The continuous presentation of scary stories about global warming in the popular media makes us unnecessarily frightened. Even worse, it __62__ our kids.
Al Gore famously __63__ how a sea-level rise of 20 feet would almost completely flood Florida, New York, Holland, and Shanghai, __64__the United Nations says that such a thing will not even happen, __65__ that sea levels will rise 20 times less than that.
When __66__ with these exaggerations, some of us say that they are for a good cause, and surely __67__ is no harm done if the result is that we focus even more on tackling climate change.
This __68__ is astonishingly wrong. Such exaggerations do plenty of harm. Worrying __69__ about global warming means that we worry less about other things, where we could do so much more good. We focus, __70 __, on global warming's impact on malaria (瘧疾)-which will put slightly more people at __71__ in 100 years - instead of tackling the half a billion people __72__from malaria today with prevention and treatment policies that are much cheaper and dramatically more effective than carbon reduction would be.
__73__ also wears out the public's willingness to tackle global warming. If the planet is __74__, people wonder, why do anything? A record 54% of American voters now believe the news media make global warming appear worse than it really is. A __75__ of people now believe – incorrectly – that global warming is not even caused by humans.
But the __76__ cost of exaggeration, I believe, is the unnecessary alarm that it causes – particularly __77__ children. An article in The Washington Post cited nine-year-old Alyssa, who cries about the possibility of mass animal __78__ from global warming.
The newspaper also reported that parents are __79__ "productive" outlets for their eight-year-olds' obsessions (憂心忡忡) with dying polar bears. They might be better off educating them and letting them know that, contrary __80__ common belief, the global polar bear population has doubled and perhaps even quadrupled (成為四倍) over the past half- century, to about 22,000. __81__ diminishing - and eventually disappearing - summer Arctic ice, polar bears will not become extinct.
62. A. exhausts B. suppresses C. terrifies D. disgusts
63. A. dismissed B. distracted C. deposited D. depicted
64. A. as if B. even though C. in that D. in case
65. A. measuring B. signifying C. estimating D. extracting
66. A. confronted B. identified C. equipped D. entrusted
67. A. such B. there C. what D. which
68. A. morality B. interaction C. argument D. dialogue
69. A. prevalently B. predictably C. expressively D. excessively
70. A. for example B. in addition C. by contrast D. in short
71. A. will B. large C. ease D. risk
72. A. suffering B. deriving C. developing D. stemming
73. A. Explanation B. Reservation C. Exaggeration D. Revelation
74. A. dumped B. dimmed C. doubled D. doomed
75. A. mixture B. majority C. quantity D. quota
76. A. smallest B. worst C. fewest D. least
77. A. among B. of C. by D. toward
78. A. separation B. sanction C. isolation D. extinction
79. A. turning out B. tiding over C. searching for D. pulling through
80. A. upon B. to C. about D. with
81. A. Despite B. Besides C. Regardless D. Except
【總評】
本文選自2009年6月15日英國衛(wèi)報里面的一篇報道,講述了夸大氣候變暖引起了一些不必要的驚慌的現(xiàn)象。
【答案及解析】
62. C. terrifies 考查動詞辨析。exhaust 表示“使筋疲力盡,用盡”;suppress表示“鎮(zhèn)壓,抑制”;terrify 表示“使驚嚇”;disgust表示“使反感”。前文表明關于氣候變暖的驚悚報道讓我們感到恐懼,更糟糕的是,它嚇到了我們的孩子們。
63. D. depicted考查動詞辨析。dismiss表示“開除,解散”;distract表示“使分心,分散”;deposit表示“儲蓄,寄存”;depict表示“描繪,描述”。
64. B. even though 考查連詞。題考查考生對上下句關系的理解,上半句Al Gore講述海平面上升20英尺會幾乎完全淹沒佛羅里達、紐約、荷蘭和上海,后半句講聯(lián)合國說這種事不會發(fā)生,由此可見前后句是轉折的關系,所以用even though,表示“盡管”;而as if表示“似乎”;in that表示“因為”;in case表示“以防”。
65. C. estimating 考查動詞。measure表示“測量,估量”;signify表示“意味,預示”;estimate表示“估計,預測”;extract表示“提取”。空格所在的句子說聯(lián)合國認為淹沒事件不會發(fā)生,同時預測海平面只會上升20英尺的二十分之一。
66. A. Confronted 考查動詞。be confronted with…為固定短語,表示“面臨(困難、危險等)”。
67. B. there 考查there be句型。由句中的連詞and可知前后必須都是句子,表示某個現(xiàn)象或東西存在用there be句型。
68. C. argument 考查名詞。morality表示“道德,倫理”;interaction表示“相互溝通,相互作用”;argument表示“爭論,辯論”;dialogue表示“對話”;文章前面兩段都是在講Al Gore與聯(lián)合國不同的觀點,因此這里填爭論。
69. D. excessively 考查副詞辨析。prevalently表示“流行地,普遍地”;predictably 表示“可預言地”;expressively表示“意味深長地”;excessively表示“過度地,極度”。本句表達的意思是過度擔心氣候變暖意味著我們擔心的其它事情會變少,而在這些事情上我們本可以做得更好。
70. A. for example 考查固定短語。for example表示“例如”;in addition表示“另外,除此之外”;by contrast表示“相比之下”;in short表示“總之”;從上下文我們可以看出這句話是舉例子,所以用for example。
71. D. risk 考查固定短語。該題較為簡單,at risk為固定短語,表示“有危險”。
72. A. suffering 考查動詞。suffer from表示“遭受;患……病”。
73. C. Exaggeration 考查名詞辨析。explanation表示“解釋”;reservation表示“預約;預定”;exaggeration 表示“夸張”;revelation表示“啟示”。本題顯然承接上文提到的人們對于全球氣候變暖這個問題過度夸張的情況。
74. D. doomed 考查形容詞辨析。dumped表示“廢棄的”; dimmed表示“暗灰色的”;doubled表示“兩倍的”;doomed表示“注定的;命定的”。這里表示人們假設如果地球的命運是注定好的,也就是說如果全球變暖這個問題是注定了的話,那么就不需要做任何事情來拯救,因為做了也沒有用。
75. B.majority 考查名詞辨析。a majority of 表示“大多數(shù)的;mixture表示“混合”;quantity表示“質量”;quota表示“配額;限額”。
76. B. worst 考查形容詞辨析。前面文章一直在講夸大全球變暖問題所帶來的壞處,這里是作者想強調的最壞的代價,所以用worst。
77. A. among 考查介詞辨析。among表示“三者或三者以上之間”,among children表示“在孩子們當中”。
78. D. extinction 考查名詞辨析。separation表示“分離,分開”;sanction表示“制裁,處罰”;isolation表示“隔離,孤立”;extinction 表示“滅絕”。全球變暖只有可能會造成大量動物的滅絕,其他選項均不恰當。
79. C. searching for 考查詞組辨析。turn out 表示“生產(chǎn);結果是”;tide over表示“克服,度過”;search for表示“尋找,搜索”;pull through表示“克服困難,渡過難關”。這里是說有些小孩子擔心北極熊會滅絕,而這種擔心顯然對于他們來說是多余的,所以一些家長會尋找一些其他的東西來轉移孩子們的注意力。
80. B. to 考查介詞辨析。contrary to為固定搭配,表示“與……相反”。
81. A. Despite 考查介詞辨析。despite表示“盡管”,后面一般跟doing;besides表示“此外,而且”;regardless of 表示“盡管,不管”;except表示“除……之外”。