Who has not heard the story of frog? The myth goes that if one places a frog into a pot of hot water it will try to jump out to save itself, but if one places it in cool water, it will stay in the pot as the water heats up and boils, and eventually die. Al Gore used the story in his widely popular documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, saying “It’s important to rescue the frog.” The comparison he tries to draw is that humans are the frogs and simply are not noticing the drastic climate changes and consequences slowly occurring all around.

　　A Reuter’s article presents one interesting finding, however: the frog-in-water myth is apparently not true. Victor Hutchison, a professor emeritus at the zoology department at the university of Oklahoma, says, “I have investigated the thermal tolerance in reptiles and amphibians for many years. If one places the animal in a container and slowly heats it, the animal will at some point inevitably try to escape.” Sounds like a “fascinating” job.

　　Whether a frog tries to escape from boiling water or not is an experiment that this author certainly does not want to attempt, and hopes the readers does not either, but the point behind the message does remain the same. The Earth’s climate is experiencing drastic changes and humans are to blame for a great deal of it, the UN report coming out in February that everyone has heard of by now, will have evidence from 2,500 scientists saying that there is at least a 90﹪ chance that human activities, led by burning fossil fuels, are the main cause of warming in the past 50 years.

　　Is it worth waiting to find out if the frog-in-water myth is true for humans or is it time to do something about it?

　　36. The author tells the story about the frog in order to .

　　A. describe history and population growth

　　B. describe ignorance about global warming

　　C. demonstrate the frog’s attempt to escape gradually heated water

　　D. illustrate the idea that change needs to be gradual before accepted

　　37. The sentence “It’s important to rescue the frog (Para.1)” by Al Gore implies that .

　　A. he urges more action to save the planet

　　B. the frog is so poor that it needs to be saved

　　C. frogs are rare and endangered species that need protection

　　D. humans are incapable of reacting to changes that occur rapidly

　　38. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

　　A. Whether a frog tries to escape from boiling water or not is a major concern.

　　B. It is worth waiting to find out if the frog-in-water myth is true for humans.

　　C. No effective measures can be taken to improve the environment.

　　D. Humans are to blame for the dramatic changes of the Earth’s climate.

　　39. What is the passage mainly about?

　　A. The frog-in-water myth. B. Thermal tolerance.

　　C. Energy resources saving. D. Global warming.

　　40. What is the author’s attitude towards human activities?

　　A. Positive. B. Critical.

　　C. Detached. D. Ironic.

　　Keys: BADDB