【正文】 earing and permafrost (永凍土 ) is proving to be not so permanent. You may think this isn’ t connected with those of us farther south, but snow and ice play a big role in balancing Earth’ s climate by reflecting sunlight back into space. As the Earth warms, melting snow and ice expose dark surfaces such as land and oceans, and the change from heatreflecting to heatabsorbing surfaces could lead to further warming. 56. Which of the following is NOT the result of increasing global warming? A. Hurricanes and floods are being more serious and frequent. B. More pests are being produced than before. C. The water on the earth is being more and more limited. D. Glaciers are melting faster. 57. According to this article, what’ s the main function of snow and ice on the earth? A. Watering the crops after they melt. B. Covering the ground to keep it warm. C. Keeping the atmosphere moist all the time. D. Reflecting sunlight back into space to balance Earth’ s climate. 58. The melting snow and ice may lead to further warming because _____. A. there will be less snow and ice to absorb the heat B. they expose dark surfaces which absorb heat C. they make the atmosphere much more moist D. they give off heat as they melt 59. Which of the following could be the title of this article? A. The Terrible Consequences of Global Warming B. How to Prevent Global Warming C. People’ s Behavior and Global Warming D. Global Warming and Human Life B Some of the pla’ s rarest and most unusual animals will be the focus of a conservation project launched today by British scientists. The plan will focus on animals traditionally overlooked by conservationists, and will allow the public to track and donate to individual projects through a new website. Led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the project has identified 100 species of mammals that have the fewest relatives left alive in the wild. The 10 most endangered, including the Yangtze river dolphin and bumblebee bat, will be the focus of the first year’ s work. Jonathan Baillie of ZSL said the aim was to prevent hundreds of unique species from extinction. “ We will be working to protect some of the world’ s most extraordinary species, which are on the edge of extinction.” The almostblind Yangtze river dolphin is at the top of the list. “ It’ s extremely threatened. A team was recently out there looking for it and could not find one— they are truly on the edge of extinction,” said Dr. Baillie. Many of the animals on the Edge list have been overlooked because they e from poorlyexplored regions or species groups where scientists have had little interest. Dr. Baillie said raising the animals’ general impression given to the public would be key to their future. ZSL scientists plan to expand the project. They are working on an Edge list for the animals that can live both on land and in water, and will then move on to other groups. “ There is such a gap and many people are so interested in this that it will grow quite rapidly.” 60. The purpose of the Zoological Society of London was to _____. A. do research on plants and animals in England B. prevent hundreds of unique species of animals from disappearing C. keep the environment from being destroyed by people D. call on people to pay more attention to the Yangtze river dolphin 61. In the first year, the project will mainly _____. A. identify the rarest animals in the world B. protect the Yangtze river dolphin and bumblebee bat C. focus on the protection of the 10 most endangered mammals D. work for the animals that can live both on land and in water 62. Many of the animals on the Edge list have not been given much attention because _____. A. they are really not valuable and of little use B. they e from poorlyexplored regions or scientists have no interest C. they are dangerous to both people and other animals D. they are very hard to be fed no matter where they are 63. The main idea of this article is to _____. A. call on everyone to protect the environment B. introduce some rare and unusual animals to us C. report that scientists aim to save some lessknown mammals D. advise the readers to contribute money to the project C Life began on our pla about 3,500 million years ago. The first living things were found in the sea, and over the course of millions of years, from these early life forms, a rich variety of animals have descended. Through the process we call evolution, animals have bee adapted to enable them to live in all parts of the world, sometimes in the most dangerous environments. The animal kingdom is very large and we do not know for certain how many species there are in the world. Around million species of animals have been named and described by scientists — and over a million of these are insects. It is known that there are about twice as many animals in tropical rainforests as in any other place, and it is here that there is likely to be countless numbers of species yet unknown to science. It has been estimated that the total number of insect species alone could be around 30 million! What we can be sure of is that the most numerous large animal on Earth is the human! Modern man appeared about 30,000 years ago and has increasingly e to dominate the pla. The steady increase in popula