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(2019·南通七市二模)UN scholars have calculated that within the next 10 years the degradation (退化) of farm and grassland could turn 50 million people into migrants.Another UN agency calculated that in the last 25 years, another 3% of the planet's forests had been burned or cut down.
Once you have read Gaia Vince's book, you start to register the scale of change in a fast changing world.Adventures in the Anthropocene holds a mirror up to humanity and says: look what you have done to the world, the only world you will ever have.
The Anthropocene — the Age of Man — is a proposed new name for the quaternary (第四纪) period that we now live in, and it includes what has come to be called the Great Acceleration, in which during the last 65 years, whatever humans did, they did it faster and more effectively, and on a greater scale, while_at_the_same_time_reproducing_more_and_dying_much_less.
Did it take 50,000 years to reach a population of one billion? Just in the last 10 years, another billion people appeared on the planet, and by the end of this century, it could be home to 9, or 10, or 11 billion souls, each of which will hope for the minimum to sustain health and contentment.Many of them will demand a lot more, which is where the problems begin.To build cities, pave highways and establish factories, humans decades ago became the greatest earth moving force on the planet: they each year shift more rock and soil than the wind and the rain, the rivers and the glaciers (冰川) combined.
Cities now cover 2% of the planet's land: by 2030, this will be 10%.Over the next 80 years, the species will build a city for one million people every 10 days.To keep these cities functioning, humans will consume 18 terawatts of energy and by 2020, around 5 billion of them will have smartphones, and Internet access, and already people who are miserably poor can see, at a finger's touch, what they are missing, and want it for themselves, and in the course of trying to get it, consume more resources and cause destruction to the ecosystem.
Anyone who reads this book will have no excuse for not thinking about it.Vince doesn't just collect the statistics of exploitation and destruction, she goes to see for herself what they mean.Like a good reporter, she tries to see both sides: she explores both the human destruction and the beneficial and sometimes amazing solutions that human wisdom can deliver.She does the legwork too: she climbs up steep mountainsides in Nepal, and in Ladakh, looks at hydroelectric plans in Patagonia, walks through the forest to get closer to a tiger, steps out in the slums near Cartagena in Colombia, and slips down an Amazon tributary in a dugout.
Everywhere in the world, the ice is disappearing, but in Ladakh, an engineer has worked out a way to make artificial glaciers to store the water for summer growth, and in doing so has given the villagers not just security but a new kind of hope.In every chapter, there are excellent stories like this, glimpses (一瞥) of the other world that perhaps we could have made for ourselves.
Necessarily, to get around a topic that involves all human history and all geography too, she has to be brief, and so in every chapter, she leaves you wanting more.This is usually considered to be a good thing.Good or not, it is difficult to see.And if she helps readers understand a little better the loss and suffering lies behind the exploitation of the rare earths, then it becomes in every sense a good book.
语篇解读：本文主要介绍了Gaia Vince的一本名叫Adventures in the Anthropocene的书。
1．The statistics in the first paragraph are meant to________.
A．rid people of their concerns about the earth
B．stress the gravity of the destruction of the earth
C．clarify people's misunderstandings of the earth
D．warn people of the contradictory reports about the earth
解析：选B 推理判断题。根据关键词“the degradation(退化) of farm and grassland”和“planet's forests had been burned or cut down”可知目前地球在遭受着极大的破坏。因此作者写该段旨在强调地球被破坏的严重性。gravity意思是“严重性”。
2．The underlined part in Paragraph 3 most probably means ________.
A．more trees were planted and fewer of them died
B．people produced much more than they consumed
C．the birth rate was higher and the death rate was lower
D．more animals were raised and the survival rate was higher
解析：选C 句意理解题。根据这句话前面的句子的内容可知在过去的65年中人类处于一个加速度的时代，无论哪个方面人类都比以往发展的速度更快，效率更高，规模更大，同时人口繁殖更多，死亡更少。
3．According to the author, the construction of cities and infrastructures will ________.
A．create more job opportunities for citizens
B．narrow the gap between the rich and the poor
C．promote globalization and economic development
D．cause overconsumption and ecological destruction
解析：选D 推理判断题。根据第五段的内容可知为了维持这些城市的运转，人类将消耗很多的能源。借助于网络和智能手机贫困地区的人只要用手指一触，就可以看到他们所缺的东西，并且在努力获得这些东西的过程中，消耗更多的资源。原文中 “ ... consume more resources and cause destruction to the ecosystem”对应答案中的“overconsumption”和“ecological destruction”。
4．Why does the book set people thinking?
A．Vince's own exploration made her description persuasive.
B．Vince's adventures provide information about mysteries.
C．The book contains some practical solutions from reporters.
D．The book arouses people's curiosity about some countries.
解析：选A 推理判断题。根据第六段的第一、二句“Anyone who reads this book will have no excuse for not thinking about it. Vince doesn't just collect the statistics of exploitation and destruction, she goes to see for herself what they mean.”，任何读过这本书的人都没有理由不去想它。文斯不仅收集开采和破坏的统计数据，她还亲自去看看它们的含义。由此可见她的亲力亲为让她的书使人信服。
5．Gaia Vince writes the book to ________.
A．justify the need of humans for a satisfying life
B．advocate uncivilised life and fast development
C．share with the readers her adventures across the world
D．reveal all we have destroyed but may yet be able to save
解析：选D 推理判断题。根据第六段第三句“Like a good reporter, she tries to see both sides: she explores both the human destruction and the beneficial and sometimes amazing solutions that human wisdom can deliver.” 像一位优秀的记者一样，她试图看到两个方面：她探索人类的毁灭，以及人类智慧所能提供的有益的、有时甚至是惊人的解决方案。
6．What is the author's attitude toward Gaia Vince's work?
A．Cautious. B．Ambiguous.
C．Casual. D．Appreciative.
解析：选D 推理判断题。根据全文的内容，尤其是第六段的第一句“Anyone who reads this book will have no excuse for not thinking about it.”以及最后一段的最后一句“And if she helps readers understand a little better the loss and suffering lies behind the exploitation of the rare earths, then it becomes in every sense a good book.”可知作者认为这本书引人深思，是一本好书。所以作者是很欣赏这本书的。appreciative“欣赏的”。
