1 . On a hot summer day, you find the pond (池塘) has almost dried up. Where did the water go? It goes into the air! Each drop of water is made of tiny droplets (小水滴). When the sun warms them, they rise and become part of the air. However, do you know how rain is formed?

High in the sky, the air is cooler. As the water in the air cools, it changes back into droplets. They get together to make clouds.

In the clouds, many, many droplets get together and grow bigger. When they are heavy enough, they fall from the sky as raindrops, or—if it’s very cold—snowflakes (雪花)! The water we have on Earth now has been moving and changing forever!

Rain falls almost everywhere on Earth. One of the world’s rainiest places is Mount Waialeale in Hawaii. It rains about 350 days a year there. One of the driest places on Earth is the Atacama Desert in Chile. It has not rained in some part of this desert in hundreds of years.

2 . London is a beautiful city. It is very large. The Thames River runs ______ the city from west to east. So the city has ______ parts: the South and the North. In the North, there are important buildings, shops, big parks and interesting places.

The ______ in London is good. In winter it is not very cold and in summer it is not very hot ______ the city is near the sea. People say London is a foggy (有雾的) city and it often rains. It is true.

Last year, when I ______ in London, I met one of the ______ fogs in years. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Cars and buses moved along with their lights on. When evening came, the weather got ______. The fog was as thick as milk. ______ the buses and cars stopped. I had to ______ an important meeting on the other side of the town, but I couldn’t find a car. I had to get there ______.

Wintertime is c    1    . According to the Chinese lunar calendar, November, December, January and F    2     are winter months. They include six solar terms (节气): lidong (beginning of winter), xiaoxue (light snow), daxue (heavy snow), dongzhi (winter solstice), xiaohan (lesser cold) and dahan (greater cold).

Winter b    3     at lidong (Nov 7-8), after it, most parts of the country can start to expect (盼望) cold weather. On this day, after a year of hard work, people are happy to take a break and s    4     some time with family. Chinese in the north celebrate lidong as the "Small Spring Festival' People have dumplings and eat mutton (羊肉) soup.

Xiaoxue (Nov 22-23) and daxue (Dec 6-8) come after lidong. During xiaoxue, northern China can expect snow and t    5     slowly falls below 0℃. Daxue means even more snow and much colder days.

When dongzhi (Dec 21-23) comes, it brings the s    6     days of the year and the longest nights. Many places around the country can expect the coldest weather. Ancient (古代的) Chinese would often start counting “nine cold periods” (数九寒天) starting from dongzhi. E    7     cold period has nine days. They believed that after 81 cold days, spring would a    8    . Xiaohan (Jan 4-6) usually brings the coldest weather of the year. There may be strong winds.

F    9    , during dahan (Jan 19-21), the weather fills the fields with snow. All Chinese are ready to welcome the Chinese New Year after dahan. Spring Festival, C    10     most important festival, falls at this time. After that, a new round of solar terms will start.

5 . Cold air swept across the north part of China in the first week of November. At the same time, a global (全球的) meeting on climate (气候) change was held in Scotland. There, leaders around the world tried to control global warming.

Why are we experiencing such a cold winter on a warming planet? The cold winter and global warming, two opposite facts, are not contradictory.

Because of the warming climate, the temperature in winter in China has risen by 0. 41° C every ten years since 1961. But in some places, it has also been pretty low.

Global warming has changed Earth’s air circulation (循环) and the weather. For example, in October, La Nina affected (影响) China. It was caused by strong winds from the Pacific Ocean. ________.

Another reason for the cold weather is the warming Arctic (北极) . It is warming almost three times as fast as any other places on Earth.

Will the winter be much colder? It’s reported that a cold winter is likely. Northern China will probably see more snow, and southern China will see less rain.

A．

B．

C．

D．

6 . In England, people often talk about the weather because they can experience (经历) four seasons (季节) in one day. In the morning, the weather is warm just like in spring. An hour later, black clouds come and then it rains hard. The weather gets a little cold. In the late afternoon the sky will be sunny, the sun will begin to shine, and it will be summer at this time of a day. In England, people can also have summer in winter, or have winter in summer. So in winter they can swim sometimes, and in summer sometimes they should take warm clothes.

When you go to England, you will see that some English people usually take an umbrella (伞) or a raincoat with them in the sunny morning, but you should not laugh at them. If you don’t take an umbrella or a raincoat, you will regret (后悔) later in the day.

8 . Four children were late for school because a terrible storm (暴风雨) came this morning.

Does it snow where you live? In many places, it     1     every winter. Snow can be fun,     2     it can also make things harder.

Snow brings us much fun. Some children are usually excited when they see snowflakes (雪花)     3     down from the sky. They love winter just because they can make snowmen. A lot of people love to go sledding (滑雪橇) on     4     days. Some people also choose to go skiing. All of     5     are very popular outdoor activities in winter.

However, snow makes some things harder. It is not easy to walk in deep snow. It is hard to see things     6     when it snows. People need to drive slowly and carefully if they don’t want to hit anything in front of their cars. Sometimes it snows a lot. Too much snow might be very     7    . Heavy snow can break tree branches (树枝). Sometimes snow can destroy roofs if     8     is too much snow on the roof, it may break easily.

People can do many things to help themselves keep safe on snowy days.     9     example, they can sweep     10     snow on snowy days. After all, nobody wants to slip (滑倒) and fall.