Reading Comprehension(35 minutes)
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:
Once upon a time,the United States seemed to have plenty of land to go around.Plenty of rivers to dam and plenty of rural valleys left over.Plenty of space for parks and for cities.Plenty of forests to cut and grasslands to plow.But that was once upon a time.The days of unused land are over.Now the land has been spoken for,fenced off,carved up into cities and farms and industrial parks,put to use.
At the same time, the population keeps growing. People need places to work and place to play. So we need more sites for more industries, more beaches for more sunbathers, and more clean rivers for more fishes. And it isn’t just a matter of population growth. Our modern technology has needs that must be met too: We need more coal for energy, and we need more power plants; cars must have highways and parking lots, and jets must have airports.
Each of these lands uses swallows up precious space. Highways and expressways alone take some 2,000,000 acres each years. And urban sprawl—the spreading out of cities—is expected to gobble up vast areas of land by the year 2000. But there is only so much land to go around.
How do you decide what to do with a piece of land? It depends upon the land, and it depend upon the needs of the people and their values. It is always hard to decide. Take, for example, a forest. A forest can be a timber supply. It can provide a home for wildlife. It is scenery and a recreation area for man. It is soil and watershed protection.
These last two take some explaining. A forest creates its own soil. Leaves and other litter on the forest floor are constantly turned and moved by worms and burrowing animals. Enriched by animal wastes, the litter becomes humus—a rich and spongy mix of organic material. The soil feeds forest plants. The plants in turn protect the soil—roots hold it in place, branches slow rainfall so that it will drop gently to earth. Water slowly trickles through the humus and is purified. Water travels downstream and out to sea.
When a forest is cut down, there is nothing left to create or protect the soil. Heavy rains beat and wash away spongy humus. Little soil is left to absorb water. Then rain waters can rush unchecked to the valley below, flooding low-lying areas. If a forest is to supply timber, watershed protection, recreation, and a home for wildlife, it has to be cut carefully. And it must be replanted.
In short, land is fragile. Without proper care it can be ruined forever.
In the debates about how a particular piece of land is to be used, the priorities often conflict. What should you do, for example, if you find out that under the fertile fields of a farming community there is a thick bed of coal which can be strip-minded? Strip mining rips up topsoil and vegetation. But mining may create jobs, bring money to the town’s businesses. Those who approve of strip mining say that the coal is needed, and they point out that it is quicker and cheaper to get coal from the surface than to go deep into the earth to get it by standard mining techniques. On the other hand, it takes nature 500 years to create an inch of topsoil.As the countryside fills up, people are becoming more aware of the need for open space. Nearly every proposal for a new power plant, highway, or airport draws fierce opposition. Everyone wants the bid, land-eating “uglies” to be in someone else’s backyard. Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, for example, having been debating about the site of a future airport for years. Yet if a new airport is needed, it will have to go somewhere.
How do we find our way out of the land-use problem? One way might be to reexamine our values, to think in new directions. Does everyone have to have a car-with its need for highways and parking lots? What about developing mass transit systems that use less land? Do suburbs have to sprawl? Can they be designed so they use less space? Do we have to have more energy? If we do, do we really have to strip-mine coal to provide it?
However difficult they may be to arrive at, choices will have to be made if we want to preserve the beauty and usefulness of the land. For there is at least one point on which all of us can agree; the land does have its limits.
21.Once upon a time,the United States seemed to have plenty of land to __go around__, “go around” means____.
A) to visit around B) to see the land
C) for sharing with every
D) to have the land around
22.Each of these land uses swallows up precious space, “swallows up” means ____.
A) occupies B) gives upC) disappears D) takes completely
23.In this sentence “In short, land is fragile.”(Line.1, Para. 7), what does the word “fragile” mean?
A) Very poor. B) Rich.C) Taken. D) Easily destroyed.
24.The Para 5 mainly discusses ____.
A) how animal wastes enriched land
B) how plant roots protected the land
C) how humus becomes useful
D) how a forest creates its own soil and protects the watershed
25.As the countryside fills up, people are becoming more aware of the need for open space, “open space” means ____.
A) public land B) unoccupied land
C) unplanted land D) private land
Passage One
内容概要:ケ疚奶致鄣氖枪赜谕恋氐氖褂梦侍狻Ｗ髡咭悦拦为例，讲述了其过去各类土地资源的丰富及其当前的严峻形势，从而引出了有关土地使用的讨论。到底应该如何使用土地？这个问题很难做出决定。人们会依据土地本身及他们的需要及价值观来定夺。作者还通过详细讲述森林及土壤保护的关系、露天采矿的优缺点等来引导读者思考并反省他们的土地应用价值观。
21．【答案】B。
【译文】似乎美国曾经拥有足以分配的大量土地资源。
【试题分析】词义辨析题。
【详细解答】go around 可表示“走来走去、疾病传播、结交相处或足够分配” ：第一段作者罗列了一些在美国曾经非常丰富的土地资源，但这都成为了过去，就是为了表明土地在过去“足够分配”的含义。
22．【答案】D。
【译文】这些土地应用都在大量地鲸吞着宝贵的空间。
【试题分析】词义辨析题。
【详细解答】swallow up 表示“侵吞、吞掉、耗尽”的意思。因此C）“消失”以及B）“放弃”就可以轻易排除。而在本句当中使用swallow up，作者正是为了强调一种完全的占据，故D）最合适。
23.【答案】D。
【译文】总之，土地是很脆弱的。
【试题分析】词义辨析题。
【详细解答】fragile意为“易碎的，虚弱的”，作者在5、6段详细的讲述了森林与土地的关系。可以看到，森林的存在对于土壤及土地来说是非常有好处的，而一旦没有森林的保护，土地状况就变遭，可见其脆弱性。故A）与C）选项谈到土地的贫瘠或肥沃是不合适的。B）选项在词义上则偏差太远。
24.【答案】D。
【译文】文章第五段的要旨是森林如何产生土壤及保护水域的。
【试题分析】细节推理题。
【详细解答】通过第五段的阅读，大家不难发现其主要讲述的内容是森林中的落叶和一些动物的粪便变为营养丰富的腐殖土，利于树木生长，而树木反过来又保护了土壤，土壤又净化了雨水。由此可见选项A）B）C）都是不完整的。
25.【答案】B。
【译文】随着乡村也逐渐拥挤起来，人们更加意识到对未被占用的土地的需要。
【试题分析】词义辨析及推理题。
【详细解答】农村变的越来越拥挤，当然有再多的A）公有土地还是不能解决问题。当然D）私人土地更是帮不上任何忙。至于C），土地没有种植也许有其他住户或工业，看来只有B）尚未被占用的土地，才能给我们提供开阔的空间。