For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. Late November and December __1___ early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two __2___, record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception: November was the warmest ever ___3__, and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.

Enjoy the snow now, because __4___ are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept.

That's because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an El Niuo year.

El Niuo, Spanish for "the child", __5___ when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet's surface, that the __6___ energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. El Niuo are ___7__ with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa ___8__ dry weather. Marine life may be affected too: El Niuos can ___9__ the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich (营养丰富的) water that supports large fish _10__,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral (珊瑚).

A. additional

B. associated 

C. bore 

D. chances

E. communicated

F. decades

G. experiences

H. globally

I. logically 

J. occurs 

K. populations

 L. realize 

M. reduce

 N. saw
 O. specifi