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READING 3 Climate Change
CLIMATE CHANGE
Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 5.5
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The ice on Antarctica looks the same from day to day. But scientists know this: the ice is melting1 .
Ice sheets are very big. Changes in the climate cause them to change very slowly. It usually takes a long time for ice sheets to melt. So what is happening now?
The ocean is warming, and big pieces of ice are breaking away and going into the ocean. This is causing the ocean level to rise. The ice is melting six times faster now than in 1979. Why is this happening? Human activity is responsible. Transportation, electricity production, and industry are activities that warm the planet. What does this mean for us? Coastal cities, like New York, London, and Tokyo, are in danger of being underwater by the end of the 21st century. We need to make changes now to prevent2 this. Some scientists think that climate change is unstoppable3 . We hope it’s not too late. 1 to melt: to change from a solid to a liquid state 2 to prevent: to stop something from happening 3 unstoppable: impossible to stop
The Japanese icebreaker Shirase researching global warming in Lutzow-Holm Bay, Antarctica
