The weather in England is very changeable. A fine morning can change into a wet afternoon and evening. And a nasty morning can change in to a fine afternoon. That is why it is natural for the English to use the comparison "as changeable as the weather" of a person who often changes his mood or opinion about something. "Other countries have a climate; in England we have weather." This statement is often made by the English to describe the meteorological conditions of their country.
The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon or when it rains all day long.
The weather is the favourite conversational topic in England. When two Englishmen meet, their first words will be "How do you do?" or "How are you?" And after the reply "Very well, thank you; how are you?" the next remark is almost certain to be about the weather. When they go abroad the English often surprise people of other nationalities by this tendency to talk about the weather, a topic of conversation that other people do not find so interesting.
The best time of the year in England is spring (of course, it rains in spring too).
The two worst months in Britain are January and February. They are cold, damp and unpleasant. The best place in the world then is at home by the big fire.
Summer months are rather cold and there can be a lot of rainy days. So most people who look forward to summer holidays, plan to go abroad for the summer, to France or somewhere on the Continent.
The most unpleasant aspect of English weather is fog and smog. This is extremely bad in big cities and especially in London.
The fog spreads everywhere, it is in the streets and it creeps into the houses. Cars move along slowly, but still street accidents are frequent in the fog. People cannot see each other. They creep along the houses touching them with their hands not to lose their way or not to be run over by a car.
Vocabulary
changeable – изменчивый, неустойчивый
comparison – сравнение
mood – настроение
opinion – мнение
statement – утверждение
meteorological – метеорологический
remark – замечание
to go abroad – поехать за границу
nationality – национальность
tendency – тенденция
fire – камин
to look forward to – с нетерпением ждать
the Continent – континент (так англичане называют Европу)
aspect – аспект, сторона
smog (smoke+fog) – смог
extremely – чрезвычайно
spread ( spread,spread) – распространяться, расcтилать(ся)
to creep (crept, crept) – ползти, красться
accident – несчастный случай
frequent – частый
tо lose way – заблудиться
lo be run over by a car – попасть под машину