Environmentalists said our planet was doomed to die. Now one man says they are wrong.
"Everyone knows the planet is in bad shape," thundered a magazine article last year. Species are being driven to die out at record rates, and the rivers are so poisonous that fish are floating on the surface, dead.
But there's a growing belief that what everyone takes for granted is wrong: things are actually getting better. A new book is about to overturn our most basic assumptions about the world's environment. Rivers, seas, rain and the atmosphere are all getting cleaner. The total amount of forests in the world is not declining. The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg, professor of statistics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, is an attack on the misleading claims of environmental groups, and the "bad news" culture that makes people believe everything is getting worse.
Now the attacks are increasingly coming from left-wing environmentalists such as Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace. The accusation is that, although the environment is improving, green groups — with profits of hundreds of mil-lions of pounds a year — are using scare tactics(谋略)to gain donations. Lomborg's book doesn't deny global warming — probably the biggest environmental threat — but destroys almost every other environmental claim with many official statistics.
The Worldwatch Institute claims that "deforestation(沙漠化) has been accelerating over the last 30 years". But Lomborg says that is simply rubbish. Since the dawn of agriculture the world has lost about 20 per cent of its forest cover, but in recent decades the forest area's depleting has come to a stop. According to UN figures, the area of forests has remained almost steady, at about 30 per cent of total land area, since the 1940s. Forests in countries such as the US, the UK and Canada have actually been expanding over the past 40 years. Despite all the warnings the Amazon rainforest has only shrunk by about 15 per cent.
Nor are all our species dying out. Some campaigners claim that 50 per cent of all species will have died out within 50 years. But other studies show only 0.08 per cent of species are dying out each year. Conservation efforts have been successful. Whales are no longer threatened and the bald eagle is off the endangered list.
Environmental groups claim that many of the improvements are the results of the success of their campaigns. Stephen Tindale, director of Greenpeace UK, said, "There are important examples, such as acid rain and ozone, where things aren't as bad as predicted, and that's because behavior has changed."
1.In his book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, what is Lomborg's main argument?
A.Our planet is in bad shape. |
B.The world's environment is improving. |
C.The total amount of forests in the world is not declining. |
D.Conservation efforts have been successful. |
2.What is Lomborg's main accusation of environmentalists?
A.They scared people into making donations. |
B.They overturned our basic assumptions about the world's environment. |
C.They changed their behavior toward the environment. |
D.They only told people bad news about the environment. |
3.The underlined word "depleting" in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to "____".
A.reducing | B.limiting | C.expanding | D.accelerating |
4.According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A.The total area of forests in the world has increased significantly. |
B.The effects of global warming are not as bad as first expected. |
C.It appears that the bald eagle will now survive. |
D.In the last 50 years the number of whales has increased. |
高三英语阅读理解困难题
Environmentalists said our planet was doomed to die. Now one man says they are wrong.
"Everyone knows the planet is in bad shape," thundered a magazine article last year. Species are being driven to die out at record rates, and the rivers are so poisonous that fish are floating on the surface, dead.
But there's a growing belief that what everyone takes for granted is wrong: things are actually getting better. A new book is about to overturn our most basic assumptions about the world's environment. Rivers, seas, rain and the atmosphere are all getting cleaner. The total amount of forests in the world is not declining. The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg, professor of statistics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, is an attack on the misleading claims of environmental groups, and the "bad news" culture that makes people believe everything is getting worse.
Now the attacks are increasingly coming from left-wing environmentalists such as Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace. The accusation is that, although the environment is improving, green groups — with profits of hundreds of mil-lions of pounds a year — are using scare tactics(谋略)to gain donations. Lomborg's book doesn't deny global warming — probably the biggest environmental threat — but destroys almost every other environmental claim with many official statistics.
The Worldwatch Institute claims that "deforestation(沙漠化) has been accelerating over the last 30 years". But Lomborg says that is simply rubbish. Since the dawn of agriculture the world has lost about 20 per cent of its forest cover, but in recent decades the forest area's depleting has come to a stop. According to UN figures, the area of forests has remained almost steady, at about 30 per cent of total land area, since the 1940s. Forests in countries such as the US, the UK and Canada have actually been expanding over the past 40 years. Despite all the warnings the Amazon rainforest has only shrunk by about 15 per cent.
Nor are all our species dying out. Some campaigners claim that 50 per cent of all species will have died out within 50 years. But other studies show only 0.08 per cent of species are dying out each year. Conservation efforts have been successful. Whales are no longer threatened and the bald eagle is off the endangered list.
Environmental groups claim that many of the improvements are the results of the success of their campaigns. Stephen Tindale, director of Greenpeace UK, said, "There are important examples, such as acid rain and ozone, where things aren't as bad as predicted, and that's because behavior has changed."
1.In his book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, what is Lomborg's main argument?
A.Our planet is in bad shape. |
B.The world's environment is improving. |
C.The total amount of forests in the world is not declining. |
D.Conservation efforts have been successful. |
2.What is Lomborg's main accusation of environmentalists?
A.They scared people into making donations. |
B.They overturned our basic assumptions about the world's environment. |
C.They changed their behavior toward the environment. |
D.They only told people bad news about the environment. |
3.The underlined word "depleting" in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to "____".
A.reducing | B.limiting | C.expanding | D.accelerating |
4.According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A.The total area of forests in the world has increased significantly. |
B.The effects of global warming are not as bad as first expected. |
C.It appears that the bald eagle will now survive. |
D.In the last 50 years the number of whales has increased. |
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
The latest IPCC report does not mince words(直言不讳地) about the state of our planet: we must act now to achieve global change at a scale that has “no documented historical precedent(先例)” in order to avoid the climate disaster that would result from a 2 degree C rise in average global temperature. Climate change already affects the world's most helpless people including poor rural communities that depend on the land for their livings and coastal communities. Indeed, we have already seen the clear asymmetry(不对称) of suffering resulting from extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires and more.
So far, advocates and politicians have tended to focus on reducing fossil fuel(矿物燃料) consumption through technology and/or policy, such as a sharp carbon tax, as climate solutions. These proposals are, of course, essential to reducing manmade carbon emissions(排放)-71 percent of which are produced by just 100 fossil fuel companies.
Yet the international focus on fossil fuels has overshadowed(使......显得不重要) the most powerful and cost-efficient carbon-capture technology the world has yet seen: forests. Recent scientific research confirms that forests and other “natural climate solutions” are absolutely essential in reducing climate change. In fact, natural climate solutions can help us achieve 37 percent of our climate target, even though they currently receive only 2.5 percent of public climate financing.
Forests' power to store carbon dioxide through the simple process of tree growth is staggering:_one tree can even store an average of about 48 pounds of carbon dioxide in one year. Recent research show undamaged forests are capable of storing the same amount of the carbon dioxide emissions of entire countries such as Peru and Colombia.
For this reason, policy makers and business leaders must create and strengthen ambitious policies to prevent deforestation, and support the sustainable management of standing forests in the fight against climate change. Protecting the world's forests ensures they can continue to provide essential functions aside from climate stability, including producing oxygen, filtering water and supporting biodiversity. Not only do all the world's people depend on forests to provide clean air, clean water,oxygen, and medicines, but 1.6 billion people rely on them directly for their livelihoods.
1.According to the passage, climate change ________.
A. will surely achieve at a scale that is more serious than ever before
B. will only affect people living in the poorest rural regions
C. is likely to lead to more frequent extreme weather events
D. is entirely determined by fossil fuel consumption
2.What's the finding of the new research?
A. Reducing fossil fuels is the most powerful and cost-efficient technology.
B. Forests are vital to reducing climate change due to their storage power.
C. Most of our climate targets can be accomplished with the help of natural climate solutions.
D. Natural climate solutions have proved less efficient than conventional solutions.
3.The underlined word “staggering” in Paragraph 4 means ________.
A. astonishing B. speeding C. embarrassing D. shrinking
4.What's the author's purpose of writing this article?
A. To compare two different approaches to dealing with climate change.
B. To argue against the view that focus on fossil fuels reduction counts.
C. To urge scientists to do more research into natural climate solutions.
D. To point out forests are the most powerful weapon for fighting climate change.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The environmentalists said wild goats’______ on the vast grasslands was a good indication of the better environment.
A. escape B. absence C. attendance D. appearance
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
“When my husband died five years ago,__________ was difficult to go from ‘we' to ‘me',”said Joe Kita to us.
A.I B.that C.it D.which
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The dying old man opened his mouth as if ____ something.
A.to say | B.saying | C.to have said | D.was saying |
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
阅读理解
Nine years ago, after Leo had died, people said to me. "I never knew he was your stepfather." You see, I never called him that. At first, he was no one special in my life. Then he became my friend. In time, I felt he was also my father.
Leo married my mother when I was eleven. Two years later we moved into a house in a new suburban development, where we put down roots. At first our lawn was just a mud with wild grass, but Leo saw bright possibilities. "We'll plant trees there to give us shade as well as some flowers," he said. And just these little touches made our house different from all the others. More important, a real family was forming. Leo was becoming a full-time parent, and I was learning what it meant to have a father.
Weekday mornings when the weather was bad, Leo often drove me to school. Having a father drop you off may have been something my classmates took for granted, but I always thought it was wonderful. Saturday mornings, we went to the hardware (计算机硬件) shop, then stepped into the five-and-ten, buying a sports magazine or something else. Some people might think that doing shopping together is nothing special, but I, who had ever before spent my childhood watching other families do their everyday activities, experienced them now with extreme delight. Looking back, I realized that Leo gave me what I needed most—the experience of doing ordinary things together as a family.
Soon after we moved to the suburbs, one of our new neighbors introduced herself to me. She had already met my mother and Leo. "You know," she said, "you look just like your father." I knew she was just making a conversation--but even so... "Thank you", I said. Why tell her anything different?
1.The writer's purpose in writing this passage is _______.
A.to show his pride to have a good stepfather
B.to show how interesting a person Leo was
C.to remind us of our parents
D.to explain why they moved to the suburbs
2.The phrase “put down roots”in the second paragraph means
A.farmed B.contacted
C.settled D.accommodated
3.In the writer's opinion, _______.
A.it is not easy to live with a stepfather
B.not all the stepfathers are as good as Leo
C.the husband and wife must think more about their children before they divorce
D.in step families the love and friendship are extremely precious
4.The last sentence “Why tell her anything different?”means that .
A.he should have told the truth
B.he wouldn't tell her the truth
C.he wanted to tell her something that had nothing to do with Leo
D.he wanted to keep silence whenever he met the neighbors
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
“Now,” Mrs. Virginia DeView said, smiling, “we are going to discover our professions.” The class seemed to be greatly surprised. Our professions? We were only 13 and 14 years old! The teacher must be . “Yes, you will all be searching for your future . Each of you will have to someone in your field, plus give an oral report.”
Each day in her class, Virginia DeView reminded us about this. Finally, I picked print journalism. This I had to go to interview a true-blue newspaper reporter. I was extremely nervous. I sat down in front of him able to speak. He looked at me and said, “Did you bring a pencil or pen?”
I shook my head.
“How about some ?”
I shook my head again.
Finally, I thought he realized I was , and I got my first big tip as a . “Never, never go anywhere without a pen and paper. You never know what you’ll run into.” After a few days, I gave my oral report totally from memory in class. I got an A on the entire project.
Years later, I was in college looking around for a new career, but with no success. Then I Virginia DeView and my desire at 13 to be a journalist. And I called my parents. They didn’t me. They just reminded me how competitive the field was and all my life I had run away from competition. This was true. But journalism did something to me: it was in my blood. It gave me the freedom to go up to total strangers and ask what was .
For the past 12 years, I’ve had the most satisfying reporting career, stories from murders to airplane crashes and choosing my strongest area. When I went to pick up my phone one day, an incredible wave of memories hit me and I realized that had it not been for Virginia DeView, I would not be sitting at that desk.
I was all the time: “How did you pick journalism?”
“Well, you see, there was this teacher …” I always start out. I just wish I could thank her.
1.A. good B. mad C. careless D. curious
2.A. universities B. families C. professions D. lives
3.A. interview B. please C. admire D. respect
4.A. expressed B. ordered C. expected D. meant
5.A. hardly B. nearly C. naturally D. eagerly
6.A. drink B. newspapers C. preparations D. paper
7.A. satisfied B. comfortable C. terrified D. sorry
8.A. student B. journalist C. teacher D. writer
9.A. called B. recognized C. remembered D. visited
10.A. answer B. promise C. stop D. persuade
11.A. how B. whether C. why D. when
12.A. breaking in B. getting down C. falling off D. going on
13.A. making B. retelling C. covering D. writing
14.A. certainly B. finally C. doubtfully D. completely
15.A. hurt B. excited C. disappointed D. asked
高三英语完型填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
When my father died, one of the tasks that fell to me was to sort through and decide which objects to save and which to throw away. Now I look at the 51 of my life as if I were dead, 52 what my children will do with the human skull(骷髅) that 53 on the bookcase next to my desk. I couldn’t 54 them if they threw it out. They’ve been wanting to do that for some years, 55 will they know how much can be learned from 56 with a skull? And what about my books? 57 they can find some place in their 58 for ten thousand books. However, I know they will look at the white, plastic head of a horse on my desk and 59 it into a Glad trash bag without any 60 , never knowing that it is the only place 61 from the first chess set (棋子)I owned.
How many boxes of mine will my children 62 ? Can I trust my children with my 63 ? Every object of our lives is a 64 , and emotion swirls(旋动) around it like fog, hiding and 65 a tiny truth of the heart.
I look at these objects that are mine and know, too, that they are 66 of how alone I am, how alone each of us is, 67 no one knows what any object means except he or she who 68 it. I have the memory of taking it home 69 one of my newly-born children from the hospital; only I have the memory of what it looked like when I lived in that apartment and where it sat in that house. I look at the objects that are mine, and the memories are 70 and permeated(渗透着)with love. I look at the objects that are mine and know that I’m going to miss me very much.
A. tasks B. objects C. books D. pictures
【小题2】A. wondering B. designing C. concluding D. weaving
【小题3】A. cries B. sleeps C. sits D. smiles
【小题4】A. educate B. understand C. blame D. strike
【小题5】A. and B. so C. or D. but
【小题6】A. helping B. living C. playing D. speaking
【小题7】A. Honestly B. Luckily C. Naturally D. Surely
【小题8】A. desks B. bags C. apartments D. hearts
【小题9】A. drag B. take C. move D. throw
【小题10】A. hesitation B. love C. care D. worry
【小题11】A. casting B. expanding C. remaining D. shining
【小题12】A. enjoy B. reserve C. find D. prepare
【小题13】A. life B. passion C. respect D. heart
【小题14】A. mark B. pleasure C. belief D. memory
【小题15】A. preventing B. spreading C. protecting D. encouraging
【小题16】A. symbols B. phenomena C. measures D. tracks
【小题17】A. when B. once C. unless D. as
【小题18】A. prefers B. repairs C. owns D. remembers
【小题19】A. like B. for C. with D. to
【小题20】A. strange B. warm C. new D. bitter
高三英语完型填空简单题查看答案及解析
Scientists said they have found evidence of a giant planet far out in our solar system. In a statement, the California Institute of Technology(Caltech) said this planet travels a strange “highly elongated orbit in the distant solar system”.
The discovery was made by two researchers at Caltech; Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown. They used mathematical modeling and computer simulations (模拟)to find the planet. So far, there have not been any direct observations of the planet. “My jaw hit the floor,” said astronomer Mike Brown, the moment he realized there might be a ninth planet.
The scientists said it would take this planet 10,000to 20,000 years just to make one full orbit around the sun. The new planet, called “Planet Nine” has a mass about 10 times the size of Earth.
It is believed that the planet orbits, or travels, around the sun from a great distance. The planet Neptune’s average distance to the sun is about 4.5 billion kilometers. But “Planet Nine” could be 20 times farther away from the sun than that. While they did not get a picture of “Planet Nine” yet, the scientists say they are using the biggest and best telescopes on Earth to try to find it.
Brown and Batygin reported their finding in The Astronomical Journal. They say that this new planet is so large that there should be no doubt that it is a true planet, once they confirm it.
Robert Massey is with the Royal Astronomical Society in London. He told AFP that planets have been predicted before, and then were not found. But, he said the work of the these researchers is definitely worth following up. “It would be a really exciting thing to find. At the moment it’s simply a prediction.”
1.How was the evidence of the ninth planet found?
A. Through a special telescope
B. Through researchers’ direct observation
C. Through studying its special orbit in the solar system
D. Through mathematical modeling and computer simulations
2.What can we know about “Planet Nine” from the text?
A. It is much smaller than the earth
B. It travels a normal orbit like other planets
C. Its distance to the sun is about 90 billion kilometers
D. Its picture has been caught by the biggest and best telescope
3.What’s Robert’s attitude towards the discovery of “Planet Nine”?
A. Worried B. Supportive
C. Indifferent D. Opposed
4.What’s the best title for the text?
A. The discovery of the largest planet
B. A big prediction of the solar system
C. A ninth planet may be in the solar system
D. The ninth planet has been found in the solar system
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
It is often said that man has become the enemy of our planet. This is no exaggeration(夸张), for reports show that man’s greed has done much to destroy the earth. Man, in his greedy desire for financial growth, has polluted the air, land and water, and has robbed our valuable natural resources. Man’s industrial plants pour out poisonous waste that pollutes the sea and puts life in the sea under the threat of dying out; at the same time, they release alarming amounts of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other pollutants. Small wonder that the air now is much warmer and more impure than ever before.
Of course, this is not just because of man’s greed—it is man’s pressing need as well. For instance, in developing countries, huge financial foreign debts have forced governments to approve the cutting of forests for agriculture or ranching. As a result, forests are cut down just to meet man’s immediate needs.
Perhaps unknowingly,man has changed the make-up of the earth's atmosphere. Scientific studies have shown that CFCs used in refrigerators and industrial cleaners are fast destroying the ozone layer—a protective layer in the atmosphere that protects us against the harmful effects of the sun’s ultraviolet (紫外线)rays. In fact, documented reports have shown a terrible fact that there are “holes” in the ozone layer over the Antarctic. And they appear to be expanding.
Faced with these environmental problems, world leaders have shown deep concern. The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) has arranged international agreements like the Vienna convention of 1985 and the Montreal Protocol of 1989 to preserve the ozone layer by controlling the production, use and trade of destructive chemicals.
There may be some doubt as to how effectual these agreements may be, given that some countries still maintain an “I-don’t-care” attitude. Their attitude is probably due to their failure to grasp the importance of the problem. Then, there is no doubt that environmental education on an international scale(规模)is greatly needed, so that all countries, great and small—the “haves” and the “have nots”—may realize their responsibilities for our planet.
In the meantime, the UNEP seems to have taken steps in the right direction, and it is hoped that in the not so distant future, all nations of the world will join hands in saving mother earth.
1.Which of the following is a reason for the cutting and burning of forests?
A. To build houses for more population. B. To have land for agriculture.
C. To export trees to other countries. D. To build industrial plants.
2.The holes in the ozone layer are largely due to________.
A. man’s research activities B. the greenhouse effect
C. the ultraviolent D. harmful chemicals
3.Why don’t some countries care about the problem of the environment?
A. They don’t want to put their lives in danger.
B. They just don’t know how to solve the problem.
C. They haven’t realized the seriousness of the problem.
D. They don’t want to break their international commitment.
4.66. What is the author’s attitude towards the future of the environment?
A. Hopeful. B. Unconcerned C. Doubtful D. Objective
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析