科学家称海洋变暖的速度远远超过预期
The world’s oceans are rising in temperature faster than previously believed as they absorb most of the world’s growing climate-changing emissions, scientists said on Thursday. Ocean heat, recorded by thousands of floating robots, has been setting records repeatedly over the last decade, with 2018 expected to be the hottest year yet, breaking the 2017 record, according to an analysis by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
That is driving sea level rise, as oceans warm and expand, and bringing more intense hurricanes and other extreme weather, scientists warn. The warming, measured since 1960, is faster than predicted by scientists in a report that looked at ocean warming, according to the study, published this week in the journal Science. “It’s mainly driven by the accumulation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to human activities,” said Lijing Cheng, a lead author of the study from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The increasing rate of ocean warming “is simply a character of increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere”, Cheng said.
Leading climate scientists said in October that the world has about 12 years left to shift the world away from still rising emission toward cleaner energy systems, or risk facing some of the worst impacts of climate change. Those include worsening water and food shortages, stronger storms, other extreme weather, and rising seas.
For the last 13 years, an ocean observing system called Argo has been used to monitor changes in ocean temperatures, Cheng said, leading to more reliable data that is the basis for the new ocean heat records. The system uses almost 4,000 drifting ocean robots that dive to a depth of 2,000 metres every few days, recording temperature as they float back to the surface, which could give the exact data.
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1.What did the scientists use the floating robots to do in the ocean?
A To stop temperature rising.
B To analyse the changing climate.
C To record the ocean heat.
D To absorb climate-changing emissions.
解析：选C。细节理解题。根据第一段第二句的Ocean heat, recorded by thousands of floating robots, has been setting records repeatedly over the last decade可知那些漂浮的机器人是用来记录海洋的热量的。故选C。
2.What does the underlined word in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A The hottest year.
B The extreme weather.
C The carbon dioxide.
D The ocean warming.
解析：选D。词意指代题。根据画线单词所在句子的前后语境可知，该句起着承上启下的作用，上文提到“海洋变暖”屡创新高，下文接着写“海洋变暖”带来的后果，由此可推知，画线单词that即指代的是“海洋变暖”。故选D。
3.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A The rising ocean warming will lead to extreme weather.
B Human activities are to blame for the ocean warming.
C Humans will be punished by bad climate change without actions taken.
D The drifting ocean robots record the temperature when in the undersea.
解析：选D。细节理解题。根据第四段最后一句的The system uses almost 4,000 drifting ocean robots that dive to a depth of 2,000 metres every few days, recording temperature as they float back to the surface可知这些漂浮的海洋机器人是在返回海洋表面时记录温度，而非海底。故选D。
4.What’s the main idea of the passage?
A Ocean temperatures are rising faster than expected.
B Ocean heat can be recorded by drifting ocean robots.
C Greenhouse gases lead to the rise of ocean warming.
D Scientists warn of the worst impacts of climate change.
解析：选A。主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文主要围绕全球海洋变暖这一话题展开叙述。故选A。