雨云再見：英國公司提供晴天婚禮服務

Host： If you’re in New England， planning to get married， and just trying to figure out a date， let me guess， it’s not going to be when the snow is falling， which feels like it could go on…forever？ Nope， you’re gonna look into May or June， when there’s no snow. But then the question is， what about the rain？ Wedding planners don’t like that either. There is a solution for that though. A British travel company， Oliver’s Travels， says it can give you that dry， dream wedding. Natasja Rasmussen， your company can do this and guarantee a rain-free day？

Natasja： Yes. Yes， we can.

Host： How， how does it work？

Natasja： We’ve actually teamed up with some cloudbursting experts； they’re actually based in the States. And we’ve been specialising in weddings， 1）destination weddings over in France. And what happens is they send over a 2）meteorologist and a pilot， along with the aircraft. The aircraft will then travel over the clouds， and the clouds will burst and disappear before the big day. Host： Cloud bursting. So is this like cloud seeding？

Natasja： Exactly， yes， uh， cloud seeding is just another name for the cloud bursting.

Host： I know， like， governments have done this before. Isn’t this really expensive？

Natasja： You’re right. Previously I guess governments and famous people would’ve been available， but now we’re， uh， offering it to anyone that wants a…that would like their perfect wedding day in France.

Host： Right. And how much of a， a 3）premium does this add on to the overall price of a wedding？ Natasja： Yes， it is quite a premium： starts from￡100，000， which is around US$150，000， but for that you do get the three-week project， the pilot and meteorologist 4）on the ground the week before. And it is a 24-hour period prior to the wedding day， where the， uh， the cloud-seeding process does take place.

Host： So， where can you have this rain-free wedding？ Pretty much anywhere in the world？

Natasja： We were actually just launching it in France initially， ’cause that’s where our…a majority of our destination weddings take place， and then， hopefully， the， the service takes off， then we will offer it to other destination， hopefully here in the UK， ’cause obviously， as you can imagine， the weather here is， is not ideal 5）at the best of times. Get a lot of rain， especially up north.

Host： And I suppose， you just mentioned the UK， there probably are some “no-go” spots around the world where you would not offer the service， like India during 6）monsoon season.

Natasja： In extreme weather， such as hurricanes， potentially monsoons， that would be 7）out of the question， ’cause the weather probably cannot be controlled. But， yeah， any heavy cloudy area， lots of rain， the service does work.

主持人：如果你住在美國的新英格蘭地區，計劃舉行婚禮，正要確定日期，讓我猜猜看，你應該不會選下雪的時候，因為那雪好像……下個沒完似的？不，你會選擇五六月，在不下雪的時節。可是新的問題又來了：要是遇到下雨怎么辦呢？婚禮策劃人也不喜歡下雨。不過這個問題也有辦法解決。英國一家旅游公司——奧利弗旅行社表示，他們能為你提供一個干爽怡人的夢幻婚禮。娜塔莎·拉斯穆森，你的公司能夠做到這一點，并確保有個大晴天嗎？

娜塔莎：是的，沒錯，我們可以做到。

主持人：如何……你們是怎么做到的呢？

娜塔莎：事實上，我們與一些消云專家展開了合作；他們的工作地點其實就在美國。我們一直提供婚慶方面的專業服務，專營法國旅行結婚業務。具體做法就是他們會派來一位氣象學家、一名飛行員和一架飛機。飛機在云層上方飛過，進行人工消云，在大喜之日來臨之前讓積云消失殆盡。

主持人：消云，這和播云差不多吧？

娜塔莎：確實如此，是的，“播云”就是“消云”的另一種叫法。

主持人：我知道了，有些政府以前也干過這事。這不會很貴嗎？

娜塔莎：你說得沒錯。我想，以前只有政府或者名流能夠承擔這個技術費用，不過現在我們可以為任何想要……在法國舉辦一場完美婚禮的客戶提供服務。

主持人：好的。那么對一場婚禮的總費用來說，這項服務需要加收多少呢？

娜塔莎：沒錯，這確實是一筆不小的額外費用：十萬英鎊（約合92.1萬人民幣）起價，約合十五萬美元，不過這筆費用涵蓋了一個為期三周的計劃，飛行員和氣象專家會提前一周到當地進行準備。