Новости для перевода Новость 1. По прогнозам синоптиков, первая половина мая на Камчатке будет пасмурной

Циклон, который сейчас влияет на погоду на Камчатке, постепенно смещается вдоль западного побережья на север Охотского моря. Однако ему на смену идет очередной фронт непогоды. Об этом корреспонденту ИА REGNUM 10 мая сообщила начальник отдела метеопрогнозов "Камчатгидрометеоцентра" Анна Приходько.

По ее словам, новый циклон так же, как и предыдущий, подойдет к полуострову со стороны Японии. "Он также принесет дожди и временами мокрый снег. Только 11 мая между циклонами, возможно, будет небольшой перерыв и на короткое время может появиться солнце. Первая половина мая на Камчатке будет пасмурной и малоприятной. Но в целом, это обычная камчатская весна", - сказала Приходько.

Новость 2.

Today we visit two of the most unusual national parks in the United States.  They are Volcanoes National Park and Haleakala National Park, both in Hawaii. What is the tallest mountain on Earth?  Most school children will say the answer is Mount Everest near the border between Nepal and Tibet.

There is something that is three hundred four meters taller than Mount Everest.  However, it is mainly underwater.  It begins at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and rises more than seventeen kilometers from the ocean floor.

Its name is Mauna Loa.  In the Hawaiian language, Mauna Loa means “Long Mountain.”  Mauna Loa is more than half of the island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian Islands.  

It is also the largest and most active volcano on Earth.  It has disgorged liquid rock called lava more than thirty times since records were first kept in eighteen forty-three.  Today, Mauna Loa is dormant. However volcano experts say it is only a matter of time before this happens once again.

Mauna Loa is not the only volcano on the island of Hawaii.  There are four others.  Three of them are no longer active.  One of them still is active.  It is named Kilauea.  It has disgorged lava more than fifty times in the last one hundred years.  At this moment, red hot lava is pouring out of Kilauea.  It has been doing this since nineteen eighty-three. 

Sometimes the lava moves slowly.  At other times it pours out very fast as huge amounts of pressure force it from the volcano.  During these times, it moves almost as quickly as water moving down the side of a mountain.  Sometimes Kilauea produces large amounts of lava that seem like rivers of fire.

When the lava from Kilauea reaches the ocean, its fierce heat produces great amounts of steam that rise into the air.  The lava is so hot it continues to burn underwater for some time.  The lava from Kilauea continues to add land to the island as the volcanoes of Hawaii have always done.  It is these volcanoes that formed the islands of Hawaii.

Experts say the volcanoes of the island of Hawaii are proof that the changing environment of Earth is, and will always remain, beyond human control.

Map of the world

'Tornado Season' Begins in the United States

BARBARA KLEIN: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we will tell about the science of tornadoes. Tornadoes have been observed in many parts of the world. But the storms are most often found in the United States.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Tornado season has begun in the United States. More than sixty tornadoes were reported in the country's southeast during the last weekend in April. One tornado measuring more than a kilometer wide struck the state of Mississippi. It destroyed homes, blocked roads and cut off electricity.

The storms were blamed for ten deaths in Mississippi, and two others in nearby Alabama. Weather experts believe it was the most intense tornado event since two thousand eight.

BOB DOUGHTY: A tornado is a violently turning tube of air suspended from a thick cloud. It extends from a thunderstorm in the sky down to the ground. The shape is like a funnel: wide at the top, narrower at the bottom.

Tornadoes form when winds blowing in different directions meet in the clouds and begin to turn in circles. Warm air rising from below causes the wind tube to reach toward the ground. Because of their circular movement, these windstorms are also known as twisters.

The most severe tornadoes can reach wind speeds of three hundred twenty kilometers an hour or more. In some cases, the resulting paths of damage can stretch more than a kilometer wide and eighty kilometers long.

BARBARA KLEIN: With a tornado, bigger does not necessarily mean stronger. Large tornadoes can be weak. And some of the smallest tornadoes can be the most damaging. But no matter what the size, tornado winds are the strongest on Earth. Tornadoes have been known to carry homes, cars and trees from one place to another. They can also destroy anything in their path.

Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. But experts say they are most commonly seen in the United States. On average, eight hundred tornadoes are reported nationwide each year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps records of tornado sightings. It says tornadoes kill eighty people and injure one thousand five hundred others nationwide in an average year.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Tornadoes are observed most often in the central part of the United States, where the land is mostly flat. The area where the most violent tornadoes usually happen is known as “Tornado Alley.” This area is considered to extend from north-central Texas to North Dakota.

Tornadoes can happen any time of the year. But most happen from late winter to the middle of summer. In some areas, there is a second high season in autumn...

Planning a Wedding Becomes a Marriage of a Million Details

Each year, more than two million weddings take place in the United States.  The Association for Wedding Professionals International says more than eighty thousand million dollars is spent on those weddings.  And that does not include honeymoon travel for the newlyweds.

Some people have big weddings and invite everyone they know.  Some have small, simple weddings and invite only their closest friends and family members.  And some elope.  They get married first and tell people later.

Still another choice is a "destination wedding."  These are popular now.  The bride and groom invite a small group of guests to travel to someplace special for the ceremony.  Think of it as a wedding and honeymoon all in one.

June is the beginning of summer.  It is also considered the traditional start of the wedding season.

Hollywood has had a lot of fun with weddings.  In the summer of two thousand five there was the movie "Wedding Crashers."  Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn play two friends who trick their way into weddings.  Why?  Simple: to meet women.    

Many couples organize their weddings themselves.  But some hire a wedding planner to organize everything for them.  The planner helps the bride find a wedding dress as well as dresses for her bridesmaids. 

The planner helps find a place for the reception after the ceremony.  And the planner organizes all the details for the celebration, from the flowers to the food to the entertainment. 

In the movie "The Wedding Planner," Jennifer Lopez stars as a highly organized planner with a suddenly disorganized personal life.  She falls in love with a doctor, played by Matthew McConaughey.  Only he turns out to be the man who is supposed to marry her most important client.

Traditionally the bride's parents pay for the wedding.  But Americans now get married at an older age than they once did.  So working couples might pay for some or all of the wedding themselves.  “What a wonderful idea,” once joked a real-life father of the bride. 

Couples can have a religious ceremony.  Or they can have a civil wedding before a judge or other public official.  Or they can have both.  The couple might also read special vows they have written for each other.

Many ceremonies share common customs.  For example, the bride may wear a long white dress and have a white veil over her face.  The veil is pulled back when the newlyweds kiss at the end of the ceremony. 

The groom traditionally wears a tuxedo.  If the suit is black and the shirt is white, picture in your mind a penguin.  A nervous penguin.

An old tradition says brides should wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.  These four things are supposed to bring good luck.

Different cultures have their own traditions.  At African-American weddings, for example, there is "jumping the broom."  This is an old tradition where couples jump over a broomstick laid on the ground.

America is known as a nation of immigrants.  Each group brings its own wedding customs and traditions to the mix.  But one tradition at most weddings is music.  Many people hire D.J.s, disc jockeys, to play recorded dance music.  A wedding might also have live music.