随身英语
Lovely Day Today... 有150年历史的气象预报
英语学习点: Weather Forecasting 天气预报
Starting with the lines "General weather probable in the next two days," a short piece in The Times newspaper of London in 1861 started forecasting as we know it today.
It was put together by Robert FitzRoy, a captain in the Royal Navy and a pioneer in the field of meteorology, who led the department which later became the Met Office.
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In the 150 years since then, the unreliable art has gone through many different styles, but one thing has remained constant: ridicule for weathermen when they get it wrong. Poor FitzRoy became the butt of jokes when his predictions were incorrect and his daily forecasts soon stopped.
However, by popular demand, they returned a few years later. The first BBC radio weather bulletin was in 1922 but it wasn't until 1949 that forecasts made it onto TV.
Unlike modern weather forecasts with high-tech graphics and chroma key technology, the presenter used just a map and a pencil to show what the weather would be doing tomorrow.
It goes without saying that weather forecasting is far more important than simply letting people know whether to take waterproofs and an umbrella out with them. Early-warning systems which predict extreme weather such as hurricanes and cyclones have saved countless lives.
Come rain or shine, weather forecasts will probably be here for at least another 150 years. After all, what would the British talk about without them?
Glossary 词汇表 (收听发音, 请单击英语单词)
- forecasting 预报
- meteorology 气象学
- Met Office 气象局
- weathermen 气象预报员
- bulletin 简报
- high-tech graphics 高技术图像
- chroma key technology 色键技术
- waterproofs 防水的
- early-warning systems 早期预告系统
- hurricanes 飓风
- cyclones 旋风/飓风
- come rain or shine 不论下雨还是晴天