2017年高考英语生态环保类阅读理解.doc

话题七：生态环保类
(一)

The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world's supply of water. With 97% of the world's water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage(短缺)seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world's agricultural industries experience constant water shortages.
Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons, the costs of water redistribution(重新分配)are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys(山谷)are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements.
This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation (灌溉). In Texas, farmers' overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.
Saudi Arabia's attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.
1. From the first two paragraphs we learn that________.
A. much of the world's water is available for use
B. people in high rainfall countries feel lucky
C. the costs of water redistribution should be considered
D. water can be easily carried through pipes across the world
2. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. The water stores in Texas have been reduced by 75%.
B. Most industries in the world suffer from water shortages.
C. The underground water in Saudi Arabia might run out in 50 years.
D. Good management of water use resulted from the project in the Central Valley.
3. What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows?
A. Steps to improving water use management.
B. Ways to reduce the costs of building dams.
C. Measures to deal with worldwide water shortages.
D. Approaches to handling the pressure on water supply.
4. The text is mainly about________.
A. water supply and increasing population
B water use management and agriculture
C. water redistribution and wildlife protection
D. water shortages and environmental protection
答案与解析
世界的可用淡水资源有限，但农业在利用水资源过程中存在不尽如人意之处，本文指出了其中的一些问题。
1．C　细节理解题，由文中第一段第二句“With 97% of the world's water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture...”可知A选项错误；由第一段第三句“...strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country...”可知B选项不合文意；第二段前两句指出水资源的重新分配的费用极高，一方面是水利过程本身的造价，另一方面也会对生态造成极大的破坏，所以选项C正确，根据第二段第四句“...it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other.”可知D项不正确。
2．C　细节理解题。根据文章第三段第二句“...has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores.”可判断A选项不正确；由第一段最后一句可判断B选项错误；由文章最后一句“...fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.”可知C项正确。根据文章第三段最后一句可知D项不正确。
3．A　判断推理题。文章前面一部分主要是讲述农业在利用水资源过程中存在的问题，接下来应该是介绍加强水资源管理的方法和措施，所以A选项正确。
4．B　主旨大意题。由第一段第二句可知。
(二)
It was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were not unhappy. After all, their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries.
Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog's legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own ，and so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.
This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around，and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was catch them. Agreement was reached，and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time, the people were able to dream of a better future. But the dream didn't last long.
The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and, there seemed to be more insects around lately.
The villagers decided that they couldn't just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides (杀虫剂) and medicines. Soon there was no money left.
Then the people realized what was happening. It was the frog. They hadn't been useless. They had been doing an important job—eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.
Now，the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.
1. From Paragraph 1，we learn that the villagers________.
A. worked very hard for centuries
B. dreamed of having a better life
C. were poor but somewhat content
D. lived a different life from their forefathers
2. Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs?
A. The frogs were easy money.
B. They needed money to buy medicine.
C. They wanted to please the visitors.
D. The frogs made too much noise.
3. What might be the cause of the children's sickness?
A. The crops didn't do well.
B. There were too many insects.
C. The visitors brought in diseases.
D. The pesticides were overused.
4. What can we infer from the last sentence of the text?
A. Happiness comes from peaceful life in the country.
B. Health is more important than money.
C. The harmony between man and nature is important.
D. Good old days will never be forgotten.
答案与解析
本篇文章为记叙文。主要讲述印度一个小村庄的人们在外乡人的诱导下为了追求金钱收益捕杀青蛙，结果破坏了生态平衡。意识到这个问题后，他们及时停止了捕杀，重新回到了宁静的乡村生活。
1．C　细节理解题。第一段中有“The people were poor.However, they were not unhappy.”和C项意思一致。
2．A　细节理解题。根据第二段的This seemed like money for nothing.”句中for nothing 是“免费的”意思，说明青蛙容易得到，并能赚到钱，村民才答应卖。
3．B　推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中“They had been doing an important job—eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.”可以推断出庄稼收成不好，孩子生病与青蛙减少、害虫增多有关。
4．C　推理判断题。最后一句说明人们过度捕杀造成生态失衡，由此也影响了人类，因此，可以推断人与自然的和谐是重要的。

(三)
We produce 500 billion of plastic bags in a year worldwide and they are thrown away polluting oceans，killing wildlife and getting dumped in landfills where they take up to 1000 years to decompose. Researchers have been unsuccessfully looking for a solution.
The 16­year­old Canadian high school student，Daniel Burd, from Waterloo Collegiate Institute, has discovered a way to make plastic bags degrade(分解) in as few as 3 months，a finding that won him first prize at the Canada－Wide Science Fair，a $10 000 prize，a $20 000 scholarship, and a chance to revolutionize a major environmental issue.
Burd's strategy was simple: Since plastic does eventually degrade, it must be eaten by microorganisms (微生物). If those microorganisms could be identified, we could put them to work eating the plastic much faster than under normal conditions.
With this goal in mind, he ground plastic bags into a powder and concocted(调制) a solution of household chemicals, yeast(酵母) and tap water to encourage microbes growth. Then he added the plastic powder and let the microbes work their magic for 3 months. Finally，he tested the resulting bacterial culture on plastic bags，exposing one plastic sample to dead bacteria as a control. Sure enough, the plastic exposed (暴露) to the live bacteria was 17% lighter than the control after six weeks.
The inputs are cheap：maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work, and the only outputs are water and tiny levels of carbon dioxide.
“Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have piles of plastic bags falling on top of me. One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags. The answer：not much. So I decided to do something myself.”said Daniel Burd.
1. Daniel Burd won first prize at the Canada－Wide Science Fair because________.
A. he found a new kind of microorganism
B. he contributed much to environmental protection
C. he found a way to degrade plastics in shorter time
D. he could encourage microbes growth in an easier way
2. Daniel Burd exposed one plastic sample to dead bacteria to
________.
A. make the live bacteria work better
B. test how effective his method was
C. know which bacteria worked faster
D. control the temperature in the process
3. Maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because ________.
A. plastics can get hot easily
B. microbes can produce heat themselves
C. much carbon dioxide is produced
D. the temperature can be controlled
4. Daniel Burd got his idea from ___
A. his school textbook
B. the failure of researchers
C. his everyday work
D. the practice of other people
答案与解析
1．C　细节理解题。从文章第二段可知，他因发现短时间降解塑料袋的方法而获奖，故答案选C项。
2．B　推理判断题。从文章第四段中的“...exposing one plastic sample to dead bacteria as a control”可推断，他这样做的目的在于测试他的方法是否有效，所以答案为B项。
3．B　细节理解题。从文章倒数第二段中的“maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work”可知答案选B项。
4．C　推理判断题。从文章最后一段丹尼尔·伯德说的话可推知，他是从每天的工作中得到启发的，故答案选C项。
(四)
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of natural disasters over the past few years，and it is assumed that global warming and climate change could cause even more disasters in the future. Some of the world's leading cities are facing disasters like floods and heat waves.
London
London's flood defences are getting older. Since 1982, the Thames Barrier(水闸)has protected the city from the threat of flooding，but it was only designed to last until 2030 and close once every two or three years. About 21 years later the barrier now closes five or six times a year and according to Environment Agency predictions, by 2050 the barrier will be closed on almost every tide if the problem is not addressed.
There are 26 underground stations, 400 schools, 16 hospitals，an airport and 80 billion worth of property in London's flood risk area, so large scale flooding would be disastrous.
Paris
Over a six­week period in July and August 2008，more than 11400—mainly elderly people—died in France from dehydration 脱水) and extremely high body temperature in a deadly heat wave. Heat waves of similar intensity(强度)are expected every seven years by 2050, so what can be done to make sure such a disaster does not happen again?
One solution is to have air­conditioners installed in elderly care homes. But this is considered a short­term solution, as the increase in demand for electricity also increases carbon emissions.
In Paris the local authorities are encouraging architects to design new types of buildings such as the building “Flower Tower”， which uses a covering of bamboo to act as a natural air­conditioner.
Shanghai
Shanghai is the fastest growing city on Earth. It has a population of 18 million and is only 4 meters above sea level. Sea levels are predicted to rise by 20 cm within the next century.
An estimated 250,000 people move to Shanghai every year in search of work, placing extra demands on energy consumption. China relies heavily on coal­fired power stations, but these emissions increase temperatures and, in turn, warmer seas increase the risk of typhoons.
1. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. Big Cities Facing Big Disasters
B. Big Disasters in the Future
C. The Increase of Natural Disasters
D. Solutions to Natural Disasters
2. What problem should be settled now in London?
A. How to protect the city's property.
B. Where to build its flood defences.
C. How to use the Thames Barrier to protect the city.
D. How to improve the function of the old flood defences.
3. Which of the following measures can't solve the heat wave disaster in Paris?
A. Putting up new types of buildings with a covering of bamboo.
B. Having air­conditioners installed in elderly care homes.
C. Forbidding the city to build “Flower Tower”．
D. Encouraging architects to design new types of buildings.
4. The major threats to Shanghai are ________.
A. increasing population and coal­fired power stations
B. rising sea levels and typhoons
C. extremely high temperature and rising sea levels
D. extra demands on energy consumption and typhoons
5. The purpose of the passage is ________.
A. to tell us how to protect the big cities
B. to give advice on how to defend natural disasters
C. to explain what causes flood and heat waves
D. to warn us of the increasing natural disasters in big cities
答案与解析
1.A　主旨大意题。抓住关键词，全文主要是围绕着三个闻名于世的大城市面临的灾难展开介绍的，关键词是big city和disasters。
2.D　细节理解题。在介绍伦敦时，第一句话“London's flood defences are getting older.”就点明了伦敦的危机暗伏的原因是防洪堤老化。所以解决的方法就是改善防洪堤。
3.C　推理判断题。在介绍巴黎时，说到了解决问题的两种办法，一种是使用空调，但这种办法不是长久之计；另外一种就是在建筑上使用竹子屋顶型的花塔，所以A、B、D三项均正确，而C项forbid正好与文章要表达的意思相反。
4.B　细节理解题。在介绍上海这一城市时，第一段说的是海平面，第二段说的是台风。
5.D　主旨大意题。作者写这篇文章的目的就是呼吁人们关注全球变暖和气候变化对地球的影响，就全文来说，是希望引起人们关注灾害对大城市的破坏。

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