2019年考研英語二閱讀理解第二篇及答案

Text 2
Forests give us shade, quiet and one of the larder callenges in the fight against climate change. Even as we humans count on forests to soak up a good share of the carbon dioxide we produce, we are threatening their ability to do so. The climate change we are hastening could one day leave us with forests that emit more carbon than they absorb.
Thankfully, there is a way out of this trap-but it involves striking a subtle balance. Helping forests flourish as valuable “carbon sinks” long into the future may require reducing their capacity to absorb carbon now. California is leading the way, as it does on so many climate efforts, in figuring out the details.
The state’s proposed Forest Carbon Plan aims to double efforts to thin out young trees and clear brush in parts of the forest. This temporarily lowers carbon-carrying capacity. But the remaining trees draw a greater share of the available moisture, so they grow and thrive, restoring the forest’s capacity to pull carbon from the air. Healthy trees are also better able to fend off insects. The landscape is rendered less easily burnable. Even in the event of a fine, fewer trees are consumed.
The need for such planning is increasingly urgent. Already, since 2010, drought and insects have killed over 100 million trees in California, most of them in 2016 alone, and wildfires have burned hundreds of thousands of acres.
California plans to treat 35,000 acres of forest a year by 2020, and 60,000 by 2030- financed from the proceeds of the state’s emissions- permit auctions. That’s only a small share of the total acreage that could benefit, about half a million acres in all, so it will be vital to prioritize areas at greatest risk of fire or drought.
The strategy also aims to ensure that carbon in woody material removed from the forests is locked away in the form of solid lumber or burned as biofuel in vehicles that would otherwise run on fossil fuels. New research on transportation biofuels is already under way.
State governments are well accustomed to managing forests, but traditionally they’ve focused on wildlife, watersheds and opportunities for recreation. Only recently have they come to see the vital part forests will have to play in storing carbon. California’s plan, which is expected to be finalized by the governor next year, should serve as a model.
26. By saying “one of the harder challenges,” the author implies that _______.
A. global climate change may get out of control
B. people may misunderstand global warming
C. extreme weather conditions may arise
D. forests may become a potential threat
27. To maintain forests as valuable “carbon sinks,” we may need to _______.
A. preserve the diversity of species in them
B. accelerate the growth of young trees
C. strike a balance among different plants
D. lower their present carbon-absorbing capacity
28. California’s Forest Carbon Plan endeavors to _______.
A. cultivate more drought-resistant trees
B. reduce the density of some of its forests
C. find more effective ways to kill insects
D. restore its forests quickly after wildfires
29. What is essential to California’s plan according to Paragraph 5?
A.To handle the areas in serious danger first.
B.To carry it out before the year of 2020.
C.To perfect the emissions-permit auctions.
D.To obtain enough financial support.
30. The author’s attitude to California’s plan can best be described as _______.
A. ambiguous
B. tolerant
C. supportive
D. cautious
26-30參考答案及解析：
26.【答案】[D]  forests may become a potential threat
【解析】根據題干By saying “one of the harder challenges,” the author implies that _______.定位到原文第一段第一句，但是我們發現第一段只提到了one of the harder challenges，而沒有給出harder challenges指什么，也就是沒有給出本題的答案，因此我們需要看第一句后面的句子。第一句是中心句，后面的句子是對第一句進行闡述，根據后面的句子的闡述，我們可知盡管我們人類依靠森林來吸收大量的二氧化碳，但是我們造成的氣候變化將會使我們的森林最終會釋放的碳比吸收的碳還要多。也就是D選項所說的森林可能會成為潛在的威脅。因此答案為D選項。
27.【答案】[D]  lower their present carbon-absorbing capacity
【解析】根據題干 To maintain forests as valuable “carbon sinks,” we may need to _______.定位到原文第二段第二句Helping forests flourish as valuable “carbon sinks” long into the future may require reducing their capacity to absorb carbon now. 其中may require 后面的內容就是題干問的內容。原文說為了使森林成為有價值的長期的碳匯，可能需要減少他們現在吸收碳的能力。瀏覽選項發現D選項 lower their present carbon-absorbing capacity 降低他們現在的碳吸收能力和原文一致，因此D 選項是正確選項。
28.【答案】[B]  reduce the density of some of its forests
【解析】根據題干 California’s Forest Carbon Plan endeavors to _______. 定位到原文三段第一句The state’s proposed Forest Carbon Plan aims to double efforts to thin out young trees and clear brush in parts of the forest.該句大意為森林碳計劃的目的是大力減少小樹并在森林的部分地方除掉灌木叢。B選項為減少他的森林的密度，因此B選項是正確選項。
29.【答案】[A]  To handle the areas in serious danger first
【解析】根據題干 What is essential to California’s plan according to Paragraph 5? 定位到原文第五段第二句  That’s only a small share of the total acreage that could benefit, about half a million acres in all, so it will be vital to prioritize areas at greatest risk of fire or drought第二句中的 so it will be vital to prioritize areas at greatest risk of fire or drought. 含義為：重要的是要優先考慮火災和干旱風險大的地區，A選項意為首先處理處于有嚴重危險的地方，因此答案為A選項。
30.【答案】[C]  supportive
【解析】題干為 The author’s attitude to California’s plan can best be described as _______. 原文最后一句 California’s plan, which is expected to be finalized by the governor next year, should serve as a model.指出加利福尼亞的計劃應該會起到模范作用，由此可知作者對加利福尼亞州計劃的態度是支持的。瀏覽選項可知C選項supportive支持為正確答案。