LONDON: What could possibly be wrong with planting trees? The advantages are obvious; they firm the soil, soak up (摄取) extra water and take carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) out of the atmosphere.
However, it now turns out that planting trees could add to global warming.
Tree roots do a great job of keeping soil firmly on the ground and out of the wind’s power. The problem is that some of those dust clouds play an important part in soaking up carbon dioxide.
Huge dust storms blow out over the oceans from dry parts of North Africa and central Asia. Tons of dust are lifted and left as a thin film over the ocean surface. The dust fuels oceanic life.
Dust from China is carried east and left in the Pacific Ocean. If a tree-planting programme there is successful and the dust supply reduced, the net result may be that less carbon dioxide gets locked away in the ocean.
Andy Ridgwell, an environmental scientist from the University of East Anglia, has spent the past few years studying dust and says his work “shows clearly the plexity of the system and the importance of not tinkering(粗劣地修补) with it without understanding the results. For this reason there is the need to focus(集中) on cutting carbon dioxide giving off rather than monkeying (瞎弄) about with the land surface.”
An American scientist, Robert Jackson, has shown that when native grassland areas are invaded(侵入) by trees, carbon is lost from the soil. “We are studying why the soil carbon disappears, but one theory is that trees do a lot more of their growing above ground pared to grasses, so less carbon goes directly into the soil from trees, ” says Jackson.
In wet areas of the world, the gain from trees absorbing carbon dioxide above ground seems to be outweighed(超过) by the loss of carbon from the soil below ground. Countries that plan to bat global warming by planting trees may have to think again. Solutions(解决办法) to environmental problems are often more plex than they first appear, and understanding the Earth’s climate is a very great challenge.
【小题1】People usually hold the opinion that A．huge dust storms can destroy carbon dioxideB．huge dust storms can destroy the oceans on the earthC．huge dust storms can’t do anything beneficial for manD．planting trees is the only way to control huge dust storms【小题2】Andy Ridgwell, the environmental scientist, believes that A．dust plays a more important part than treesB．trees shouldn’t have been planted in dry placesC．carbon dioxide is harmful to everything on the earthD．environmental problems are more plex than expected【小题3】Robert Jackson’s experiment proves that A．grassland areas should be covered by forestsB．trees hold more carbon than grassC．carbon can turn grass into dustD．less carbon can make trees grow faster【小题4】The underlined word “bat” in the last paragraph means A．learn aboutB．fight againstC．live withD．give upC
网友回答
(答案→)C
解析：文章介绍了一种新的理论，认为种树也是有很多的缺点的，文章做了具体的说明。
【小题1】C 推理题。根据第三段第二行The problem is that some of those dust clouds play an important part in soaking up carbon dioxide，人们根本就不知道沙尘暴还有四首二氧化碳的作用，可知C正确。
【小题2】D 推理题。根据第四段2,3行shows clearly the plexity of the system and the importance of not tinkering(粗劣地修补) with it without understanding the results以及最后一段Solutions(解决办法) to environmental problems are often more plex than they first appear可知D正确。
【小题3】B 推理题。根据倒数第二段，最后2行one theory is that trees do a lot more of their growing above ground pared to grasses, so less carbon goes directly into the soil from trees可知B正确。
【小题4】B 猜测词义题。根据Countries that plan to bat global warming by planting trees may have to think again可知这是与全球变暖进行的斗争，故Ｂ正确。