1 . Take a period of limited rainfall. Add heat. And you have what scientists call a ‘hot drought’ — dry conditions made more intense by the evaporative power of hotter temperatures.

A new study, published in the journal Science Advances, Wednesday, finds that hot droughts have become more common and severe across the western U.S. as a result of human-caused climate change. “The frequency of compound warm and dry summers particularly in the last 20 years is unprecedented,” said Karen King, lead author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

For much of the last 20 years, western North America has been under the control of a huge drought that has strained crop producers, city planners and water managers. Scientists believe it to be the driest period in the region in at least 1,200 years. They reached that determination, in part, by studying the rings of trees collected from thousands of sites across the Western U.S..

Cross-sections or cores of trees, both living and dead, can offer scientists windows into climate conditions of the past. Dark scars can show where fires have burned. Pale rings can indicate insect outbreaks. “Narrow rings mean less water,” said King, a dendrochronologist, who specialized in tree ring dating. “Fatter rings, more water.” Scientists have looked at tree ring widths to understand how much water was in the soil at a given time. King and fellow researchers did something different. They wanted to investigate the density (密度) of individual rings to get a picture of historical temperatures. In hotter years, trees build thick walls to protect their water.

By combining that temperature data with another tree-ring-sourced dataset looking at soil moisture (湿度), the researchers showed that today’s hotter temperatures have made the current western huge drought different from its past ones.

It also suggests that future droughts will be worsened by higher temperatures, particularly in the Great Plains, home to one of the world’s largest aquifers, and the Colorado River Basin, the source of water for some 40 million people.

1. What led to hot droughts?

A．Abundant rainfall.	B．Climate change.
C．Appropriate temperatures.	D．Dry summers.

2. What does the underlined word “strained” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Protected.

B．Surprised.

C．Stressed.

D．Helped.

3. What do the researchers find about hot droughts?

A．They will not happen in the future.	B．They are affected by those tree rings.
C．They are similar in intensity to past droughts.	D．They have become more frequent and severe.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To entertain readers with a fictional story.	B．To persuade readers to protect environment.
C．To inform readers of severity of hot droughts.	D．To share personal experiences and reflections.

3 . How Weather Affects Our Mood

The weather supplies many metaphors (隐喻) for our changeable minds. Moods can brighten and darken, futures can be under a cloud, and relationships can be stormy.    1    , but does it also influence our moods?

Of the many aspects of weather, sunshine is the most closely tied to mood. Although the link is weaker than many people imagine, sunlight has repeatedly been found to increase positive moods and reduce tiredness.    2    . Happy people tend to be more favorable toward one another, and people are more helpful when the sun is shining. One study even found that diners in Minnesota, US, tipped more generously on sunny days.

    3    . A study showed that university admissions officers stressed the academic qualifications of applicants more on cloudy days, and their non-academic qualities more on sunny ones.

    4    . The more it departs (偏离) from an ideal of around 20C, the more discomfort we feel. One study found that rates of helping others decreased as temperatures dropped below or rose above this value.

Indeed, the effects of weather on mood depend on our behavior and on how we think.     5    . A study by US psychology researcher Matthew Keller and his colleagues showed that beneficial effects of warm and sunny conditions on mood were only seen in people who had spent more than 30 minutes outdoors that day. Good weather even had negative effects on mood for people confined (限制) indoors, who perhaps looked enviously (嫉妒地) outside at the solar fun they were missing.

A．Similarly, grey weather may encourage serious and calm thinking

B．Aspects of weather beyond heat and sunshine have also been shown to affect mood

C．Weather provides a vivid language for describing our emotional atmosphere

D．Temperature can also affect our mind and behavior

E．But the effects of weather on mood are not entirely biological

F．Anything that changes our moods can affect our behavior

G．Basically, weather will only influence us if we are outdoors experiencing it

4 . Life-threatening heat waves in the U. S. and Europe, along with China’s record-setting heat, are directly linked to human-caused climate change, according to international researchers. These extreme temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, breaking over 2,000 high-temperature records in the U. S. alone, are heightened by global warming. Palermo, Sicily, saw a historic 117-degree Fahrenheit temperature, while a northwest Chinese town experienced its highest recorded temperature.

The team, including experts from the World Weather Attribution group, stressed that such events would be nearly impossible without climate change. The influence of El Niño, a natural pattern, is noted, but the burning of fossil fuel (化石燃料) is the main driver of severe heatwaves. Human activities have driven a nearly 2-degree Fahrenheit global temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution’s onset. The researchers utilized weather data and computer models to analyze the impact of warming on ongoing heatwaves. Their rapid attribution report, though yet to be peer-reviewed, indicated that greenhouse gas release increases the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events. Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist at Climate Central, agreed with this conclusion, stressing the connection between rising greenhouse gases and heat occurrences.

Even a slight temperature rise poses serious health risks, as indicated by the World Health Organization. Heat-related illnesses, heart attacks, and strokes become more probable. Vulnerable communities, including low-income areas and communities of color, face heightened risks due to rising temperatures.

Last year, Europe’s heatwaves killed around 61,000 lives, predominantly among women. Similarly, a heat dome in the Pacific Northwest in 2021 led to hundreds of deaths in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. Michael Wehner, a climate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, warned that dangerous climate change is a present reality and demanded heightened awareness of its results.

In reality, the current heatwaves devastating various regions are basically linked to human-induced climate change. As the world experiences extreme temperatures, it is necessary to recognize the urgency (紧急) of solving this dangerous situation through sustainable practices and policies (政策).

1. What happened to the U. S., Europe and China this summer?

A．Global warming.

B．Extreme heat.

C．Climate change.

D．Setting records.

2. What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A．The findings from experts.	B．The researchers’ hard work.
C．The effects of human activities.	D．The reasons for high temperatures.

3. How do heatwaves affect people?

A．They cause damage to people.	B．They lead to people’s escape.
C．They encourage people to fight.	D．They make people become strong.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To tell the causes of heatwaves.	B．To call on people to take action.
C．To introduce phenomena of heatwaves.	D．To find ways to protect the environment.

5 . A weather map is an important tool for geographers. A succession of three or four maps presents continuous picture of weather changes. Weather forecasters are able to determine the speed of air masses and fronts (冷暖空气团接触的锋) to determine whether an individual pressure area is deepening or becoming shallow and whether a front is increasing or decreasing in intensity. They are also able to determine whether an air mass is retaining its original characteristics or taking on those of the surface over which it is moving. Thus, a most significant function of the map is to reveal a summary picture of conditions in the atmosphere at a given time.

All students of geography should be able to interpret a weather map accurately. Weather maps contain an enormous amount of information about weather conditions existing at the time of observation over a large geographical area. They reveal in a few minutes what otherwise would take hours to describe. The United States Weather Bureau issues information about approaching storms, floods, frosts and all climatic conditions in general. Twice a month it issues a 30-day “outlook” which is a rough guide to weather conditions likely to occur over broad areas of the United States. These 30-day outlooks are based upon an analysis of the upper air levels which often set the stage for development of air masses, fronts and storms.

Considerable effort is being exerted today to achieve more accurate weather predictions. With the use of electronic instruments and satellites, enormous gains have taken place recently in identifying and tracking storms over regions which have but few meteorological stations (气象站). Experiments are also in progress for weather modification (改变) studies. But the limitations of weather modification have prevented meteorological results except in the seeding of super-cooled, upslope mountainous winds which have produced additional orographic (山岳形态) precipitation on the windward side of mountain ranges. Nevertheless, they have provided a clearer understanding of the fundamentals of weather elements.

1. By reading weather maps, students majoring in geography can .

A．design a project of weather modification

B．interpret the weather condition before the time of observation

C．obtain data on atmospheric conditions over a wide area

D．survey ever-changing fronts in local meteorological stations

2. A thirty-day forecast is determined by examining________.

A．daily weather maps	B．upper air levels
C．satellite reports	D．changing fronts

3. The observation of weather conditions by satellites is helpful because ________.

A．electronic instruments are used

B．it enables man to alert the weather

C．it makes weather more time-consuming

D．information not be obtained readily otherwise can be gained

4. At the present time, experiments are being conducted in________.

A．controlling and influencing weather

B．determining density of pressure groups

C．30-day “outlooks”

D．predicting storms

6 . LONDON - Britain made meteorological (气象学的) history on Tuesday when temperatures in some places topped 40℃ for the first time ever recorded in the United Kingdom.

It was a day of hot milestones(里程碑) in Britain, where in the morning the temperature was 39.1℃, the highest level ever recorded in the United Kingdom. That record was broken about two hours later, when Britain’s national weather service said the temperature at Heathrow Airport hit 40.2’℃. If confirmed, it would be the first time that the temperature in Britain had gone beyond 40’℃. However, by the afternoon, the temperature hit40.3. The extreme weather brought great sufferings to the local people.

The hot, dry conditions also put great burden on emergency services. Fires spread in some areas of Britain and even other European countries. In France and Spain, firefighters have been battling wildfires that have burned forest and bush and in some places, forced people to leave. On Tuesday, more than 2,000 firefighters were facing off against a big fire in the southwest Britain that has forced 37,000 people to leave their homes this week.

In Britain, the government advised people to work from home, but for schools, to stay open - a request that some areas had ignored, sending students home.

Trains are particularly affected by high heat because the infrastructure (基础建设)-rails and overhead wires - is not built to deal with extremely hot temperatures. Network Rail, which operates the country’s rail system, issued a “do not travel” warning for trains in some areas. Several train companies said they planned to cancel all service running north from the capital. The London Underground, most of which does not have air conditioning.has also stopped some of its service.

1. What was the recent problem with the United Kingdom?

A．It suffered a lot from high heat.

B．Its emergency services broke down.

C．It didn’t have experienced firefighters.

D．Its people were forced to leave their country.

2. What was the British government’s suggestion for its people?

A．Don’t go travelling.	B．Send students home.
C．Choose homeworking.	D．Go to schools for shelter.

3. Why couldn’t trains run normally in Britain recently?

A．They were out of date.

B．Some companies canceled all the train service.

C．The whole country’s railway system was in poor condition.

D．The railway infrastructure is not built to run on extremely hot days.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．A Look into British Train System

B．The U.K. Reaches a Record High

C．The Hottest Weather Is the Most Harmful

D．The Battle over Hot Summer in the World

7 . The earth’s climate is largely controlled by how much of the sun’s light and heat is absorbed and reflected. By absorbing the sun’s heat, trees cool the air.

The interaction of this relationship with an area’s topography (地势), latitude (纬度), and altitude, can create microclimates (微气候), just as trees create microclimates almost any place they are by providing a windbreak (风林) and shade. Think about it: On a hot, sunny day, it’s always cooler beneath a shade tree. A city with more tall trees is cooler in the summer than a similar city with fewer trees, which translates into less energy use and lowers cooling costs. Also, in using less energy, less air pollution is created.

The most important role that rural trees and forests play is taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The living tissue (组织) of a tree is a storage vault (拱顶) for carbon, which would otherwise contribute to the greenhouse effect and to global climate change. To put it most simply, more trees can decrease the rate of climate change and help us withstand its effects, potentially resulting in less intense storms, fewer infectious diseases, a more stable water supply, and fewer wildfires.

Trees, however, are affected by the effects of climate warming. Areas once too cold to support trees now can, and as forests migrate north, harmful insects that were once held at bay (使不能接近) by winter freezes can do damage to native species. Tropical (热带的) vines called lianas (藤本植物) are now growing faster than the trees they climb, causing trees in the Amazon and other rainforests to die at an alarming rate.

Trees and forests can either be the key to slowing climate change and reducing its effects, or they can become its victims. It’s up to us.

1. Trees are believed to create microclimates in that __________.

A．tress can take in large sum of sunlight

B．tress can effectively change the weather

C．tress can help us save more money on cooling

D．tress can stop the strong wind and supply shade

2. With the climate becoming warmer, __________.

A．more types of trees will be endangered

B．some rare forest species will grow faster

C．tropical vines find their wonderful world

D．some harmful insects will be under control

3. What does the underlined word “withstand” mean in the text?

A．Make up.	B．Stand up to.
C．Think about.	D．Bring out.

4. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Greenhouse effect is increasing sharply.

B．Climate change does great damage to trees.

C．Many native species will be frozen to death.

D．Forests and climate change influence each other.

9 . The water off the coast of northwest Greenland is a glass-like calm, but the puddles (水坑) on the region’s icebergs are a sign that a transformation is underway higher on the ice sheet.

Several days of unusually warm weather in northern Greenland have caused rapid melting, made visible by the rivers of meltwater rushing into the ocean. Temperatures have been running around 60 degrees Fahrenheit — 10 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year, scientists said.

The amount of ice that melted in Greenland between July 15 and 17 this year alone — 6 billion tons of water per day — would be enough to fill 7.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Each summer, scientists worry that they will see a repeat of the record melting that occurred in 2019, when 532 billion tons of ice flowed out into the sea. An unexpectedly hot spring and a July heat wave that year caused almost the entire ice sheet’s surface to melt. Global sea level rose permanently by 1.5 millimeters as a result.

Greenland holds enough ice — if it all melted — to lift sea level by 7.5 meters around the world. The latest research points to a more and more threatening situation on the Northern Hemisphere’s iciest island.

“Unprecedented (史无前例的)” rates of melting have been observed at the bottom of the Greenland ice sheet, a study published in February found, caused by huge quantities of meltwater flowing down from the surface. This water is particularly concerning because it can destabilize the sheet above it and could lead to a massive, rapid loss of ice.

And in 2020, scientists found that Greenland’s ice sheet had melted beyond the point of no return. The rate of melting in recent years exceeds anything Greenland has experienced in the last 12,000 years, another study found — and enough to cause measurable change in the gravitational field over Greenland.

At the East Greenland Ice-core Project — or EastGRIP — research camp in northwest Greenland, the work of scientists to understand the impact of climate change is being affected by climate change itself.

Aslak Grinsted, a climate scientist at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute, said that they have been trying to get flights into the camp but the warmth is destabilizing the landing site.

Before human-caused climate change kicked in, temperatures near 32 degrees Fahrenheit there were unheard of. But since the 1980s, this region has warmed by around 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit per decade — four times faster than the global pace — making it all the more likely that temperatures will cross the melting point.

1. The passage is mainly written to ________.

A．alert people to the rapid melting of Greenland’s ice sheet

B．arouse people’s awareness of protecting the environment

C．inform people of the large amount of ice Greenland holds

D．reveal to people the cause and effect of the rise in sea level

2. What does “a transformation” in the first paragraph refer to?

A．Climate change.	B．A rise in sea level.
C．Global warming.	D．The melting of ice.

3. What can be learned about the ice that melted in 2019?

A．It repeated a record melting of the ice sheet several years ago.

B．Its amount was the largest ever and lifted sea level permanently.

C．It was enough to fill 7.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

D．Its melting rate was so rapid as to result in an unexpectedly hot spring.

4. It is implied in the passage that ________.

A．climate change is a result of human activities

B．the study of climate change is being made easier

C．the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet is reversible

D．temperatures increase 1.5°F or so each decade globally

10 . The heat dome roasting millions of people across the Pacific Northwest, sending temperatures in usually temperate places to record-breaking triple digits, has already claimed hundreds of lives. And those are just the ones we can count so far.

Climate change has increased average temperatures by 1℃ Celsius over the past century, making heat waves like this one more frequent and intense than those from any other point in recorded history. A worldwide study published last month in Nature Climate Change found global warming responsible for 37 percent of heat-related deaths between 1991 and 2018. As temperatures tick ever higher, that figure may well rise.

The following is what happens if you’re one of the next people whom extreme heat kills, according to W. Lawrence Kenney, an expert at Penn State University.

First, your brain sends a series of messages to your sweat glands (腺体) telling them to ramp up sweat production. Then your heart starts beating faster to pump blood to the skin. That’s your body attempting to make your skin hotter than the air outside, in hopes of moving heat away from you. Sometimes that alone is enough to create problems for a weak or aging heart. If your body fails to cool you down, its internal temperature might start to climb. At that temperature, the tissues in the brain become affected. Before long, you might not know where you are or what time it is. You might collapse. You may lose consciousness. While you struggle to stay awake and avoid dizzying confusion, the excessive internal heat will likely trigger an inflammatory (发炎的) response. Left untreated, what follows is organ failure that leads to all but certain death.

And that’s just part of what we know about how extreme heat kills you.

“It’s important for people to understand that there’s still a lot we don’t know about heat stroke and who’s most susceptible (易受影响的) to it,” Kenney said. “That’s because we can’t ethically study it in humans in the laboratory. A lot of what we know comes from studies on animal models, like mice and rats, or from body examinations of people who have died of heat stroke.”

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?

A．Rise in temperature is positively related to heat-related deaths.

B．Heat waves are weaker and can be seen less frequently nowadays.

C．Climate change has mainly triggered temperature decrease over the past century.

D．Global warming contribute to most deaths related to heat between 1991 and 2018.

2. What will happen to the person killed by extreme heat?

A．His heart will receive messages from the brain to pump blood.

B．His body will turn cooler due to the quick response of the skin.

C．He will have skin problems for weak or aging tissues.

D．He will suffer from confusion, faint or even break down.

3. Which of the following words can replace “ramp” in Paragraph 4?

A．Take.

B．Speed.

C．Turn.

D．Build.

4. By quoting Kenney’s words, the writer wants to ________.

A．reveal how studies on animal models are carried out in the laboratory

B．explain why humans cannot be used for experiments to study heat stroke

C．illustrate many factors have influenced heat stroke and the deaths

D．prove people know little about heat stroke and its contributing factor