2017高考英语阅读理解解析版汇编（74）
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A,B,C或D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Rivers may be a significant source of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (一氧化二氮), scientists now find.
Their calculation suggests that across the globe the waterways contribute three times the amount of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere as had been estimated by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations scientific body charged with reviewing climate change research. They found that the amount of nitrous oxide produced in streams is related to human activities that release nitrogen (氮) into the environment, such as fertilizer use and sewage discharges.
“Human activities, including fossil fuel combustion and intensive agriculture, have increased the availability of nitrogen in the environment,” said Jake Beaulieu of the University of Notre Dame and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, and lead author of the paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Much of this nitrogen is transported into river and stream networks,” Beaulieu said. There, microbes (微生物) convert the nitrogen into nitrous oxide (also called laughing gas) and an inert gas called dinitrogen (二氮).
The finding is important, the researchers say, because nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and destruction of the stratosphere’s ozone layer, which protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (紫外线) radiation. Compared with carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide is 300-fold more powerful in terms of its warming potential, though carbon dioxide is a far more common greenhouse gas. Scientists estimate nitrous oxide accounts for about 6 percent of human-induced climate change.
Beaulieu and colleagues measured nitrous oxide production rates in 72 streams. When summed across the globe, the results showed rivers and streams are the source of at least 10 percent of human-caused nitrous oxide emissions to the atmosphere.
“Changes in agricultural and land-use practices that result in less nitrogen being delivered to streams would reduce nitrous oxide emissions from river networks,” Beaulieu said.
1. From the second paragraph we can learn .
A. actually rivers give off much more nitrous oxide than expected
B. scientists’ calculation is totally wrong
C. human activities release nitrous oxide in to the rivers
D. there is no nitrogen in fertilizer
2. Which of the following is NOT the source of nitrogen?
A. Fertilizer use.
B. Sewage discharges.
C. Fossil fuel combustion.
D. Climate change.
3. Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas because .
A. it can protect us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation
B. it is to blame for most of human-induced climate change
C. it is a far more common greenhouse gas
D. it has much more warming potential than carbon dioxide
4. What does the passage mainly tells us?
A. Rivers may be a source of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.
B. It’s human activities that release nitrogen into the environment.
C. How to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from river networks
D What to do with the climate change caused by nitrous oxide.
【参考答案】1—4、ADDA
较难题目特训：节能环保类
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A,B,C或D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
The Maldives faces the threat of extinction from rising sea levels, but the government said on Thursday it was looking to the future with plans to build homes and a golf course that float.
An increase in sea levels of just 18 to 59 centimeters would make the Maldives—a nation of tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean—virtually uninhabitable by 2100, the UN’s climate change panel has warned.
President Mohamed Nasheed has vowed a fight for survival, and last month he signed a deal with a Dutch company to study proposals for a floating structure that could support a conference centre, homes and an 18-hole golf course.
“It is still early stages and we are awaiting a report on the practicality,” a government official who declined to be named said.
The company, Dutch Docklands, is currently building floating developments in the Netherlands and Dubai. There was no immediate comment from the firm but its website said it undertook projects that make “land from water by providing large-scale floating constructions to create similar conditions as on land”.
The Maldives began to work on an artificial island known as the Hulhumale near the crowded capital island of Male in 1997 and more than 30,000 people have been settled there to ease congestion. The city, which has a population of 100,000, is already protected from rising sea levels by a 30-million-dollar sea wall, and the government is considering increasingly imaginative ways to combat climate change.
Nasheed, who staged the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting in October to highlight his people’s serious and difficult situation, has even spoken of buying land elsewhere in the world to enable Maldivians to relocate if their homes are completed covered.
He has also promised to turn his nation into a model for the rest of the world by becoming “carbon neutral” by 2020. His plan involves ending fossil fuel use and powering all vehicles and buildings from “green” sources such as burning coconut husks.
1. Why do you think Mohamed Nasheed chose Dutch Docklands?
A. Because it has experience in building floating structure.
B. Because it has a good fame throughout the world.
C. Because it charged much less than other companies.
D. Because it supports building floating structures in the world.
2. The Hulhumale was built with the purpose of .
A. attracting more visitors
B. making it a new capital
C. making the capital less crowded
D. fighting against climate change
3. According to the last two paragraphs, Nasheed is a person who .
A. has succeeded in buying land abroad
B. is more than well-known
C. has thought more for his nation
D. has stopped using fossil fuel
4. The underlined word “vowed” in paragraph 3 can be replaced by .
A. ended B. promised C. failed D. weighed
【参考答案】1—4、ACCB
较难题目特训：节能环保类
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A,B,C或D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
PLAYA GRANDE, COSTA RICA? This resort town was long known for Leatherback Sea Turtle (棱皮龟) national Park, nightly turtle beach tours and even a sea turtle museum. However, on a beach where dozens of turtles used to nest on a given night, scientists spied only 32 leatherbacks all of last year.
With leatherbacks threatened with extinction (灭绝), Playa Grande’s turtle museum was abandoned three years ago and now sits among a sea of weeds. And the beachside ticket office for turtle tours was washed away by a high tide in September. “We do not promote that as a turtle tourism destination any more because we realize there are far too few turtles to please,” said Alvaro Fonseca, a park ranger (管理员).
Even before scientists found temperatures going up over the past decade, sea turtles were threatened by beach development, drift net fishing and Costa Ricans interest in eating turtle eggs. But climate change may cause the most serious harm to an animal that has lived in the Pacific for 150 million years.
Sea turtles are sensitive to numerous effects of warming. They feed on reefs, which are dying in hotter seas. They lay eggs on beaches that are being covered by rising seas and more violent waves.
More uniquely their gender (性别) is determined, not by genes but by the egg’s temperature during development. Small rises in beach temperatures can result in ail-female populations, obviously problematic for survival. If the sand around the eggs hits 30 degrees Celsius, the gender balance shits to females: at about 32 degrees they are all female. Above 34, you get boiled eggs.
On some nesting beaches, scientists are artificially cooling nests with shade or irrigation and trying to protect broader areas of coastal property from development to ensure that turtles have a place to nest as the seas rise.
1. Why does the resort town stop promoting it’s turtle tourism?
A. It decides not to disturb the turtles’ normal life.
B. Tourists have lost interest in watching turtles.
C. There are only very few turtles now.
D. The turtle museum was destroyed by a high tide.
2. Which of the following is the major factor in the turtles endangerment?
A. The locals eating habit. B. Drift net fishing.
C. Beach development. D. Global warming.
3. We learn from the last paragraph that scientists .
A. are doing research on the sea rise
B. are moving turtles to new homes
C. are protecting turtles’ nests
D. are getting rid of sea weeds
4. The passage intends to .
A. introduce a special kind of sea turtle
B. explain the mystery of turtles’ eggs
C. show the dangers a certain kind of turtle is facing
D. attract more visitors to a sea turtle museum
【参考答案】1—4、CDCC
较难题目特训：节能环保类
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A,B,C或D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the best. For example, to absorb heat from the sun to heat water, you need large, flat, black surfaces. One way to do that is to build those surfaces specially, on the roofs of buildings. But why go to all that trouble when cities are full of black surfaces already, in the form of asphalt(柏油) roads?
Ten years ago, this thought came into the mind of Arian de Bondt, a Dutch engineer. He finally persuaded his boss to follow it up. The result is that their building is now heated in winter and cooled in summer by a system that relies on the surface of the road outside.
The heat-collector is a system of connected water pipes. Most of them run from one side of the street to the other, just under the asphalt road. Some, however, dive deep into the ground.
When the street surface gets hot in summer, water pumped through the pipes picks up this heat and takes it underground through one of the diving pipes. At a depth of 100 metres lies a natural aquifer(蓄水层) into which several heat exchangers(交换器) have been built. The hot water from the street runs through these exchangers, warming the ground-water, before returning to the surface through another pipe. The aquifer is thus used as a heat store.
In winter, the working system is changed slightly. Water is pumped through the heat exchangers to pick up the heat stored during summer. This water goes into the building and is used to warm the place up. After performing that task, it is pumped under the asphalt and its remaining heat keeps the road free of snow and ice.
1. Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs?
A. Arian de Bondt got his idea from his boss.
B. Large, flat, black surfaces need to be built in cities.
C. The Dutch engineer’s system has been widely used.
D. Heat can also be collected from asphalt roads.
2. For what purpose are the diving pipes used?
A. To absorb heat from the sun.
B. To store heat for future use.
C. To turn solar energy into heat energy.
D. To carry heat down below the surface.
3. From the last paragraph we can learn that .
A. some pipes have to be re-arranged in winter
B. the system can do more than warming up the building
C. the exchangers will pick up heat from the street surface
D. less heat may be collected in winter than in summer
4. What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows?
A. What we shall do if the system goes wrong.
B. What we shall do if there are no asphalt roads.
C. How the system cools the building in summer.
D. How the system collects heat in spring and autumn.
【参考答案】1-4 DDBC
较难题目特训：节能环保类
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A,B,C或D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
We already know the fastest, least expensive way to slow climate change: Use less energy. With a little effort, and not much money, most of us could reduce our energy diets by 25 percent or more—doing the Earth a favor while also helping our wallets.
Not long ago, my wife, PJ, and I tried a new diet—not to lose a little weight but to answer an annoying question about climate change. Scientists have reported recently that the world is heating up even faster than predicted only a few years ago, and that the consequences could be severe if we don’t keep reducing emissions(排放) of carbon dioxide(CO2) and other greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in our atmosphere.
We decided to try an experiment. For one month we recorded our personal emissions of CO2. We wanted to see how much we could cut back, so we went on a strict diet. The average US household(家庭) produces about 150 pounds of CO2 a day by doing common-place things like turning on air-conditioning or driving cars. That’s more than twice the European average and almost five times the global average, mostly because Americans drive more and have bigger houses. But how much should we try to reduce?
For an answer, I checked with Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. In his book, he had challenged readers to make deep cuts in personal emissions to keep the world from reaching extremely important tipping points, such as the melting(融化) of the ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica. “To stay below that point, we need to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent, “ he said.
Good advice, I thought. I’d opened our bedroom windows to let in the wind. We’d gotten so used to keeping our air-conditioning going around the clock. I’d almost forgotten the windows even opened. We should not let this happen again. It’s time for us to change our habits if necessary.
1. Why did the author and his wife try a new diet?
A. To take special kinds of food.
B. To respond to climate change.
C. To lose weight.
D. To improve their health.
2. The underlined words “tipping points” most probably refer to “ ”.
A. freezing pointsB. burning points
C. melting pointsD. boiling points
3. It can be inferred from the passage that .
A. it is necessary to keep the air-conditioning on all the time
B. it seems possible for every household to cut emissions of CO2
C. the average US household produces about 3, 000 pounds of CO2 a month
D. the average European household produces about 1, 000 pounds of CO2 a month
4. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
A. Saving Energy Starts at Home
B. Changing Our Habits Begins at Work
C. Changing Climate Sounds Reasonable
D. Reducing Emissions of CO2 Proves Difficult
【参考答案】1-4 BCBA