全国职称英语考试综合类AB级课堂笔记第28讲

 

Underground Coal fires a looming Catastrophe文章中复杂句子的分析：

1．  These large-scale underground blazes cause the ground temperature to heat up and kill surroundings vegetation, produce greenhouse gases and can even ignite forest fires, a panel of scientists told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver.

 

2．  The members of the panel discussed the impact these fires may be having on global and regional climate change, and agreed that the underground nature of the fires makes them difficult to protect.

 

3．  One suggested method of containing the fires was presented by Cary Colaozzi, of the engineering firm Goodson, which has developed a heat-resistant grout (a thin mortar used to fill cracks and crevices,) which is designed to be pumped into the coal fire to cut off the oxygen supply.

 

4． In comparison, the U.S. economy consumes about one billion tons of coal annually, said Stracher, whose analysis of the likely impact of coal fires has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of coal ecology, once underway, coal fires can burn for decades, even centuries.

 

passage 1

Underground Coal fires a looming Catastrophe

 

    Coal burning deep underground in China, India and Indonesia is threatening the environment and human life, scientists have warned. These large-scale underground blazes cause the ground temperature to heat up and kill surroundings vegetation, produce greenhouse gases and can even ignite forest fires, a panel of scientists told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver. The resulting release of poisonous elements like arsenic and mercury can also pollute local water sources and soils, they warned.

    “Coal fires are a global catastrophe,” said Associate Professor Glenn Stracher of East Georgia College in Swainsboro, USA. But surprisingly few people know about them.

    Coal can heat up on its own, and eventually catch fire and burn, if there is a continuous oxygen supply. The heat produced is not caused to disappear and under the right combinations of sunlight and oxygen, can trigger spontaneous catching fire and burning. This can occur underground, in coal stockpiles, abandoned mines or even as coal is transported. Such fires in China consume up to 200 million tones of coal per year, delegates were told. In comparison, the U.S. economy consumes about one billion tons of coal annually, said Stracher, whose analysis of the likely impact of coal fires has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of coal ecology, once underway, coal fires can burn for decades, even centuries. In the process, they release large volumes of greenhouse gases; poisonous gases fumes and black particles in to the atmosphere.

    The members of the panel discussed the impact these fires may be having on global and regional climate change, and agreed that the underground nature of the fires makes them difficult to protect. One of the members of the panel, Assistant Professor Paul Van Dijk of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands, has been working with the Chinese government to detect and monitor fires in the northern regions of the country.

    Ultimately, the remote sensing and other techniques should allow scientists to estimate how much carbon dioxide theses fires are emitting. One suggested method of containing the fires was presented by Cary Colaozzi, of the engineering firm Goodson, which has developed a heat-resistant grout (a thin mortar used to fill cracks and crevices,) which is designed to be pumped into the coal fire to cut off the oxygen supply.

 

1。 According to the first paragraph, one of the warnings given by the scientists is that

A. underground fires loom large in the forests.

B. coal burning deep underground is found in China

C. poisonous elements released by the underground fires can pollute water sources.

D. arsenic and mercury are the most poisonous elements to water sources

 

2         According to the third paragraph, what will happen when the underground heat does not disappear?

A.     coal heats up on its own and catches fire and burns

B.     the underground oxygen will be used up

C.     poisonous fumes and greenhouse gases will be accumulated underground

D.     there will be an increases of abandoned mines

 

3          What did Stracher analyze in his article published in the International Journal of Coal Ecology?

A. annual consumption of coal in U.S.

B. annual consumption of coal in China

C. how long coal fires has lasted in the northern region of China

D. coal fires can have an impact on the environment

 

4         Which of the following statements about Paul Van Dijk is Not true?

A. he was one of the scientists who have warned against the threats of underground fires

B. he has detected and monitored underground fires in Netherlands

C. he has worked with the Chinese government on the underground fires issue.

D. He works for a research institute in Netherlands.

 

5         According to the fifth paragraph, what is the suggested method to control underground fires?

A. using remote sensing techniques

B. controlling the release of carbon dioxide

C. making the soil heat resistant

D. cutting off the oxygen supply

 

l         答案及解析：

1．    文章标题分析：Underground Coal fires（引发） a looming Catastrophe （即将到来的大灾难）

 

2．    直接解题：

1  According to the first paragraph, one of the warnings given by the scientists is that

A. underground fires loom large(显得突出) in the forests.

B. coal burning deep underground is found in China

C. poisonous elements released by the underground fires can pollute water sources.

D. arsenic（砷）and mercury （水银）are the most poisonous elements to water sources

1．    C。分析：利用题干中出现的核心词/结构（one of the warnings和 scientists）作为答案线索，同时注意被选项中的核心词（黑体部分），并注意到C和D有关系：头提到了对水资源污染的问题，但比较来看C成为答案的可能性更大—因为C与文章中心相关，这样发现答案相关句：（注意到了被选项的特点就能直接找到最相关的答案相关句）