專四晨讀美文：Rainy Britain

Rainy Britain
Britain is famous around the world for its rainy weather.
Torrential downpours have caused rivers to burst their banks,
roads have been closed
and many people have been evacuated from their homes
because of the floods.
The worst hit area seems to be the north of England.
There have even been fatalities as people got stuck in the rain
or were washed away by the floodwaters.
Flood warnings have been issued in many parts of the UK
and it is said that over a month's worth of rain
has fallen in just the last couple of days.
The rain has also caused chaos
at some of Britain's famous June events.
The Glastonbury festival is
a four-day-long outdoor music festival
and while it is traditionally quite rainy and muddy there.
Everyone was wearing wellies
and there have been many pictures
in the newspapers of people covered from head to toe in mud.
It rained throughout the festival
and with more than 170,000 revellers
walking around and camping on the grounds,
it didn't take long for the site to turn into a mud bath.
June also sees the start of the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
The start of play on the first day
was delayed by half an hour or so because of the rain
and had to be halted again mid-afternoon for a couple of hours.
There are no floods in the London region though,
just frequent showers.
So while the British would like to have glorious sunshine
during the summer months,
the rain continues to fall in most areas.
People in Britain are used to having unpredictable weather—
cold rainy summer days and warmer winter months.
However this amount of rain and devastation
is even more unexpected.
People can only hope that the rain will stop soon
and the sun will come out,
so they can eventually start to enjoy a nicer summer.