佛蒙特州洪水因氣候變化而加劇

顧芳

佛蒙特州蒙彼利埃市及其周邊社區(qū)的街道變成了湍急的河流，由氣候變化引發(fā)的強(qiáng)降雨會(huì)更頻繁地發(fā)生。

主題語境：自然環(huán)境篇幅：346詞建議用時(shí)：7分鐘

1 Streets in Montpelier， Vermont and surrounding communities turned into rushingrivers recently， a dramatic display of what could happen more often as climate change fuelsheavier rainfall events. While flooding at the scale seen in Vermont remains rare in individualcommunities， extreme rainfall events happenmore often in the Northeast and much of easternAmerica and are expected to occur even morefrequently in the decades， several experts said.

2 Heavy rainfall events could increase in theNortheast by an additional 52% by the end of thecentury， a study warned. “The number of wetdays that experience extreme rainfall—the top 1% of wet days—is increasing quite significantly，”said the studys lead author Christopher Picard.

3“ These big increases in rainfall events arent just happening in the Northeast，”said Ken Kunkel， an atomospheric sciences professor. “Theyre happening in much ofthe eastern half of the US and in other parts of the world. Globally， more places haveseen increases in rainfall， and the evidence is pretty strong that its due to global warming.”

4 The weather service reported 9.2 inches of rain fell in Calais， Vermont， with rainfallamounts over five inches widespread in the region. The Winooski River in Montpelier rose15 feet in a day and nearly 100 road closures were reported.

5“ While its difficult to decisively say anything about one event， this is completelyconsistent with increasing rainfall in the Northeast and part of that being driven by climatechange，” said Jonathan Winter， associate professor of geography at Dartmouth.

6“ Warmer temperatures affect the movement of the jet stream and moisture （濕氣）flow from the Gulf of Mexico and other large water bodies. Hotter oceans put morewarmth and more moisture into the atmosphere，” Kunkel said. Record heat is occurring inthe North Atlantic this summer. Marine heat waves covered 40% of the worlds oceans inJune， and that number was expected to increase to 50% by the end of summer.

ReadingCheck

1. Which of the following can describe future extreme rainfall？

A. Severe but local.

B. Slight and average.

C. Common and wide.

D. Frequent but regional.

2. What was the direct result after the flood of the Winooski River？

A. Most roads were ruined.

B. Transportation was delayed.

C. Goods price went up instantly.

D. The weather service broke down.

3. What did Kunkel try to express in paragraph 6？

A. More water is found in the air.

B. Record heat makes the air drier.

C. Heat waves in Marine come to a stop.

D. Rising temperatures make oceans hotter.

4. What is the purpose of the text？

A. To show that climate change worsens Vermont flooding.

B. To show that record heat occurs in the North Atlantic.

C. To prove that streets in Vermont desire for repair.

D. To prove that its time to control global warming.

?LanguageStudy

Ⅰ. 日積月累

dramaticadj. 引人注目的

displayn. 表現(xiàn)

fuelv. 給……提供燃料；加強(qiáng)；刺激

significantlyadv. 顯著地

evidencen. 證據(jù)

decisivelyadv. 果斷地

consistentadj. 與……一致的；連貫的

due to 因?yàn)?；由?/p>

have an opportunity for 有機(jī)會(huì)……

Ⅱ. 單句填空

1. We know well the pattern of _____could happen when we suffer from floods.

2. House prices have gone up_____10% in the past three years.

3. There is enough evidence_____global warming is changing the world.

4. The results are entirely consistent_____our earlier research.

5. More frequent climate changes are bringing_____ （heavy） rainfall events.

6. Most of this explosive growth_____ （occur） in developing countries now.