2. 外语
  3. Researchers said it was clear that the world’s oceans play a major role in queuing up rapid climate changes, but that thus far t

Researchers said it was clear that the world’s oceans play a major role in queuing up rapid climate changes, but that thus far t

admin2012-08-22  40
问题     Researchers said it was clear that the world’s oceans play a major role in queuing up rapid climate changes, but that thus far the mechanics (机制, 结构) of such changes were poorly understood.
    "It’s like being blindfolded and walking toward the edge of a cliff," said Wallace Brocker, a professor of environmental sciences at Columbia University. "We don’t understand (the factors) so we don’t really know what to look for. "
    Using ice cores drilled from glaciers and other ice sheets, the researchers have developed a model showing world temperatures’ rising and falling with unsettling frequency over the past 110 000 years.
    While some of the changes have been slow and steady, such as the end of the last Ice Age some 12 000 years ago, others have been swift and unexpected, such as the rapid warming of the North Atlantic from 1920 to 1930 and the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s.
    The most drastic temperature changes—believed to be as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit over the space of just a few years—exceed any recorded in human history, they said. This was not intended to alarm the public, but that they hoped it would stimulate policy makers to prepare for the possibility of rapid temperature flux.
    Greenhouse gases, emitted by fossil fuels such as oil and coal, have been linked by many researchers to a rise in global temperatures. A 1997 Kyoto Treaty on global warming sought to cut emissions of such gasses by developed nations, but the Bush administration this year spurned (轻蔑或傲慢地拒绝) the treaty, saying pollution controls would be too costly for the U. S. economy.
    The NAS panel called for research to identify what it described as "no-regrets" measures that would cost relatively little and would be good policies regardless of the extent of environmental change.
    Such measures could include regulations to reduce damage to water, air and land, or slow climate change, or helping societies cope with abrupt climate changes by developing new financial instruments such as weather derivatives (衍生证券) and catastrophe bonds to reflect the risks.
    Societies have faced both gradual and abrupt climate changes for millennial and have learned to adapt through various mechanisms, such as moving indoors, developing irrigation for crops, and migrating away from inhospitable (不适宜居住的) regions. It is important not to be fatalistic (宿命论的) about the threats posed by abrupt climate changes.
According to the author, confronted with abrupt climate changes, people should______.
选项 A、move indoors
B、move away from inhospitable regions
C、develop irrigation for crops
D、take active measures to cope with the threats posed by it
答案D
解析 细节题。根据最后一段，人们在过去曾面对过缓慢和急剧的气候变化，并采取过各种措施来适应，如待在家中、发展灌溉或从不适于居住的地区迁移出去。作者最后说，重要的是对于突然的气候变化所带来的威胁不要坐以待毙，不能持宿命论。所以D是正确答案。
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