题目内容
Just as the world’s most respected scientific bodies have confirmed that the world is getting hotter, they have also stated that there is strong evidence that humans are driving the warming. Countless recent reports from the world’s leading scientific bodies have said the same thing. For example, a 2010 summary of climate science by the Royal Society stated that: “There is strong evidence that the warming of the Earth over the last half-century has been caused largely by human activity.”
The idea that humans could change the planet’s climate may be counter-intuitive, but the basic science is well understood. Each year, human activity causes billions of tons of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. As scientists have known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible blanket.
Of course, the planet’s climate has always been changing thanks to “natural” factors such as changes in solar or volcanic activity, or cycles relating the Earth’s going around the sun. According to the scientific literature, however, the warming recorded to date matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build-up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – not the warming we would expect from other possible causes.
Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming observed so far, that would beg a difficult question. As Robert Henson puts it in The Rough Guide to Climate Change, “If some newly discovered factor can account for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”
The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths – one with human influence and one without. That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty.
【小题1】 In most scientists’ opinion, the global warming is mainly caused by ________.
A.solar activity |
B.volcanic activity |
C.the Earth’s going around the sun |
D.human activity |
A.giving typical examples |
B.following the order of space |
C.analyzing a theory and arguing it |
D.comparing and finding differences |
A.totally different |
B.exactly the same |
C.extremely important |
D.relatively independent |
A.Are All the Scientists Really Scientific? |
B.Where Is Global Warming Leading Us to? |
C.Are Humans Definitely Causing Global Warming? |
D.What’s Relation of Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases? |
【小题1】D
【小题2】C
【小题3】B
【小题4】C
解析试题分析:
【小题1】D细节题。由Just as the world’s most respected scientific bodies have confirmed that the world is getting hotter, they have also stated that there is strong evidence that humans are driving the warming.可知,是人类活动影响气候变暖。故选D
【小题2】C 推断题。由全文可知,文章提出来了一个观点并且还在争论。故选C
【小题3】B 推断题。根据本句The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths – one with human influence and one without. 指用两个一样的地球来进行式样,一个受到人类的影响,而另外一个没有。故Identical指“一样的”,故选B
【小题4】C 文章理解题。本文主要提出“人类活动是否影响气候变暖”并争论。故选C
考点:考查报告类短文阅读
点评:本文主要就“人类活动是否影响气候变暖”提出观点并争论。本文的题目较为简单,主题也很突出,也考生熟悉的环境保护类的短文阅读题。以推理题的考查为主,要求考生阅读时关注文章细节,合理判断,准确选择。
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As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.
【小题1】What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
A.Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
B.Land in the West was hard to manage. |
C.Some railroad stops remained underused. |
D.Land grants went into private hands. |
A.The use of money and power. |
B.The transmission of power. |
C.The conservation of solar energy. |
D.The selection of an ideal place. |
A.Disapproving. | B.Approving. | C.Doubtful. | D.Cautious. |
A.How the Railways Have Affected the West |
B.How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
C.How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
D.How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |
As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.
【小题1】What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
A.Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
B.Land in the West was hard to manage. |
C.Some railroad stops remained underused. |
D.Land grants went into private hands. |
A.The use of money and power. |
B.The transmission of power. |
C.The conservation of solar energy. |
D.The selection of an ideal place. |
A.Disapproving. | B.Approving. | C.Doubtful. | D.Cautious. |
A.How the Railways Have Affected the West |
B.How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
C.How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
D.How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |