Учебное пособие по темам "SEASONS AND WEATHER" и "TIME". Волошина Г.Н - 36 стр.

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Part II. The British Climate
1. Text A
The climate of Britain is more or less the same as that of the north-western
part of the European mainland. The popular belief
that it rains all the time in
Britain is simply not true. The image of a wet, foggy land was created two thou-
sand years ago by the invading Romans and has been perpetuated
in modern
times by Hollywood.
The amount of rain that falls on a town in Britain depends on where it is.
Generally speaking, the further west you go, the more rain you get. The mild
winters mean that snow is a regular feature of the higher areas only. Occasion-
ally, a whole winter goes by in lowerlying parts without any snow at all. The
winters are in general a bit colder in the east of the country than they are in the
west, while in summer, the south is slightly warmer and sunnier than in the
north.
Why has Britain’s climate got such a bad reputation? Perhaps it is for the
same reason that British people always seem to be talking about the weather.
This is its changeability. 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. It may not rain very much altogether, but you can never be sure of a dry
day; there can be cool (even cold) days in July and quite warm days in January.
When two Englishmen meet, their first words will be “How do you do?” or
“How are you?” and after the reply “Very well, thank you. How are you?” the
next remark is almost certain to be about the weather. It is almost a formality,
like shaking hands. “Yes, it’s wonderful weather we are having. I hope it will
keep fine, it seems almost too good to last long”, or “How do you do? A bit
parky, isn’t it?” Parky means cold, and it is only used when talking about the
weather. Other typical comments on
the weather are, “What is the weather like
down your way?” or “What time did the rain get to your part of the world?”
Then there are people who pretend they know exactly what the weather will
do next. That sort of person is always convinced that it will get worse.
English people are apt to complain of
the British climate as being damp and
rainy, and foreigners laugh at it and say that the English summer is made up of
three fine days and a thunderstorm.
The British Isles which are surrounded by the ocean have an insular climate.
The three things that chiefly determine the climate of England are: (1) the posi-
tion of the island in the temperature belt; (2) the fact that the prevailing winds
blow from the west and south-west; (3) the warm current - the Gulf Stream that
flows from the Gulf of Mexico, along the western shores of England.
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