Ice from the massive Greenland ice sheet will eventually raise global sea level by at least 10 inches (27 meters) on its own, according to a recent study.
Zombie or doomed ice is ice that is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but is no longer getting fed by those larger glaciers. That’s because the parent glaciers are getting less replenishing snow, said study co-author William Colgan, a glaciologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
“It’s dead ice. It’s just going to melt and disappear from the ice sheet regardless of what climate scenario we take now.” Colgan said in an interview. Jason Box, another glaciologist at the Greenland survey, also said it is “more like one foot in the grave”.
What scientists did for the study was look at the ice in balance. Normally, snowfall in the mountains in Greenland flows down and recharges and thickens the sides of glacicrs, balancing out what’s melting on the edges. But in the last few decades, there’s less replenishment and more melting, creating imbalance. Based on the ratio of what’s being added to what’s being lost, the study authors calculated that 3.3% of Greenland’s total ice volume will melt, contributing to at least ten inches in sea level rise, a global average.
This is the first time scientists calculated a minimum ice loss - and accompanying sea level rise - for Greenland, one of Earth’s two massive ice sheets that are slowly shrinking because of climate change from burning coal, oil and natural gas.
As for the timing of the committed melting, Colgan responded that the team doesn’t know how long it will take the doomed ice to melt, but making an educated guess, it would probably be by the end of this century or at least by 2150.
1. What does the underlined word “replenishing” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Added. | B．Left. | C．Exchanged. | D．Decreased. |
| A．Scientists step onto the great ice sheet. |
| B．There is more than one foot in the tomb. |
| C．The melting of the doomed ice IS unavoidable. |
| D．The Zombie ice in Greenland looks like one foot. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Objective. | C．Critical | D．Optimistic. |
| A．Zombie ice in Greenland will melt in the near future. |
| B．Scientists did a research on the massive Greenland ice sheet. |
| C．The greenhouse effect accounts for the disappearance of the ice sheet. |
| D．Doomed ice in Greenland will lead to sea level rise by at least 27 centimeters. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】The brain is often seen as the most important organ of us humans. It controls our thoughts, emotions, memories and even our movements. However, what many people often forget is that the brain and the body are closely connected.
Studies have shown that regular exercise can significantly improve cognitive functions such as memory, attention and problem-solving abilities.
Exercise increases the production of proteins that promote the growth and survival of neurons (神经元), thus ensuring better brain functions. Moreover, exercise has a positive impact on mood and mental well-being. It helps release some natural mood boosters that make us feel more positive and happy.
As for the exercise varieties, it’s not just about aerobic (有氧的) exercises like running or cycling.
| A．It even strengthens creativity. |
| B．Actually the body deeply affects the brain. |
| C．The brain also has great impacts on exercise. |
| D．An exercise lover is unlikely to suffer depression. |
| E．Walking and jogging do good to mental functions too. |
| F．Strength training has also been shown to benefit the brain. |
| G．The links between the brain and the body cannot be overstated. |
Schooling and Education
Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling.
| A．Going to school in the United States is generally considered to get an education. |
| B．Education is a process that starts long before the start of school. |
| C．A conversation may lead a person to discover he knows little of other religions. |
| D．Education can happen freely without any limit. |
| E．If you feel like staying at home, you can’t get more education. |
| F．Something has usually been limited by the subjects at school. |
| G．Schooling,on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, varying little from one setting to the next. |
【推荐3】According to new research from the University of Cambridge in England, sheep are able to recognize human faces from photographs.
The farm animals, who are social and have large brains, were previously known to be able to recognize one another, as well as familiar humans. However, their ability to recognize human faces from photos alone is novel.
The recent study, the results of which were published in the journal Royal Society showed that the woolly creatures could be trained to recognize still images of human faces, including those of former President Barack Obama and actress Emma Watson.
Initially, the sheep were trained to approach certain images by being given food rewards. Later, they were able to recognize the image for which they had been rewarded. The sheep could even recognize images of faces shown at an angle, though their ability to do so declined by about 15 percent – the same rate at which a human’s ability to perform the same task declines.
“Anyone who has spent time working with sheep will know that they are intelligent, individual animals who are able to recognize their handlers,” said Professor Jenny Morton, who led the Cambridge study. “We’ve shown with our study that sheep have advanced face-recognition abilities, comparable with those of humans and monkeys.”
Recognizing faces is one of the most important social skills for human being, and some disorders of the brain, including Huntington’s disease, affect this ability.
“Sheep are long-lived and have brains that are similar in size and complexity to those of some monkeys. That means they can be useful models to help us understand disorders of the brain, such as Huntington’s disease, which develops over a long time and affects cognitive abilities. Our study gives us another way to monitor how these abilities change.” Morton said.
1. According to the new research, what’s unusual about sheep?| A．They have large brains. |
| B．They can recognize their owners. |
| C．They can recognize human faces from photograph. |
| D．They can tell animals from humans. |
| A．By showing photos of famous people. |
| B．By showing photos of humans and monkeys by turns. |
| C．By guiding them to follow their handlers. |
| D．By giving food rewards. |
| A．Sheep have a higher face-recognition ability than monkeys. |
| B．The sheep’s face-recognition ability may prevent some disorders of the brain. |
| C．The new discovery is beneficial to the study of cognitive ability changes. |
| D．The sheep’s face-recognition ability says the same when shown photos at any angle. |
| A．A New discovery about sheep. | B．How Sheep Recognize Each Other. |
| C．A Wonderful Scientist. | D．The Life of Sheep. |
【推荐1】Be careful on January 8th —It's officially the most dangerous day of the year. The insurance（保险）company Hyperion has studied accident statistics（统计数字）and has found that there are more accidents on January 8th than on any other day.
Accidents are certainly more likely to happen at particular times of the year. One general rule is that more accidents happen in winter months, because risk increases in bad weather.
In 2004 and 2005 Hyperion found that the worst day was January 8th , with 298 accidents reported to them. March 3th was the safest day, with only 89 reports. Six of the ten worst days for driving were in January.
It's clear that icy and snowy conditions are dangerous, but some other statistics are puzzling. A British Medical Journal report in 2001, for example, found that hospital admissions were always higher than usual on Friday the 13th .
But it is not only when Friday falls on the 13th that it is a dangerous day. Four of the top ten worst days for accidents last year were Fridays-perhaps because everyone is rushing home for the weekend-while Thursdays are the safest day of the week.
At what time of the day is an accident most likely to happen? The Health and Safety Authority found that people are most likely to have an accident at 11:00 a. m. , while the safest time of day is between 4: 00 and 5: 00 a. m. —probably because most people are in bed!
Finally, good news for Harry Potter fans. Doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford noted that fewer children were in hospital on the weekend when Harry Potter books were available to the public. Deaths fell by over 50% when the last two books went on sale. So if you want to be really safe, you should read a Harry Potter book in bed. at around 5: 00 on a Thursday morning, in summer.
1. What is special about Janua, 8th according to Hyperion?| A．The weather is often the worst. |
| B．More accidents happen on the day. |
| C．More people are rushed to hospital. |
| D．It's the best day to buy insurance. |
| A．Fridays often fall on the 13th . |
| B．Busy weekdays tire people out. |
| C．Everyone is in a hurry to go home. |
| D．It's easy for people to stay up. |
| A．It became the safest day of the year. |
| B．People were more likely to go out. |
| C．Fewer children ended up in hospital. |
| D．The driving conditions turned the worst. |
| A．To solve a problem. |
| B．To give practical advice. |
| C．To tell an interesting story. |
| D．To show some study results. |
【推荐2】Captain America and Blackpanther were about to defend Earth from the criminal Thanos when Kevin Foley first noticed something was wrong. Foley, a 46-year old information-technology worker from Kyle, Texas, was heading into the theater to see Avengers: Infinity War when he realized he was having trouble breathing normally. The same symptom struck again during another movie the following night, but more severe this time. Once the cast on the second film rolled, Foley took action: he looked at his wristwatch. It was a bigger step than you might imagine, because Foley was wearing an Apple Watch equipped with medical sensors and experimental software to track basic functions of his heart. And the watch was worried. It had, according to the display, detected signs of an irregular heartbeat.
Before long, Foley was in an emergency room, where doctors hooked him up to an ECG (心电图), which showed that he was in atrial fibrillation (心房颤动), an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots (血栓), stroke and other potentially disastrous diseases. Foley spent the next few days in the hospital while doctors worked to return him to a normal heart rhythm eventually turning to a procedure called electrical cardioversion to shock his heart back to normal. Foley is doing fine now. But he believes that, if not for the warning on his watch, he might not have sought help in time. “I would have never known,” he says.
Foley and his watch were part of an experiment run by Apple and Stanford’s medical school. But beginning from Dec. 6, anyone can get an on-the-fly heart checkup, assuming they’ve paid $399 or more for an Apple Watch. That’s when Apple will launch a software update that turns its latest model, called the Series 4, into a personal ECG, thanks to an innovative new sensor. Though less complicated than hospital ECG machines, the watch version can still provide basic information and warnings of potential risks worthy of a closer look by a medical professional.
1. What was Foley doing when he realized his heart condition was abnormal for the first time?| A．He was working in the theatre. |
| B．He was detecting his watch. |
| C．He was on the way to see a film. |
| D．He was equipping his Apple Watch with a medical sensor. |
| A．By being hooked straight up to an EGG in an emergency room. |
| B．By being equipped with an innovative new medical sensor. |
| C．By being paid not less than $399 for the latest Apple Watch. |
| D．By being accessible to Food and Drug Administration clearance for the heart monitor. |
| A．can buy a new Apple Watch Series 4 |
| B．can purchase an Apple Watch of any model |
| C．can equip himself/herself with an ECG machine |
| D．can have his or her old Apple Watch updated |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Sports. |
| C．Education. | D．Health. |
【推荐3】Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) recently announced that they have figured out how to engineer a biofilm (生物膜) that harvests the energy in evaporation (蒸发) and changes it to electricity. This biofilm, which was announced in Nature Communications, has the potential to revolutionize the world of wearable electronics, powering everything from personal medical sensors to personal electronics.
“This is a very exciting technology, says Liu Xiaomeng, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering in UMass Amherst’s College of Engineering and the paper’s lead author. “It generates real green energy, and unlike other so-called ‘green-energy’ sources, its production is totally green.”
That is because this biofilm — which is a sheet of bacterial cells and as thin as a sheet of paper — is produced naturally by an engineered version of the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. G sulfurreducens is known to produce electricity and has been used previously in “microbial batteries” to power electrical equipment. But such batteries require that G sulfurreducens be properly cared for and fed a constant diet. By contrast, this new biofilm, which can supply as much energy as a comparably sized battery, works continuously, because it is dead. And because it is dead, it doesn’t need to be fed.
The secret behind this new biofilm is that it makes energy from the moisture (水分) on your skin. While we daily read stories about solar power, at least 50% of the solar energy reaching the earth goes toward evaporating water. “This is a huge, undiscovered source of energy,” says Yao Jun, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UMass Amherst, and the paper’s one senior author. Since the surface of our skin is constantly moist with sweat, the biofilm can “plug into” it and change the energy locked in evaporation into sufficient energy to power small equipment. “Our next step is to increase the size of our film to power more intelligent wearable electronics,” says Yao, and Liu points out that one of the goals is to power entire electronic systems, rather than single equipment.
1. Which of the following can biofilm do according to the first paragraph?| A．Update wearable electronics. |
| B．Get power from evaporation. |
| C．Supply energy to microbial batteries. |
| D．Transform the way of generating electricity. |
| A．It is comparatively thinner. |
| B．It is environmentally friendly. |
| C．It adopts a rare energy source. |
| D．It decreases the cost in usage. |
| A．By interacting with solar power. |
| B．By making electricity out of sweat. |
| C．By gaining energy from electronic system. |
| D．By employing water to generate electricity. |
| A．Intelligent. | B．Flexible. | C．Impractical. | D．Promising. |
【推荐1】As the extreme heat waves now affecting parts of Europe, Asia and the US make clear, homes in any area of the would badly need to be changed to help deal with a hotter climate.
The quickest, simplest solution is to equip (安装) air conditioning. But this would lead to a huge increase in electricity demand, researchers warn, driving further climate change. “If our homes are overheated and the first solution that we run to is air conditioners, that is going to dry up our energy systems,” said Miranda, a researcher from Oxford University.
A greener solution would be to develop “passive cooling” technologies, which don’t require large energy inputs. Bertie Ozarisoy from Middle East Technical University found a special home built in 2015, Userhuus, had a “severe overheating risk” during the summer. Using computer models of the house, he found that adding a wind catcher was the most effective for reducing indoor temperatures. Wind catchers get the cooler wind from high above the ground and direct it into the building, pushing out the warmer air inside the house. However, although wind catchers could be easy to fit to new homes, equipping them is likely to be expensive.
Further research showed that opening windows at night and pulling down shades during the day can lower indoor air temperatures by 14C during a heatwave. “Most heat in a home comes from two sources; first, people and equipment they use, and second, solar heat gain through windows.” Says Bertie. “Hot outside air is actually a very small source.”
“The important thing is to open up the entire house at night, to open the windows as soon as outdoor air is cooler than indoor air, and to leave them open all night until the next morning. Close them only when the outdoor air temperature rises.” he added. Blocking sunlight from entering the home is therefore an effective way to keep temperatures under control.
1. What is Miranda’s attitude towards equipping air conditioning?| A．Uncaring. | B．Positive. | C．Objective. | D．Unfavorable. |
| A．Its high cost. | B．Its poor effect. |
| C．Its ugly design. | D．Its equipping problem. |
| A．hot outside air | B．people’s activities |
| C．air-conditioning system | D．poorly-designed windows |
| A．Sources of Heat | B．Reasons for Heatwaves |
| C．How to Keep Homes Cool | D．How to Equip Air Conditioners |
【推荐2】The taste of champagne as we know it could change beyond recognition in the coming years. As global temperatures continue to rise, the climate crisis poses a threat to the production of wine.
The supply of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, among other popular wine-making grapes, are at risk. By 2050, about 85% of the lands that we grow good wine grapes on will no longer produce suitable wine grapes.
Grapes are susceptible to even the most subtle changes in weather. “Wine is kind of the canary (金丝雀) in the coal mine for climate change impacts on agriculture because so much of the character of wine is tied to the local climate.” said Benjamin Cook, a climate scientist. He published a paper in 2020 examining the effects of climate change on agriculture and how the diversity of grapes can increase their resilience to such changes.
He adds that scientists are “seeing pretty much all plants, including wine grapevines, start their lifecycle in the growing season earlier, and often finish up earlier. You basically ripen your fruit earlier and typically you harvest earlier. In the Champagne region of France, these changes can alter the distinctive personalities of grapes grown there. “If it matures too quickly, the ratio of acidity and sugar might be different.” Cook said.
A grape’s qualities are dependent on its environment. With a warming planet, it’s harder to produce grapes that make champagne taste sweeter and boozier (酒精浓度高的). “For instance, in a chardonnay grape, what you’re looking for in a cooler climate is generally an apple taste, whereas in a warmer climate the warmth can change the grapes qualities to be more like a tropical fruit, or even banana-like.” said Spiess.
One of the many ways farmers and winemakers are trying to alleviate the effects of climate change on grape production is site selection. “Places like Belgium and the Netherlands and Sweden, they’re experiencing positive effects of climate change as the planet is warming.” Spiess said. As different regions in the world experience the effects of climate change differently, they may start to have more ideal climate conditions for wine making.
The downside for those Swedish winemakers? If those champagne grapes aren’t grown in the Champagne region of France, you can’t call it champagne, which is a protected designation of origin.
So how do you say “bubbly” in Swedish?
1. How does the climate change threaten the production of wine?| A．By increasing the diversity of grapes. |
| B．By increasing the cost of wine making. |
| C．By intensify the competition between winemakers. |
| D．By reducing the production of suitable wine-making grapes. |
| A．Sensitive. | B．Resistant. | C．Adaptable. | D．Tolerant. |
| A．The lifecycle of wine grapevines is becoming longer. |
| B．A chardonnay grape may taste like banana in cooler climate. |
| C．Grapes’ ratio of acidity and sugar influences champagne’s taste. |
| D．Wine making in Sweden faces the same challenge as that in France. |
| A．Will champagne become sweeter? |
| B．Why is champagne called champagne? |
| C．Could Champagne soon stop producing champagne? |
| D．What impact does climate change have on agriculture? |
【推荐3】Across the world, animals including bears, moose, lynx, squirrels and frogs are leaving their homes as the planet warms.
A study was done of more than 4,000 species from around the world. It showed that about half of them are on the move, according to National Geographic. They are moving up slopes and away from the equator toward the poles to seek cooler environments. The ones on land are moving an average of more than 16 kilometers per decade, while marine species are moving four times faster.
Mountain species in particular, “are struggling to keep pace” with global warming, said Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity in the US. In North America, for example, pikas used to climb an average of 13 meters per decade but it has gone up to 145 meters per decade since the late 1990s. Similarly, moths on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, an island in the Pacific Ocean, moved up 67 meters in altitude to escape rising temperatures. “We’re concerned many species won’t be able to move quickly enough, or that they will run out of mountaintop to flee,” said Wolf.
In some cases, moving species can lead to big changes in the whole ecosystem, as such areas aren’t able to deal with it. In Australia’s seas, kelp forests are being destroyed by tropical fish that have come in to eat them, threatening the survival of rock lobster, which also feeds on help forests.
And this is just adding fuel to the fire, making climate change worse. Take the pole ward spread of bark beetles in northern hemisphere forests as an example. The beetles attack trees that might already have been weakened by warmer, drier conditions, leading to more pest outbreaks and tree deaths. These, in turn, provide more fuel for forest fires, releasing more planet-warming carbon dioxide.
Climate-driven species’ movement shouldn’t be a concern only for scientists — it should worry everyone, Nathalie Pettorelli, at the Zoological Society of London, UK, told the Guardian. “The world as a whole isn’t fully prepared to deal with the range of issues emerging from species moving across local, national, and international boundaries”.
1. How are mountain species influenced by the global warming?| A．They are moving slower than they used to. |
| B．They are having a difficult time adapting to it. |
| C．They are moving downhill to cooler environment. |
| D．They are struggling with the warmer temperatures. |
| A．Tropical fish threaten to eat lobster. |
| B．The beetles make trees warmer and drier. |
| C．Dealing with environmental problems faces new challenges. |
| D．Moving species make some change in the whole ecosystem. |
| A．More concern and action from the public. |
| B．A focus on improving forest ecosystems. |
| C．Stricter regulations on animal movement. |
| D．Increased research on species movement. |
| A．Keeping pace means moving slowly. |
| B．Large quantities of pest are the final killer of tree deaths. |
| C．Marine animals are moving a little faster than those on land. |
| D．Many animals flee their home because of the occupation of their habitats. |
