Question

    As a report from the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization（联合国粮食和农业组织）says, 1.29 million square kilometres of forest, an area almost the same size of South Africa, have been lost from the Earth since 1990. Now the forest loses an area around the size of   Panama every year. As the forest becomes smaller, many animals lose their home. Luckily, there are still some people doing their best to save forest. A Brazilian （巴西人） Sebastiao Salgado and his wife Lelia Salgado have spent about 20 years planting forest.

Sebastiao is one of the most famous Brazilian photographers. He traveled all over the world to take photos. When he finally came back home in Brazil in the 1990s, he was astonished - the forests were once full of wildlife. Now there are no trees here. So Sebastiao decided to do something about it. He believed that he could plant the forest together with his wife. And then his amazing dream began to come true. When they began to do that, all the birds and fish returned.

The couple brought the forest back by planting 4 million young trees. During the following 20 years. Sebastiao and his wife took care of the planted forest. 293 kinds of plants, 172 kinds of birds and other animals came back there. Sebastiao’s dream and hard work is a shining example of saving the nature. The couple show us how quickly the nature can recover(恢复) if we take action. As the saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is today.”

1.Every year our forest loses an area almost the size of      .

A.Brazil B.Panama C.South Africa D.the United States

2.There was no wildlife in Sebastiao’s hometown in the 1990s because          .

A.the weather was cold B.there was no water

C.people killed them all D.people cut down all the forests

3.What does the underlined word “astonished” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A.interested. B.bored. C.surprised. D.excited.

4.What's the best title of the passage?

A.Never too late to start. B.Love me, love my dog.

C.You can’t have your cake and eat it. D.Think twice before you make a decision.

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】

本文介绍了塞巴斯蒂奥·萨尔加多（Sebastiao Salgado）和他的妻子莱莉亚·萨尔加多（Lelia Salgado）花了大约20年的时间种植森林的故事。这对夫妇种了400万棵小树，把森林带回来了。他们呼吁人们从今天开始就行动起来。

1.细节理解题。根据“Now the forest loses an area around the size of Panama every year.”现在这片森林每年都会损失一个巴拿马大小的面积。故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据“When he finally came back home in Brazil in the 1990s, he was astonished - the forests were once full of wildlife. Now there are no trees here.”上世纪90年代，当他终于回到巴西的家时，他很惊讶——森林里曾经充满了野生动物。现在这里没有树了。可知，上世纪90年代塞巴斯蒂奥的家乡没有野生动物了，因为人们砍伐了所有的森林。故选D。

3.词意猜测题。根据“When he finally came back home in Brazil in the 1990s, he was astonished - the forests were once full of wildlife. Now there are no trees here.”上世纪90年代，当他终于回到巴西的家时，他很惊讶——森林里曾经充满了野生动物。现在这里没有树了。可以推知，单词astonished应该是“惊奇的”意思（surprised）。故选C。

4.最佳标题。根据“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is today.” 最好的植树时间是20年前，其次是今天。因此最佳的题目应该是Never too late to start.现在开始还不晚。故选A。