1 . Most scientists are now certain that global warming is taking place. Gases such as carbon dioxide are creating a warm blanket around the earth. This blanket is trapping heat in the atmosphere, and so raising the temperature of the earth.
In Europe, eight of the last ten years have seen record high temperatures. On the other hand, the countries around the Mediterranean Sea are receiving even less rain than before. In Sub- Saharan Africa the crops are drying out in the fields and people are dying of starvation. In 1999, the southern United States was struck by a serious of destructive(毁灭性的) hurricanes. Scientists expect such trends to continue, and to worsen, if global warming cannot be stopped.
In addition to worrying about rising global temperatures and extreme weather conditions, scientists are closely monitoring sea levels around the world. They are slowly rising, as the northern and southern polar ice caps start to melt. This will have serious consequences for low-lying countries near the sea. Already parts of these places are disappearing under the rising sea water.
According to a new research, one contradictory feature(特征) of global warming is that it will probably lead to a period of much colder weather. Scientists base their theory on what happened the last time the world warmed up, 8,300 years ago. They have discovered that when the ice melted from the northern polar ice cap it became trapped in a lake in northern Canada. As more ice melted, this lake suddenly burst open, pouring millions of tons of freezing fresh water into the North Atlantic. This flood of water prevented the normal flow of water in the Atlantic, which takes warm water from the tropics(热带地区) north to Europe. When this flow of warm water was cut off, temperatures in Europe dropped by between three and eight degrees over the next 200 years. ''That's the concern here,'' says Richard Alley, an American climate expert. ''The climate hasn't varied much in 8, 000 years. But big changes could come back!''
1. What is the overall effect of global warming on Europe?| A．A warmer climate. | B．A decline in rainfall. |
| C．An increase of hurricanes. | D．A decrease of crop production. |
| A．The rising sea level. | B．The melting of icebergs. |
| C．The increase in disasters. | D．The cause of global warming. |
| A．By offering statistics. | B．By giving an example. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By analyzing the process. |
| A．Global climate change will bring more disasters. |
| B．Global warming will likely produce a colder climate. |
| C．Global warming will continue for the next two centuries. |
| D．Global climate will remain unchangeable in the next 8,000 years. |
1. What is the woman doing?
| A．Doing a survey. | B．Hosting a program. | C．Forecasting the weather. |
| A．England. | B．Wales. | C．America. |
| A．42 degrees. | B．45 degrees. | C．48 degrees. |
| A．It is extremely hot. | B．It has strong winds. | C．It rains heavily. |
3 . Climate change has already begun to impact our planet in more ways than we can think.
Make your commute green. Millions of people drive to work every day.
Be more conservative with energy usage. Becoming more energy efficient is a great way to prevent pollution.
Recycle. Manufacturing plants emit a large number of greenhouse gasses per year. It is unavoidable in the production of goods that we use on a regular basis. However, a cleaner alternative would be to invest in recycling.
| A．Educate yourself and others. |
| B．Encourage the use of renewable energies. |
| C．It’s simply unavoidable in our modern-day society. |
| D．Be sure to collect your abandoned paper, plastic and electronics. |
| E．Fortunately, there are always things we can do to fight against it. |
| F．This requires you to cut down on energy usage in your household. |
| G．Recycling is a cost-effective and eco-friendly process that eliminates waste. |
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改 10 处，多者(从第11 处起)不计分。
When it comes to the season I like best, spring will always strike to me in no time. There are many reasons that I like spring best. One of the most romantic thing is to walk in a lightly rain in spring. What’s more, after a long cold winter, everything begin to come to life. But whenever there is a chance for me to go to the countryside, I will never hesitate to pack my bags and leave to the land. Finally, I adore spring because it is either too hot nor too cold. In word, I like everything in spring, especially the sight of green trees bathing in the sunshine.
5 . As the climate warms, birds are shrinking and their wingspans are growing, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed 70,716 birds from 52 kinds of North American migratory（迁徙的）bird species collected over 40 years. The authors say the study is the largest of its kind and that the findings are important to understanding how animals will adapt to climate change.
"We found almost all of the species were getting smaller." said lead author Brian Weeks, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
"The species were pretty diverse, but responding in a similar wav." he said. "The consistency was shocking."
He said studies of animal responses to climate change often focus on shifts in geographical range or timing of life events, like migration and birth. But this study suggests body morphology（形态）is a crucial third aspect.
"That's one major implication," he said, "It's hard to understand how birds will adapt without taking all three of these things into consideration."
The findings showed that from 1978 to 2016, the length of the birds' lower leg bone shortened by 2.4%. Over the same time, the wings lengthened by 1.3%.
The evidence suggests warming temperatures caused the decrease in body size, which in turn caused the increase in wing length.
"Migration is an incredibly taxing thing they do," Mr. Weeks said, explaining that the smaller body size means less energy available for the birds to complete their long journeys.
He says the birds most likely to survive migration were the ones with longer wingspans and smaller bodies.
The scientists aren't exactly sure why warmer temperatures cause birds to shrink. One theory is that smaller animals are better at cooling off, losing body heat more quickly.
1. What's the best title for the text?| A．All of the Birds Are Getting Smaller |
| B．Animals Are Adapting to Climate Change |
| C．Climate Change Is Causing Birds to Shrink |
| D．Scientists Are Finding Causes of Warm Climate |
| A．It took 40 years to collect 70,716 birds from North America. |
| B．Many birds are shrinking when responding to the climate change. |
| C．All migratory bird species were collected to do the important research. |
| D．So many researchers take part in the largest study to work out the findings. |
| A．Tiring. | B．Important |
| C．Easy. | D．Pleasant |
| A．The migratory birds aren't big. |
| B．The temperatures will be higher. |
| C．The scientists will go on further study. |
| D．The smaller animals will surely live longer. |
6 . As the school year barely starts in Denver, French teacher Melanie is filled with worry that her students are always absent-minded. Yet, the problem isn’t messaging, enjoying video games or delivering notes. Surprisingly, the problem is about the ongoing heat wave in Denver.
“Today was a little bit hot, so I noticed kids were very sleepy and they were having to get up to drink water quite often.” said Melanie, who works at Denver’s East High School. “If you lose too much water, and you have to keep going to the water fountain, that can take away from their classroom experience.” While nodding off in class on a warm day may seem acceptable for the average teen, Melanie’s observation carries a bigger consequence than dry lips.
“There have been quite a few media reports about teachers noticing that students weren’t able to focus on hotter days,” said R Jisung Park, a researcher, “Does a hotter climate during the school year actually affect the rate of learning?” The drops in academic achievement couldn’t be explained by hotter weekends or hotter summers, but the trend was connected to higher temperatures on school days alone.
The connection between lost learning and a greater number of hot days is one more example of how climate change is already affecting our lives — and it’s an alarm bell for what we stand to lose in the future. Humans still have time to lessen the worst consequences of continued global warming. Without the unlikely important changes in the next 10 years, the globe will be trapped in an unavoidable era of heat waves that were unprecedented (前所未有的) for human beings.
1. What may cause students absent-minded according to the text?| A．Video games. | B．Text messages. |
| C．Heat waves. | D．Classroom notes. |
| A．Kids often go to the water fountain for lack of water. |
| B．Extreme heat may lower a kid’s ability to learn. |
| C．Nodding off in class is a sign of respecting teachers. |
| D．Kids are more interested in drinking water than sleeping. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Uncertain. | C．Worried. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The way that global warming continues. |
| B．The reasons why kids are absent-minded in class. |
| C．The hotter it grows, the more focused kids become. |
| D．The hotter it grows, the harder it will be for kids to learn. |
7 . Jeremy from America cannot understand why a lady he met outside the Hyde Park in London said, “Ooh, isn’t it cold?”, and he thinks of this behaviour as a distinctively English concern about the weather. In fact, the female was just trying to strike up a conversation with Jeremy. Not necessarily a long conversation — just an exchange of greetings. It is not always quite that obvious, but all English weather conversations have a distinctive structure conducted according to unwritten but accepted rules.
The unpredictable nature of our weather ensures that there is always something new to comment on, or perhaps most importantly, agree about. We have already established that weather-speak greetings like “Cold, isn’t it?” require the response expressing agreement, as in “Yes, isn’t it?” .It would be very rude to respond with “No, actually it’s quite mild.” or “It’s pretty hot to me.” If you deliberately break the rule, you will find that the atmosphere becomes rather tense and awkward. There may be an uncomfortable silence. Most likely, they will either change the subject or continue talking about the weather among themselves politely, if coldly, ignoring your faux pas.
There is, however, one situation in which English weather-speakers are not required to observe the agreement rule at all and that is the male-bonding argument, particularly the pub-argument. In the special environment of the pub, constant disagreement not just on the weather, but on everything else as well is a means of expressing friendship.
While we may spend much of our time complaining about our weather, foreigners are not allowed to criticize it. Indeed, this brings us to the weather as family rule. In this respect, we treat the English weather like a member of our family: one can complain about the behavior of one’s own children or parents, but any blame from an outsider is unacceptable. The weather may be one of the few things about which the English are still unconsciously and unashamedly patriotic （爱国的）.
1. Why did the lady comment on the weather to Jeremy?| A．To build up friendship. |
| B．To begin a casual chat. |
| C．To send seasonal greetings. |
| D．To express dissatisfaction. |
| A．Improper response. |
| B．Careless attitude. |
| C．Rude interruption. |
| D．Frequent complaint. |
| A．Male bonding in pubs. |
| B．Argument about weather. |
| C．Exception to the agreement rule. |
| D．Making friends by disagreement. |
| A．Politeness Tips for Foreigners |
| B．Accepted Rules in Social Life |
| C．English Politeness in Weather Conversation |
| D．Hidden Rules of English Weather Conversation |
8 . From the loss of wildlife to rising sea levels, we’re all well aware of the problems that climate change could cause.
But while it may seem like such issues won’t affect most of us directly, it looks like future generations could grow up without something that many of us now take for granted: chocolate.
According to an essay published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, changes to the climate in the regions that produce cacao – the plant from which chocolate is produced – may mean that it will soon become extinct.
Most of the world’s cacao grows in countries close to the equator(赤道), with over half of it growing in the African nations of Ghana and Ivory Coast.
It’s predicted that by 2050, climate change will have accelerated the rate at which temperatures in these countries rise, making it extremely difficult for cacao to grow there.
The problem doesn’t lie in increased heat, however, but in lower humidity (湿度), as it’s believed that rainfall will stay at the same level if the temperature rises.
“In other words, as higher temperatures squeeze more water out of soil and plants, it’s unlikely that rainfall will increase enough to offset the moisture(水分) loss,” Michon Scott, the essay’s author, wrote.
To help fight this problem, researchers from Berkeley University in the US are working on changing the DNA of cacao plants to allow them to survive in dryer conditions by using geneediting technology, according to US News.
In the meantime, US company Mars, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of chocolate products, announced in January that it would spend $1 billion (6.33 billion yuan) to help reduce the effects of climate change.
“This is a world issue, and it requires everyone to work together,” Mars spokesperson Barry Parkin told Business Insider.
The message here is that if we all do our part, we may be able to prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change. Or if we’re unlucky, chocolate will become a thing of the past.
1. What could make it hard for cacao to grow around the equator in the future?| A．the higher temperatures there |
| B．the higher humidity there |
| C．the increase in rainfall there |
| D．the moisture loss in the soil there |
| A．No man is an island. |
| B．Every little bit counts. |
| C．United we stand; divided we fall. |
| D．Wish for the best; prepare for the worst. |
| A．UC Berkeley is trying to find a substitute for cacao. |
| B．Cacao can only be found in most African countries. |
| C．Climate changes can be controlled if we are lucky. |
| D．Mars will financially support the fight against climate changes. |
| A．The origin of chocolate. |
| B．The future of chocolate. |
| C．The history of chocolate. |
| D．The ingredients of chocolate. |
9 . More than 11,000 scientists are warning that the Earth, in their words, "clearly and unequivocally （明确地）faces a climate emergency.” The scientists represent several fields of study and come from 150 countries around the world. They approved a report that appeared in the publication Bioscience earlier this month. It warns that the world would face "untold human suffering" if it does not make deep and lasting shifts in human activities that influence climate change. Three leaders of the study are from the United States. They worked on the study with scientists from universities in South Africa and Australia. This is the first time a large group of scientists have jointly （共同地）used the word "emergency" when talking about climate change.
"Despite 40 years of global climate negotiations ...we have generally conducted business as usual and have largely failed to address this worrying situation,” the study said. “Climate change has arrived and is accelerating faster than many scientists expected."
The report identified five areas that the world needs to deal with immediately. The scientists appealed to nations to use energy more efficiently and cut their use of fossil fuels. They suggested that lawmakers approve taxes on the burning of carbon-based fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. The report urges people to move toward more of a plant-based diet. Other areas of concern include preventing the destruction of forests and permanent loss of some plant and animal species. The report noted that it will most likely take strong actions by the public to move politicians to approve lasting policy changes.
The scientists added, "We believe that the prospects （前景）will be greatest if decision-makers and all of humanity quickly respond to this warning and declaration of a climate emergency, and act to support life on planet Earth, our only home.”
1. What will happen to people if they don't stop the activities that influence the climate change?| A．They will have no places to live in. |
| B．They will be fined and lose their jobs. |
| C．They will become bored with their life. |
| D．They will go through a lot of sufferings. |
| A．They have ignored the scientists’ warning, |
| B．They have solved the problem successfully. |
| C．They have talked too much but done too little. |
| D．They have realized the problem isn’t that serious. |
| A．Paragraph 1. | B．Paragraph 2. |
| C．Paragraph 3. | D．Paragraph 4. |
| A．Scientists' Hard Work of Saving the Earth |
| B．l he Important Reasons of Climate Change |
| C．The Impact of Human Activities on Climate |
| D．Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency |
10 . California has lost half its big trees since the 1930s, according to a study to be published Tuesday and climate change seems to be a major factor（因素）.
The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46, 000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.
Many factors contributed to the decline, said Patrick Mclntyre, an ecologist who was the lead author of the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing development pushed into the woods. Aggressive wildfire control has left California forests crowded with small trees that compete with big trees for resources（资源）.
But in comparing a study of California forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another one between 2001 and 2010, Mclntyre and his colleagues documented a widespread death of big trees that was evident even in wildlands protected from woodcutting or development.
The loss of big trees was greatest in areas where trees had suffered the greatest water shortage. The researchers figured out water stress with a computer model that calculated how much water trees were getting in comparison with how much they needed, taking into account such things as rainfall, air temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of snowmelt（融雪）.
Since the 1930s, Mclntyre said, the biggest factors driving up water stress in the state have been rising temperatures, which cause trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier snowmelt, which reduces the water supply available to trees during the dry season.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The seriousness of big-tree loss in California. |
| B．The increasing variety of California big trees. |
| C．The distribution of big trees in California forests. |
| D．The influence of farming on big trees in California. |
| A．Ecological studies of forests. | B．Banning woodcutting. |
| C．Limiting housing development. | D．Fire control measures. |
| A．Not enough snowmelt. | B．A longer dry season. |
| C．A warmer climate. | D．Dampness of the air. |
