(练案)必修一 Unit 4 Earthquakes-2023年高考英语【衡中学案】一轮总复习(人教版)老教材老高考

练案[4] 必修一　 Unit 4　 Earthquakes Ⅰ. 阅读理解 A Violent winter weather sweeping across large parts of the Central and Southern U. S. has brought record-breaking cold temperatures, leaving the electricity cut off and at least 21 deaths. The worst power outages were in Texas, where more than 4 million homes and businesses remained without power on Tuesday in subfreezing temperatures. Elsewhere more than 250,000 people also lost power across parts of Appala- chia, and 4 million people lost power in Mexico. The blackouts forced Harris County to scramble (争 夺) to get more than 8,000 doses of Moderna􀆳s coronavirus vaccine into people􀆳s arms, after the county public health facility lost power and its back-up generator also failed. The conditions also delayed vaccine shipments. State officials said Texas, due to receive more than 400,000 doses this week, did not expect deliveries until at least Wednesday. Associating climate change, normally connected with burning heat, with an unusual winter storm that has destroyed a wide part of Texas, most people find it seems so abnormal. But scientists say there is evidence that the rapid heating of the Arctic can help push cold air from the North Pole much further south, possibly to the U. S. -Mexico border. This phenomenon has shown itself to a dramatic degree over the past month, with the splitting of the polar vortex (涡旋) helping cause huge flurries of snow in Europe as well as record cold temperatures in parts of the U. S. which used to be milder winters. There is no agreement among scientists over the inter- action between the Arctic heat and cold weather further south, which is called as a topic of “ an active area of research”. Global heating is causing warmer winters, and record cold temperatures are now being clearly outpaced by record hot temperatures, but the complex interaction of cli- matic conditions still requires further investigation, to the great surprise of some among others, including some famous scientists. 1. What r