No man can change the weather. Nobody can control the weather. But if we read the signs correctly we can tell what the more important changes in the weather will be. This way of telling what the weather will be like on the following day or two is called weather forecasting. People who do this are not making the weather. They are merely using their knowledge of the weather today, to tell us what the weather may be like tomorrow.
People for many centuries and in all countries have studied the weather and tried to make weather forecasts.
Sometimes distant objects such as hills and tall trees seem to be very clear and near. This is a sign of much water-vapor in the air, and therefore rain will probably come. When distant sounds are very clearly heard, then wet and stormy weather is on the way. Rings round the sun are a sign of coming rain.
Many people feel in their bones the coming of wet weather. Their joints ache. Some birds fly high if fine weather is coming, but they fly very near the ground if rainy weather or a storm is on the way. This is probably because the insects, which they are hunting, then fly low.
If the stars twinkle clearly at night, then fair weather will continue. If a mist appears in the early morning, just about sunrise, then the day will be warm. If the sunset is mostly red in color, then the following day will be fine.
Most of the above sayings have been made up by people who have used their eyes and their brains to forecast the weather. Some of the popular beliefs about the weather, however, are quite untrue. For example, many people say they can forecast the weather by looking at the moon. The state of the moon has nothing to do with the weather. The weather may happen to change with changes in the moon, but that is only chance.
Many people think they can tell what the weather is going to be like. But they hardly ever agree with each other. One man may say, "Do you see how cloudy it is in the east? It's going to have fine weather tomorrow." Another man will say, "Yes, it's cloudy in the east. We 're going to have fine weather tomorrow."
People often look for the weather they want. When a farmer needs water, he looks for something to tell him it's going to rain; he won't believe anything else. When friends have a picnic, they are so sure the weather is going to clear up quickly that they sit eating their lunch while it rains.
Almost everyone listens to what the weatherman says. But he doesn't always tell us what we want, and once in a while he makes a mistake. Still, he probably comes closer to being correct than anyone else.
Some men spend their whole lives trying to forecast the weather. Such people collect exact information about the weather from all parts of the world. Each place sends its information at certain times each day to a central office where the weather information from all these places can be examined. The information received is put on to a map of the world, called a weather chart.
As scientists discover more and more about the weather in every part of the world, and satellites and computers are used to gather and analyze weather data, weather forecasting will become more and more certain. And we are quite certain sooner or later we will be able to change the weather !
36. People who tell us what weather will be like on the following day or two can .

A. make the weather we like
B. hardly control the weather
C. know when to plant
D. do something about the weather

37. When distant sounds are very clearly heard we will .
A. wave rainy days
B. see swallows flying high
C. perhaps see a rainbow
D. have fine days

38. What is not mentioned in the text ?
A. The weatherman can read weather signs.
B. People often look for the weather they want.
C. In many places people are collecting weather data.
D. Weathermen will make mistakes in their weather forecasting.

39. A weather chart is a map .
A. showing what kind of weather we are going to have
B. drawn by the weatherman
C. marked with weather data
D. sent to the radio and TV stations

40. To control the weather .
A. we need more computers and satellites
B. we still have a long, long way to go
C. we have to send a lot of people to collect information
D. we should be more certain about weather forecasting

上一页4567下一页