单选题 In the late 1960s, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities. Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120,000 kilowatts—enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day. Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss(or gain)through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings. Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city' s sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year—as much as a city the size of Stamford, Connecticut, which has a population of more than 109,000. Skyscrapers also interfere with television reception, block bird flyways, and obstruct air traffic. In Boston in the late 1960s, some people even feared that shadows from skyscrapers would kill the grass on Boston Common. Still, people continue to build skyscrapers for all the reasons that they have always built them—personal ambition, civic pride, and the desire of owners to have the largest possible amount of rentable space.

单选题 The main purpose of the passage is to______.

单选题 According to the passage, what is one disadvantage of skyscrapers that have mirrored walls?

单选题 According to the passage, which aspect of skyscrapers was some residents of Boston concerned with in the late 1960s?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：细节理解题。文章倒数第二段的最后一句谈到了这一点：“In Boston in the late 1960’s，some people even feared that shadows from skyscrapers would kill the grass on Boston Common．”波士顿有些居民害怕摩天大楼的阴影会杀死青草，即他们担心摩天大楼会对城市的植物造成有害的影响。

单选题 Which of the following groups would the skyscraper issue most concern?

单选题 Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：是非判断题。B项的内容与文章不符，本文虽未直接提到摩天大楼是什么时候出现的，但间接否认摩天大楼是在20世纪60年代末期首先出现的：…and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widelycriticized．这一个“新”字是说这种钢材玻璃型摩天大楼是在20世纪60年代末期出现的，而不是说摩天大楼是在这一时期出现的。