The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. Recent NASA satellites data(2000—2017) have shown that human activities in China and India dominate this greening of the planet, thanks to ambitious tree-planting programmes in China and intensive agriculture(集约农业) in both countries.
The researchers from Boston University found that global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent in the new century, an area equal to all of the Amazon rainforest. China alone accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6% of global vegetated area. China's contribution comes in large part from its programmes to conserve and expand forests, taking up about 42 percent of the greening. The greening from farmlands in China is about 32%, but that in India is about 82%.
Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Centre and a co-author of the study said, ''When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilisation from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But with data from NASA satellites, scientists realised that humans are also contributing, which was all against our expectations. ''
Nemani sees a positive message in the new findings. ''Once people realise there is a problem, they tend to fix it, '' he said. ''In the 1970s and 1980s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realised it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That is what we see in the satellite data. ''
However, the researchers rang bells as well. They said that the gain in global greenness did not necessarily make up for the loss of natural vegetation in regions like Brazil and Indonesia.
1.What is the second paragraph mainly about?
A.The decreasing size of the Amazon rainforest.
B.China's bigger contribution to global greening.
C.Total global green leaf area in the new century.
D.China's programmes to conserve and expand forests.
2.What surprised scientists regarding global greening?
A.Human activities. B.The level of fertilisation.
C.A warmer and wetter climate. D.Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
3.What does the underlined word ''resilient'' probably mean?
A.Good at making programmes. B.Suitable for analysing data.
C.Able to make corrections. D.Active in planting trees.
4.What does the last paragraph imply?
A.It is urgent to protect global natural resources.
B.Much remains to be done for global greenness.
C.Brazil and Indonesia lose most of their vegetation.
D.Global greenness needs all countries to work together.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. A study published in the journal “Nature Sustainability” said that recent satellite data reveals a greening pattern that is strikingly prominent in China and India. The study shows that human activity in China and India dominates this greening of the planet, thanks to tree planting and agriculture. The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.
“China and India account for one-third of the greening, ” said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University. “ That is a surprising finding, considering the vague idea of land degradation (毁坏) in populous countries from overexploitation, ” added Chen.
China alone accounts for 25 percent of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6 percent of global vegetated area. The greening in China is from forests (42 percent) and croplands (32 percent), but in India, it is mostly from croplands (82 percent) with minor contribution from forests (4.4 percent).
China’s outsized contribution to the global greening trend comes in large part from its programs to conserve and expand forests with the goal of preventing land degradation, air pollution, and climate change.
“Once people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it,” said Rama Nemani, research scientist and co-author of the study. “In the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Now we see that humans are contributing.”
Land area used to grow crops is comparable in China and India—more than 770, 000 square miles—and has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet these regions have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production.
This was achieved through multiple cropping practices, where a field is replanted to produce another harvest several times a year. Production of grains, vegetables, fruits and more have increased by about 35%~40% since 2000 to feed their large populations.
1.What did the study mainly find?
A. India and China are leading the global greening effort.
B. Intensive agriculture is the cause of global land degradation.
C. China and India has got the largest forest coverage in the world.
D. Agriculture is more helpful in expanding green areas than tree-planting.
2.How is China different from India in contributing to the global greening?
A. India reduced cropland to prevent the overexploitation.
B. India increased forest by planting around croplands.
C. China changed more lands into forest by planting trees.
D. China controlled the increase of its population.
3.What does Nemani think about humans in China and India in protecting the Earth?
A. Ambitious. B. Responsible.
C. Passionate . D. Tolerant.
4.What does the passage finally suggest humans should make good use of?
A. Forest. B. Trees.
C. Cropland. D. Food
高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. Recent NASA satellites data(2000—2017) have shown that human activities in China and India dominate this greening of the planet, thanks to ambitious tree-planting programmes in China and intensive agriculture(集约农业) in both countries.
The researchers from Boston University found that global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent in the new century, an area equal to all of the Amazon rainforest. China alone accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6% of global vegetated area. China's contribution comes in large part from its programmes to conserve and expand forests, taking up about 42 percent of the greening. The greening from farmlands in China is about 32%, but that in India is about 82%.
Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Centre and a co-author of the study said, ''When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilisation from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But with data from NASA satellites, scientists realised that humans are also contributing, which was all against our expectations. ''
Nemani sees a positive message in the new findings. ''Once people realise there is a problem, they tend to fix it, '' he said. ''In the 1970s and 1980s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realised it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That is what we see in the satellite data. ''
However, the researchers rang bells as well. They said that the gain in global greenness did not necessarily make up for the loss of natural vegetation in regions like Brazil and Indonesia.
1.What is the second paragraph mainly about?
A.The decreasing size of the Amazon rainforest.
B.China's bigger contribution to global greening.
C.Total global green leaf area in the new century.
D.China's programmes to conserve and expand forests.
2.What surprised scientists regarding global greening?
A.Human activities. B.The level of fertilisation.
C.A warmer and wetter climate. D.Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
3.What does the underlined word ''resilient'' probably mean?
A.Good at making programmes. B.Suitable for analysing data.
C.Able to make corrections. D.Active in planting trees.
4.What does the last paragraph imply?
A.It is urgent to protect global natural resources.
B.Much remains to be done for global greenness.
C.Brazil and Indonesia lose most of their vegetation.
D.Global greenness needs all countries to work together.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. Recent NASA satellites data(2000-2017) have shown that human activities in China and India dominate this greening of the planet, thanks to ambitious tree-planting programmes in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.
The researchers from Boston University found that global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent in the new century, an area equal to all of the Amazon rainforest. China alone accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6% of global vegetated area. China’s contribution comes in large part from its programmes to conserve and expand forests, taking up about 42 percent of the greening. The greening from farmlands in China is about 32%, but that in India is about 82%.
Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Centre and a co-author of the study said, “When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But with data from NASA satellites, scientists realized that humans are also contributing, which was all against our expectations.”
Nemani sees a positive message in the new findings. “Once people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it,” he said. “In the 1970sand 1980s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That is what we see in the satellite data.”
However, the researchers rang bells as well. They said that the gain in global greenness did not necessarily make up for the loss of natural vegetation in regions like Brazil and Indonesia.
1.What is the second paragraph mainly about?
A.The decreasing size of the Amazon rainforest.
B.China’s bigger contribution to global greening.
C.Total global green leaf area in the new century.
D.China’s programmes to conserve and expand forests.
2.What surprised scientists regarding global greening?
A.Human activities B.suitable for analyzing data
C.A warmer and wetter climate. D.Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
3.What does the underlined word “resilient” probably mean?
A.Good at making programmes B.Suitable for analyzing data.
C.Able to make corrections D.Active in planting trees.
4.What does the last paragraph imply?
A.It is urgent to protect global natural resources.
B.Much remains to be done for global greenness.
C.Brazil and Indonesia lose most of their vegetation.
D.Global greenness needs all countries to work together.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Great changes have taken place in that school. It is no longer it was 20 years ago, it was so poorly equipped.
A. what; when B. that; which C. what; which D. which; that
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
6. Great changes have taken place in that school. It is no longer ______ it was 20 years ago, _____ it was so poorly equipped.
A. what; when B. that; which C. what; which D. which; that
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
1. Great changes have taken place in that school. It is no longer ______ it was 20 years ago, _____ it was so poorly equipped.
A. what; when B. that; which C. what; which D. which; that
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Great changes have taken place in that school. It is no longer________it was 20 years ago,_____ it was so poorly equipped.
A.what;when B.that;which C.what; which D.which;that
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Great changes have taken place in that school. It is no longer ______ it was 20 years ago, _______ it was so poorly equipped.
A. what; when B. that; which C. what; which D. which; that
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Great changes have taken place in that school. It is no longer ________it was 20 years ago, ________it was so poorly equipped.
A.what; when | B.that; which | C.what; which | D.which; that |
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Around 200 million years ago, the earth was 18 degrees warmer than it is now. That might be a bit hot for humans, but it was just right for the giant dinosaurs that wandered about the earth during the Mesozoic (中生代的) era. A new study found that planteating dinosaurs may have contributed to the warming of the earthby releasing significant amounts of methane (甲烷).
The study, published in science journal Current Biology, focused on sauropods, longnecked herbivores (食草动物) that munched (用力咀嚼) on the top of trees. They were the largest of the dinosaurs; food broke down in their stomachs for long periods of time. The researchers estimate that a sauropoda released 2,675 liters of methane per day—adding up to a large amount of the greenhouse gas being pumped from dinosaur's gut into the atmosphere.
Plant eaters naturally release methane as part of their digestive process. The larger the animal, the more methane it produces. Methane, a greenhouse gas, traps heat and remains in the atmosphere for approximately 915 years, which warms the atmosphere.
Today, some animals, such as cattle, goats and sheep, produce large amounts of methane as a byproduct to their food digestion. Methane is also released from human—influenced sources such as landfill, agricultural activities, coal mining and other industrial practices—which all contribute to today's climate change, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The researchers estimate that earth's sauropods would have produced about 520 million tons of methane per year—similar to the total amount of methane produced today by natural and manmade sources. However, the researchers warn that their numbers are estimates based on multiple assumptions about the digestive systems and populations of dinosaurs.
The author of the study David Wilkinson says the emission of methane from dinosaurs would have been just one of the causes of warm climate during the Mesozoic era. Other causes include gases produced from volcanoes, swamps, shallow seas and so on. Still, Wilkinson says,“ The amount of methane from dinosaurs is large enough to have a measurable effect.”
1.Scientists think dinosaurs may have led to the global warming because ________.
A.they ate everything they found
B.they usually had a good appetite
C.they released a lot of methane
D. there were too many dinosaurs on earth
2.What do we know about dinosaurs from Paragraph 2?
A.Sauropods fed on plants.
B.Sauropods were of medium size.
C.Dinosaurs used to live on trees.
D.Dinosaurs digested food quickly.
3.Which of the following activities doesn't produce methane?
A.Coal is dug out by machine.
B.Trees and flowers are planted.
C.Goats digest grass under the tree.
D.Food is being processed in the factory.
4.How does the author make his writing reliable?
A.By listing some facts.
B.By making predictions.
C.By citing figures.
D.By using mind pictures.
5.David Wilkinson seems to believe that ________.
A.methane had little effects on the earth
B.many other factors contributed to warm climate
C.other causes for warm climate were worth considering
D.dinosaurs were mainly to blame for global warming
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析