The English Weather 'Other countries have a climate in England we have weather'. This statement, often 'made by Englishmen to describe the strange weather conditions of their country, is both revealing and true. It is revealing because in it we see the Englishman insisting once again that what happens in England is not the same as what happens elsewhere its truth can be proved by any foreigner who stays in the country for longer than a few days. In no country other than England, it has been said, can one experience four seasons in the course of a single day! Day may break as a warm spring morning an hour or so later black clouds may have appeared from nowhere and the rain may be pouring down. At midday it may be really winter with the temperature down by about eight degrees or more centigrade (摄氏度). And then, in the late afternoon the sky will clear, the sun will begin to shine, and for an hour or two before darkness falls, it will be summer. In England one can experience almost every kind of. weather except the most extreme. (Some foreigners seem to be under the impression that for ten months' of the year the country is covered by a dense blanket of fog this is not true.) The problem is that we never can be sure when the different types of weather will occur. Not only do we get several different sorts of weather in one day, but we may very well get a spell (持续的一段时间) of winter in summer and a spell of summer in winter. The uncertainty about the weather has had a definite effect upon the Englishman's character it tends to make him cautious (小心谨慎的), for example. The foreigner may laugh when he sees the Englishman setting forth on a brilliantly sunny morning wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella, but he may well regret his laughter later in the day! And, of course, the weather's variety provides a constant topic of conversation. Even the most taciturn (沉默寡言的) of Englishmen is always prepared to discuss the weather. And, though he sometimes complains bitterly of it, he would not, even if he could, exchange it for the more predictable climate of other lands. 'Other countries have a climate in England we have weather'. This statement suggests that