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考研英语阅读理解提分没有捷径，只有通过多阅读多做题才能够提高阅读速度和把握做题的技巧。新东方在线编辑奉上考研英语报刊文章阅读及剖析，希望备战2015年的考生能够不断拓展知识面，理论结合实践，提升阅读理解能力。
考研英语报刊文章阅读及剖析（12）
Is Earth Getting Darker?
The sun is not growing weaker, yet its light appears to be dimming. Between
1960 and 1990, some scientists believe, the amount of solar radiation reaching
Earth's surface may have declined as much as 10%--and in some places, Hong Kong,
for example, more than 35%.
What was going on? Well, it appears that increased air pollution during
those 30 years--over Asia, in particular--with the help, perhaps, of some
increased cloudiness, may have exerted a cooling influence on the surface of the
planet even as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were encouraging the
atmosphere to warm. The impacts of that tug-of-war on the climate system could
be devilishly difficult to untangle. At the same time, no task could be more
urgent. For if global pollution has helped keep global warming in check, says
Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the University of
California at San Diego, then the full impact of the buildup of greenhouse gases
has yet to be felt. This week, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in
Montreal, Ramanathan and others will be presenting the latest data on the
solar-dimming problem and pondering its implications for the climate system as a
whole.
Many scenarios for global warming, for example, invoke a speedup in the
hydrological cycle by which water evaporates and then comes down as rain. The
cooling produced by solar dimming, however, may slow the rate of evaporation,
while higher up in the atmosphere the pollutants responsible for absorbing and
reflecting sunlight are likely to interfere with the process that produces
rain.
Why? These pollutants, which take the form of tiny, airborne particles
called aerosols, act as nuclei around which cloud droplets form. The problem is,
there are too many aerosols in the atmosphere competing for water molecules, so
the cloud droplets that form are too small and never become weighty enough to
fall to the ground. As a result, says Beate Liepert, an atmospheric physicist at
Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the atmosphere could be
filled with moisture while Earth's surface thirsts for rain.
Many questions remain, including the true extent of the dimming. One
analysis pegs the average worldwide darkening to be about 4% over three decades,
while another computes it to be more than twice that much. There are also
questions about the reliability of the devices that measure the sunlight
reaching Earth's surface. Known as radiometers, these instruments are nothing
more than flat, black solar collectors capped with glass. They are sometimes
finicky; a smudge of dirt or a speck of dust can cause bogus readings and change
the calculated results.
Solar dimming, in other words, is a problem still in the process of being
defined, and as its dimensions become clearer, so will the nature of the
challenge the world faces. Although scientists have done a lot of thinking about
global warming, they are just beginning to grapple with the problem of how
global warming and solar dimming interact. As Ramanathan puts it, "It's like we
have a new gorilla sitting down at the table"--and it could turn out to be a
very big gorilla indeed.
注(1)：本文选自Time; 5/24/2004, p60-60, 2/3p;
注(2)：本文习题命题模仿对象2004年真题Text 3;
1. By “tug-of-war”(Line 4, Paragraph 2), the author means _________.
[A]the different effect of solar dimming and global warming
[B]the impact of the solar dimming on the climate system
[C]the influence of the solar dimming on the global warming
[D]the interaction between the solar dimming and global warming
2. How do the scientists feel about the current climate situation?
[A]Serious.
[B]Optimistic.
[C]Carefree.
[D]Panicked.
3.When mentioning “It's like we have a new gorilla sitting down at the
table”(Last Line,
Paragraph 6), the author implies that __________.
[A]scientists should have a close look at the solar dimming problem
[B]we are facing a new problem which is very complicated and difficult to
manage
[C]we are just beginning to have research on this new field
[D]the new solar dimming problem is beyond scientists’ ability to
tackle
4. Which of the following cannot serve as a factor of causing the cooling
surface of the
planet?
[A]The lack of the rain in the earth.
[B]The increasing of the pollutants.
[C]The forming of the cloud droplets.
[D]The less weight of the cloud droplets.
5. Which of the following is true according to the text?
[A]The instruments used in the study are too simple to function well.
[B]Living things in the earth will be greatly influenced by solar
dimming.
[C]There is still a long way to go in the study of solar dimming.
[D]The findings that solar dimming has influence on the surface of the
planet are doubtful.
答案：DABAC
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发表于 2017-8-6 15:50:39