It seemed so promising—mirrors sprawled across desert land in the scorching southwest delivering clean electricity and helping Americans out of the increasing fuel crisis. Some scientists and industry developers claim that Nevada"s empty and sun-drenched expanses alone could supply enough electricity to power the entire country. Now even the optimists fear this wonderful prospect may be a mirage. Congress cannot make up their mind to extend the tax-reducing bill for solar-energy projects, which solar advocates say is critical to the future of their industry but which is due to expire at the end of the year. The latest attempt failed in the Senate earlier this month, prospects for a deal before November"s presidential and congressional elections now look dim. Uncertainty has led some investors to delay or abandon projects in the past few months. Rhone Resch, the president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said if the tax-reducing bill is allowed to expire at the end of the year, "it will result in the loss of billions of dollars in new investments in solar. " Further dampening hopes for a big solar-energy boom, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has abruptly suspended new applications to put solar collectors on federal land. The agency says it has received more than 130 applications and needs to conduct a region-wide environmental impact study on the industry before it will accept any more. The study will take 22 months to complete, however. Few argue against trying to preserve precious water sources and protect desert tortoises and other creatures that might not enjoy cohabiting with sprawling fields of mirrors. But many solar advocates wonder why the government is not acting as cautiously when it comes to drilling for oil and gas. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington State, wants a congressional probe into the proposed suspension. "The fact that the BLM pops this out without people even knowing about it, especially when solar thermal looks extremely promising as a power source, is not right," she says. Harry Reid of Nevada, who is the majority leader in the Senate, also condemns the BLM"s freeze, saying that it could "slow new development to a crawl". The BLM is not without its supporters, however. At a public meeting on June 23rd in Golden, Colorado, Alex Daue, of the Wilderness Society, said that his organization supports renewable energy development as long as it doesn"t damage other important resources. The message is clear: no rubber stamps, even for renewable energy.
单选题
"mirrors sprawled across desert land" is mentioned to______.
单选题
The word "mirage" (Line 1, Paragraph 2) most probably means______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：考查的单词位于第二段第一句话。第二段的第一句话是对上文提到的未来场景做出评价。而本段余下的句子都在讲一件事，那就是对太阳能项目至关重要的免税法案即将过期，而该法案被批准延长的可能性又很小，因此对发展太阳能项目非常不利。也就是说，后面讲的都是对太阳能发展前景的悲观看法。因此我们可以认定第一句也是表达不乐观的态度，选项C正好符合题意。原文中的mirage一词，意思是“海市蜃楼”。其实本题还有一个非常重要的词汇线索：even。原句是：Now even the optimists fear this wonderful prospect may be a mirage(即使乐观的人也会认为这个美妙的场景是mirage)。其中even(即使)一词是让步之意，充分说明mirage要表达的意思跟optimists、wonderful是相反的。
单选题
According to Senator Maria Cantwell,______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：Senator．Maria Cantwell出现在第四段，而就在这一段同时还出现了另一个人Harry Reid。他们两个人的评论出现在同一段，而且两段评论之间没有出现任何连词，一个说完，另一个接着说，那充分说明俩人的观点应当是相近或相同的。而后一人Harry Reid认为这种做法会让发展变缓，也就是说不赞成BLM的做法，因此反推前一人Maria Cantewell的话也应当是这个意思。从上文我们已经得知BLM中止了受理申请，该短语又以out结尾，因此我们可以大概猜出该短语的意思倾向于消极，意思可能是“让……出局”之类的意思。原文that引导同位语修饰the fact，句子主干很简单，就是“the fact is not right”。而所谓fact就是上文提到BLM中止受理申请这件事，既然这种做法不对，那么言下之意就是BLM不该中止受理申请。
单选题
What does the last sentence of the text mean?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析：本文的结构很明显，第一段是现象，第二、三段是问题(太阳能遭受打击)，第四段是支持的观点，第五段是反对的观点。从结构上说，本文的最后一句，不可能是整篇文章的中心思想的总结。因为如果文章要作总结，那么必定是分别论述支持和反对的两种观点之后，另起一段，表明作者的态度，总结全文。因此，本文的最后一句话只有可能是最后一段的总结。最后一段第一句话出现了however，表明与第四段支持太阳能发展的观点是相反的。另外The BLM is not without its supporters(BLM也不乏支持者)，也表明了后面的观点是与BLM一致的，BLM通过暂停受理申请，明显限制了太阳能的发展，支持BLM就意味着希望限制太阳能的发展。只有选项A表明了这个意思，因此是正确选项。rubber stamps是橡皮刻的图章，也就是我们中国人常说的公章。最后一句话是说，即使是再生能源(太阳能)也不能盖公章，也就是说不应当支持。
单选题
Which of the following titles is closest to the message the text tries to convey?