首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
A scorching sun, an endless sea of sand and a waterless, forbiddingly lonely land—that is the image most people have of deserts.
A scorching sun, an endless sea of sand and a waterless, forbiddingly lonely land—that is the image most people have of deserts.
admin
2015-01-09
51
问题
A scorching sun, an endless sea of sand and a waterless, forbiddingly lonely land—that is the image most people have of deserts. But how true is this picture? Deserts are dry lands where rainfall is low. This is not to say rain never falls in deserts: it may fall once or twice a year in a fierce torrent that fades almost as soon as it has begun, or which evaporates in the hot air long before it has got anywhere near the earth. It may fall in a sudden sweeping flood that carries everything in its path. Rains may only come once in five or six years or not fall for a decade or more. The Mojave desert in the United States remained dry for twenty-five years.
Without water no living thing can survive, and one feature of the true desert landscape is the absence of vegetation. With little rain and hardly any vegetation the land suffers under the sun. There are virtually no clouds or trees to protect the earth’s surface and it can be burning hot. Under the sun, soils break up and crack. Wind and torrential rain sweep away and erode the surface further. Eight million square kilo-meters of the world’s land surface is desert. Throughout history deserts have been expanding and re-treating again. Cave paintings show that parts of the Sahara Desert were green and fertile about 10,000 years ago, and even animals like elephants and giraffes roamed the land. Fossil and dunes found in fer-tile and damp parts of the world show that these areas were once deserts. But now the creation of new desert areas is happening on a colossal scale. Twenty million square kilometers, an area twice the size of Canada, is at a high to very high risk of becoming desert. With a further 1.25 million square kilometers under moderate risk, an area covering 30% of the earth’s land surface is desert, becoming desert, or in danger of becoming desert. The rate of growth of deserts is alarming. The world’s dry lands which are under threat include some of the most important stock-rearing and wheat-growing areas and are the homes of 600~700 million people. These regions are becoming deserts at the rate of more than 58,000 square kilometers a year or 44 hectares a minute. In North Africa at least 100,000 hectares of cropland are lost each year. At this rate there is a high risk that we will be confined to living on only 50% of this planet’s land surface within one more century unless we are able to do something about it.
What does the writer think about the creation of new desert areas?
选项
A、It is a natural development.
B、The problem is not very serious.
C、It is a very worrying problem.
D、The situation will improve in time.
答案
C
解析
根据文章的最后一句话“At this rate there is a high risk that We will be confined to living on only50% of this planet’s land surface within one more century unless we are able to do something aboutit”,意为“如果我们不采取措施我们将会面临着很严重的危机”。所以C项“这是一个非常令人担忧的问题”符合文章的本意。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/a2LO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
DuringMcDonald’searlyyearsFrenchfriesweremadefromscratcheveryday.RussetBurbankpotatoeswere【1】,cutintoshoestrin
Geneticallymodified(GM)foodstuffsareheretostay.That’snottosaythatfoodproducedby【1】agriculturewilldisappear,【2】sim
Geneticallymodified(GM)foodstuffsareheretostay.That’snottosaythatfoodproducedby【1】agriculturewilldisappear,【2】sim
Newdatahas______thatthedamagetotheozonelayerisnotconfinedtothesouthernhemisphere.
Thedifferencebetweenaliquidandagasisobvious【1】theconditionsoftemperatureandpressurecommonlyfoundatthesurface
Heneverhesitatestomakesuchcriticisms______areconsideredhelpfultoothers.
Today,theTowerofLondonisoneofthemostpopulartourist【1】andattractso-verthreemillionvisitorsayear.Itwasoccasio
WorkisaveryimportantpartoflifeintheUnitedStates.WhentheearlyProtestant【1】cametothiscountry,theybroughtthe【2
Thenewspaperdidnotmentionthe______ofthedamagecausedbythefire.
IknowthatifIstartwatchingsoapoperaIwillimmediatelybecomehopelessly______toit.
随机试题
主回路中的两个接触器主触头出线端中任两相调换位置,可实现正反转控制。()
一般情况下,校园网属于________。
下列属于碱性蛋白的物质是A.嗜碱性颗粒B.RNAC.红细胞胞质D.杜勒小体E.DNA
护士为毒蛇咬伤患者施行现场急救措施,其先后次序正确的是
城市规划的作用体现在以下几个方面,但不包括()。
某建设项目,建筑工程费2000万元,设备及工器具购置费500万元,安装工程费为300万元,工程建设其他费用为150万元,基本预备费100万元,该项目建设期为2年,第一年计划投资40%,第二年计划投资60%,年价格上涨率为5%。则该项目的涨价预备费为()
下列各项固定资产中,应计提折旧的有()。
利用控制图对过程进行监控,取样时应做到()。
坚持走中国特色社会主义法治道路,必须把党的领导贯彻到依法治国的全过程,不能把党的领导和依法治国对立起来,因为党的领导和依法治国是内在统一的。具体体现在
Inthispartofthetestyouareaskedtogiveashorttalkonabusinesstopic.Youhavetochooseoneofthetopicsfromthet
最新回复
(
0
)