第13週 5-1 p.76

The earth has many different climates



Weather is a local area's short-term temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, and other physical conditions of the lower atmosphere over hours or days. Supplement 10 on pp.S43-S47 introduces you to weather basics.

天氣是一個地區短期的溫度.降雨量.濕氣.風速.雲層和其他物理狀態在幾個小時或幾天的低氣層內

Climate is an area's general pattern of atmospheric or weather conditions over long periods of time. As American writer and humorist Mark Twain once said,"Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get."

氣候是大氣或天氣長時間的狀態在一個地區一般的樣式，美國作家和幽默作家馬克吐溫曾說:氣候是我們所期望的；而天氣是我得到的。

Average temperature and average precipitation are the two main factors determining climate, along with the closely related factors of latitude(distance from the equator )and elevation (distance above sea level ). Solar radiation, the earth's rotation, global patterns of air and water movement, gases in the atmosphere, and the earth's surface features affect average temperature and precipitation and thus determine the climate of an area.

平均溫度和平均降雨量是兩個決定氣候的主要因素，與緯度.海拔有密切相關的因素。太陽輻射.地球自轉.空氣.水的流轉.大氣中的氣體和地球表面的特點影響平均溫度和平均降雨量因而決定一個地區的氣候。