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have only two seasons, summer and winter, with a difference in temperature of only 15 or
20 degrees.
– One does not have to go out of New York City to find examples of every type of climate.
The changes that occur in the weather here are often as sudden as they are unpleasant. [8] A
change of temperature of forty degrees within a single day [9] is not uncommon.
– But you have said that winter temperatures do not go very low [10] in New York.
– Normally winter temperatures here range between 25 and 40 degrees, but that does not
mean that they do not go lower. Sometimes we have temperatures below zero. Thus there
are times during a snowstorm when the temperature will suddenly drop and the snow will
change to sleet and hail. Again the snow may begin to melt normally but the temperature
drops, and before the streets can be cleaned, the water has all changed to ice. [11] Then it is
almost impossible to drive or walk. Cars are sliding all over the streets. People slip and fall
everywhere on the sidewalks.
– That sounds like a lot of fun.
– It's not very funny when you slip and fall on the ice. You go down suddenly and there is
no way of catching yourself. [12]
– I want to take some photographs of myself standing in the snow in Central Park. I want to
send them home to my friends in Cuba. Most of them have never seen snow.
– In New York one enjoys of suffers all kinds of climate. In the spring it rains frequently,
and there is a great deal of wind. [13] In summer the heat becomes sometimes almost
unbearable. It is a heavy, humid heat that is almost suffocating. New York, because of its
proximity to the ocean, [14] is quite humid. This same humidity also makes many winter
days unpleasant because the air, instead of being dry and brisk, is damp and penetrating. The
cold seems to go right into one's bones. [15]
– I suppose that there is nothing much one can do about the weather [16] here except to
accept it philosophically. New York is such a wonderful place otherwise.
– Most New Yorkers love their city and accept such minor inconveniences. But it is even
difficult to dress properly for such weather. If you dress in heavy clothes in the morning,
the weather may turn hot [17] suddenly. If you dress lightly because the morning seems
warm, the temperature drops and by night you are shivering with cold. [18] Yet New
Yorkers learn even to joke about such things. To any visitor to the city who complains
about the weather, [19] they say, “If you don't like our weather, wait a minute. It will
change”. They also say that no woman is permitted to work in the office of the local
weather bureau because the weather is changeable enough as it is.
– Speaking of jokes, I forgot to tell you that in Mexican restaurant where I ate last night
they had the day's weather prediction printed right on the menu.
– Really? What did it say?
– It said: Chili today and hot tamale.
[1] The streets won't stay this way for very long.–Вулиці не будуть довго залишатися
такими.
[2] change to rain and wash away by itself in a few hours – сніг перейде в дощ і змиється
через декілька годин
[3] completely blanketed in snow – повністю вкритий снігом
[4] once in every four or five years – раз у чотири чи п’ять років
[5] the exception rather than the rule – виняток, а не правило
[6] range – коливається
[7] One has to go up into the mountains or farther north .– Треба поїхати в гори чи далі на
північ
[8] often as sudden as they are unpleasant – вони часто також раптові як і неприємні

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