Save winters in the Alps

四川 蒋建平

题材：环保 体裁：说明文 文章词数：329 建议用时：6分钟

Alpine winters are dying.Since the 19th century,average temperatures in these moun⁃tains have risen by two degrees Celsius—about twice the global average. Snow is arriving later in the season and melting sooner. The Alps as a whole have lost about a month of snow cover, according to scientists who analyzed data from more than 2,000 weather sta⁃tions.

To many of the 14 million people who live in one of the world's most densely populated mountain ranges,the effects are terrifying. The economy here depends on snow to lure 120 million tourists a year.

To save themselves,the people of the Alps are go⁃ing to lengths.An estimated 100,000 snowmaking ma⁃chines now power the Alpine ski industry. Beyond snow storehouses like Kitzsteinhorn,desperate locals are wrapping the ice on a few of the Alps'roughly 4,000 glaciers,to try to delay the rapid melting caused by global warming.Some of these methods are suitable and attractive;others are environmentally and economically questionable.

I was lucky enough to grow up in the Alps at a time when snow was abundant. I re⁃member the excitement of leaving my tiny footprints in the season's first snowfall;I remem⁃ber the color of my dad's cheeks as he shoveled (铲) the house free, again and again. My parents clapped my first skis on my feet before I was three.That period turns out to be a pe⁃riod in history.

The pandemic shut down ski tourism across the Alps. Millions of hotel beds stayed cold.But climate change poses a more profound threat.One or two degrees of warming may not sound like much, but it can determine whether precipitation (降水) falls as snow—or rain.Turn up the temperature just a level,and snowflakes might never form.That's why the Alps are in deep trouble,says Yves Lejeune,the scientist in charge of the Col de Porte me⁃teorological observatory,at 4,350 feet in the western French Alps.

Reading Check

1.What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?

A.Global warming.

B.Economic changes in the Alps.

C.Challenges that Alpine winters face.

D.Findings from scientists'new research.

2.The underlined word“lure”in paragraph 2 can be replaced by .

A.lose B.draw C.guide D.change

3.What's the author's attitude to the methods in paragraph 3?

A.Objective. B.Subjective. C.Supportive. D.Worried.

4.What's the main threat to the ski tourism across the Alps?

A.Local population. B.The pandemic.

C.The lower temperature. D.Climate change.

Language Study

熟词生义

To save themselves, the people of the Alps aregoing to lengths.为了拯救他们自己，阿尔卑斯山的居民正在竭尽全力。

go to lengths(to do sth)竭尽全力（做某事）

e.g. She goes to extraordinary lengths to keep her private life private. 她竭尽全力让自己的私生活不受干扰。