2. 外语
  3. From 2004 to 2010, I recorded 2 620 rainfall-induced landslides worldwide that killed more than 32 000 people. The total number

From 2004 to 2010, I recorded 2 620 rainfall-induced landslides worldwide that killed more than 32 000 people. The total number

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问题     From 2004 to 2010, I recorded 2 620 rainfall-induced landslides worldwide that killed more than 32 000 people. The total number of fatalities is even higher than that, as my analysis only considered landslides triggered by rainfall. If other landslides are taken into account, especially those triggered by earthquakes, the death toll rises to a remarkable 80 000.
    This is in stark contrast to official figures in the United Nations International Disaster Database, which indicate only about 7 400 deaths from landslides during the same period.
    Why such a large discrepancy? A key factor is that the UN database includes many other hazard types, such as earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions. Compiling such data is a huge task, so the researchers set a minimum impact threshold(门槛)for inclusion. This is either 10 fatalities or a large economic loss, meaning that many small events are excluded. This is not a problem for earthquake-related data, as unfortunately almost all events that cause significant damage also kill more than 10 people, but it leads to substantial underreporting for landslides.
    A second key factor is that fatal landslides are concentrated in populous but remote mountain areas prone to heavy rainfall or earthquakes. In such places, obtaining information about landslides that kill small numbers of people has been hitherto(至今)impossible.
    The ultimate goal of such data gathering is to reduce landslide deaths. In the past three decades several countries have set up successful programmes to manage landslide risk. Their programmes have reduced loss of life through a combination of engineering works, public awareness, relocation of people most at risk and an early warning system.
    An interesting question is whether deaths from landslides are increasing. My research shows that as population density increases, so does the number of fatal landslides. In part, this is probably because rising population forces people to live and work on unstable land and, of course, when there are more people in the landscape it becomes more likely that any given landslide will hit someone.
    Other factors will also be at play. Environmental degradation, especially deforestation, seems to be making landslides more likely. And the increases in rainfall intensity, which are probably associated with a warming atmosphere, may also be contributing.  
The word "stark"(Line 1, Para. 2)is closest in meaning to______.
选项 A、unpleasant
B、plain
C、little
D、harsh
答案D
解析 语义理解题。定位段通过列数字的方式明确指出：我的数据跟联合国国际灾害数据库的官方数据存在差异。官方数据仅为约7 400人，和我的数据差异可谓很大，故stark应该意为“鲜明的，差距大的”，故选D)。
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