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This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations. April 05, 2005 Rain, rain, come again! INTRODUCTION

In instant lesson, we often include notes designed to help you follow particular news stories – the recent general election being an example. One topical news story that often hits the headlines is the artificial rain-making operation here in Thailand, presided over by His Majesty the King. In the two stories presented here, you can read more about how the rain-making process works as well as how His Majesty is co-ordinating the operation. With each story, we have highlighted difficult words and defined them. Some of these words, by their nature, will regularly appear in news stories that report on this topic. Can you figure out which ones? (We’ve printed a list of suggestions in the box below but don’t look at it until you have had a go yourself.) Keep a note of these words and definitions and refer to them when reading a future news story on rain-making activities. Eventually, you’ll simply remember the vocabulary and won’t the need notes. Teachers This short exercise works well as a reading lesson and helps build on subject-specific vocabulary. You could also use the articles as part of a large project whereby students follow the success of the rain-making operation and learn how it all works.

OUR STORIES FROM THE BANGKOK POST HM oversees rain-making operations Special team set up to deal with crisis by POST REPORTERS His Majesty the King is a click away from monitoring the rain-making efforts nation wide as he advises technicians to learn from experiences of the past. Metha Ratchatapiti, the artificial rain-making expert, said the King was afforded an on-demand computerised access to every step of the rain-making operation. Details of anything from real-time weather updates to cloud-seeding flights were compiled in a computer, which His Majesty the King could call up at any time. “His Majesty can get the pulse of what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” Mr Metha said. His Majesty has taken charge of the Hua Hin rain-making centre, directing the process. Mr Metha said the King had stressed the need to emulate the successful rain-making techniques that have been employed in the past. His Majesty has disseminated useful advice during the 50-year history of rain making. Mr Metha admitted the weather conditions were not ideal for cloud-seeding. The process usually begins early in the day by locating where humidity levels are favourable. The clouds are allowed to gather and thicken. The chemicals are then sprinkled to make rain at night. The limitation had been the small fleet of Agriculture Ministry-owned cloud-seeding aircraft. But the problem has eased with the airforce’s loan of planes. Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob has appointed a special working team to battle drought. The rain-making technicians will meet at the Hua Hin centre this weekend for an intensive re-training programme. One rain-making unit in the north ran into glitches brought on by low humidity. The Phitsanulok-based unit was able to dispatch flights only on three days this week. However, Mongkol Vichianchit, director of irrigation office 3 in Phitsanulok, said that he expected there would be enough water to last until the rainy season. In Surin, hundreds of cows have died in the drought. Villagers had asked a feed centre in neighbouring Roi Et for supplies to sustain the remaining livestock. Twelve districts in Kanchanaburi were also ravaged by the worst drought in several decades. Badly affected are Bor Ploy, Huay Krajao, Lao Kwan and Non Prue districts where most reservoirs, creeks and artesian wells were drying up. monitor to watch and check something over a period of time in order to see how it develops artificial made or produced to copy something natural; not real cloud-seeding to plant chemicals in the clouds to generate rain pulse the feel for something disseminate o spread information, knowledge, etc. so that it reaches many people conditions the physical situation that affects how something happens humidity the amount of water in the air sprinkle to throw small pieces of something or drops of a liquid on something drought a long period of time when there is little or no rain glitch a small problem or that stops something working successfully irrigation the supply of water to an area of land through pipes or channels so that crops will grow livestock farm animals sustain to keep something going, or, in this case, alive artesian well a hole made in the ground through which water rises to the surface by natural pressure Rain-making efforts pay off in wide areas by CHAIWAT SADYAEM Workers from the royal rain-making unit in Lop Buri prepare dry ice for cloud-seeding operations over Srinakharin dam in Kanchanaburi to raise the level of water in the adjacent reservoir. — Tawatchai Kemgumnerd Prachuap Khiri Khan – Rain-making operations, directed by the rain-making centre in Hua Hin district, have brought ample rain to two water retention zones in Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan and nearby areas. Watana Sukanchanaset, director of Hua Hin rain-making operations centre, yesterday called a meeting of academics, pilots and staff at the centre in Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan, to evaluate their operations. According to the meeting, it was raining on Tuesday in 10 provinces where 10 rain-making centres were located. The centre in Hua Hin sent four aircraft to make rain in Kui Buri district and Sam Roi Yot subdistrict of Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Kaeng Krachan district of Phetchaburi all day Tuesday. They spread enough chemicals to bring rainfall to Pran Buri dam's water-holding area (56.5mm of rainwater), Kaeng Krachan dam’s water retention area (46.8mm of rainwater) and Ratchaburi’s Suan Phung district. Tuesday’s operations were carried out in line with His Majesty the King's advice and included two Super Sandwich operations at 20,000 feet or more to generate natural rain. The meeting also came up with regulations to ensure safety for reporters wanting to board rain-making aircraft. Yesterday morning, five aircraft were sent from the centre to operate above seaside river basins in Prachuap Khiri Khan and sprinkle rain-making substances at 4,500-6,000 feet above Kui Buri and Pran Buri districts and Sam Roi Yot subdistrict all day. Humidity was lower than for the day before. However, no rainfall was reported in these areas yesterday. ML Jitithewal Devakul, a pilot attached to Hua Hin rain-making operation centre, said intensive training on rain-making techniques following His Majesty's advice was proving useful. water retention the action of keeping water rather than losing it evaluate to form an opinion of the amount, value or quality of something after thinking about it carefully generate to produce or create something • This lesson was prepared by Neil Stoneham, an experienced secondary school teacher and trained journalist. Read our other learner centre columns here. Return to our home page. | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2005 | Last modified: April 05, 2005