For generations, the Nganyi people of western Kenya have served as rainmakers, helping local communities decide when best to prepare their land and sow their seeds. By observing subtle changes in nature that would be unnoticeable to most people-in air currents, the flowering and shedding of leaves of certain trees, the behaviour of ants, bird songs, etc-they have been able to interpret weather patterns and providevaluable advice.
But the irregular weather patterns brought by climate change mean the rainmakers can no longer use those sighs to make their predictions. And they don’t have access to the technologies available to meteorologists (气象学家).
“Climate change has come on so fast. People don’t know how to adapt or what to plant,”says Obedi Osoce, a traditional weatherman. “Our traditional crops are disappearing because they cannot handle the new conditions. We need new strategies to handle climate change.”
Now a British-Canadian project si doing just that, linking the rainmakers with government meteorologists. The two groups get together each season and produce an agreed forecast to be spread using a variety of methods suited to communities where many cannot read or write-through ceremonies, public meetings and person-to person comma-kation.
Both parties are pleased with the collaboration. “ I think the two sciences equally valid. We are marrying our energies to help people better,” says Mr. Onunga, a Nganyi community elder involved in the project.
‘The results have been surprisingly good-the community agreed that the forecast was accurate,” says Gilbert Ouma, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
“Through this project we hope to learn what it is that we can share together to live today and to adapt to tomorrow,”says Professor Laban Ogallo, leader of the Nganyi project. 【題組】37. What difficulty do local rainmakers face in making weather predictions?
(A) They cannot find an effective way to deliver messages.
(B) They lack modern technologies to cope with climate change.
(C) They cannot get financial support from the local government.
(D) They lack the facilities to stop traditional crops from disappearing.
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