什么是云？

河南固始县信合外国语小学 高长宇 编译

It is known that clouds are made of water, as water vapour always rises and gathers together.Sometimes they are made of tiny drops far apart and held up by wind.Other times they are made of big drops held up for a while by very strong upward winds inside the cloud.In this kind of cloud, the drops become too heavy to stay up, so they fall to Earth as rain.Or, if it’s cold enough, they fall to Earth as snow.

众所周知，云是由水组成的，因为水蒸气总是上升并聚集在一起。有时它们是由相距遥远的微小水滴组成，并被风吹起。其他时候，它们是由巨大的水滴组成的，这些水滴被云层内非常强的向上风支撑了一段时间。在这种云层中，水滴变得太重而无法支撑下去，因此它们以下雨的方式降落到地面上。或者，如果天气够冷，它们会以降雪的方式落到地上。

Clouds are classified based on three factors, their shape, the altitude at which they occur, and whether they are producing precipitation.Clouds come in three basic shapes.Cumulus clouds,which are heaped and puffy.Stratus clouds, which are layered.And cirrus clouds, which are wispy.

云是根据三个因素分类的：它们的形状、出现位置的海拔以及它们是否产生降水。云有三种基本形状：积云，堆积而蓬松；层云，它是分层的；还有卷云，它们是细小的。

Clouds also occur in three altitude ranges.Specifically, high clouds, occur above 6,000 metres.Middle clouds which occur between 2,000 and 6,000 metres.Low clouds which occur below 2,000 metres.

云也出现在三个高度范围内。具体而言，高云出现在6,000米以上的空中，中云出现在2000到6000米之间的空中，低云出现在2,000米以下的空中。

Many people do not think that fog was a cloud, but it is.It is a cloud that touches the ground.Can you think of another kind of cloud?

许多人不认为雾是云，但它是云。它是一朵接触地面的云。你能想到另一种云吗？

Notes:

water vapour 水蒸气

gatherv.聚集

tinyadj.细小的

dropn.水滴

hold up支撑；托起

upwardadv.向上

stay up支撑

classifyv.划分；分类

base on基于

factorn.因素

altituden.海拔

occurv.发生；出现

producev.产生

precipitationn.降水

basicadj.基本的

cumulus clouds 积云

heapedadj.堆积的

puffyadj.蓬松的

stratus clouds层云

layeredadj.分层的；有层次的

cirrus clouds 卷云

specificallyadv.具体而言

high clouds 高云

middle clouds中云

low clouds低云

fogn.雾