题目内容
We've recorded a new album, and it's ________ in the spring.
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Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are a major cause of climate change, and now a new study has 
confirmed that atmospheric CO2 is also affecting the ocean chemistry and potentially harming sea life.
Montana State University scientist Robert Dore has been researching the water in the Pacific Ocean for almost two decades.
"We've been going to the same spot in the Pacific Ocean, and we try and characterize long-term change in the open ocean environment. And one of the key things that we measure is CO2 levels. And we've been able to record this increasing quantity of atmospheric CO2 into the ocean."
Scientists expected that as atmospheric CO2 increased, more and more of the carbon dioxide would be absorbed into the ocean, affecting the chemical balance of the sea water, with a potentially harmful impact on shellfish and coral in particular.
"As carbon dioxide dissolves（溶解） in the water, or seawater in this case, it forms a weak acid, carbonic acid," Dore explains. "And therefore, as the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere goes up and that exchanges with the surface seawater, it drives the pH down, and makes it more acidic."
The seawater Dore and his colleagues have analyzed confirms what the theory predicts.
The effect was particular striking at about 250 meters down, and again at 500 meters. Dore and his colleagues came up with two possible explanations. It could be that surface water picked up CO2 and then moved to those depths. Or there could be a biological explanation.
"It's important to realize that the oceans are really b
ecoming acidic. And it can have negative impacts on a whole variety of sea life from fish to coral. It's potentially catastrophic."
53．What can be the best title of the passage?
A．Sea Life Facing Danger B．Scientist Researching Seawater
C．Oceans Becoming More Acidic D．Climate Change Affecting Seawater
54．Which of the following shows the process of the impact of atmospheric CO2 on sea life?
a．Sea life is endangered．
b．CO2 
goes into the surface water．
c．The ocean chemistry is affected．
d．CO2decreases the PH and makes the seawater more acidic．
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55．Scientist Robert Dore came to the conclusion based on .
A．his research and analysis
B．the expectation of other scientists
C．some former theory
D．a major cause of climate change
56．What does the passage want to tell us most?
A．It takes time to make a scientific study．
B．Atmospheric C
O2 is doing harm to sea life．C．Robert Dore is a committed and serious scientist．
D．Measures should be taken to prevent the potential catastrophe．
2010 was the year the Earth struck back.
Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards (暴风雪), landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.
“It just seemed like it was back-to-back(接二连三) and it came in waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.
“The term “100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.”
And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.
Even though many disasters have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.
Poor construction and development practices make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings（危房） in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river floods, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes “are pretty much constant,” said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. “All the change that’s made is man-made.”
The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people – many of them living in poverty- and more poorly built shanties(棚户区) ,than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010; total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.
Climate scientists say Earth’s climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warming, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.
The excessive(过多的) amount of extreme weather that dominated 2010 is a classic sign of man-made global warming that climate scientists have long warned about. They calculate that the killer Russian heat wave – setting a national record of 111 degrees – would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.
Data show that 18 countries broke their records for the hottest day ever.
“The Earth strikes back in response to bad human decision-making,” said Debarati Guha Sapir.” “It’s almost as if the policies, the government policies and development policies, are helping the Earth strike back instead of protecting from it. We’ve created conditions where the slightest thing the Earth does is really going to have a surprising impact.” White House science adviser John Holdren said we should get used to climate disasters or do something about global warming. “The science is clear that we can expect more and more of these kinds of damaging events unless and until society has sharply reduced the amount of heat-trapping gases and particles(颗粒).”
【小题1】From paragraph 1 to paragraph 3, we learn ___________________________.
| A．what natural disasters mean to the people all over the world |
| B．how terrorism attacks struck in the past four decades |
| C．how the Earth struck back in 2010 |
| D．why the world saw so many disasters in 2010 |
| A．poor construction largely accounts for more deaths than expected |
| B．man’s behaviours are to blame for the constant occurrence of natural disasters |
| C．the extreme weather mainly contributes to the disaster of the quake |
| D．the country’s poverty and over- crowdedness results in the disaster |
| A．Environment protection should be taken into account in policy-making. |
| B．Natural disasters are causing increase. |
| C．The earth wouldn’t strike back but for the destruction by man. |
| D．Conditions should be created to rid the influence of disasters. |
| A．to forecast the happening of natural disasters accurately |
| B．to build stronger houses that can stand severe earthquakes and floods |
| C．to make better decisions and policies of city development |
| D．to send out much fewer greenhouse gases and particles |
| A．The major causes of natural disasters. |
| B．The human unawareness of environment protection. |
| C．The harmonious relationship between humans and nature. |
| D．The serious results of global warming and earthquakes. |