英語播客 A Cup of English Hot, hot, hot

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You will probably get tired of me writing about how hot it is. Yes, yes, Wenatchee is always hot in the summer. However, this year, it has been exceptionally hot, like an oven. The past few weeks have each had several days of temperatures up to 106 degrees. You don't really see anyone around in the streets during the day, unless they are crazy....The early morning is wonderful, and late evening is very pleasant for a barbecue, a get together, or to do some gardening. I look out of my kitchen window during the day at my vegetable garden, longing to go over there and check things out, but there is no way that I can. When you walk in this kind of heat, you feel like you are cooking. My temperature gauge has been much busier than usual, going up into the hundreds during the day, and then back down at night. Mind you, even at nine and ten o'clock at night, recently, it has stayed about 90 degrees. Even with a breeze, the temperatures can be problematic. Because the hills are so dry this time of year, there is a great risk of fire. All it takes is a careless action of throwing a cigarette out of the window, or perhaps a fork lightning strike, and a hazardous fire is on our hands. The sky around Wenatchee has been hazy towards the North for a few days, which means that there is probably a sage brush fire or a forest fire somewhere close by. It is similar conditions to those of the Mediterranean where the fires are raging. It's a hot time, and full of danger.

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: a gauge, to rage, problematic, exceptionally.

Exs:

The temperature gauge on my car said that it was 120 degrees. I don't think that is accurate.

The bull went into a rage when he saw the red flag.

The situation is problematic. Not everyone will be happy about it.

That boy is exceptionally talented. He plays the piano like a master.

Advanced.

Don't you just long for shade in the middle of summer? I do. Am I a whimp? Should I be tougher and able to put up with the heat? But heat, I think, is almost more difficult to deal with than the cold. At least when it is cold, you can put lots of clothes on. When it is boiling hot and you are only wearing a bikini, there is nothing else you can take off! You have to escape and find air conditioning. And just pray that the electrical connection doesn't fail. I can't imagine what it is like at the moment in Greece where it is so, so hot, and where the fires are so many, and out of control. What can be done? What could be done? How could a government ensure that those kinds of disasters stop happening. In our area, we have fires during the summer most years. One thing that I have seen put in place are the fire barriers. They are long areas of land that have been cleared of trees and shrubs, and which divide planted or forested areas into sections. They are just like wide, dirt roads. The object is to contain a fire. The wide, empty, dirt length stops fires blowing over into more planted areas. It works, in a preventative way. Another preventative measure that is quite common and inexpensive, is to clear forest floors of dead wood, which is often extremely dry and burns quickly. I remember hearing the news last year about fires in Greece which were believed to have been started deliberately. There was a huge reward for information leading to the arrest of the arsonists. I hope they were caught. They should spend the rest of their lives planting trees.

Grammar notes.

Useful verbs: to long for, to spend (time/money), to put up with, to clear.

Exs:

I long for the cooler days. In a month they will be here.

We spent all morning together just walking and chatting. Then we went to the shops and spent all of our money.

I don't know how you put up with your neighbors. They are so noisy in the evenings!

The land was cleared of trees and bushes because an office building was going to be built there.