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The Paradox of a Warming Earth with Colder Winters
地球暖化 vs. 異常寒冬(上)
空中英語教室 20241227
修正英文文法，保留中文部分，同時將簡體中文修改為繁體中文
Hello friends, and welcome to Studio Classroom! We’re so glad you joined us for our lesson today.
My name is Ann Marie, and my name is John. Friends, today is a good day to learn something new.
It certainly is, so let’s do that together. It’s also a good day to start off with a question.
Friends, here’s the question for you:
Do you prefer hot or cold weather?
Do I prefer hot or cold weather?
I definitely enjoy hot weather. If it’s too hot, though, it’s not always fun.
But when the weather is really, really cold, you just can’t escape it. You have to put on warm clothes, or you’ll freeze.
That was true. Hmm, I definitely like warm weather better.
I think it’s because I grew up in the Midwest in the United States.
I believe you did as well, too, John, and the winters there are so harsh.
There’s a lot of snow and a lot of ice.
And while snow can be fun for a few days, I get tired of it very, very quickly.
Yeah, me too. Maybe you’re from a warm place and you’ve never experienced snow for a long time, but when the weather is really, really freezing, even waking up in the morning can be painful.
You just want to stay in bed.
But there is a good side to both warm and cold weather. However, what happens when the weather changes dramatically? That’s what we’ll find out today.
That’s right! Our article today is called The Paradox of a Warming Earth with Colder Winters.
What an interesting topic!
Let’s get right into our first reading for the day.
The Paradox of a Warming Earth with Colder Winters
Over the past few years, areas in East Asia, North America, and Northern Europe have been colder than normal during some periods of winter.
This has left many debating whether Earth is experiencing global warming or not. But scientists have shown that Earth’s warming trends are responsible.
Hi everyone! Welcome to Language Lab. I’m Jack.
首先，來看名詞 paradox，意思是悖論、自相矛盾的情況，或是吊詭。
我們來看幾個例句：
The paradox of thrift suggests that while saving money is good for an individual, if everyone saves excessively, it can harm the economy.
節儉的矛盾之處在於，雖然省錢對個人是好的，但如果每個人都過度儲蓄，則會對經濟造成損害。
It’s a paradox that the more we know, the more we realize how much we don’t know.
吊詭的事，我們知道的越多，就越意識到自己還有很多不知道的。
The paradox of her situation was that she felt warmly in a room full of people.
她的情況非常矛盾，在滿屋子都是人的房間裡，她卻感到孤獨。
OK, friends, well, as you saw in the Language Lab, there is a big word in our title today: paradox. We’re going to talk a little bit more about that word before we move on.
A paradox is when there are two things happening at the same time that seem like they are opposites.
Remember para means next to each other, right? Like parallel.
So, a paradox is like two things that seem to be opposite. And these two things here are cold and warm. If something is hot and cold at the same time, it can seem like a paradox.
But we get this little expression about hot and cold, right, in our header for you guys reading the magazine.
That’s right! The cold and the warm of it.
So, we often use this phrase with something in the middle, like half or long and short—the half of it or the long and short of it.
That’s right! Sometimes we add two things next to each other, like we say the good and the bad of it when we’re talking about a new subject.
For example, if you say the good and the bad of it at the new school was that I learned a lot, but my books were really heavy.
As you’re comparing two things in a topic, in the blank and blank of it.
Here’s another example: You could tell a story because someone was asking for an explanation.
And at the end of the story, you could say, Well, that’s the long and short of it.
That means you said everything that you needed to say in that story.
OK, we’re moving on here, talking about this paradox of a warming Earth and colder winters.
Over the past few years, areas in East Asia, North America, and Northern Europe have been colder than normal during some periods of winter.
So, this is where the paradox comes in, right?
We hear so much about global warming—how the Earth is getting warmer.
But what is happening in North America, East Asia, and Europe? Well, they are experiencing colder winters than normal.
So, people are debating.
We read this has left many debating whether Earth is experiencing global warming or not.
So, people are starting to use this phrase climate change instead of global warming because it’s not just about things getting warmer.
But we read scientists have shown that Earth’s warming trends are responsible for colder winters.
How? I’m not sure, but we are going to find out, friends!
Let’s go to our next reading right now.
The Paradox of a Warming Earth with Colder Winters
When people in the Northern Hemisphere hear North Pole or Arctic region, they automatically think of the hemisphere’s northernmost area, the home of extremely cold weather during late fall and winter.
During this time, very little, if any, sunlight reaches the Arctic’s stratosphere, one layer of Earth’s atmosphere that exists 6 to 20 km above Earth’s surface.
To balance the temperature difference with that of the warm equatorial region, an area of low pressure called the polar vortex forms and flows in a complete circle around the pole.
This occurs inside the stratosphere, about 10 km above the Earth’s surface.
接下來，看 hemisphere 這個名詞，意思是半球。
例如：
Earth is divided into the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere by the equator.
地球被赤道分為北半球和南半球。
The Southern Hemisphere seasons are opposite to those in the Northern Hemisphere, with summer starting in December.
南半球的季節與北半球相反，夏季是從12月開始。
The Western Hemisphere includes the Americas, while the Eastern Hemisphere comprises Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
西半球包括美洲，東半球則包括歐洲、非洲、亞洲和澳洲。
再來看 polar 這個形容詞，意思是兩極的或是極地的。
例如：
During the polar winter, some areas experience continuous darkness for several months.
在極地的冬天，有些地區會經歷長達數個月的持續黑暗。
Scientists study polar climates to understand more about Earth’s changing environment.
科學家們研究極地氣候，以便進一步了解地球不斷變化的環境。
The polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate due to global warming.
由於全球暖化，極地冰蓋正在以驚人的速度融化。
Alright, friends, let’s move on here. We see, when people in the Northern Hemisphere hear North Pole or Arctic region, they automatically think of the hemisphere’s northernmost area.
OK, so we see a term here—the Northern Hemisphere. Where is that, John?
OK, well, first of all, like a hemisphere is one half of a sphere or like a ball. We’re almost always using this word when talking about the Earth, right?
And the Northern Hemisphere is the top of our little planet, right? The top half.
You know, top is kind of relative, actually, but it’s the north half of our sphere.
That’s right! And we also see this terminology, they automatically think of something.
We use this in English to say that there’s a strong association with something. When people think of this, they also almost automatically think of this.
That’s right! So if you say Northern Hemisphere, people will almost automatically think of the home of extremely cold weather during late fall and winter.
And yeah, that’s true, because when I think of wintertime in the Northern Hemisphere, I do associate it with cold and snow.
We read, During this time, very little, if any, sunlight reaches the Arctic’s stratosphere.
OK, stratosphere, a tough word, right? It means the layer of the Earth’s atmosphere above the troposphere, which is the bottom layer. The atmosphere, or the air, around our planet.
So, the bottom layer is called the troposphere,
and the next layer is called the stratosphere,
the really high sky.
So, this is just talking about things in terms of scientific terms,
here, friends.
So, this is a word that you might need to know
if you’re studying weather
or if you’re studying something else like that.
So, we read here: one layer of Earth’s atmosphere
that exists six to 20 km above Earth’s surface.
So, there is the measure of distance for you, friends.
To balance the temperature difference with that of the warm
equatorial region,
an area of low pressure,
called the polar vortex, forms and flows in a complete circle
around the pole.
There is a lot in this sentence, friend,
so let’s break it down. First of all,
we’re talking about the equatorial region now.
John, this is just the area around the equator, right?
Absolutely. The equator is the middle band around the Earth,
right? That divides the northern and southern hemispheres.
We call that the equator.
What happens with all the cold air on top
and the warm air in the middle? Well,
something is formed.
We read, to balance that difference, an area of low pressure
called the polar vortex forms and flows in a complete circle
around the pole.
The pole is the top or the bottom
end—the North and South poles, right?
There’s this word polar that we learned a little bit about,
and that means concerning the North and South poles, right?
That’s right. So, this occurs inside the stratosphere,
so that area between 6 and 20 km above the Earth’s surface
and about 10 km above the Earth’s surface.
So, this is occurring at a very specific spot
in the Earth’s atmosphere.
That’s right. Really quick,
that word vortex is going to be a key one to know.
A vortex is a whirling mass of fluid or air normally.
Something like a whirlpool or a whirlwind is called a vortex, so
what happens with this Arctic polar vortex?
We’ll find out after today’s InfoCloud.
Hello, friends.
Welcome to InfoCloud.
Hey Garrett,
I heard you saying that Steve is on thin ice with his boss.
What does that mean?
Hey Rex,
on thin ice means being in a risky situation,
where one wrong move could lead to trouble
or serious consequences.
So, it’s like being on a frozen lake that isn’t frozen enough.
That’s right. If you are standing on ice
that isn’t thick enough,
you could fall through the ice
and end up in a very dangerous situation.
So, we can say this anytime someone is in a situation
where they can easily get into trouble if they’re not careful.
Sure. If a student has been late to class several times,
the teacher might warn them that they’re on thin ice, meaning
if they’re late again,
they could face detention or worse.
Okay, so another example
could be an employee who has made several mistakes at work.
The employee is on thin ice,
because they could lose their job
if they make another mistake. Remember,
if you’re on thin ice,
it’s best to tread carefully to avoid making things worse.
on thin ice 如履薄冰 當你跟另外一個人的關係很緊張，你可以用今天分享的用語 on thin ice來形容你的處境。
on thin ice 就是站在薄薄的一層冰上面，隨時有可能發生危險。
on thin ice 基本上就是如履薄冰。
當一個人是 on thin ice，他就需要繃緊神經，以免傷害到自己。
Steve is on thin ice with his boss.
Steve跟他的老闆現在關係非常緊張。
在這種情況下，Steve就必須非常注意自己的言行舉止，以免被老闆開除。
這就是今天的 InfoCloud。我們下次雲端見。
The paradox of a warming Earth with colder winters: While this belt of strong winds is usually stable
and able to keep the cold air
contained, it can
be disrupted by the loss of sea
ice due to global warming.
This results in surface temperature changes
which make them less stable. If this happens, the polar vortex
may shift, slipping off the North Pole and moving south,
or it can split into two
or three rings that form in multiple places far
south of the pole.
最後來看動詞 disrupt，意思是擾亂，
比如：a severe storm disrupted flights, leading to numerous delays and changes at the airport.
一場嚴重的風暴擾亂了航班，導致機場許多航班延誤和變更。
或是：The protests that went on across the city disrupted traffic and public transportation.
在全市發生的抗議活動，擾亂了交通和大眾運輸。
名詞 disruption 也是指擾亂，
譬如：The severe weather caused a major disruption in public transportation and left many people with no way to get to their destinations.
惡劣的天氣導致大眾運輸嚴重中斷，許多人無法到達目的地。
All right, thank you so much, Jack,
and thank you, friends, for bearing with us
as we talk about this very scientific article.
This is a reminder we’re English teachers; we are not scientists,
so if we say something
that’s not exactly correct,
go ahead and call us out.
We’re just teaching you how to use these words in English.
So, let’s look at some of these words in the next section.
While this belt of strong winds is usually stable
and able to keep the cold air contained,
it can be disrupted. We’re going to pause there
and talk about a few of the terms in this sentence.
First of all, we see this word belt, a belt of strong winds. Now,
you can think about this
just as you think of a belt that you put around your pants.
It goes all the way around,
and it’s kind of in a strip, right?
So, there’s this belt of strong winds,
so it’s occurring in a very specific location,
and it’s able to keep the cold air contained.
Let’s talk about that for a minute, yeah.
To keep something contained means to trap it in
or to keep something controlled, right?
So, this really cold air
and the really hot air makes that pretty strong belt.
But what happens
if the air on top gets a little too warm also?
The belt can be disrupted, and we read
it can be disrupted by the loss of sea
ice due to global warming. That’s right.
And what does this result in?
This results in surface temperatures changing,
and these are changes
which make them less stable. If this happens,
the polar vortex
may shift, slipping off the North Pole and moving south.
What do we mean
when we say something slips off of something else?
Well, if it slips off,
it means it moves in an uncontrolled
sliding motion off of something.
So you can say, I slipped off the stairs
as I was walking up them.
Yeah, you
could slip in the bathtub
as well if the bathtub is too slippery.
That means that there’s maybe a coating of water over it,
and your feet just slip and slide from under you.
That’s the idea of slipping. Sometimes,
we use this with shoes, right?
I slipped on my shoes,
I slipped off my shoes. When we use this phrase,
it means it happens pretty quickly, sometimes unexpectedly.
So here,
the polar vortex is slipping where it is and moving south.
That’s right, so it moves south,
or it can split into two or three rings
that form in multiple places far south of the pole.
We see this word multiple here,
and that’s a really useful one for you to know, friends.
Multiple means more than one.
That’s right, so what I’m imagining is
this belt, instead of just going around the Earth sometimes,
it slips and moves
and maybe even forms little rings on the side. I know
there was a polar vortex in the US
that everyone was talking about
because it was creating
really cold weather in big cities like New York. So anyway,
maybe you’ve been affected by these polar vortexes slipping.
Anyway, friends,
it is that time of day to talk about something fun now,
with our fun facts.
Hello, fact friends, I am Detective
Ernest Finder, and I have a fun fact for you today. Actually,
it’s not very fun,
but it is:
There are multiple disasters that happen with climate
change, it’s true.
One is the loss of land
for people living on islands. That is a serious disruption.
Imagine if you were living on land,
but now you have to live in the sea. What would you do?
And that is today’s not-so-fun
fact.
We learned a lot today, friends.
This is such a scientific article. What stood out to you
today, John? What did you learn? Well,
I feel like I learned a lot. I could be a scientist now.
The main thing
I learned was that the really cold air
on the top of the planet meets
the really warm air in the middle and creates a vortex,
and it sounds like that vortex is in trouble. Yeah.
That’s right. I also learned from this article
that these polar vortexes can slip off the North Pole
and then move south,
so that’s
what’s causing all of this weird winter weather
in different regions.
Wow. Well,
friends, I do know that normally I like winter,
but no one wants to be surprised by winter.
It can be dangerous, can’t it? Definitely.
Especially in places
that are expecting these cold weather spells. So friends,
let’s learn more about this in our lesson tomorrow.
We are not done talking about it.
We hope you will come back and join us. We will see you
then, right here on Studio Classroom.
The Paradox of a Warming Earth with Colder Winters 地球暖化 vs. 異常寒冬(下)
空中英語教室 20241228
修正英文文法，保留中文部分，同時將簡體中文修改為繁體中文
Hello friends and welcome to Studio Classroom!
We’re so glad you’ve joined us today.
My name is Ann Marie, and my name is John. Friends, today is a great day to learn something new, so let’s do that together. We are on Day 2 of our article called "The Paradox of a Warming Earth with Colder Winters."
We talked about how a paradox is when two things seem to be opposites but are happening at the same time. That’s right!
What happens when it gets warmer in the northern hemisphere? It turns out that it causes cold weather to slip down to the southern parts, and sometimes that surprises people with extra cold winters.
That’s right! We talked about something called the polar vortex. This is an area of low pressure that forms a complete circle around the pole.
That’s right! The vortex can slip down, and sometimes it becomes multiple vortexes.
But friends, there’s a lot more to learn, and most importantly, there are some English words you need to know.
Join us now for our reading:
The Paradox of a Warming Earth with Colder Winters
This stretching or distortion of the polar vortex also exerts influence on the path of the polar jet stream, which is responsible for Earth’s weather.
This jet stream, along with three other primary jet streams in different parts of the world, is located in the troposphere, the atmospheric layer just below the stratosphere.
Hi everyone, welcome to Language Lab!
I’m Jack.
首先來看動詞 exert KK[ɪgˋzɝt] DJ[igˋzə:t]，意思是施加影響。例如：
Parents often exert influence over their children’s career choices.
父母往往會對孩子的職業選擇施加影響。
exert 也指費力，例如：
Daphne had to exert a lot of effort to move the heavy chair across the room.
Daphne 費了很大的力氣才把沉重的椅子搬到房間的另一邊。
Exert 的名詞是 exertion，意思是費盡力氣，例如：
After a couple of hours of intense exertion at the gym, Phil felt both exhausted and satisfied.
Phil 在健身房劇烈運動了幾個小時後，感到既疲憊又滿足。
Okay, friends, let’s continue learning about climate change and how it is affecting winters around the globe.
We read that the stretching or distortion of the polar vortex also exerts influence on the path of the polar jet stream. Wow, there are a lot of terms in this sentence! First, let’s talk about the idea of distortion.
Yeah, this is a very useful word. Not just for science, distortion is when something is changed in its shape. Normally, if something is distorted, you can still tell what it used to be, but it got twisted or changed.
That’s right! We use this in other ways as well. As John said, for example, if you had a distorted view of a situation, it means that you’re not viewing that situation in a clear-minded way. Maybe you let some other information affect the way you see it.
That’s right! This distortion does things to the weather in this case. It affects it.
We say it exerts influence on the path of the polar jet stream.
Exerting, as you already learned, means to push or affect something by giving an effort.
The jet stream is interesting! This is for you people who are studying the weather. This is really important: the jet stream is a big band of wind that changes the global weather. It is responsible for Earth’s weather.
Responsible is a word we need to know. It means being the primary cause of something.
That’s right! You can use this word at school or at work, friends. You could be responsible for a certain part of your project. For example, the PowerPoint—you’re responsible for that, and you need to make sure that it gets done.
So, we see here that the polar jet stream is responsible for Earth’s weather.
This jet stream, along with three other primary jet streams in different parts of the world, is located in the troposphere.
Okay, so the idea of a jet stream is that this is a large wind current, right? And there are several different wind currents in different regions of the world. As these currents are working together or against each other, that is what is affecting the weather.
Yes, okay.
The troposphere, again, these are really big words! The troposphere is the bottom level of the atmosphere.
So everyone, take a deep breath—ah, the troposphere! It feels great.
We’re in the troposphere, and these jet streams are here in the troposphere, so they really affect our weather.
Remember, the layer after our troposphere is called the stratosphere.
That’s right!
Okay, stratosphere—good job!
We mentioned that yesterday, and we do see it come up in our lesson again here, friends. So we’re talking about the troposphere, which is the atmospheric layer just below the stratosphere.
Now, it’s kind of interesting thinking about all these different jet streams and how they really affect us. Of course, they do affect our weather.
I think the other way that I commonly come into contact with this is when we’re traveling to different countries, when we’re flying in an airplane, right?
This is something that pilots really have to pay attention to.
Yes, absolutely! There are a lot of jobs where this really matters, especially if you’re in renewable energy, like wind farms. I know a lot of you might live near the coast and see those windmills, so knowing what’s happening with the jet streams is actually really important.
But don’t worry, today we are not giving you a science test. But if you’re studying these now, you know: troposphere, stratosphere, and then there are a lot of other spheres.
Well, friends, there’s also a lot of other things to read, so let’s do that together.
The Paradox of a Warming Earth with Colder Winters
The polar jet stream’s air currents blow from 177 km an hour to over 400 km an hour and from west to east between 50 degrees and 60 degrees latitude.
Think from France to Norway. The differences in cold polar air and warm mid-latitude air from the polar jet stream and its movement prolong periods of cold or warm weather in different regions.
接下來看 latitude 這個名詞，意思是「緯度」，例如：
The city is located at a latitude of forty degrees north, so it experiences four distinct seasons.
該城市位於北緯40度，因此四季分明。
或是 higher latitude regions tend to have colder climates and longer winters.
高緯度地區往往氣候更冷，冬季更長。
latitude 的另一個意思是「自由度」，譬如：
The school gave teachers some latitude in designing their own lesson plans.
學校給老師一定的自由度來設計自己的教案。
再來看 prolong 這個動詞，意思是「延長」，譬如：
Jeff decided to prolong his stay in the city to explore more of its cultural attractions.
Jeff 決定延長他在這個城市的停留時間，以探索更多的文化景點。
prolong 也可以指「延長」，例如：
Stress can sometimes prolong the recovery process from an illness.
壓力有時會延長疾病的康復過程。
再來看一句：
The medicine prolonged Sally’s life by several years.
這種藥延長了Sally幾年的生命。
Alright, friends, we have some other really great terms we’re going to learn in this next section.
We’re talking again about the polar jet stream and reviewing a term that we talked about a little bit in the previous section: the idea of air currents.
The polar jet stream’s air currents blow from 177 km an hour to over 400 km an hour.
Okay, so let’s review this word currents for a minute because we already used it to talk about air currents when we were talking about the jet stream, but we also use this when talking about water too, don’t we?
That’s right! Normally, air and water—or gases and liquids—have currents.
A current is defined as a body of water or air moving in a certain direction.
So there are often currents in a river, and you have to be careful of the currents in the ocean sometimes. We call the current that goes along the beach an undertow.
If you don’t want to get caught in the current as it goes out, be careful!
But here, we’re talking about air currents, and wow, they are fast.
You don’t want to fly a kite in this kind of wind speed, right?
No, this is super fast!
From 177 km an hour to over 400 km an hour, and these air currents are happening in a very, very specific location now.
When we’re talking about locations on the globe, there are some very special terms that we use.
We see them in this next part of the sentence here.
Yes, the word is degrees. Normally, we use this measuring word when we’re talking about temperature, right? It goes up in degrees. But when you’re also talking about angles, we also have degrees.
For example, this would be 90 degrees, a right angle.
And we use these measurement words, degrees, when we are talking about how far away from the northern or southern hemisphere something is. That word is given to us right here.
You learned it! It is called latitude, how far north or south something is in degrees.
But we also have another word that we use too, and that is longitude.
So, if latitude is north to south, longitude is east to west.
That’s right!
So you can find out your position on the globe by the latitude and the longitude of something. Sorry, guys, this is very technical, but I bet for some of you, this is information that you will use more regularly. We’re given an example: France to Norway. So this is kind of a European example for where this jet stream current takes place. That’s right.
So we read on here that the differences in cold polar air and warm mid-latitude air form the polar jet stream. Okay, we see that term "mid-latitude," and because you already learned the word "latitude," you can guess what this means. "Mid," of course, means middle, and "latitude" is that distance from north to south on the globe. That’s right. So "mid-latitude" is the area around the equator. Remember, the equator is the middle part of our globe in English. The equator. So why does this matter? Well, we read that this movement prolongs periods of cold or warm weather in different regions.
So "prolongs" means to make something longer, and that can really hurt farmers, especially when you’re not ready, and your crops are suddenly facing a long winter or a long, really hot summer. And it can cause problems in food production. Well, friends, there’s a lot more to learn on this, isn’t there? There definitely is, and we are going to conclude our lesson in just a moment. But right now, it’s time for us to learn something new with today’s infocloud.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Infocloud. There are times when it feels like nothing is going right in life. At those times, you really want a change. I totally agree. I think I know the perfect phrase that we can use to describe that. Is it "to turn the tide"?
I like that one. Hey, that’s what I was going to say, actually. We can use the phrase right now. I was going to suggest the phrase first, but you turned the tide and said it before me. Haha, good point! Well, let’s explain the phrase first. The tide is the way the level of the ocean rises or falls based on the time of day. It’s changed by the moon and the sun. The tide changes during the day. If the water is going up and then it stops rising and starts going down, the tide is turning. Yeah, that’s like life. We often say our lives have highs and lows. You might be having a bad day or even a bad week, but you can also remember that something can turn the tide. I often hear this phrase during sports games. A tennis player might be losing by a lot, but then one good play turns the tide, and they start to come from behind. That reminds us to never give up.
turn the tide 扭轉局勢 在人生中，很多時候，我們都需要一個翻轉或是改變。今天要跟大家介紹的用語是“turn the tide”。“Tide”是潮水，“turn the tide”就是潮水的轉變。漲潮的時候，水位會大幅度地改變，把原本的地方淹沒；退潮的時候，水位才會重新出現在水位之上。因此，“turn the tide”就可以形容扭轉局勢。
Tony turned the tide and won the tennis game. Tony 扭轉了比數，贏得了那場網球比賽。
“Turn the tide” 可以形容某件事情的發展有了很大的改變和翻轉。這就是今天的 INFO cloud，我們下次雲端見。
| The paradox of a warming earth with colder winters: large temperature differences between the Arctic and mid latitudes caused the polar jet stream to be strong and move straight, keeping the cold in the north. Because the Arctic is warming at a fast pace, the temperature difference between it and the mid latitudes is decreasing, making the polar jet stream slower and weaker. That, in turn, makes the stream more likely to bend north and south. When it bends far enough, the barrier between Arctic and mid-latitude air can plunge down to Mexico, taking Arctic temperatures along for the ride. Although heat and cold are considered opposites, in the case of climate, the former can cause the latter. 最後來看動詞“plunge”，意思是骤然移動。譬如：
"As winter approached, temperatures began to plunge below freezing."
隨著冬天的來臨，氣溫開始降至冰點以下。
或是：
"The hiker decided to plunge into the clear lake from a high rock."
這名徒步旅行者決定從一塊高高的岩石上跳入清澈的湖中。
“plunge” 也有暴跌的意思。譬如：
"The stock market suddenly plunged, causing investors to panic."
股市突然暴跌，引起投資者恐慌。
Alright, thank you, Jack. Well, what does all of this mean? Friends, we’ll find out right here in this first sentence:
"Large temperature differences between the Arctic and mid latitudes cause the polar jet stream to be strong and move straight, keeping the cold in the north." That’s right.
I remember from science class that air that is hot goes up, right? And air that is cold settles. I think it has to do with how dense the gas is, or how thick and heavy it is, basically. We learn here that this temperature difference makes sure that the jet stream is strong and moves straight, so like it doesn’t move around.
But we get this problem here because the Arctic is warming at a fast pace. The temperature difference between it and the mid latitudes is decreasing. Okay, let’s just focus on the English. "At a fast pace" means that something is done very quickly or it’s changing very rapidly. So, for example, you could say "He works at a really fast pace." That would mean that in this example, this person is very efficient, their pace of working is very quick.
You know what I do at a fast pace? I drink my bubble tea at a fast pace, but my wife drinks hers at a slow pace, almost always. So, that means by the time I’m done, she still has like most of her bubble tea. Do you ever have that situation?
I have noticed that you drink your coffee at a fast pace too. I do! It’s like gone in two seconds, yeah. It’s not really a problem. It just has to do with how fast you’re consuming something, I guess. I guess I’m like the polar vortex, consuming liquids!
Okay, so we also have this term here, friends: the temperature difference. So, what do we mean here when we say the temperature difference? Well, I bet you can guess just by listening to it. It’s the difference between hot and cold. Sometimes the change between two areas, you could say "The temperature difference between the kitchen and the outside the rest of my house was really high while I was cooking," or something like that.
Okay, so because the Arctic is warming at a fast pace, the temperature difference between it and mid latitudes is decreasing, making the polar jet stream slower and weaker. Okay, that’s the fact. Now, we’re going to hear another fact, friends. That, in turn, makes the stream more likely to bend north and south. So the positioning of this jet stream is actually changing.
That’s right, and we read when it bends far enough, the barrier between Arctic and mid-latitude air can plunge down to Mexico. "Plunge" means to move down suddenly. I always think about jumping into a pool when I hear the word "plunge." You plunge into a pool, right?
That’s right! Sometimes we talk about taking the plunge to mean that we’re going to try to do something really difficult, and that has really great consequences. You could say "He’s taking the plunge and he’s going to propose to his girlfriend this weekend." That’s right, we use this phrase a lot when we’re talking about getting married. If you’re thinking about getting married, maybe you should take the plunge.
But here, we’re talking about the extreme temperature moving south really quickly, and we read it is taking Arctic temperatures along for the ride.
Okay, the phrase "along for the ride" means that you’re doing something without being the cause of it. Sometimes if your friends do something, you can kind of be along for the ride, right?
Yeah, we sometimes say this if someone’s going to go to the store or run an errand. You don’t really have anything that you need to do or buy, but you’re going to go along for the ride. You’re going to ride along in the car with them and just enjoy their company. Now, of course, there are no cars involved here, friends, but the idea is the same.
That’s right. It’s kind of like leaving the door open when it’s cold outside. As that vortex weakens, the cold air comes in. It’s just along for the ride, and it’s disrupting everything.
Well, this has been a pretty serious one. We’re talking about dangerous cold weather. But now it’s time for our fun fact.
Hello, friends! I am Detective Ernest Finder, and I have a fun fact for you. Today, did you know that the word "jet" is also used in swimming pools? Ha ha! And it’s true. A jet is where water shoots into the pool. This water is called a jet of water.
Have you ever been in a pool and you feel some water move? You think it’s a shark, but it’s just the jet getting you! And that is today’s fun jet fact.
Alright, friends, as we end our article, here’s a question to talk about: Why is the polar jet stream important? What do you think, John?
I think it’s important because it keeps the weather on our planet stable. It keeps the cold air on the top of the planet in the northern hemisphere, and it keeps the warm air around the equator. That helps humans plan for the seasons. But when that gets crazy and the vortex slips, who knows what the weather will be? And it can make life dangerous.
It can definitely make things unpredictable, can’t it, friends?
This is a great topic for you to talk about in English. Have a new lesson for you next time, so make sure you come back and join us right here on Studio Classroom!
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