现代大学英语听力2原文及答案

1. Ice near the North and South poles to melt

2. to be slowly flooded and people living in these cities to move to higher land 【原文】

Cities change the climate around you. In the country, there are trees, grass, lakes, and streams. In hot weather, the trees and grass cool the area around them. Lakes and rivers also cool the area around them.

But cities are not cooled in these natural ways. Cities are built of asphalt, concrete, iron, and

steel. There are few trees and usually not much grass. Rain falls onto the streets and into the sewers.

When the summer sun shines, streets and buildings take in the heat; after the sun sets, the streets and buildings throw off heat into the street. Once the sun sets, the countryside cools off, but a city may stay hot all night.

Cities are hotter than the countryside in winter, too. Standing near a car with its motor running, winter or summer, you will feel the heat thrown off by the engine. The heat comes from the gasoline burned by the engine. This heat warms the air and the ground around the car. Thousands of running cars are almost like thousands of small fires burning.

Carefully put your hand near a light bulb or television set. As you can see, electricity creates a lot of heat. This heat from electricity warms the house and the outside air.

The heat given off by cities can affect the climate. Some experts even believe that cities can change the climate of the whole world. They think that air pollution may stop sunlight from reaching the earth. If less sunshine reaches the earth, the earth may become cooler.

Still other experts think the world will get warmer. If the world did get warmer, great changes would occur. Ice near the North and South poles would melt. This would

make the oceans rise. Cities near oceans — like Los Angeles, Boston, and Miami — would slowly be flooded. People living in these cities would have to move to higher land.

Task 4

【答案】 A.

1) b 2) c

B. night, delight; morning, warning; gray, way, red, head C.

1) F 2) T 3) F 【原文】

A red sky at either dusk or dawn is one of the spectacular and beautiful weather predictors we have in nature. By closely observing this phenomenon, you can achieve short-range accuracy of the weather as good as, or better than your local weatherman. In the Bible, Jesus in Matthew 16, 2-3 is quoted as saying, “When it is evening, it will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red” when speaking to the Pharisees. An old English weather proverb based on this passage is:

Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Or

Evening red and morning gray, Sends the traveler on his way. Evening gray, morning red, Brings the rain down on his head.

At dusk, a red sky indicates that dry weather is on the way. This is due to the sun shining through dust particles being pushed ahead of a high pressure system

bringing in dry air. A red sky in the morning is due to the sun again shining through dust. In this case however, the dust is being pushed on by an approaching low reassure system bringing in moisture. Don't confuse a red sky in the morning with a red sun in the morning. If the sun itself is red and the sky is a normal color, the day will be fair.

Task 5

【答案】

1) c 2) b 3) d 4) c 5) c 【原文】

Mark: I am an avid fly fisherman and frequently find myself on the river

in a raft during lightning storms. We always have a debate at these times on where we are safest — pulling into shore or staying on the water. Since I have heard one is safe in a car when lightning strikes I wonder if the raft floating on the water is insulated, and therefore the safest place to be.

Meteorologist A: We spoke with some scientists about your question, and they all

agreed that under no circumstances should you remain on the water during a lightning storm. If your raft is made of rubber, you might feel that you're .well insulated, but don't kid yourself. Typical lightning flashes travel 10 to 15 kilometers and can deliver as much as 100,000 amps of current. In comparison, a toaster uses about 10 amps of current. If lightning strikes the water near you, it will have no trouble traveling through a few extra centimeters of rubber.

Meteorologist B: So, if you're on the water and a thunderstorm approaches, get to

the shore and seek shelter on land. Try a building or car. If neither is available, look for a cave, cliff, wall, or a group of trees. Never take shelter under an isolated tree-it's also a good target for

lightning.

Task 6

【答案】A.

1) F 2) T 3) F 4) T 5) F 6) T B.

Incredible, one minute, one kilometer, destroyed, lifted up, carried away, killed, injured 【原文】

Every spring and summer many inland areas are hit by tornados. A tornado is a kind of storm. It's a revolving, funnel-shaped column of air that moves through the sky at very high speeds. A tornado looks like a huge, black ice cream cone whirling through the sky. The speed of a tornado is very fast-it is believed to be between 200 and 700 kilometers per hour.

Tornados form under very special weather conditions, and these special weather conditions occur most often in inland areas, such as the central United States. A tornado forms when a layer of warm, dry air is on top of a layer of cooler, moist air. This combination of dry, warm air above wet, cool air creates a condition that causes the lower layer of air to lift up. As the lower air rises, both layers of air begin to rotate, to turn around and around. The air begins to rotate faster and faster because of centrifugal force. The tornado has a center called an “eye” and the air rotates quickly around this eye.

As the air begins to rotate faster and faster, the tornado cloud begins to grow downward; that is, it begins to form a funnel or cone, and this cone goes down toward the ground.

The cone of air is dark because it develops from a dark rain cloud. As the cloud

gets longer, as the cloud gets closer to the ground, it begins to pull up dirt from the ground. Then the funnel of

rotating air becomes very dark because of the dirt in it. As the tornado funnel gets longer, it begins to drag along the ground.

When the tornado touches the ground, it does incredible damage. It usually touches the ground for only about one minute, and it usually travels along the ground for only about one kilometer, but during that one minute, buildings are destroyed, trees are lifted up out of the ground, small objects are carried away, and sometimes people are injured or killed.

Task 7

【答案】 A.

1) b 2) a 3) b B.

1) It has been nice weather during the day, but it is going to change at night. 2) Fine weather in southern Europe and not so nice in northern Europe

For today

Southeast England---26 degrees Celsius by mid-afternoon Southern Scotland---Maximum temperatures of around 21 degrees Brighton---15 hours of lovely sunshine

Midlands---23 degrees Celsius by early afternoon Northwest of Scotland---Light showers around midday

For the weekend

Spain---34 degrees Celsius Greece---32 degrees Celsius

France---Cloudy with rain, maximum temperatures of 22 degrees Northern Ireland---Heavy rain, 17 degrees Celsius