Part 1: Photography:    

Do you like to take photographs?

I love taking photographs. I think it’s a great way to capture my most amazing experiences, so whenever I look back, all the memories seem to come flooding back. 

What types of photos do you like taking? Taking photos of people or of scenery? 

I think I’m going for taking scenery photos. Looking at the beauty of nature and capturing it are kind of mind-purifying to me and are good ways to escape from the artificial world.   

Do you prefer to take photos yourself or to have other people take your photos?

Honestly, taking a selfie is my cup of tea because I feel comfortable to see my face and hair through a crystal-clear glass. Also, it is much more difficult and ridiculous when I stand in front of somebody’s camera and have him or her take a photo of myself. 

Do you share your photos with other people on the Internet?

Many people do, but I don’t. I prefer to keep those memories to myself rather than sharing them with others, especially with the people on the Internet that I don’t really know to avoid online dangers sometimes. 

Do you prefer to send postcards to people or to send photos that you took yourself? 

Well, if I were to choose between the two, I’ll probably go with my own photos because they are unique and much more personal. Plus, seeing a lot of comments from friends is really a pleasant thing whereas postcards are not as meaningful as photos taken by myself.

Part 2: Describe a day when you thought the weather was perfect.

You should say:

Where you were on this day

What the weather was like on this day

What you did during the day

And explain why you thought the weather was perfect on this day. 

Thank you very much for this task card and the opportunity to let me talk about a day when the weather was just perfect.  

It would be around 4 to 5 months ago and I was supposed to meet my friends on our college campus in the morning. This was a weekend and we planned to visit a local park and then play cricket on our college playground. The wind was chilly the previous night and that is why I took a jacket with me. The sun, however, unlike the past few days, was shining brightly and the sky was clear and blue. Just after I reached the college campus, I found that my friends were already there. Together we walked to the park and spent an hour there. In fact, this was our favourite park and we often visited it during our college days. The sweet and gentle breeze in the park was quite comfortable. I checked the temperature on my smartphone and it showed that the temperature was 17-degree Celsius. The weather forecast said that the weather on this day would be quite comfortable and it would be a sunny day. Though weather forecasts are often proven wrong, this was not the case on this day! The slight possibility of fog on the weather forecast was also true but not before 11.00 pm at night.

After we left the park, we ate burgers at a local fast food restaurant and brought balls, stamps, bats and other equipment from a friend's house to play cricket. We played cricket for approximately 2 hours and I bowled for more than 7-8 overs. The humidity was so good that even after we played for a long, we were not perspiring. The wind did not bother our playing at all. What could we expect more than that!  

I went home at around 2.30 pm and was tired. After I took a shower, I slept for a while and went out for a walk with my mother in the evening.

The mild temperature, the sunshine, soothing humidity, gentle breeze, and the season made it a perfect day to hang out with friends, play outdoor games and take a walk in the evening. I was outside for the most part of the day and it was neither cold nor too hot. Previous few weeks were almost freezing cold and we hardly saw the sun during this time. However, the day I am talking about had been an exceptionally bright and sunny day with the clear blue sky and gentle wind. This was just a perfect weather everyone in our town could wish for!

Part 3: Types of weather

What types of weather do people in your country dislike most? Why is that?
A. People in my country, in general, hate the storm, heavy rain, and extremely hot or cold weather. It is natural that extreme weather conditions and storms disrupt our normal life and damage life and property on one hand, and bring discomfort for us on the other hand. So all of us enjoy the normal weather condition while dislike excessively hot or cold weather.

Q. What jobs can be affected by different weather conditions? Why?
A. I believe people who need to travel a long distance every day to reach their workplaces and those who have to remain outside most of the time are affected most severely by the bad weather condition. For instance, an office worker who travels more than 30 kilometers to get to his office finds it hard to ride his motorbike during heavy rain and similarly a vendor who sells street food on the corner of a street can’t stay outside due to severe weather. People avoid being outside on a rainy day and that’s why many shops lose their customers on such a day. Apart from that, drivers, who are on the road most of the time, farmers who grow crops, and marketing executives who go out most of their working day are also worse sufferers.

Q. Are there any important festivals in your country that celebrate a season or type of weather?
A. In fact, we have such festivals and Mid-Autumn Festival is one of them. It is  held on the 14th and 15th day of the eighth lunar month, features a wide range of activities such as children carrying paper lanterns, lion dances, and food booths selling moon cakes, sticky rice, fruits, and various sweets. Also known as the harvest festival, households set up an altar during the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, on which they display offerings in honour of the full moon. 

Weather forecasts

Q. How important do you think it is for everyone to check what the next day’s weather will be? Why?
A. I believe everyone should check the weather forecast for the next day and sometimes for the whole week. It is particularly easy these days as our handheld devices and the Internet can provide us with the latest weather updates at any time. Without knowing what the weather would be like, we might end up wearing inappropriately clothes and suffer due to this. If the prediction is a rainy day, we would be able to take an umbrella or a raincoat to avoid being soaked on the street. Similarly, a hot day forecast would allow us to dress up accordingly. Besides, we often plan for an outdoor activity or a tour to open space and if we do not check the weather forecast, our plans may be completely ruined.

Q. What is the best way to get accurate information about the weather?
A. I believe the Internet can be a reliable source for checking weather updates and predictions. Weather-Forecast.com and AccuWeather.com are the two reliable sources for such information and they have mobile applications that we can use on our mobile phones to get updates on the weather. Many people in my country use local TV and radio stations to get weather forecast and updates as well.

Q. How easy or difficult is it to predict the weather in your country? Why is that?
A. I believe the weather forecast in my country has become more accurate these days than the past and technological advancement has made it possible. Meteorologists now have a combination of different approaches and mathematical trajectory system to analyze and prepare the weather forecast. However, we must bear in mind that, weather prediction is not accurate all the time and the best forecasts take into account the weather events that are happening over a wide region. This is why despite the use of satellite data, supercomputers, Doppler radar, weather buoys, ships, and spacecraft we can’t always have perfectly accurate weather forecast.