Pre-Reading Questions.

Look at the picture 2.1-2.8 and answer these questions.

1. What are the advantages of living in the countryside? Give
me 4 examples please.
Suggested answer :Fresh air, less traffic, open space, less
noise.
Reading Passage
Now read the passage below. You can look up the meaning
of the words in bold in the Vocabulary Study Section that
follows.

3.1 What is the weather forecast ?

weather the temperature and other conditions such as
sun, rain, and wind.
forecast to make a statement saying what is likely to
happen in the future, based on the
information that you have now
What is the difference between weather and climate?
Weather describes conditions in the atmosphere at any
time or short period of time. Weather conditions can change
suddenly. Today may be warm and sunny, tomorrow may be
cool and cloudy. Weather conditions include rain, snow,
sleet, hail, fog, mist, sunshine, wind, temperature and
thunderstorms.
Climate describes surface and atmospheric conditions
over a longer time period or over a large geographical area.
The climate of an area is concerned with the average weather
conditions which are taken over a year or more. Climate
changes slowly, usually over decades, centuries and
thousands of years.
The effect of weather on our lives.
The weather affects us in many different ways. For
example, it affects our moods, what we wear, our leisure
activities and our mode of travel. Weather conditions can be
recorded over a period of time and at the same time the
effects the weather has on factors such as our mood can also
be noted.
Weather forecasting.
The observations are fed into the computer and used to
analyse the weather patterns at a particular time. Once the
analysis has been carried out, the computer produces a
forecast of the weather for specified times in the future. The
forecaster uses the output from the computer to produce
weather forecasts that are tailored to a wide range of
customers.
 3.2 Observations
The many data sources used include ships, aircraft, oil
rigs, buoys and balloons, as well as manned land stations
around the world. Automation often assists or replaces the
human observer and can provide information from
inhospitable and remote areas. Information from remote-
sensing equipment, both on the ground and in space,
increasingly supplements and complements the conventional
systems.
Surface observations
Traditionally, meteorologists have relied upon
observations taken near the Earth's surface using instruments
(e.g. barometers, thermometers, anemometers and rain gauges)
and visual observations (e.g. cloud and weather type). These
surface observations are made at approved sites on land, and
from ships at sea.
Standard types of instruments are used, with observations
usually made at least every three hours, and in many cases
hourly. Over land in the UK there are 33 key observing
stations which are needed to define the broad-scale weather
patterns. They are manned by professional meteorologists,
with 12 making observations every hour, both day and night.
For weather observations at sea, the Met Office is indebted to
the crews of 400 vessels of the UK Voluntary Observing
Fleet and to observers on about 30 offshore drilling
platforms. This is part of a much larger scheme officially
involving around 6,500 ships from 53 nations, although the
real number is closer to 3,500 ships.

Upper-air observations
Important sources of upper-air information are the
balloon-borne instruments (known as radiosondes) which
provide information about the pressure, temperature and
humidity through the atmosphere. The radiosondes can reach a
height of over 20 km (66,000 feet); they are released twice a
day at the same time (midday and midnight UTC) all over the
world.
Within the global network, the Met Office maintains six
sites in the UK. Two of these are fully manned while the
remaining four sites are equipped with autosondes, which are
released remotely. There are also Met Office radiosonde sites
in Gibraltar, St Helena and the Falkland Islands. Near the
UK, there is one fully manned site in the Irish Republic and a
variety of different sites in continental Europe. A type of
radar known as a Doppler radar is used to measure the winds
vertically through the atmosphere. When displayed over a
period of type, these Windprofiler data show the vertical
profile of wind above the site and how it changes with time.
A system for measuring the amount of water vapour in the
atmosphere is being developed, which is known as the
Ground-based GPS Network. This uses information from
Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and about 150 stations are
envisaged.
 Vocabulary Study
temperatu a measure of how hot or cold a อุณหภูมิ

re place or thing is
condition the situation in which people เงื่อนไข สภาพ

live or work, especially the

physical things that affect the
quality of their lives
atmospher the mixture of gases that บรรยากาศ

e surrounds the Earth

sleet half-frozen rain that falls when แผ่นน้ ้ าแข็งบนพื้น
ดินที่เกิดจากน้ ้ าฝน
it is very cold แข็งตัว
hail frozen rain drops which fall as ลูกเห็บ

hard balls of ice

climate the typical weather conditions in อากาศตามฤดูกาล
a particular area
average the average amount is the อัตราเฉลี่ย
 amount you get when you add
together several quantities and
divide this by the total number
of quantities
analyse to examine or think about วิเคราะห์

something carefully, in order to

understand it
data information or facts ข้อมูล

buoy an object that floats on the sea, ทุ่นลอยน้ ้ า

a lake etc to mark a safe or

dangerous area
suppleme something that you add to ส่วนเสริม

nt something else to improve it or

make it complete
instrumen something or someone that is เครื่องมือ อุปกรณ์

t used to get a particular result

scheme an official plan that is intended แผนผัง แบบแผน

to help people in some way, for

example by providing education
or training
maintain to make something continue in บ้ารุง รักษาไว้

the same way or at the same

 standard as before:
vertical pointing up in a line that forms ซึ่งตัง้ ฉากกับแนว
ราบของขอบฟ้ า
an angle of 90° with a flat
surface
vapour a mass of very small drops of a กลายเป็ นไอ
liquid which float in the air, for
example because the liquid has
been heated:
radar a piece of equipment that uses อุปกรณ์ตรวจจับวัตถุ
ที่อยู่ไกลโดยใช้วิธีส่ง
radio waves to find the position วิทยุคลื่นสัน
้
of things and watch their
movement

Recalling Information
1.Based from the first paragraph the countryside is one of
most important ………..of the country?
Suggested answer : Treasure.