2012年湖北成人学位英语考试真题及答案（文字版）
Passage 2
Is there enough oil beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge(保护区) (ANWR) to help secure America's energy future? PresidentObama certainly thinks so. He has argued that tapping ANWR's oil would help ease California's electricity crisis and increase the country's energy independence, thus reducing its oil reliance on other countries. But no one knows for sure how much Crude oil lies buried beneath the frozen earth.
The oil industry goes with the high end of the range, which could equal as much as 10% ofU. S. consumption for as long as six years. By pumping more than 1 million barrels a day from the reserve for the next two or three decades, lobbyists claim, the nation could cut back on imports equivalent to(等于)all shipments to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. An oil increase would also mean a multibillion-dollar windfall (意外之财) in tax revenues, royalties (开采权使用费)and leasing fees for Alaska and the Federal Government. Best of all, advocates of drilling say, damage to the environment would be insignificant." We've never had a document case of oil rig chasing deer out onto the pack ice." Says Alaska State Representative Scott Ogan.
Not so fast, say environmentalists. The National Resources Defense Council says there may be no more than 3.2 billion barrels of oil in the coastal plain of ANWR, a drop in the bucket that would do virtually nothing to ease America's energy problems. And consumers would wait up to a decade to gain any benefits, because drilling could begin only after much bargaining. As for ANWR's impact on the California power crisis, environmentalists point out that oil is responsible for only 1% of the Golden State's electricity output and just 3% of the nation's.
26. What does President Obama think of tapping oil in ANWR?
A. It will exhaust the nation's oil reserves.
B. It will help secure the future of ANWR.
C. It will help reduce the nation's oil imports.
D. It will increaseAmerica's energy consumption.
27. We learn from the second paragraph that the American oil industry
A. believes that drilling for oil in ANWR will produce high yields
B. tends to exaggerateAmerica's reliance on foreign oil
C. shows little interest in tapping oil in ANWR
D. expects to stop oil imports from Saudi Arabia
28. Those against oil drilling in ANWR argue that __________.
A. it can cause serious damage to the environment
B. it can do little to solve U.S. energy problems
C. it will drain the oil reserves in the Alaskan region
D. it will not have much commercial value
29. What do the environmentalists mean by saying" Not so fast"in the third paragraph?
A. Oil exploitation takes a long time.
B. The oil drilling should be delayed.
C. Don't be too optimistic.
D. Don't expect fast returns.
30. It can be learned from the passage that oil exploitation beneath ANWR's frozen earth__________.
A. remains a controversial issue
B. is expected to get under way soon
C. involves a lot of technological problems
D. will enable the U.S. to be oil independent
Passage 3
If the population of the earth goes on increasing at its present rate, there will eventually not be enough resources left to keep our lives on the planet. By the middle of the 21st century, if present trends continue, we will have used up all the oil that drives our cars. Even if scientists develop new ways of feeding the human race, the crowded conditions on earth will make it necessary for us to look for open space somewhere else. But none of the other planets in our solar system are capable of supporting life at present. One possible solution to the problem, however, has recently been suggested by American scientist, Professor Carl Sagan.
Sagan believes that before the earth's resources are completely used up it will be possible to change the atmosphere of Venus and so create a new world almost as large as earth itself. The difficulty is that Venus is much hotter than the earth and there is only a tiny amount of water there. Sagan proposes that algae (藻类) organisms that can live in extremely hot or cold atmospheres and at the same time produce oxygen, should be bred in condition similar to those on Venus. As soon as this has been done, the algae will be placed in small rockets. Spaceship will then fly to Venus and fire the rockets into the atmosphere.
In a fairly short time, the algae will break down the carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon.
When the algae have done their work, the atmosphere will become cooler, but before man ban set foot on Venus it will be necessary for the oxygen to produce rain. The surface of the planet will still be too hot for man to land on it but the rain will eventually fall and in a few years something like earth will be reproduced on Venus.
31. In the long run, the most insoluble problem caused by population growth on earth will probably be the lack of__________.
A. food
B. oil
C. space
D. resources
32. Carl Sagan believes that Venus might be colonized from earth because__________.
A. it might be possible to change its atmosphere
B. its atmosphere is the same as the earth's
C. there is agood supply of water on Venus
D. the days on Venus are long enough
33. On Venus there is a lot of
A. water
B. carbon dioxide
C. carbon monoxide
D. oxygen
34. Algae are plants that can
A. live in very hot temperatures
B. live in very cold temperatures
C. manufacture oxygen
D. all of the above
35. Man can land on Venus only when
A. the algae have done their work
B. the atmosphere becomes cooler
C. there is oxygen
D. it rains there