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
75
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
Usingextremelydifferentdecoratingschemesinadjoiningroomsmayresultin______andlackofunityinstyle.
PsychologistAlfredAdlersuggestedthattheprimarygoalofthepsyche(精神)wassuperiority.Although【1】hebelievedthatindividu
Cultureisactivityofthought,andreceptivenesstobeautyandhumanefeeling.【1】ofinformationhavenothingtodowithit.Am
Thedifferencebetweenaliquidandagasisobvious【1】theconditionsoftemperatureandpressurecommonlyfoundatthesurface
Humanchoice,nottheintrinsiccontentofscience,determinestheoutcomeandscientists,ashumanbeings,thereforehaveaspe
Recentlyanumberofcaseshavebeenreportedofyoungchildren______aviolentactpreviouslyseenontelevision.
He’swatchingTV?He’s______tobecleaninghisroom.
Mostpeoplewouldbe【71】bythehighqualityofmedicine【72】tomostAmericans.Thereisalotofspecialization,agreatdealof【
FoodanddrinkplayamajorroleinChristmascelebrationsinmostcountries,butinfewmoresothaninMexico.Manyfamiliesov
Thedyingsoldierhadthemessage_____straighttotheheadquarters.
随机试题
电源对用电设备安全的潜在威胁包括____________与噪声和电磁干扰。()
李斯青年时代受学于()
患有结核病、急性传染病、肾炎、心脏病、湿疹及其他皮肤病者不应接种以下哪种疫苗
依照题目中的意思,对于乙公司向甲公司提供的5台设备,甲公司是否都已经购买?已经购买的,购买时间分别是什么时候?在甲公司向乙公司购买设备租赁给丙公司后,非因质量问题,设备发生爆炸致人损害,对此谁需要承担赔偿责任?为什么?
某老师在自修课时发现张亮、李宏、马威三位同学在讲话,就过去训斥他们。当着全班同学的面叫他们的绰号(说话声音最响的张亮为“大喇叭”,声音有点沙哑的李宏为“破喇叭”,头发厚黑粗硬的马威为“黑刺猬”),并罚他们到教室外的走廊上站立至下课。第二天上课,又看(听)到
巴黎公社和以列宁为首的苏维埃政权采取的措施中,相同的是()。
孤独症
在一个容量为15的循环队列中,若头指针front=6,尾指针rear=14,则该循环队列中共有【】个元素。
Wewishpeoplea"HappyBirthday",andifyou’reintheUSAinNovemberandDecemberyou【C1】______say"HappyHolidays",sowhyd
Thestoryismainlyaboutabigbearwhichwantedtoattackthefamilybutonlymanagedtofrightenthecattleonthefarm.Pa
最新回复
(
0
)