阅读理解。
Unusual incidents are being reported across the Arctic. Inuit (因纽特人) families going off on
snowmobiles to prepare their summer hunting camps have found themselves cut off from home by a sea
of mud. There are also reports of sea ice breaking up earlier than usual, carrying seals beyond the reach
of hunters. Climate change may still be a rather abstract idea to most of us, but in the Arctic it is already
having great effects-if summertime ice continues to shrink at its present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon
become almost ice-free m summer. The knock-on effects are likely to include more warming, cloudier
skies, and higher sea levels. Scientists are increasingly eager to find out what's going on in the Arctic.
For the Inuit the problem is urgent. They live in unsteady balance with one of the toughest environments
on earth. Climate change, whatever its causes, is a direct danger to their way of life. Nobody knows the
Arctic as well as the locals, which is why they are not content simply to stand back and let outsider experts
tell them what's happening. In Canada, where the Inuit people are trying hard to guard their hard-won
autonomy in the country's newest land, Nunavut, they believe their best hope of survival in this changing
environment lies in combining their ancestral knowledge with the best of modern science. This is challenge
in itself.
The Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless polar desert that's covered with snow for most of the year.
Adventure into this area and you get some idea of the hardships facing anyone who calls-this home. Farming
is out of the question and nature offers few pickings. Humans first settled in the Arctic a mere 4,500 years
ago, surviving by taking advantage of sea fish. The environment tested them to the limits: sometimes the
settlers were successful, sometimes they failed and disappeared. But around a thousand years ago, one group
appeared that was uniquely well adapted to deal with the Arctic environment. These Thule people moved in
from Alaska, bringing dogs, iron tools and the like. They are the ancestors of today's Inuit people.
1. Which of the following is not likely to be the effect of climate change?[ ]
A. Shorter and shorter summertime.
B. Ice-free summer around the Arctic.
C. Higher sea levels.
D. More cloudy skies.
2. The Inuit people believe the solution to the climate change problem is _____. [ ]
A. to change their way of life
B. to use their ancestral knowledge
C. to make the best of modern science
D. to use their ancestral knowledge and modern science
3. It can be concluded from the last paragraph that _____.[ ]
A. the first settlers in the Arctic survived by taking advantage of sea fish
B. it's hard to farm in the Arctic due to the climate change
C. the ancestors of Inuit people stood out among the settlers
D. the Thule people from Alaska invented iron tools
4. Which of the following is the best title of this passage?[ ]
A. Climate change and the Inuit
B. Climate change around the Arctic
C. Global warming around the world
D. The Inuit and their ancestors around the world
