英语博客(A cup of English):034 A Creeping Fog.

　　Beginners.
Some people say that the weather is changing all over the world. Do you believe that? What do you think? I'm not sure if it is true, but sometimes the local weather does something unusual. Here in Wenatchee, the weather is normally very regular: very hot Summers, very cold, snowy Winters, and short warm Springs and Autumns. No shocks, no surprises. Well, this year has been a little different. A couple of weeks ago, a warm wind blew up from Hawaii. It blew all night. For twenty-four hours, all you could hear was the woosh of the wind and 'drip, drip, drip' of melting snow. The grass and bushes are green again, and we have had no new snow. Instead, a thick fog has appeared. For some days it has been so thick that the traffic has had to move very slowly. It is quite a change for this town; everybody is talking about it. My dog is happy because she can go for walks without getting icy paws. It is a relief for local pets, but you drivers be careful!
Grammar notes.
Questions: Do you believe that/ this? Exs: Can you believe it? Don't you believe me?
Verbs: This year has been very different. Exs: This year has been the best so far for the corn harvest. She has been ill for three months. All the castles in France have been renovated¹.
To have to. Exs: I have to study more. I had to clean the kitchen last night. You will have to wait. They had to practice for the concert all year. We have had to fix the floor several times.
Useful vocab and expressions: people say that, normally, a couple of, instead, it's a relief, be careful!
Advanced.
Having lived in London, I am quite used to fog. Please don't think that it is always foggy, though. There are plenty of days when the air is perfectly² clear and sunny. Also, because it rains often in England, the air after the rain is quite clear. Because England was a large producer of coal, it was burned in every city. The mixture of smoke and fog would make what is called 'smog' or 'pea soup'. In 1956, however, a Clean Air Act was passed which prohibited the burning of coal in public areas. Consequently, London's air is much cleaner. Also the buildings have been cleaned of the dark residue³ that had been left by the coal smoke. I have been to some countries where there is still smog in certain cities: Los Angeles has bad smog, and so does Mexico City. Fog, on the other hand, is not a health threat. It is simply another type of precipitation. Actually, I think that it is a beautiful phenomena⁴. It certainly conjures⁶ up ideas of mystery and romance⁷. Perhaps that is why so many great writers and poets have come from England.....
Grammar notes.
Verbs: Having + past participle. Exs: Having lived in Dubai, she has a great understanding of Arabic culture. Having found the fossil⁸, they preceeded to clean and examine it.
Useful expressions: consequently, a phenomena, another type/kind of, to conjure⁵ up, coal, smog, precipitation, fog/ foggy.

1 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

4 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

5 conjure   

v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法

参考例句：

• I conjure you not to betray me.我恳求你不要背弃我。
• I can't simply conjure up the money out of thin air.我是不能像变魔术似的把钱变来。

6 conjures   

用魔术变出( conjure的第三人称单数 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现

参考例句：

• The word 'birthday' conjures up images of presents and parties. “生日”这个词使人想起礼物和聚会的情景。
• The name Sahara conjures up images of a desert of aridity. "撒哈拉"这个名字使人想起干旱的沙漠情景。

7 romance   

n.恋爱关系，浪漫气氛，爱情小说，传奇

参考例句：

• She wrote a romance about an artist's life in Tokyo.她写了一个关于一位艺术家在东京生活的浪漫故事。
• They tried to rekindle the flames of romance.他们试图重燃爱火。

8 fossil   

n.化石，食古不化的人，老顽固

参考例句：

• At this distance of time it is difficult to date the fossil.时间隔得这么久了，很难确定这化石的年代。
• The man is a fossil.那人是个老顽固。