新西兰英语 398 Strange weather

　　Yesterday, some parts of New Zealand east coast had very hot temperatures. This was caused by cyclone¹ Yasi which hit Queensland a few days earlier. It brought very hot weather for the east coast in New Zealand. The east coast of the North and South Islands had temperatures in the 30s. Timaru in the South Island reached 40 degrees at one point.
However, today the maximum temperature for Timaru was only 15 degrees. The wind turned to the south bringing rain and cool temperatures.
The north-west wind is also called a nor’wester or nor’westerly. It picks up water from the Tasman Sea on the west of New Zealand, drops the rain on the west coast and the Southern Alps², and arrives on the east coast as a hot, dry wind.
Often a nor’wester is followed by a southerly, bringing cold temperatures and rain. This seems strange weather but it is not unusual. Our weather in New Zealand can vary³ a lot – hot one day and cool the next. However, 40 degrees is a very unusual temperature for New Zealand.
Questions
1. People sometimes joke that New Zealand has four seasons in one day. Does your country have changeable⁴ weather?
2. Can you see why we put the apostrophe in nor’wester?
3. What is the continent to the south of New Zealand where some of our winter weather comes from?

1 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

2 Alps   

n.[the-]阿尔卑斯山脉(欧洲)

参考例句：

• I'm going skating in the Alps next month.下个月我去阿尔卑斯山滑雪。
• The river springs in the Alps.这条河发源于阿尔卑斯山脉。

3 vary   

vi.变化，有不同；vt.改变，使不同

参考例句：

• Cherries vary in colour from almost black to yellow.樱桃的颜色由近乎黑到黄各不相同。
• Old people don't like to vary their habits.老年人不喜欢改变他们的习惯。

4 changeable   

adj.易变的，变化无常的

参考例句：

• The weather here is quite changeable.这儿的天气变化无常。
• He has a changeable character.他性格多变。