What has been happening to the world since the late 1800s?
Answer
The climate has been getting cooler.
The climate has been getting warmer.
The areas of land have been getting larger.
The areas of forests have been getting smaller.
Question 2
Question
What is one major effect of the world’s climate getting warmer?
Answer
The world's sea levels are falling.
The world's lakes have been disappearing.
Humans have been burning more fossil fuels.
The world's sea levels are rising.
Question 3
Question
Read these sentences from the text.
“[Human] activity includes burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil, which releases gases like carbon dioxide into the air. Gases like carbon dioxide trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere, making the earth hotter.”
What conclusion can be drawn from this evidence?
Answer
Humans are working to prevent the earth from getting warmer.
Coal and oil release less carbon dioxide into the air than other fuels.
Human activity is contributing to the earth getting warmer.
The earth's atmosphere heats and cools naturally.
Question 4
Question
Read these sentences from the last paragraph of the text.
“For example, the country of Bangladesh could lose 17 percent of its land by 2050 due to rising sea water caused by climate change. This means 20 million people in Bangladesh could lose their homes.”
Why might the author have included this information about Bangladesh?
Answer
to show a concrete example of how rising sea levels could affect many real people before long
to convince the reader not to move to Bangladesh within the next few decades
to make the problem of rising sea levels seem less serious or important
to make people wonder about whether other countries will also lose land to rising sea water
Question 5
Question
What is the main idea of this text?
Answer
The world has experienced changes in climate before, but scientists are worried about the current change in climate.
Gases like carbon dioxide trap heat in the earth's atmosphere, causing the earth to get warmer.
The rising sea has caused many people in Bangladesh to lose their homes, and could cause many more to lose their homes as well.
Climate change is causing sea levels to rise, which could cause many people to lose their homes and land.