考研考研英语易错题(2015-11-20) |
第1题: For all his vaunted talents, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has never had much of a reputation as an economic forecaster. In fact, he shies away from making the precise-to-the-decimal-point predictions that many other economists thrive on. Instead, he owes his success as a monetary policymaker to his ability to sniff out threats to the economy and manipulate interest rates to dampen the dangers he perceives. Now, those instincts are being put to the test. Many Fed watchers—and some policymakers inside the central bank itself—are beginning to wonder whether Greenspan has lost his touch. Despite rising risks to the economy from a swooning stock market and soaring oil prices that could hamper growth, the Greenspan-led Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) opted to leave interest rates unchanged on Sept.24. But in a rare dissent, two of the Fed’s 12 policymakers broke ranks and voted for a cut in rates—Dallas Fed President Robert D. McTeer Jr. and central bank Governor Edward M.Gramlich. The move by McTeer, the Fed’s self-styled “Lonesome Dove”, was no surprise. But Gramlich’s was. This was the first time that the monetary moderate had voted against the chairman since joining the Fed’s board in 1997. And it was the first public dissent by a governor since 1995. Despite the split vote, it’s too soon to count the maestro of monetary policy out. Greenspan had good reasons for not cutting interest rates now. And by acknowledging in the statement issued after the meeting that the economy does indeed face risks, Greenspan left the door wide open to a rate reduction in the future. Indeed, former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley thinks chances are good that the central bank might even cut rates before its next scheduled meeting on Nov.6, the day after congressional elections. So why didn’t the traditionally risk-averse Greenspan cut rates now as insurance against the dangers dogging growth? For one thing, he still thinks the economy is in recovery mode. Consumer demand remains buoyant and has even been turbocharged recently by a new wave of mortgage refinancing. Economists reckon that homeowners will extract some $100 billion in cash from their houses in the second half of this year. And despite all the corporate gloom, business spending has shown signs of picking up, though not anywhere near as strongly as the Fed would like. Does that mean that further rate cuts are off the table? Hardly. Watch for Greenspan to try to time any rate reductions to when they’ll have the most psychological pop on business and investor confidence. That’s surely no easy feat, but it’s one that Greenspan has shown himself capable of more than once in the past. Don’t be surprised if he surprises everyone again. 21. Alan Greenspan owes his reputation much to . A. his successful predictions of economy B. his timely handling of interest rates C. his unusual economic policies D. his unique sense of dangers 22. It can be inferred from the passage that . A. instincts most often misguide the monetary policies B. Greenspan has lost his control of the central bank C. consensus is often the case among Fed’s policymakers D. Greenspan wouldnt tolerate such a dissent 23. Gramley’s remarks are mentioned to indicate that . A. Greenspan didnt rule out the possibility of a future rate reduction B. Greenspan’s monetary policy may turn out to be a failure C. Greenspan’s refusal to cut rates now was justified D. Greenspan will definitely cut the rates before Nov.6 24. From the fifth paragraph, we can learn that . A. economy is now well on its way to recovery B. economists are uncertain about consumer demand C. corporate performance is generally not encouraging D. businesses have been investing the way the Fed hoped 25. The author seems to regard Greenspan’s manipulation of interest rates with . A. disapproval B. doubt C. approval D. admiration |
【分析题】: |
第2题:The BBC, Britain’s mammoth public-service broadcaster, has long been a cause for complaint among its competitors in television, radio and educational and magazine publishers. Newspapers, meanwhile, have been protected from it because they published in a different medium. That’s no longer the case. The internet has brought the BBC and newspapers in direct competition—and the BBC looks like coming off best. The improbable success online of Britain’s lumbering giant of a public service broadcaster is largely down to John Birt, a former director general who “got” the internet before any of the other big men of British media. He launched the corporation’s online operations in 1998, saying that the BBC would be a trusted guide for people bewildered by the variety of online services. The BBC now has 525 sites. It spends £15m ($27m) a year on its news website and another £51m on others ranging from society and culture to science, nature and entertainment. But behind the websites are the vast newsgathering and programme making resources, including over 5,000 journalists, funded by its annual £2.8 billion public subsidy. For this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, for instance, the BBC’s gardening micro site made it possible to zoom around each competing garden, watch an interview with the designer and click on “leaf hotspots” about individual plants. For this year’s election, the news website offered a wealth of easy-to-use statistical detail on constituencies, voting patterns and polls. This week the BBC announced free downloads of several Beethoven symphonies performed by one of its five in-house orchestras. That particularly annoys newspapers, whose online sites sometimes offer free music downloads—but they have to pay the music industry for them. It is the success of the BBC’s news website that most troubles newspapers. Its audience has increased from 1.6m unique weekly users in 2000 to 7.8m in 2005; and its content has a breadth and depth that newspapers struggle to match. Newspapers need to build up their online businesses because their offline businesses are flagging. Total newspaper readership has fallen by about 30% since 1990 and readers are getting older as young people increasingly get their news from other sources—principally the internet. In 1990, 38% of newspaper readers were under 35. By 2002, the figure had dropped to 31%. Just this week, Dominic Lawson, the editor of the Sunday Telegraph, was sacked for failing to stem its decline. Some papers are having some success in building audiences online—the Guardian, which has by far the most successful newspaper site, gets nearly half as many weekly users as the BBC—but the problem is turning them into money. 36. What does “John Birt … ‘got’ the internet before any of the other big men of British media” mean? [A] John Birt was connected to the internet before his competitors. [B] John Birt launched the BBC website before his competitors launched theirs. [C] John Birt understood how the internet could be used by news media before his competitors did. [D] John Birt understood how the internet worked before his competitors did. 37. Why does the text state that the BBC’s success in the field of internet news was “improbable”? [A] Because the BBC is a large organisation. [B] Because the BBC is not a private company. [C] Because the BBC is not a successful media organisation. [D] Because the BBC doesn’t make a profit. 38. The author cites the examples in paragraph 3 in order to demonstrate that [A] the BBC’s websites are innovative and comprehensive. [B] the BBC’s websites are free and wide-ranging. [C] the BBC spends its money well. [D] the BBC uses modern technology. 39. The BBC needn’t to pay the music industry to provide classical music downloads for users of its websites because [A] the BBC is Britain’s state-owned media organisation. [B] the BBC has a special copyright agreement with the big music industry companies. [C] the BBC produces classical music itself. [D] the BBC lets the music industry use its orchestras for free. 40. According to the final paragraph, the main advantage that the BBC has over newspapers is that [A] more people use the BBC website. [B] the BBC doesn’t need to make a profit. [C] the BBC has more competent managers. [D] young people are turning to the internet for news coverage. |
【分析题】: |
第3、4、5、6、7题: JOY WILLIAMS'S quirky fourth novel "The Quick and the Dead" follows a trio of 16-yearold misfits in a warped "Charlie's Angels" set in the American south-west. Driven hazily to defend animal rights, the girls accomplish little beyond diatribe: they rescue a putrefied ram and hurl stones at stuffed elephants. In what is structurally a road novel that ends up where it began, the desultory threesome stumbles upon both cruelty to animals and unlikely romance. A mournful dog is strangled by an irate neighbor, a taxidermist falls in love with an 8-year-old direct-action firebrand determined that he atone for his sins. A careen across the barely tamed Arizona prairie, this peculiar book aims less for a traditional storyline than a sequence of jangled (often hilarious) conversations, ludicrous circumstances, and absurdist tableaux. The consequent long-walk-to-nowhere is both the book's limitation and its charm. All three girls are motherless. Fiercely political Alice discovers that her erstwhile parents are her grandparents, who thereupon shrivel: "Deceit had kept them young whereas the truth had accelerated them practically into decrepitude." Both parents of the doleful Corvus drowned while driving on a flooded interstate off-ramp. The mother of the more conventional Annabel ("one of those people who would say, `We'll get in touch soonest' when they never wanted to see you again") slammed her car drunkenly into a fish restaurant. Later, Annabel's father observes to his wife's ghost, "You didn't want to order what I ordered, darling." The sharp-tongued wraith snaps back: "That's because you always ordered badly and wanted me to experience your miserable mistake." Against a roundly apocalyptic world view, the great pleasures of this book are line-by-line. Ms Williams can lacerate setting and character alike in a few slashes: "It was one of those rugged American places, a remote, sad-ass, but plucky downwind town whose citizens were flawed and brave." Alice's acerbity spits little wisdoms: putting lost teeth under a pillow for money is "a classic capitalistic consumer ploy, designed to wean you away at an early age from healthy horror and sensible dismay to greedy, deluded, sunny expectancy." Whether or not the novel, like Alice, expressly advocates animal rights, an animal motif crops up in every scene, as flesh-and blood "critters" (usually dead) or insipid decoration on crockery. If Ms Williams does not intend to induce human horror at a pending bestial Armageddon, she at least invokes a future of earthly loneliness, where animals appear only as ceramic-hen butter dishes and endangered-species Elastoplasts. One caution: when flimsy narrative superstructure begins to sag, anarchic wackiness can grow wearing. While "The Quick and the Dead" is edgy from its first page, the trouble with starting at the edge is there is nowhere to go. Nevertheless, Ms Williams is original, energetic and viscously funny: Carl Hiaasen with a conscience. 31. The girls in the novel A.did nothing about reflecting the society facts.? B.protected animals successfully. C.were cruel to the animals. D.murdered their neighbor’s dog. 32. This novel is attentive to each of the following except A.backgrounds B.conversations C.traditional storyline D.scenes 33. The main idea of the novel is A.care about the children B.how to make crockery C.fight with the animal-killers D.animal protection 34. The second paragraph tells us A.the miserable life of the girls. B.the girls’ parents are growing old. C.society contradiction and circumstances the girls live in. D.the backgrounds of the story and the heroines. 35. For Alice, putting lost teeth under a pillow for money is not A.just a beautiful dream. B.a way to be away the cheating.? C.a way to be away the lust .? D.a way to prevent one from illness. |
【单选题】: |
【单选题】: |
【单选题】: |
【单选题】: |
【单选题】: |
第8题:As the American West enters its fifth year of drought—the longest stretch in 108 years—the region’s cities are instituting sweeping water-usage restrictions and conservation programs. In Aurora, Colo., where the reservoir system is at just 26% capacity and is expected to reach only half of normal levels by summer, planting new trees and shrubs is prohibited, and privately owned pools may not be filled. In the thirsty, growing cities of Southern California, however, simple conservation simply won’t do the trick. This region imports more than 80% of its water from neighboring states. And even though it jealously guards those arrangements, they won’t be enough to compensate for the rapid growth that lies just ahead: San Diego County’s population alone is projected to rise about 29% by 2020, from 2.84 million to 3.67 million. Drastic times call for drastic measures, so state water agencies are turning to desalination, a technology that makes ocean and brackish water drinkable by stripping it of salt and other minerals. California has plans in various stages to build 13 desalination plants along its coastline. The projects will cost billions, but planners say they’ll provide a far more reliable supply for California residents than waiting for Mother Nature to adjust her weather patterns. Since just 3% of water on earth is fresh, this is a step that would have to be taken anyway as the global population grows. “Desalination will create a drought-proof supply of water,” says Bob Yamada, the San Diego Water Authority’s seawater-desalination program manager. He adds that 20 years from now, 10% to 20% of the state’s water could come from the ocean. The American Water Works Assn., a Denverbased nonprofit dedicated to improving drinkingwater quality and supply, predicts that the market for desalination plants and equipment, now just $2 billion, will grow to more than $70 billion over the next two decades. Environmentalists embrace desalination. Studies show that pumping the cooling water and concentrate back into the ocean raises its salinity by less than 1%, which is equivalent to the natural rise and fall. Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, says he became a proponent of desalination when a June, 1999, California report demonstrated that it was cheaper than building new dams, which often have a huge environmental impact. Nelson still worries about energy consumption and coastal disruption. But he adds that “desalination is no longer on the lunatic fringe. It has entered the mainstream. That means we look at desalt projects on a case-by-case basis, as we would any other legitimate water policy.” As the technology continues to improve, experts say it’ll fast become a solution not only for municipalities but for hotels and resorts, corporations, and, someday, homeowners. Privately held water-treatment outfit Matrix Water, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is installing a desalination plant that will process 800,000 gallons of water per day for the new Emerald Bay Four Seasons Resort in the Bahamas. And the new U.S. Homeland Security Dept. is investigating ways of using reverse osmosis to protect the nation’s water supply from bioterrorism. 31. Water conservation programs alone wont solve the problem in Southern California because . A. it is confronting an unprecedented drought in 108 years B. private citizens are consuming a lot more water than before C. it imports a large proportion of its water from other states D. population in the cities of this area is always growing fast 32. The third paragraph is written to . A. discuss the cause of the decline of water supply B. introduce a solution to the issue of water shortage C. explain the way in which desalination develops D. exemplify the different ways to solve the problem 33. Barry Nelson became a supporter of desalination owing to its . A. universal support among environmentalists B. contribution to natural resources C. low cost and little damage to environment D. advantage to natural defense 34. Nelson’s attitude towards desalination programs can best be described as one of . A. qualified approval B. unreserved support C. slight indifference D. absolute pessimism 35. The expression “reverse osmosis” most probably refers to . A. costal disruption B. technology C. antiterrorism policies D. desalination |
【分析题】: |
第9题:Text 2 SoBig.F was the more visible of the two recent waves of infection because it propagated itself by e-mail, meaning that victims noticed what was going on. SoBig.F was so effective that it caused substantial disruption even to those protected by anti-virus software. That was because so many copies of the virus spread (some 500,000 computers were infected) that many machines were overwhelmed by messages from their own anti-virus software. On top of that, one common counter-measure backfired, increasing traffic still further. Anti-virus software often bounces a warning back to the sender of an infected e-mail, saying that the e-mail in question cannot be delivered because it contains a virus. SoBig.F was able to spoof this system by “harvesting” e-mail addresses from the hard disks of infected computers. Some of these addresses were then sent infected e-mails that had been doctored to look as though they had come from other harvested addresses. The latter were thus sent warnings, even though their machines may not have been infected. Kevin Haley of Symantec, a firm that makes anti-virus software, thinks that one reason SoBig.F was so much more effective than other viruses that work this way is because it was better at searching hard-drives for addresses. Brian King, of CERT, an internet-security centre at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, notes that, unlike its precursors, SoBig.F was capable of “multi-threading”: it could send multiple e-mails simultaneously, allowing it to dispatch thousands in minutes. Blaster worked by creating a “buffer overrun in the remote procedure call”. In English, that means it attacked a piece of software used by Microsoft's Windows operating system to allow one computer to control another. It did so by causing that software to use too much memory. Most worms work by exploiting weaknesses in an operating system, but whoever wrote Blaster had a particularly refined sense of humour, since the website under attack was the one from which users could obtain a program to fix the very weakness in Windows that the worm itself was exploiting. One way to deal with a wicked worm like Blaster is to design a fairy godmother worm that goes around repairing vulnerable machines automatically. In the case of Blaster someone seems to have tried exactly that with a program called Welchi. However, according to Mr Haley, Welchi has caused almost as many problems as Blaster itself, by overwhelming networks with “pings”—signals that checked for the presence of other computers. Though both of these programs fell short of the apparent objectives of their authors, they still caused damage. For instance, they forced the shutdown of a number of computer networks, including the one used by the New York Times newsroom, and the one organising trains operated by CSX, a freight company on America's east coast. Computer scientists expect that it is only a matter of time before a truly devastating virus is unleashed. 26. SoBig.F damaged computer programs mainly by ____. [A] sending them an overpowering number of messages [B] harvesting the addresses stored in the computers [C] infecting the computers with an invisible virus [D] destroying the anti-virus software of the computers 27. Which of the following best defines the word “ doctored” (line , para. 1) ? [A] falsified [B] cured [C] deceived [D] diagnosed 28. Compared with SoBig.F, Blaster was a virus that was _____. [A] more destructive [B] more humorous [C] less vulnerable [D] less noticeable 29. From the text we learn that Welchi ____. [A] is a wicked worm causing as many damages as Blaster did [B] is a program designed by Haley to detect worms like Blaster [C] is a program intended to fix the infected machines [D] is a worm meant to defeat the virus with “ pings” 30. The tone of the text can best described as _____. [A] optimistic and humorous [B] analytical but concerned [C] passionate but pessimistic [D] scholarly and cautious |
【分析题】: |
第10、11、12、13、14题: "MAKING money is a dirty game," says the Institute of Economic Affairs, summing up the attitude of British novelists towards business. The IEA, a free market think-tank, has just published a collection of essays ("The Representation of Business in English Literature") by five academics chronicling the hostility of the country's men and women of letters to the sordid business of making money. The implication is that Britain's economic performance is retarded by an anti-industrial culture. Rather than blaming recalcitrant workers and incompetent managers for Britain's economic worries, then, we can put George Orwell and Martin Amis in the dock instead. From Dickens's Scrooge to Amis’s John Self in his 1980s novel "Money", novelists have conjured up a rogue's gallery of mean, greedy, amoral money-men that has alienated their impressionable readers from the noble pursuit of capitalism. The argument has been well made before, most famously in 1981 by Martin Wiener, an American academic, in his "English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit". Lady Thatcher was a devotee of Mr. Wiener's, and she led a crusade to revive the "entrepreneurial culture" which the liberal elite had allegedly trampled underfoot. The present Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, sounds as though he agrees with her. At a recent speech to the Confederation of British Industry, he declared that it should be the duty of every teacher in the country to "communicate the virtues of business and enterprise". Certainly, most novelists are hostile to capitalism, but this refrain risks scapegoating writers for failings for which they are not to blame. Britain's culture is no more anti-business than that of other countries. The Romantic Movement, which started as a reaction against the industrial revolution of the century, was born and flourished in Germany, but has not stopped the Germans from being Europe's most successful entrepreneurs and industrialists. Even the Americans are guilty of blackening business's name. SMERSH and SPECTRE went out with the cold war. James Bond now takes on international media magnates rather than Rosa Kleb. His films such as "Erin Brockovich" have pitched downtrodden, moral heroes against the evil of faceless corporatism. Yet none of this seems to have dented America's lust for free enterprise. The irony is that the novel flourished as an art form only after, and as a result of, the creation of the new commercial classes of Victorian England, just as the modern Hollywood film can exist only in an era of mass consumerism. Perhaps the moral is that capitalist societies consume literature and film to let off steam rather than to change the world. 21. In the first paragraph, the author introduces his topic by A. posing a contract B. justifying an assumption C. making a comparison D. explaining a phenomenon 22. The word “sordid”(line 6, para 1)implies A. holy B. dirty C. sainty D. pure 23. George Orwell and Martin Amis are defendants because A. no accusation of the inefficient management B. the decline of the country’s economy C. the novelists are in favor of them D. novelists depict them as merciful people 24. American academic Martin Wiener’s argument A. sides with the liberal elite B. is neutral about the virtue of business and enterprise C. inclines towards the revival of the entrepreneurial culture D. is hostile to the industrial spirit 25. What can we infer from the last paragraph? A. the novel existed after the creation of the new commercial classes B. capital doesn’t pollute social morality C. capitalist societies change the world D. the modern holy world has nothing to do with consumers |
【单选题】: |
【单选题】: |
【单选题】: |
【单选题】: |
【单选题】: |
第15题:Most worthwhile careers require some kind of specialized training. Ideally, therefore, the choice of an 1 should be made even before the choice of a curriculum in high school. Actually, 2 , most people make several job choices during their working lives, 3 because of economic and industrial changes and partly to improve 4 position. The “one perfect job” does not exist. Young people should 5 enter into a broad flexible training program that will 6 them for a field of work rather than for a single 7 . Unfortunately many young people have to make career plans 8 benefit of help from a competent vocational counselor or psychologist. Knowing 9 about the occupational world, or themselves for that matter, they choose their lifework on a hit-or-miss 10 . Some drift from job to job. Others 11 to work in which they are unhappy and for which they are not fitted. One common mistake is choosing an occupation for 12 real or imagined prestige. Too many high-school students—or their parents for them—choose the professional field, 13 both the relatively small proportion of workers in the professions and the extremely high educational and personal 14 . The imagined or real prestige of a profession or a “whitecollar” job is 15 good reason for choosing it as life’s work. 16 , these occupations are not always well paid. Since a large proportion of jobs are in mechanical and manual work, the 17 of young people should give serious 18 to these fields. Before making an occupational choice, a person should have a general idea of what he wants 19 life and how hard he is willing to work to get it. Some people desire social prestige, others intellectual satisfaction. Some want security, others are willing to take 20 for financial gain. Each occupational choice has its demands as well as its rewards. 1. A. identification B. entertainment C. accommodation D. occupation 2. A. however B. therefore C. though D. thereby 3. A. entirely B. mainly C. partly D. his 4. A. its B. his C. our D. their 5. A. since B. therefore C. furthermore D. forever 6. A. make B. fit C. take D. leave 7. A. job B. way C. means D. company 8. A. to B. for C. without D. with 9. A. little B. few C. much D. a lot 10. A. chance B. basis C. purpose D. opportunity 11. A. apply B. appeal C. stick D. turn 12. A. our B. its C. your D. their 13. A. concerning B. following C. considering D. disregarding 14. A. preference B. requirements C. tendencies D. ambitions 15. A. a B. any C. no D. the 16. A. Therefore B. However C. Nevertheless D. Moreover 17. A. majority B. mass C. minority D. multitude 18. A. proposal B. suggestion C. consideration D. appraisal 19. A. towards B. against C. out of D. without 20. A. turns B. parts C. choices D. risks Section ⅡReading Comprehension |
【分析题】: |
第16题: You are just back from a tour and have some complaints to make about the tourist company. Write a letter to the manager of the company which includes the following points: (1) the purposes of writing the letter;(2)the services you were not satisfactory with;(3)the hope that they can give you some compensation. Write your letter using no less than 100 words. Write it neatly on ANSWER SHEET2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, use “Li Ming” instead. You do not need to write the address. (10 points) Part B 52. Study the picture above carefully and write an essay entitled “Cars: Should we Love them or Hate them?” In the essay, you should (1)describe the picture (2)interpret its meaning (3)give your opinion about the phenomenon. You should write about 200 words neatly on ANSWER SHEET2. (20 points) |
【分析题】: |
第17题:In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41—45, choose the most suitable one from the list A—G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points) A young man left hometown 22 years ago, and turned out to be a poor correspondent. After a while his letters dried up, and for six years the family had hear nothing from him. Then his sister entered his name in the Google search engine on the Web and, as she says, “There he was on a bowling league in Brazil!” Now they’re exchanging catchup letters and photos. Who knew Brazilian bowling leagues had Web sites? Google knew, because Google knows everything, or nearly. 41) . Google started in 1998, when two 26-year-olds, Sergei Brin and Larry Page, set up shop in a tiny office. Today they operate out of a building in Mountain View, Calif., and regional offices all over the world. Google has become the best and most successful search engine. If you need a map of a region, Google will oblige. If you rip the rotator cuff in your shoulder, Google finds drawings that show you how it works. 42) . An epidemiologist or social psychologist studying reactions to a phenomenon like the West Nile virus might well come here often, to learn what people are saying about it. 43) . A story gets on if enough newspapers run it and give it prominence. Every minute, the computers update the page and compile related stories while dropping others. No human editors decide what’s to be emphasized. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s not bad at all. However Google is boastful. It can’t keep itself from telling you how inconceivably fast it is. Ask it for information on Chinese archaeology and it compiles 29,400 links, adding: “search took 0-14 seconds.” 44) . It needs help distinguishing between Francis Bacon, the 20th-century painter, and Francis Bacon, the 17th-century philosopher. Sometimes Google looks a little foolish. 45) . A woman wrote to Randy Cohen, the New York Times ethicist, about a friend who had gone out with a doctor and then Googled him when she got home, discovering that he had been involved in several malpractice suits. Cohen was asked whether this was a decent thing to do. He said it was and that he had done it himself. The woman’s Googling, Gohen said, was benign, just like asking her friends about this fellow. |
【分析题】: |
第18题:Aremote Patagonian town that’s just beginning to prosper by guiding tourists through the virgin forests nearby is being shaken by the realization that it’s sitting on a gold mine. Literally. 41)___________________________________________________________________ Esquel’s plight is winning attention from international conservation and environmental groups such as Greenpeace. 42)__________________________ About 3.2 million acres already are under contract for mineral exploration in poor and sparsely settled Chubut Province, where Esquel is, near the southern tip of South America. 43)______________________________________ Meridian’s project, about 5 miles outside Esquel at a higher elevation, is about 20 miles from a national park that preserves rate trees known as alerces, a southern relative of California’s giant sequoia. Some of them have been growing serenely in the temperate rain forest for more than 3,000 years. The greatest fear is that cyanide, which is used to leach gold from ore, will drain downhill and poison Esquel’s and possibly the park’s water supplies. The mine will use 180 tons of the deadly chemical each month. Although many townspeople and some geologists disagree, the company says any excess cyanide would drain away from Esquel. “We won’t allow them to tear things up and leave us with the toxic aftermath,” said Felix Aguilar, 28, as he piloted a boatload of tourists through a lake in the Alerces National Park.“We take care of things here, so that the entire world can hear and see nature in its pure state. The world must help us prevent this.” 44)__________________________________________________________________________ A young English botanist named Charles Darwin, the author of the theory of evolution, was the first European to see alerces, with trunks that had a circumference of 130 feet. He gave the tree its generic name, Fitzroya cupressoides, for the captain of his ship, Robert Fitzroy. Argentina, pressed by the United States, Canada, the World Bank and other global lenders, rewrote its mining laws in the 1990s to encourage foreign investment.45)________________________________________ Argentina took in more than$1 billion over the past decade by granting exploration contracts for precious metals to more than 70 foreign and domestic companies. If the country were to turn away a major investor, the message to its mining sector would be chilling. [A]Whether Meridian Gold Corp. gets its openpit gold mine outside Esquel could determine the fate of mining in Patagonia, a pristine region spanning southern Argentina and Chile. [B]Forest ecologist Paul Alaback, a University of Montana professor who studies the alerces, said Argentine authorities could gain from Alaska’s successful naturebased tourism. [C]More than 3,000 worried Esquel residents recently took to the streets in protests aimed at assuring that their neat community of 28,000 becomes a ecotourism center, not a goldrush town. [D]American Douglas Tomkins, the founder of the Esprit clothing line and a prominent global conservationist, has bought more than 800,000 wilderness acres in Chile to preserve alerces and protect what’s left of the temperate rain forest. Ted Turner, the communications magnate, also has bought land in Argentine Patagonia with an eye to conservation. [E]Residents also complain that Argentina hasn’t given naturebased tourism a chance. [F]Mining companies received incentives such as 30 years without new taxes and dutyfree imports of earthmoving equipment. [G]In Argentina, the town has become a national symbol in the debate over exploitation vs. preservation of the country’s vast natural resources. |
【分析题】: |