2017年江苏高考D篇
Old Problem, New Approaches
While clean energy is increasingly used in our daily life, global warming will continue for some decades after CO2 emissions (排放) peak. So even if emission were to begin to decrease today, we would still face the challenge of adapting to climate change. Here I will stress some smarter and more creative examples of climate adaptation.
When it comes to adaptation, it is important to understand that climate change is a process. We are therefore not talking about adapting to a new standard, but to a constantly shifting set of conditions. This is why, in part at least, the US National Climate Assessment says that: “There is no ‘one-size fits all' adaptation.” Nevertheless, there are some actions that offer much and carry little risk or cost.
Around the world, people are adapting in surprising ways, especially in some poor countries. Floods have some more damaging in Bangladesh in recent decades. Mohammed Rezwan saw opportunity where others saw only disaster. His not-for-profit organization runs 100 river boats that serve as floating libraries, schools, and health clinics, and are equipped with solar panels and other communication facilities. Rezwan is creating floating connectivity (连体) to replace flooded roads and highways. But he is also working at a far more fundamental level: his staff show people how to make floating gardens and fish ponds to prevent starvation during the wet season.
Elsewhere in Asia even more astonishing actions are being taken. Chewang Norphel lives in a mountainous region in India, where he is known as the Ice Man. The loss of glaciers (冰川) there due to global warming represents an enormous threat to agriculture. Without the glaciers, water will arrive in the rivers at times when it can damage crops. Norphel's inspiration come from seeing the waste of water over winter, when it was not needed. He directed the wasted water into shallow basins where it froze, and was stored until the spring. His fields of ice supply perfectly timed irrigation (灌溉) water. Having created nine such ice reserves, Norphel calculates that he has stored about 200,000 m3 of water. Climate change is a continuing process, so Norphel's ice reserves will not last forever. Warming will overtake them. But he is providing a few years during which the farmers will, perhaps, be able to find other means of adapting.
Increasing Earth's reflectiveness can cool the planet. In southern Spain the sudden increase of greenhouses (which reflect light back to space) has changed the warming trend locally, and actually cooled the region. While Spain as a whole is heating up quickly, temperatures near the greenhouses have decreased. This example should act as an inspiration for all cities. By painting buildings white, cities may slow down the warming process.
In Peru, local farmers around a mountain with a glacier that has already fallen victim to climate change have begun painting the entire mountain peak white in the hope that the added reflectiveness will restore the life-giving ice. The outcome is still far from clear. But the World Bank has included the project on its of “100 ideas to save the planet”.
More ordinary forms of adaptation are happening everywhere. A friend of mine owns an area of land in western Victoria. Over five generations the land has been too wet for cropping. But during the past decade declining rainfall has allowed him to plant highly profitable crops. Farmers in many countries are also adapting like this—either by growing new produce, or by growing the same things differently. This is common sense, But some suggestions for adapting are not. When the polluting industries argue that we've lost the battle to control carbon pollution and have no choice but to adapt, it's a nonsense designed to make the case for business as usual.
Human beings will continue to adapt to the changing climate in both ordinary and astonishing ways. But the most sensible form of adaptation is surely to adapt our energy systems to emit less carbon pollution. After all, if we adapt in that way, we may avoid the need to change in so many others.
65. The underlined part in Paragraph 2 implies ______.
A. adaptation is an ever-changing process
B. the cost of adaptation varies with time
C. global warming affects adaptation forms
D. adaptation to climate change is challenging
66. What is special with regard to Rezwan's project?
A. The project receives government support.
B. Different organizations work with each other.
C. His organization makes the best of a bad situation.
D. The project connects flooded roads and highways.
67. What did the Ice Man do to reduce the effect of global warming?
A. Storing ice for future use. B. Protecting the glaciers from melting.
C. Changing the irrigation time. D. Postponing the melting of the glaciers.
68. What do we learn from the Peru example?
A. White paint is usually safe for buildings.
B. The global warming trend cannot be stopped.
C. This country is heating up too quickly.
D. Sunlight reflection may relieve global warming.
69. According to the author, polluting industries should ________.
A. adapt to carbon pollution B. plant highly profitable crops
C. leave carbon emission alone D. fight against carbon pollution
70. What's the author's preferred solution to global warming?
A. Setting up a new standard. B. Reducing carbon emission.
C. Adapting to climate change. D. Monitoring polluting industries.
2018年江苏高考C篇
If you want to disturb the car industry, you'd better have a few billion dollars: Mom-and-pop carmakers are unlikely to beat the biggest car companies. But in agriculture, small farmers can get the best of the major players. By connecting directly with customers, and by responding quickly to changes in the markets as well as in the ecosystems （生态系统）, small farmers can keep one step ahead of the big guys. As the co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition （NYFC, 美国青年农会） and a family farmer myself, I have a front-row seat to the innovations among small farmers that are transforming the industry.
For example, take the Quick Cut Greens Harvester, a tool developed just a couple of years ago by a young farmer, Jonathan Dysinger, in Tennessee, with a small loan from a local Slow Money group. It enables small-scale farmers to harvest 175 pounds of green vegetables per hour—a huge improvement over harvesting just a few dozen pounds by hand—suddenly making it possible for the little guys to compete with large farms of California. Before the tool came out, small farmers couldn't touch the price per pound offered by California farms. But now, with the combination of a better price point and a generally fresher product, they can stay in business.
The sustainable success of small farmers, though, won't happen without fundamental changes to the industry. One crucial factor is secure access to land. Competition from investors, developers, and established large farmers makes owning one's own land unattainable for many new farmers. From 2004 to 2013, agricultural land values doubled, and they continue to rise in many regions.
Another challenge for more than a million of the most qualified farm workers and managers is a non-existent path to citizenship — the greatest barrier to building a farm of their own. With farmers over the age of 65 outnumbering（多于）farmers younger than 35 by six to one, and with two-thirds of the nation's farmland in need of a new farmer, we must clear the path for talented people willing to grow the nation's food.
There are solutions that could light a path toward a more sustainable and fair farm economy, but farmers can't clumsily put them together before us. We at the NYFC need broad support as we urge Congress to increase farmland conservation, as we push for immigration reform, and as we seek policies that will ensure the success of a diverse and ambitious next generation of farmers from all backgrounds. With a new farm bill to be debated in Congress, consumers must take a stand with young farmers.
61. The author mentions car industry at the beginning of the passage to introduce ______.
A. the progress made in car industry B. a special feature of agriculture
C. a trend of development in agriculture D. the importance of investing in car industry
62. What does the author want to illustrate with the example in paragraph 2?
A. Loans to small local farmers are necessary.
B. Technology is vital for agricultural development.
C. Competition between small and big farms is fierce.
D. Small farmers may gain some advantages over big ones.
63. What is the difficulty for those new farmers?
A. To gain more financial aid. B. To hire good farm managers.
C. To have fans of their own. D. To win old farmers' support.
64. What should farmers do for a more sustainable and fair farm economy?
A. Seek support beyond NYFC. B. Expand farmland conservation.
C. Become members of NYFC. D. Invest more to improve technology.
2017年全国卷Ⅱ C篇
Terrafugia Inc. said Monday that its new flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle—named the Transition—has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. The Transition, which flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes last month, can reach around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies using a 23 gallon tank of gas and burns 5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Around 100 people have already put down a $10,000 deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don't expect it to show up in too many driveways. It's expected to cost $279,000.And it won't help if you're stuck in traffic. The car needs a runway.
Inventors have been trying to make flying cars since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry expert. But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has already permitted the company to use special materials to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. The Transition is now going through crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.
Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration's decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft, which are lower than those for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a requirement pilots would find relatively easy to meet.
28．What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A．The basic data of the Transition. B．The advantages of flying cars.
C．The potential market for flying cars. C．The designers of the Transition.
29．Why is the Transition unlikely to show up in too many driveways?
A．It causes traffic jams. B．It is difficult to operate.
C．It is very expensive. D．It burns too much fuel.
30．What is the government's attitude to the development of the flying car?
A．Cautious. B．Favorable. C．Ambiguous. D．Disapproving.
31．What is the best title for the text?
A．Flying Car at Auto Show B．The Transition's First Flight
C．Pilots' Dream Coming True D．Flying Car Closer to Reality