Episode 245

EPISODE 245
LEVEL A1.2/A2.1

READING COMPREHENSION

 

WEATHER FORECAST

The weather has never been so strange at this time of the year. The east of Poland will be overcast ( = cloudy) during most of the day, with temperatures reaching 15 degrees centigrade ( = the maximum temperature will be 15 degrees centigrade). It will be slightly colder ( = a bit colder) in the west of Poland, but no rain is expected ( = meteorologists think there will be no rain) throughout ( = during) the day. The north of Poland will have some fog patches ( = areas of fog), especially in the morning. High winds ( = strong winds) and showers ( = short periods of rain) are expected in the south of Poland.

 

More contexts for the new words:

• North-east Poland will stay overcast for most of the week.
(= North-east Poland will be cloudy for most of the week)
• The weather this week will be rather changeable .
(= the weather will change a lot)

 

EXERCISE 1
Complete the missing letters in the words.

1. It will be sunny t _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ t the day.
2. Tomorrow will be s _ _ _ _ _ _ y warmer than today – about one or two degrees.
3. There will be lots of fog p _ _ _ _ _ s, so drivers should be careful.
4. It wasn’t raining all the time, but there were a few s _ _ _ _ _ s.
5. We couldn’t see the sun, because the sky was o _ _ _ _ _ _ t the whole day.
6. H _ _ h winds are expected in the east.
7. Egypt is very hot at this time of year, with temperatures r _ _ _ _ _ _ g 50 degrees Celsius.
8. It will be cloudy, but luckily no rain is e _ _ _ _ _ _ d.

 

EXERCISE 2
Use the words from the text to answer the questions.

1. What’s the weather like today?
2. What was the weather like yesterday?
3. What is the weather forecast for tomorrow?

 

ENGLISH IN USE

 

So today Present Perfect again! This time we look at a sentence with „never”.

The weather has never been so strange.

This is a negative sentence, because of „never”. „Never” makes it negative.

Some more examples to look at:

I have never been to Scotland.
He has never drunk real English tea.
They have never seen this film before.

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

A/ Hi Sue, I hope I’m not disturbing.
B/ Oh no, just the opposite. You’ve just BRIGHTENED UP MY DAY!

If you brighten up someone’s day or life, you make them feel happier.

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

1. If an outside activity is RAINED OFF, it cannot start or continue because it is raining.

On our camping trip, we were rained off most days and couldn’t do much serious walking.
His hockey match was rained off.

 

2. If you’re snowed in, you’re unable to leave a place because there is too much snow.

We were snowed in for two days before we could go out.
People living on the hill were snowed in for a week.

 

EXERCISE 3

Match the sentence halves.

1. When I saw how happy Jill was,                                a. most of the children were snowed in.
2. The concert was supposed to start at 6 pm,            b. it brightened up my day.
3. School was cancelled because                                    c. but unfortunately it was rained off.

 

 

NEWS

 

WEATHER CELEBRITIES

Five people were seriously injured during yesterday’s autograph session of Tomasz Zubilewicz, the celebrity weather forecast presenter. The fans, most of whom were young women, wanted to get Mr Zubilewicz’s autograph so badly that they were almost ready to kill each other! What is the secret of the celebrity’s success? It is probably his natural charm that makes him so popular among women. When interviewed, he is very modest. He says he first became interested in weather as a child, and has wanted to be a presenter ever since. And it appears his dream has come true.

 

 

GLOSSARY
– injured – hurt
– charm – attractiveness
– ever since – from that time

 

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