璺熷璇曞嵎璇疯闂�婂仛棰樺銆?/p>
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鍏叡鑻辫鍥涚骇鑰冭瘯璇曢鍙婄瓟妗堣В鏋?/p>
(
浜?/p>
)
涓�銆?/p>
Reading
Comprehension
锛堝叡
20
灏忛
,
鍏?/p>
20.0
鍒嗭級
Read
the
following
three
texts
锛?/p>
Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D
锛?/p>
绗?/p>
1
棰?/p>
El
Nino
is
the
term
used
for
the
period
when
sea
surface
temperatures
are
above normal off the South American coast along the equatorial Pacific,
sometimes
called
the
Earth's
heartbeat,
and
is
a
dramatic
but
mysterious
climate system that periodically rages across the Pacific.
El Nino means "the little boy" or "the Christ child" in Spanish, and is
so
called
because
its
warm
current
is
felt
along
coastal
Peru
and
Ecuador
around Christmas. But
the
local warming
is just part of an intricate set
of
changes
in
the
ocean
and
atmosphere
across
the
tropical
Pacific,
which
covers a third of the Earth's circumference. Its intensity is such that
it affects temperatures, storm tracks and rainfall around the world.
Droughts in Africa and Australia tropical storms in the Pacific,
torrential
rains
along
the
Californian
coast
and
the
Peruvian
deserts
have
all been ascribed to the whim of El Nino.
This at least is the theory, and it has worked pretty well over the past
century, with El Nino occurring about every three to five years and La
Nina
in
between.
But
there
have
been
some
baffling
developments
in
recent
years. For one thing, El Nino has returned three times in the past four
years.
For
another,
since
1976
El
Nino
has
dominated
relative
to
the
cooler
phase (La Nina). There has been only one significant La Nina, but five
El Ninos, including an extremely severe one in 1982
鈥?/p>
1983 that caused
damage costing 8 billion
dollars. Moreover
a
huge pool of
warm water has
settled down near the dateline in the central Pacific.
Yet
it
is
important
to
understand
the
changes
if
scientists
are
to
be
able
to
forecast
the
climatic
effects
of
El
Ninos
with
any
degree
of
accuracy.
This
is
not
just
an
academic
task
鈥?/p>
accurate
forecasts
can
spell
out
feast
or
famine
in
many
tropical
countries
around
the
world.
Forecasting
efforts
have
focused
on
El
Nino,
whose
effects
are
generally
more
severe
than
those
of La Nina.
A
worrying
possibility
is
that
the
changes
maybe
due
to
greenhouse
warming.
If so, the recent fluctuations may be an early glimpse of worse things
to come.
When does El Nino happen?
A The water temperature is above normal.
B Sea surface temperatures are higher than usual.