单选题Effects of Environmental Pollution If pollution continues to increase at the present rate, formation of aerosols (浮质) in the atmosphere will cause the onset (开始) of an ice age in about fifty year's time. This conclusion reached by Dr S. I. Rasoo1 and Dr S. H. Scheider of the United States Goddard Space Flight Center, answer the apparently conflicting questions of whether an increase in the carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) content of the atmosphere will cause the Earth warm up or increasing the aerosol question is dominant. Two specters haunting conservationists have been the prospect that environmental pollution might lead to the planet's becoming unbearably hot or cold. One of these ghosts has now been laid, because it seems that even an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to eight times its present value will produce an increase in temperature of only 2℃, which would take place over several thousand years. But the other problem now looms larger than ever. Aerosols are collection of small liquid or solid particles dispersed in air or some other medium. The particles are all so tiny that each is composed of only a few hundred atoms. Because of this they can float in the air for a very long time. Perhaps the most commonly experienced aerosol is industrial smog (烟雾) of the kind that plagued London in the 1950s and is an even greater problem in Los Angeles today. These collections of aerosols reflect the Sun's heat and thereby cause the Earth to cool. Dr Rasoo1 and Dr Schneider have calculated the exact effect of a dust aerosol layer just above the Earth's surface in the temperature of the planet. As the layer builds up, the present delicate balance between the amount of heat absorbed from the Sun and the amount radiated from the Earth is disturbed. The aerosol layer not only reflects much of the Sun's light but also transmits the infrared (红外线) radiation from below. So, while the heat input to surface drops, the loss of heat remains high until the planet cools to a new balanced state. Within fifty years, if no steps are taken to stop the spread of aerosols in the atmosphere, a cooling of the Earth by as much as 3.5~C seems inevitable. If that lasts for only a few years it would start another ice age, and because the growing ice caps at each pole would themselves reflect much of the Sun's radiation it would probably continue to develop even if the aerosol layer were destroyed. The only bright spot in this gloomy forecast lies in the hope expressed by Dr Rasoo1 and Dr Schneider that nuclear powder may replace fossil fuels in time to prevent the aerosol content of atmosphere from becoming critical.
单选题
The author's main purpose in writing the article is to warn of______. A. warm weather B. hot weather C. a new ice age D. a new iceberg
单选题
We learn from the third paragraph that______. A. London was plagued with rats in the 1950s. B. London is covered with smog today. C. London was polluted by smog in the 1950s. D. Los Angeles is as heavily polluted today as London was in the 1950s.
单选题
What will happen if the dust aerosol layer develops? A. The earth will get extremely hot. B. The balance between the amount of heat absorbed from the Sun and the amount lost could hardly be maintained. C. The light of the Sun could no longer reach the surface of the Earth. D. Infrared radiation could no longer be transmitted from the Earth to outer space.
单选题
The only way to stop the spread of aerosols in the atmosphere, according to Dr Rasool and Dr Schneider, is to use______. A. fossil fuels B. electric power C. nuclear energy D. coal power
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 利用“Dr Rasoo1 and Dr Schneider”作为答案线索词，于是在第6段直接找到答案相关句The only bright spot in this gloomy forecast lies in the hope expressed by Dr Rasoo1 and Dr Schneider that nuclear powder may replace fossil fuels in time to prevent the aerosol content of atmosphere from becoming critical，该句说“Dr Rasoo1 and Dr Schneider认为这个悲观预测中的惟一亮点就是希望核能量能及时地替代化石燃料以防止大气层中的悬浮颗粒含量变得更加危险。”因此判断答案是c。