冰原的异常融化

李全忠

2022年夏，热浪席卷欧洲，就连北极圈的温度也一度飙升。全球变暖将使热浪变得更频繁，覆盖世界第一大岛格陵兰岛的冰盖也在加速融化。北极地区的科学家们可以穿着短袖到处逛，甚至打起了冰上排球。

Several days of unusually warm weather in northern Greenland have triggered （引起） rapid melting. Temperatures have been running around 10 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year， scientists said.

The amount of ice that melted in Greenland between July 15 and July 17 alone—6 billion tons of water per day—would be enough to fill 7.2 million Olympic?sized swimming pools， according to data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. Put another way， it was enough to cover the entire state of West Virginia with a foot of water.

For the scientists out on the ice sheet， the warmth has been alarming. “It definitely worries me，” said Kutalmis Saylam， a research scientist at the University of Texas who is currently stationed in Greenland. “Yesterday we could wander around in our T?shirts— that was not really expected.” Greenland holds enough ice—if it all melted—to lift sea level by 7.5 meters around the world.

In 2020， scientists found that Greenlands ice sheet had melted beyond the point of no return. “No efforts to stave off global warming can stop it from eventually breaking down，” said researchers at The Ohio State University.

Aslak Grinsted， a climate scientist， said that they have been trying to get flights into the camp so they can ship out the ice cores they have recently collected. But the warmth is destabilizing the landing site.

“The  temperatures  we  are  seeing  right  now  are  simply  too  hot  for  the  ski?equipped

planes to land，” Grinsted said. “So we store the ice cores in large artificial caves we have made into the snow to protect it from the heat of the summer.” Scientists took advantage of the abnormal warmth while they were waiting， playing volleyball in their shorts on an ice sheet at the top of the world.

Grinsted referred to the temperatures as a “heat wave”， and noted that the chance of temperatures getting this hot was clearly linked to global warming.

1. Why does the author mention Olympic?sized swimming pools？

A. To introduce an Olympic winter game on ice.

B. To warn people of staying away from melting ice.

C. To say the body of melting ice in Greenland is huge.

D. To provide examples of melting ices harmful results.

2. What does Kutalmis Saylam think of the warmth？

A. It is worrying.

B. It is puzzling.

C. It is surprising.

D. It is encouraging.

3. Which can replace the underlined word “destabilizing” in paragraph 5？

A. Contacting. B. Destroying.

C. Improving.     D. Rescuing.

4. Why did the author write the text？

A. To comment on strategies.

B. To discuss a surprising impression.

C. To call on people to protect the environment.

D. To attract more scientists to Greenland.

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

Aslak Grinsted， a climate scientist， said that they have been trying to get flights into the camp so they can ship out the ice cores they have recently collected. 氣候学家阿斯拉克·格林斯泰德说，他们一直在试图让飞机飞到营地，这样他们就可以把最近收集到的冰芯运出营地。

【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句，句中的a climate scientist是Aslak Grinsted的同位语；句中的that引导宾语从句，作动词said的宾语；so是并列连词，连接两个并列的句子。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

ice sheet 冰原；冰盖

wander around 徘徊；溜达

stop...from 阻止……发生

ship sth out 运出某物

protect...from 保护

take advantage of 利用

play volleyball 打排球

link...to 把……和……联系起来；连接