Question

Life on earth depends on water, and there is no substitute for it. The current assumption is that our basic needs for water—whether for drinking, agriculture, industry or the raising of fish—will always have to be met. Given this premise (前提), there are two basic routes we can go; more equal access to water or better engineering solutions.
Look at the engineering solutions first. A lot of my research concentrates on what happens to wetlands when you build dams in river basins, particularly in Africa. The ecology of such areas is almost entirely driven by the seasonal changes of the river—the pulse of the water. And the fact is that if you build a dam, you generally spoil the downstream ecology. In the past, such problems have been hidden by a lack of information. But in the near future, governments will have no excuses for their ignorance.
The engineers’ ability to control water flows has created new kinds of unpredictability, too. Dams in Africa have meant fewer fish, less grazing and less floodplain (洪泛區) agriculture, none of which were expected. And there average economic life is assumed to be thirty years. Dams don’t exist forever, but what will replace them is not clear.
The challenge for the future is to find new means of controlling water. Although GM technology(轉基因) will allow us to breed better dry-land crops, there is no market for companies to develop crops suitable for the micro-climates of the Sahel and elsewhere in Africa. Who is going to pay for research on locally appropriate crops in the Third World?
小題1:What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．The engineering solutions to water resource and their limitation.

B．The challenge for the future.

C．The basic means of controlling water.

D．The challenge for developing crops.

小題2:The author suggests that governments will have no excuse for their careless ignorance in the future because _____.

A．The ecological destruction will be known to the public by researchers

B．The ecological destruction will no longer be a problem in the future

C．The future is an information age

D．Governments will face greater challenge in the future

小題3:Which of the following statements is NOT true for meeting our basic needs for water?

A．Water resource should be used more reasonably.

B．More dams should be built in river basins.

C．More wetlands should be protected from destruction.

D．More dry-land crops could be developed in Africa.

小題4:The last sentence probably implies that _____.

A．No one will invest in developing locally appropriate crops in Africa

B．Researchers have no interest in developing dry-land crops

C．Research on locally appropriate crops in the Third World may be profitable

D．There is less water resource in the Third World

Answer 1

小題1:A
小題2:C
小題3:B
小題4:A

試題分析：文章分析水資源局限的工程解決方案的做法和不利因素，并提出如何找出代替的方法。
小題1:主旨題：從第二段的第一句話：Look at the engineering solutions first. 可知這篇文章講的是水資源局限的工程解決方案。選A
小題2:細節題：從第二段的句子：In the past, such problems have been hidden by a lack of information.可知過去這樣的問題被隱藏起來，未來是信息時代，政府就沒有借口了。選C
小題3:細節題：從第三段的句子：Dams don’t exist forever, but what will replace them is not clear.可知不會再多建大壩了。選B
小題4:句意理解題：最后一句話Who is going to pay for research on locally appropriate crops in the Third World?的意思是：誰會為研究適合第三世界的國家生長的作物買單呢？也就是沒有人愿意為研究適合第三世界的國家生長的作物投資。選A
點評：本文考查細節題為主，細節題可以在文章中直接找到與答案有關的信息?或是其變體。搜查信息在閱讀中非常重要它包括理解作者在敘述某事時使用的具體事實、數據、圖表等細節信息。在一篇短文里大部分篇幅都屬于這類圍繞主體展開的細節。做這類題一般采用尋讀法?即先讀題，然后帶著問題快速閱讀短文，找出與問題有關的詞語或句子，再對相關部分進行分析對比，找出答案。