By Ajarn Helen Jandamit
Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post
University Tips is here to help you prepare for the English exams and tests that are coming your way. It gives you practise answering questions similar to those you may have at school and also on the University Entrance Examination.
Read the following story from the Bangkok Post. Then, answer the questions that follow.
Don’t panic if the person next to you looks upward and murmurs a word like cirrus, pileus or crepuscular. Those are Latin words used in the naming of clouds. Cirrus means a curling lock of hair. It refers to a cloud with thin, wispy strands. Pileus refers to a cap cloud. Crepuscular rays of light radiate from the point in the sky where the sun is located.
People who know these words might be members of Chom Rom Kon Rak Muan Mek, or the Cloud Lover Club, which is an informal gathering of people who are very interested in clouds.
Founded four years ago by Buncha Thanaboonsombut, a scientist at the National Metal and Materials Technology Center, the Cloud Lover Club has become increasingly popular.
In the first week of May, there were 25,000 members from Thailand alone, with more from Laos, Japan and Scandinavia. To join, prospective members must send a photo and an explanation of a cloud to the club’s website, www.cloudloverclub.com. Members often communicate and share cloud snapshots online. There are also discussions about clouds, weather and other subjects, such as cultural beliefs related to clouds.
The media often asks Buncha for scientific explanations regarding natural phenomena, such as unusual hail storms, or recently, on the wave pattern clouds that were believed to be a warning sign of the earthquake in Chiang Rai province. Buncha also writes for several magazines.
Buncha, called Ajarn Chill by club members, has been intrigued by clouds since he was a young boy.
Duangsamorn Ketprasert, an early member of the Cloud Lover Club, was born into a farming family. She learned to forecast the weather by looking at the sky. In 2011, she was forced by floods to stay on the upper storey of her home.
“I spent 55 days taking photos of clouds. It was a relief from the misery of having my home flooded,” Duangsamorn said, adding that she would have gone crazy if she’d had nothing to do.
Cloud lovers often do similar things. They usually carry a camera or a smartphone with a good camera feature and often wear sunglasses. Most of all, they are willing to go out of their way to collect clouds.
Exercises
Section 1
Read the story. Then, answer the following multiple-choice questions.
1. When was the Cloud Lover Club founded?
a. In the first week of May this year.
b. In 2011.
c. Four years ago.
2. Who founded the Cloud Lover Club?
a. Duangsamorn Ketprasert.
b. Buncha Thanaboonsombut.
c. Members of Chom Rom Kon Rak Muan Mek.
3. What do the words cirrus, pileus, crepuscular and cumulus refer to?
a. Different types of clouds.
b. Rays of light that radiate from the sun.
c. Cultural beliefs related to clouds.
4. What other name is Buncha known by?
a. Anchalee Kongrut.
b. Cumulus Congestus.
c. Ajarn Chill.
5. Buncha was asked to give information about cloud patterns believed to be a warning sign of the earthquake in _________.
a. Chiang Mai.
b. Chiang Rai.
c. Chaiyaphum.
6. What does the founder of the Cloud Lover Club do for a living?
a. He is a writer for magazines.
b. He is a farmer.
c. He is a scientist at the National Metal and Materials Technology Center.
7. What were the wave pattern clouds seen in Chiang Rai believed to signify?
a. A warning sign of an earthquake.
b. A scientific explanations of natural phenomena.
c. Unusual hail storms.
8. What does the word “pileus” mean?
a. It means shaped like an elephant.
b. It refers to a cap cloud.
c. It means a cloud with thin, wispy strands.
Section 2
Read the story again and decide whether each of the following statements is true or false.
9. Buncha works at the National Metal and Materials Technology Center.
……………………
10. The club’s website is www.cloudloveclub.com.
……………………
11. Duangsamorn was born into a farming family.
……………………
12. Duangsamorn said she spent 55 years taking photos of clouds.
……………………
13. Cirrus and crepuscular are Latin words.
……………………
Section 3
Fill in the blanks in the following passage with the correct words from the choices given.
Before joining the club, Phetchanart Mitkitti felt that cloud gazing …..14….. eccentric. Her opinion changed two years ago, when she .....15….. driving home from work.
“The sky was so beautiful …..16…. I had to stop the car and take out …..17….. mobile phone to capture the image,” she said. Since …..18….. it has become a ritual for Phetchanart to stop at …..19….. same spot to take a photo of the evening …..20…… and clouds.
14.
a. is
b. was
c. are
15.
a. is
b. will be
c. was
16.
a. this
b. which
c. that
17.
a. mine
b. her
c. my
18.
a. then
b. those
c. there
19.
a. the
b. a
c. an
20.
a. sunrise
b. programme
c. sky
Section 4
Read each of the following sentences and underline the grammatically correct words in each from the choices given.
21. Buncha founded the Cloud Lover Club four years ago and it has since become very popular/popularise/popularity.
22. Since he was a young boy, Buncha has been fascinate/fascination/fascinated by the beauty of clouds.
23. If you would like to be a member, please send a photo with an explanation of clouds to/into/with the club’s website.
24. Members use the club’s website to contact one another and share its/their/them ideas and photographs of clouds.
Vocabulary
- murmur (v): to say something in a soft quiet voice that is difficult to hear or understand
wispy (adj): consisting on small, thin pieces
radiate (v): to spread out in all directions from a central point
snapshot (n): a photograph
intrigued (adj): very interested in something and wanting to know more about it
