李蕊

為應對全球范圍內極端天氣事件頻發(fā)的局面，聯合國秘書長安東尼奧·古特雷斯表示，在未來5年內，地球上的每個人都應該受到極端天氣和氣候相關災害的早期預警系統(tǒng)的保護。

主題語境：災害防護篇幅：334詞建議用時：6分鐘

Early warning systems for natural disasters are the topic of a new UN project， as extreme weather grows more common due to climate change.

Early warning systems， like tornado sirens（警報器），air quality alerts， hurricane trackers， and fire towers， save thousands of lives. Andmore lives have been saved each year as severe weather events become more and more common. But one third of the world's people lack coverage.

“Today， one third of the world's people， mainly in the least-developed countries and small island developing states， are still not covered by early warning systems，”said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “In Africa， it is even worse with 60% of people lacking coverage. This is unacceptable， particularly with climate impacts sure to get even worse，”he said. “We must boost the power of prediction for everyone and build their capacity to act.”

On March 23， Guterres announced a joint project between the UN and the World Meteorological Organization to make sure that developing countries have the same early warning systems as wealthy countries. He charged the WMO to have an “action plan”for the project by November， to present at the UN climate conference in Egypt， and to complete the project within the optimistic five years.

According to the UN， the WMO will build on many of its existing programs， like a multi-hazard alert system for events like cyclones （旋風），flooding， fires， and coastal inundation（淹沒）.Plans have already been on the table， in response to a WMO study last year which showed that since 1970， a climate or water-related disaster has occurred daily on average， with a mean average of 115 deaths and $200 million in calculable damage every day.

Just not long before， an immense tornado tore through New Orleans， that city's third major weather disaster since Katrina. Kauai was under a flash flood watch， and several Alabama counties were flooded. At least two were dead， and that，s with every warning system available in the developed world. Warning systems are necessary everywhere as extreme weather events grow ever more frequent.

Reading Check

1. How many of the world's population are now covered by early warning systems？

A. One second.B. One third.

C. Two thirds.D. Four fifths.

2. What's Antonio Guterres' tone like in paragraph 3？

A. Delighted.B. Concerned.

C. Curious.D. Humorous.

3. What did WMO's study last year probably focus on？

A. The “action plan”put forward by the UN.

B. The causes of climate change in recent years.

C. The damage caused by natural disasters worldwide.

D. The coverage of early warning systems in poor countries.

4. What does the underlined word “Katrina“refer to in the last paragraph？

A. A city.B. A tornado.

C. A country.D. An organization.

Language Study

I. Difficult sentence in the text

Plans have already been on the table， in response to a WMO study last year which showed that since 1970， a climate or water-related disaster has occurred daily on average， with a mean average of 115 deaths and $200 million in calculable damage every day.作為對世界氣象組織去年一項研究的回應，相關計劃已經出臺。該研究顯示，自1970年以來，平均每天都會發(fā)生一次與氣候或水有關的災害，平均每天造成115人死亡和兩億美元可計算的損失。

【點石成金】本句是一個復合句。主句是Plans have already been on the table，后面是一個介詞短語引導的狀語，該狀語成分還有一個which引導的定語從句和that引導的賓語從句。

II. Text-centered chunks

extreme weather 極端天氣

due to由于

climate change 氣候變化

warning system 報警系統(tǒng)

thousands of數以千計的

make sure 確信

on the table 公開地

in response to 作為對……的回應

on average 平均

at least 至少