Question

The rapid growth of cities worldwide over the next two decades will cause significant risks to people and the global environment, according to analysis.

Researches from Yale and Stanford predict that by 2030 urban areas will expand by 590,000 square miles—nearly the size of Mongolia—to meet the needs of 1.47 billion more people living in urban areas.

“It is likely that these cities are going to be developed in places that are the most biologically diverse,” said Karen Seto, a famous scientist at Yale University. “They are going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas(熱帶稀缺大草原), coastlines—sensitive and vulnerable places.”

Urban areas, they found, have been expanding more rapidly along coasts. “Of all the places for cities to grow, coasts are the most sensitive. People and buildings along the coast are at risk of flooding and other environmental disasters,” said Seto.

The study provides the first estimate of how fast urban areas globally are growing and how fast they may grow in the future. “We know a lot about global patterns of urban population growth, but we know significantly less about how urban areas are changing,” she said. “Changes in land cover associated with urbanization lead to many environmental changes, from habitats loss and agricultural land conversion(轉(zhuǎn)化) to changes in local and regional climate.”

The researchers examined studies that used satellite data to map urban growth and found that from 1970 to 2000 the world’s urban footprint had grown by at least 22,400 square miles—half the size of Ohio.

“This number is numerous, but, in actuality, urban land expansion has been far greater than what our analysis shows because we only looked at the published studies that used satellite data,” said Seto. “We found that 48 of the most populated urban areas have been studied using satellite data, with findings in journals. This means that we’re not tracking the physical expansion of more than half of the world’s largest cities.”

Half of urban land expansion in China is driven by a rising middle class, whereas the size of cities in India and Africa is driven primarily by population growth. “Rising incomes translate into rising demand for bigger homes and more land for urban development, which has a great effect on biodiversity conservations, loss of carbon sinks and energy use.”

1.According to the passage, the most dangerous place for city expansion is the _____.

A．forest            B．desert            C．savannas          D．coastline

2.The underlined word “vulnerable” (in Para. 3) probably means “____”.

A．diverse in plants                        B．beautiful in scenery

C．easily damaged                         D．very productive

3.From Para. 5, we can infer that ____.

A．urbanization is a good way to improve people’s standards of living

B．cities develop very fast and more and more people come to live in cities

C．more and more agricultural farmlands are used to make room for local animals

D．in the past, researchers focused their attention on the expanding urban areas

4.Cities in Africa become bigger and bigger mainly because of their ____.

A．growing population                      B．rising middle class

C．unique living patterns                    D．economic development

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.D

2.C

3.B

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：本文主要講述的是城市化的迅速發(fā)展導(dǎo)致了很多城市的規(guī)模擴(kuò)大，城市人口變多，對環(huán)境產(chǎn)生很大的影響和破壞。

1.D 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第三段“Of all the places for cities to grow, coasts are the most sensitive. People and buildings along the coast are at risk of flooding and other environmental disasters,” said Seto.可知最危險(xiǎn)的地方就是海岸線，故D正確。

2.C 推理題。根據(jù)本句“They are going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas(熱帶稀缺大草原), coastlines—sensitive and vulnerable places.”可知這里的sensitive and vulnerable places就是 指coastlines而這個(gè)地方又是對環(huán)境破壞很敏感的地方，海岸線的生態(tài)環(huán)境又是特別容易受到影響的地方。故C正確。

3.B 推理題。根據(jù)本段1,2行The researchers examined studies that used satellite data to map urban growth and found that from 1970 to 2000 the world’s urban footprint had grown by at least 22,400 square miles—half the size of Ohio.可知現(xiàn)在城市的發(fā)展速度很快，城市的居民的數(shù)量也越來越多。故B正確。

4.A 細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章最后一段1,2行Half of urban land expansion in China is driven by a rising middle class, whereas the size of cities in India and Africa is driven primarily by population growth.可知中國的城市人口變多是因?yàn)橹袊�的中產(chǎn)階級變多，而非洲則是因?yàn)槿丝诘难杆僭黾�。故A正確。

考點(diǎn)：考察環(huán)境保護(hù)類短文閱讀

點(diǎn)評：本文主要講述的是城市化的迅速發(fā)展導(dǎo)致了很多城市的規(guī)模擴(kuò)大，城市人口變多，對環(huán)境產(chǎn)生很大的影響和破壞。測試考生在閱讀基礎(chǔ)上的邏輯推理能力，要求考生根據(jù)文章所述事件的邏輯關(guān)系，對未說明的趨勢或結(jié)局作出合理的推斷；或根據(jù)作者所闡述的觀點(diǎn)理論，對文章未涉及的現(xiàn)象、事例給以解釋�？忌�首先要仔細(xì)閱讀短文，完整了解信息，準(zhǔn)確把握作者觀點(diǎn)。