单选题 Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is.followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
The warming of the Arctic is releasing a new wave of banned toxic chemicals that had been trapped in the ice and cold water, scientists have discovered.
The researchers warn that the amount of the poisons stored in the polar region is unknown and their release could "undermine global efforts to reduce environmental and human exposure to them."
The chemicals leaking out as temperatures rise include DDT, lindane, chlordane, PCBs and HCBs. All of these persistent organic pollutants (Pops) are banned under the 2004 Stockholm Convention.
Pops can cause cancers and birth defects and take a very long time to degrade (降解, meaning they can be transported for long distances and accumulate over time.
Over past decades, the low temperatures in the Arctic trapped volatile (易挥发的) Pops in ice and cold water. But scientists in Canada and Norway have now discovered that global warming is freeing the Pops once again.
They examined measurements of Pops in the air between 1993 and 2009 at the Zeppelin research station in Svalbaard and Alert weather station in northern Canada. After allowing for the decline in global emissions of Pops, the team showed that the toxic chemicals are being remobilised by rising temperatures and the retreat of the sea ice, which exposes more water to the Sun. For example, air concentrations of PCBs and HCBs have shown a rising trend from about 2004 onwards.
Hayley Hung, a member of Environment Canada and of the team, said its work provided the first evidence of the releasing of Pops in the Arctic. "But this is the beginning of a story," she said. "The next step is to find out how much is in the Arctic, how much will leak out and how quickly." With the exception of lindane, there was little existing knowledge of the scale of the Pops stored in high latitude (纬度) regions.
The fate of the frozen Pops depends on the speed of warming in the Arctic—it is currently heating up much more quickly than lower latitudes—as well as how the chemicals interact with snow and rain. Pops accumulate in fats and are therefore concentrated up the food chain, but Hung cautions that food chains themselves in the Arctic may be altered by climate change.
单选题 What have the researchers discovered in the Arctic?
  • A. The ice and cold water in the region contain banned toxic chemicals.
  • B. Poisons stored in the region are leaking out due to global warming.
  • C. The amount of toxic chemicals in the region could destroy all mankind.
  • D. The ecosystem in the region has been changed by rising temperatures.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干中的discovered和the Arctic将本题出处定位到首段。该段提到，科学家已经发现，北极地区温度的升高，使得新一波被禁用的有毒化学物质被释放出来，这些物质之前一直被困在冰层和冰冷的海水中。 [B]中的Poisons stored in the region对应toxic chemicals…trapped in the ice and cold water，leaking out对应releasing，global warming对应The warming of the Arctic对应，故答案为[B]。科学家发现的是被困在冰层和冰冷的海水中的有毒化学物质被释放出来，并不是发现冰层和冰冷的海水中包含有毒化学物质， 故排除[A]。文中提到冻结在这个极地的毒素数量不明，而且，这些毒素的释放会“破坏人们在保护环境和人类免受这些毒素伤害方面所做的全球努力”， 并未提及毒素数量能毁灭全人类，故排除[C]。文中提到北极地区温度升高，但未提及这一区域的生态系统因此改变，故排除[D]。 [设题分析] 定语从句处/因果处设题。本题用duetd由于) 将文中的因果关系明确化，用过去分词作后置 定语替换了文中的that定语从句，将具体原因概括化。
单选题 What do we learn about Pops from the passage?
  • A. They pose a threat to marine life and humans.
  • B. They are substances that are easily degraded.
  • C. They can be found only in the polar region.
  • D. They will decrease in number if moving in the air.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干中的Pops将本题出处定位到第4段。该段提到，Pops(持久性有机污染物)会导致癌症和出生缺陷，而且降解需要非常长的时间…这些物质可以被运输到很远的地方，且时间一长会越积越多。根据Pops的危害可推断出，这些很难降解且会累积的Pops会对海生生物和人类造成威胁，故答案为[A]。[B]中的easily degraded与文中提到的take a very long time to degrade矛盾，故排除。文中提到这些物质可以被运输到很远的地方，也就是说，在其他地方也能找到这些物质，且根据常识也可知这些物质在其他地方也存在，故排除[C]。 文中提到这些物质会随时间积累下来，也就是说在移动过程中会越积越多，[D] 与之矛盾，故排除。 [设题分析] 专有名词处/结果处 设题。本题需要根据Pops导致的后果：cause cancers and birth defects 以及它们的特性：take a very long time to degrade来推断Pops造成的危害。
单选题 By "the toxic chemicals are being remobilised" (Line 3, Para. 6), the author means that the Pops______.
  • A. are taking in the form of ice or water
  • B. are becoming more and more poisonous
  • C. are able to move easily and quickly in the water
  • D. are no longer trapped in the ice and cold water
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干中的remobilised将本题出处首先定位到第6段第2句。 该句提到，……在气候变暖和海洋冰面消退……的影响下，the toxic chemicals are being remobilised(被冻结的有毒化学物质正在复苏)。通过观察发现，这里提到的具体事例是为说明第5段提到的“北极地区的低温把具有挥发性的这些Pops 冻结封存在冰层和冰冷的海水中…全球变暖正在把这些Pops再次释放出来”，由此可知，第6段第2句说的是气候变嗳使Pops被释放出来，即不再被困在层和冰冷的海水中了，故答案为[D]。 [设题分析] 语义处/宾语从句处/转 折处设题。本题解题的关键是理解第6段是对 第5段的进一步具体解释说明，从而重新定位答案的出处。
单选题 According to Hayley Hung, the scientists need to figure out______.
  • A. the harm the Pops will do to human beings
  • B. why the Pops have been trapped in the ice
  • C. the scale of the Pops stored in the Arctic
  • D. how to eliminate the banned toxic chemicals
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干中的Hayley Hung和figure out将本题出处定位到第 7段第3句。该句提到Hayley Hung对如何应对释放的Pops的看法：下一步是要弄清这些物质在北极圈有多少，会释放出来多少，释放速度有多快。[C] the scale of the Pops stored in the Arctic正是对Hayley Hung提到的how much is in the Arctic的同义转述，故为答案。[A]、[B]和[D]均不是Hayley Hung的 看法，故排除。 [设题分析] 观点处/并列处设题。 题干用figure out替换文 中的find out。文中Hay ley Itung提到三件要做 的事情，正确选项是对 第一件的同义转述。
单选题 What is said about the warming in the Arctic?
  • A. Human activities have sped it up.
  • B. It may change the food chains.
  • C. It is affected by the release of the Pops.
  • D. It happened earlier than other regions.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干中的warming in the Arctic将本题出处定位到末段。 该段提到，这些被冻结的持久性有机污染物的发展情况取决于北极地区变暖的速度……持久性有机污染物会累积在脂肪中，因此最终会集中在食物链中……北极地区的食物链本身可能会被气候变化改变。由此可知，北极地区的气候变暖会影响持久性有机污染物在食物链中的集中，从而可能会改变食物链，故答案为[B]。文中提到该地区变暖的速度远远快于低纬度地区，但是未提及是Human activities加速该地区变暖的，故排除[A]。北极地区气候变暖使Pops被释放出来，而不是Pops的释放影响气候变暖，[C]颠倒二者之间的因果关系，故排除。该地区变暖的速度快于低纬度地区并不能说明该地区的气候变暖比其他地区早，故排除[D]。 [设题分析] 转折处设题/宾语从句处设题。本题解题的关键是根据首句明确末句提到的climate change 指的是warming in the Arctic。