The climate of any place is the kind of weather it usually has over a long period of time. The houses we live in, the clothes we wear, and the food we eat depend on the climate of the place where we live.
Climate is a pattern(模式) that is not nearly as simple as we think, and it is affected by many factors. For example, the distance to the North or South Pole or to the equator really matters a lot. If you live near either of the poles, you live in a cold climate, for the place where you live does not get as much or as direct sunshine as a place farther away from the poles. In places close to the equator, the climate is very hot, for they are the parts where the sun shines almost straight down.
Whether rain or snow falls makes a great difference to the climate. In hot, dry deserts, little rain falls, but in a hot rainforest, the amount of rainfall is far larger than that in a desert, for there is a heavy rain almost every day, even several times per day. Though a rainforest and a desert may be the same distance from the equator, their climates are rather different from each other. How much rain or snow falls is considered by some to be determined by the winds, the surrounding mountains and the currents(水流) in nearby seas and so on. In short, it is a very complex natural phenomenon(现象).
