It has become a recurring theme, and worryingly so. Since October 2015, our planet has experienced ten consecutive months of hum

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问题    It has become a recurring theme, and worryingly so. Since October 2015, our planet has experienced ten consecutive months of human-influenced, record-breaking temperature increases. The previous October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May and June months were all documented as the warmest Octobers, the warmest Januarys, the warmest Aprils; global heat highs are the hot new trend and the data suggests they are here to stay.
   According to NASA, July 2016 is not only the warmest July in history, but the warmest month in recorded history. NASA has tallied temperature changes from 1880 to the present day, with its data showing no signs of a slow-up in rising temperatures. Climate scientists have been perplexed in their attempts to understand the factors pushing the mercury so far up the thermometer this year. El Nino—the phenomenon explaining the unusual warming of surface waters in the east-central zone of the Pacific Ocean—has been tied to increased ocean water temperatures and changes in weather patterns.
   Important as it is to factor El Nino into the climate change framework, it is highly unlikely that it has contributed significantly to the hurried, upward trend witnessed these past ten months. If anything, focus on the subsiding effects of El Nino risks detracting attention from the pressure asserted on the climate by human activity.
   Greenhouse gases continue to bloat the atmosphere, trapping heat as atmospheric escape routes are obscured. Further exacerbating the climate change panic seems to be an unusually high temperature currently being experienced in the Arctic region. Arctic sea ice is the most vulnerable to climate change, and is now at a new low with ice cover down to 14. 54m sq km.
   With no clear solution in sight, the ice is destined to continue melting, with longer melting seasons becoming a normal occurrence. The U. S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration have noted a similar trend for the past 14 months, and are expected to release a similar figure for July. Though the rise is expected to taper off towards the end of the year, a scientist drew attention to how there is a "99 percent chance of a new annual record in 2016". As we confront the reality that many of these changes are as a direct consequence of human intervention, it is very possible that without the appropriate response, we could be contending with broken records for years to come.  
Climate scientists______.

选项 A、have made out why earth temperatures are rising
B、have been unsuccessful in tracing weather patterns
C、have had trouble identifying the causes of El Nino
D、have associated El Nino with the recent hot weather

答案B

解析 细节题。定位到第二段第三、四句。科学家们不明白今年不寻常升温的原因。厄尔尼诺常常与不寻常的水温上升、极端天气模式联系在一起。[A]“科学家已经分析出地球气温上升的原因”;[B]“科学家们并没能成功地追溯出天气变化模式”,这里trace有追本溯源、探究原因的意思;[C]“科学家们没能确定厄尔尼诺现象的成因”;[D]“把厄尔尼诺和最近的炎热天气联系在一起”。通过翻译及推理可以得出答案为[B]。
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