Question

    Madagascar lies in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa. The island is perhaps best known as the unique home of the lemur (狐猴）. But those lemurs live among some of the most rich and varied flora (植物群）in the world. And so threatened is that flora that British and Malagasy scientists were involved in a project to collect seeds from the island to be stored in a British seed bank. The project is being done by the Royal Botanic Garden in London. The botanist Steward Cable is head of the conservation center there and a frequent visitor of the island.

I mean Madagascar is well known as one of the top biodiversity hot spots in the world. It has perhaps 13,000 plant species. 90% of those are unique to the country, i.e. found nowhere else in the world. But also many species, many of those species are only found in small areas.     And I would say that probably about 80% of the population are dependent on farming.

And a lot of their farming is slash and burn，shifting cultivation (耕作）where farmers have to move to a new patch of forest every year. They cut it and they burn it and they can grow dry rice or cassava for a year or so or two years at most.And the nutrients are gone and they have  to move to a new patch of forest .And for centuries that would not have been a problem with the low population and with long periods of no farming but people returning after three or five years something like that ,then the forest became grassland. So we are losing many of those species in Madagascar, those unique species.

1.which of the following is the habitat of the lemur?

A.Madagascar B.Britain

C.An Indian island. D.The coast

2.Why do scientists collect seeds from Madagascar?

A.The lemur will die out without them.

B.The flora on Madagascar is in great danger.

C.The island will sink to the bottom of the ocean.

D.The British seed bank wants to make money from them.

3.What is the result of the way people farm?

A.Many farmers have lost their homes. B.The population is becoming smaller.

C.Some rare species are gone. D.The crops are poor in nutrition.

4.How does the author sound?

A.Hopeless. B.Enthusiastic. C.Optimistic. D.Worried.

Answer

1.A

2.B

3.C

4.D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了人类的农业活动对马达加斯加岛上的生物多样性造成了极大的破坏。

1.

细节理解题。根据第一段中的“Madagascar lies in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa. The island is perhaps best known as the unique home of the lemur”可知，马达加斯加岛位于非洲东海岸外的印度洋上，它是狐猴的独特家园，故A项正确。

2.

细节理解题。根据第一段中的“And so threatened is that flora that British and Malagasy scientists were involved in a project to collect seeds from the island to be stored in a British seed bank.”可知，科学家之所以从马达加斯加岛上收集种子存到英国的种子库是因为岛上的植物群受到严重威胁（处于极度危险之中），故B项正确。

3.

细节理解题。根据最后一段中的“So we are losing many of those species in Madagascar, those unique species.”可知，（毁林种田的后果是）我们正在失去马达加斯加岛上的一些独有物种，故C项正确。

4.

推理判断题。通读全文可知，文章一开始就说马达加斯加岛上植物群受到严重威胁并引起了科学家们重视，后文又介绍了人们毁林种田导致一些独有物种正在消失（生物多样性受到破坏），作者对此表现出了极大的担忧，故D项正确。