Question

Walk through the Amazon rainforest today and you will find it steamy, warm, damp and thick. But if you had been there around 15,000 years ago, during the last ice age, would it have been the same? For more than 30 years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests might have reacted to the cold, dry climate of the ice ages, but till now, no one has reached a satisfying answer.

Rainforests like the Amazon are important for mopping up CO2 from the atmosphere and helping to solve global warming. Currently the trees in the Amazon take in around 500 million tons of CO2 each year: equal to the total amount of CO2 given off in the UK each year. But how will the Amazon react to the future climate change? If it gets drier, will it survive and continue to draw down CO₂? Scientists hope that they will be able to learn in advance how the rainforest will manage in the future by understanding how rainforests reacted to climate change in the past.

Unfortunately, collecting information is incredibly difficult. To study the past climate, scientists need to look at fossilized pollen（花粉）kept in lake mud, Going back to the last ice age means drilling down into lake sediments（沉淀物）, which requires specialized equipment and heavy machinery. There are very few roads and paths, or places to land helicopters and aeroplanes.  Rivers tend to be the easiest way to enter the forest, but this still leaves vast areas between the rivers completely unsampled（未取样）. So far, only a handful of cores have been drilled that go back to the last ice age and none of them provide enough information to prove how the Amazon forest reacts to climate change.

1.How do scientists study the past climate change?

A. By predicting the climate change in the future.

B. By drilling down deep into land sediments.

C. By analyzing fossilized pollen in lake mud.

D. By taking samples from rivers in the Amazon.

2.Why is it difficult to collect information about the past climate change?

A. Because scientists can't find proper equipment and machinery.

B. Because it is very difficult to obtain complete samples.

C. Because helicopters and aeroplanes have no place to land.

D. Because none of the cores provide any information.

3.Where is the passage most probably taken from?

A. A medical journal.                             B. A news report

C. A travel brochure.                             D. A science magazine.

4.The best title for the text may be         .

A. Secrets of the Rainforest

B. Climates of the Amazon

C. The History of the Rainforest

D. Changes of the Rainforest

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.D

4.A

【解析】

试题分析：本文属于科普类阅读，主要介绍人们研究亚马逊雨林如何面对历史中极端的气候变化，在研究过程中遇见了很多困难。雨林的秘密仍然没有被解开。

1.C 细节理解题。根据第三段第二句To study the past climate, scientists need to look at fossilized pollen（花粉）kept in lake mud可知要想研究过去的气候变化，科学家们需要研究湖泊淤泥中的化石花粉。故C项正确。

2.B 推理判断题。根据第三段三、四、五句Going back to the last ice age means drilling down into lake sediments（沉淀物）, which requires specialized equipment and heavy machinery. There are very few roads and paths, or places to land helicopters and aeroplanes. Rivers tend to be the easiest way to enter the forest, but this still leaves vast areas between the rivers completely unsampled（未取样）.可知要想研究过去的气候变化，要在亚马逊的雨林里寻找湖泊沉淀物，需要特别的机器设备，而在雨林里几乎没有地方能够停放飞机，亚马逊雨林中还很很多对方没有采样。所以最大的困难是很难得到雨林的完整的采样。故B正确。

3.D 推理判断题。本文属于科普类阅读，主要介绍人们研究亚马逊雨林如何面对极端的气候变化，在研究过程中遇见了很多困难。所以本文最可能是从科学杂志里摘录而来，不可能是医学报告，新闻报道盒子旅游手册。故D正确。

4.

【名师点睛】

本文属于科普说明文，这一类文章是考生比较害怕的文章，主要是因为此类文章中有较多不熟悉的词汇，文章的内容也相对抽象，难以理解。

一、材料特点：

这类文章的总体特点是：科技词汇多，句子结构复杂，理论性强，逻辑严谨。具体说来它有以下几个特点：

1、文章中词汇的意义比较单一、稳定、简明，不带感情色彩，具有单一性和准确性的特点。这类文章通常不会出现文学英语中采用的排比、比喻、夸张等修辞手法，一词多义的现象也不多见。

2、句子结构较复杂，语法分析较困难。为了描述一个客观事物，严密地表达自己的思想，作者经常会使用集多种语法现象于一体的长句。

3、常使用被动语态，尤其是一些惯用被动句式。

二、命题特点：

科普类阅读的主要命题形式有事实细节题、词义猜测题、推理判断题以及主旨概括题等，其中推理判断题居多。

三、应对策略：

1、要想做好科普英语阅读理解题，同学们就要注意平时多读科普知识类文章，学习科普知识，积累常见的科普词汇，从根本上提高科普英语的阅读能力。

2、要熟悉科普类文章的结构特点。科普类文章一般由标题(Head line)，导语(Introduction)，背景(Back ground)，主体(Main body)和结尾(End)五部分构成。标题是文章中心思想高度而又精辟的概括，但根据历年的高考情况来看，这类阅读理解材料一般不给标题，而要同学们选择标题。导语一般位于整篇文章的首段。背景交待一个事实的起因。主体则对导语概括的事实进行详细叙述，这一部分命题往往最多，因此，阅读时，同学们要把这部分作为重点。结尾往往也是中心思想的概括，并与导语相呼应，命题者常在此要设计一道推理判断题。

3、在进行推理判断时，同学们一定要以阅读材料所提供的科学事实为依据，同时所得出的结论还应符合基本的科普常识。

考点：考查科普类阅读