7．Terra Preta soils turn up in large patches all over the Amazon, where they are highly prized by farmers. All the patches fall within 500 square kilometers in the central Amazon. Glaser says the widespread presence of pottery (陶器) confirms the soil’s human origins.
8．The findings add weight to the theory that large areas of the Amazon have recovered so well from past periods of agricultural use that the regrowth has been mistaken by generations of biologists for “virgin” forest.
9．During the past decade, researchers have discovered hundreds of large earth works deep in the jungle. They are up to 20 meters high and cover up to a square kilometer. Glaser claims that these earth works, built between AD 400 and 1400, were at the heart of urban civilizations managed to feed themselves.
11. We learn from the passage that the traditional view of slash-and-burn farming is that _______.
A) it does no harm to the topsoil of the rainforest
B) it destroys rainforest soils
C) it helps improve rainforest soils
D) it diminishes the organic matter in rainforest soils
12. Most rainforest soils are thin and poor because _________.
A) the composition of the topsoil is rather unstable
B) black carbon is washed away by heavy rains
C) organic matter is quickly lost due to heat and rain
D) long-term farming has exhausted the ingredients essential to plant growth
13. Glaser made his discovery by __________.
A) studying patches of fertile soils in the central Amazon
B) examining pottery left over by ancient civilizations
C) test-burning patches of trees in the central Amazon
D) radiocarbon-dating ingredients contained in forest soils
14. What does Glaser say about the regrowth of rainforest?
A) They take centuries to regrow after being burnt.
B) They cannot recover unless the vegetation is burnt completely.
C) Their regrowth will be hampered by human habitation.
D) They can recover easily after slash-and-burn farming
15. From the passage it can be inferred that __________.
A) human activities will do grave damage to rainforests
B) Amazon rainforest soils used to be the richest in the world
C) farming is responsible for the destruction of the Amazon rainforests
D) there once existed an urban civilization in the Amazon rainforests
这篇文章是一片多段式的文章，文章一开头就给出了整篇文章的主题“少量的砍伐焚烧耕作不会损害雨林。相反，这还会帮助农户，提高森林土壤质量。”紧接着第二段到第五段通过引用专家学者的观点和一系列的时间、数字的强对比来说明这个观点；第六段接着引出一个与大众观点相反的论点“黑炭，加上人类的活动、排放的废物让土壤肥沃”第七段到第九段再举例论证。整篇文章的论证是非常典型的演绎法，即观点论证结构。
第一题是推理题。虽然文章没有明确指出人们对砍伐焚烧森林的传统观点，但文中首段第二句出现的“unorthodox view (非正统的观点)”。由此可知，全文的首句的反面就是传统观点。第一句说“少量的砍伐焚烧耕作不会损害雨林。相反，这还会帮助农户，提高森林土壤质量”，那么大众的传统观点应该是砍伐焚烧雨林会损害土壤，即选项B所表述的意思。究其本质，这道题目还是通过强对比结构考了文章的主题。
第二题是一道细节事实题。根据题干很容易定位到原文的二段首句，题干中的“because”对应原文中的“because”来找原因。作者指出这是因为土壤中缺少矿物质，而矿物质的确实是因为炎热和降雨造成的，选项C是同义表达，为正确答案；选项D有较强的诱惑性，虽然本段的末句提及“长期耕种”，但这里是指土壤缺乏矿物质是不利于长期耕作的，并不是长期耕作造成了雨林土壤中缺乏有机物，两者没有因果关系。这也是细节题中，命题专家惯用的诱惑方法“因果颠倒”或者“混淆因果”。 |
