英语听力—环球英语 605 Extreme Weather

　　Voice 1
Hello and welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm James Totton.
Voice 2
And I'm Marina Santee. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Extreme² weather is happening more often in different parts of the world. There are more storms, floods, and droughts³. Droughts are long dry periods with no rain. Many people are wondering if this is connected to climate change. Climate change affects weather conditions around the world.
Two examples of extreme weather are the terrible fires and floods that happened in Australia in the first two months of 2009.
Voice 2
The state of Victoria is in south-east Australia. Here, in February, 173 people died in bushfires. Hundreds more were injured⁵. A bushfire is a fire that happens in open country, called ‘the bush⁴' in Australia. These were the worst bushfires ever recorded in that state.
Saturday, February 7 was the day when the fires killed most people. People in Victoria now call it Black Saturday. Temperatures were higher than 40 degrees Celsius⁶ on that day. In the early evening, the wind changed its direction from the north east to the south west. It had a speed of more than 120 kilometres an hour. The new wind caused huge new fires that moved at great speed towards towns that had escaped earlier fires.
Voice 1
Altogether, 78 small country towns were damaged. Some were almost completely⁷ destroyed. Over 7500 people lost their homes. One fire expert said the energy produced by those fires in a few hours was enough for the state's total energy needs for a year.
Voice 2
At the same time as Victoria's towns were burning, the state of Queensland was also in big trouble. Queensland is in the north east part of Australia. The worst floods in twenty years were happening here. Normal floods caused by heavy rain were made worse by a cyclone⁸. A cyclone is a kind of storm that brings high winds. This one came from the Pacific Ocean. It brought heavy rain and huge waves on the coast during January.
Voice 1
Two weeks later another cyclone brought more heavy rain and floods over a big part of north Queensland. Many towns were surrounded by water. Thousands of homes were flooded. Many families were forced to look for shelter⁹ in other places.
Voice 2
A week after that, on February 6 and 7, more heavy rain made the floods even worse. While people in Victoria were dying¹⁰ in the Black Saturday bushfires, 236 millimetres of rain fell on the Queensland town of Ingham. The flood water in that town was twelve point five metres deep.
Voice 1
Australians are wondering what causes such extreme weather. Australian Government scientists say it may be caused by ‘rapid climate change'. They say that it is happening all over the world.
Records of weather in Australia show that average temperatures in this continent rose by nearly one degree Celsius in the last 50 years. There have also been more ‘heatwaves'. These are times when the temperature stays very high for many days. And there are fewer cold days in the year. Records made in other parts of the world tell the same story. Planet¹¹ Earth is becoming warmer. Scientists call this ‘global¹² warming'.
Voice 2
As well as higher temperatures on the land surface, there are other signs of global warming. They include warmer ocean temperatures, less snow and ice, and rising sea levels.
Scientists at the Australian Department of Climate Change say it is difficult to prove the warmer climate has caused an extreme weather event. But they say more extreme weather in Australia is similar to what has been seen in other parts of the world. They believe climate change will bring more extreme weather events, including bushfires in Australia.
Voice 1
Before the Black Saturday fires in February, Victoria experienced¹³ 10 years of the lowest rainfall on record, and warmer temperatures. This caused trees and other plants to be very dry. And then, in January and February, temperatures in south eastern Australia were the highest since records began in 1859. In Victoria on February 7, the temperature reached an all time high - 48.8 degrees Celsius.
Voice 2
Australian government scientists say some changes in the weather, such as extreme temperatures, "now appear to be partly attributable¹⁴ to human influences ..." That is, they are partly caused by humans. They say ‘unusually high' levels of carbon¹⁵ dioxide¹⁶ gas have been measured in the Earth's atmosphere. The levels are 30 per cent higher than at any time in the past 420,000 years.
Voice 1
Carbon dioxide is one of the gases in the Earth's atmosphere which acts like a blanket, keeping the planet warm. If the atmospheric¹⁷ temperature keeps rising, many scientists believe the whole world will suffer badly.
Voice 2
Most scientists agree that human action seems to be the main cause of the sudden¹⁸ increase in carbon dioxide levels. Burning different kinds of fossil¹⁹ fuel and destroying forests are the two main things that have caused this increase. The fossil fuels are mostly coal and fuels made from oil - such as gasoline²⁰ and natural gas.
Voice 1
The governments of Australia and most other major countries believe that firm action is needed soon to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being produced around the world. The United²¹ Nations is asking world leaders to meet in Copenhagen early in December to discuss the problem. The UN wants them to make a plan to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that humans produce.
Voice 2
Not all scientists agree that human action is causing global warming. Some argue that natural forces made the Earth's temperature rise and fall in past centuries. And they say it may be the same now.
Voice 1
But most scientists advise us to take better care of our planet. That is not a new idea. The oldest part of the Bible²² tells that God gave the planet to humans. And yet it still belongs to God. So Christians²³ believe that we humans are responsible²⁴ for the way we use the natural environment. The Bible says that when God made the world he ‘saw that it was good'. He gave humans the responsibility²⁵ to take care of it. It is our job to make sure it stays good.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 extreme   

adj.末端的，尽头的；极度的，极端的；n.极度，最大程度

参考例句：

• She lived on the extreme edge of the forest.她住在森林的最边缘。
• His views are rather extreme.他的见解相当偏激。

3 droughts   

n.干旱（时期）( drought的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some of these droughts must have been severe. 有一些旱灾想必是严重的。 来自辞典例句
• Farmers' problems continued, and their suffering was compounded by serious droughts in 1986 and 1988. １９８６年和１９８８年的干旱使农民的处境更是雪上加霜。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

4 bush   

n.灌木，灌木丛，矮树

参考例句：

• This bush has grown up a lot in the last few months.这矮树丛几个月来已向上长高了很多。
• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.一鸟在手，胜于二鸟在林。

5 injured   

adj.受伤的

参考例句：

• Our best defender is injured and won't be able to play today.我们最佳的防守员受伤了，今天不能参加比赛。
• The injured men have been dug out of the snow.受伤人员从雪中被挖了出来。

6 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

7 completely   

adv.完全地，十分地，全然

参考例句：

• She never completely gave up hope.她从不完全放弃希望。
• I feel completely in the dark on this question.这件事使我感到茫然。

8 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

9 shelter   

n.掩蔽，掩蔽处，避身处；庇护所，避难所，庇护；vt.庇护，保护，隐匿；vi.躲避

参考例句：

• We took shelter from the rain in a cave.我们在一个山洞里避雨。
• Trees are a shelter from the sun.树木可以遮挡阳光。

10 dying   

adj.垂死的，临终的

参考例句：

• He was put in charge of the group by the dying leader.他被临终的领导人任命为集团负责人。
• She was shown into a small room,where there was a dying man.她被领进了一间小屋子，那里有一个垂死的人。

11 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

12 global   

adj.全球的；球形的；世界的

参考例句：

• A global environmental meeting is going to be held here.一个全球环境会议将在这里举行。
• The report takes a global view of the company's problems.这份报告对公司的问题作了综合性的论述。

13 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

14 attributable   

a.可归因于…的

参考例句：

• Their illnesses are attributable to a poor diet. 他们的病可能是不良饮食所致。
• The variations found are attributable to well-defined geochemical processes. 已知的各种变化都属于一定的地球化学过程。

15 carbon   

n.碳元素

参考例句：

• Diamonds are pure carbon.钻石是纯净的碳。
• Carbon is an element,while carbon dioxide is a compound.碳是一种(化学)元素，而二氧化碳则是一种化合物。

16 dioxide   

n.二氧化物

参考例句：

• The oxygen and the carbon combine to form carbon dioxide.氧和碳化合，形成二氧化碳。
• Carbon dioxide is the largest contributor to the greenhouse effect.二氧化碳太多是道致温室效应的最主要原因。

17 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

18 sudden   

n.突然，忽然；adj.突然的，意外的，快速的

参考例句：

• All of a sudden he turned about and saw me.他突然转过身来看见了我。
• The horse was badly frightened by the sudden noise.那匹马被突然而来的嘈杂声吓坏了。

19 fossil   

n.化石，食古不化的人，老顽固

参考例句：

• At this distance of time it is difficult to date the fossil.时间隔得这么久了，很难确定这化石的年代。
• The man is a fossil.那人是个老顽固。

20 gasoline   

n.(美)汽油

参考例句：

• This car runs 5 miles on a gallon of gasoline.这部汽车一加仑汽油可以行驶五英里。
• There is still some gasoline left in the tank.油箱里还剩下一些汽油。

21 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

22 bible   

n.《圣经》；得到权威支持的典籍

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• This dictionary should be your Bible when studying English.学习英语时，这本字典应是你的主要参考书。

23 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

24 responsible   

adj.有责任的，应负责的；可靠的，可信赖的；责任重大的；vi.休息，睡；静止，停止

参考例句：

• He must be responsible to me for this matter.这件事他必须对我负责。
• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。

25 responsibility   

n.责任，职责

参考例句：

• The safety of the ship is the captain's responsibility.确保船的安全是船长的责任。
• The matter is outside my area of the responsibility.此事超出我的责任范围。