Question

    Plants on Earth have grown for hundreds of millions of years, yet President Donald Trump’s pick to lead his new climate team insists that they need more carbon dioxide (CO₂) to boom.

Princeton physicist and carbon dioxide-advocate William Happer has been selected to head the brand new Presidential Committee on Climate Security. The atomic scientist, who achieved recognition for his work on atomic collisions (原子碰撞), not climate science, declared that the planet’s atmosphere needs significantly more CO₂, which is reported to speed up climate change. Happer said plants use CO₂ to live and more CO₂ is actually a benefit to the Earth. He also stressed that Earth is experiencing a “CO₂ starvation”, and concludes that “If plants could vote, they would vote for coal.”

Earth and plant scientists, however, find Happer’s insistence that the plant kingdom would benefit from increased CO₂ wrong-headed and it lacks evidence. For example, Earth’s CO₂ levels have increased sharply in the last century, and are now at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years—though other measurements show CO₂ levels are higher than they’ve been in 15 million years. “The idea that increased CO₂ is universally beneficial ‘to plants’ is very misguided,” Jill Anderson, an evolutionary ecologist specializing in plant populations, said in an interview. Data shows the evolution of global average temperature and CO₂ concentration from 1850 to 2019. Though 2019 is a bit cooler than recent years, it still is one of the warmest years ever and lies close to the trend line of global warming.

Both independent academic organizations and government agencies around different parts of the world concluded more CO₂ will bring many negative impacts to plant environments. And they added that “If someone is going to claim it is good, it’s necessary for them to show evidence.”

1.Why does Happer think plants need more CO₂?

A. Plants vote for more CO₂. B. CO₂ speeds up climate change.

C. Plants need more CO₂ to live. D. CO₂ is actually a benefit to the Earth.

2.What can be inferred from paragraph 3?

A. 2019 is a bit warmer than recent years.

B. CO₂ levels must be the highest in history.

C. The plant kingdom must benefit from increased CO₂.

D. There are adequate evidence to support Happer’s insistence.

3.What does the underlined word “it” in the last paragraph probably refer to?

A. More CO₂. B. The plant.

C. The world. D. The US government.

4.The author’s attitude in writing this passage can be described as ________.

A. critical B. objective

C. positive D. negative

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.B

【解析】

本文属于说明文。关于二氧化碳激增对植物的利弊问题，美国总统特朗普钦点的政府科学家团队持有的观点与其他科学家不一致。

1.细节理解题。根据文章第二段第三句中内容“Happer said plants use CO2 to live”可知，Happer认为植物生存需要二氧化碳。故选C。

2.推理判断题。根据文章第三段第二句中内容Earth’s CO2 levels have increased sharply in the last century, and are now at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years—though other measurements show CO2 levels are higher than they’ve been in 15 million years.可知尽管有些测量显示目前的二氧化碳水平高于过去1500万年的水平，但是地球二氧化碳浓度在上世纪迅速上升，在过去的80万年里属于最高浓度，故可以推出，二氧化碳水平可能是历史最高。故选B。

3.词义猜测题。根据前句内容提到“more CO2 will bring many negative impacts to plant environments”，可知it 代指“更多的二氧化碳”。故选A。

4.推理判断题。本文主要讲述关于二氧化碳激增对植物的利弊问题，美国总统特朗普钦点的政府科学家团队持有的观点与其他科学家不一致，整篇文章中作者只是把双方的观点客观地进行描述，并没有发表自己的态度和言论，故选B“客观的”。