七、综合填空(本大题共10小题，每小题1分，共10分)

根据短文内容及首字母提示，填写所缺单词，使短文意思完整。每空限填一词。

Today the earth is getting warmer and warmer. But hundreds of years a 56 , people had a different problem — a 400-year cold period! From the 1400s to the 1800s, winters in the northern half of the earth were c 57 and longer than they are now. Scientists c 58 this time the “Little Ice Age” (小冰期).

The colder weather b 59 many serious problems. Plants died of cold and illness spread among people. People had to spend a lot more time collecting wood for fires to keep their house warm. And sometimes, a h 60 piece of ice would slide down (滑落) a mountain and destroy (摧毁) some villages.

Scientists think the Little Ice Age was caused by forces (力量) that people could not control. One cause (起因), in their opinion, was the sun. The sun often has “storms” of energy called sunspots (太阳黑子). During the Little Ice Age, there were fewer sunspots than there are t 61 . With fewer sunspots, the sun was giving out less e 62 which made the earth warm. Volcanic eruption (火山爆发) was probably a 63 natural cause. During the Little Ice Age, many volcanoes erupted. Their dust (灰尘) might stop the sun’s l 64 and heat from reaching the earth.

Today we are seeing the influences of rising temperature. Scientists think people are causing this change by b 65 a lot of coal and oil. So we need to change our way of living.

答案解析：

56.根据语境“But hundreds of years...”以及后文对过去气候的描述可知，这里说的是几百年前，“hundreds of years ago”表示“几百年前”，故填ago。更多真题请微信搜索英语巴士小程序。

57.由“Today the earth is getting warmer and warmer.”以及“a 400 - year cold period”可知，这里是将过去和现在对比，过去地球北半球的冬天比现在更冷更长，and连接并列成分，根据longer以及语境可知用比较级colder，表示“更冷的”。

58.根据语境，科学家把这段时间称为“小冰期”，“call”有“称呼、把……叫做”的意思，故这里填call。

59.根据后文“Plants died of cold and illness spread among people.”可知，寒冷的天气带来了很多严重的问题，“bring”表示“带来”，这里描述过去的事情，用一般过去时，bring的过去式是brought。

60.根据“slide down (滑落) a mountain and destroy (摧毁) some villages”可知，是一块巨大的冰滑落并摧毁村庄，“huge”表示“巨大的”，修饰名词“piece of ice”。

61.根据“During the Little Ice Age, there were fewer sunspots than...”可知，是在将小冰期的太阳黑子数量和现在对比，“today”表示“现在、如今”。

62.根据“The sun often has ‘storms’ of energy called sunspots (太阳黑子).”以及“With fewer sunspots”可知，太阳黑子少意味着太阳释放的能量少，“energy”表示“能量”，不可数名词。

63.前文提到太阳黑子是导致小冰期的一个原因，这里说火山爆发可能是另一个自然原因，“another”表示“另一个”，修饰单数名词“natural cause”。

64.根据“Their dust (灰尘) might stop...and heat from reaching the earth.”可知，火山灰尘会阻止太阳的光和热到达地球，“light”表示“光”，不可数名词。

65.根据“a lot of coal and oil”以及常识可知，燃烧大量的煤和石油会导致温度上升，“burn”表示“燃烧”，by是介词，后接动词 - ing形式，故填burning。