Climate change is a familiar topic to us for decades. There is little doubt
The increase in temperature has
“Greenhouse effect” is a key factor in clime change. Continued greenhouse gas emissions will result
2 . El Nino, a Spanish term for “the Christ child”, was named by South American fisherman who noticed that the global weather pattern, which happens every two to seven years, reduced the amount of fishes caught around Christmas. El Nino sees warm water, collected over several years in the western Pacific, flow back eastwards when winds that normally blow westwards weaken, or sometimes the other way round.
The weather effects are both good and bad, which are felt in many places. Rich countries gain more from powerful Nino, on balance, than they lose. A study found that a strong Nino in 1997-98 helped American’s economy grow by 15 billion, partly because of better agricultural harvests: farmers in the Midwest gained from extra rain. The total rise in agricultural incomes in rich countries is greater than the fall in poor ones.
But in Indonesia extremely dry forests are in flames. A multi-year drought (干旱) in south-east Brazil is becoming worse. Though heavy rains brought about by El Nino may relieve the drought in California, they are likely to cause surface flooding and other disasters.The most recent powerful Nino, in 1997-98, killed around 21,000 people and caused damage worth $36 billion around the globe. But such Ninos come with months of warning, and so much is known about how they happen that governments can prepare. According to the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), however, just 12% of disaster-relief funding in the past two decades has gone on reducing risks in advance, rather than recovery and rebuilding afterwards. This is despite evidence that a dollar spent on risk-reduction saves at least two on reconstruction.
Simple improvements to infrastructure (基础设施) can reduce the spread of disease. Better sewers (下水道) make it less likely that heavy rain is followed by an outbreak of the disease of bad stomach. Stronger bridges mean villages are less likely to be left without food and medicine after floods. According to a paper in 2011 by Mr Hsiang and co-authors, civil conflict is related to El Nino’s harmful effects—and the poorer the country, the stronger the link. Though the relationship may not be causal, helping divided communities to prepare for disasters would at least reduce the risk that those disasters are followed by killing and wounding people. Since the poorest are least likely to make up for their losses from disasters linked to El Nino, reducing their losses needs to be the priority.
1. What can we learn about El Nino in Paragraph 1?| A．It sees the changes of water flow direction in the ocean. |
| B．It takes place almost every year all over the world. |
| C．It forces fishermen to stop catching fish around Christmas. |
| D．It is named after a South American fisherman. |
| A．Agricultural harvests in rich countries fall. |
| B．Droughts become more harmful than floods. |
| C．Poor countries suffer less from droughts economically. |
| D．Rich countries’ gains are greater than their losses. |
| A．To introduce El Nino and its origin. | B．To explain the consequences of El Nino. |
| C．To show ways of fighting against El Nino. | D．To urge people to prepare for El Nino. |
