1. https://wenku.baidu.com/view/59d3692ca76e58fafab0035b.html

Topic:Global warming

New Words:

  increased precipitation

sb live in precarious balance with  one of the toughest environments on earth

The climate,whatever its cause,is a direct threat to their way of life.

1)Unusual incidents are being reported across the Arctic. Inuit families going off on snowmobiles to prepare their summer hunting camps have found themselves cut off from home by a sea of mud, following early thaws.There are reports of igloos losing their insulating properties as the snow drips and refreezes, of lakes draining into the sea as permafrost melts, and sea ice breaking up earlier than usual, carrying seals beyond the reach of hunters.

Climate change may still be a rather abstract idea to most of us, but in the Arctic it is already having dramatic effects - if summertime ice continues to shrink at its present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon become virtually ice-free in summer. The knock-on effects are likely to include more warming, cloudier skies, increased precipitation and higher sea levels. Scientists are increasingly keen to find out what's going on because they consider the Arctic the 'canary in the mine' for global warming - a warning of what's in store for the rest of the world.

B

For the Inuit the problem is urgent. They live in precarious balance with

one of the toughest environments on earth. Climate change, whatever its

causes, is a direct threat to their way of life. Nobody knows the Arctic as well as the locals, which is why they are not content simply to stand back and let

outside experts tell them what's happening. In Canada, where the Inuit people

are jealously guarding their hard-won autonomy in the country's newest

territory, Nunavut, they believe their best hope of survival in this changing environment lies in combining their ancestral knowledge with the best of modern science. This is a challenge in itself.

C

The Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless polar desert that's covered with

snow for most of the year. Venture into this terrain and you get some idea of the

hardships facing anyone who calls this home. Farming is out of the question and

nature offers meagre pickings. Humans first settled in the Arctic a mere 4,500

years ago, surviving by exploiting sea mammals and fish. The environment

tested them to the limits: sometimes the colonists were successful, sometimes

they failed and vanished. But around a thousand years ago, one group emerged

that was uniquely well adapted to cope with the Arctic environment. These

Thule people moved in from Alaska, bringing kayaks, sleds, dogs, pottery and

iron tools. They are the ancestors of today's Inuit people.

D

Life for the descendants of the Thule people is still harsh. Nunavut is 1.9

million square kilometres of rock and ice, and a handful of islands around the