Global warming is one of the most serious issues that the world is facing today. What are the causes of global warming and what measures can governments and individualstake to tackle the issueSample Answer 1:For the past few decades, we have observed a major shift in climatic conditions of planet Earth. Drift in the environmental system is largely due to global warming which has become an acute problem. This essay will analyse the root causes of global warming and will suggest remedies to lower the risk associated with this alarming problem.There are many causes of global warming, but it is mostly due to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon where gases such as carbon dioxide trap heat from the sun which causes the global temperature to rise above optimal level. Activities of human beings contribute equally to the increase of global warming. Factories and vehicles result in the emission of carbon gases and fumes which are depleting the ozone layer surrounding the earth. Utilisation of fossil fuels and other hazardous chemicals are other reasons of global warming. Moreover, countries are becoming more industrialised and are dumping waste into theatmosphere without realising its harmful effects and severity of the issue. Rising temperatures due to global warming would result in melting of polar ice-caps which will trigger severe floods, droughts and other extreme weather conditions.This critical issue which could potentially eliminate the human race should be death on government and individual level. Governments should enforce strict policies and regulations to control the emission of carbon gases from industries. More focus should be made on using alternative petroleum products that are environment-friendly. Industries that are certifiedgreen should be charged lower tax rate. Awareness programs should be organised to educate masses. Apart from government, individual members of the society should step forward and play their role. People should select green vehicles for their transportation requirement; they should dump the waste properly, prefer to work in green certified industries and educate others.To conclude, global warming poses a serious threat to mankind, wildlife and ecosystem of the planet. Governments and civilians both share equal responsibility to overcome this issue andmake planet earth safer for mankind and other inhabitants.Sample Answer 2:Global warming is a serious worldwide problem that arises as an effect of gases like Carbon Dioxide traps the heat from the sun causing the rise in the global temperature, this process is known as greenhouse effects which have many causes believed to be a human effect. There are many different measures that could be taken to tackle this pressing matter.The main causes of global warming are due to human activities such as deforestation, building factories, driving more cars, increasing numbers of aeroplanes etc. Human usage many fuels and fossils and these all lead to the production of gases and hence rising in global temperature, also the greatest increase in the number of the population leading to a great decline in natural resources. Moreover the over-cutting of trees and destruction of wild life habitats which will lead to animal extinction at the end, this all are causes of global warming.Global warming has serious effects on the environment which are increasing of sea level and arising of floods and droughts, melting of polar ice cap which in turn leads to extreme weather conditions.There are some solutions that governments and individuals should take in order to prevent and put an end to this problem; firstly to put limitations for energy consumption by factories and implementation of other renewable sources of energy such as solar energy and water power. Also, governments should organise some campaigns that would promote waste recycling,put rules to protect wild life, and encourage the growing of more and more trees. Furthermore, governments and individuals could decrease the energy consumption by decreasing the number of flights, using public transport to decrease using of cars. Eco-friendly transportation like Bicycle should be used and the number of private cars should be decreased.As a summary global warming is a serious worldwide issue that arises from human activities which need the participation of both the governments and the individuals to be ended.。
阅读任务：1.查不认识的单词；找出不理解的长难句。
2.厘清段与段之间的逻辑结构关系，动手画一下全文的思维导图。
（用手画用软件都可以）3.听音频，模仿发音。
4.最后把文章朗读3遍，培养语感！！！5.回答以下问题：①第一段第一行的smoulder可以替换成什么词？②为什么说脱碳很难达成？Global warmingIn the line of fireThe world is losing the war against climate changeEarth is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere. One of 18 wildfires sweeping through California, among the worst in the state’s history, is generating such heat that it created its ow n weather. Fires that raged through a coastal area near Athens in late July killed 91 (see Science section). Elsewhere people are suffocating in the heat. Roughly 125 have died in Japan as the result of a heatwave that pushed temperatures in Tokyo above 40°C for the first time.Such calamities, once considered freakish, are now commonplace. Scientists have long cautioned that, as the planet warms—it is roughly 1°C hotter today than before the industrial age’s first furnaces were lit—weather patterns will go berserk. An early analysis has found that this sweltering European summer would have been less than half as likely were it not for human-induced global warming.Yet as the impact of climate change becomes more evident, so too does the scale of the chall enge ahead. Three years after countries vowed in Paris to keep warming “well below” 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels, greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling in many places and investment has stalled; climate-friendly nuclear power is expensive and unpopular. It is tempting to think these are temporary setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing the war.Living in a fuel’s paradiseInsufficient progress is not to say no progress at all. As solar panels, wind turbines and other low-carbon technologies become cheaper and more efficient, their use has surged. Last year the number of electric cars sold around the world passed 1m. In some sunny and blustery places renewable power now costs less than coal.Public concern is picking up. A poll last year of 38 countries found that 61% of people see climate change as a big threat; only the terrorists of Islamic State inspired more fear. In the West campaigning investors talk of divesting from companies that make their living from coal and oil. Desp ite President Donald Trump’s decision to yank America out of the Paris deal, many American cities and states have reaffirmed their commitment to it. Even some of the sceptic-in-chief’s fellow Republicans appear less averse to tackling the problem (see United States section). In smog-shrouded China and India, citizens choking on fumes are prompting governments to rethink plans to rely heavily on coal to electrify their countries.Optimists say that decarbonisation is within reach. Yet, even allowing for the familiar complexities of agreeing on and enforcing global targets, it is proving extraordinarily difficult.One reason is soaring energy demand, especially in developing Asia. In 2006-16, as Asia’s emerging economies forged ahead, their energy consumption rose by 40%. The use of coal, easily the dirtiest fossil fuel, grew at an annual rate of 3.1%. Use of cleaner natural gas grew by 5.2% and of oil by 2.9%. Fossil fuels are easier to hook up to today’s grids than renewables that depend on the sun shining and the wind blowing. Even as green fund managers threaten to pull back from oil companies, state-owned behemoths in the Middle East and Russia see Asian demand as a compelling reason to invest.The second reason is economic and political inertia. The more fossil fuels a country consumes, the harder it is to wean itself off them. Powerful lobbies, and the voters who back them, entrench coal in the energy mix. Reshaping existing ways of doing things can take years. In 2017 Britain enjoyed its first coal-free day since igniting the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s. Coal generates not merely 80% of India’s electricity, but also underpins the economies of some of its poorest states (see Briefing). Panjandrums in Delhi are not keen to countenance the end of coal, lest that cripple the banking system, which lent it too much money, and the railways, which depend on it.Last is the technical challenge of stripping carbon out of industries beyond power generation. Steel, cement, farming, transport and other forms of economic activity account for over half of global carbon emissions. They are technically harder to clean up than power generation and are protected by vested industrial interests. Successes can turn out to be illusory. Because China’s 1m-plus electric cars draw their oomph from an electricity grid that draws two-thirds of its power from coal, they produce more carbon dioxide than some fuel-efficient petrol-driven models. Meanwhile, scrubbing CO2 from the atmosphere, which climate models imply is needed on a vast scale to meet the Paris target, attracts even less attention.The world is not short of ideas to realise the Paris goal. Around 70 countries or regions, responsible for one-fifth of all emissions, now price carbon. Technologists beaver away on sturdier grids, zero-carbon steel, even carbon-negative cement, whose production absorbs more CO2 than it releases. All these efforts and more—including research into “solar geoengineering” to reflect sunlight back into space—should be redoubled.Blood, sweat and geoengineersYet none of these fixes will come to much unless climate listlessness is tackled head on.Western countries grew wealthy on a carbon-heavy diet of industrial development. They must honour their commitment in the Paris agreement to help poorer places both adapt to a warmer Earth and also abate future emissions without sacrificing the growth needed to leave poverty behind.Averting climate change will come at a short-term financial cost—although the shift from carbon may eventually enrich the economy, as the move to carbon-burning cars, lorries and electricity did in the 20th century. Politicians have an essential role to play in making the case for reform and in ensuring that the most vulnerable do not bear the brunt of the change. Perhaps global warming will help them fire up the collective will. Sadly, the world looks poised to get a lot hotter first.。
