WORKSHEET-3

ENGLISH Practice Book

Worksheet-3
DIRECTIONS: This passage is followed by a group of questions to USE THIS SPACE FOR
be answered based on what is stated or implied in the passage. SCRATCH WORK
Choose the best answer: the one that most accurately and completely
answers the question. Hints, insights, and answers immediately
follow the questions.
Throughout its long history, Earth has warmed and cooled time and
again. Climate has changed when the planet received more or less
sunlight due to subtle shifts in its orbit, as the atmosphere or surface
changed, or when the Sun’s energy varied. But in the past century,
another force has started to influence Earth’s climate: humanity.
How does this warming compare to previous changes in Earth’s climate?
How can we be certain that human-released greenhouse gases are causing
the warming? How much more will the Earth warm? How will Earth
respond? Answering these questions is perhaps the most significant
scientific challenge of our time.
Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface
temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases
released as people burn fossil fuels. The global average surface
temperature rose 0.6 to 0.9 degrees Celsius (1.1 to 1.6° F) between 1906
and 2005, and the rate of temperature increase has nearly doubled in the
last 50 years. Temperatures are certain to go up further.
Earth’s temperature begins with the Sun. Roughly 30 percent of
incoming sunlight is reflected back into space by bright surfaces like
clouds and ice. Of the remaining 70 percent, most is absorbed by the land
and ocean, and the rest is absorbed by the atmosphere. The absorbed
solar energy heats our planet. As the rocks, the air, and the seas warm,
they radiate “heat” energy (thermal infrared radiation). From the surface,
this energy travels into the atmosphere where much of it is absorbed by
water vapor and long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and
methane. When they absorb the energy radiating from Earth’s surface,
microscopic water or greenhouse gas molecules turn into tiny heaters—
like the bricks in a fireplace, they radiate heat even after the fire goes out.
They radiate in all directions. The energy that radiates back toward Earth
heats both the lower atmosphere and the surface, enhancing the heating
they get from direct sunlight. This absorption and radiation of heat by the
atmosphere—the natural greenhouse effect—is beneficial for life on
Earth.
What has scientists concerned now is that over the past 250 years,
humans have been artificially raising the concentration of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere at an ever-increasing rate, mostly by burning
fossil fuels, but also from cutting down carbon-absorbing forests. Since
the Industrial Revolution began in about 1750, carbon dioxide levels
have increased nearly 38 percent as of 2009 and methane levels have
increased 148 percent.

Your STEP Towards A Brighter Future! 1

ENGLISH Practice Book

The atmosphere today contains more greenhouse gas molecules, so more

of the infrared energy emitted by the surface ends up being absorbed by
the atmosphere. Since some of the extra energy from a warmer
atmosphere radiates back down to the surface, Earth’s surface
temperature rises. By increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases,
we are making Earth’s atmosphere a more efficient greenhouse.
1. Which of the following can be the most suitable title of the
passage?
A. Global Warming
B. Human intervention in natural process
C. Greenhouse gasses
D. Solar energy
2. What caused the earth to receive more or less sunlight?
A. Extreme shifts in orbits
B. Slight changes in orbits
C. Climate change
D. Heat and coldness
3. Which of the following is true of the questions presented in
paragraph 2?
A. They are unanswerable
B. There is no substantial data to answer them
C. Answering them is a difficult requirement
D. These questions don’t demand scientific analysis
4. Which of the following can be a suitable title for paragraph 3?
A. Global Warming explained
B. Why is Global warming dangerous
C. Global Warming an unreal threat
D. Global Warming is not new
5. According to paragraph 3, which of the following defines Global
Warming?
A. Unusual release of greenhouse gases
B. Irregular speedy increase in Earth’s average surface temperature
C. Unusually rapid fluctuation in Earth’s orbits
D. Average surface temperature of Earth

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ENGLISH Practice Book

6. Which of the following is true according to paragraph 4?

A. All incoming sunlight is reflected back into space.
B. Sunlight is absorbed by bright surfaces
C. Some of the sunlight is reflected back into space
D. Incoming sunlight is reflected back into space by land and ocean
7. According to paragraph 4, our planet is heated by:
A. Energy absorbed by clouds and oceans
B. Bright surfaces like clouds and ice
C. Reflected solar energy
D. Absorbed solar energy
8. The word “they” in fourth last line of paragraph 4 refers to
which of the following?
A. All directions
B. Earth’s surface
C. Rocks, the air, and the seas
D. Greenhouse gas molecules
9. According to the paragraph 5, all of the following are untrue
EXCEPT:
A. It defines greenhouse gasses
B. It mentions human intervention in natural process
C. It highlights a mistake made by scientists
D. It lauds 250 years of industrial revolution
10. The passage may occur in:
A. A science mag
B. A cultural tabloid
C. A political journal
D. A daily newspaper

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ENGLISH Practice Book

ANSWER KEY (Worksheet-3) 6. Correct Answer: C

1 A Explanation:
2 B We can extract our answer from the
3 C following excerpt from the beginning of
4 A paragraph 4: “incoming sunlight is reflected
5 B back into space by bright surfaces”.
6 C 7. Correct Answer: D
7 D
Explanation:
8 D
9 B As oceans and land absorb solar energy, this
10 A energy heats Earth.
8. Correct Answer: D
1. Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
Explanation:
“They” refers to microscopic water or
The earth temperature is certainly a scientific greenhouse gas molecules which turn into
topic likely to occur in a scientific publication. tiny heaters.
2. Correct Answer: B 9. Correct Answer: B
Explanation: Explanation:
Paragraph one says, “Climate has changed The whole paragraph laments over recent
when the planet received more or less human industrial activity responsible for
greenhouse gas effect.
sunlight due to subtle shifts in its orbit”.
10. Correct Answer: A
3. Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
Explanation:
The passage as a whole deals with Global
In the last line of paragraph 2, the writer says Warming.
that answering these questions is “the most
significant scientific challenge”.
4. Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
Though the other options also mention Global
Warming, the only option that presents a
suitable title to paragraph 3 is A.
5. Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
All the other options mention partial portions
of the definition except option B which fully
defines Global Warming.

Your STEP Towards A Brighter Future! 4