7.Where do you keep ice?In the freezer,of course.That's what scientists might have thought when they were looking for a safe place to store ice from mountain glaciers from around the world.They've decided to store ice in Antarctica because global warming is causing some of the glaciers in places like the Alps to melt.
Jerome Chappellaz of the French National Centre for Scientific Research is involved in creating an ice vault (地下室) there.He says:"We are probably the only scientific community whose sample (樣本) is in danger of disappearing from the face of the planet.If you work on rocks or on tree rings,the raw material is still here and will be for many centuries."
And why do scientists need to study ice from the Alps,for example?Ice formed on the top of a mountain is made of snow accumulated over thousands of years.Trapped air bubbles (氣泡) contain samples of the atmosphere that existed when that ice was formed.Ice is a record of climate.By examining ice,we know carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher now than in the last three million years.Researchers use this kind of data to build computer models and try to predict what might happen in the future.
The ice vault will be housed in a snow cave at the Concordia Research Station,which is operated by scientists from France and Italy.The ice samples will be sealed in bags and placed 10meters below the surface,at a constant temperature of-50℃.This will put the scientists'minds at rest.Losing the ice samples would be a disaster,and nobody wants to see a mine of scientific knowledge lost forever in a giant pool.
32.What makes Antarctica a safe place to store ice?B
A.Its large mountains.
B.Its function as a freezer.
C.The abundant ice samples there.
D.The absence of global warming.
33.Jerome compares ice with rocks and tree rings to state thatA.
A.it's necessary to store ice
B.it's more valuable to study ice
C.ice disappears very quickly
D.ice should be stored at home
34.What is the researchers'purpose of studying ice?A
A.To learn about climate.
B.To learn about the Alps.
C.To trap air bubbles.
D.To reduce carbon dioxide.
35.What do scientists think of storing ice in Antarctica?D
A.They consider it an easy job.
B.They're not optimistic about it.
C.They think it will cause disasters.
D.They think it's a reliable way.