People in Britain talk a lot about the weather. The weather changes a lot in Britain.

People often think that Britain has got a wet climate（气候）. In fact, some parts of Britain are very dry and sunny. But some parts of Britain get a lot of rain. The west is the wettest part, because it is closer to the Atlantic Ocean（大西洋）. As clouds from the Atlantic Ocean move across the country, they drop most of their rain on the hills and mountains in the west.

In spring the weather starts to get warmer. The beginning of March is often very windy. April is famous for April showers. It rains, then it’s sunny and then it rains again.

The weather in summer is usually warm. The days are the longest in summer, and in the north of Scotland it never gets really dark.

Autumn usually starts with fine weather. Autumn is a very beautiful season, as the leaves turn yellow and red before they fall.

The weather in winter is usually cool and wet. It doesn’t snow a lot in Britain, so when it snows, it leads to travel problems. Roads, railways and airports are closed. Schools often close, too.

It’s December. The weather is snowy and really cold in the north of China. You can see many children playing with snow. Some of them are making snowmen. Some are skating on the river, because it’s so cold that the water in the river freezes (结冰). It’s a white world. How beautiful! But in Australia now, the weather is hot. Many people go swimming in the sea. They are having a good time. Jim and his friends are playing soccer near the sea. The sunny weather is really cool to them. They want to swim after playing soccer.

Why are they swimming in December? It is winter, isn’t it? Yes, it is in China. But it isn’t in Australia. That’s because we, Chinese and Australians , have different seasons (季节) in a year.

It’s wintertime. In China, November, December, January and February are winter months. They include six solar terms (节气): lidong (Beginning of Winter), xiaoxue (Minor Snow), daxue (Major Snow), dongzhi (Winter Solstice), xiaohan (Minor Cold) and dahan (Major Cold).

Winter begins at lidong (Nov 7-8), after which most parts of the country can start to expect (预示) cold weather. On this day, after a year of hard work, people are happy to take a break and spend some time with family. The northern part of China celebrates lidong as the “Small Spring Festival”. People have dumplings and mutton (羊肉) soup.

Xiaoxue (Nov 22-23) and daxue (Dec 6-8) come after lidong. During xiaoxue, northern China can expect snow and temperature to slowly fall below 0℃. Daxue means even more snow and bigger temperature drops.

When dongzhi (Dec 21-23) comes, it brings the shortest day of the year and the longest night. Many places around the country can expect the coldest weather yet. Chinese people often start counting “nine cold periods” from dongzhi. Every cold period has nine days. They believe that after 81 cold days, spring will arrive.

Xiaohan (Jan 4-6) usually brings the lowest temperatures of the year. There may be high winds and sleet (雨雪).

Finally, during dahan (Jan 19-21), the sleety weather fills the fields with snow. All Chinese are ready to welcome Chinese New Year after dahan. Spring Festival, China’s most important festival, falls at this time. After that, a new round of solar terms will start.