The rapid growth of cities worldwide over the next two decades will cause significant risks to people and the global environment, according to analysis.
Researches from Yale and Stanford predict that by 2030 urban areas will expand by 590,000 square miles—nearly the size of Mongolia—to meet the needs of 1.47 billion more people living in urban areas.
“It is likely that these cities are going to be developed in places that are the most biologically diverse,” said Karen Seto, a famous scientist at Yale University. “They are going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas(熱帶稀缺大草原), coastlines—sensitive and vulnerable places.”
Urban areas, they found, have been expanding more rapidly along coasts. “Of all the places for cities to grow, coasts are the most sensitive. People and buildings along the coast are at risk of flooding and other environmental disasters,” said Seto.
The study provides the first estimate of how fast urban areas globally are growing and how fast they may grow in the future. “We know a lot about global patterns of urban population growth, but we know significantly less about how urban areas are changing,” she said. “Changes in land cover associated with urbanization lead to many environmental changes, from habitats loss and agricultural land conversion(轉化) to changes in local and regional climate.”
The researchers examined studies that used satellite data to map urban growth and found that from 1970 to 2000 the world’s urban footprint had grown by at least 22,400 square miles—half the size of Ohio.
“This number is numerous, but, in actuality, urban land expansion has been far greater than what our analysis shows because we only looked at the published studies that used satellite data,” said Seto. “We found that 48 of the most populated urban areas have been studied using satellite data, with findings in journals. This means that we’re not tracking the physical expansion of more than half of the world’s largest cities.”
Half of urban land expansion in China is driven by a rising middle class, whereas the size of cities in India and Africa is driven primarily by population growth. “Rising incomes translate into rising demand for bigger homes and more land for urban development, which has a great effect on biodiversity conservations, loss of carbon sinks and energy use.”
【小題1】According to the passage, the most dangerous place for city expansion is the _____.
A.forest | B.desert | C.savannas | D.coastline |
A.diverse in plants | B.beautiful in scenery |
C.easily damaged | D.very productive |
A.urbanization is a good way to improve people’s standards of living |
B.cities develop very fast and more and more people come to live in cities |
C.more and more agricultural farmlands are used to make room for local animals |
D.in the past, researchers focused their attention on the expanding urban areas |
A.growing population | B.rising middle class |
C.unique living patterns | D.economic development |
【小題1】D
【小題2】C
【小題3】B
【小題4】A
解析試題分析:本文主要講述的是城市化的迅速發(fā)展導致了很多城市的規(guī)模擴大,城市人口變多,對環(huán)境產生很大的影響和破壞。
【小題1】D 細節(jié)題。根據文章第三段“Of all the places for cities to grow, coasts are the most sensitive. People and buildings along the coast are at risk of flooding and other environmental disasters,” said Seto.可知最危險的地方就是海岸線,故D正確。
【小題2】C 推理題。根據本句“They are going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas(熱帶稀缺大草原), coastlines—sensitive and vulnerable places.”可知這里的sensitive and vulnerable places就是 指coastlines而這個地方又是對環(huán)境破壞很敏感的地方,海岸線的生態(tài)環(huán)境又是特別容易受到影響的地方。故C正確。
【小題3】B 推理題。根據本段1,2行The researchers examined studies that used satellite data to map urban growth and found that from 1970 to 2000 the world’s urban footprint had grown by at least 22,400 square miles—half the size of Ohio.可知現在城市的發(fā)展速度很快,城市的居民的數量也越來越多。故B正確。
【小題4】A 細節(jié)題。根據文章最后一段1,2行Half of urban land expansion in China is driven by a rising middle class, whereas the size of cities in India and Africa is driven primarily by population growth.可知中國的城市人口變多是因為中國的中產階級變多,而非洲則是因為人口的迅速增加。故A正確。
考點:考察環(huán)境保護類短文閱讀
點評:本文主要講述的是城市化的迅速發(fā)展導致了很多城市的規(guī)模擴大,城市人口變多,對環(huán)境產生很大的影響和破壞。測試考生在閱讀基礎上的邏輯推理能力,要求考生根據文章所述事件的邏輯關系,對未說明的趨勢或結局作出合理的推斷;或根據作者所闡述的觀點理論,對文章未涉及的現象、事例給以解釋?忌紫纫屑氶喿x短文,完整了解信息,準確把握作者觀點。
科目:高中英語 來源:2008年普通高等學校招生全國統(tǒng)一考試(湖北卷)、英語試題及答案 題型:022
完成句子
With the rapid development of science and technology, I can’t imagine ________(我的家鄉(xiāng)會是什么樣子)in ten years.(what)
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:
In a time of social reform, people’s state of mind tends to keep _______ with the rapid changes of society.
A. terms B. pace C. progress D. touch
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科目:高中英語 來源:2010年普通高等學校招生全國統(tǒng)一考試(重慶卷)模擬考試英語試卷 題型:閱讀理解
The energy crisis (危機) has made people aware of how the careless use of the earth’s energy has brought the whole world to the edge of disaster. The over – development of motor transport, with its increase of more cars, more traveling, has contributed to the near – destruction of our cities and the pollution not only of local air but also of the earth’s atmosphere.
Our present situation is unlike natural disasters of the past. Worldwide energy use has brought us to a state where long – range planning is vital. What we need is not a continuation of our present serious state, which endangers the future of our country, our children, and our earth, but a movement forward in order to work rapidly and effectively on planetary problems.
This country has been falling back under the continuing exposures of loss of morality (道德) and the revelation (揭露) that lawbreaking has reached into the highest place in the land. There is a strong demand for morality to turn for the better and for some devotion that is vast enough and yet personal enough to enlist the devotion of all. In the past it has been only in a way in defense of their own country and their own benefits that people have been able to devote themselves wholeheartedly.
This is the first time that we have been asked to defend ourselves and what we hold dear in cooperation with all the other people of this planet, who share with us the same endangered air and the same endangered oceans. There is a common need to reassess our present course, to change that course and to employ new methods through which the world can survive. This is a priceless opportunity.
To grasp it, we need a widespread understanding of nature if the crisis we and the world are facing is no passing inconvenience, no by-product(副產品)of the ambitions of the oil – producing countries, no environmentalists’ only fears, no byproduct of any present system of government. What we face is the result of the invention of the last four hundred years. What we need is transformed life style. This new life style can flow directly from science and technology, but its acceptance depends on a sincere devotion to finding a higher quality of life for the world’s children and future generation.
1. Which of the following has nearly destroyed our cities?
A. The loss of beliefs and ideas. B. More of law – breaking.
C. Natural disasters in many areas. D. The rapid growth of motors.
2. By comparing past problems with present ones, the author draws our attention to the .
A. seriousness of this crisis B. ineffectiveness of laws
C. similarity of the past to the present D. hopelessness of the situation
3. Which of the following is used as an example to show the loss of morality?
A. Disregard for law. B. Lack of devotion.
C. Lack of understanding. D. Destruction of cities.
4. The author wrote the passage in order to .
A. make a recommendation for a transformed life style
B. limit ambitions of the people of the whole world
C. demand devotion to nature and future generation
D. encourage awareness of the decline of morality
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科目:高中英語 來源:2013屆江西省贛州市十一縣(市)高三上學期期中聯(lián)考英語試卷(帶解析) 題型:閱讀理解
American society is not nap (午睡)-friendly. In fact, says David Dinges, a sleep specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, “There’s even a prohibition against admitting we need sleep”. Nobody wants to be caught napping or found asleep at work. To quote a proverb: “Some sleep five hours, nature requires seven, laziness nine and wickedness eleven.”
Wrong. The way not to fall asleep at work is to take naps when you need them. “We have to totally change our attitude toward napping,” says Dr. William Dement of Stanford University, the godfather of sleep research.
Last year a national commission led by Dement identified an “American sleep debt” which one member said was as important as the national debt. The commission was concerned about the dangers of sleepiness: people causing industrial accidents or falling asleep while driving. This may be why we have a new sleep policy in the White House. According to recent reports, President Clinton is trying to take a ha1f-hour snooze (瞌睡) every afternoon.
About 60 percent of American adults nap when given the opportunity. We seem to have “a mid afternoon quiet phase,” also called “a secondary sleep gate.” Sleeping 15 minutes to two hours in the early afternoon can reduce stress and make us refreshed. Clearly, we were born to nap.
We Superstars of Snooze don't nap to replace lost shut-eye or to prepare for a night shift.Rather, we “snack” on sleep, whenever, wherever and at whatever time we feel like it. I myself have napped in buses, cars, planes and on boats; on floors and beds; and in libraries, offices and museums.
【小題1】It is commonly accepted in American society that too much sleep is .
A.unreasonable | B.criminal | C.harmful | D.costly |
A.don't like to take naps |
B.are terribly worried about their national debt |
C.sleep less than is good for them |
D.have caused many industrial and traffic accidents |
A.warn us of the wickedness of napping |
B.explain the danger of sleepiness |
C.discuss the side effects of napping |
D.convince the reader of the necessity of napping |
A.the traditional misconception the Americans have about sleep |
B.the new sleep policy of the Clinton Administration |
C.the rapid development of American industry |
D.the Americans' worry about the danger of sleepiness |
A.preferable to have a sound sleep before a night shift |
B.good practice to eat something light before we go to bed |
C.essential to make up for cost sleep |
D.natural to take a nap whenever we feel the need for it |
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科目:高中英語 來源:重慶第三十七中學校2009-2010學年度高二下學期期中考試(英語) 題型:閱讀理解
The economy of the United States after 1952 was the economy of a well-fed, almost fully employed people. Despite occasional alarms, the country escaped any postwar depression and lived in a state of boom. An economic survey of the year 1955, a typical year of the 1950’s, may be typical as illustrating the rapid economic growth of the decade. The national output was value at 10 percent above that of 1954 (1955 output was estimated at 392 billion dollars). The production of manufacturers was about 40 percent more than it had averaged in the years immediately following World War 2. The country’s business spent about 30billion dollars for new factories and machinery. National income available for spending was almost a third greater than it had been it had been in 1950. Consumers spent about 256 billion dollars; that is about 700 million dollars a day or about twenty-five million dollars every hour, all round the clock. Sixty-five million people held jobs and only a little more than two million wanted jobs but could not find them.
Only agriculture complained that it was not sharing in the room. To some observers this was an ominous echo of the mid 1920’s. As farmer’s share of their products declined, marketing costs rose. But there were, among the observers of the national economy, a few who were not as confident as the majority. Those few seemed to fear that the boom could not last and would eventually lead to the opposite-depression.
72. What is the best title of the passage?
A) The Agricultural Trends of 1950’s
B) The Unemployment Rate of 1950’s
C) U.S. Economy in the 50’s
D) The Federal Budget of 1952
73. In Line 4, the word “boom” could best be replaced by______.
A) nearby explosion
B) thunderous noise
C) general public support
D) rapid economic growth
74. Which of the following were LEAST satisfied with the national economy in the 1950’s?
A) Economists
B) Framers
C) Politicians
D) Steelworkers
75. The passage states that income available for spending in the U.S. was greater in 1955 than in 1950. How much was it?
A) 60%
B) 50%
C) 33%
D) 90%
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