An image taken of the Pacific Ocean last September is astonishing. Made by using data collected from satellites monitored by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the picture shows the surface level of the Pacific as clearly as a yardstick lying across a lumpy bed. One sample of water—with a volume 30 times that of all the Great Lakes—is white, indicating that it is as 13 inches higher than its normal level.

　　El Nino experts are still striving to tackle the really big question: What is causing the abnormal El Nino behavior of the past two decades? Some see the hand of global warming, accelerating the pace of El Nino formation and reinforcing each event. Supporters of globalwarmingasEl Ninoinstigator include Kevin Trenberth, a climate analyst of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, “There’s evidence that global warming didn’t have much impact until 1979, but now it’s beginning to break through,” he says.

　　Two additional arguments are on the table. One theory is that the recent El Nino epidemic is simply one of nature’s climatic riffs, but that we haven’t been hearing the tune long enough to recognize the change in key. One problem is that historical data on El Nino is sketchy prior to the early 1970s and almost nonexistent going back more than 50 years. If one looks back further, however, fossil evidence suggests that something about El Nino has indeed changed. Fossil records of coral in the Galapagos Islands show that some 4,000 years ago, an El Nino occurred only 60 years or so. Studies of tree rings and ice cores indicate a more recent cycle of seven years, still much less frequent than the present cycle of every three or four years.

　　The other alternative? Records are accurate enough to show that we’re in the second El Ninointensive era of the past 100 years. The first was during the 1920s and 30s, and probably was responsible for the Dust Bowl, when drought destroyed hundreds of farms in Oklahoma and north Texas. The second seems to have started around 1976. These shifts seem to be periods of natural warming in the Pacific. The warming does not necessarily cause El Nino but certainly amplifies it, creating the appearance of more and more severe El Nino. (380 words)

　　1. The picture as depicted by the writer in the first paragraph seems to be____ .

　　[A] fairly reassuring.

　　[B] very bleak.

　　[C] rather shocking.

　　[D] quite exceptional.

　　2. The idea of the “globalwarmingasEl Ninoinstigator” roughly refers to be___ .

　　[A] contribution of global warming to the occurrence of El Nino.

　　[B] unusual behavior of El Nino in the past two decades caused by global warming.

　　[C] caution shown by authorities against the destruction of El Nino____.

　　[D] accurate forecast for the approach of El Nino.

　　3. The possible explanations of El Nino is the following EXCEPT____.

　　[A] global warming. [B] nature’s climatic riffs.

　　[C] Human behavior.[D] natural warming in the Pacific.

　　4. We may assume that the author considers forecasting of El Nino as____.

　　[A] inconclusive.

　　[B] effortless.

　　[C] informative.

　　[D] precise.

　　5. What is the passage mainly about?

　　[A] A trace to the mysteries of El Nino.

　　[B] A vivid account of the impact of El Nino.

　　[C] Exposure to the formation of El Nino.

　　[D] A review of different theories on El Nino.

　　核心词汇

　　yardstick n.比较或衡量的标准;尺度

　　lumpy a. 多块状物的，粗笨的

　　El Nino n. 厄尔尼诺现象，即赤道中、东太平洋海水表面温度偶尔增暖的现象

　　fossil n. 化石

　　epidemic n. 流行病

　　reinforce vt. 增强;加强

　　tackle vt. 解决;应付vt. & vi. 捉住; 扭倒n. 拦截; 擒抱;器械，用具

　　难句剖析

　　1. Made by using data collected from satellites monitored by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the picture shows the surface level of the Pacific as clearly as a yardstick lying across a lumpy bed.

　　【解析】 句子的主语是the picture，前面的成分作picture的定语，这个定语比较长，是层层修饰的，monitored by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California修饰satellites，而collected from satellites则修饰data，by using data collected from…作方式状语，和made结合起来修饰主语the picture。

　　【译文】 使用美国国家航空航天局在加州帕萨迪纳卫星城的喷气推进实验室监控卫星所收集到的数据拍摄的照片，非常清楚地显示了太平洋的水平面，就像凹凸不平的床上有一根尺子一样清楚。

　　2. One theory is that the recent El Nino epidemic is simply one of nature’s climatic riffs, but that we haven’t been hearing the tune long enough to recognize the change in key.

　　【解析】 本句的结构并不难，关键是理解riffs，tune，key的意思，这些都是音乐术语，有一定难度。

　　【译文】 理论之一是，最近的厄尔尼诺现象不过是自然气候即兴重复的一个段落而已，只是我们很久没有听到这段调子，听不出音调的变化了。

　　文章类型：科普类——厄尔尼诺现象

　　本文从一张卫星拍摄的照片出发，对之进行了描绘，引出了厄尔尼诺现象，进而提出关于其发生原因的三种理论。