1 . To better understand how our climate is changing and prepare for the future, scientists are turning to climate evidence from the past.

A project funded by the European Commission known as Beyond EPICA(European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) is planning to drill into the oldest continuous ice core from Antarctica.

The new project is an extension of an earlier one from 2008 that collected an 800,000-year-old Antarctic ice core. The new expedition hopes to sample an ice core that can provide information from 1.5 million years ago. At polar ice caps, the snow that falls every year builds up and is packed into dense layers of ice. These frozen packs of ice preserve “snapshots” of the conditions of the past when the ice was formed. The ice layers can be exactly dated, allowing scientists to use ice cores for climate analysis.

The 2008 EPICA core has become one of the most important climate datasets in the past few decades. One key takeaway from the ice core is that concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere have never been so high as they are at present.

It also shows that when the Earth cooled and went through ice ages, the concentration of CO₂ would fall. However, when temperatures rose, CO₂ increased as well. Furthermore, these cycles occurred every 100,000 years. Interestingly, another record of past climate shows that further back in time, the ice age cycle actually occurred every 41,000 years. As a result, the EPICA core could provide insight into the reasons behind why the amount of time for the cycle changed drastically.

Additionally, the project can help resolve the confusion of why climate period between ice ages changed from 41,000 years to 100,000 years. This means that the Antarctic ice core should have records of any special atmospheric events that may have triggered the change.

And of course, the expedition is important for understanding the present and future as well. Scientists can use this data in designing strategies so that we can take better care of our planet.

1. Why will scientists drill into the oldest ice core from Antarctica?

A．To discover the oldest ice on Earth.

B．To learn more about climate patterns.

C．To find the formation of Antarctica exactly.

D．To prepare for the exploration of Antarctica.

2. What have we known from Antarctica ice cores so far?

A．Greenhouse gases are highest at present.

B．CO₂ increases when temperatures drop.

C．Ice age cycles happened every 41,000 years.

D．Climate disasters will happen frequently in the future.

3. What does the underlined word “triggered”   in paragraph 6 mean?

A．Proved.

B．Reflected.

C．Pretended.

D．Caused.

4. What might be the best title for the passage?

A．Finding the oldest ice in Antarctica

B．Drilling into the oldest ice core on Earth

C．Knowing the climate conditions in Antarctica

D．Protecting Antarctica from global warming

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What can we say about the weather on Sunday?

A．It was fine.

B．It was hot.

C．It was changeable.

2. What do the locals think of small balls of ice in midsummer?

A．It’s beyond their expectations.

B．It’s a common phenomenon.

C．It’s caused by climate change.

3 . There is hot, and then there is hot! Extreme heat is a period of high heat and humidity with temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for at least two to three days. Extreme heat is responsible for the highest number of annual deaths among all weather-related hazards (危害).

It’s not your imagination. Summers have been getting hotter and hotter with extreme heatwaves occurring earlier and more frequently. But why is this happening and can we better predict heatwaves in advance to give people time to prepare?

“Climate change is here and it’s already been changing human behavior and causing significant influence in the society. As global temperatures rise, historically excessive (过高的) temperatures are more likely to occur.” says Craig Ramseyer, an assistant professor who studies climate modeling in the department of geography at Virginia Tech.

Ramseyer says heatwaves are the most concerning because of the lack of attention they normally receive. “Hurricanes, tornadoes, and flash floods drive more media attention because of the natural attraction with the visual impact of those types of hazards. However, heat does not tend to be as attractive and it becomes very difficult to communicate the danger to the public,” said Ramseyer. “Around the world, more deaths occur due to extreme heat than from hurricanes, flooding, and drought combined. It impacts the most helpless of our citizens who do not have enough access to air conditioning, water, and other important resources.”

Since the Earth is running warmer than it used to, Ramseyer says that when these heatwave-related weather patterns take place, it results in higher extreme temperatures than we used to experience 30 years ago.

“As a global community, we need to decrease carbon emissions as soon as possible. We have rapidly developing technologies that are going to help advance the process, but the faster the better, there is no time to waste.”

1. What can we learn from the article?

A．Extreme heat is a No.1 death cause.

B．People are suffering more extreme heat.

C．A 100-degree heat is an extreme heat.

D．Extreme heat is getting better over the years.

2. What will Ramseyer possibly agree with?

A．Climate change will soon affect human behaviors.

B．High temperatures happened frequently in history.

C．Air conditioning and water can stop the extreme heat.

D．Garbage sorting can less advance the climate change.

3. Why is extreme heat lack of attention?

A．Extreme heat can be stopped by technology.

B．People have enough time to solve the climate problems.

C．The danger of extreme heat is not easily transferred to the public.

D．Heatwave-related weather patterns will decrease in the future.

4. What’s the article mainly about?

A．Complaints about extreme heat.	B．Prevention of extreme heat.
C．Characters of extreme heat.	D．Technologies behind extreme heat.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Climate change makes wildfires, hurricanes and heat waves more frequent     1     stronger than before. The bad effects are in the headlines     2     (regular). The warming climate also changes lives     3     subtler (不易察觉的) ways.

In Tampa, Fla. , Sara Brogan says summers are getting     4     (hot). Going to the beach to cool off is a decades-long tradition for her family. They     5     (go) to the beach once this summer. There was a red tide. These algae (水藻) blooms are increasing, likely because of human     6     (pollute) and warming temperatures. They produce toxins (毒素) that kill sea life. That is     7     Brogan is staying away from the beach. A lot of times it's—before you even get there, you can feel the smell of dead fish is very strong.

Wildfire smoke obviously is not good for people and the animal. Heather Duchow and her husband celebrated     8     (they) 20th anniversary in Montana's Glacier National Park. When they got there, it was very smoky. She felt disappointed: the smoke made it difficult     9     (see) the awe-inspiring views she remembered. For future anniversaries, they may go sooner in the summer,    10     (hope) to avoid the worst of fire season. It's strongly recommended that some measures should be taken to control the warming climate.