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Old Problem，New Approaches
While clean energy is increasingly used in our daily life，global warming will continue for some decades after CO2 emissions（排放）peak. So even if emission were to begin decrease today，we would still face the challenge of adapting to climate. Here I will stress some smarter and more creative examples of climate adaptation.
When it comes to adaptation，it is important to understand that climate change is a process. We are therefore not talking about adapting to a new standard，but to a constantly shifting set of conditions. This is why in part at least，the US National Climate Assessment says that: “there is no ‘one-size fit all’ adaptation.” Nevertheless，there are some actions that offer much and carry little risk or cost.
Around the world people are adapting in surprising ways，especially in some poor countries，Floods have some more damaging in Bangladesh in recent decades. Mohammed Rezwan saw opportunity where others saw only disaster. His not-for-profit organization runs 100 river boats that serve as floating libraries，schools, and health clinics，and are equipment with solar panels and other communication facilities. Rezwan is creating floating connecticity（连体） to replace flooded roads and highways. But he is also working at a far more fundamental level：his staff show people how to make floating gardens and fish ponds to prevent starvation during the wet season.
Elsewhere in Asia even more astonishing actions are being taken. Chewang Nophel lives in a mountainous region in India, where he is known as the Ice Man. The loss of glaciers (冰川) there due to global warming represents an enormous threat to agriculture. Without the glaciers, water will arrive in the rivers at times when it can damage crops. Norphel’s inspiration came from seeing the waste of water over winter, when it was not needed. He directed the wasted water into shallow basins where it froze, and was stored until the spring. His fields of ice supply perfectly timed irrigation(灌溉) water. Having created nine such ice reserves, Nophel calculates that he has stored about 200, 000m3 of water. Climate change is a continuing process, so Norhel’s ice reserves will not last forever. Warming will overtake them. But he is providing a few years during which the farmers will, perhaps, be able to find other means of adapting.
Increasing Earth’s reflectiveness can cool the planet. In southern Spain the sudden increase of greenhouses (which reflect light back to space) has changed the warming trend locally, and actually cooled the region. While Spain as a whole is heating up quickly, temperatures near the greenhouses have decreased. This example should act as an inspiration for all cities. By painting buildings white, cities may slow down the warming process.
In Peru, local farmers around a mountain with a glacier that has already fallen victim to climate change have begun painting the entire mountain peak white in the hope that the added reflectiveness will restore the life-giving ice. The outcome is still far from clear, But the World Bank has included the project on its of ‘100 ideas to save the planet”.
More ordinary forms of adaptation are happening everywhere. A friend of mine owns an area of land in western Victoria. Over five generations the land has been too wet for cropping. But during the past decade declining rainfall has allowed him to plant highly profitable crops. Farmers in many countries are also adapting like this—either by growing new produce, or by growing the same things differently. This is common sense, but some suggestions for adapting are not. When the polluting industries argue that we’ve lost the battle to control carbon pollution and have no choice but to adapt, it’s a nonsense designed to make the case for business as usual.
Human beings will continue to adapt to the changing climate in both ordinary and astonishing ways. But the most sensible form of adaptation is surely to adapt our energy systems to emit less carbon pollution. After all, if we adapt in the way, we may avoid the need to change in so many others.
16. The underlined part in Paragraph 2 implies _____.
A. adaptation is an ever-changing process
B. the cost of adaptation varies with time
C. global warming affects adaptation forms
D. adaptation to climate change is challenging
17. What is special with regard to Rezwan’s project?
A. The project receives government support.
B. Different organizations work with each other.
C. His organization makes the best of a bad situation.
D. The project connects flooded roads and highways.
18. What did the Ice Man do to reduce the effect of global warming?
A. Storing ice for future use.
B. Protecting the glaciers from melting.
C. Changing the irrigation time.
D. Postponing the melting of the glaciers.
19. What do we learn from the Peru example?
A. White paint is usually safe for buildings.
B. The global warming trend cannot be stopped.
C. This country is heating up too quickly.
D. Sunlight reflection may relieve global warming.
20. According to the author, polluting industries should _____.
A. adapt to carbon pollution B. plant highly profitable crops
C. leave carbon emission alone D. fight against carbon pollution
21. What’s the author’s preferred solution to global warming?
A. setting up a new standard. B. Readucing carbon emission.
C. Adapting to climate change. D. Monitoring polluting industries.
