問題詳情
The melting waters of the Ruwenzori Mountains feed the headwaters of the Nile. Here, for hundreds of thousands of years, people have depended on the river for basic necessities: water, transportation, farming, and fishing.
Now, the glaciers of the Ruwenzori are melting so rapidly that they will soon disappear. Within the next twenty or thirty years, most glaciers in Africa and South America will vanish completely.
The shrinking of the world’s glaciers will have massive consequences for communities that depend on ice melt. In the short-term, these consequences may appear beneficial. For example, extra water from glaciers means that hydroelectric dams will run at maximum power. In the long run, however, the melting of earth’s glaciers could be catastrophic. Today’s extra hydroelectric power has been stolen from the future. Communities with ample power now may have none after the glaciers have melted, and the loss of ice will increase sea levels worldwide.
Temperature change and a lack of snow is causing the retreat of the glaciers. Glaciers are no longer getting built up during the snowy winter months, so they are no longer able to maintain their size over the long run.
Unless there are some changes in the current rate of global warming, the glaciers are essentially doomed.
【題組】What does the word “beneficial” mean in this passage?
(A)Helpful
(B)Worthless
(C)Dangerous
(D)Unbelievable
參考答案
答案：A
難度：簡單0.708556
統計：A(265),B(51),C(35),D(8),E(0) #
個人：尚未作答書單：公務人員特種考試關務人員考試、Word
用户評論
【蔡小亘】評論
在Ruwenzori山脈的融化水養活尼羅河的源頭。在這裡，數百千百年來，人們一直依賴河上的基本必需品：水，交通，農業，漁業。現在的Ruwenzori的冰川正在融化如此之快，他們很快就會消失。在未來的二三十年中，非洲和南美洲的大部分冰川將完全消失。世界冰川的萎縮，將有大量的社區依賴於冰雪融化的後果。在短期內，這些後果可能會出現有益的。例如，多餘的水從冰川水電大壩將運行在最大功率。然而，從長遠來看，地球上的冰川的融化可能是災難性的。今天的額外的水電被人偷走的未來。社區提供了充足的動力，現在可能沒有冰川融化後，冰的損失會增加全球海平面。雪的溫度變化和缺乏導致的冰川撤退。冰川不再建立在白雪皚皚的冬季，因此他們不再從長遠來看，能夠保持它們的大小。在當前全球變暖的速度，除非有一些變化，冰川基本上都是注定要失敗。