阅读理解
The natural environment has, of course, always conditioned technology. For example, the nature of an environment (polar, desert, jungle) engenders the development of technologies appropriate to that environment to enable man to adapt successfully to it. Farther, emerging scarcity of some technological resource may ignite a research for, and gradual transition to, a new technology using resources present in the environment in greater abundance, as, for example, in the case of the gradual change from wood-based to coal-based technology in England that began in Elizabeth times and stretched until the end of the eighteenth century.
In modem Western society, environment has begun to condition technology in new ways, although admittedly more indirectly, The safety and quality of the environment and public perceptions of it have begun to translate into presidential politics and congressional mandates to regulatory agencies to protect or enhance environmental quality or safety, occasionally even at the cost of some perturbation of the tech-economic status-quo. In France, Italy, and recently the United States, political parties have been formed, organized around a complex of technology / environment issues. In general, in the last fifteen years, the gradual development of broad-based environmental awareness, the lobbying and litigious activities of environmental interest groups, and guidelines issued and reinforced by the EPA ( Environmental Protection Agency) in response to congressional mandates have markedly increased the heed paid to the environment by many corporations in going about their technological activities. Both research and development priorities and capital investment programs of the corporations have been affected by this.
单选题
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】选项[A]和[C]与原文第一段第一句"The natural environment has，of course，always conditioned technology"相矛盾。而[D]与原文第一段最后一句中的“…emerging scarcity of some technological resource may ignite a research for，and gradual transition to，a new technology using resources present in the environment in greater abundance，...”相矛盾。而答案[B]与原文的第一段第二句中的“…the nature of an environment(polar，desert，jungle)engenders the development of technologies appropriate to that environment to enable man to adapt successfully to it”相符，故选[B]。
单选题
We can infer from the article that in the 1800s England was probably rich in ______
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】根据第一段最后一句"Further，emerging scarcity of some technological resource may ignite a research for，and gradual transition to，a new technology using resources present in the environment in greater abundance，as，for example，in the case of the gradual change from wood-based to condition technology in England that began in Elizabeth times and stretched until the end of the eighteenth century"，就可推断出18世纪的英国煤炭资源很丰富，故[D]为正确答案。
单选题
In modem Western society, the environmental problem has ______
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】选项[A]符合第二段第二句“The safety and quality of the environment and public perceptions of it have begun to translate into presidential politics and congressional mandates to regulatory agencies to protect or enhance environmental quality or safety，occasionally even at the cost of some perturbation of the tech-economic status-quo"，故选[A]。而[C]与原文第二段第一句"In modern Western society ，environment has begun to condition technology in new ways，although admittedly more indirectly"相矛盾；[B]和[D]与原文明显不符。
单选题
The underlined word "heed" in the last but one sentence of the passage means ______
【答案解析】综观全文，尤其是根据第一段第一句(略)和第二段第一句"In modern Western society，environment has begun to condition technology in new ways，although admittedly more indirectly"及第二段最后两句的相关论述，可以断定，本文主要论述的是技术发展中的环境问题，故选[D]。其他选项与原文明显不符。