The Little Ice Age

This book will provide a detailed examination of the Little Ice Age and other climatic
shifts, but, before I embark on that, let me provide a historical context. We tend to think
of climate – as opposed to weather – as something unchanging, yet humanity has
been at the mercy of climate change for its entire existence, with at least
eight glacial episodes in the past 730,000 years. Our ancestors adapted to the universal
but irregular global warming since the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000
years ago, with dazzling opportunism. They developed strategies for
surviving harsh drought cycles, decades of heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold;
adopted agriculture and stock-raising, which revolutionised human life; and founded the
world’s first pre-industrial civilisations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas. But the
price of sudden climate change, in famine, disease and suffering, was often high.

The Little Ice Age lasted from roughly 1300 until the middle of the nineteenth
century. Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of bitterly cold winters;
mountain glaciers in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded memory, and pack ice
surrounded Iceland for much of the year. The climatic events of the Little Ice Age did
more than help shape the modern world. They are the deeply important context for the
current unprecedented global warming. The Little Ice Age was far from a deep freeze,
however; rather an irregular seesaw of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting more than a
quarter-century, driven by complex and still little understood interactions between the
atmosphere and the ocean. The seesaw brought cycles of intensely cold winters and
easterly winds, then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early summer rains,
mild winters, and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts,
light northeasterly winds, and summer heat waves.

Reconstructing the climate changes of the past is extremely difficult,

because systematic weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in Europe
and North America. Records from India and tropical Africa are even more recent. For
the time before records began, we have only ‘proxy records’ reconstructed largely from
tree rings and ice cores, supplemented by a few incomplete written accounts. We now
have hundreds of tree-ring records from throughout the northern hemisphere, and many
from south of the equator, too, amplified with a growing body of temperature data from
ice cores drilled in Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes, and other locations. We
are close to a knowledge of annual summer and winter temperature variations over
much of the northern hemisphere going back 600 years.

D
This book is a narrative history of climatic shifts during the past ten centuries, and some
of the ways in which people in Europe adapted to them. Part One describes the
Medieval Warm Period, roughly 900 to 1200. During these three centuries,
Norse voyagers from Northern Europe explored northern seas, settled Greenland, and
visited North America. It was not a time of uniform warmth, for then, as always since the
Great Ice Age, there were constant shifts in rainfall and temperature. Mean European
temperatures were about the same as today, perhaps slightly cooler.

It is known that the Little Ice Age cooling began in Greenland and the Arctic in about
1200. As the Arctic ice pack spread southward, Norse voyages to the west
were rerouted into the open Atlantic, then ended altogether. Storminess increased in the
North Atlantic and North Sea. Colder, much wetter weather descended on Europe
between 1315 and 1319, when thousands perished in a continent-wide famine. By
1400, the weather had become decidedly more unpredictable and stormier, with sudden
shifts and lower temperatures that culminated in the cold decades of the late sixteenth
century. Fish were a vital commodity in growing towns and cities, where food supplies
were a constant concern. Dried cod and herring were already the staples of the
European fish trade, but changes in water temperatures forced fishing fleets to work
further offshore. The Basques, Dutch, and English developed the first offshore fishing
boats adapted to a colder and stormier Atlantic. A gradual agricultural revolution in
northern Europe stemmed from concerns over food supplies at a time of rising
populations. The revolution involved intensive commercial farming and the growing of
animal fodder on land not previously used for crops. The increased productivity from
farmland made some countries self-sufficient in grain and livestock and offered effective
protection against famine.

Global temperatures began to rise slowly after 1850, with the beginning of the Modern
Warm Period. There was a vast migration from Europe by land-hungry farmers and
others, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight contributed, to North
America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. Millions of hectares of forest and
woodland fell before the newcomers’ axes between 1850 and 1890, as intensive
European farming methods expanded across the world. The unprecedented
land clearance released vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere, triggering for the first time humanly caused global warming. Temperatures
climbed more rapidly in the twentieth century as the use of fossil fuels proliferated and
greenhouse gas levels continued to soar. The rise has been even steeper since the
early 1980s. The Little Ice Age has given way to a new climatic regime, marked
by prolonged and steady warming. At the same time, extreme weather events like
Category 5 hurricanes are becoming more frequent.

Kỷ băng hà nhỏ
A

This book will provide a detailed examination of the Little Ice Age and other climatic
shifts, but, before I embark on bắt đầu, bắt tay vào, đi vào (câu chuyện, chủ đề...) that, let me
provide a historical context. We tend to think of climate – as opposed to weather – as
something unchanging, yet humanity has been at the mercy of climate change chịu sự chi
phối từ.... for its entire existence, with at least eight glacial băng giá episodes in the past
730,000 years. Our ancestors adapted to thích nghi với the universal but irregular global
warming since the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago,
with dazzling đáng kinh ngạc opportunism chủ nghĩa cơ hội . They developed strategies for
surviving harsh khắc nghiệt drought cycles, decades of heavy rainfall or unaccustomed bất
thường, không quen thuộc cold; adopted agriculture and stock-raising,
which revolutionised cách mạng hóa human life; and founded the world’s first pre-industrial
civilisations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas. But the price of sudden climate
change, in famine, disease and suffering, was often high.

Cuốn sách này sẽ cung cấp một cuộc kiểm tra chi tiết về Kỷ băng hà nhỏ và những thay
đổi khí hậu khác, nhưng, trước khi tôi bắt tay vào việc đó, hãy để tôi cung cấp một bối
cảnh lịch sử. Chúng ta có xu hướng nghĩ về khí hậu - trái ngược với thời tiết - như một
thứ gì đó không thay đổi, nhưng nhân loại đã phải chịu sự thay đổi khí hậu trong suốt
quá trình tồn tại của mình, với ít nhất tám đợt băng hà trong 730.000 năm qua. Tổ tiên
của chúng ta đã thích nghi với hiện tượng nóng lên toàn cầu phổ biến nhưng không đều
đặn kể từ cuối Kỷ băng hà vĩ đại cuối cùng, khoảng 10.000 năm trước, với chủ nghĩa cơ
hội chói lọi. Họ đã phát triển các chiến lược để sống sót qua các chu kỳ hạn hán khắc
nghiệt, hàng thập kỷ có lượng mưa lớn hoặc cái lạnh không quen thuộc; áp dụng nông
nghiệp và chăn nuôi, đã cách mạng hóa cuộc sống con người; và thành lập các nền văn
minh tiền công nghiệp đầu tiên trên thế giới ở Ai Cập, Lưỡng Hà và Châu Mỹ. Nhưng
cái giá của sự thay đổi khí hậu đột ngột, nạn đói, bệnh tật và đau khổ, thường rất cao.

The Little Ice Age lasted from roughly khoảng 1300 until the middle of the nineteenth
century. Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of bitterly cực kỳ cold
winters; mountain glaciers sông băng in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded
memory, and pack ice surrounded Iceland for much of the year. The climatic events of
the Little Ice Age did more than help shape the modern world. They are the deeply
important context for the current unprecedented chưa từng có tiền lệ global warming. The
Little Ice Age was far from a deep freeze, however; rather an irregular seesaw sự thay đổi
liên tục of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting more than a quarter-century, driven by
complex and still little understood interactions between the atmosphere and the
ocean. The seesaw brought cycles of intensely vô cùng cold winters and easterly winds,
then switched abruptly bất ngờ/đột ngột to years of heavy spring and early summer rains,
mild winters, and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts,
light northeasterly hướng đông bắc winds, and summer heat waves.
Kỷ băng hà nhỏ kéo dài từ khoảng năm 1300 cho đến giữa thế kỷ 19. Chỉ hai thế kỷ
trước, châu Âu đã trải qua một chu kỳ mùa đông lạnh giá; sông băng trên núi ở dãy núi
Alps của Thụy Sĩ là thấp nhất trong bộ nhớ được ghi lại và băng bao quanh Iceland
trong phần lớn thời gian của năm. Các sự kiện khí hậu của Kỷ băng hà nhỏ không chỉ
giúp định hình thế giới hiện đại. Chúng là bối cảnh quan trọng sâu sắc cho sự nóng lên
toàn cầu chưa từng có hiện nay. Tuy nhiên, Kỷ băng hà nhỏ không phải là một đợt đóng
băng sâu; đúng hơn là một sự thay đổi thất thường của những thay đổi khí hậu nhanh
chóng, một vài trường hợp kéo dài hơn một phần tư thế kỷ, được thúc đẩy bởi những
tương tác phức tạp và vẫn còn ít được hiểu rõ giữa khí quyển và đại dương. Sự thay
đổi mang đến chu kỳ mùa đông cực lạnh và gió đông, sau đó đột ngột chuyển sang
nhiều năm có mưa lớn vào mùa xuân và đầu mùa hè, mùa đông ôn hòa và bão Đại Tây
Dương thường xuyên, hoặc sang thời kỳ hạn hán, gió đông bắc nhẹ và những đợt nắng
nóng mùa hè.

Reconstructing tái hiện the climate changes of the past is extremely difficult,
because systematic có hệ thống weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in
Europe and North America. Records from India and tropical Africa are even more
recent. For the time before records began, we have only ‘proxy records’ reconstructed
largely from tree rings and ice cores, supplemented bổ sung by a few incomplete written
accounts. We now have hundreds of tree-ring records from throughout the
northern hemisphere bán cầu , and many from south of the equator, too, amplified cộng
thêm, làm mạnh thêm/lớn thêm with a growing body of temperature data from ice cores drilled
in Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes, and other locations. We are close to a
knowledge of annual summer and winter temperature variations sự thay đổi over much of
the northern hemisphere going back cách đây, từ... trước 600 years.

Tái tạo lại những thay đổi khí hậu trong quá khứ là vô cùng khó khăn, bởi vì các quan
sát thời tiết có hệ thống chỉ mới bắt đầu cách đây vài thế kỷ ở Châu Âu và Bắc Mỹ.
Những ghi chép từ Ấn Độ và châu Phi nhiệt đới thậm chí còn gần đây hơn. Trong thời
gian trước khi ghi chép bắt đầu, chúng tôi chỉ có 'hồ sơ ủy quyền' được xây dựng lại
phần lớn từ các vòng cây và lõi băng, được bổ sung bởi một số tài khoản bằng văn bản
chưa hoàn chỉnh. Hiện chúng tôi có hàng trăm bản ghi vòng cây từ khắp bán cầu bắc
và nhiều bản ghi từ phía nam đường xích đạo, được khuếch đại với khối dữ liệu nhiệt
độ ngày càng tăng từ các lõi băng được khoan ở Nam Cực, Greenland, Andes của Peru
và các địa điểm khác. Chúng ta gần đạt được kiến thức về sự thay đổi nhiệt độ hàng
năm vào mùa hè và mùa đông trên phần lớn bán cầu bắc từ 600 năm trước.

This book is a narrative Dưới hình thức kể chuyện; có tính chất tường thuật history of climatic shifts
during the past ten centuries, and some of the ways in which people in Europe adapted
to them. Part One describes the Medieval Warm Period, roughly 900 to 1200. During
these three centuries, Norse voyagers người du hành from Northern Europe explored
northern seas, settled Greenland, and visited North America. It was not a time of
uniform warmth, for then, as always since the Great Ice Age, there were constant shifts
in rainfall and temperature. Mean European temperatures were about the same as
today, perhaps slightly cooler.

Cuốn sách này là một lịch sử tường thuật về sự thay đổi khí hậu trong mười thế kỷ qua,
và một số cách mà người dân ở châu Âu thích nghi với chúng. Phần Một mô tả Thời kỳ
Ấm áp Trung cổ, khoảng từ năm 900 đến năm 1200. Trong ba thế kỷ này, những nhà
du hành Bắc Âu từ Bắc Âu đã khám phá các vùng biển phía Bắc, định cư Greenland và
đến thăm Bắc Mỹ. Đó không phải là thời điểm ấm áp đồng đều, vì lúc đó, như mọi khi
kể từ Kỷ băng hà vĩ đại, lượng mưa và nhiệt độ thay đổi liên tục. Nhiệt độ trung bình của
châu Âu tương đương với ngày nay, có lẽ mát hơn một chút.

It is known that the Little Ice Age cooling began in Greenland and the Arctic in about
1200. As the Arctic ice pack spread southward, Norse voyages to the west
were rerouted into chuyển hướng the open Atlantic, then ended altogether hoàn toàn,
hẳn . Storminess tình trạng giông bão increased in the North Atlantic and North Sea. Colder,
much wetter weather descended on Europe between 1315 and 1319, when
thousands perished diệt vong, bỏ mạng in a continent-wide famine nạn đói . By 1400, the
weather had become decidedly more unpredictable and stormier, with sudden shifts and
lower temperatures that culminated đỉnh điểm là, dẫn đến kết quả là in the cold decades of the
late sixteenth century. Fish were a vital commodity mặt hàng in growing towns and cities,
where food supplies were a constant concern. Dried cod and herring were already
the staples sản phẩm chủ yếu of the European fish trade, but changes in water
temperatures forced fishing fleets to work further offshore. The Basques, Dutch, and
English developed the first offshore fishing boats adapted to a colder and stormier
Atlantic. A gradual agricultural revolution in northern Europe stemmed from concerns
over food supplies at a time of rising populations. The revolution involved intensive
commercial farming and the growing of animal fodder cỏ khô (cho gia súc ăn) on land not
previously used for crops. The increased productivity from farmland made some
countries self-sufficient tự cung tự cấp in grain and livestock and offered effective
protection against famine.

Được biết, quá trình làm mát của Kỷ băng hà nhỏ bắt đầu ở Greenland và Bắc Cực vào
khoảng năm 1200. Khi khối băng ở Bắc Cực lan rộng về phía nam, các chuyến đi của
người Bắc Âu về phía tây được đổi tuyến vào Đại Tây Dương rộng mở, sau đó kết thúc
hoàn toàn. Bão tăng ở Bắc Đại Tây Dương và Biển Bắc. Thời tiết lạnh hơn, ẩm ướt hơn
nhiều đã giáng xuống châu Âu trong khoảng thời gian từ 1315 đến 1319, khi hàng ngàn
người thiệt mạng trong một nạn đói trên toàn lục địa. Đến năm 1400, thời tiết trở nên
khó dự đoán hơn và nhiều bão tố hơn, với sự thay đổi đột ngột và nhiệt độ thấp hơn mà
đỉnh điểm là những thập kỷ lạnh giá của cuối thế kỷ XVI. Cá là một mặt hàng quan trọng
ở các thị trấn và thành phố đang phát triển, nơi nguồn cung cấp thực phẩm là mối quan
tâm thường xuyên. Cá tuyết và cá trích khô vốn đã là mặt hàng chủ lực của hoạt động
buôn bán cá ở châu Âu, nhưng những thay đổi về nhiệt độ nước đã buộc các đội tàu
đánh cá phải hoạt động xa bờ hơn. Người Basques, Hà Lan và Anh đã phát triển những
chiếc thuyền đánh cá xa bờ đầu tiên thích nghi với Đại Tây Dương lạnh hơn và nhiều
bão hơn. Một cuộc cách mạng nông nghiệp dần dần ở Bắc Âu bắt nguồn từ những lo
ngại về nguồn cung cấp lương thực vào thời điểm dân số gia tăng. Cuộc cách mạng
liên quan đến canh tác thương mại thâm canh và trồng thức ăn gia súc trên đất trước
đây không được sử dụng để trồng trọt. Năng suất tăng lên từ đất nông nghiệp khiến một
số quốc gia tự cung tự cấp về ngũ cốc và gia súc, đồng thời mang lại sự bảo vệ hiệu
quả trước nạn đói.

Global temperatures began to rise slowly after 1850, with the beginning of the Modern
Warm Period. There was a vast migration sự di cư from Europe by land-hungry farmers
and others, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight các loại sâu bệnh gây hại cho
cây cối, hoa màu contributed, to North America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern
Africa. Millions of hectares of forest and woodland fell before the newcomers’ axes
between 1850 and 1890, as intensive European farming methods expanded across the
world. The unprecedented land clearance việc đốn hạ/phá bỏ/dọn sạch released vast
quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, triggering làm nổ ra, gây ra... for the first
time humanly caused global warming. Temperatures climbed more rapidly in the
twentieth century as the use of fossil fuels proliferated phát triển/gia tăng chóng mặt and
greenhouse gas levels continued to soar. The rise has been even steeper nhanh,
mạnh since the early 1980s. The Little Ice Age has given way to a new
climatic regime chế độ , marked by prolonged kéo dài (về thời gian) and steady warming. At
the same time, extreme weather events like Category 5 hurricanes are becoming more
frequent.

Nhiệt độ toàn cầu bắt đầu tăng chậm sau năm 1850, với sự khởi đầu của Thời kỳ Ấm
áp Hiện đại. Đã có một cuộc di cư lớn từ châu Âu của những người nông dân cần đất
và những người khác, mà nạn đói do bệnh bạc lá khoai tây ở Ireland đã góp phần gây
ra, đến Bắc Mỹ, Úc, New Zealand và miền nam châu Phi. Hàng triệu hecta rừng và đất
rừng đã bị đốn hạ trước lưỡi rìu của những người mới đến từ năm 1850 đến năm 1890,
khi các phương pháp canh tác thâm canh của châu Âu được mở rộng trên toàn thế giới.
Việc giải phóng mặt bằng chưa từng có đã giải phóng một lượng lớn carbon dioxide vào
khí quyển, lần đầu tiên gây ra sự nóng lên toàn cầu do con người gây ra. Nhiệt độ tăng
nhanh hơn trong thế kỷ 20 khi việc sử dụng nhiên liệu hóa thạch gia tăng và mức độ khí
nhà kính tiếp tục tăng cao. Sự gia tăng thậm chí còn nhanh hơn kể từ đầu những năm
1980. Kỷ băng hà nhỏ đã nhường chỗ cho một chế độ khí hậu mới, được đánh dấu
bằng sự nóng lên kéo dài và ổn định. Đồng thời, các sự kiện thời tiết cực đoan như bão
cấp 5 đang trở nên thường xuyên hơn.

The Little Ice Age

A

This book will provide a detailed examination of the Little Ice Age and other climatic
shifts, but, before I bắt đầu, bắt tay vào, đi vào (câu chuyện, chủ đề...) that, let
me provide a historical context. We tend to think of climate – as opposed to weather –
as something unchanging, yet humanity has been chịu
sự chi phối từ.... for its entire existence, with at least eight glacial episodes in the past

730,000 years. Our ancestors thích nghi với the universal but irregular
global warming since the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago,
with dazzling opportunism. They developed strategies for surviving
khắc nghiệt drought cycles, decades of heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold; adopted
agriculture and stock-raising, which revolutionised human life; and founded the world’s
first pre-industrial civilisations in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas. But the price of
sudden climate change, in famine, disease and suffering, was often high.

The Little Ice Age lasted from khoảng 1300 until the middle of the nineteenth
century. Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of cực
kỳ cold winters; mountain glaciers in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded
memory, and pack ice surrounded Iceland for much of the year. The climatic events of
the Little Ice Age did more than help shape the modern world. They are the deeply
important context for the current chưa từng có tiền lệ global warming. The
Little Ice Age was far from a deep freeze, however; rather an irregular
sự thay đổi liên tục of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting more than a quarter-century, driven
by complex and still little understood interactions between the atmosphere and the
ocean. The seesaw brought cycles of vô cùng cold winters and easterly
winds, then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early summer rains, mild
winters, and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts,
light northeasterly winds, and summer heat waves.

the climate changes of the past is extremely difficult,

tái hiện
because systematic weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in Europe
and North America. Records from India and tropical Africa are even more recent. For
the time before records began, we have only ‘proxy records’ reconstructed largely from
tree rings and ice cores, bổ sung by a few incomplete written
accounts. We now have hundreds of tree-ring records from throughout the
northern bán cầu , and many from south of the equator, too, amplified with a
growing body of temperature data from ice cores drilled in Antarctica, Greenland, the
Peruvian Andes, and other locations. We are close to a knowledge of annual summer
and winter temperature sự thay đổi over much of the northern
hemisphere going back 600 years.

This book is a Dưới hình thức kể chuyện; có tính chất tường thuật history of
climatic shifts during the past ten centuries, and some of the ways in which people in
Europe adapted to them. Part One describes the Medieval Warm Period, roughly 900 to
1200. During these three centuries, Norse người du hành from Northern Europe
explored northern seas, settled Greenland, and visited North America. It was not a time
of uniform warmth, for then, as always since the Great Ice Age, there were constant
shifts in rainfall and temperature. Mean European temperatures were about the same
as today, perhaps slightly cooler.

It is known that the Little Ice Age cooling began in Greenland and the Arctic in about
1200. As the Arctic ice pack spread southward, Norse voyages to the west
were chuyển hướng the open Atlantic, then
ended altogether. tình trạng giông bão increased in the North Atlantic and
North Sea. Colder, much wetter weather descended on Europe between 1315 and
1319, when thousands diệt vong, bỏ mạng in a continent-
wide famine. By 1400, the weather had become decidedly more unpredictable and
stormier, with sudden shifts and lower temperatures that đỉnh điểm là, dẫn
đến kết quả là in the cold decades of the late sixteenth century. Fish were a

vital mặt hàng in growing towns and cities, where food supplies were a
constant concern. Dried cod and herring were already the sản phẩm chủ
yếu of the European fish trade, but changes in water temperatures forced fishing fleets
to work further offshore. The Basques, Dutch, and English developed the first offshore
fishing boats adapted to a colder and stormier Atlantic. A gradual agricultural revolution
in northern Europe stemmed from concerns over food supplies at a time of rising
populations. The revolution involved intensive commercial farming and the growing of
animal cỏ khô (cho gia súc ăn) on land not previously used for crops. The
increased productivity from farmland made some countries tự cung tự
cấp in grain and livestock and offered effective protection against famine.
F

Global temperatures began to rise slowly after 1850, with the beginning of the Modern
Warm Period. There was a vast sự di cư from Europe by land-hungry
farmers and others, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight contributed, to
North America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. Millions of hectares of
forest and woodland fell before the newcomers’ axes between 1850 and 1890, as
intensive European farming methods expanded across the world. The unprecedented
land việc đốn hạ/phá bỏ/dọn sạch released vast quantities of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere, triggering for the first time humanly caused global
warming. Temperatures climbed more rapidly in the twentieth century as the use of
fossil fuels phát triển/gia tăng chóng mặt and greenhouse gas levels
continued to soar. The rise has been even nhanh, mạnh since the early
1980s. The Little Ice Age has given way to a new climatic chế độ , marked
by prolonged and steady warming. At the same time, extreme weather events like
Category 5 hurricanes are becoming more frequent.

abruptly (adv) /ə'brʌptlɪ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
bất ngờ/đột ngột =in a sudden, unexpected and often unpleasant way
Ví dụ:

 The interview ended [abruptly].

Ghi chú:
In passage: The seesaw brought cycles of intensely cold winters and easterly winds,
then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early summer rains, mild winters,
and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts, light northeasterly winds, and
summer heat waves.

adapt to (v) /ə'dæpt tuː/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
thích nghi với =to change your behaviour in order to deal more successfully with a new
situation
Ví dụ:

 The company was able to [adapt to] the conditions and enhance its position.
Ghi chú:
In passage: Our ancestors adapted to the universal but irregular global warming since
the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, with dazzling opportunism.

altogether (adv) /ˌɔːltə'geðər/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
hoàn toàn, hẳn =(used to emphasize something) completely; in every way
Ví dụ:

 The train went slower and slower until it stopped [altogether].

Ghi chú:
In passage: As the Arctic ice pack spread southward, Norse voyages to the west were
rerouted into the open Atlantic, then ended altogether.

amplify (v) /'æmplɪfaɪ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
cộng thêm, làm mạnh thêm/lớn thêm =to increase the size or effect of something
Ví dụ:

 A funeral can [amplify] the feelings of regret and loss for the relatives.

Ghi chú:
In passage: We now have hundreds of tree-ring records from throughout the northern
hemisphere, and many from south of the equator, too, amplified with a growing body of
temperature data from ice cores drilled in Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes,
and other locations.

at the mercy of (idiom) /æt ðə 'm3ːsɪ ɒv/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
chịu sự chi phối từ.... =not able to stop somebody/something harming you because they
have power or control over you
Ví dụ:

 I'm not going to put myself [at the mercy of] the bank.

Ghi chú:
In passage: We tend to think of climate – as opposed to weather – as something
unchanging, yet humanity has been at the mercy of climate change for its entire
existence, with at least eight glacial episodes in the past 730,000 years
bitterly (adv) /'bɪtəlɪ/ UK US
Định nghĩa:
cực kỳ =to an extreme degree
Ví dụ:

 Back in New York, it's [bitterly] freezing.

Ghi chú:
In passage: Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of bitterly cold winters;
mountain glaciers in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded memory, and pack ice
surrounded Iceland for much of the year.

blight (n) /blaɪt/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
các loại sâu bệnh gây hại cho cây cối, hoa màu =any disease that kills plants, especially
crops
Ví dụ:

 Many areas have been devastated by [blights] which destroyed cereal crops and
vines.

Ghi chú:
In passage: There was a vast migration from Europe by land-hungry farmers and
others, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight contributed, to North
America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa.

clearance (n) /'klɪərəns/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
việc đốn hạ/phá bỏ/dọn sạch =the removal of old buildings, trees, or other things that
are not wanted from an area.
Ví dụ:

 The impact of land [clearance] for subsistence agriculture has resulted in soil
salinity.

Ghi chú:
In passage: The unprecedented land clearance released vast quantities of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere, triggering for the first time humanly caused global
warming.

commodity (n) /kə'mɒdɪtɪ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
mặt hàng =a substance or product that can be traded, bought, or sold
Ví dụ:

 The country's most valuable [commodities] include tin and diamonds.

Ghi chú:
In passage: Fish were a vital commodity in growing towns and cities, where food
supplies were a constant concern

culminate (v) /'kʌlmɪneɪt/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
đỉnh điểm là, dẫn đến kết quả là =to end with a particular result, or at a particular point
Ví dụ:

 Months of hard work [culminated] in success.

Ghi chú:
In passage: By 1400, the weather had become decidedly more unpredictable and
stormier, with sudden shifts and lower temperatures that culminated in the cold decades
of the late sixteenth century.

dazzling (adj) /'dæzlɪŋ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
đáng kinh ngạc =extremely impressive, beautiful, or skilful
Ví dụ:

 a [dazzling] performance/display

Ghi chú:
In passage: Our ancestors adapted to the universal but irregular global warming since
the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, with dazzling opportunism.

embark on (phr v) /ɪm'bɑːk ɒn/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
bắt đầu, bắt tay vào, đi vào (câu chuyện, chủ đề...) =to start to do something new or
difficult
Ví dụ:

 She is about to [embark on] a diplomatic career.

Ghi chú:
In passage: This book will provide a detailed examination of the Little Ice Age and other
climatic shifts, but, before I embark on that, let me provide a historical context.

famine (n) /'fæmɪn/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
nạn đói =a lack of food during a long period of time in a region
Ví dụ:

 the threat of widespread [famine] in the area

Ghi chú:
In passage: Colder, much wetter weather descended on Europe between 1315 and
1319, when thousands perished in a continent-wide famine.

fodder (n) /'fɒdər/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
cỏ khô (cho gia súc ăn) =food that is given to cows, horses, and other farm animals
Ví dụ:

 But much more fertile land is required to grow food and [fodder] for their
livestock.

Ghi chú:
In passage: The revolution involved intensive commercial farming and the growing of
animal fodder on land not previously used for crops.

glacial (adj) /'gleɪsɪəl/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
băng giá =extremely cold
Ví dụ:

 a [glacial] period

Ghi chú:
In passage: We tend to think of climate – as opposed to weather – as something
unchanging, yet humanity has been at the mercy of climate change for its entire
existence, with at least eight glacial episodes in the past 730,000 years

glacier (n) /'glæsɪər/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
sông băng =a slow-moving mass or river of ice, formed from snow on mountains or near
the North Pole or South Pole
Ví dụ:

 Nearly 50% of the shoreline is dominated by the calving ice fronts of the large
outlet [glaciers].

Ghi chú:
In passage: Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of bitterly cold winters;
mountain glaciers in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded memory, and pack ice
surrounded Iceland for much of the year.

go back (v) /gəʊ bæk/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
cách đây, từ... trước =to have existed since a time in the past
Ví dụ:

 Our house [goes back to] (= has existed since) the 18th century.

Ghi chú:
In passage: We are close to a knowledge of annual summer and winter temperature
variations over much of the northern hemisphere going back 600 years.

harsh (adj) /hɑːʃ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
khắc nghiệt =cruel, severe and unkind
Ví dụ:

 In a [harsh] economic climate, raises for teachers have become a lightning rod
for criticism.

Ghi chú:
In passage: They developed strategies for surviving harsh drought cycles, decades of
heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold; adopted agriculture and stock-raising, which
revolutionised human life; and founded the world’s first pre-industrial civilisations in
Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas.

hemisphere (n) /'hemɪsfɪər/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
bán cầu =one of two halves of the earth, especially above or below the equator
Ví dụ:
  The equator divides the earth into the northern and southern [hemispheres].

Ghi chú:
In passage: We now have hundreds of tree-ring records from throughout the northern
hemisphere, and many from south of the equator, too, amplified with a growing body of
temperature data from ice cores drilled in Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes,
and other locations.

intensely (adv) /ɪn'tenslɪ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
vô cùng =in a very great or very strong way
Ví dụ:

 She disliked him [intensely].

Ghi chú:
In passage: The seesaw brought cycles of intensely cold winters and easterly winds,
then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early summer rains, mild winters,
and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts, light northeasterly winds, and
summer heat waves.

migration (n) /maɪ'greɪʃn/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
sự di cư =the process of people travelling to a new place to live, usually in large
numbers
Ví dụ:

 There was a mass [migration] of poverty-stricken farmers into the cities.

Ghi chú:
In passage: There was a vast migration from Europe by land-hungry farmers and
others, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight contributed, to North
America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa.

narrative (adj) /'nærətɪv/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
Dưới hình thức kể chuyện; có tính chất tường thuật =describing events or telling a story
Ví dụ:

 Discuss the role of time in the [narrative] structure of the Iliad.

Ghi chú:
In passage: This book is a narrative history of climatic shifts during the past ten
centuries, and some of the ways in which people in Europe adapted to them.

northeasterly (adj) /nɔːθ'iːstəlɪ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
hướng đông bắc =towards the northeast
Ví dụ:

 The weather was ideal for the occasion with a light [northeasterly] breeze

Ghi chú:
In passage: The seesaw brought cycles of intensely cold winters and easterly winds,
then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early summer rains, mild winters,
and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughts, light northeasterly winds, and
summer heat waves.

opportunism (n) /ˌɒpə'tjuːnɪzəm/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
chủ nghĩa cơ hội =behaviour in which you use every situation to try to get power or an
advantage
Ví dụ:

 He accused his opponent of political [opportunism].

Ghi chú:
In passage: Our ancestors adapted to the universal but irregular global warming since
the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, with dazzling opportunism.

perish (v) /'perɪʃ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
diệt vong, bỏ mạng =to die, especially in an accident or by being killed, or to be
destroyed
Ví dụ:

 Three hundred people [perished] in the earthquake.

Ghi chú:
In passage: Colder, much wetter weather descended on Europe between 1315 and
1319, when thousands perished in a continent-wide famine.

proliferate (v) /prə'lɪfəreɪt/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
phát triển/gia tăng chóng mặt =to increase rapidly in number or amount
Ví dụ:

 Books and articles on the subject have [proliferated] over the last year.

Ghi chú:
In passage: Temperatures climbed more rapidly in the twentieth century as the use of
fossil fuels proliferated and greenhouse gas levels continued to soar.

prolonged (adj) /prə'lɒŋd/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
kéo dài (về thời gian) =continuing for a long time
Ví dụ:

 [Prolonged] use of the drug is known to have harmful side-effects.

Ghi chú:
In passage: The Little Ice Age has given way to a new climatic regime, marked by
prolonged and steady warming.

reconstruct (v) /ˌriːkən'strʌkt/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
tái hiện =to be able to describe or show exactly how a past event happened, using the
information you have gathered
Ví dụ:

 Investigators are trying to [reconstruct] the circumstances of the crash.

Ghi chú:
In passage: Reconstructing the climate changes of the past is extremely difficult,
because systematic weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in Europe
and North America.

regime (n) /reɪ'ʒiːm/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
chế độ =a method or system of government, especially one that has not been elected in
a fair way
Ví dụ:

 a fascist/totalitarian/military, etc. [regime]

Ghi chú:
In passage: The Little Ice Age has given way to a new climatic regime, marked by
prolonged and steady warming.

reroute (v) /riˈrut/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
chuyển hướng =to change the route that a road, vehicle, phone call, etc. normally
follows
Ví dụ:

 The flight was [rerouted] through Singapore.

Ghi chú:
In passage: As the Arctic ice pack spread southward, Norse voyages to the west were
rerouted into the open Atlantic, then ended altogether.

revolutionize (v) /ˌrevə'luːʃənaɪz/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
cách mạng hóa =to completely change something so that it is much better
Ví dụ:

 Newton's discoveries [revolutionized] physics.

Ghi chú:
In passage: They developed strategies for surviving harsh drought cycles, decades of
heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold; adopted agriculture and stock-raising, which
revolutionised human life; and founded the world’s first pre-industrial civilisations in
Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas.

roughly (adv) /'rʌflɪ/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
khoảng =approximately but not exactly
Ví dụ:

 Sales are up by [roughly] 10 per cent.

Ghi chú:
In passage: The Little Ice Age lasted from roughly 1300 until the middle of the
nineteenth century

seesaw (n) /'siːsɔː/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
sự thay đổi liên tục =a situation characterized by rapid, repeated changes from one
state or condition to another
Ví dụ:

 Few contests ever have involved so much [seesaw] emotion.

Ghi chú:
In passage: The Little Ice Age was far from a deep freeze, however; rather an irregular
seesaw of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting more than a quarter-century, driven by
complex and still little understood interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean

self-sufficient (adj) /self-sə'fɪʃnt/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
tự cung tự cấp =able to provide everything you need, especially food, for yourself
without the help of other people
Ví dụ:

 They were busy with growing vegetables and all the other chores of a [self-
sufficient] rural life.

Ghi chú:
In passage: The increased productivity from farmland made some countries self-
sufficient in grain and livestock and offered effective protection against famine.

staple (n) /'steɪpl/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
sản phẩm chủ yếu =a main product or part of something
Ví dụ:

 Phosphate has been a [staple] of this area for many years.

Ghi chú:
In passage: Dried cod and herring were already the staples of the European fish trade,
but changes in water temperatures forced fishing fleets to work further offshore.

steep (adj) /stiːp/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
nhanh, mạnh =a steep rise or fall is one that goes very quickly from low to high or from
high to low
Ví dụ:
  Setting up a new business is risky and involves a [steep] learning curve.

Ghi chú:
In passage: The rise has been even steeper since the early 1980s.

storminess (n) /ˈstɔrminɪs/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
tình trạng giông bão =the state of being stormy
Ví dụ:

 This controls the atmosphere's circulation and can alter rainfall, temperature,
winds and [storminess]

Ghi chú:
In passage: Storminess increased in the North Atlantic and North Sea

supplement (v) /'sʌplɪment/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
bổ sung =to add something to something in order to improve it or make it more
complete
Ví dụ:

 He [supplements] his income by giving private lessons.

Ghi chú:
In passage: For the time before records began, we have only ‘proxy records’
reconstructed largely from tree rings and ice cores, supplemented by a few incomplete
written accounts.

systematic (adj) /ˌsɪstə'mætɪk/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
có hệ thống =done according to a system or plan, in a complete, efficient or determined
way
Ví dụ:

 The prisoner was subjected to [systematic] torture.

Ghi chú:
In passage: Reconstructing the climate changes of the past is extremely difficult,
because systematic weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in Europe
and North America.
trigger (v) /'trɪgər/ UK US
Định nghĩa:
làm nổ ra, gây ra... =to cause something to start
Ví dụ:

 Some people find that certain foods [trigger] their headaches.

Ghi chú:
In passage: The unprecedented land clearance released vast quantities of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere, triggering for the first time humanly caused global
warming.

unaccustomed (adj) /ˌʌnə'kʌstəmd/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
bất thường, không quen thuộc =not familiar with something, or not used to something
Ví dụ:

 The Olympic and world champion finished in the [unaccustomed] position of

fourth.

Ghi chú:
In passage: They developed strategies for surviving harsh drought cycles, decades of
heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold; adopted agriculture and stock-raising, which
revolutionised human life; and founded the world’s first pre-industrial civilisations in
Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas.

unprecedented (adj) /ʌn'presɪdentɪd/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
chưa từng có tiền lệ =never having happened or existed in the past
Ví dụ:

 This century has witnessed environmental destruction on an [unprecedented]

scale.

Ghi chú:
In passage: They are the deeply important context for the current unprecedented global
warming

variation (n) /ˌveərɪ'eɪʃn/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
sự thay đổi =a change, especially in the amount or level of something
Ví dụ:

 Currency exchange rates are always subject to [variation].

Ghi chú:
In passage: We are close to a knowledge of annual summer and winter temperature
variations over much of the northern hemisphere going back 600 years.

voyager (n) /'voɪədʒər/ UK US

Định nghĩa:
người du hành =a person who goes on a long journey, especially by sea or in space to
unknown parts of the world or universe
Ví dụ:

 The early [voyagers] thought they had landed on the Indian coast.

Ghi chú:
In passage: During these three centuries, Norse voyagers from Northern Europe
explored northern seas, settled Greenland, and visited North America.

The Little Ice Age

This book will provide a detailed examination of the Little Ice Age and other climatic
shifts, but, before I embark on that, let me provide a historical context. We tend to think
of climate – as opposed to weather – as something unchanging, yet humanity has been
at the mercy of climate change for its entire existence, with at least eight glacial
episodes in the past 730,000 years. Our ancestors adapted to the universal but irregular
global warming since the end of the last great Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, with
dazzling opportunism. They developed strategies for surviving harsh drought cycles,
decades of heavy rainfall or unaccustomed cold; adopted agriculture and stock-raising,
which revolutionised human life; and founded the world’s first pre-industrial civilisations
in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Americas. But the price of sudden climate change, in
famine, disease and suffering, was often high.

The Little Ice Age lasted from roughly 1300 until the middle of the nineteenth century.
Only two centuries ago, Europe experienced a cycle of bitterly cold winters; mountain
glaciers in the Swiss Alps were the lowest in recorded memory, and pack ice
surrounded Iceland for much of the year. The climatic events of the Little Ice Age did
more than help shape the modernQ14 world. They are the deeply important context for
the current unprecedented global warming. The Little Ice Age was far from a deep
freezeQ20, however; rather an irregular seesaw of rapid climatic shifts, few lasting more
than a quarter-century, driven by complex and still little understood interactions between
the atmosphere and the ocean. The seesaw brought cyclesQ21 of intensely cold
winters and easterly winds, then switched abruptly to years of heavy spring and early
summer rains, mild winters, and frequent Atlantic storms, or to periods of droughtsQ22,
light northeasterly winds, and summer heat waves.

Reconstructing the climate changes of the pastQ19Q18 is extremely difficult, because

systematic weather observations began only a few centuries ago, in Europe and North
America. Records from India and tropical Africa are even more recent. For the time
before records began, we have only ‘proxy records’ reconstructed largely from tree rings
and ice cores, supplemented by a few incomplete written accounts. We now have
hundreds of tree-ring records from throughout the northern hemisphere, and many from
south of the equator, too, amplified with a growing body of temperature data from ice
cores drilled in Antarctica, Greenland, the Peruvian Andes, and other locations. We are
close to a knowledge of annual summer and winter temperature variations over much of
the northern hemisphere going back 600 years.

This book is a narrative history of climatic shifts during the past ten centuriesQ15, and
some of the ways in which people in Europe adapted to them. Part One describes the
Medieval Warm Period, roughly 900 to 1200. During these three centuries, Norse
voyagers from Northern Europe exploredQ25 northern seas, settledQ25 Greenland,
and visitedQ25 North America. It was not a time of uniform warmth, for then, as always
since the Great Ice Age, there were constant shifts in rainfall and temperature. Mean
European temperatures were about the same as today, perhaps slightly cooler.

It is known that the Little Ice Age cooling began in Greenland and the Arctic in about
1200. As the Arctic ice pack spread southward, Norse voyages to the west were
rerouted into the open Atlantic, then ended altogether. Storminess increased in the
North Atlantic and North Sea. Colder, much wetter weather descended on Europe
between 1315 and 1319, when thousands perished in a continent-wide famine. By
1400, the weather had become decidedly more unpredictable and stormier, with sudden
shifts and lower temperatures that culminated in the cold decades of the late sixteenth
century. Fish were a vital commodity in growing towns and cities, where food supplies
were a constant concern. Dried cod and herring were already the staples of the
European fish trade, but changes in water temperatures forced fishing fleets to work
further offshoreQ26. The Basques, Dutch, and English developed the first offshore
fishing boats adapted to a colder and stormier Atlantic. A gradual agricultural revolution
in northern Europe stemmed from concerns over food supplies at a time of rising
populations. The revolution involved intensive commercial farming and the growing of
animal fodder on land not previously used for crops. The increased productivity from
farmland made some countries self-sufficientQ16 in grain and livestock and offered
effective protection against famine.

Global temperatures began to rise slowly after 1850, with the beginning of the Modern
Warm Period. There was a vast migration from Europe by land-hungry farmers and
othersQ23, to which the famine caused by the Irish potato blight contributed, to North
America, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. Millions of hectares of forest and
woodland fellQ24 before the newcomers’ axes between 1850 and 1890, as intensive
European farming methods expanded across the world. The unprecedented land
clearance released vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, triggering for
the first time humanly causedQ17 global warming. Temperatures climbed more rapidly
in the twentieth century as the use of fossil fuels proliferated and greenhouse gas levels
continued to soar. The rise has been even steeper since the early 1980s. The Little Ice
Age has given way to a new climatic regime, marked by prolonged and steady warming.
At the same time, extreme weather events like Category 5 hurricanes are becoming
more frequent.

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A—F. Choose the correct heading for
paragraphs B and D—F from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i—ix,
in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

 i Predicting climatic changes

 ii The relevance of the Little Ice Age todayQ14
 iii How cities contribute to climate change
 iv Human impactQ17 on the climateQ17
 v How past climatic conditions can be determined
 vi A growing need for weather records
 vii A study covering a thousand yearsQ15
 viii People have always responded to climate change
 ix EnoughQ16 food at last

Example Answer Paragraph A viii

Example Answer Paragraph C v

14
Paragraph B
II
15
Paragraph D
VII
16
Paragraph E
IX
17
Paragraph F
IV
Complete the summary using the list of words, A—I, below. Write the correct letter, A—
I, in boxes 18-22 on your answer sheet.

Weather during the Little Ice Age

Documentation of past weather condition is limited: our main sources of knowledge
of conditions in the distant pastQ19Q18 are (18)………………. and (19)
………………… . We can deduce that the Little Ice Age was a time of (20)…………… ,
rather than of consistent freezingQ20. Within it there were some periodsQ21 of very
cold winters, others of (21)…………. and heavy rain, and yet others that saw (22)
…………. with no rain at allQ22.

 A climatic shifts
 B ice cores
 C tree rings
 D glaciers
 E interactions
 F weather observations
 G heat waves
 H storms
 I written accounts

18
B/C
19
B/C
20
A
21
H
22
G
Classify the following events as occurringQ26 during the

A Medieval Warm Period

B Little Ice Age
C Modem Warm Period

Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 23-26 on your answer sheet.

23
Many Europeans started farming abroadQ23.
C
24
The cutting down of treesQ24 began to affect the climate.
C
25
Europeans discoveredQ25 other lands.
A
26
Changes took placeQ26 in fishing patternsQ26.
B