3 A2 How cool is cold

CHAPTER 1 It's Too Cold! TURN ON THE FIRE, PUT ON SOME WARM CLOTHES, AND MAKE YOURSELF A HOT DRINK. THIS BOOK IS GOING TO MAKE YOU FEEL COLD! The weather for the weekend is going to be very cold. We'll see temperatures as low as —15C in some places, and there will be a lot of wind and snow. Driving will be dangerous because of ice on the roads. So wear warm clothes and drive carefully. Weather like this is bad news for many people. Freezing weather makes life difficult. Airports close, trains stop running, and walking on sidewalks becomes difficult because of ice. These problems are bad for everyone living in cold places. But does everyone feel the cold in the same way?

第一章太冷了！把火打开，穿上暖和的衣服，给自己煮杯热饮。 这本书会让你觉得冷！周末的天气将会很冷。 一些地方的气温会低至零下15摄氏度，还会有大风和大雪。 因为路上结了冰，开车很危险。 所以要穿暖和的衣服，小心开车。 这样的天气对许多人来说是个坏消息。 寒冷的天气使生活变得困难。 机场关闭，火车停运，人行道因结冰而变得困难。 这些问题对生活在寒冷地区的每个人来说都是不好的。 但是每个人对寒冷的感觉都是一样的吗？

Studies show that cold weather is worse for older people. Older people don't shiver as quickly or as much as younger people. When you shiver, your body makes heat and you get warmer. Thin people feel the cold more than people who are big and heavy. Heavy people have more fat on their bodies. The fat helps their body heat stay inside and keeps them warmer. The cold can be wonderful or terrible. Think about a cold drink full of ice on a hot day, or a cold shower in a freezing bathroom. In this book we're going to look at cold places, how the cold affects our health, people who live in the far north, and animals with "cold blood."

研究表明，寒冷的天气对老年人来说更糟糕。 老年人不像年轻人那么快或那么频繁地颤抖。 当你颤抖时，你的身体会产生热量，你会变得更暖和。 瘦人比又大又重的人更容易感到寒冷。 肥胖的人身上有更多的脂肪。 脂肪帮助他们的身体保持热量，使他们保持温暖。 寒冷可以是美妙的，也可以是可怕的。 想象一下在炎热的天气里喝满冰的冷饮，或者在冰冷的浴室里洗个冷水澡。 在这本书中，我们将看看寒冷的地方，寒冷如何影响我们的健康，生活在遥远北方的人们，以及“冷血”动物。

CHAPTER 2 Cold Places WINTER MAY BE COLD WHERE YOU LIVE. BUT IS IT AS COLD AS IN THESE PLACES? International Falls, Minnesota, USA, is known as "The Icebox of the Nation." This town of 7,000 people is the coldest town in the country. In January 2011, the thermometer showed a temperature of —32C! The normal temperature in January is —15C. The city of Yakutsk, in Russia, is the coldest city in the world. The daily high in January is around —50C, but it can get as cold as —64C. And the winters are eight months long. When people get out of their cars here, they do not turn off their engines. They keep the engines going so that they don't freeze. Also, people do not wear metal glasses outside. It is so cold that the metal sticks to their skin, and they cannot take them off.

第二章寒冷的地方你住的地方冬天可能很冷。 但是那里和这些地方一样冷吗？ 美国明尼苏达州的国际瀑布被称为“全国的冰箱”。 这个有七千人口的小镇是这个国家最冷的小镇。 2011年1月，温度计显示温度为- 32℃！一月份的正常气温是零下15摄氏度。 俄罗斯的雅库茨克市是世界上最冷的城市。 一月份的日最高气温在零下50摄氏度左右，但有时也会低至零下64摄氏度。 冬天长达八个月。 当人们在这里下车时，他们不会关掉引擎。 他们保持引擎运转，这样引擎就不会结冰。 此外，人们在户外也不戴金属眼镜。 天气太冷了，金属会粘在他们的皮肤上，他们无法脱掉。

Antarctica is the driest, windiest, and coldest place on Earth. In July 1983, it was —89.2C. That's the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth. Very few animals can live in Antarctica, and there are no towns for people, only some science stations. About 20 scientists live at the Vostok Science Station in Antarctica, but they do not live there all year. Antarctica has 90 percent of the world's ice, and in some places the ice goes down more than 4,700 meters! But there is a problem. Warm sea water that gets under the ice is making it melt. If lots of this ice becomes liquid, the seas in the world will get higher. This will mean some towns near the sea will be under the water.

南极洲是地球上最干燥、风最大、最冷的地方。 1983年7月，气温是零下89.2摄氏度。 这是地球上有记录以来的最低温度。 很少有动物能生活在南极洲，那里也没有适合人类居住的城镇，只有一些科考站。 大约有20名科学家住在南极洲的东方科学站，但他们并不是全年都住在那里。 南极洲拥有世界上90%的冰，在一些地方，冰的深度超过4700米！但是有一个问题。 温暖的海水进入冰下，使其融化。 如果大量的冰变成液体，世界上的海平面就会升高。 这意味着一些靠近大海的城镇将被淹没。

So it can be very cold on Earth. But how cold is it on other planets? It is colder on the planet Mars than it is on Earth. This is because it is usually farther away from the Sun than our world is. The coldest temperature on Mars is —140C. There are eight planets in our solar system. As the planets get farther away from the Sun, they usually get colder. But not always. Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun, but it is not the coldest. Today, that prize goes to Uranus. The temperature on Uranus is —224C. It is colder than Neptune because the temperature at the center of the planet is colder. Also, it has very strong winds sometimes more than 800 kilometers an hour!

所以地球上可能很冷。 但其他星球上有多冷呢？ 火星上的温度比地球上要低。 这是因为它通常比我们的地球离太阳更远。 火星上最冷的温度是零下140摄氏度。 我们的太阳系有八颗行星。 随着行星离太阳越来越远，它们通常会变得更冷。 但并非总是如此。海王星是离太阳最远的行星，但它并不是最冷的。 今天，这个奖项属于天王星。 天王星的温度是- 224摄氏度。 它比海王星冷，因为行星中心的温度更低。 此外，它有非常强劲的风，有时超过每小时800公里！

Scientists say that the coldest temperature is —273.15C. This is called 0 Kelvin. Nothing can be colder. The normal temperature in space is about —265C. In 2000, a group of scientists cooled a piece of metal to —273.15C. On that day, that piece of metal was the coldest thing in the universe.

科学家说，最冷的温度是零下273.15摄氏度。 这叫做0开尔文。没有比这更冷的了。 太空中的正常温度约为- 265摄氏度。 2000年，一组科学家将一块金属冷却到- 273.15摄氏度。 那一天，那块金属是宇宙中最冷的东西。