Question

    Most of the new diseases we humans have faced in the past several decades have come from animals. The more we come into contact with wild animals, the more we risk a so-called disease “spillover” from animals to humans.

“As people move and wildlife move in response to a changing environment, humans and wildlife and animals will come in contact more regularly,” said Jeanne Fair from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Fair argues that by shifting animal habitats, climate change will also make the opportunities for disease spillover more frequent. “Everything is sort of shifting and will shift into the future as the environment changes through climate change,” Fair said.

Scientists, including climatologists and epidemiologists (流行病学家) on Fair’s team at Los Alamos, are beginning to model how changes to the climate will impact the spread of infectious diseases. It’s early days for this kind of research, but previous studies suggest that extreme weather has already played a role in at least one outbreak. Scientists say drought and deforestation have combined to force bats out of rain forests and into orchards (果园) in Malaysia to find food. Those bats, a common disease reservoir, then passed the Nipah virus through pigs to humans for the first time in the late 1990s.

“We’re going by the past data to really predict what’s going to happen in the future,” Fair said, “And so, anytime you increase that wildlife-human interface, that’s sort of an emerging disease hot spot. And so, that’s just increasing as we go forward.”

Jeffrey Shaman, head of the climate and health program at Columbia University’s public health school, argues we don’t yet know whether climate change will cause a net increase in infectious disease rates globally. For example, mosquitoes carry disease that affects millions of people across the world every year. As their habitats expand in some parts of the world, they might contract diseases elsewhere. Shaman says what we know for certain about climate change is that it will make it harder to predict where disease outbreaks will pop up.

1.How does climate change affect the spread of disease according to Fair?

A.By breaking animals’habits. B.By increasing animals’varieties.

C.By promoting animals’breeding. D.By changing animals’living environment.

2.What is the example of bats for in paragraph 3?

A.Explaining the influence of Nipah virus.

B.Proving the harm of bats to human beings.

C.Showing the effects of climate change on disease.

D.Presenting scientists’early study about the cause of disease.

3.What can we infer from Fair’s words in paragraph 4?

A.Humans should give up studying animals.

B.Frequent contact with animals can cause disease outbreaks.

C.Disease hot spots will disappear if animals die out.

D.Past data can solve the problems in the future.

4.What could be the best title for the text?

A.Climate Change and Disease Spillover

B.Animals’Interaction with Humans

C.Early Studies about Extreme Weather

D.Scientists’Prediction for Disease Outbreaks

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.B

4.A

【解析】

本文是一篇议论文，聚焦气候变化对疾病传播的影响。

1.

细节理解题。根据第二段中的“Fair argues that by shifting animal habitats, climate change will also make the opportunities for disease spillover more frequent.‘ Everything is sort of shifting and will shift into the future as the environment changes through climate change,’”可以得知Fair认为通过改变动物的栖息地，气候变化将使疾病蔓延的机会更加频繁，随着气候变化带来的环境变化，一切都在某种程度上发生变化，并将向未来转变。也就是说气候变化通过改变动物的生活环境（即栖息地）来影响疾病的传播。故选D项。

2.

推理判断题。根据第三段中的“but previous studies suggest that extreme weather has already played a role in at least one outbreak.”可知之前的研究表明极端天气已经在至少一次疫情爆发中发挥了作用。根据第三段中的“Scientists say drought and deforestation have combined to force bats out of rain forests and into orchards in Malaysia to find food. Those bats, a common disease reservoir, then passed the Nipah virus through pigs to humans for the first time in the late 1990s.”可知作者举了一个蝙蝠的例子：干旱和森林砍伐两者的结合迫使蝙蝠离开雨林，进入马来西亚的果园寻找食物。这些蝙蝠是一种常见的疾病宿主，然后在20世纪90年代末首次通过猪将尼帕病毒传播给人类。由此推知这个蝙蝠的例子是为了说明气候变化对疾病的影响。故选C项。

3.

推理判断题。根据第四段中的“Fair said, “And so, anytime you increase that wildlife-human interface, that’s sort of an emerging disease hot spot.”可知Fair说任何时候只要野生动物与人类的接触变多，就会成为某种新的疾病热点。由此推断与野生动物过多的接触会引起疾病暴发，故选B项。

4.

主旨大意题。本文的主旨句在第一段"he more we come into contact with wild

animals, the more we risk a so-called disease“spillover”from animals to human”，即我们与野生动物接触越多，就越有可能面临染上从动物“溢出”的疾病。接着下文用研究数据以及蝙蝠和蚊子为例来说明气候变化导致环境变化，迫使有些动物离开生存的环境，最终把疾病传染给人类。由此可知，天气的变化与疾病的关系。A项（气候变化和疾病蔓延）最能概括本文， B选项范围太大，C、D选项太片面。故选A项。