2022年译林版高考英语总复习第二部分核心考点培优训练二十二 选择性必修第三册Unit 2Out of this world.docVIP

PAGE 12 - 二十二　选择性必修 第三册　Unit 2　Out of this world (限时60分钟) Ⅰ.阅读理解 A (2022·南京模拟) 　　If all goes well, a balloon will soon rise from Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. It will float high into the upper atmosphere and then return to Earth. However, environmentalists have arrived to stop this from happening. 　　The campaigners are against the balloon because of what occurs in flight. The balloon will shoot dust into the Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing more sunlight to reflect back into space. The dust, known as Stratospheric Aerosol Injection(SAI), is part of a solar geoengineering (地球工程) program named SCoPex which is being conducted by Harvard University. The aim of the program is to purposely change the Earth’s atmosphere to fight climate change. 　　Those who oppose worry about two things. Firstly, the moral risk—if solar geoengineering works, talks on reducing greenhouse gases will be challenged. The second concern is the amount of SAI in the atmosphere. To keep temperatures low, the need of the reflective dust to be released high above Earth will be endless, and a sudden stop could result in rapid warming. Raymond Pierrehumbert, a physicist at Oxford University, says solar geoengineering is even too risky to research beyond computer models. 　　Not all environmentalists are opposed to it. Since the world is unlikely to achieve the 1.5℃ global warming target set in the Paris Agreement, some green organizations favour small-sized geoengineering research. 　　Regardless of the criticism, the research continues. Geoengineering is increasingly gaining international attention. A recent report about climate change suggested that SAI could help keep warming below 1.5℃. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the USA has developed a research plan for solar geoengineering and received governmental funding totaling $9 million. Both China and India have also launched research programmes of their own. Activists may oppose the experiments, but balloons wi