rming. [B] nature’s climatic riffs.

　　[C] Human behavior.[D] natural warming in the Pacific.

　　4. We may assume that the author considers forecasting of El Nino as .

　　[A] inconclusive.

　　[B] effortless.

　　[C] informative.

　　[D] precise.

　　5. What is the passage mainly about?

　　[A] A trace to the mysteries of El Nino.

　　[B] A vivid account of the impact of El Nino.

　　[C] Exposure to the formation of El Nino.

　　[D] A review of different theories on El Nino.

　　核心詞匯

　　yardstick n.比較或衡量的標準;尺度

　　lumpy a. 多塊狀物的，粗笨的

　　El Nino n. 厄爾尼諾現(xiàn)象，即赤道中、東太平洋海水表面溫度偶爾增暖的現(xiàn)象

　　fossil n. 化石

　　epidemic n. 流行病

　　reinforce vt. 增強;加強

　　tackle vt. 解決;應付vt. & vi. 捉住; 扭倒n. 攔截; 擒抱;器械，用具

　　難句剖析

　　1. Made by using data collected from satellites monitored by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the picture shows the surface level of the Pacific as clearly as a yardstick lying across a lumpy bed.

　　【解析】 句子的主語是the picture，前面的成分作picture的定語，這個定語比較長，是層層修飾的，monitored by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California修飾satellites，而collected from satellites則修飾data，by using data collected from…作方式狀語，和made結(jié)合起來修飾主語the picture。

　　【譯文】 使用美國國家航空航天局在加州帕薩迪納衛(wèi)星城的噴氣推進實驗室監(jiān)控衛(wèi)星所收集到的數(shù)據(jù)拍攝的照片，非常清楚地顯示了太平洋的水平面，就像凹凸不平的床上有一根尺子一樣清楚。

　　2. One theory is that the recent El Nino epidemic is simply one of nature’s climatic riffs, but that we haven’t b