Read the passage and mark the correct answer A, B, C or D for the following questions.
It was, and still is, one scary movie. Thanks to global warming, in The Day After Tomorrow, the world
literally freezes over. Yet how real was the science behind one of the decade's big disaster movies?
"Climate change is a far greater threat to the world than international terrorism", says the science
adviser to the British government. "Temperatures are getting hotter, and they are getting hotter
faster than at any time in the past", say the international weather expert. The number of extreme
weather events has doubled from the decade before: lethal heatwaves in Europe, floods in Africa,
droughts in Asia and the United States. A record 300 million people flee from their homes from
natural disasters. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hits record levels. Warming increases the range
and virulence of diseases. Trees die in New England. Glaciers melt faster in Alaska. There's a major
influx of freshwater in the North Atlantic and a slowdown of ocean circulation below the Arctic
Circle. Antarctic ice flows faster into the ocean. What could be next? Rising sea levels swamp coastal
cities. Famine in Europe. Nuclear wars for water. A million species threatened with extinction. The
end of life on Earth as we know it.
Sound terrifying, but these aren't scenes from The Day After Tomorrow. They're from the real world,
from real testaments and science-based speculation. The movie itself exaggerates the speed with
which global warming brings on a new ice age but the paradox that more heat might lead more ice is
real. If cold water from melting glaciers really does change ocean currents like the Gulf Stream,
Manhattan could get colder pretty quickly- though in a decade, not a New York minute, as The Day
After Tomorrow would have it. But all by itself, heat is already causing problems like drought, crop
failures, disease, violent storm- and is threatening much more as the century proceeds.
The climate crisis is the keystone issue of our time. Addressing it means addressing virtually every
other significant environmental and energy problem and it must be done soon, because what is
newest and most challenging about global warming is that once its effects are clearly apparent, it's
too late to stop them.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. Climate change featured in reality and in fiction
B. Regions suffering from the effects of climate change
C. Review of The Day After Tomorrow from critics
D. What people can to do to combat climate change
2. The following are visible effects of climate change, EXCEPT.......... .
A. natural disasters
B. an increased harmfulness of diseases
C. warmer temperature
D. famine in Europe
3. The word "TESTAMENTS" underlined in the 4th paragraph is closest in meaning to .......... .
A. solution
B. action
C. evidence
D. comparison
4. Which of the following statement is TRUE, according to the passage?
A. Some regions may become hotter in in several coming years due to global warming.
B. Global warming left as rapid effects on a new ice age as the science fiction film describes.
C. Some regions may become colder in several coming years due to global warming.
D. Drought, crop failures, diseases, etc. can become less severe if people pass through a couple of
the next centuries.
5. What can be inferred from the passage about what the action can be taken to combat climate
change?
A. Climate change resolutions are deciding factors in our survival.
B. The successful solutions to climate change entail the successful ones to other problems.
C. Climate change and energy are current issues that are of the first and second almost importance
respectively.
D. People should not wait until all the indicators of climate change become visible.
1 2 3 4 5
A D C C D
