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READING
1 What do these sayings mean? Do you have similar 2 Read the article quickly. Which of the sayings in
sayings in your language? exercise 1 are mentioned?
Red sky at night, sailors’s delight. When cows lie down, rain is on the way.
Clear moon, cold weather soon.
The wrong weather!
Will the weather be nice tomorrow? It’s an weather will continue. However, in cloudy
important question when you’re on holiday, weather, the groundhog will usually stay
especially for outdoor activities. These outside. This means that spring will be fine.
days, forecasts on TV or online give us Groundhog Day is fun, but is it a good
a quick answer. But what did people way to predict the weather? Probably not
do in the past? – the groundhogs often get it wrong!
Farmers often used animals to make However, some weather sayings are
predictions. According to tradition, often right. ‘Red sky at
when cows in a field lie down, there
will be heavy rain or a bad storm. Some night, sailors’s delight’
people say that cats clean their ears before is a good example. A red sky at sunset
it rains. On the other hand, if birds are flying means the air is dry in the west. The weather
high, sunny weather will continue. often moves from west to east, so this means that
The American tradition of Groundhog Day dry weather is on its way. But when the sky is red in the
predicts weather for the spring. Every year on 2 morning, this means that good weather is leaving and bad
nd
February, a lot of people wait to see a groundhog come weather will arrive soon.
out of its underground home. Tradition says that the Although modern forecasts use computer models for their
groundhog will go back into its home if it sees its predictions, they aren’t always right. When was the last
shadow on a sunny day. This means that cold winter time your local weather forecasters were wrong?
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