Question

【題目】Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Over-dried Earth

The south-west of the United States, together with some parts of Mexico across the Rio Grande, is one of the driest parts of the North American continent. But, over the past two decades, even that expected dryness 【1】 (take) to the limit. According to Park Williams, who works at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the current lack of rainfall in the area constitutes a megadrought of a severity 【2】(see) on only four other occasions in the past 1,200 years.

Dr Williams studies the annual growth rings of 1,586 ancient trees, in order to reconstruct soil-moisture patterns going back to 800 A.D. During warm, wet years trees grow fast, producing wide rings. During cold, dry 【3】 they grow more slowly, producing narrow rings. During a drought, a tree 【4】 not grow much at all.

【5】they describe in this week’s Science, the team identified dozens of droughts over the centuries in question. But four stood out. They then took the average soil-moisture value for the current drought and compared it with sequential（連續(xù)的） 19-year averages with the previous four, one of them 【6】(last) nearly a century. This showed that the region is already drier than it was during the first three of the previous megadroughts, and is equivalent to the event of 1575-1603.

In a world 【7】 human actions are driving temperatures up, Dr Parker and his colleagues wondered how much people are 【8】(blame) for this state of affairs. To estimate that, they turned to climate modelling.

Climate models are able to re-run the past with and 【9】 the warming effects of human activity, offering a way to compare what actually happened with what might have done. In their simulated world in which anthropogenic（人類起源的） emissions had not increased the greenhouse-gas effect, the team found that a drought did indeed still influence the western reaches of North America during the first two decades of the 21st century. But this imaginary dry spell was considerably 【10】(severe) than the real one-ranking 11th rather than 2nd in the period under study (see chart).

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】has been taken

【2】seen

【3】ones

【4】might /may

【5】As

【6】lasting

【7】where

【8】to blame

【9】without

【10】less severe

【解析】

本文是說明文。文章以美國和墨西哥的部分地區(qū)為例，講述了科學家對過度干燥的地球的研究。研究表明，人類活動對于對球變得過熱起到了推動的作用。

【1】考查時態(tài)和語態(tài)。句意：但是，在過去的二十年中，預期的干旱也已達到極限了。由時間狀語over the past two decades可知，句子使用現(xiàn)在完成時，主語dryness承受動詞take的動作，謂語動詞使用被動語態(tài)，并且主語為不可數(shù)名詞，謂語動詞用單數(shù)形式。故填has been taken。

【2】考查過去分詞。句意：根據(jù)哥倫比亞大學拉蒙特-多爾蒂地球觀測站工作的帕克·威廉姆斯的說法，該地區(qū)目前的降雨不足造成了特大干旱，其嚴重程度在過去的1200年中僅在其他四個場合出現(xiàn)過。megadrought of a severity承受動詞see的動作，使用過去分詞作后置定語。故填seen。

【3】考查不定代詞。句意：在寒冷干燥的季節(jié)，它們生長較慢，產(chǎn)生狹窄的年輪。為避免重復，使用ones代替前面的復數(shù)名詞years。故填ones。

【4】考查情態(tài)動詞。句意：在干旱期間，樹可能不會長很多。根據(jù)語境，此處填入情態(tài)動詞表示推測，意為“可能”。故填might/may。

【5】考查定語從句的引導詞。句意：正如他們在本周的《科學》雜志上描述的那樣，研究小組確定了幾個世紀以來發(fā)生的數(shù)十次干旱。分析句子結(jié)構(gòu)可知，此處需填入連詞as引導定語從句，并指代逗號后面的句子，意為“正如”。故填As。

【6】考查現(xiàn)在分詞。句意：然后，他們獲取了當前干旱的平均土壤水分值，并將其與連續(xù)19年的平均值進行了比較，并將其與前四個平均值進行比較，其中一個數(shù)值持續(xù)了近一個世紀。分析句子結(jié)構(gòu)可知，逗號后面的last的作為動詞使用，應填入非謂語動詞的形式，oneofthem發(fā)出last的動作，因此應使用現(xiàn)在分詞的形式。故填lasting。

【7】考查定語從句的引導詞。句意：在這個人類舉動加劇氣溫的世界中，帕克博士和他的同事們想知道人類應該為這種狀況負多少責任。分析句子結(jié)構(gòu)可知，此處需填入連詞引導定語從句，先行詞是world，它在從句中作地點狀語。故填where。

【8】考查固定短語。句意：在這個人類舉動加劇氣溫的世界中，帕克博士和他的同事們想知道人類應該為這種狀況負多少責任。be to blame for：為……應該受到責備，為……承擔責任，這是固定用法。故填to blame。

【9】考查介詞。句意：氣候模型能夠在有和沒有人類活動帶來變暖影響的情況下重現(xiàn)過去，從而提供一種比較實際發(fā)生的事情和可能做過的事情的方式。由下文的“anthropogenic emissions had not increased the greenhouse-gas effect（人為排放并沒有增加溫室氣體的影響）”可知，此處應填入介詞with的反義詞without，即without the warming effects of human activity（沒有人類活動導致的變暖影響），這兩部分是同義表達。故填without。

【10】考查形容詞的比較級。句意：但是，同期的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)這種虛構(gòu)的干旱沒有真正的排名第11的干旱嚴重卻比排名第2的嚴重（參見圖表）。由than可知，形容詞severe應使用比較級的形式。結(jié)合圖表信息可知，表示“程度沒有那么嚴重”應使用less+形容詞。故填less severe。

現(xiàn)在完成時主動語態(tài)：have/has + done；現(xiàn)在完成時的被動語態(tài)：have/has＋been done；現(xiàn)在完成時常用的標志性時間狀語：already，ever，never，yet，just，before，still，lately，since，for a long time，up to now，until，so far，in the last few years/weeks/months，till now，recently等。小題1詳解考查時態(tài)和語態(tài)。句意：但是，在過去的二十年中，預期的干旱也已達到極限了。由時間狀語over the past two decades可知，句子使用現(xiàn)在完成時，主語dryness承受動詞take的動作，謂語動詞使用被動語態(tài)，并且主語為不可數(shù)名詞，謂語動詞用單數(shù)形式。故填has been taken。