Many children love to play with snow in winter. But Long Chuan has come to hate it. This year his hometown suffered from snowstorms (遭受暴风雪) for nearly a month. The heavy snow stopped cars and trains, broke the electricity (电) tower and turned tap water to ice. Every day Long Chuan had to walk several kilometers to carry drinking water. “I couldn’t ride a bike and it took me 3 hours to walk to school. I can’t remember how many times I slipped (滑倒) on the hard ice, ” said Long Chuan. Long is not alone. This year millions of people in central and southern China had a freezing winter without enough water and electricity. The biggest snowstorms in 50 years killed more than 100 people. They also cost the country 111.1 billion yuan. Experts (专家) say a special type of climate condition (气候条件), La Nina, caused the storms. During a La Nina, the water in the Pacific Ocean (太平洋) near the equator (赤道) becomes colder than usual. It changes the weather around the world. Besides China, Canada, the US and Middle Eastern countries also met with heavy snowstorms this winter. The special climate caused the recent flooding (洪水) in Australia, too. However, experts say that people have destroyed the environment (环境). Global warming (全球变暖) may be causing these terrible weather events to happen more and more often. 小题1:What took place in Long Chuan’s hometown last winter?
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