According to China Daily, the summer of 2022 became the hottest since China’s meteorological (气象学的) records
In recent years, we have seen melting ice caps and
Rain bombs
After 15 years of working to raise climate urgency, I’ve concluded
5 . Ocean heat waves — defined as periods of extreme temperatures lasting five days or more — have become increasingly common in recent decades. In fact, as a new study published in Nature Climate Change finds, Earth’s number of annual ocean heat wave days increased by around 54 percent between 1987 and 2016, with abnormally high temperatures not only occurring more frequently, but also lasting for longer periods of time.
Underwater heat waves pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems, which are already at risk due to issues including overfishing and widespread plastic pollution. Sweeping through oceans much like wildfires blaze through forests on land, extreme temperatures exact damage on foundational organisms such as kelp forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs. Given that these framework species provide shelter and food to many other ocean creatures, the study’s authors warn that such destruction will likely have cascading consequences for marine biodiversity.
To assess the effects of ocean heat waves, researchers led by ecologist Daniel Smale of Great Britain’s Marine Biological Association turned to 116 previously published academic studies. Reflecting on more than 1,000 ecological records and eight specific heat waves, the scientists identified regions and species that were the weakest to temperature increases. As Mary Papenfuss writes for the Huffington Post, areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans topped the list, with the Caribbean’s coral reefs, Australia’s seagrass and California’s kelp forests causing particular concerns.
In terms of species, Pacific Standard’s Kate Wheeling adds, the team notes that immobile plants and animals were the hardest hit, while tropical fish and mobile invertebrates (无脊椎生物) were able to cope with the heat by moving to different habitats. Interestingly, John Timmer reports for Ars Technica, the researchers actually observed heightened levels of fish diversity during periods of above- average temperatures, likely due to the animals’ mass migration (迁徙) toward friendlier waters. The same trend did not prove true for sea-dwelling birds, however, as shifting habitats limited the avian creatures’ access to prey.
Although the researchers’ findings are most consequential for marine ecosystems. Pierre-Louis and Popovich explain that damage to ocean habitats will also affect humans who rely on fishing and fish farming.
“Certainly there’s going to be changes with climate change to marine communities, but it’s not like the oceans are going to become the dead sea. It’s just that, as a consequence of what we’re doing to the oceans, there’s going to be different marine communities in different places than what we’re used to. Obviously, that is a problem because we’re sort of set up for what the climate is now rather than what it is going to be in the future.”
1. “Species” in “these framework species” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.| A．wildfires | B．damages | C．organisms | D．temperatures |
| A．The temperatures of wave heats nearly doubled in 2016. |
| B．Living creatures can avoid heat wave damage by migration. |
| C．Overfishing and plastic pollution are the main causes to ocean heat. |
| D．The weakest regions are concluded from previous academic studies. |
| A．People should stop fishing because of the climate change. |
| B．People who take fishing for a living might earn lower profits. |
| C．The researchers findings cannot help us protect the land ecosystems. |
| D．Changes to ocean habitats would bring extremely bad results to the sea. |
| A．Ocean Heat Waves Are Affecting Us |
| B．Ocean Heat Waves Are Getting Worse |
| C．Ocean Heat Waves Are Threatening Marine Life |
| D．Ocean Heat Waves Are keys to Marine Biodiversity |
6 . The woods are turning orange. Drifts of dry leaves are growing on forest floors and flying into street corners. From a distance, it is beautiful. But the air is still warm and summery. This turning and leaf fall is not the usual gradual preparation for winter in temperate zones (温带) but a stress response by trees trying to preserve water. We are now in a false autumn, caused by heat and drought. And it feels wrong.
There is, therefore, something deeply disturbing about such a graphic alteration of familiar rhythms. Droughts are not unknown to the UK, of course, and too many parts of the world are certainly familiar with far more severe versions. But increasingly they are occurring in the context of a climate emergency, and record-breaking heat. And the beauty of a false autumn, specifically, has an emotional effect, a deep weirdness, something mysteriously suggestive of evil or danger.
Cultures across the world contain ceremonies for the propitiation (宽恕) of the weather; a sense of responsibility for the natural world- and the belief that it will punish us if we fail it—is as old as humanity. One of the reasons why the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is so effective is the directness with which it links the shooting of an albatross (信天翁)—the destruction of innocent wildlife—to a terrible change in the weather: no rain, just burning, death-dealing sun. We may not understand the mechanism, but at an instinctual (本能的) level it feels right.
And in a similar way it has not really been a surprise to hear that birds are struggling. In London, young swifts (雨燕) were seen falling out of the sky. Fewer—and too early—nuts and berries mean some animals will not live through this winter. Older trees, with their longer roots, will hopefully survive, but young trees may not—all that promises further warming. There will always be a degree of uncertainty about the causes of specific weather events, but we cannot deny that we have not taken care of the albatross. Now we must hope we are doing enough to make sure that these fearful golden days can be an autumn of autumns.
1. According to the passage, what is a disturbing sign of “a false autumn”?| A．Tree leaves are turning orange and fall gradually in winter. |
| B．Birds are struggling to fall out of the sky in London. |
| C．People worldwide are careless of droughts and heat in the UK. |
| D．Nuts and berries ripen earlier but yield less than before. |
| A．Because people across the world sympathize with the albatross. |
| B．Because it directly links destruction of wildlife to extreme weather. |
| C．Because we are certain about how the weather shifts instinctually. |
| D．Because he is an established Romantic poet curious about nature. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Concerned. | C．Humorous. | D．Ironic (讽刺的). |
Extreme heat is becoming increasingly common across the globe. It is an
8 . Massive snowstorms and a blast of chilly air swept across northern China in the first week of November, leaving many people shivering(颤抖)in the freezing cold.
At the same time, a global conference on climate change-COP 26-was held in Glasgow, Scotland, where the key topic was how to curb(抑制)the trend of global warming. So why are we experiencing such a frigid(寒冷的)winter on a warming planet? The cold snap(寒潮)and global warming, two seemingly opposing forces, are not contradictory, Zhou Bing, chief expert at the China Meteorological Administration’s National Climate Center, told China Daily.
Against the backdrop of a warming planet, China has seen a growing average temperature in winter, which has increased by 0.41°C every decade since 1961, according to Zhou. But in some cases, the country has also experienced freezing cold-for instance, the icy weather that hit the country in early 2008. Global warming does not appear evenly, but triggers more extreme heat and cold, Zhou explained. Global warming has changed the patterns of Earth’s atmospheric circulation, affecting the local climate via sea-air or land-air interaction. In October, La Nina, the periodic(周期的)cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial(赤道的)Pacific, started to affect China, bringing more cold air to the country, said the National Climate Center. Between 1951 and 2020, a total of 15 La Nina events occurred in China. Ten of them brought lower-than-average winter temperatures, according to the National Climate Center.
Another reason for the chilly weather is the warming Arctic, according to the BBC. The Arctic is warming two to three times as fast as any other place on Earth, said Zhou, adding that the polar vortex, a rotating(旋转的)pool of cold, dense air weakens as the temperature goes up, pushing the cold Arctic air southward. So will this winter be particularly cold? Unlike a series of cold waves that cool down the nation gradually, people will experience the quick-freeze effects several times, and a cold winter is likely, a Beijing-based climate expert told the Global Times.
The official forecast also said that northern China will see more snow than average and southern China less rainfall than average.
1. Why is global warming mentioned in paragraph 2?| A．To illustrate its relationship with chilly air. | B．To introduce the climate expert Zhou Bing. |
| C．To describe the weather condition in the world. | D．To stress the importance of the conference-COP26. |
| A．Prevent. | B．Affect. | C．Cause. | D．Recover. |
| A．Our country will be cooled down slowly. | B．The south of our country will see more snow. |
| C．The whole world will become extremely warm. | D．There will be sudden drops in air temperature in our country. |
| A．A textbook. | B．A news report. | C．A review. | D．A travel brochure. |
For thousands of years, people
In recent years, we
