It’s hardly surprising that weather is a favorite topic for so many people around the world. It________ where we choose to live, what we wear, our moods, and perhaps even our national features. A sunny day can lessen the deepest ________, while very bad weather can destroy homes and threaten lives.

The human race has always tried to ________ the weather, especially in areas of the world where there are many changes. Two popular traditional ways of predicting weather use pine cones(松果) and seaweed(海草). When the air has a high level of humidity(湿度), there is a higher chance of rain. When the humidity is low, there is more chance of ________ weather. Pine cones and seaweed feels dry when the humidity is low, while high humidity has the ________ effect.

Today’s methods of prediction increasingly depend on ________. Satellites, balloons, ships, aircraft and weather centers with ________ equipment send data to computers. The data is then   ________, and the weather is predicted. However, ________ this system can not predict weather for longer than about a week.

A recent study by an Australian scientist suggests that certain people may have a special   ________ for predicting weather. However, it is possible that these people could use their talent in another way, since the same group had a lot of ________ in predicting changes in another system—the stock market.

It ________ that a study of weather may also enable scientists to predict the sudden ________ of a disease. An Ebola epidemic (a kind of disease) in Uganda in the year 2000 came after the same rare ________ conditions that had been present before a sudden spread of the disease 6 years earlier.________, efforts to limit the spread of air-borne diseases such as foot and mouth are also strongly dependent on favorable wind conditions.

Throughout history, many lives have been lost at the hands of severe weather. Meteorologists (气象学家) and scientists alike are always investigating new ways to increase the warning time for storms, with the hope of reducing the ______ of lives. In the past few decades, local weather radar advancements have been made, which allow for better accuracy in ______ the paths of storms.

Meteorologists and scientists have been able to successfully track severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes by using an advanced tracking system called NEXRAD (Next-Generation Radar). NEXRAD is a tracking network ______ 158 Doppler weather radars. And during a storm this high-resolution computerized ______ takes readings on the amount of precipitation (降水) in the air, the movements in the clouds, and the wind speeds.

These ______ are bounced back to a local weather computer, and a colorful image appears on the screen, giving meteorologists a clear picture of what kind of weather is on the horizon. This final image is what you see when the meteorologist breaks in with severe weather reports and warnings. ______, on your television screen you will see a computer animated image of the approaching storm.

If the storm is severe enough, then the National Weather Service (NWS) will ______ severe weather reports of severe thunderstorm warnings for your area. ______, the storm captured on the radar will have produced strong readable winds, detectable lightning, and some hail (冰雹). Paying attention to the weather map is ______ when severe weather is around.

On the television screen you will see several colors on the precipitation map, ______ from blue (the lightest) to black (the heaviest). If the colors for your ______ area are yellow, take caution. If the colors range between orange and red, take cover immediately, as damaging winds and dangerous lightning have been reported.

When local weather radar in Atlanta, Georgia reported high winds, ______ wind patterns and large hail earlier this year, the National Weather Service issued a tornado ______. Meteorologists in the area used the collected data to predict what path the storm would take, ______ which areas needed to be warned.

Thanks to this technology, most residents received the severe weather reports early enough to seek ______ before the storm hit. Paying attention to your local weather source during severe weather plays a vital role in your safety.

I lived closely related to the weather. It is surprising how you_______it when you live in the wilderness. Not a cloud passed_______, not a wind blew untested (不被检视). When the winds changed and the air_______like snow, I would stay in my tree house, because I had gotten lost in a_______one afternoon. That day the storm was so strong that I could not push against that.

However, that_______me to stay home when the air said "snow." Not that I was afraid of being_______far from home in a storm, for I could find food and shelter and make a fire anywhere,_______I had become as attached to my tree house as a hatching (孵蛋的) bird to her nest. Caught out in the storms and bad weather, I had an urgent_______to return to my tree house, even as the deer to their bushes : We all had our little_______in the wilderness. We all fought to return there.

When you don't have a newspaper or radio to give you the__________forecast, watch the birds and animals. They can__________when a storm is coming. When the nuthatch (五子雀) holed up, I__________up, lit my light, and sat by my fire learning new tunes on my reed whistle. I was now really into the__________of winter, and quite attracted by its__________. There is no such thing as a still winter night. Not only are many animals__________around in the freezing cold, but the trees cry out and branches break and fall, and the wind gets caught in a valley and screams until it dies.