首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. Climate
READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below. Climate
admin
2009-05-13
53
问题
READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Climate Change: Instant Expert
A
Climate change is with us. A decade ago, it was conjecture. Now the future is unfolding before our eyes. Canada’s Inuit see it in disappearing Arctic ice and permafrost. The shantytown dwellers of Latin America and Southern Asia see it in lethal storms and floods. Europeans see it in disappearing glaciers, forest fires and fatal heat waves. Scientists see it in tree rings, ancient coral and bubbles trapped in ice cores. These reveal that the world has not been as warm as it is now for a millennium or more. The three warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998; 19 of the warmest 20 since 1980. And Earth has probably never warmed as fast as in the past 30 years--a period when natural influences on global temperatures, such as solar cycles and volcanoes should have cooled us down.
B
Climatologists reporting for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say we are seeing global warming caused by human activities. People are causing the change by burning nature’s vast stores of coal, oil and natural gas. This releases billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year, although the changes may actually have started with the dawn of agriculture, say some scientists. The physics of the "greenhouse effect" has been a matter of scientific fact for a century. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps the Sun’s radiation within the troposphere, the lower atmosphere. It has accumulated along with other manmade greenhouse gases, such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Some studies suggest that cosmic rays may also be involved in warming.
C
If current trends continue, we will raise atmospheric CO2 concentrations to double pre-industrial levels during this century. That will probably be enough to raise global temperatures by around 2℃ to 5℃. Some warming is certain, but the degree will be determined by cycles involving melting ice, the oceans, water vapour, clouds and changes to vegetation. Warming is bringing other unpredictable changes. Melting glaciers and precipitation are causing some rivers to overflow, while evaporation is emptying others. Diseases are spreading. Some crops grow faster while others see yields slashed by disease and drought. Clashes over dwindling water resources may cause conflicts in many regions.
D
As natural ecosystems--such as coral reefs--are disrupted, biodiversity is reduced. Most species cannot migrate fast enough to keep up, though others are already evolving in response to warming. Thermal expansion of the oceans, combined with melting ice on land, is also raising sea levels. In this century, human activity could trigger an irreversible melting of the Greenland ice sheet. This would condemn the world to a rise in sea level of six metres--enough to flood land occupied by billions of people. E The global warming would be more pronounced if it were not for sulphur particles and other pollutants that shade us, and because forests and oceans absorb around half of the CO2 we produce. But the accumulation rate of atmospheric CO2 has doubled since 2001, suggesting that nature’s ability to absorb the gas could now be stretched to the limit. Recent research suggests that natural CO2 "sinks", like peat bogs and forests, are actually starting to release CO2.
F
At the Earth Summit in 1992, the world agreed to prevent "dangerous" climate change. The first step was the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which came into force during 2005. It will bring modest emission reductions from industrialised countries. Many observers say deeper cuts are needed and developing nations, which have large and growing populations, will one day have to join in. Some, including the US Bush administration, say the scientific uncertainty over the pace of climate change is grounds for delaying action. The US and Australia have reneged on Kyoto. Most scientists believe we are under-estimating the dangers.
G
In any case, according to the IPCC, the world needs to quickly improve the efficiency of its energy usage and develop renewable non-carbon fuels like: wind, solar, tidal, wave and perhaps nuclear power. It also means developing new methods of converting this clean energy into motive power, like hydrogen fuel cells for cars. Other less conventional solutions include ideas to stave off warming by "mega-engineering" the planet with giant mirrors to deflect the Sun’s rays, seeding the oceans with iron to generate algal blooms, or burying greenhouse gases below the sea. The bottom line is that we will need to cut CO2 emissions by 70% to 80% simply to stabilise atmospheric CO2 concentrations--and thus temperatures. The quicker we do that, the less unbearably hot our future world will be.
选项
答案
D
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ASVO777K
本试题收录于:
雅思阅读题库雅思(IELTS)分类
0
雅思阅读
雅思(IELTS)
相关试题推荐
Whichofthefollowing,iftrue,mostlogicallycompletesthepolitician’sargument?UnitedStatespolitician:Althoughtheamou
Incontrastwithadarksurfaceanditstendencytowardheatabsorption,alargeexpanseofsnowandicereflectsincomingradia
Akeydecisionrequiredofadvertisingmanagersiswhethera"hard-sell"or"soft-sell"strategyisappropriateforaspecifict
Inadditiontoconventionalgalaxies,theuniversecontainsverydimgalaxiesthatuntilrecentlywentunnoticedbyastronomers.
Unlikeautoinsurance,thefrequencyofclaimsdoesnotaffectthepremiumsforpersonalpropertycoverage,butiftheinsurance
Acertainjarcontains100jellybeans:50white,30green,10yellow,5red,4purple,and1black.Ifajellybeanistobech
Thebuyerofacertainmechanicaltoymustchoose2of4optionalmotionsand4of5optionalaccessories.Howmanydifferentco
Thefollowing3questionrefertothedataabove.Thegraphaboveshowshowasampleof10differentvoters(verticalaxis)vot
Adresserdrawercontains15garments.If40percentofthosegarmentsareblouses,howmanyarenotblouses?
随机试题
电杆在架空杆路中的位置怎样区分?
1946—1966年的“十七年”小说在哪两个领域获得突出的收获()
治疗胃寒呕逆,宜选用的药物是
锁骨骨折整复后禁止做以下哪种动作
急性乳腺炎多发生于
如果兴海公司未能交货是由于当地山洪暴发,导致道路不通,能否以此为由向外贸公司主张免责?为什么?如果当地大蒜由于暴雨而减产,如果完成供货任务,兴海公司必须付出上千万元的价款购买大蒜,能否以此为理由请求不再履行?为什么?
根据《企业财务会计报告条例》的规定,企业对外提供虚假财务会计报告,可以对企业()。
货物买卖合同属于()。
《中华人民共和国教育法》自_______年9月1日起开始实施。
IntranetWare是Novell公司的网络操作系统,它是在NetWare中集成了______服务功能后,推出的新版操作系统。
最新回复
(
0
)