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, the foods we eat depend on the climate of the place where we live.
Climate is a pattern that is not nearly as simple as we think, and it is affected by many factors. The distance to the North or South Pole（极，极点，） or the equator (赤道) 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 sunshines 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 rainfalls 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 are 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）.
54.This passage mainly talks about       .
A. weather             B. different climates     
C. climate and its determining factors   D. the difference between weather and climate
55.The difference of the climates between a tropical (热带的)desert and a tropical rainforest affected by       .
A. the amount of rainfalls    
B. the winds and the surrounding mountains
C. the currents in near seas
D. how much sunshine the two different places can get
56. From the context, we can guess that the word “complex” is       and it       .
A. a noun; means a simple thing
B. an adjective; means being easy to understand
C. an adverb; has almost the same meaning of “rather”
D. an adjective; means being difficult to understand