Blog

In Paragraph F, what does the phrase visiting drought and fire on Australia mean? F      The short answer is: probably both. The primary forces driving recent disasters have been natural climate cycles, especially El Niño and La Niña. Scientists have learned a lot during the past few decades about how these cycles in the equatorial Pacific affects weather worldwide. During an El Niño, a giant pool of warm water that normally sits in the central Pacific surges east all the way to South America; during a La Niña it shrinks and retreats into the western Pacific. Heat and water vapor coming off the warm pool generate thunderstorms so powerful and towering that their influence extends out of the tropics to the jet streams that blow across the middle latitudes. An El Niño tends to push drenching storms over the southern U.S. and Peru while visiting drought and fire on Australia. In a La Niña the rains flood Australia and fall in the American Southwest and Texas.

The U.S. is the world leader in trying to stop climate change.

The “standby mode” on electronic devices

According to the graph on p. 110, 12% of this country’s electricity comes from renewable sources of energy.

The author’s family switched to wind energy to further reduce their carbon footprint.

The article shows that reducing carbon footprint is too complicated for ordinary people to do.

According to the article, solar panels must cover 3% of the U.S. in order to provide electricity for the whole country.

DIRECTIONS: Choose the correct word to complete each sentence. One word is extra. compact pioneer utility appliances threshold obstacle commonplace mode audit commute               At the turn of the 21st century, cell phones became [BLANK-1].               Physicists think that experiments from the Large Hadron Collider are on the [BLANK-2] of discovering how particles really work.               [BLANK-3] bills include gas, electric, water and telephone bills.               The tax officials will [BLANK-4] your returns if something suggests that there’s a problem.              Typical household [BLANK-5] include washing machines and refrigerators.              [BLANK-6] cars are much smaller than buses. Roger’s daily [BLANK-7] takes two hours each way between his home and workplace.              If you have to run a/an [BLANK-8] course, there are things in the way of your path.  Mary Ellen Avery was a/an [BLANK-9] who revolutionized infant care in the 1950s.

Matching Type

What is the main idea of Paragraph I? I       In Denmark, turning blades are always on the horizon, in small or large groups, like spokes of wheels rolling toward a strange new world. Denmark’s total installed wind power is now more than 3,000 megawatts—about 20 percent of the nation’s electrical needs. All over Europe generous incentives designed to reduce carbon emissions and wean economies from oil and coal have led to a wind boom. The continent leads the world in wind power, with almost 35,000 megawatts, equivalent to 35 large coal-fired power plants. With the exception of hydroelectric power—which has been driving machines for centuries but has little room to grow in developed countries—wind is currently the biggest success story in renewable energy.