96 學年度學測英文 第 23 題

India is shrinking. A new analysis of satellite-based data has given precisely the rate 21 which the country is losing size as it pushes northward against the Himalayas. According to the analysis, the 22 between India’s southern and northern tips shrinks by 2 cm every year. As India’s size decreases, the thickness of the Himalayas increases. 23 the shrinking continues, India will disappear in 200 million years. There would only be a vast mountain range along the southern coast of China. The Indian plate’s 24 movement is not new. However, this cannot be treated as a trivial finding in science. A movement of 25 a few millimeters (mm) of the earth’s crust is a sign of possible earthquakes. Such dangers are now obvious in India, where the movement of the plate continues.