考前模擬：2008年12月閱讀真題及名師精講

　　試題詳解

　　52. B

　　細節(jié)題。本題考查關(guān)于農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)發(fā)展的衡量標準，通過關(guān)鍵詞measure progress定位在文章第一段末尾：sustainable development is often taken as the sole measure of progress，be taken as表示前后同位關(guān)系，解釋說明。

　　53. D

　　細節(jié)題。題干關(guān)鍵詞Specialisation and the effort to increase yields定位在文章第三段的第二、三句。題目問農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)專業(yè)化及大量提高產(chǎn)量會帶來什么樣的后果。文中提到由于產(chǎn)量的加大，使得食物較之以前更加便宜、安全，但是也導(dǎo)致了動植物棲息地和生物多樣性減少。B選項中的farmland是農(nóng)田，混淆了文中habitat的概念。

　　54. C

　　細節(jié)推理題。可以通過題干關(guān)鍵詞traditional farming practices定位在文章第五段第三行：we need to move away from the idea that traditional practices are inevitably more sustainable than new ones. 意思是我們不能再認為傳統(tǒng)耕作方式一定比新方式更具有可持續(xù)的特征。同義于C。

　　55. A

　　細節(jié)題。題干出現(xiàn)顯性關(guān)鍵詞in the 21st century，定位在文中第五段開頭，原文意思是：21世紀的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)和20世紀的截然不同，也就是說21世紀的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)將發(fā)生巨大的變化。第五段的第二句話提到要求我們radical thinking(徹底改變原有的想法)。

　　56. D

　　主旨題。答案一般出自文章首段，而且本文從一開始就講述可持續(xù)發(fā)展(sustainable development)，而且本文主要談?wù)摴�業(yè)生產(chǎn)的可持續(xù)發(fā)展問題，因此選項里必須要出現(xiàn)農(nóng)業(yè)和可持續(xù)的單詞。

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

　　The percentage of immigrants (including those unlawfully present) in the United states has been creeping upward for years. At 12.6 percent, it is now higher than at any point since the mid1920s.

　　We are not about to go back to the days when Congress openly worried about inferior races polluting America’s bloodstream. But once again we are wondering whether we have too many of the wrong sort newcomers. Their loudest critics argue that the new wave of immigrants cannot, and indeed do not want to, fit in as previous generations did.

　　We now know that these racist views were wrong. In time, Italians, Romanians and members of other so-called inferior races became exemplary Americans and contributed greatly, in ways too numerous to detail, to the building of this magnificent nation. There is no reason why these new immigrants should not have the same success.

　　Although children of Mexican immigrants do better, in terms of educational and professional attainment, than their parents UCLA sociologist Edward Telles has found that the gains don’t continue. Indeed, the fouth generation is marginally worse off than the third James Jackson, of the University of Michigan, has found a similar trend among black Caribbean immigrants. Tells fears that Mexican-Americans may be fated to follow in the footsteps of American blacks-that large parts of the community may become mired(陷入)in a seemingly permanent state of poverty and underachievement. Like African-Americans, Mexican-Americans are increasingly relegated to (降入)segregated, substandard schools, and their dropout rate is the highest for any ethnic group in the country.