A
William Curry is a serious climate scientist, not an art critic.But he has spent a lot of time on Emanuel Leutze's famous painting “George Washington Crossing the Delaware”，which describes a boatload of colonial American soldiers making their way to attack English the day after Christmas in 1776.“Most people think these other guys in the boat are rowing, but they are actually pushing the ice away，”says Curry, tapping his finger on the painting.Sure enough, the lead sailor is breaking the frozen river with his boot.“I grew up in the Philadelphia.The place in this painting is 30 minutes away by car.I can tell you, this kind of thing just doesn't happen anymore.”
But it may again soon.And icechoked scenes may also return to Europe.The 16thcentury painter Pieter's works, including the 1565 masterpiece “Hunters in the Snow”，make the nowtemperate European landscapes look more like Lapland.Such frigid settings were commonplace during a period dating roughly from 1300 to 1850 because much of North America and Europe was in the pain of a little ice age.And now there is increasing evidence that the cold could return.A growing number of scientists believe conditions are right for another lasted cooldown, or small ice age.While no one is predicting an ice sheet like the one that covered the Northern Hemisphere with glaciers about 12，000 years ago, the next cooling trend could drop average temperatures 5 degrees over much of the United States and 10 degrees in the Northeast, northern Europe, and northern Asia.
Political changes since the last ice age could make survival far more difficult for the world's poor.During previous cooling periods, these people simply picked up and moved south, but that doesn't work in the modem world, of closed borders.“To the extent the climate change may cause rapid and extensive changes of fortune for those who live off the land, the inability to migrate may remove one of the major safety homelands for pitiful people，”says the report.
【语篇解读】 通过本文我们知道，一个新的冰河时代即将开始。
1．The writer uses paintings in the first paragraph to say ．
A. impossible future climate change
B．climate change of the last two centuries
C．the river doesn't freeze in winter anymore
D．how George Washington led his troops across the river
B [推理判断题。根据第一段最后几句Sure enough, the lead sailor is breaking the frozen river with his boot.“I grew up in the Philadelphia.The place in this painting is 30 minutes away by car.I can tell you, this kind of thing just doesn't happen anymore.”可知，这条河以后在冬天不会结冰，这也反映了最近两个世纪的气候变化。故选B。]
2．Which of the following do scientists believe to be possible?
A．The temperature may drop over much of the Northern Hemisphere.
B．It will be colder than 12，000 years ago.
C．The entire Northern Hemisphere will be covered in ice.
D．Europe will look more like Lapland.
A [推理判断题。根据第二段最后一句“While no one is predicting an ice sheet like the one that covered the Northern Hemisphere with glaciers about 12，000 years ago, the next cooling trend could drop average temperatures 5 degrees over much of the United States and 10 degrees in the Northeast, northern Europe, and northern Asia.”可知，科学家认为气温可能会下降到北半球的大部分地区。故选A。]
3．Why is it difficult for the poor to survive the next age?
A．People don't live in tribes anymore.
B．Politics are changing too fast today.
C．Climate change causes people live off the land.
D．Migration has become impossible because of closed borders.
D [细节理解题。根据最后一段中“Political changes since the last ice age could make survival far more difficult for the world's poor.During previous cooling periods, these people simply picked up and moved south, but that doesn't work in the modem world, of closed borders.”可知，穷人很难在下一个时代幸存，是由于边界封闭，移民变得不可能了。故选D。]
4．What is the best title of the passage?
A．A New Ice Age
B．The Effect of Ice Age
C．Prediction about the Ice Age
D．Political and Climate Change
A [主旨大意题。根据第二段中“And now there is increasing evidence that the cold could return.A growing number of scientists believe conditions are right for another lasted cooldown, or small ice age.While no one is predicting an ice sheet like the one that covered the Northern Hemisphere with glaciers about 12，000 years ago, the next cooling trend could drop average temperatures 5...，”可知一个新的冰河时代即将开始。故选A。]
