Whilethe human world is suffering from the novel coronavirus outbreak, our plane-组卷网

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While the human world is suffering from the novel coronavirus outbreak, our planet is actually showing certain signs of "recovery" from the damage caused by human activity. According to BBC, new satellite images released by the European Space Agency showed that the levels of air pollutants and greenhouse gases have "fallen sharply" in major cities in Europe and the United Stated ever since the lockdown started.

This is a great example of how the world can change overnight as soon as people change their behavior—especially after recent discoveries in Antarctica. An international team of 89 scientists found that the ice in Greenland and Antarctica was melting six times faster in the 2010s than it was in the 1990s. And in February Argentina's Marambio research station in Antarctica recorded a record high temperature of 20.75℃ in the continent.

So what exactly will happen if the temperature keeps rising and the ice keeps melting? A third study might give you an idea. A team of scientists drilled a hole into the seafloor in west Antarctica and obtained material from underground, in which they found traces of roots, spores and pollen— typical products of a rainforest — that dated back to 90 million years ago. In other words, Antarctica was very likely a rainforest back when the dinosaurs walked on Earth. But given the fact that the South Pole has four months of darkness during winter — even millions of years ago—scientists believe that the rainforest could only exit if the greenhouse gas concentration were extremely high back then to keep the continent warm when there was little or no sunlight. "We didn't know that this Cretaceous greenhouse climate was that extreme," Johann Klages of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and a co﹣author of the research told the Guardian. "It shows us what carbon dioxide is able to do. "

Ice or no ice, Antarctica will be—and has always been fine with extreme changes. The human world, however, may not be. Now, during the coronavirus lockdown, we've seen the changes resulting from less human activity. Hopefully, we'll hold on to those changes—not for Antarctica or the planet, but for ourselves.

【小题1】What does the author mainly want to tell us in Paragraph 1？

A．The novel coronavirus has spread all over the world.

B．The environment of our planet has improved greatly.

C．Europe and US should be responsible for the air pollution.

D．Reducing human activity does good to the environment.

【小题2】What can prove that Antarctica was likely a rainforest 90 million years ago？

A．The traces of typical products of a rainforest.

B．The existence of high greenhouse gas concentrations.

C．The recording of extreme Cretaceous greenhouse climate.

D．The evidence of dinosaurs living in rainforests.

【小题3】Which of the following would the author probably agree with？

A．Human activities don't cause much threat to Antarctica.