the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun.

moisture ['mɔɪsʧ(ə)] 1) вогкість, вологість
hail [heɪl] град
sleet [sliːt] сніг (крупа) з дощем; сльота
frost [frɒst] мороз
dew [djuː] роса
breeze [briːz] легкий вітерець, бриз
gale [geɪl] сильний вітер; шторм; буря
thunderstorm ['θʌndəstɔːm] гроза
lightning ['laɪtnɪŋ] блискавка
hurricane ['hʌrɪkən] ураган
crop [krɒp] урожай
harvest ['hɑːvɪst] врожай; збирати врожай
block the roads [blɒk ðə rəudz] блокувати дороги
neighbour ['neɪbə] сусід
flood [flʌd] повінь; виходити з берегів
damp [dæmp] вогкість, вологість
landing field ['lændɪŋˌfiːld] посадковий майданчик; аеродром
distinctive [dɪs'tɪŋktɪv] відмінний, характерний
rainfall ['reɪnfɔːl] 1) злива 2) кількість опадів
vegetation [ˌveʤɪ'teɪʃ(ə)n] рослинність
occur [ə'kɜː] траплятися; відбуватися
determine [dɪ'tɜːmɪn] визначати