12月英語四級考試閱讀理解訓(xùn)練：氣候環(huán)境

2024-12-10 英語閱讀理解

　　When global warming finally came, it stuck with avengeance(異乎尋常地）In some regions, temperatures rose several degrees in less than acentury. Sea levels shot up nearly 400 feet. floodingcoastal settlements and forcing people to migrateinland. Deserts spread throughout the world asvegetation shifted drastically in North America. Europe and Asia. After driving many of theanimals around them to near extinction, people were forced to abandon their old way of lifefor a radically new survival strategy that resulted in widespread starvation and disease. The adaptation was farming: the global-warming crisis that gave rise to it happened morethan 10,000 years ago.

　　As environmentalists convene in Rio de Janeiro this week to ponder the global climate of thefuture, earth scientists are in the midst of a revolution in understanding how climate haschanged in the past-and how those changes have transformed human existence. Researchershave begun to piece together an illuminating picture of the powerful geological andastronomical forces that have combined to change the planet's environment from hot tocold, wet to dry and back again over a time period stretching back hundreds of millions ofyears.

　　Most important. scientists are beginning to realize that the climatic changes have bad a majorimpact on the evolution of the human species. New research now suggests that climateshifts have played a key role in nearly every significant turning point in human evolution: fromthe dawn of primates(靈長目動物. some 65 million years ago to human ancestors rising up towalk on two legs. from the huge expansion of the human brain to the rise of agriculture. Indeed, the human history has not been merely touched by global climate change, somescientists argue, it has in some instances been driven by it.

　　The new research has profound implications for the environment summit in Rio. Amongother things, the findings demonstrate that dramatic climate change is nothing new forplanet Earth. The benign(宜人的 global environment that has existed over the past 10,000 years-during which agriculture. writing, cities and most other features of civilization appeared-isa mere bright spot in a much larger pattern of widely varying climate over the ages. In fact, the pattern of climate change in the past reveals that Earth's climate will almost certainly gothrough dramatic changes in the future-even without the influence of human activity.

　　1.Farming emerged as a survival strategybecause man had been obliged__________.

　　A. to give up his former way of life

　　B. to leave the coastal areas

　　C. to follow the ever-shifting vegetation

　　D. to abandon his original settlement

　　2. Earth scientists have come to understand that climate____________.

　　A.is going through a fundamental change

　　B.has been getting warmer for 10,000 years

　　C. will eventually change from hot to cold

　　D. has gone through periodical changes

　　3.Scientists believe that human evolution________.

　　A. has seldom been accompanied by climatic changes

　　B. has exerted little influence on climatic changes

　　C. has largely been affected by climatic changes

　　D. has had a major impact on climatic changes

　　4.Evidence of past climatic changes indicates that__________.

　　A. human activities have accelerated changes of Earth's environment

　　B. Earth’s environment will remain mild despite human interference

　　C. Earth's climate is bound to change significantly in the future

　　D. Earth's climate is unlikely to undergo substantial changes in the future

　　5.The message the author wishes to convey in the passage is that______________.

　　A. human civilization remains glorious though it is affected by climatic changes

　　B. mankind is virtually helpless in the face of the dramatic changes of climate

　　C. man bas to limit his activities to slow down the global warming process

　　D. human civilization will continue io develop in spite of the changes of nature

　　1.務(wù)農(nóng)成了糊口策略，因為人們已經(jīng)被___________。

　　A.放棄原來的生活方式

　　B.離開海岸地區(qū)

　　C.跟隨總在變化的植被情況

　　D.放棄原來的居住地

　　[A]文章第1段提到“人類在將其周圍的許多種動物逼向瀕臨滅絕的境地之后，也被迫放棄他們已導(dǎo)致饑荒、疾病的舊有生活方式而選擇全新的求生策略。這種策略就是農(nóng)業(yè)”。A與文章的意思相符合。

　　2.地球科學(xué)家已經(jīng)了解到，氣候___________________。

　　A.正在經(jīng)歷重大的變化

　　B.已經(jīng)在過去的l萬年當(dāng)中變得越來越熱

　　C.終將從熱變冷

　　D.已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷了階段性的變化

　　[D]文章第2段提到“研究者已經(jīng)開始綜合出一幅有關(guān)強大的地質(zhì)和天文力量發(fā)生作用的說明性的圖片，在過去的幾百萬年中，這兩種力量結(jié)合在一起改變著地球的環(huán)境：從炎熱到寒冷，從潮濕到干燥，如此反復(fù)，循環(huán)不止”，D與文章的意思一致。因而正確。

　　3.科學(xué)家認(rèn)為人類的進(jìn)化__________________。

　　A.極少伴隨著氣候變化

　　B.對氣候變化的影響很小

　　C.深受氣候變化的影響

　　D.對氣候變化有重大影響

　　[C]文章第3段提到“最重要的是，科學(xué)家已經(jīng)開始意識到氣候的變化對人種的進(jìn)化有著主要的影響�，F(xiàn)在新的研究表明幾乎在人類進(jìn)化的每一個重大的轉(zhuǎn)折時期天氣變化都起著關(guān)鍵的作用”，所以人類進(jìn)化受到氣候變化的影響。因此，C正確。

　　4.過去氣候變化的證據(jù)表明了__________________。

　　A.人類的活動已經(jīng)加速了地球環(huán)境的變化

　　B.盡管受到了人類的干預(yù)，地球環(huán)境會保持濕和不變

　　C.地球的氣候在未來會有重大的改變

　　D.地球的氣候在未來不大可能發(fā)生實質(zhì)性的改變

　　[C]文章最后一段提到“事實上，過去氣候變化的模式表明地球的氣候在將來肯定會經(jīng)歷重大的變化——即使是沒有人類活動的影響”，因此，C與文章所表達(dá)的意思一致。

　　5.作者想通過文章傳達(dá)出的信息是__________________。

　　A.雖然人類文明受到了氣候變化的影響，但仍然絢爛無比

　　B.面對氣候的劇烈變化，人類基本上束手無榮

　　C.人類應(yīng)該限制自己的活動來減緩全球暖化的進(jìn)程

　　D.盡管自然在發(fā)生變化，但人類文明仍會繼續(xù)發(fā)展

　　[B]全文圍繞氣候變化給人類帶來的影響展開，而文章最后一句“地球氣候幾乎注定要在將來發(fā)生巨大的變化——甚至無須人類的干預(yù)”，說明人類無力改變自然，B為正確答案。