下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
Walk through the Amazon rainforest today and you will find it is steamy, warm, damp and thick. But if you had been around 15,000 years ago, during the last ice age, would it have been the same? For more than 30 years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted （反应） to the cold, dry climates of the ice ages, but until now, no one has reached a satisfying answer.
Rainforests like the Amazon are important for mopping up CO2 from the atmosphere and helping to slow global warming. Currently the trees in the Amazon take in around 500 million tonnes of CO2 each year: equal to the total amount of CO2 giving off in the UK each year. But how will the Amazon react to future climate change? If it gets drier, will it still survive and continue to draw down CO2? Scientists hope that they will be able to learn in advance how the rainforest will manage in the future by understanding how rainforests reacted to climate change in the past.
Unfortunately, getting into the Amazon rainforest and collecting information are very difficult. To study past climate, scientists need to look at fossilized pollen, kept in lake muds. Going back to the last ice age means drilling deep down into lake sediments （沉淀物）, which requires specialized equipment and heavy machinery. There are very few roads and paths, or places to land helicopters and aeroplanes. Rivers tend to be the easiest way to enter the forest, but this still leaves vast areas between the rivers completely unsampled （未取样）. So far, only a handful of cores have been drilled that go back to the last ice age and none of them provide enough information to prove how the Amazon rainforest reacts to climate change.
1. The phrase “mopping up” in the second paragraph means ______.
A. cleaning up
B. taking in
C. wiping out
D. giving out
2. How will the Amazon rainforest react to future climate change?
A. It’ll get drier and continue to remove CO2.
B. It’ll remain steamy, warm, damp and thick.
C. It’ll get warmer and then colder and drier.
D. There is no exact answer up to present.
3. What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?
A. It’s important to drill deep down into lake sediments to collect information.
B. It’s impossible to prove how climate changes in the Amazon rainforest.
C. It’s hard to collect information for studies of the past climate in the Amazon rainforest.
D. It’s necessary to have specialized equipment and machinery to study the past climate.
4. The best title for this passage may probably be ______.
A. Studies of the Amazon
B. Climates of the Amazon
C. Secrets of the Rainforests
D. Changes of the Rainforests
walk through 穿过；走过场
rainforest n . 雨林
steamy adj . 充满蒸汽的
damp adj . 潮湿的，有湿气的
ice age 冰期，冰川期
argue about 辩论某事
react to 对……做出反应
take in 吸收，理解
mop up 擦洗；吃（喝）光，这里引申为“吸收”
fossilize v . 使成化石，变成化石
pollen n . 花粉
keep in 扣留；维持某种状态
mud n . 泥，泥浆
drill n./v. 钻
handful n . 一小撮，少量
core n . 核心（物质）；中心
1. For more than 30 years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted （ 反应 ） to the cold, dry climates of the ice ages, but until now, no one has reached a satisfying answer.
（参考译文） 30多年来，科学家们一直在争论像亚马逊这样的雨林对冰川期寒冷、干燥的气候如何反应，但直到现在，没有人得出一个令人满意的答案。
2. Scientists hope that they will be able to learn in advance how the rainforest will manage in the future by understanding how rainforests reacted to climate change in the past.
（参考译文） 科学家们希望他们能够通过了解过去雨林对气候变化如何反应来预先学习未来雨林如何管理。
3. So far, only a handful of cores have been drilled that go back to the last ice age and none of them provide enough information to prove how the Amazon rainforest reacts to climate change.
（参考译文） 迄今为止，只钻探出来少量上次冰川期的核心物质，这些物质无法提供足够的信息证明亚马逊雨林如何对气候变化做出反应。