1. What is the best title for this passage?

　　[A]Antarctica and environmental Problems.

　　[B]Antarctica： Earth‘s Early-Warning station.

　　[C]Antarctica： a Unique Observation Post.

　　[D]Antarctica： a Mysterious Place.

　　2. What would the result be if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet disappeared?

　　[A]The western part of the continent would be disappeared.

　　[B]The western part of the continent would be reduced.

　　[C]The western part of the continent would become scattered Islands.

　　[D]The western part of the continent would be reduced to a cluster of Islands.

　　3. Why are the Dry Valleys left bare?

　　[A]Vicious wind blasts the snow away.

　　[B]It rarely snows.

　　[C]Because of the global warming trend and fierce wind.

　　[D]Sand dunes.

　　4. Which of the following is true?

　　[A]The “Dry Valleys” have nothing left inside.

　　[B]The “Dry Valleys” never held glaciers.

　　[C]The “Dry Valleys” may carry a message of hope for the verdant.

　　[D]The “Dry Valleys” are useless to scientists.

　　Vocabulary

　　1. distant-early-warning sensor 　远距离早期报警传感器

　　2. plateau　 高原，高地

　　3. slash 　挥砍

　　4. blast 　一阵疾风/狂风

　　5. vicious 　邪恶的，凶魔般的

　　6. gorge 　峡谷

　　7. ripple 　起伏，使起微波

　　8. sand dune 　沙丘

　　9. verdant 　绿色

　　10. extraterrestrial 　地球之外的

　　11. aura 　气氛

　　难句译注

　　1. Growing numbers of scientists therefore see Antarctica as a distant-early waning sensor， where potentially dangerous global trends may be spotted before they show up to the north.

　　「结构简析」see … as 把……看作。Where定从修饰Antarctic