横版闯关java主角有把双刃剑,Part Ⅲ 阅读理解 Climate change has been blamed for killer hurricanes, sea level rise, ...

PartⅢ 阅读理解

Climate

change has been blamed for killer hurricanes, sea level rise,

anddrought, but a new report suggests the effects of climate change

might hit theworld’s caffeine supply. Up to 70 percent of the world’s

coffee supply could bethreatened over the next 68 years, according to a

new study by researchers atEngland’s Royal Botanic Gardens.

Nearly

100 percent of the world’s Arabica coffee growing regions couldbecome

unsuitable for the plant by 2080, according to the study, published inPLOSONE.

Beans from Arabica coffee plants account for about 70 percent of

theworld’s coffee, but the plant has to be grown under strict weather

conditions:They thrive at temperatures between 64 and 70 degrees

Celsius, and are highlysusceptible(易受影响的)to frost or temperatures higher than 73 degreesCelsius.

With temperatures estimated to increase by between 1.8 and 4 degreesCelsius by the end of the century, thefragile(脆弱的)plant

might become increasingly expensive and difficult to grow,especially in

places such as Ethiopia and Kenya. In that worst-case scenario,nearly

all of the world’s native Arabica coffee would die out. Under

moreconservative estimates, about 65 percent of the regions that used to

grow thecoffee would become unsuitable for it. The evidence from coffee

farmers, fromnumerous coffee growing regions around the world, is that

they are alreadysuffering from the influences of increased warming.

Some

commercial farmers would likely be able to move their operations

toother areas or would be able to overcome climate change with

artificial coolingtechniques, but wild Arabica is generally considered

to be much more suitablefor making high-quality coffee.

If

Arabica becomes impossible to raise in its native areas, it couldwreak

havoc on the economies of the mainly third-world countries in which

itgrows. Coffee is the world’s most popular drink and is the second

most-tradedcommodity in the world, behind oil.

“Our modeling shows a profoundly negative trend for the futuredistribution ofindigenous(本土的).

Arabica coffee under the influence of accelerated global

climatechange,” the study says. “Production is likely to decrease

significantly incertain areas, and especially in locations that are

presently marginallysuitable for coffee production.”

Q: Whatcan we learn about Arabica coffee plants fromthe second paragraph?