山西农业大学第四册精读 期末复习资料

The growing importance of airpower in World War II, combined with its sensitivity to weather, led to an ever greater military reliance on accurate forecasts. Knowing the weather was of vital concern to combat commanders of that war. As much an art as it is science, predicting the weather is dependent on the accurate tracking of weather phenomena, particularly storm fronts, from the areas where they originate. Though meteorologists (气象学家) of the 1940s had none of the weather tracking satellites which make that job so much simpler today, they were still able to generate usably accurate forecasts as much as 72 hours in advance -- as long as they could get the data they needed.

The need for that data gave birth to one of the most interesting and unique campaigns of the Second World War, the so-called "Weather War." Although it was not a war of major commands and large numbers of troops, ships, or aircraft, it had an important impact on the fighting in the Atlantic and European Theatres. It was the weather data secured by this campaign which enabled the planning and execution of such critical operations as the Allied landings at Normandy and the entire strategic bombing campaign against Hitler's empire.

The Weather War began with the German invasion of Denmark and Norway in April 1940. Prior to that, those nations allowed their arctic weather stations to report the weather in the clear so all countries could use the information.

Germany's occupation of much of Scandinavia gave Berlin a monopoly (垄断) over arctic weather data -- a development the Allies could not allow.

The British, in fact, began planning to seize the weather stations even as the campaign for Norway progressed. Of course, the Germans had plans for those same stations too, but Allied dominance over the sea, coupled with the

unexpectedly high German naval losses in the Norwegian invasion, allowed Britain to score the first successes. But the weather itself proved the most serious obstacle to the start of the Weather War's operations, delaying the first moves until August. In fact, throughout the Weather War, both sides found the elements a more formidable (可怕的) foe than the enemy.

21. We learn from the passage that the commanders on both sides of the war attached great importance to _____.

A) airpower

B) weather forecasts

C) dominance over the sea

D) operations in Normandy

22. We can infer from the passage that meteorologists today ______.

A) rely on satellites to track storm fronts

B) can generate accurate forecasts 72 hours in advance

C) have a much simpler job than in the past

D) regard weather forecast as science rather than an art

23. Which of the following statements is true of the Weather War? ______

A) It involved large numbers of ships and aircraft.

B) It contributed greatly to Allied victory.

C) It started long before the German invasion of Scandinavia.

D) It was fought by a small group of meteorologists.

24. Before April 1940, arctic weather data ______.

A) were monopolized by Germany

B) were shared by Denmark and Norway

C) were not regarded as important by both sides in the war

D) could be accessed by all countries

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