Question

    Walk through the Amazon rainforest today and you will find it is steamy, warm, damp and thick. But if you had been 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 like the Amazon might have reacted to the cold, dry climates of the ice ages, but until now, no one has reached a satisfying answer.

Rainforests like the Amazon are important for mopping up CO₂ from the atmosphere and helping to slow 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 giving off in the UK each year. But how will the Amazon react to future climate change? If it gets drier, will it still 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, getting into the Amazon rainforest and collecting information are very difficult. To study past climate, scientists need to look at fossilized pollen, kept in lake mud. Going back to the last ice age means drilling deep 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 rainforest reacts to climate change.

1.What does the underlined phrase “mopping up” in the second paragraph mean?

A. Giving up. B. Giving out.

C. Wiping out. D. Taking in.

2.How will the Amazon rainforest react to future climate change?

A. It’ll get drier and continue to remove CO₂ .

B. There is no exact answer up to present.

C. It’ll get warmer and then colder and drier.

D. It’ll remain steamy, warm, damp and thick.

3.What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. It’s important to drill deep down into lake sediments to collect information.

B. It’s impossible to prove how climate changes in the Amazon rainforest.

C. It’s hard to collect information for studies of the past climate in the Amazon rainforest.

D. It’s necessary to have specialized equipment and machinery to study the past climate.

4.What is the best title for this passage?

A. Studies of the Rainforests

B. Climates of the Amazon

C. Secrets of the Ice Age

D. Changes of the Rainforests

Answer

1.D

2.B

3.C

4.A

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了科学家们对亚马逊雨林如何应对气候变化这一问题的研究。

1.词义猜测题。根据画线词后的“Currently the trees in the Amazon take in around 500 million tons of CO2 each year:”可知，目前，亚马逊的树木每年吸收5亿吨二氧化碳，此处是说像亚马逊这样的热带雨林对吸收大气中的二氧化碳和缓解全球变暖非常重要，由此可知画线词词义为“吸收”，故D项正确。

2.细节理解题。根据第一段中的“For more than 30 years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted to the cold, dry climates of the ice ages, but until now, no one has reached a satisfying answer.”可知，科学家们对亚马逊雨林如何应对气候变化这一问题到目前为止还没有得出确切的答案，故B项正确。

3.段落大意题。根据最后一段内容，特别是根据“Unfortunately, getting into the Amazon rainforest and collecting information are very difficult.”可知，本段主要介绍了很难搜集过去亚马逊雨林气候的信息，故C项正确。

4.主旨大意题。通读全文，特别是根据第一段中的“For more than 30 years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted to the cold, dry climates of the ice ages, but until now, no one has reached a satisfying answer.”可知，文章主要介绍了科学家们对亚马逊雨林如何应对气候变化这一问题的研究，故A项正确。