Unit Two
Reading Comprehension
Ⅰ.Questions for discussion
1.What is the essential difference between weather forecasting and climate projection analyzed in the text?
Answer:The essential difference between the two is that the former makes,on the basis of the observed state of the atmosphere and oceans at the relevant moment,specific forecasts useful for a limited number of coming days while the latter covers decades instead of days or weeks.It looks for changes in averages and makes predictions for much longer periods.
2.What are the limitations of climate models?
Answer:The present climate models may not be very reliable(or reliable in every way)for several reasons.On the one hand,the forecasting models can't take all relevant factors into consideration,since scientists are not aware of some factors at work in the first place or they don't understand these factors well enough,or because some factors are too complex to model accurately.On the other hand,the hindcasting models aims at showing long-term and overall trends,and their timing may be different from that of short-term climate variations.Also,some changes in climate are non-linear.After all,climate represents boundary or average conditions in a place,and modelers are not interested in making specific forecasts.
3.Why are scientists still working on climate models,with all their limitations?
Answer:Climate models are useful and may do very well in certain ways.If they may not model the climate accurately,they deal with,say,large-scale flow of atmosphere or long-term climate projections quite well.That's the very point of climate models.Besides,they are being improved constantly and there's the hope of their working better with more factors more accurately taken into account as scientists know more about these factors.
Ⅱ.Judge,according to the text,whether the following statements are true(T)or false(F).
1.Global temperature and sea level are projected to rise,which will surprise everyone who has been paying more attention to the headlines over the past decade or so.(F)
2.For many people,“model”is just another way of saying“not the real world”.(T)
3.Although there's just one climate,there are a few ways to simulate it.(T)
4.All reasonable projections of what humans will be doing suggest that the climate should not continue to warm though you have a chance of it accelerating.(F)
5.Anything less than perfect knowledge of today's conditions will make the forecast useless after about two weeks because the atmosphere is chaotic.(T)Vocabulary
Ⅰ.Fill in the blanks with words that best complete the sentences.
1.A 2.B 3.C 4.A 5.D 6.A 7.A 8.B 9.D 10.A 11.B 12.C 13.A 14.A 15.D 16.A 17.B 18.A 19.C 20.A
Ⅱ.Fill in each blank with a word chosen from the box in its appropriate form.
1.sophistication 2.reassure 3.caveat 4.scenario 5.lurk 6.accelerate 7.percolated 8.lubricate 9.fluctuation 10.Projection 11.manifestation 12.simulate
Cloze
Of the four choices given below for each blank,choose the one that best fits into the passage.
1.A 2.B 3.C 4.A 5.D 6.A 7.A 8.B 9.D 10.A 11.B 12.C 13.A 14.A 15.D 16.A 17.B 18.A 19.C 20.A
Translation Exercises
A.Translate the following sentences into Chinese,paying attention to the effects contexts have on the meaning of the italicized words.
1.Dr.Eliot was one of the most revered figures in the world of learning.埃利奥特博士是学术界最受尊敬的人物之一。
2.On the desk there was a bronze figure of Plato.书桌上有一尊柏拉图的铜像。
3.I want you to account for every cent you spent.我要你向我报告每一分钱的去处。
4.Social security accounts for about a third of total public spending.社会保障大约占了公共支出总额的三分之一。
5.She likes to perform different types of music because she doesn't want to be pigeonholed.她不愿意受到音乐类型的束缚,所以喜欢演奏不同类型的音乐。
6.Chances are against the enemy.形势对敌人不利。
7.Eve was persuaded by the serpent and then persuaded Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge.夏娃在蛇的引诱下吃了知善恶树的果子,又让亚当也去吃。
8.All things conspire to make him happy.诸事顺遂使他心满意足。
9.The two companies conspired to cause the value of the stock to fall.两家公司串通起来造成股价下跌。
10.Tea is the second-most commonly drunk liquid in the world,after water.As the authors of Empire of Tea point out,nowhere is this more apparent than in Britain,where everyday life is punctuated by the sounds of hissing stovetop kettles(or the clicking of electric ones).除了水,茶是人们喝得最多的饮料。诚如《茶饮帝国》的作者们所言,这一点尤以英国为最。英国人的日常生活中,不时可听到水壶在炉子上嘶嘶作响(或者电水壶发出咔嗒声)。
B.Translate the following sentences from Text A into Chinese.
1.Whether the world adopts strict emission controls or decides to ignore the climate problem entirely will make a huge difference to how much warming is likely to happen.各国是采取严格控制排放量的做法,还是完全无视气候问题,将决定气候会变暖到什么程度。
2.But even when you factor out the vagaries of politics and economics,and assume future emissions are known perfectly,the projections from climate models still cover a range of temperatures,sea levels,and other manifestations of climate change.然而,即使排除政治和经济方面的不确定因素,并假定全然知晓未来的排放量,用气候模型预测出的温度、海平面以及其他能够标明气候变化的现象仍然有相当出入。
3.Since atmospheric carbon dioxide is driving climate change,it's obviously important,but until about 15 years ago,it was too poorly understood to be included in the models.大气层中的二氧化碳显然很重要,因为它正在造成气候变化,但是直到大约15年前,人们还对它认识不足,因而没有将它纳入模型之中。
4.What modelers aim to produce is a virtual climate that resembles the real one in a statistical sense,with El Niños,say,appearing about as often as they do in reality,or hundred-year storms coming once every hundred years or so.模型制作者们希望构建出一种虚拟气候,其数据与现实中的气候相吻合。在这种虚拟气候中,厄尔尼诺现象出现的频率和现实中接近一致,或者那些百年一遇的风暴也大约每百年发生一次。
5.Again,ice sheets are a good example:If you look at melting alone,it's pretty straightforward to calculate how much extra water will enter the sea for every degree of temperature rise.同样,冰盖也是很好的例证:若将冰盖融化现象孤立起来看,那么要计算气温每上升一度会有多少冰水融入海洋,就很简单了。