· 9 lists · 361 words

Nature, weather and environment

Weather, seasons, animals, plants, geography, disasters, energy.

What holds these lists together

Chinese weather needs no "it". 下雨(xiàyǔ)了(le) is "it is raining", literally "falls rain", and the 了(le) says that it has started; snow works the same way, 下雪(xiàxuě). The characters of the natural world often show what they belong to: 河(hé), a river, 湖(hú), a lake, and 海(hǎi), the sea, all carry the three drops of the water component on their left, and a learner who sees the component can guess the field of a word before knowing it. The later lists are the vocabulary of the forecast, the news and the report: climate, pollution, energy and the words heard when an earthquake or a flood is in the headlines.

The nine lists

2Weather and seasonsSun, rain, wind and snow, the four seasons, and how warm it is.40 words 2Nature and animalsMountains, rivers and the sea, trees and flowers, pets and animals.40 words 3Weather and climateClimate, the forecast, and the weather beyond plain sun and rain.41 words 3Nature and the natural worldThe landscape, the sky above it and what the ground is made of.40 words 3Animals and plantsFarm and wild animals, birds and insects, and how plants grow.40 words 4Looking after the environmentSaving energy and water, sorting rubbish, and the words on recycling bins and signs.40 words 4Geography: land, water and regionsPlains, plateaus, rivers, coasts and the words for regions and provinces.40 words 4Disasters and emergenciesEarthquakes, floods, fires and storms, and the words for rescue, shelter and rebuilding.40 words 5Environment and energyWhere power comes from, what it leaves behind, and the living world it affects.40 words

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.

Level	Words	Share
2	82	23 %
3	126	35 %
4	116	32 %
5	37	10 %

Practise this category

Multiple choice and gaps, across all nine lists and all 361 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.