Question

The Alice Ferguson Foundation is a non-profit group that works to improve the environment by building relationships between people and nature. The foundation is based in the state of Maryland. It was created more than 50 years ago. It teaches people ways to protect the environment.

At the end of the year, it designs events to help children celebrate Christmas without increasing the amount of waste they create. Hanna Seligmann works for the foundation. “So let’s figure out what is in our bag of trash.” She shows adults and children how to reduce waste during the holiday gift-giving season. “You can sort it as a cardboard item or you can sort it as a plastic item.” “We encourage using things that are already in your house like newspaper, old magazines, using a gift within a gift.” Urging people to recycle is important in the Washington, D.C., area, because Potomac River, one of the most famous rivers in the country lies there.

“Over time we realized that really just doing trash cleanups was the symptom of the problem, not getting to the root cause. And so it was just a little over a decade ago that we started the initiative (倡议) itself.” says Seligman.

The Trash Free Potomac Watershed Initiative is an effort by the Alice Ferguson Foundation to support clean agricultural methods. It includes educational programs teaching children about the kinds of pollution that can enter the watershed.

One activity is called the Trash Timeline Game. It teaches children that the things they throw away do not decompose, at the same rate. For example, paper dissolves in about four weeks. An apple core may take two months to rot. A metal can take up to 100 years.

1.The Alice Ferguson Foundation ________.

A. devotes itself to keeping citizens engaged in going green

B. deals with relationship between people

C. teaches people how to form groups

D. concerns itself about children’s holidays

2.At the end of the year, the Alice Ferguson Foundation is busy ________.

A. buying plastic items

B. celebrating Christmas

C. figuring out how much waste was produced

D. educating people to reduce less waste while enjoying Christmas

3.How to get to the root cause of environmental protection, according to Seligman?

A. Environmental education.    B. Doing trash cleanups.

C. Saving water.    D. Celebrating holidays less.

4.What does the underlined word in the last paragraph mean?

A. Give off.    B. Break down.    C. Come out.    D. Pack up.

Answer

1.A

2.D

3.A

4.B

【解析】文章介绍致力于保护环境的非营利组织：爱丽丝弗格森基金会。这个基金会通过设计各种活动来教育人们树立环境保护观念。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段的描述The Alice Ferguson Foundation is a non-profit group that works to improve the environment by building relationships between people and nature. It teaches people ways to protect the environment.可知，The Alice Ferguson Foundation是一个非营利的组织，致力于通过建立人与自然的和谐关系改善环境。它教给人们保护环境的方法。故The Alice Ferguson Foundation致力于让市民投入环保中，故选A。

2.细节理解题。根据第二段第一句At the end of the year, it designs events to help children celebrate Christmas without increasing the amount of waste they create.可知，在今年末，它设计了一项在不增加创造的垃圾量的前提下，帮助孩子们庆祝圣诞节的活动。故D（教育人们在享受圣诞节的同时减少垃圾。）符合题意，选D。

3.推理判断题。根据Seligman所说的：“Over time we realized that really just doing trash cleanups was the symptom of the problem, not getting to the root cause. And so it was just a little over a decade ago that we started the initiative (倡议)itself.”（经过很多年我们意识到垃圾清理只是问题的征兆，并不是根本原因。这就是十多年前我们开始倡议的原因。）可推断，环境教育才是环境保护的根源。故选A。

4.词义猜测题。根据下面例子的内容：For example, paper dissolves in about four weeks. An apple core may take two months to rot. A metal can take up to 100 years.（纸在大约四个星期之后分解，苹果核或许要花2个月才能腐烂，金属可能要花100年以上。）可知，划线单词所在的句子是说：他们所扔的东西并不是以同样的速度分解，故选B。

【名师点睛】

词义猜测题解题技巧

词义猜测能力是一项重要的英语阅读技能，同时也是高考英语卷对考生阅读能力进行检测的一个重要方面。词义猜测的命题形式大体有以下三个层面：

1.猜测一个单词的语境意义，如本文第4小题：What does the underlined word in the last paragraph mean?

2.猜测一个词组的含义。

3.对具体语境下的特定句子的猜测。

解这类题时，我们首先认真阅读划线单词所在的句子，同时理解文章离不开语境，单独的阅读这一个句子一般来说是很难判断它的词义，因此在阅读的过程中，我们可以利用上下文形成的语境对生词词义进行合理的猜测。就本文第4小题而言，划线单词所在的句子后是一个例子，这些例子可帮助我们猜测生词的意思。It teaches children that the things they throw away do not decompose, at the same rate. For example, paper dissolves in about four weeks. An apple core may take two months to rot. A metal can take up to 100 years.例句的意思：例如，纸在大约四个星期之后分解，苹果核或许要花2个月才能腐烂，金属可能要花100年以上。可以很轻松的推断上句的意思，他们所扔的东西并不是以同样的速度分解。四个答案选项中，B意义吻合，故选B。