高三英语阅读理解(科普环保)真题汇编(含答案)含解析

高三英语阅读理解(科普环保)真题汇编(含答案)含解析
一、高中英语阅读理解科普环保类
1．犇犇阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

Tablets are really useful devices, but their big screens always make them as a burden to carry around without a bag. Wouldn't it be great if there were a phone with the powers of a tablet that could be folded up and fit neatly into the hand?
Now something like a tablet-shaped but foldable phone is about to become available. In February, South Korean electronics company Samsung and China's Huawei both launched foldable phones, the Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X respectively. Mobile phone use has entered the "foldable future", The Verge noted.
The technology could change our lives in significant ways. These devices, due to their bendable screens, give us the larger screens we want. Meanwhile, they still fit easily into the pocket. As USA Today noted, they're "the combination of a small tablet and smartphone, all in a single device".
The technology could change other devices, too. For example, we could make TVs that stick to walls like posters, or fold up easily to hide away in drawers. In crowded modem cities, they will help us to maximize available space.
In a keynote address, Samsung's senior vice president of mobile product marketing, Justin Denison, called the foldable screen "the foundation for the smartphone of tomorrow". "It's a blank canvas (画布) for us to do something beautiful together." he said.
So is there nothing to stand in the way of the foldable future? According to tech news website Android Authority, the necessary displays were difficult to produce. In 2012, nine out of every 10 OLED (二极管) screens produced were imperfect. Today, that 10 percent rate has been improved to between 50 and 90 percent. However, at present these foldable devices are expensive. For example, the price of Huawei Mate X is 17,500 RMB. That's a price that few people will be able to afford.
But if the foldable device isn't going to change the world overnight, there is no doubt that it is coming. Patrick Moorhead, an industry analyst told The Verge, "Few are debating if foldable or rollable mobile displays are the future of smartphones; the only question is when and by whom."（1）What can be the best title for the text?
A. Screen devices on the market.
B. Foldable age is arriving.
C. Possible powers of a tablet.
D. Foldable screens are imperfect.
（2）What can we learn from Justin Denison's words?
A. The foldable screen has great potential.
B. The Galaxy Fold still has many problems.
C. The production of foldable phones will soon increase.
D. Companies need to work together to develop foldable phone.
（3）What is the problem with foldable phones at the moment?
A. They are easy to break.
B. They are inconvenient to carry.
C. They are not as useful as expected.
D. They are unaffordable for most families.
（4）What is the author's attitude toward the future of the foldable screen?
A. Worried.
B. Cautious.
C. Positive.
D. Unconcerned.
【答案】（1）B
（2）A
（3）D
（4）C
【解析】【分析】本文是一篇说明文，介绍了“可折叠手机的时代即将到来。

”
（1）考查主旨大意。

根据第一段中的“Wouldn't it be great if there were a phone with the powers of a tablet that could be folded up and fit neatly into the hand?”如果有一款具有平板电脑功能的手机，可以折叠起来，整齐地放在手里，那不是很棒吗?；以及第二段中的“Now something like a tablet-shaped but foldable phone is about to become available.”现在，类似于平板形状的可折叠手机即将问世。

可知本文主题是“可折叠手机的时代即将到来。

故选B。

（2）考查推理判断。

根据第五段中的“Justin Denison, called the foldable screen ‘the foundation for the smartphone of tomorrow’.‘It's a blank canvas (画布) for us to do something beautiful together.’” Justin Denison称可折叠屏幕是“未来智能手机的基础”。

“这是一块空白的画布，我们可以一起做一些美好的事情。

”“可知，我们能从贾斯汀·丹尼森的话中了解到“可折叠屏幕”具有很大的潜力。

”故选A。

（3）考查细节理解。

根据倒数第二段中的“However, at present these foldable devices are expensive. For example, the price of Huawei Mate X is 17,500 RMB. That's a price that few people will be able to afford.”然而，目前这些可折叠设备价格昂贵。

例如华为Mate X的价格是17500元人民币。

这是一个很少有人能负担得起的价格。

可知，目前可折叠手机大多数家庭都买不起。

故选D。

（4）考查推理判断。

根据最后一段中的“But if the foldable device isn't going to change the world overnight, there is no doubt that it is coming.”但如果这种可折叠设备不能在一夜之间改变世界，那么毫无疑问，它将会到来。

可知，作者对可折叠屏幕的未来持的态度是积极的。

故选C。

【点评】本题考点涉及细节理解，推理判断和主旨大意三个题型的考查，是一篇科普类阅读，考生需要准确捕捉细节信息，同时根据上下文进行逻辑推理，概括归纳，从而选出正确答案。

2．犇犇阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

A team of international scientists is due to set off for the world's biggest iceberg in a mission aiming to answer fundamental questions about the impact of climate change in the polar regions. The scientists, led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), are trying to reach a newly revealed ecosystem that had been hidden for 120,000 years below the Larsen C ice shelf.
Last year, part of the Larsen C ice shelf calved (崩解) away, forming a huge iceberg-A68—which is four times bigger than London, and revealing life beneath for the first time. Now scientists say it is a race against time to explore these new ecosystems before they are transformed to the light. Marine biologist Dr Katrin Linse from the BAS is leading the mission.
"The calving of A68 provides us with a unique opportunity to study marine life as it responds to
a huge environment change," she said. "It is important that we get there quickly before the undersea environment changes as sunlight enters the water."
Professor David Vaughan, science director at the BAs, said, "We need to be bold (大胆的) on this one. Larsen C is a long way south and there's lots of sea ice in the area, but this is important science, so we will try our best to get the team where they need to be. He said climate change had already affected the sea around Antarctica and is warming some coastal waters. "Future warming may make some habitats warm. Where these habitats support unique species that are adapted to love the cold and not the warm, those species are going to either move or die."
There is growing concern about the possible impact of climate change in the Antarctic. Earlier this month, a report revealed that melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are speeding up the already fast pace of the sea level rise. The research, published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, said, "At the current rate, the world's ocean will be, on average, at least 60cm higher by the end of the century." However, it found that the process is accelerating, and more than three quarters of the acceleration since 1993 is due to melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, the study shows.
（1）Why are the scientists eager to go to the iceberg?
A. To study how the iceberg was formed.
B. To study a newly discovered ecosystem.
C. To explore a new way to prevent climate change.
D. To explore the geography of the Larsen C ice shelf.
（2）What do the underlined words "this one" in the fourth paragraph refer to?
A. The Larsen C ice shelf.
B. Climate change in Antarctica.
C. The A68 iceberg with the ecosystem beneath it.
D. The condition of animal species in Antarctica.
（3）What can we learn about the A68 iceberg from the text?
A. It is as big as London.
B. It is part of an ice shelf in the Arctic.
C. It will disappear in a very short time.
D. It has uncovered an unknown ecosystem in Antarctica.
（4）What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. There is no need to worry about climate change in Antarctica.
B. The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting at a steady rate.
C. Many creatures living in deep water will die out due to climate change.
D. By 2100, the sea level will have risen to a much higher level than now.
【答案】（1）B
（2）C
（3）D
（4）D
【解析】【分析】本文是一篇说明文，南极地区的拉森C冰架崩解形成了一座巨大的冰山A68 iceberg。

冰山下面显现的新的海洋生态系统为科学家提供了研究未知的海洋生物的机
会。

（1）考查细节理解。

根据第二段中的“Now scientists say it is a race against time to explo re these new ecosystems before they are transformed to the light.”可知，科学家着急赶去世界最大的冰山是为了在其受到光照影响之前研究这座冰山下面的海洋生态系统。

故选B。

（2）考查词义猜测。

根据第三段中的“The calving of A68 provides us with a unique opportunity to study marine life...”可知A68冰山的形成为科学家提供了研究海洋生物的独一无二的机会，所以Professor David Vaughan认为科学家要果敢地抓住这次机会，故this one 指的是A68冰山和它下面的生态系统。

故选C。

（3）考查细节理解。

根据第一段中的“to reach a newly revealed ecosystem that had been hidden for 120,000 years below the Larsen C ice shelf.”到达一个新发现的在拉森冰架下面隐藏了12万年的的生态系统，可知选D。

（4）考查推理判断。

根据最后一段中的“…At the cur rent rate, the world's oceans will be, on average, at least 60cm higher by the end of the century.”按目前的速度，世界的海洋到本世纪末平均至少升高60厘米，选D。

【点评】本题考点涉及细节理解，词义猜测和推理判断三个题型的考查，是一篇环境类阅读，考生需要准确掌握细节信息，同时根据上下文的逻辑关系，进行分析，推理，从而选出正确答案。

3．犇犇阅读理解
Babies have an astonishing talent that adults entirely lose. By the age of one, they can recognise the significant noises around them and group them into a language. When we have lost this capacity as adults, it becomes enormously difficult to distinguish between sounds that are glaringly different to a native speaker. It all sounds Greek to us. This is because the range of possible sounds that humans use to convey meaning may be as high as 2,000, but few languages use more than 100 and even then the significant noises－the phonemes (音素) of a language－each cover a range of sounds and so vague distinctions which would change the meaning of a word in other languages.
But where do these phonemes come from and why do they shift over time? New research suggests that the apparently arbitrary distribution of some sounds around the world may be partially explained by diet. This is unexpected. We'd rather think of language as product of our thought rather than of the arrangement of our teeth. In reality, though, any given language must be both.
Hunter gatherer languages very seldom use the sounds known as labiodentals (唇齿音)－those such as f and v－that are made by touching the lower lip with the upper teeth. Only two of the hundreds of Australian aboriginal languages use them, for example. But in cultures that have discovered farming, these consonants (辅音) are much more common. The argument goes that farmers eat more cooked food and more dairy than hunter gatherers. Either way, they need to chew mush less, and to bite less with their front teeth. So farmers grew up with smaller lower jaws and more of an overbite than their ancestors who had to bite through harder foods. It became easier for them to make the labiodental consonants instead of purely labial (唇音) ones:
one example is that f come to take the place of p. Romans said "pater" but English speakers (unless they're Rees－Moggs) say "father".
Beyond these particular changes, the story highlights the way in which everything distinctively human is both material and spiritual: speech must combine sound and meaning, and the meaning can't exist or be transmitted without a real object. But neither can it be reduced to the purely physical, as our inability to understand or even to recognise foreign languages makes clear. The food we eat shapes our jaws, and our jaws in turn shape the sounds of our language. The ease with which we eat probably shapes our thought too, as anyone who has suffered toothache could testify. What we eat may have shaped the sounds of our language, but how we eat changes how we feel and what we use language to express. A family meal is very different from a sandwich at the office desk, even if the calorie is the same. Food has purposes and meanings far beyond keeping us alive and pleasing the Palate (味觉).
（1）Compared with adults, babies could more easily .
A. create significant noises
B. classify the forms of noises
C. understand the Greek language
D. distinguish meaningful sounds
（2）According to the passage, which of the following factors help shape language?
A. Lips and teeth.
B. Jobs and habits.
C. Age and regions.
D. Food and thinking.
（3）The reason for farmers' making sounds of "f" and "v" is .
A. enjoying more cooked foods
B. biting more with front teeth
C. constantly chewing harder foods
D. growing up with lager lower jaws
（4）By writing this passage, the author intends to reveal .
A. jaws help shape our thought
B. food determines our thought
C. diet has some influence on language
D. language consists of sound and meaning
【答案】（1）D
（2）D
（3）A
（4）C
【解析】【分析】本文是一篇说明文，人们一直以来认为语言是思想的产物，但是有新的研究表明饮食对于语言也会产生一些影响。

且以f和v的发音为例，揭示了农民们发"f"和"v"音的原因是他们喜欢吃更多的熟食。

同时这也强调了人类特有的一切都是物质和精神的结合:语言必须把声音和意义结合起来，没有真实的物体，意义就不可能存在或传播。

（1）考查细节理解。

根据第一段中的“By the age of one,they can recognize the significant noises around them and group them into a language.”可知一岁的婴儿和成人相比更能识别出周围的重要声音，故选D。

（2）考查细节理解。

根据第二段中的“New research suggests that the apparently arbitrary
distribution of some sounds around the world may be partially explai ned by diet.”可知某些声音在世界范围内的任意分布，部分可以用饮食来解释。

本段提到sound和diet是有关系的,也就是food食物；另外也和思考有关the product of thought,本段最后说到和两者都有关系。

故选D。

（3）考查细节理解。

根据第三段中的“The argument goes that famers eat more cooked food and more dairy than hunter gatherers.”可知农民比狩猎采集者吃更多的熟食和奶制品，即农民们发"f"和"v"音的原因是他们喜欢吃更多的熟食。

故选A。

（4）考查主旨大意。

根据第二段中的“We'd rather think of language as product of our thought, rather than of the arrangement of our teeth. In reality, though, any given language must be both.”可知任何一种语言的诞生都必须同时具备思想和饮食这两种因素的影响。

以及文章内容可知叙述的都是日常饮食和发音对语言的影响，故选C。

【点评】本题考点涉及细节理解和主旨大意两个题型的考查，是一篇科研类阅读，考生需要准确掌握细节信息，同时根据上下文进行推理，归纳，从而选出正确答案。

4．犇犇阅读理解
You know those nutrition guidelines the government issues every few years? It turns out that following them isn't just good for your health. It's good for the planet, too.
" What we found is that impacts vary across nations, but in the high-impact nations, in general, you can see that, if you follow a nationally recommended diet, despite the fact that these diets don't mention explicitly—or most of them don't explicitly mention—environmental impacts, that you are going to have lower environmental impacts due to that. So that's sort of fairly clear across all the high-income nations." said Paul Behrens, an environmental scientist at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
The food we eat takes a big toll on the environment. A third of the ice-free land on Earth is used for agriculture, and according to some estimates, producing food accounts for roughly a fifth of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Fertilizer runoff also leads to other problems, like the algae blooms in Lake Eerie and the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
However, following dietary guidelines would reduce those impacts, especially in wealthy countries like the US. "Most of the reductions come from meat and dairy," which have an outsized impact on land use and pollution, and are a major source of greenhouse gases.(That's partly due to cow farts. Seriously.) Following the suggestions would also mean eating fewer calories, since many people here eat more than they need.
Overall, in high-income countries, Behren's team estimates that following the rules could result in as much as a 17 percent reduction in land use, a 21 percent reduction in nutrient pollution, and a 25 percent drop in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Cutting down on how much food we waste—which is roughly a third in the US—could help even more. The results are in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Of course, people are notoriously bad at following diets. But: "These nationally recommended guidelines do actually have a knock-on effect on other areas of policy making. So if I'm developing a new healthy-eating-for-schools program then that's going to be based off a lot of detail that I get from the nationally recommended guidelines. So while it might not necessarily be the case
that people follow directly …they actually are quite influential on the preparation of other advice."
It seems that a smaller environmental footprint and a healthier lifestyle could go hand in hand.（1）Which of the following statement will Paul Behrens approve of?
A. Following a nationally recommended diet can have similar impacts in different countries.
B. Following a nationally recommended diet can do good to our health.
C. Not all the countries have recommended diets in an explicit manner.
D. Some high-income nations don't mention the diet explicitly for its impacts can be ignored.（2）What do the underlined words " takes a big toll on" in paragraph 3 probably mean?
A. shows signs of
B. has a bad effect on
C. takes full advantage of
D. makes up for （3）Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Food production can lead to about 20 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas with only a third of the ice-free land used.
B. It is estimated that following dietary guidelines can lead to decrease in more land use than in nutrient pollution.
C. Paul Behrens' new program concerning healthy eating for schools is likely to be based on national nutrition guidelines.
D. Some wealthy countries tend to reduce meat and dairy though the other areas of policy making isn't effected much.
【答案】（1）C
（2）B
（3）A
【解析】【分析】本文是一篇说明文，介绍了营养指南对地球也有利。

通过膳食指南，似乎可以减轻对环境的伤害，人类自己也可以过上健康的生活，二者可以兼得。

（1）考查推理判断。

根据第二段中的" What we found is that impacts vary across nations, but in the high-impact nations, in general, you can see that, if you follow a nationally recommended diet, despite the fact that these diets don't mention explicitly—or most of them don't explicitly mention—environmental impacts, that you are going to have lower environmental impacts due to that.” 我们发现（营养膳食指南的）影响因国家而异，但总的来说，在影响力较大的国家，如果你遵循国家推荐的膳食指南，即使这些膳食并未明晰对环境的影响，或者大多数膳食没有明确说明这一点，但是你对环境的影响会因为遵循指南而减轻。

由此推断出" 并非所有国家都以明确的方式推荐饮食" ，这个观点Paul Behrens会赞成，故选C。

（2）考查词义猜测。

根据第三段中的“A third of the ice­free land on Earth is used for agriculture, and according to some estimates, producing food accounts for roughly a fifth of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Fertilizer runoff also leads to other problems, like the algae blooms in Lake Eerie and the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.”地球上三分之一的无冰区被用于农业生产，根据一些估算，食物生产大约占到了人类造成的温室气体排放量的五分之一。

肥料径流也导致了其他问题，例如伊利湖的藻类爆发以及墨西哥湾的死亡区域。

由此推断出划线词所在的句子意思是我们所吃的食物给环境带来了巨大代价。

takes a big toll
on固定短语，“付出了巨大的代价”，故选B。

（3）考查细节理解。

根据第三段中的“A third of the ice­free land on Earth is used for agriculture, and according to some estimates, producing food accounts for roughly a fifth of all human­caused greenhouse gas emissions.”地球上三分之一的无冰区被用于农业生产，根据一些估算，食物生产大约占到了人类造成的温室气体排放量的五分之一。

由此可知。

A选项的描述" 粮食生产可导致约20%的人为造成的温室气体，而只使用了三分之一的无冰土地" 正确，故选A。

【点评】本题考点涉及细节理解，词义猜测和推理判断三个题型的考查，是一篇科研类阅读，要求考生准确捕捉细节信息，同时根据上下文进行逻辑推理，从而选出正确答案。

5．阅读理解
Darrell Blatchley, a marine biologist and environmentalist based in the Philippine city of Davao, received a call from the Philippines, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (渔业与水产资源局) early Friday morning reporting a death of a young whale.
When the necropsy (尸检) was performed, Blatchley told NPR, he was not prepared for the amount of plastic they found in the whale's stomach. "It was full of plastic nothing but nonstop plastic." he said "It was filled to the point that its stomach was as hard as a baseball." That means that this animal has been suffering not for days or weeks but for months or even a year or more," Blatchley added.
Blatchley is the founder and owner of the D'Bone Collector Museum, a natural history museum in Davao. In the coming days, the museum will display all the items found in the whale's system. Blatchley and his team work with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and other organizations to assist in rescue and recovery of marine animals.
"Within the last 10 years, we have recovered 61 whales and dolphins just within the Davao Gulf," he said. "Of them, 57 have died due to man whether they took plastic or fishing nets or other waste, or gotten caught in pollution — and four were pregnant."
Blatchley said he hoped that the latest incident would launch the issue of plastic pollution in the Philippines and across the globe. "If we keep going this way, it will be more uncommon to see an animal die of natural causes than it is to see an animal die of plastic," he said.
（1）What can he inferred from the second paragraph?
A. The whale was starved to death.
B. Blatchley was shocked at what he found.
C. The dead whale must have swallowed a baseball.
D. Blatchley didn't make preparations for the necropsy.
（2）What will be shown in the D'Bone Collector Museum?
A. Waste collected from the ocean.
B. The whole system of the whale.
C. Things found in the whale's body.
D. Many different tools of whaling.
（3）What does Blatchley think of plastic pollution in the Philippines?
A. Uncommon.
B. Worrying.
C. Inspiring.
D. Mild.
（4）What is the best title for the text?
A. A Whale Found Dead of Plastic
B. Stand Up for Protecting Whales
C. Plastic Threatening Our Existence
D. Natural Death or Merciless Murder
【答案】（1）B
（2）C
（3）B
（4）A
【解析】【分析】本文是一篇记叙文，一只鲸鱼因吞食大量的塑料而死亡，这引发了人们对海洋塑料污染的担忧。

（1）考查推理判断。

根据第二段中的“he was not prepared for the amount of plastic they found in the whale's stomach”可知，布拉奇利在鲸鱼的胃里发现了大量的塑料，他对此毫无准备，这是他意想不到的，由此可知，布拉奇利对他的发现感到震惊，故选B。

（2）考查细节理解。

根据第三段中的“In the coming days, the museum will display all the items found in the whale's system.”可知，在鲸鱼体内发现的东西将在这座自然博物馆中展出，故选C。

（3）考查推理判断。

根据最后一段中的“If we keep going this way, it will be more uncommon to see an animal die of natural causes than it is to see an animal die of plastic,”可知，布拉奇利说如果我们继续这样下去，动物因吃塑料死亡的情况比自然死亡更为常见，由此可知，他对菲律宾的塑料污染很担忧，故选B。

（4）考查主旨大意。

纵观全文可知，本文主要讲述了一只鲸鱼因吞食大量的塑料而死亡，这引发了人们对塑料污染的担忧，故选A。

【点评】本题考点涉及细节理解，推理判断和主旨大意三个题型的考查，是一篇环保类阅读，要求考生在捕捉细节信息的基础上，进一步根据上下文的逻辑关系，进行分析，推理，概括和归纳，从而选出正确答案。

6．阅读理解
City trees grow faster and die younger than trees in rural forestry, a new study finds. Over their lifetimes, then, urban trees will likely absorb less CO2 from the air than forest trees.
As we all know, the earth would be freezing or burning hot without CO2. However, CO2is a greenhouse gas, meaning it traps energy from the sun as/heat. That makes temperatures near the ground rise. Human activities, especially the widespread burning-of fossil(化石)fuels, have been sending extra greenhouse gases into the air. This has led to a rise in average temperatures across the globe.
Studies had shown forests readily absorb CO2, but there hadn't been much data on whether city trees grow, die and absorb CO2at the same rate as forest trees do. So some researchers decided to find out.
To figure out how quickly trees were growing, researchers tracked their diameters (the width of their trunks) between 2005 and 2014. A tree's diameter increases as it grows, just as a person's waist size increases as they gain weight. About half the weight of a tree is carbon, research has shown. Most of the rest is water. Over the nine years' tracking, the researchers found city trees absorbed four times as much carbon from the air as forest trees. However, they were twice as likely to die. So over the lifetime of each type of tree, forest trees actually absorbed more CO2.
City trees grew faster because they had less competition for light from their neighbors. In a forest，trees tend to grow close together，shading their neighbors. Street trees also benefit from higher levels of nitrogen (氮)in rainwater. Nitrogen helps plants grow. Waste gases from gas-burning cars also contain nitrogen, thus enriching city air with nitrogen. Later, rainwater may wash much of it to the ground. Some street trees may also have better access to water than trees in the country because the underground water pipes can leak.
（1）What can he known about CO2 from paragraph 2?
A. It is one of the side effects of greenhouses.
B. It greatly accelerates the process of global warming.
C. It results from the widespread burning of fossil fuels.
D. It prevents the earth from becoming unsuitable to live on.
（2）Why did researchers track the diameters of trees?
A. To know about their growth rates.
B. To find out how much they weigh.
C. To check whether they were healthy.
D. To assess the carbon amounts in them.
（3）What advantage do city trees have over forest trees?
A. They are more likely to access growth promoters.
B. They can enjoy more water coming from the air.
C. They can enjoy more shade from neighbors.
D. They are better at competing for light.
（4）What will probably be talked about if the passage is continued?
A. How urban trees can live longer.
B. Why city living makes trees die young.
C. How trees respond to dry soil conditions.
D. Why faster-growing trees absorb more C02.【答案】（1）D
（2）A
（3）A
（4）B
【解析】【分析】本文是一篇说明文。

一项新的研究发现：与长在森林中的树木相比，城市里的树木长得更快，但死得更早。

（1）考查推理判断。

根据第二段中的“the earth would be freezing or burning hot without CO2.”可知，如果没有二氧化碳，地球将会极冷或极热。

可以推断，二氧化碳可以防止地球变得不适合居住。

故选D。

（2）考查细节理解。

根据第四段中的“To figure on how quickly trees we re growing, researchers tracked their diameters.”可知，研究人员监测树木的直径是为了了解树木的生长速度。

故选A。

（3）考查细节理解。

根据最后一段中的“Street trees also benefit from higher levels of nitrogen (氮）in rainwater. Nitrogen helps plants grow. Waste gases from gas-burning cars also contain nitrogen, thus enriching city air with nitrogen. Later, rainwater may wash much of it to the ground.”可知，与生长在森林中的树木相比，城市里的树木长得更快是因为它们无需与邻近的树木争夺光照，也能得到更多的氮量，还更容易得到水。

光、氮和水都可以促进树木的生长。

由此可以推断，城市里的树木比森林中的树木更可能获得生长促进剂。

故选
A。

（4）考查推理判断。

首句就提到了一项新的研究结果：城市里的树木比森林中的树木长得更快，但死得更早；文章第三段说到“以前有研究表明森林会吸收二氧化碳，但是城市里的树木的生长、死亡和吸收二氧化碳的速度是否跟森林中的树木一样，这方面的数据不多。

因此一些研究人员决定弄清楚”；文章第四段再次介绍了他们的研究发现：城市里的树木比森林中的树木长得更快，但死得更早；文章最后一段介绍了城市里的树木比森林中的树木生长得更快的几个原因。

由此可以推断，文章接下来很可能就要介绍城市里的树木死得更早的原因。

故选B。

【点评】本题考点涉及细节理解和推理判断两个题型的考查，是一篇科研类阅读，考生需要准确掌握细节信息，并根据上下文进行逻辑推理，从而选出正确答案。

7．阅读理解
Compared with solar and wind energy, which are booming, tidal (潮汐的) power is a loser in the clean - energy competition. But if you did want to build a tidal power station, there are few better sites than the mouth of the River Severn, in Britain. Its tidal range, the difference in depth between high and low tides, of around 15 metres is among the largest in the world.
Engineers and governments have been toying with the idea since at least 1925. But none of the suggested projects has materialised. Price is one objection. A study thought that tidal energy might cost between ￡216 and ￡368 ($306 - 521) per MWh of electricity by 2025, compared with ￡58 - 75 for seagoing wind turbines (轮机) and ￡55 - 76 for solar panels. Environmentalists also worry that any plant would change the tides, making life harder for wildlife.
An engineer called Rod Rainey thinks he has a way around both problems. He plans to replace the conventional turbines of previous plans with a much older technology. Specifically, he plans to span (横跨) the river mouth with a line of water wheels. This is a design that dates back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution. Examples can be found fixed to the sides of old watermills (水磨).
But there would be nothing old - fashioned about Mr Rainey's wheels. Thirty metres high and sixty wide, they would be made from ordinary steel. Two hundred and fifty of them, along with the supporting structures, would be floated into place and secured to the seabed, creating a line 15km long. Together, they could supply power at an avenge ate of 4GW. That is about as much as two biggish nuclear power stations would manage. Substituting one of the wheels with a set of locks would provide a shipping channel about twice the width of Panama Canal, permitting upstream ports such as Avonmouth and Cardiff to continue operating.
（1）What is special about the mouth of the River Seven?
A. The tidal range there is about 15 meters.
B. It has the largest tidal range in the world.
C. The tidal power station has been built there.
D. Its power plant makes life harder for wildlife.
（2）What was people's initial attitude towards tidal power?。