Luyện theo cấu trúc Cambridge IELTS 2 · Speaking Part 1–3: Weather and Forecasts

1. It's hot and humid for most of the year, with a long rainy season in the summer. We do get a short cool spell around the new year, but it rarely lasts more than a few weeks.

2. I'm happiest when it's cool and dry, maybe around twenty degrees, with a bit of a breeze. That kind of weather makes me want to go out for a walk or a bike ride, whereas in the midday heat I'd rather stay indoors.

3. Almost every morning, actually. I travel by motorbike, so if there's a storm coming, I need to remember my raincoat. I've been caught out a few times when I didn't bother checking, and arriving at work soaked isn't much fun.

4. Definitely. If it's been grey and drizzly for several days in a row, I notice I feel a bit flat and less motivated. A sunny morning, on the other hand, seems to give me more energy, even if I've had a busy week.

5. I think so. My parents say the summers are noticeably hotter now, and the heavy rain seems to come more suddenly. When I was a child, I remember the rainy season being more predictable, so people could plan around it.

I'd like to talk about a camping trip that didn't go according to plan, about two years ago. A group of five friends and I had arranged to spend a weekend by a lake in the mountains, a few hours' drive from the city. We'd been planning it for weeks, we'd borrowed tents and bought far too much food, and we were really looking forward to getting away from work.

The forecast earlier in the week had been fine, but on the Friday morning it changed completely, and there was a warning about a tropical storm moving inland. By the time we'd packed the car, it was already pouring with rain and the wind was getting stronger. One of my friends rang the campsite, and they told us that the road up to the lake might be closed because of the risk of landslides.

So, rather reluctantly, we called the whole thing off. Instead, we went back to my flat, put up one of the tents in the living room as a joke, and cooked all the food we'd bought for the barbecue on a small electric grill. We spent the evening playing board games while the storm was raging outside.

At first I felt really disappointed, because we'd put so much effort into organising the trip. But looking back, I'm glad we made the sensible decision, as we later heard that part of the road had been blocked by fallen trees. And funnily enough, that evening has become one of our favourite memories. We still joke about the 'indoor camping trip' whenever we meet.

1. For some people it's simply about convenience, like deciding whether to take an umbrella. But for others it can be a matter of safety or money. Fishermen, for example, need to know whether it's safe to go out to sea, and people who live in areas prone to flooding have to decide whether to move their belongings to higher ground.

2. Farming is the obvious one, since a single storm or a dry month can ruin a whole harvest. Construction workers and anyone involved in outdoor events, such as concerts or sports tournaments, are also heavily affected. And in tourism, a beach resort can lose a large part of its income if it has a particularly wet season.

3. I think they're much more reliable than they used to be, at least for the next day or two. Where they still struggle is in predicting exactly where a sudden thunderstorm will hit, or what the weather will be like more than a week ahead. So I tend to trust the forecast for tomorrow but take anything beyond that with a pinch of salt.

4. The impact can be enormous. Floods and typhoons destroy roads, homes and crops, and the cost of rebuilding often falls on the government. There are also less obvious effects: factories may have to close for several days, supply chains are disrupted, and food prices can rise sharply after a poor harvest, which hits poorer families hardest.

5. I think early warning systems are the most important thing, so that people get alerts on their phones well before a storm arrives. Governments could also invest in better drainage in cities and stricter building standards in vulnerable areas. Finally, educating people about what to do in an emergency, for instance where the nearest shelter is, could save a lot of lives.