单选题 Nearly 2, 000 feet in the air, above where the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of Mexico, the approaching storm is in full view; millions of gallons of wind-swept crude oil, in streaks that arc not black but orange, red and brown. It's easier to grasp the severity of the crisis unraveling in the Gulf of Mexico when you have an airborne perspective of the oil that is barreling toward the shore. A group of environmentalists, reporters and bayou defenders went up on a small plane for a tour of the coast. "I'll show you the Cajun Bahamas, "the pilot, Lyle Panepinto, said. Minutes later, he pushed the plane from 1, 100 feet to 2, 000 feet above the water, out toward the Chandeleur Islands, between Louisiana and Mississippi. Earlier this week, scientists collected samples of oil from the islands. "It might be no more, when this is over with, " Panepinto said of the islands, home to several private fishing camps.
At one point, the plane passed over a tiny island filled with pelicans. Louisiana's state bird. Booms, which are meant to help block off, retain and skim off the oil, have been placed around the island. But they are, it seems, of little use. In various sections, they have been pushed by wind and water onto the shoreline. Experts say many types of booms only work in calm weather conditions. The past few days have been marked with fierce winds and rain.
Booms arc the most common containment method being used so far. But Barry Kohl, an adjunct professor of earth and environmental sciences at Tulane University, in New Orleans, says that even in the best weather conditions, skimming will remove only between 10% and 15% of the oil from the water's surface. Another strategy that officials are trying: spraying dispersants — chemicals used to break up the oil — onto the water's surface, or injecting it thousands of feet below water. The dispersants cause the oil to sink to the bottom of the sea. But experts warn that dispersants will also kill the plankton on which shrimp and fish depend for food. So far, the authorities haven't clarified what chemical dispersants are being used. "We don't know what happens to the oil once it's dispersed, "Kohl says.
"You see the stuff to the left?" Panepinto asked, pointing to the long red and orange, sometimes brown, streaks. "That there is the oil. "The crude, which comes out of the wells black, has essentially emulsified, partly from having been exposed to the sunlight for so much time. By the time it reaches the shore, probably in the next day or so, it will likely be brown, like chocolate. Each day, the streaks will become less and less of a sheen, and more of a gummy substance. From the plane, you could see that it was approaching a massive school of flounder. "It's like they're swimming toward death, " Panepinto said. On the other side of what looked like a massive contagion were the shrimpers, lowering a boom onto the water. "What they're doing is 'hopeless' , " Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, says of the shrimpers.
Minutes later, the plane was flying over the man-made Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, created nearly half a century ago partly to give large shipping vessels another route to travel between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans. Much of the water that flooded New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina came from MRGO. Much of the nearby marsh was destroyed — and with it, one of the last lines of defense for New Orleans against the Gulf's water. If and when the oil hits land, it may kill much of the remaining vegetation that holds the soil together — one more reason New Orleans and folks on dry land are concerned about the spill's effects.

单选题 A bird's-eye view of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico reveals
[A] how serious the contamination is. [B] what sea creatures are suffering from.
[C] where the oil spill is located exactly. [D] why such a crisis has happened there.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】推理题。根据试题顺序从首段开始浏览，第一句描写了墨西哥湾原油泄漏的景象“millions of gallons of wind-swept crude oil, in streaks that are not black but orange, red and brown”。根据第二句“It's easier to grasp the severity of the crisis un raveling in the Gulf of Mexico when you have an airborne perspective of the oil that is barreling toward the shore.”可以得知，从空中看去，原油泄漏造成危害的严重性看得更清楚，故[A]符合文意。
[避错] 这里没有具体提到海洋生物如何在漏油中苦苦挣扎，排除[B]；原油泄漏的位置就是首句中提到的墨西哥湾，没有冉提及其他具体位置，排除[C]；这里也没有谈及原油泄漏的原因，排除[D]。

单选题 Booms placed around a tiny island are of little use because
[A] they can only block off the crude oil temporarily.
[B] there is too much leaked oil to be held back.
[C] weather there is not agreeable these days.
[D] the materials they are made of are nondurable.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】细节题。由题干中的Booms定位至第二段。第二句提到在岛周围的海里设置了水栅以拦截泄流的原油，但结果是of little use。最后几句提到原因“In various sections, they have been pushed by wind and water onto the shoreline. Experts say many types of booms only work in calm weather conditions. The past few days have been marked with fierce winds and rain”。可见，水栅不管用的原因是气候条件不适宜，故[C]为答案。
[避错] [A]项具有较强干扰性，但水栅只能暂时阻挡原油的原因还是因为风大、下雨，故该项不是原因，排除；此处没有涉及原油量太多的问题，排除[B]；同理，也没有提及水栅的材质问题，排除[D]。