I used to like winter in all of its manifestations, but I think my opinions of the seasons have changed. I went to college at SUNY Oswego, which is located on the lovely but often frigid shores of Lake Ontario, one of America's five Great Lakes. Some say that the sunset there rivals the best in the world, but so does the snowfall. In any case, when I went there, I made up my mind to enjoy the winter, and so I did. But now, some thirty years down the pike, I have indeed had enough, though not enough to move to Florida. At least the winter ends here, whereas the grueling heat of the Floridians' summer only lets up a bit for a few months.
So where is that temperate ideal place with temperatures and precipitation that do not offend? Where is that place with no tornadoes nor hurricanes, no blizzards nor droughts? Where indeed?
Vocabulary
manifestations -- the ways in which something shows itself
frigid -- very cold, freezing
down the pike -- gone by, passed
precipitation -- rain or snow
tornado -- twisters
hurricane -- storm with very high winds and much rain
blizzard -- dangerous snowstorm
drought -- a period in which there is little or no rain
Places
SUNY Oswego -- State University of New York at Oswego
Lake Ontario -- the easternmost Great Lake
The Great Lakes -- five very large lakes that are on the border between the USA and Canada
Florida -- the southernmost US state on the Atlantic Ocean
Vocabulary Exercise
1. Oswego often had very cold or ___________ temperatures.
2. The desert is a place where there is always a ____________ because there is little or no rain.
3. Weather in the Great Lakes region has many ______________ : rain, snow, twisters, which are also called _________, and terrible winter ____________.
4. ______________ is measure by the number of inches of rain or snow that falls.
5. Though it is now many years _____________________, I still remember the bad winters and beautiful sunsets at SUNY Oswego.
Grammar Point:
In my last paragraph, I ask three questions. These three questions are called rhetorical questions because they are used to enhance my rhetoric (writing or writing style). I don't really expect an answer to the questions.
Grammar Exercise: Write a paragraph about a place or the weather. Put in at least one rhetorical question.
