单选题
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Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
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In most parts of the world, climate change is a worrying subject. Not so in California. At a recent gathering of green luminaries—in a film star's house, naturally, for that is how seriousness is often established in Los Angeles—the dominant note was self-satisfaction at what the state has already achieved. And perhaps nobody is more complacent than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unlike A1 Gore, a presidential candidate turned prophet of environmental doom, California's governor sounds cheerful when talking about climate change. As well he might: it has made his political career.
Although California has long been an environmentally-conscious state, until recently greens were concerned above all with smog and redwood trees. "Coast of Dreams", Kevin Stag's authoritative history of contemporary California, published in 2004, does not mention climate change. In that year, though, the newly-elected Mr. Schwarzenegger made his first tentative call for western states to seek alternatives to fossil fuels. Gradually he noticed that his efforts to tackle climate change met with less resistance, and more acclaim, than just about all his other policies. These days it can seem as though he works on nothing else.
Mr. Schwarzenegger's transformation from screen warrior to eco-warrior was completed last year when he signed a bill imposing legally-enforceable limits on greenhouse—gas emissions—a first for America. Thanks mostly to its lack of coal and heavy industry, California is a relatively clean state. If it were a country it would be the world's eighth-biggest economy, but only its 16th-biggest polluter. Its big problem is transport—meaning, mostly, cars and trucks, which account for more than 40% of its greenhouse-gas emissions compared with 32% in America as a whole. The state wants to ratchet down emissions limits on new vehicles, beginning in 2009. Mr. Schwarzenegger has also ordered that, by 2020, vehicle fuel must produce 10% less carbon: in the production as well as the burning, so a simple switch to corn-based ethanol is probably out.
Thanks in part to California' s example, most of the western states have adopted climate action plans. When it comes to setting emission targets, the scene can resemble a posedown at a Mr. Olympia contest. Arizona's climate-change scholars decided to set a target of cutting the state's emissions to 2000 levels by 2020. But Janet Napolitano, the governor, was determined not to be out-muscled by California. She has declared that Arizona will try to return to 2000 emission levels by 2012.
California has not just inspired other states; it has created a vanguard that ought to be able to prod the federal government into stronger national standards than it would otherwise consider. But California is finding it easier to export its policies than to put them into practice at home. In one way, California' s self-confidence is fully justified. It has done more than any other state—let alone the federal government—to fix America's attention on climate change. It has also made it seem as though the problem can be solved. Which is why failure would be such bad news. At the moment California is a beacon to other states. If it fails, it will become an excuse for inaction.
单选题 According to the author, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger is cheerful chiefly because
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解题思路] 原因细节题。第一段大量描述加州对自己环保工作的满意,而倒数第二句提到施瓦辛格对环境变化很开心之后,作者用最后一句话发表评论道:他应该高兴,因为这成就了他的政治生涯。也就是说,他高兴的真正原因是从加州的成就中获得了个人利益。段尾句和特殊标点“:”是考研阅读理解最容易出题的地方之一。
单选题 Why did Mr. Schwarzenegger seem to be working on nothing else?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解题思路] 原因细节题。题干定位在第二段尾句,而上面的一句就说“他的努力比起其他所有政策都遇到了更少的抵制和更多的拥护”,而他的努力就是倒数第三句讲的“他号召西部各州寻找石油的替代能源”。因此,[C]选项“他号召寻找替代能源的努力得到了最强的响应”为正确的同义代换。
单选题 Corn-based ethanol might not be chosen as an alternative because
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解题思路] 原因细节题。定位在第三段尾句。第三段尾句说“施瓦辛格下令到2020年交通燃料必须减少10%的碳释放量:在生产燃料和燃烧燃料两个方面都达到这个标准,因此,简平地转向以玉米为主料的酒精燃料就不太可能厂”。由此可见,原因在于“在燃料生产和燃烧两方面减少碳排放可能很困难”。
单选题 Janet Napolitano is mentioned in the passage to show that
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解题思路] 目的细节题。文章第四段开头讲到:由于加州的榜样作用,西部其他州也采取了行动计划。最后讲到亚利桑那州长的事情,就是为了证明加州带动了其他州采取行动。因此,说明加州的行动产生了某些积极效果。任何例子都是为了证明前面的观点,其他部分都没有实质性作用。
单选题 It can be inferred from the text that
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解题思路] 推理题。定位在最后一段But引导的句子处。这句话说“但是,加州发现把其政策摊到别的州比在自己的境内实施要容易”,证明“加州可能发现实施自己的政策也很难” [出题点提示]全文推理题的常见依据点之一就是尾段的转折词处。