Tuvalu, north of Fiji, is a tiny country in the Pacific Ocean.
Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu's nine little islands is more than five metres above sea level. Salt water is already entering the country's drinking water supply, as well as damaging plants that produce fruit and vegetable.It fears it will be swallowed up by the sea. Without urgent help, the country's days are numbered.
But Tuvalu is not the first place to face sinking into the sea. Venice, a historic city in Italy best known for its canals, has sunk about 24cm over the past 100 years. Experts say that it will have sunk another 20-50cm by 2050. A century ago, St. Mark's Square, the lowest point in the city, flooded about nine times a year. Nowadays, it happens more than 100 times.
While Venice is slowly sinking into the mud on which it stands, Tuvalu's rising sea level is caused by global warming.
The average global temperature has increased by almost 0.5 centigrade degree over the past century; scientists expect it to rise by an extra 1-3 degrees over the next 100 years.
Warmer weather makes glaciers melt, adding more water to the ocean. The warmer temperatures also make water expand, so it takes up more space, causing the sea level to rise. The sea level has risen about 10-25cm in the last 100 years.
People have been increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as CO2, through burning coal, oil and gas. This adds to the power of the greenhouse effect, making the planet even warmer.
Many scientists believe that, if the warming is not stopped, there will be huge climate changes. The sea level could rise by one metre this century.
Should this come true, millions of homes would be swallowed up by the sea and the world will be flooded with "climate refugees" looking for somewhere else to live.
【小题1】 We can infer from Paragraph 2 that ______.

Most scientists are now certain that global warming is taking place．Gases such as carbon dioxide produced by burning of coal, oil, wood, together with industrial pollution, are creating a warm blanket around the earth．This blanket is trapping heat in the atmosphere and so raising the temperature of the earth.

    The evidence for global warming can now be seen in the world’s changing climate statistics．In Europe, eight of the last ten years have seen record high temperature．For northern Europe, this has generally been a change for the better．Gardens can even now grow tropical（热带的） plants in England, though London may never see a “White Christmas” again．On the other hand, the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, and those south of the Sahara desert are receiving even

less rain than before．In sub-Saharan Africa the crops are drying out in the fields and people are dying of starvation．In the Americas, the climate is becoming more extreme ---the summers are getting hotter and hotter and the storms are becoming more violent．In 1999 the southern United States was struck by a series of destructive hurricanes, while the end of 1999 saw the worst floods ever in Venezuela．Meteorologists（气象学家） expect such trends to continue, and indeed to worsen, if global warming cannot be halted(终止).

In addition to worrying about rising global temperatures and more extreme weather conditions, scientists are closely monitoring（监测）sea levels around the world．These are slowly rising, as the northern and southern polar ice-caps start to melt．This will have serious consequences for low-lying countries near the sea, such as the coral islands in the Pacific, and Bangladesh where the River Ganges already folds the delta(三角洲) every year．Already parts of these places are disappearing under the rising tides.

                          Title: Global Warming

Tuvalu, north of Fiji, is a tiny country in the Pacific Ocean.

Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu's nine little islands is more than five metres above sea level. Salt water is already entering the country's drinking water supply, as well as damaging plants that produce fruit and vegetable. It fears it will be swallowed up by the sea. Without urgent help, the country's days are numbered.

But Tuvalu is not the first place to face sinking into the sea. Venice, a historic city in Italy best known for its canals, has sunk about 24cm over the past 100 years. Experts say that it will have sunk another 20-50cm by 2050.A century ago, St. Mark's Square, the lowest point in the city, flooded about nine time a year. Nowdays it happens more than 100 times.

While Venice is slowly sinking into the mud on which it stands, Tuvalu's rising sea level is caused by global warming.

The average global temperature has increased by almost 0.5 centigrade degree over the past century; scientists expect it to rise by an extra 1-3 degrees over the next 100 years.

Warmer weather makes glaciers（冰川） melt, adding more water to the ocean. The warmer temperatures also make water expand, so it take up more space, causing the sea level to rise. The sea level has risen about 10-25cm in the last 100 years.

People have been increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as CO2, through burning coal, oil and gas. This adds to the power of the greenhouse effect, making the planet even warmer.

Many scientists believe that, if the warming is not stopped, there will be huge climate changes. The sea level could rise by one metre this century.

Should this come true, millions of homes would be swallowed up by the sea and the world will be flooded with" climate refugees" looking for somewhere else to live.

1.We can infer from Paragraph 2 that             .

    A．Tuvalu is in danger of being swallowed up by the sea

    B．all Tuvalu islands are about five meters above the sea level

    C．drinking water in Tuvalu has been destroyed

    D．Tuvalu is often flooded by storms and waves

2.The author uses Tuvalu and Venice as examples in order to explain           .    

    A．it is  first places sinking into the sea

    B．it is sinking into the mud where they stand

    C．it will disappear in the future

    D．its trouble is caused by global warming

3.What does the underlined word "refugees" (in the last paragraph)mean?

    A．People forced away from their homeland

    B．Sudden changes caused by world climate

    C．Animals closely connected with weather

    D．Bad effect of climate changes

4.Which of the following is NOT true according to the text?

    A．The main cause of global warming is human pollution

    B．The average global temperature has risen by 1-3 ℃over the past century.

    C．The warmer temperature causes the sea level to rise

    D．There will be huge climate changes unless the warming is stopped

Electric cars are dirty.In fact，not only are they dirty，they might even be more dirty than their gasoline?powered cousins.

People in California love to talk about “zero?emissions vehicles”，but_people_in_California_seem_to_be_clueless_about_where_electricity_comes_from.Power plants mostly use fire to make it.Aside from the new folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells，we get our electricity from generators.Generators are fueled by something—usually coal，oil，but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants.There are a few wind farms and geothermal(地热的) plants as well，but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.

In other words，those “zero?emissions” cars are likely coal?burning cars.It’s just because the coal is burned somewhere else that it looks clean.It is not.It’s as if the California Greens are covering their eyes—“If I can’t see it，it’s not happening.” Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle；a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it.But when you take that gas(or another fuel) and first use it to make electricity，you waste a nice part of that energy，mostly in the form of wasted heat—at the generator，through the transmission(传送) lines，etc.

A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles.But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won’t get you nearly as far—so electric cars burn more fuel than gas?powered ones.If our electricity came mostly from nukes；or geothermal，or hydro，or solar，or wind，then an electric car truly would be clean.But for political，technical，and economic reasons，we don’t use much of those energy sources.

In addition，electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill.And finally，when cars are the polluters，the pollution is spread across all the roads.When it’s a power plant，though，all the junk is in one place.Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are too concentrated，but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.

1. What does the underlined part mean in Paragraph 2?

A．People see the California Greens everywhere.

B．People in California love to talk about zero?emissions vehicles.

C．People in California love to have their roofs covered with solar cells.

D．People in California have no idea that so far electricity mainly comes from burning coal，oil，etc.

2. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Electric cars are not clean at all.

B．Electric cars are better than gasoline?powered ones.

C．People cast doubts on electric cars’ batteries.

D．Gasoline is an efficient way to power a vehicle.

3. The electricity we get from a gallon of gas may make our car run ________.

A．not less than 25 miles

B．as far as 50 miles

C．as far as 25 miles

D．not more than 25 miles

4. It can be inferred from the text that ________.

A．being green is good and should be encouraged in communication

B．electric cars are not clean in that we get electricity mainly by burning something

C．zero?emissions vehicles should be chosen to protect our environment

D．electric cars are now the dominant vehicle compared with gasoline?powered cousins

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

TUVALU, a tiny country in the Pacific Ocean, has asked for help as it fears it will be swallowed up by the sea.

Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu’s nine little islands is more than five meters above sea level, Salt water is already entering the country’s drinking water supply, as well as damaging plants that produce fruit and vegetable. _____1_____

______2____. Venice, a historic city in Italy best known for its canals, has sunk about 24 cm over the past 100 years. Experts say that it will have sunk another 20-50cm by 2050. A century ago, St. Mark’s Square, the lowest point in the city, flooded about nine times a year, Nowadays, it happens more than 100 times. While Venice is slowly sinking into the mud on which it stands, Tuvalu’s rising sea level is caused by global warming.

The average global temperature has increased by almost 0.5 centigrade degrees over the past century; scientists expect it to rise by extra 1-3 degrees over the next 100 years.

Warmer weather makes glaciers（冰川）melt, adding more water to the ocean. The warmer temperatures also make water expand, so it takes up more space, causing the sea level to rise. The sea level has risen about 10－25 cm in the last 100 years.

__3____. Through burning coal, oil and gas, people have been increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as CO₂. This adds to the power of the greenhouse effect, making the planet even warmer.

Many scientists believe that, if the warming is not stopped, there will be huge climate changes. _____4______.

____5_____, the sea will swallow up millions of homes and the world will be flooded with “climate refugees” looking for somewhere to live.

A. The main cause of global warming is human pollution

B. Should this come true

C. Without urgent help, the country’s days are numbered.

D. But Tuvalu is not the first place to face sinking into the sea

E. The sea level could rise by one meter this century

F. people face a lot of pollution

G. much has been done about our planet