阅读理解两则

张志胜

(A)

As the world battle the worst floods in living memory, experts warn such events may become more frequent due to climate change and that lessons still need to be learnt to limit losses.

Floods may result in lower death tolls(伤亡人数) than earthquakes, wars or tsunamis and therefore they gain less international attention—but they can cause similar devastation.

Recent weeks have seen a string of such disasters.

Parts of China had the heaviest rainfall since records began, killing more than 400 people. Some 770 people have been killed by flooding in South Asia with hundreds of thousands of people hit by flash floods in southern Pakistan. It is a similar story around the globe.

Experts say the worldwide floods are probably linked. One explanation could be strong waves in the jet stream, high in the atmosphere.

Climate change could make the problem worse. Many scientists say the world is warming because of carbon emission from human activity, making weather more unpredictable.

“You cant attribute particular events to climate change,” scientists said. “But on the other hand, the conditions that promote serious flooding will become much more frequent than they are now so the probability is we will have more extreme events.”

But experts say many lessons still need to be learned and warn that flood defenses have sometimes created a false sense of security, particularly in the most developed countries.

“With floods, the first thing to learn is that you cant stop them,” said Professor Graham Chapman at Lancaster University. “You have to have a society that learns to live with them.”

Raised railway lines or roads can limit drainage and stop water escaping—which is why they are so often swept away. Driving is often inadequate, while building is carried out without regard to flood patterns. Sometimes there is no long-term flood planning at all.

Experts recommend building houses that are more durable and survivable as well as capable of being brought back into use within a couple of months instead of over a year.

Most of the worlds great civilizations grew up along rivers—people are always going to live there. But you have to have plans for flooding.

1. Which of the following can cause fewer death rates? ____.

A. Earthquakes B. Floods C. Wars D. Tsunamis

2. “It is a similar story around the globe” in Paragraph 4 means “____”.

A. the same thing can happen everywhere

B. the same story is usually told in the world

C. floods happen around the world

D. all the world listens to the same story

3. What is the best way to deal with floods? ____.

A. To build houses with flood patterns

B. To build raised railway lines or roads

C. To stop floods by bags filled with sands

D. To live with floods

4. From the passage, we can make a conclusion that ____.

A. there is a close relation among the worldwide floods

B. developed countries dont worry about the danger of floods

C. people will have no floods in the future because of climate change

D. lessons about how to stop floods are not needed to be learned

5. What might be the best title for the passage? ____.

A. Climate Makes Health Unpredictable

B. Worldwide Floods Show Lessons Still Need Learning

C. The Worlds Great Civilization Were Born Near Rivers

D. We Will Experience More Floods in the Future

(B)

The suns changing energy levels are not to blame for recent global warming and, if anything, solar variations over the past 20 years should have had a cooling effect.

Their findings add to a growing body of evidence that human activity, not natural causes, lies behind rising average world temperatures, which are expected to reach their second highest level this year since records began in the 1860s.

There is little doubt that solar variability has influenced the Earths climate in the past and may well have been a factor in the first half of the last century, but researchers said it could not explain recent warming. Over the past 20 years, all the trends in the sun that could have had an influence on Earths climate have been in the opposite direction to that required to explain the observed rise in global temperatures.

Most scientists say emissions of greenhouses gases, mainly from burning fossil（化石的） fuels in power plants, factories and cars, are the prime cause of the current warming trend. A decreasing group pins the blame on natural variations in the climate system, or a gradual rise in the suns energy output.

In order to unpick that possible link, researchers studied factors that could have forced climate to change in recent decades, including variations in total irradiance and cosmic rays.

The data was smoothed to take account of the 11-year sunspot cycle,which affects the amount of heat the sun emits but does not impact the earths surface air temperature, due to the way the oceans absorb and retain heat.

They concluded that rapid rise in global temperatures since the late 1980s could not ascribe to solar variability, whatever mechanism was invoked.

At present there is a small minority which is seeking to deliberately confuse the public on the cause of climate change. They are often misrepresenting the science, when the reality is that the evidence is getting stronger every day.

The 10 warmest years in the past 150 years have all been since 1990 and it was “very likely” human activities were the main cause.

1. In the past 20 years, solar variations have a role of ____.

A. making the Earth warming rise

B. cooling the Earth a little

C. preventing the Earth from moving around the sun

D. slowing the movement of the Earth itself

2. What caused the rise in average world temperature? ____.

A. Human activities B. Solar variations

C. Sunspot circle D. Cosmic rays

3. Why is sunspot cycle air temperature considered? ____.

A. Because it can increase the Earths surface air temperature

B. Because it can change how much heat the sun gives off

C. Because it can increase or reduce the amount of heat the sun

gives off

D. Because it can help the ocean to store heat

4. From the passage, we can infer that ____.

A. people began to record the world temperature hundreds of years

ago

B. natural variation refers to burning fossils fuels in factories or cars

C. solar variation is not a factor that influences the earths climate

D. some people dont want others to know the cause of climate

change

5. Which do you think is the best title for the passage? ____.

A. The sun is not to blame for global warming, says study

B. Humans have no ways but to suffer from global warming

C. Global warming becomes a headache problem to humans

D. Global warming is an unavoidable trend

Key(1)