1 . Atmospheric (大气层的) rivers are long and narrow bands of water vapor (水蒸气) in Earth’s atmosphere, which are called “large rivers in the sky”. These rivers form over warm ocean waters. They are huge. They can be 930 miles long and one-third that wide.
Like real rivers, they carry huge amounts of water. These large streams of small water drops are blown by wind over land. When that happens, the water vapor cools down and condenses (凝结). Atmospheric rivers can be good. They bring water to dry areas. However, they can cause huge, fast-moving storms. Some cause snowfalls that bury towns. They are also the main cause of floods on the U.S. West Coast.
Atmospheric rivers are hard to predict. But scientists are working to change that. Marty Ralph, a scientist who works at the University of California, directs the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E). They created the first computer model to predict atmospheric rivers on the U.S. West Coast. This model uses a program that runs on a computer to create a model of a real-world event. CW3E also studies atmospheric rivers using planes. Pilots drop instruments into atmospheric rivers to collect information like temperature and wind speed, which helps with forecasting.
Will climate change affect atmospheric rivers? Climate change happens naturally over a long period of time. But today, it is largely caused by human activities and is causing the Earth to warm, which affects atmospheric rivers.
Atmospheric rivers are pushed by the wind. Those winds are driven by the temperature differences between the poles and the equator (赤道). But the poles are also warming faster than areas near the equator. That makes the temperature difference between the areas smaller. This can make winds weaker.
Climate change might not cause more atmospheric rivers. But there may be very, very wet seasons and very, very dry seasons. Such a seesaw in rainfall could make it harder to manage what water there is.
1. What can we learn about atmospheric rivers?A.They can be 930 miles long and 465 miles wide. |
B.They are easy to predict as scientists are working on it. |
C.They are bands of water vapor forming over warm ocean waters. |
D.They are the main cause of floods in the U.S. |
A.Why it is hard to predict atmospheric rivers. |
B.Whether scientists can predict atmospheric rivers. |
C.How technology helps the prediction of atmospheric rivers. |
D.How scientists are working on the forecasts of atmospheric rivers. |
A.Growth. | B.Drop. | C.Prediction. | D.Change. |
A.A textbook. | B.A science magazine. | C.An academic article. | D.A news report. |
2 . Time is running short to address climate change, but there are possible and effective solutions on the table, according to a new UN climate report released in March.
Only swift, dramatic, and sustained emission (排放) cuts will be enough to meet the world’s climate goals, according to the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body of climate experts that regularly summarize the state of this issue.
“We are walking when we should be running fast,” said Hoesung Lee, IPCC chair, in a press conference announcing the report in March. To limit warming to 1.5℃ above preindustrial levels, the target set by international climate agreements, annual greenhouse-gas emission will need to be cut by nearly half between now and 2030, according to the report. It calculates that the results from actions taken now will be clear in global temperature trends within two decades.
“We already have the technology and the know-how to get the job done,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UN Environment Programme, during the press conference. “Stopping climate change will still be complicated, and long-term emission cuts may largely rely on technologies, like carbon dioxide removal, that are still unproven at scale. In addition to technological advances, cutting emission in industries that are difficult to transform will involve many factors.”
But in the near term, there’s a clear path forward for the emission cuts needed to put the planet on the right track. There are some of the tasks with the lowest cost and highest potential to address climate change during this decade, such as developing wind and solar power, cutting methane (甲烷) emission from fossil-fuel production and waste, protecting natural ecosystems that trap carbon, and using energy efficiently in vehicles, homes, and industries.
1. What is the author’s attitude towards tackling climate change?A.Positive. | B.Worried. | C.Skeptical. | D.Uncertain. |
A.It’s impossible to achieve the climate goal. |
B.He knows how to cut emission efficiently. |
C.The pace of global warming is speeding up. |
D.He is dissatisfied with current emission cuts. |
A.Policy. | B.Market. | C.Funding. | D.Technology. |
A.Emission cutting is urgent. |
B.Climate change is unstoppable. |
C.Global warming is becoming complicated. |
D.Meeting climate goals needs cooperation. |
3 . UK summers are likely to regularly see temperatures above 40℃ even if humanity manages to limit global warming to 1.5℃, meteorologists (气象学家) have warned.
The UK is already seeing increasingly extreme weather, with 2022 the third warmest, fifth wettest and eighth sunniest year on record-the first to fall into the top 10 for all three variables. Data published in State of the UK Climate 2022 report revealed the average winter temperature for last year was 5.3℃, which is 1.6℃ higher than the 1981 to 2010 average.
That makes December 2021 to February 2022 the fifth warmest winter on record, while the average temperature last summer was 14.8℃, 0.4℃ above the 1981 to 2010 average.
Early August 2022 saw maximum temperatures hit 34℃ on six continuous days, with five “tropical nights” above 20℃, making it one of the most significant heatwaves to affect southern England in the past 60 years, the report’s authors said.
Comparing data from the Central England Temperature series, which goes back to 1772, the research found the early 21st century in this region has been 0.5℃ to 1℃ warmer than 1901 to 2000 and 0.5℃ to 1.5℃ warmer than 1801 to 1900.
Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, which publishes the report, said the world was already seeing extreme heat as a result of warming of 1.1℃ to 1.2℃ above pre-industrial levels.
“If you take that up by another 0.3℃, these (heatwaves) are just going to become much more intense—we’re likely to see 40℃ in the UK although we have never seen those kinds of temperatures (before),” she said.
“As we hit 1.5℃ of global warming, that’s going to not just become something that we see once or twice, it’ll start to become something that we see on a much more regular basis.” Mike Kendon, climate scientist at the Met Office and lead author of the report, said the figures indicated a new normal for the UK.
1. What does paragraph 2 intend to tell us?A.The weather was not as wet as before. | B.The rise in temperature in winter is mild. |
C.The weather has changed but not so serious. | D.Figures show signs of extreme weather. |
A.Extremely hot weather appeared in southern England. |
B.Early August 2022 had only a few days’ hot weather. |
C.Six continuous days’ extreme weather brought little harm. |
D.It became the wettest season in the past 60 years or so. |
A.Periodic. | B.Normal. | C.Changeable. | D.Rare. |
A.Extreme Weather Hit the UK | B.What Extreme Weather Looks Like |
C.Where the Future Weather Will Go | D.What We Can Do with Extreme Weather |
1. Which state was the coldest last year?
A.Florida. | B.California. | C.Illinois. |
A.It causes more of them to happen. |
B.It makes them more powerful. |
C.It has no effect on them at all. |
5 . 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. |
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. |
A.Proved. | B.Reflected. | C.Pretended. | D.Caused. |
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 |
The Earth set unofficial record high temperatures last week. Scientists said they were a clear sign of how pollutants
Most of the planet
In April, worldwide ocean temperature rose to 21.1 degrees Celsius,
High levels of wildfire smoke are more common on the West Coast. But, recently, several rounds of wildfire smoke from wildfires in northern Canada brought
The current El Nino formed a month or two
The World Meteorological Organization predicts there is
7 . Before joining the WNBA, Napheesa Collier won a national championship as a key player during the University of Connecticut’s undefeated 2016 season. Collier is also on another team: She’s an Eco Athletes champion. Eco Athletes is a nonprofit launched just over a year ago, with the mission to inspire and coach athletes to lead climate action. In its first year, 34 current and retired professional athletes have joined the team, from a wide range of sports and countries.
“My teammates and I talk about a lot of issues, but we haven’t gotten into it on climate yet,” says Collier. “Two things my teammates do talk about are racial and economic injustice. I know that climate change makes these issues much more difficult to deal with. I hope Eco Athletes can help me bring people’s attention to it and to act on positive solutions. ”
Although there’s a long history of athletes taking a stand on social justice issues, they have been more hesitant to speak out about climate change for a number of reasons, explains Lewis Blaustein, the founder of Eco Athletes. “First, some athletes prefer to not publicly engage in polities, which is common to a range of advocacy work. Second, when it comes to climate, athletes worried about communicating the science poorly. Finally, fears of being labeled a ‘climate fake(冒充者)’also stood in the way. ”
To overcome these challenges, Eco Athletes offers athletes access to a resource center and organizes events for athletes to learn from climate scientists and other climate experts. In turn, athletes can share their passion for the environment with their fans, get involved in more direct action and even advocate for policy change.
“A lot of it is trying to educate our followers and talk about climate change,” says Collier. “Caring about the Earth shouldn’t be a hobby or an identity, but a responsibility that everyone recognizes as their own. Once that happens, sustainability will become a value in everyday decision making and all those actions will add up. ”
1. Why was Eco Athletes set up?A.To promote eco-friendly sports. |
B.To provide a platform for world leaders. |
C.To appeal to athletes to take climate action. |
D.To inspire coaches to lead climate activities. |
A.High economic pressure. | B.Lack of related knowledge. |
C.Poor interpersonal relationships. | D.Worry about breaking sports rules. |
A.Access to sports skills. | B.Ways to attract followers. |
C.Chances to learn climate science. | D.Rights to draft climate policies. |
A.Responsibility falls on climate experts. | B.Greatness comes from small beginnings. |
C.The spirits of sports make great athletes. | D.Active engagement makes a difference. |
1. What can we say about the weather on Sunday?
A.It was fine. | B.It was hot. | C.It was changeable. |
A.It’s beyond their expectations. |
B.It’s a common phenomenon. |
C.It’s caused by climate change. |
9 . Nearly every nation is coming up short — most of them far short — in their efforts to fight climate change, and the world is unlikely to hold warning to the internationally agreed-upon limit, according to a new scientific report.
Gambia, a tiny country in Africa, is the only nation that is cutting emissions (排放) and taking up its share of actions to keep the world from exceeding the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5℃ above preindustrial times, according to the report. Only one industrialized nation — the United Kingdom—is even close to doing what it should to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases and finance clean energy for poorer nations, the Climate Action Tracker(CAT)reported.
Enough nations promised big enough carbon pollution cuts that the CAT said the “emissions gap” — the difference between emissions projections (预测) with the promises and what’s required to meet the 1.5-degree goal — dropped by 11%.
“That momentum (势头) has not been maintained,” said Bill Hare, report co-author and CEO of Climate Analytics. “We’re running short of countries stepping up with additional emission commitments to close the gap.”
Unlike its previous reports, which just looked at promises to cut carbon pollution and policy changes, the new ratings include money issues. Finance is critical to climate negotiations this fall in Scotland, so the report examined commitments by rich nations to help pay for clean energy for poor nations, according to Hare.
That hurt the United States and European Union rankings. The report called efforts by the United States, the European Union, Germany and Japan “insufficient” and more in line with global warming of 3℃ since the late 19th century. The world has already warmed by 1.1℃ since that time, so these countries will make the world 1.9℃ warmer than it is now.
Hare said Brazil and Mexico “went backwards” on their fight to control warming. The report lists Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Thailand at the bottom.
1. What does the underlined word “exceeding” in paragraph 2 probably mean?A.Limiting. | B.Changing. | C.Working towards. | D.Going beyond. |
A.The global warming will be soon controlled. |
B.Global nations are struggling to bridge “emissions gap”. |
C.More countries are needed to solve the global climate change. |
D.Many nations keep the promises of carbon pollution reduction. |
A.Additional emission. | B.Climate negotiations. | C.Smaller population. | D.Insufficient funds. |
A.Economy. | B.Environment. | C.Technology. | D.Entertainment. |
10 . The Grey’s Anatomy doctors are navigating the patients that have kept them on our screens for some 400 episodes of the show. But in this episode, for the first time, the
But can seeing the realities of climate change affecting characters on the screen help us relate
Non-profit storytelling consultancy Good Energy believes it can. It is among a small but growing number of organizations
The Good Energy Playbook’s suggestions are appropriately wide-ranging: characters with climate anxiety and those fighting against injustice; utopian (乌托邦的) narratives that explore climate solutions; storylines that quietly
The playbook was created by Good Energy founder Anna Jane Joyner, “It started as a personal
Many research studies looked at the impact introducing climate stories had on viewers, and found it prompted greater concern about climate change. It also
Climate stories, then, seem like a pretty good idea. But these sorts of narratives have been few and far between. Julie Doyle, professor of media at the University of Brighton in the UK, says climate change has
It’s time to break the climate silence, says Doyle. “Mainstream media has tended to follow rather than lead, and it would be great if mainstream media could lead this.” Day-to-day mentions of climate change in media are especially important because, while blockbuster climate films can have a positive impact on awareness and action, the effect is sadly
A.resistance | B.background | C.response | D.application |
A.fictional | B.scientific | C.educational | D.theoretical |
A.logical | B.moral | C.occasional | D.spiritual |
A.differently | B.effortlessly | C.reluctantly | D.systematically |
A.depending on | B.referring to | C.identifying with | D.calling for |
A.restore | B.feature | C.demonstrate | D.sponsor |
A.reflect | B.maintain | C.eliminate | D.strengthen |
A.integrate | B.reverse | C.initiate | D.publish |
A.transition | B.campaign | C.achievement | D.association |
A.transferred | B.promoted | C.shifted | D.underestimated |
A.For example | B.As a result | C.On the contrary | D.In addition |
A.narrative | B.character | C.plot | D.memory |
A.explored | B.competed | C.struggled | D.appealed |
A.narrow-minded | B.ever-changing | C.short-lived | D.far-sighted |
A.resumes | B.fades | C.deepens | D.increases |