典型试题自测短文2

In Britain,

just after the main television news programme,

audience figures rise.

It's weather forecast time.

The BBC broadcasts 44 live forecasts a day,

433 hours of weather a year,

using forecasters from the Meteorological Office.

The Met. Office

makes predictions about the weather seven days in advance.

These are based on observations from the ground,

from statellites and from radar.

The observations are stored in computers

that can do up to 4,000 million calculations a second.

In Britain.

the weather is news.

A television weather forecast

often begins with an interesting fact —

the town with the top temperature of the day

or the place with the most rain.

"The public like that kind of information,"

says senior forecaster Bill Giles.

The BBC forecasters

are professional meteorologists,

but they do not have an easy job.

They are the only presenters on television

who do not use a script,

and they cannot see the map

that they are describing.

Viewers are often critical,

especially of female presenters.

One woman left her job

after rude letters and press reports about her clothes.

The British talk about the weather more than almost any other subject,

so it is a surprise to discover

that 70% of television viewers

cannot remember what they saw on the weather forecast.

"What happens

is that people like watching and hearing the forecasts,

but they probably only take real notice when they need to,"

says one forecaster.

"Or, of course, when we make mistakes!"