IF you lived by the sea, you’d know that typhoons are
frequent（频繁的）visitors during summer .They bring Strong
winds, heavy rain and flooding（洪水）But most of the time,
when people stay indoors, they’re just all right.
This is what the people in the Philippines used to
believe – until they met the “super typhoon”, Haiyan.
The typhoon hit the country on Nov 8, at around 5 am,
when most people were still asleep. But being at home didn’t keep them safe,
since few buildings remained standing once they were hit by wind as violent as 376
kilometers per hour, according to NBC News.
“This is at the top end of any tropical system that
we’ve seen on our planet,” said Bryan Norcross, a weather scientist working for
NBC. And so far, Haiyan has caused more than 3,600 deaths and left millions of
people homeless.
.But where did Haiyan get its destructive power?
According to Brian McNoldy, a tropical weather expert
at the University of Miami, US, Haiyan was so strong because “it had everything
working for it”
“All typhoons feed off the warm ocean waters,” Colin
Price, a weather researcher at Tel Aviv University in Israel, told National
Geographic. Tropical storms are like giant engines（发动机），powered by the heat transferred（传导）from the ocean waters to the air above. However,
because of climate change, the oceans have been warming up in recent decades.
“Warmer oceans will result in more intense（强烈的）storms，” Price said.
Also, Haiyan started near the equator（赤道），where it was able to pick up more heat before heading
to the Philippines. Moreover, the route（路线）it
traveled was mostly along open ocean, which means no land prevented it from
gathering steam（水蒸气）．
In addition, there happened to be very little “wind
shear（风切变）in the area this time. Wind shear is a
sudden change in wind speed or direction, which can tear apart developing
storms. This is like when you stir（搅动） a glass
of water with a chopstick: a swirl（漩涡）will form,
‘but if you move the chopstick in the opposite direction, the swirl will
quickly disappear.”
“When all
those things align in a certain way, you’re going to get something like‘Haiyan’.”Jim Kossin, a scientist with the US National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, told National Geographic.
1.Which of the following is TRUE about typhoons
according to the article?
A. They mostly happen early in the morning.
B. They mostly do damage during winter.
C. During most typhoons people can keep safe just by
staying at home.
D. This year, more intense storms have happened in the
world,
2.Which of the following made Haiyan so powerful?
a, lts starting point was the equator
b, The frequency of other intense storms
c. More heat was transferred from the ocean waters to
the air above,
d. There was a strong wind shear in the area
e. There was no land in its way
A. abc B．acd C．ace D.
ade
3.The underlined word “alignin” the last paragraph is
closest in meaning to_____
A. disappear B.
affect each other
C. Arrive at the top D. Happen
at the same time
4.The article mainly talks about
A. how destructive Haiyan was
B. Why Haiyan was so destructive
C. how typhoons like Haiyan form（形成）
D. ways to protect yourself when typhoons hit
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