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  3. It didn’t happen overnight. The problem of polluted air has been festering for centuries. Suddenly the problem of air pollut

It didn’t happen overnight. The problem of polluted air has been festering for centuries. Suddenly the problem of air pollut

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问题     It didn’t happen overnight. The problem of polluted air has been festering for centuries.
    Suddenly the problem of air pollution is becoming critical and is erupting right before our eyes. Not only do our eyes burn as they focus through murky air, but when the air clears, we see trees and vegetation dying. We must realize that this destruction can no longer be pinned to some mysterious cause. The one major culprit is air pollution.
    Today’s air pollution is an unfortunate by-product of the growth of civilization. Civilized man desires goods that require heavy industrialization and mass production. Machines and factories sometimes pollute and taint the air with substances that are dangerous to man and the environment. These substances include radioactive dust, salt spray, herbicide and pesticide aerosols, liquid droplets of acidic matter, gases, and sometimes soil particles. These materials can act alone to irritate objects and forms of life. More dangerously, they join together to act upon the environment. Only lately have we begun recognizing some of their dangerous consequences.
    Scientists have not yet been able to obtain a complete report on the effects of air pollution on trees. They do know, however, that sulfur dioxide, fluorides, and ozone destroy trees and that individual trees respond differently to the numerous particulate and gaseous pollutants. Sometimes trees growing in a single area under attack by pollutants will show symptoms of injury or will die while their neighbors remain healthy. Scientists believe this difference in response depends on the kind of tree and its genetic makeup. Other factors, such as tree’s stage of growth and nearness to the pollution source, the amount of pollutant, and the length of the pollution attack also play a part. In short, whether or not a tree dies as a result of air pollution depends on a combination of host and environment factors.
    For the most part, air pollutants injury trees. To conifers, which have year-round needles, air pollution causes early balding. In this event, trees cannot maintain normal food production levels. Undernourished and weakened, they are open to attack by a host of insects, disease, and other environmental stresses. Death often follows.
    Air pollution may also cause hardwoods to lose their leaves. Because their leaves are borne only for a portion of the year and are replaced the following year, air pollution injury to hardwoods may not be so severe.
The author implies that the greatest source of pollution is______.
选项 A、heavy industry
B、chemical processing plants
C、urban expansion
D、salt spray
答案A
解析 细节推理题。根据题干关键词the greatest source of pollution与原文第三段第三句中的Machinesand factories对应，据此定位。人类想得到的很多物品都要通过重工业以及大规模的生产来实现。工业生产中的机器和工厂有时会排放出一些危险物质，污染空气和危害人类的健康。这一切都是归咎于heavy industrialization(重工业)。故答案为A。
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