职称英语考试

试题来源：2004年职称英语等级考试综合类B真题

第二篇　　　　　　　　　　　Ancient Egypt Brought Down by Famine
   Even ancient Egypt’s mighty pyramid(金字塔)builders were powerless in the face of the　famine(饥荒)that helped bring down their civilization around 2180 B．C．．Now evidence collected from mud deposited by the River Nile suggests that a shift in climate thousands of  kilometers to the south was ultimately to blame--and the same or worse could happen today．
   The ancient Egyptians depended on the Nile’s annual floods to irrigate their crops．But any change in climate that pushed the African monsoons(季风)southwards out of Ethiopia would have reduced these floods．
   Declining rains in the Ethiopian highlands would have meant fewer plants to stabilize the soil．W．1len rain did fall it would have washed large amounts of soil into the Blue Nile and into  Egypt，along with sediment(沉积)from the White Nile．
   Blue Nile mud has a different isotope(同位素)signature from that of the white Nile．So by analyzing isotope differences in mud deposited in the Nile Delta．Michael Krom of LeedsUniversity worked out what proportion of sediment came from each branch of the river．
   Krom reasons that during periods of drought，the amount of Blue Nile mud in the river　would be relatively high．He found that one of these periods，from 4500 to 4200 years ago。immediately came before the fall of the Egypt’s old Kingdom．
   The weakened waters would have been disaster for the Egyptians．‘‘Changes that affect food supply don’t have to be very large to have a ripple(波浪)effect in societies，”says Bill Ryan of the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in New York．
   Similar events today could be even more devastating，says team member Daniel Stanley．ascientist from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D．C．“Anything humans do to shift the climate belts would have an even worse effect along the Nile system today because the　populations have increased dramatically．”


36 Why does the author mention “Egypt’s mighty pyramid builders’’?
A Because they once worked miracles．
B Because they were well—built．
C Because they were actually very weak．
D Because even they were unable to rescue their civilization．


37 Which of the following factors was ultimately responsible for bringing down the
civilization of ancient Egypt?
A Change of climate．
B Corrulption．
C flood．
D Population growth．


38 which of the following statements is true?
A The White Nile is the trunk of the River Nile．
B The White Nile is the trunk of the Blue Nile．
C The White Nile is a branch of the Blue Nile．
D The White Nile is a branch of the River Nile．


39 According to Krom，the Egypt’s o1d Kingdom fell
 A immediately after a period of drought．
 B immediately after a period of flood．
 C just before a drought struck．
 D just before a flood struck．


40 The word “devastating” in the last paragraph could be best replaced by
 A “frustrating'’．
 B “damaging'’．
 C “defeating”．
 D “worrying'’．

试题出处：http://www.examtiku.com/shiti/405643279.html
网考网参考答案：D、A、D、A 、B
网考网解析：进入考试题库查看解析
大数据分析：根据网考网与考试题库的统计分析，该试题：
38%的考友选择了A选项
45%的考友选择了B选项
2%的考友选择了C选项
15%的考友选择了D选项
考友解析与评论：
 · 这个答案应该是错的，应该是D、A、D、A 、B
 · 原先有道题和这题几乎一样，只是稍有不同，大家看看就可理解了，那个答案正确。
 · 到底谁的答案是对的呀？