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| Words in the News
Wednesday 14 August 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Global weather problems
Summary: Natural changes in the climate are probably to blame for the unusual weather conditions in many parts of the world, according to climatologists. In recent days there have been floods in Central Europe, parts of Russia, the Philippines, India and China. But the exact cause is leading to much debate amongst scientists. This report from Ania Lichtarowicz:
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| | The News | |
| | | The weather effect known as El Niño occurs every few years and causes warming of the Pacific Ocean near South America. It can have severe, often detrimental, effects on rainfall. Some scientists are blaming this particular climate phenomenon for the currentfreak weather conditions around the world.
However others say that El Niño hasn't properly started yet and only affects the Southern Hemisphere - so there is no way it can explain the heavy rains in Europe.
Another theory is that the Asian Brown Haze which has been recently reported may be affecting weather over countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But again the brown cloud has been around for many years - its presence being highlighted in the media following a report by the United Nations Environment Program - so it can't be blamed for what is happening now.
It's not unusual for monsoon rains to be delayed, and flooding in Europe is also not uncommon. Only a few years ago the River Oder on the Polish-German border caused huge amounts of devastation.
Dr David Viner from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain says that natural variability in the weather is probably to blame but human influence can't be ruled out.
Ania Lichtarowicz, BBC
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| | The Words
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| | | detrimental
damaging or harmful
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| | | climate phenomenon
an event caused by the weather
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| | | current
something that is happening or being done at the present time
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| | | freak weather conditions
unusual weather
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| | | Southern Hemisphere
the southern half of the world
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| | | Asian Brown Haze
a brown cloud affecting Asia
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| | | highlighted
brought to attention
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| | | huge amounts
a large quantity
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| | | natural variability
changes caused by nature
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| | | can't be ruled out
may be possible
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