控制全球变暖刻不容缓!
控制全球变暖刻不容缓!


Humans must limit global warming to 1.5 ℃ to avoid runaway ice melting, according to new research by an international group of climate scientists.

The new study is the latest and most comprehensive evidence indicating that countries must pass policies to meet the temperature targets set by the 2015 Paris agreement, if humans hope to avoid potentially catastrophic sea level rise and other worldwide harms.

Those targets—to limit global warming to between 1.5 and 2 ℃ compared to preindustrial times—are within reach if countries follow through on their current promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But it’s still unclear if governments and corporations will cut emissions as quickly as they have promised.

The new study makes it clear that every tenth of a degree of warming that is avoided will have huge, long-term benefits. For example, the enormous ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are already melting rapidly, adding enormous amounts of fresh water to the ocean and driving global sea level rise. But there is a point after which that melting becomes unavoidable, even if humans rein in(控制) global warming entirely. The new study estimates that, for the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, that point falls somewhere around 1.5 ℃ of warming. The hotter the Earth gets, the more likely it is to cause runaway ice loss. But keeping average global temperatures from rising less than 1.5 ℃ reduces the risk of such loss.

If both the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melted, it would lead to more than 30 feet of sea level rise, scientists estimate, although that would happen relatively slowly, over the course of at least 500 years. 

本时文内容由奇速英语国际教育研究院原创编写,未经书面授权,禁止复制和任何商业用途,版权所有,侵权必究!(作者投稿及时文阅读定制请联系微信:18980471698)

1.What can we know about the temperature targets set by the 2015 Paris agreement?

A They are impossible to meet.

B Governments are taking action quickly.

C They were set by the French government.

D They aim to avoid potential global disasters.

解析:选D。D细节理解题。根据第一段“to avoid runaway ice melting”和第二段“if humans hope to avoid potentially catastrophic sea level rise and other worldwide harms”可知,2015巴黎协定规定的温控目标是为了防止全球性的灾难的发生。故选D。

2.How is the idea explained in paragraph 4 ?

A By making a comparison.

B By giving an example.

C By introducing a concept.

D By using an expert’s words.

解析:选B。B推理判断题。根据第四段内容可知,本段是通过举例来说明观点的。故选B。

3.What can be learned about the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica?

A They will begin to melt in the near future.

B The disappearance of them is unavoidable.

C They could make the sea level over 30 feet higher.

D They will disappear within 500 hundred years.

解析:选C。C细节理解题。根据最后一段的“If both the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melted, it would lead to more than 30 feet of sea level rise”可知,如果格陵兰冰盖和西南极冰盖融化,能使海平面上升超过30英尺。故选C。

4.Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A Global warming must be limited

B Greenhouse gas emissions must be cut

C The importance of the 2015 Paris agreement

D The Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets

解析:选A。A主旨大意题。文章主要讲的是必须控制全球变暖,否则会引起冰盖融化,导致海平面上升。故选A。