If you like sport， the American winter is a good time for you.

Winter sports are popular in North America. In winter time， a large part of the land is covered1 in snow. This lasts for up to four months.

Only two parts of the USA are warm in winter. One is the coasts2， especially3Florida and southern California. One is the southern part of the Mississippi.

Everywhere else it gets cold， often very cold. By the end of November， manyAmerican states are often covered in snow. Recent winters are not so cold. But sportin winter usually means snow sports， or indoor4 sports.

By January， many places in North America will be very cold. The temperatures5 are -30C. Sure， not every day is so cold， but such low temperaturesare usual. In Chicago and Minneapolis， the temperature can be as low as -40.

When it is very cold， people usually don’t want to go outside. Sometimes there is a cold wind. That is worse. But on sunny winter days， winter sports are popular.

In the middle of North America， the most popular winter sports are snowmobiling6， snow-shoeing7 and cross-country skiing. Ice-skating8 is popular，too. Lakes and rivers freeze9， and many towns and cities have open-air skatingrinks10. They are free to use. In many places， there are lights after dark. So peoplecan enjoy skating in the evening.

However， for many people， real “winter sports”means downhill skiing11. Inthe USA， there are two main areas for downhill skiing： the Adirondack Mountains inthe North East， and the Rockies in the West.

The Rockies may be the best place in the world for skiing. North America hasa “continental12”climate13. It means dry and cold winters. So the snow here isusually very dry and powdery14. It is good for skiing. So North America has somemost famous skiing resorts15. They are mostly as high as over 2，000 metres.

如果你喜歡運動，美國的冬天對你來說是個好時節(jié)。

冬季運動在北美地區(qū)很受歡迎。在冬季，大部分土地被雪覆蓋。這會持續(xù)長達四個月。

美國只有兩個地區(qū)冬季氣溫溫和。一個是海岸地區(qū)，尤其是佛羅里達和南加州。一個是密西西比南部。

其余地方都變得寒冷，通常是嚴寒，到11 月底，美國許多州經常被雪覆蓋。近幾年的冬天沒有那么冷。但冬季運動通常是指雪上運動或室內運動。

到一月份，北美的許多地方會非常寒冷，溫度為零下30℃。當然，不是每一天都這么冷。但這樣的低溫很常見。在芝加哥和明尼阿波利斯，溫度可低至零下40℃。

當天氣很冷時，人們通常不想出門。有時會刮起冷風，那更糟。但在陽光明媚的冬日，冬季運動很受歡迎。

在北美中部，最受歡迎的冬季運動是雪地摩托、雪鞋徒步和越野滑雪。溜冰也很受歡迎。湖泊和河流都結冰了，許多城鎮(zhèn)開設了露天溜冰場，它們是免費使用的。在許多地方，天黑后都有燈光照明。因此，人們可以在晚上享受滑冰的樂趣。

然而，對于許多人來說，真正的“冬季運動”是指高山滑雪。在美國，有兩個主要的高山滑雪地區(qū)：東北部的阿迪朗達克山脈和西部的落基山脈。

落基山脈可能是世界上最好的滑雪勝地。北美洲屬于“大陸性”氣候，這意味著冬天干燥又寒冷。所以這里的雪通常非常干燥，猶如干粉。這種雪很適合滑雪。因此，北美有幾處最著名的滑雪勝地。它們大多海拔高達2000 米以上。

The best resorts are in Colorado and Utah. There， the air is usuallybeautifully clear in the winter time. Colorado has the most famous skiingresorts in America. They are Vail and Aspen. The stars and the rich go therein their winter holidays. But Utah is just as good as them. It has many great slopes16 for skiing.

There is one big difference between American ski resorts and most Alpineresorts in Europe. That is the traffic17！

For most Americans， people have to fly to ski resorts. It is because mostAmerican cities are far from the Rockies. Americans have short holidays， sothey cannot drive to the Rockies. Driving takes several days.

However， if you live in Los Angeles and other West Coast cities， you live near the resorts. You can drive to ski resorts. It just takes a few hours.

American ski resorts help visitors who come by plane. When visitorsarrive， they can take buses. Lots of ski resorts have free buses. They are fromthe nearest airports18. In some places， there are free buses between the hotelsand the slopes.

Then， people do not drive for hours to the slopes. It is so slow. And the air is not polluted19.

The environment20 there is not going to become worse. The environment in America’s mountains is very important. People should not pollute it.

最好的度假勝地在科羅拉多州和猶他州。那里冬天的空氣通常非常清新。科羅拉多州擁有美國最著名的滑雪勝地。它們是韋爾和阿斯彭。明星和富人在冬季假期時會去那里。猶他州的和它們一樣好。那兒有許多很棒的滑雪斜坡。

美國滑雪勝地和歐洲的大多數阿爾卑斯山滑雪勝地之間有一個很大的不同點。那就是交通！

對于大多數美國人來說，人們必須坐飛機去滑雪勝地。這是因為大多數美國城市都離落基山脈很遠。美國人的假期很短，所以他們不能開車去落基山脈，開車需要幾天時間。

但是，如果你住在洛杉磯和其他西海岸城市，那離滑雪勝地就很近了。你可以開車前往，只需要幾個小時。

美國滑雪勝地為乘飛機前來的游客提供幫助。當游客到達時，他們可以乘坐公共汽車。許多滑雪勝地都有免費公交，它們會從最近的機場出發(fā)。在其中一些地方，酒店和滑雪坡之間也有免費公交。

這樣，人們就不會開幾個小時的車到滑雪坡。那太慢了。而且空氣也不會被污染。

當地的環(huán)境不會變得更糟。美國山區(qū)的環(huán)境非常重要，人們不應該污染它。