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1、M: Now we have satellites and high-powered microscopes, its easy to think we know everything about the world; but we still dont understand El Nino.W: Right. Scientists all over the world are even uncertain about the cause of the warm Pacific current that brings storms or drought - the mysterious El
2、Nino.Q: Which of the following is true according to the conversation?M: Everyone is talking about environmental problems: acid rain, the greenhouse effect, holes in the ozone layer. We should think positively. What can we do to improve things?W: I agree. We could do a lot more to harness the suns en
3、ergy for heating and lighting in our homes. In Japan 43,000 solar roofs were installed in 2002.Q: How do the man and the woman view the environment?W: We lived in Beijing some years ago. It was always difficult to keep the house clean with the wind from the north blowing sand from the desert at us.M
4、: Thats why the Chinese government has been encouraging people to plant trees along the edges of the Gobi Desert. Now those trees act as wind barriers.Q: What did the government encourage people to do?M: Many old refrigerators and cars are environmental hazards because they contain CFCs that destroy
5、 the ozone layer.W: Yes, but government organizations are helping people to safely dispose of old refrigerators or, in the case of cars, to upgrade their air conditioning.Q: What are government departments helping people to do?M: Hey, thats an aerosol spray youre using on your hair! Build a bomb or
6、set fire to the apartment to kill us quickly instead of making holes in the ozone, so we die of cancer.W: Cool it, man. This spray doesnt contain CFCs. And youd better read a little more. In 2003 the hole in the ozone layer shrank by 20 percent, so theres no reason to panic.Q: What does the man mean
7、?We should have proper respect for nature!Martha: Do you think most people in your culture respect nature?Ed: I think so. Umm. more now than before.Martha: What do you think is the most serious environmental problem in the world today?Ed: Today. I think damage to the ozone layer is a big problem; an
8、d another problem is pollution in big cities and things like that.Martha: How do you learn about environmental problems?Ed: Umm. through school. A lot of clubs promote environmental safety, and some TV programs, too. They talk about environmental safety and stuff like that.Martha: Do you think stude
9、nts should learn more about the environment at school?Ed: I think so. So, as they grow older, they can be more aware of all the problems that are going on. And also to prevent more problems from occurring.Martha: If you could create a new law to help the environment, what would it be?Ed: A new law f
10、or the environment? Umm. Id probably say that when people throw away their cigarette butts, they have to throw them into the garbage bin, not just throw them everywhere because its just littering and I hate that. So they should be fined if they throw them on the floor or on the ground.Martha: Thats
11、a good idea. What do you personally do to help protect the environment?Ed: Im so against littering. I never litter. If I see somebody litter, I get really angry. So I always throw my trash into the garbage bin.*The Smaller Hole in the Ozone LayerAccording to a report by Australian researchers, the h
12、ole in the ozone layer over Antarctica will probably start closing within five years. They say it may be completely closed within fifty years. The ozone layer protects the Earth from dangerous radiation from the sun. The hole in the ozone layer was discovered over Antarctica almost thirty years ago.
13、 At the time, it was three times the size of Australia.The report found that ozone-destroying gases in the upper atmosphere were at or near their highest levels in the year 2000. But since then, there has been continuous progress made toward the recovery of the ozone layer. Satellite information sho
14、wed that levels of ozone-destroying gases in the atmosphere are slowly decreasing. At its largest this year, the ozone hole covered more than 15 million square kilometers. That is down from a yearly average of 23 million square kilometers over the last six years.Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, are res
15、ponsible for destroying part of the ozone layer over Antarctica. CFCs have been widely used since the 1930s in cooling devices such as refrigerators and air conditioners. CFCs remain in the atmosphere for years.Government scientists say the level of chlorine in the atmosphere is decreasing because o
16、f restrictions on the use of chlorofluorocarbons. The chemicals were restricted under an international agreement called the Montreal Protocol in 1987. Under the Protocol, developing countries promised to cut their use of chlorofluorocarbons in half by the year 2(X)5. They also agreed to an eighty-fi
17、ve percent cut by the year 2007.A Mild El NinoThe El Nino weather condition has returned. However, officials at the United States National Weather Service say El Nino is weaker than usual this year. El Nino is a change in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. It happens every four to five years.Nor
18、mally, water temperatures in the western Pacific Ocean increase near the end of the year. This causes more rainfall in Indonesia, Australia and other nearby places. At the same time, cold ocean water causes less rainfall in the eastern Pacific Ocean, near South America. The opposite happens during E
19、l Nino. Pacific Ocean temperatures increase near South America, causing unusually high amounts of rainfall there. In contrast, El Nino causes dry weather in Indonesia and Australia.A strong El Nino can severely affect the weather all over the world. The last powerful El Nino was in 1997 and 1998. It
20、 caused major floods in many places. El Nino also led to extremely dry weather in some other areas. Reports say the weather caused the deaths of about 24,000 people.So experts say having a weaker El Nino this year is good news. Meteorologists say rainfall has been higher than usual in South America.
21、 The experts say the effects of El Nino will begin to show in November in the United States. The northern states may have a warmer winter. But, scientists say El Nino will not be strong enough to prevent this years powerful storms in the Atlantic Ocean.nThe Environment and the DevelopmentLi: Hi, Pro
22、fessor Wang, Im Li Lin, a correspondent from the University Newspaper. The staff and students here are getting more and more interested in the relationship between the environment and development. What do you think is the most serious environmental problem at present? What measures should we adopt t
23、o improve the environment and develop the economy at the same time?Wang: There are many environmental problems: air pollution, water pollution, desertification, over-fishing, destruction of natural habitats, acid rain, over-consumption of wild animals and plants, etc. But lying at the center of all
24、those problems, as I see it, is the contradiction between economic growth and the environment.Since the United Nations Earth Summit in 1992, more and more people and governments have adopted a new idea; that is, sustainable development. This means todays economic growth should not wipe out the resou
25、rces and options for future generations. Planning and development should ensure not only economic growth, but also social advancement and environmental health. In other words, some economic behavior must be restricted or controlled. Instilling principles of sustainable development into government pl
26、anning, resource management and economic policy is the most important step China could take to solve its environmental problems.China has already taken some remarkable steps to reduce damage to the environment. For instance, following the huge floods of 1998, the government banned logging in the upp
27、er reaches of the Yangtze River, in order to protect forests and reduce the risk of floods.Still, the basic contradiction between environment and development persists. Much work is to be done before we can achieve the aim of a balance between economic growth and the environment.Thick Cloud of Pollut
28、ion Covering Southern AsiaA United Nations study says a thick cloud of pollution covering southern Asia threatens the lives of millions of people. Scientists say the pollution could increase lung disease and cause early deaths. The cloud is also damaging agriculture and affecting rainfall levels. It
29、 has affected many countries in southern Asia. The pollution cloud is three kilometers high. Scientists say it can move halfway around the world in a week.The cloud is the result of forest fires, the burning of agricultural waste, and huge increases in the burning of fuels by vehicles, industries an
30、d power stations.Pollution from millions of bad cooking stoves has made the problem worse. Many poor people burn fuels like wood and animal waste in such stoves.Scientists say the cloud of pollution appears to cool the land and oceans by blocking sunlight. They say it reduces the amount of sunlight
31、reaching the Earths surface by as much as fifteen percent. At the same time, heat inside the cloud warms the lower parts of the atmosphere.Scientists say this combination could be changing winter rainfall levels in Asia. They say rainfall has increased over the eastern coast of Asia. But it has drop
32、ped sharply over parts of northwestern Asia. The report says the cloud could reduce rainfall over northwestern Pakistan, Afghanistan and western China by up to forty percent.Harmful chemicals from the cloud are mixing with rainfall. This acid rain damages crops and trees and threatens public health.
33、 Scientists are concerned that the pollution will intensify during the next thirty years as the population of Asia increases to an estimated 5,000 million people.1*Mountain regions face a number of dangers.Mountain people around the world are in great danger of the negative effects of the worsening
34、environment, according to a UN report.As global warming and deforestation accelerate and technology makes wilder places more accessible, environmental and social pressures on the worlds remotest regions increase.The UN has found that many mountainous regions - inhabited by one out of five of the wor
35、lds people - are barely recognizable when they are compared to what they were like 60 years ago. This is mostly because forests were cut to make way for cattle grazing and agriculture.The authors of the UN study expect 98 per cent of its mountain areas to experience severe climate change by 2055.Bio
36、logical losses are expected to be heavy. The mountains of Europe, parts of California and the north-west Andes in South America are among the most threatened mountain areas in the world and should be given priority in conservation.The UN is anxious to raise awareness of the problems facing mountain
37、areas because they are inhabited by some of the most vulnerable people. These people could lose their culture and their livelihood with even the smallest shifts in climate.At the same time, many mountain regions are losing people. Thousands of villages in Europe are deserted most of the year. In oth
38、er areas like Nepal, people are drifting to the cities in search of work.Digging a HoleA fellow stopped at a rural gas station and, after filling his tank, he bought a soft drink. He stood by his car to drink his cola and watched two men working along the roadside.One worker would dig a hole two or
39、three feet deep and then move on. The other worker came along behind and filled in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was about 25 feet behind, filling in the old hole.Hold it, hold it, the fellow said to the men. Can you tell me whats going on here with this digging?Well, we work
40、 for the county government, one of the men said.But one of you is digging a hole and the other is filling it up. Youre not accomplishing anything. Arent you wasting the countys money?You dont understand, mister, one of the men said, leaning on his shovel and wiping his brow. Normally, theres three o
41、f us, me, Joe and Mike. I dig the hole, Joe sticks in the tree and Mike here puts the dirt back.YeahJ piped up Mike. Now Joe is sick but that doesnt mean we cant work, does it?nSantas Hometown in DangerWeather experts may have found a new problem caused by global warming, one which many people will
42、pay attention to: There are signs that Santas home in the North may be in trouble because of warmer temperatures.The Finnish town of Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle, which many Europeans say is the home of Santa Claus, has had its warmest winter in 40 years. As a result, there has been much less snow
43、 than usual meaning no snowmen, no snowballs, and possibly not enough snow for Santa to ride his sleigh on.More important for local residents, it may mean fewer tourists, as well. Santas wintry hometown normally attracts thousands of visitors each year, and millions of dollars.Anne Pelttari-Bergman,
44、 the towns tourist director, worries that the town could be in trouble if snow levels do not return to normal. She explains: MSnow is really important for us, of course. For Santa Claus, for Christmas tourism, and also for our winter tourism because winter is our best season. It is really important for us.Weather experts and town residents are hoping this warm winter is a one-time thing. Few people can imagine a holiday when even Santa does not have a white Christmas.H