Question

The rapid growth of cities worldwide over the next two decades will cause significant risks to people and the global environment, according to analysis.
Researches from Yale and Stanford predict that by 2030 urban areas will expand by 590,000 square miles—nearly the size of Mongolia—to meet the needs of 1.47 billion more people living in urban areas.
“It is likely that these cities are going to be developed in places that are the most biologically diverse,” said Karen Seto, a famous scientist at Yale University. “They are going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas(熱帶稀缺大草原), coastlines—sensitive and vulnerable places.”
Urban areas, they found, have been expanding more rapidly along coasts. “Of all the places for cities to grow, coasts are the most sensitive. People and buildings along the coast are at risk of flooding and other environmental disasters,” said Seto.
The study provides the first estimate of how fast urban areas globally are growing and how fast they may grow in the future. “We know a lot about global patterns of urban population growth, but we know significantly less about how urban areas are changing,” she said. “Changes in land cover associated with urbanization lead to many environmental changes, from habitats loss and agricultural land conversion(轉化) to changes in local and regional climate.”
The researchers examined studies that used satellite data to map urban growth and found that from 1970 to 2000 the world’s urban footprint had grown by at least 22,400 square miles—half the size of Ohio.
“This number is numerous, but, in actuality, urban land expansion has been far greater than what our analysis shows because we only looked at the published studies that used satellite data,” said Seto. “We found that 48 of the most populated urban areas have been studied using satellite data, with findings in journals. This means that we’re not tracking the physical expansion of more than half of the world’s largest cities.”
Half of urban land expansion in China is driven by a rising middle class, whereas the size of cities in India and Africa is driven primarily by population growth. “Rising incomes translate into rising demand for bigger homes and more land for urban development, which has a great effect on biodiversity conservations, loss of carbon sinks and energy use.”
【小題1】According to the passage, the most dangerous place for city expansion is the _____.

A．forest

B．desert

C．savannas

D．coastline

【小題2】The underlined word “vulnerable” (in Para. 3) probably means “____”.

A．diverse in plants	B．beautiful in scenery
C．easily damaged	D．very productive

【小題3】From Para. 5, we can infer that ____.

A．urbanization is a good way to improve people’s standards of living

B．cities develop very fast and more and more people come to live in cities

C．more and more agricultural farmlands are used to make room for local animals

D．in the past, researchers focused their attention on the expanding urban areas

【小題4】Cities in Africa become bigger and bigger mainly because of their ____.

A．growing population	B．rising middle class
C．unique living patterns	D．economic development

Answer 1

【小題1】D
【小題2】C
【小題3】B
【小題4】A

解析試題分析：本文主要講述的是城市化的迅速發展導致了很多城市的規模擴大，城市人口變多，對環境產生很大的影響和破壞。
【小題1】D 細節題。根據文章第三段“Of all the places for cities to grow, coasts are the most sensitive. People and buildings along the coast are at risk of flooding and other environmental disasters,” said Seto.可知最危險的地方就是海岸線，故D正確。
【小題2】C 推理題。根據本句“They are going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas(熱帶稀缺大草原), coastlines—sensitive and vulnerable places.”可知這里的sensitive and vulnerable places就是 指coastlines而這個地方又是對環境破壞很敏感的地方，海岸線的生態環境又是特別容易受到影響的地方。故C正確。
【小題3】B 推理題。根據本段1,2行The researchers examined studies that used satellite data to map urban growth and found that from 1970 to 2000 the world’s urban footprint had grown by at least 22,400 square miles—half the size of Ohio.可知現在城市的發展速度很快，城市的居民的數量也越來越多。故B正確。
【小題4】A 細節題。根據文章最后一段1,2行Half of urban land expansion in China is driven by a rising middle class, whereas the size of cities in India and Africa is driven primarily by population growth.可知中國的城市人口變多是因為中國的中產階級變多，而非洲則是因為人口的迅速增加。故A正確。
考點：考察環境保護類短文閱讀
點評：本文主要講述的是城市化的迅速發展導致了很多城市的規模擴大，城市人口變多，對環境產生很大的影響和破壞。測試考生在閱讀基礎上的邏輯推理能力，要求考生根據文章所述事件的邏輯關系，對未說明的趨勢或結局作出合理的推斷；或根據作者所闡述的觀點理論，對文章未涉及的現象、事例給以解釋。考生首先要仔細閱讀短文，完整了解信息，準確把握作者觀點。