Disappearing glaciers

主題語境：自然篇幅：332詞建議用時：6分鐘

1 The world's glaciers are disappearing faster than scientists thought, with twothirds of them projected to melt out of existence by the end of the century at current climate change trends, according to a new study.

2 But if the world can limit future warming to just a few more tenths of a degree and fulfil international goals—technically possible but unlikely according to many scientists—then slightly less than half the globe's glaciers will disappear.

3 On the other hand, 83 percent of the world's glaciers would be likely to disappear by the year 2100 if global temperatures increased even more than the current rate of warming.

4 That would increase sea level by 11.5 cm in addition to seas already getting larger from melting ice sheets and warmer water, said study lead author Dr David Rounce, from Carnegie Mellon University in the US.“We're going to lose a lot of glaciers,” said Dr Rounce, a glaciologist and engineering professor.“But we have the ability to make a difference by limiting how many glaciers we lose.”

5 Study co-author Regine Hock, a glaciologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the US and the University of Oslo in Norway,said that “for many small glaciers it is too late”.“However, globally our results clearly show that every degree of global temperatures matters to keep as much ice as possible locked up in the glaciers,” Professor Hock sai D.

6 The study projected ice loss by 2100 would range from 38.7 trillion metric tons to 64.4 trillion metric tons, depending on how much the globe warmed and how much coal, oil and gas would be burne D.

7 The study calculated that all of that melting ice would add anywhere from 9 cm in the best case to 16.6 cm in the worst case to the world's sea level. That is 4 percent to 14 percent more than previous projections.

8 The study represents significant advances in projecting how the world's glaciers may change over the next 80 years due to human-created climate change.

Reading Check

Vocabulary

1.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “fulfil” in paragraph 2?

A.Design. B.Apply.C.Achieve. D.Organise.

Detail

2.Which of the following statements would Dr Rounce agree with?

A.Sea level will increase by 11.5 cm each year.

B.Humans have lost the best time to save glaciers.

C.Humans can play a key role in saving glaciers.

D.All of the world's glaciers are being protected well.

Inference

3.What's Regine Hock's attitude towards many small glaciers'future?

A.Indifferent.

B.Negative.

C.Neutral.

D.Prejudice D.

Inference

4.Why does the author write the text?

A.To teach us a good lesson.

B.To tell us the right attitude to climate change.

C.To advise us to save more energy.

D.To call on us to protect the environment.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentence in the text

The study projected ice loss by 2100 would range from 38.7 trillion metric tons to 64.4 trillion metric tons, depending on how much the globe warmed and how much coal, oil and gas would be burne D.該研究預測，到2100年，冰損失將在38.7萬億公噸至64.4萬億公噸之間，具體取決于全球變暖的程度以及燃燒的煤炭、石油和天然氣的量。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句，ice loss by 2100 would range from...64.4 trillion metric tons 是省略了引導詞that 的賓語從句，depending on...burned 是現在分詞短語作伴隨狀語，how much引導的是一個賓語從句。

Ⅱ.Text-centered chunks

by the end of 到……末為止

according to 根據

on the other hand 另一方面

in addition to 除……以外（還）

make a difference 有影響；有關系；起（重要）作用

lock up 把……收好并鎖起來；把……關入監獄

range from...to 范圍從……到……