#18 - Raining cats and dogs 下着倾盆大雨

1.It may seem like bad weather, but we need rain.
Rain happens because the Sun's heat makes water in the sea evaporate. It turns into a gas and rises into the air and forms clouds. The clouds then blow over the land. They cool down, turn back into water, and fall as rain. If this didn't happen, there would be no life on Earth - all living things need water to survive.

2.In rainforests it rains almost every day.
Rainforests are found in the warm tropical parts of the Earth, near the Equator. The hot sunshine makes lots of water evaporate and fall as rain. A lot of the rain that falls on a rainforest never touches the ground. It collects on the treetops, then evaporates into the air, before falling as rain again.

3.The world's rainiest place is Megahalaya, an area of north-east India.
Some towns there, such as Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, get around 11,500 millimeters of rain a year. If the rain didn't drain away or evaporate, it would be 11.5 meters deep after one year!

V Heavy rain is accompanied by big, black clouds. V

4.A monsoon is a very rainy season.
Monsoons happen in parts of Asia, especially India, in late summer. The land gets very hot and heats the air above it. The hot air rises, and this sucks in damp, cloudy air from the sea. The clouds rush over the land. When they meet the Himalayan mountains, they rise and get colder. This creates lots of rain, especially in northen India.

V Water continually rises from the sea into the air, falls on the land as rain, then flows back to the sea. This is called the water cycle. V

5.It doesn't really rain cats and dogs - but there have been reports of red rain, and showers of frogs, fish and crabs.
Frogs and toads were reported falling in Minneapolis, USA in 1901. It has rained fish in Singapore, and crabs in the UK. These strange showers probably happen when tornadoes or strong winds sweep up water containing living creatures, which then fall to the ground.

V A rickshaw drivers and passangers travel through monsoon floods in India. When rains are heavy, streets turn to rivers and people's homes may be washed away. V

看起来好像恶劣的天气，但我们需要下雨。
雨是因为太阳的热量使海水中的水蒸发。它变成一种气体，上升到空气中，形成云层。云彩然后吹过这片土地。他们冷静下来，回到水里，下雨如雨。如果没有发生，地球上就没有生命 - 所有的生物都需要水才能生存。

雨林几乎每天下雨。
热带雨林位于赤道附近的地球温暖的热带地区。炎热的阳光使大量的水蒸发，并因雨而下降。落在雨林上的很多雨都不会触动地面。它收集在树梢上，然后蒸发到空气中，然后再次下降。

世界上最阴雨的地方是印度东北部的Megahalaya地区。
那里的一些城镇，如Cherrapunji和Mawsynram，每年大约有11,500毫米的雨。如果雨没有消失或蒸发，一年后就会达到11.5米深！

V大雨伴随着大黑黑云。 V

季风是一个很阴雨的季节。
夏季夏季季风会发生在亚洲部分地区，特别是印度。土地变得很热，并加热其上面的空气。热空气上升，这样会从海中吸入潮湿的多云的空气。云在这片土地上。当他们遇到喜马拉雅山时，他们越来越冷。这造成了大量的雨，特别是在印度北部。

V水从海中不断升起，流下雨水，然后流回大海。这被称为水循环。 V

它不是真的下雨的猫和狗 - 但有报告有红雨，和青蛙，鱼和螃蟹的淋浴。
据报，青蛙和蟾蜍在1901年在美国明尼阿波利斯州下降。在新加坡和英国的螃蟹下雨。这些奇怪的阵雨可能发生在龙卷风或强风吹扫含有生物的水时，然后它们落到地上。

V一辆人力车司机和通行人在印度经过季风洪水。当雨水沉重时，街道转向河流，人民的家园可能会被冲走。 V