【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[听力原文]
Climate change is making it harder than usual for scientists to figure out what the future will bring and what impact Weather changes will have on society and the economy. A sudden increase of severe weather events has already destroyed homes, businesses and lives. Some fairly simple changes may reduce the toll.
Wind tunnel tests, done by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, showed that stronger construction costs a little more, but holds up much better to extreme weather. The growing number of unusually strong storms has convinced people that extreme weather is the "new norm." Extreme weather events have increased in frequency over the past 50 years and are expected to become even more common, more intense, and more costly.
Drought is another suspected consequence of climate change, and dry ground means more wildfires in California. Current mathematical models of climate change do a poor job of predicting the economic impact of drought and other weather events. M1 we can do is come up with some rough numbers and estimates. Consensus estimates that maybe experts provide, that give us a view of what would the terrible outcome look like if we don"t do anything.
To help deal with climate problems, policymakers should take actions such as imposing a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. A carbon tax would encourage companies and families to use less energy and generate fewer of the gases thought to be driving changes in the climate.

What do we know about stronger construction?

[解析] 短文提到，更为牢固的建筑花费要贵一些，但是更能承受得住极端恶劣的天气。C可以直接从原文听到，故为答案。
①四个选项均是表述某情况，预读时可发现，B和C为语义相反的一对选项，而正确答案往往为语义相反选项的其中一个，听音时要特别留意与extreme weather内容相关的信息。②B与短文意思相反；牢固的建筑花费更贵，可排除A；D是利用短文一开始谈到的impact weather changes进行干扰，与题干的核心词stronger construction无关，也可排除。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[听力原文]
What is the consequence of drought in California?

[解析] 短文提到，旱灾也可能是气候变化的另一个结果，而在加州，干旱的土地则意味着会引发更多野火。A为答案。
①四个选项均为表灾害的名词，听音时应留意相关录音。②只有wildfires在录音中出现，其他三项均未听到，不难排除。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[听力原文]
What would be the benefit of imposing carbon tax?

[解析] 短文末尾处提到，碳税会促使公司和家庭使用更少的能源，并产生更少的有害气体。B把原文的companies and families概括为people，语义与原文完全一致，故选B。
A中的rough numbers and estimates和C中的figure out what the future will bring均在原文有出现，但A是说现在预测天气的状况，C是短文开头表明科学家对未来环境状况不确定时所提到的，均与carbon tax无关，可排除；D是一个负面的做法，不可能是碳税带来的益处，也可排除。