Question

7．Cutting trees in half can help scientists understand the past and now it appears it can be used to predict the future．Researchers have been looking at ring growth from trees to make sense of past weather patterns such as droughts and rain．
    Combining data from the rings allowed them to create a copy of pictures of climate changes over the past 2，000 years and this information could also be used to foresee future famine（饑荒），unrest and conflict．The project has been named Old World Drought Atlas，or OWDA．
     Its main author，Columbia biologist Edward Cook，has already carried out similar projects using trees to create chronological（按順序排列的） maps of drought  in Asia and North-America．He believes that combining the three atlases could throw light on the global causes of drought and climate change．
     The study，for instance，gave special attention to the importance of one of such causes，the North Atlantic Oscillation（濤動），in affecting climate patterns in Europe，and specifically in making Europe wetter north of the Alps and drier south of them．
     The OWDA also helped analyse historical events from a climatic perspective．For  instance，the 1740-174l famine in Ireland had so far been explained by an unusually cold winter and spring，but the atlas shows that unusually low rainfall over the spring and summer of 1741 could also have played a role．Finally this made growing food nearly impossible and caused a continent-wide famine．
      A better grasp of these processes could even make it possible to predict future  famine，unrest and conflict．
      Cook said，64The Old World Drought Atlas fills a major geographic gap in the data that's important to determine patterns of climate changes in time．That's important for understanding causes of many droughts，and it's important for climate modelers to test hypotheses（偎說）  of climate forcing and change．
  
32．Why is ring growth useful in research？B
A．It's the best way to understand the past．
B．It could be used to predict the future．
C．It could be used to prevent the outbreak of droughts and rain．
D．It isn't mentioned in the passage．
33．People worldwide can read chronological maps of droughtA．
A．in Asia
B．in Africa
C．in Europe
D．in South America
34．What is the author's attitude toward the study of OWDA？C
A．Positive．
B．Negative．
C．Objective．
D．Conservative．
35．Why did the author of the passage mention what Cook said？B
A．To show he interviewed Cook himself．
B．To tell us the importance of OWDA．
C．To compare climate variability．
D．To analyse how to predict droughts．

Answer 1

分析 本文主要講述科學(xué)家經(jīng)過研究得出結(jié)論，樹齡有助于預(yù)知將來的天氣變化．

解答 32--35 BACB
32．B．細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第一段now it appears it can be used to predict the future可知，利用年輪的增加來預(yù)測未來．故選B．
33．A．細(xì)節(jié)理解題．根據(jù)第三段中Columbia biologist Edward Cook，has already carried out similar projects using trees to create chronological maps of drought in Asia and North America可知，世人可以讀到有關(guān)亞洲的干旱圖．故選A．
34．C．推理判斷題．文章中，作者對此的態(tài)度并非特別明確（因?yàn)樽髡邲]在文章中有暗示自己的觀點(diǎn)或相關(guān)的詞等），文章就是從客觀的角度來描述．故選C．
35．B．推理判斷題．根據(jù)最后一段中的幾個部分很重要，如The Old World Drought Atlas fills a major geographic  gap和That's important for understanding causes of many droughts，and it's important for climate modelers．由此可判斷"其目的是說明古老地圖冊的重要性"．故選B．

點(diǎn)評 高考中選用的科技文往往反映的是當(dāng)今人類最先進(jìn)的科技水平和最新的科研成果．我們閱讀它的過程其實(shí)就是學(xué)習(xí)科學(xué)知識，掌握科技信息的過程．然后，理解文章，分析文章，以閱讀材料所提供的科學(xué)事實(shí)為依據(jù)，同時得出的結(jié)論還應(yīng)符合基本的科普常識，對照時要特別注意范圍大小、程度高低、數(shù)量多少、條件與結(jié)果、方法與目的、成就與問題、可能性與現(xiàn)實(shí)性．在細(xì)心對照基礎(chǔ)上，經(jīng)過一番分析、綜合，然后就要根據(jù)題目要求對選項(xiàng)作出正確判斷了，這些判斷包括選項(xiàng)的表達(dá)是否符合原文的意思，對概念，文句的理解是否正確，對要點(diǎn)歸納是否全面等，從而排除錯誤選項(xiàng)，選擇最合適的答案．