You may think you cannot live through summer without air conditioners. But in ancient China, hand fans were almost the only help for people to drive the heat away.

Chinese people started to use hand fans over 2,000 years ago. The fans came in different shapes, such as round and square. They were also made from all kinds of materials. Palm leaf (棕榈叶) fans were cheap and easy to make. Feather fans showed the owner’s high status (地位). Sandalwood (檀香) fans could send out sweet smell.

Later, hand fans became far more than just something that could cool you down. They developed into artworks, in which Tuanshan (round fans) and Zheshan (folded fans) were the most common.

In the shape of a full moon, Tuanshan was usually made of silk. They had beautiful birds and flowers on them. Women, especially those in the imperial palace (皇宫), liked to use them. Poets in ancient China often compared a woman’s abandoned fate (被抛弃的命运) to tuanshan. Nalan Xingde wrote during the Qing Dynasty, “if only life were as beautiful as when we first met, why should the autumn wind bother to pity deserted painted fans?”

However, men, especially the literati (文人), used Zheshan or folded fans. The literati liked them because Zheshan were usually made of paper and they could paint and write poems on them. It was a way for them to show off their talents in literature, painting and calligraphy (书法). Almost anything can be painted on Zheshan, but the most popular ones usually featured landscapes (以风景画为特色).

Today, Chinese people still use these fans, only not many write or paint on them anymore. So the next time you use a fan, you may think of the stories behind it.

In Britain, winter is not very cold and summer is not very hot. There is not a great difference between summer and winter. 【小题1】

Britain has a mild (温和的) winter and cool summer because it is an island (岛) country. In winter the sea (海洋) is warmer than the land (陆地). The winds from the sea bring warm air to Britain. 【小题2】 The wind from the sea bring cool air to Britain.

The west winds blow over Britain. They are wet (潮湿的) winds. They bring rain to Britain. 【小题3】 The west of Britain is wetter than the east. The winds must blow over the highland (高地) in the west. They drop more rain there. The east (东) of Britain is drier than the west.

The four seasons are all three months long. Winter is in December, January and February. Spring is in March, April and May. 【小题4】 Autumn is September, October and November.

Now satellites are helping to forecast (预报) the weather. They are in space, and they can reach any part of the world. The satellites take pictures of the atmosphere (大气), because this is where the weather forms. They send these pictures to the weather stations. So meteorologists (气象学家) can see the weather of any part of the world. From the pictures, the scientists can often say how the weather will change.

Today, nearly five hundred weather stations in sixty countries receive satellite pictures. When they receive new pictures, the meteorologists compare them with earlier ones. Perhaps they may find that the clouds have changed during the last few hours. This may mean that the weather on the ground may soon change, too. In their next weather forecast, the meteorologists can say this.

So the weather satellites are a great help to the meteorologists. Before satellites were invented, the scientists could forecast the weather for about 24 or 48 hours. Now they can make good forecasts for three or five days. Soon, perhaps, they may be able to forecast the weather for a week or more ahead (提前).