6.2 大学英语四六级|考研英语阅读模拟试题【难度7.0】

Section C

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One 

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

Two years ago the authorities tore down a building on Hill Road, a busy street in an overpriced part of Mumbai, to widen it and ease the traffic. But they left in place a large-canopied rain tree that stood in front of the vanished structure. In theory, the road has been widened. In practice, however, the building’s footprint is now an informal car park. The Hill Road tree is not an exception. Across Mumbai, traffic is obstructed by trees that remained rooted as lanes were added. The reason for this bizarre state of affairs is that there is a noisy group even more feared by authorities than motorists. That is the tree-huggers.

India has spent the past 25 years frantically building infrastructure, both in cities and between them. Yet a binary idea has taken hold that trees and development are antithetical to each other. Indian cities badly need more green cover. A recent heatwave that pushed temperatures well past 40°C reminded everyone, not least the 90% of Indian households without air-conditioning, why urban trees matter. They not only provide shade to humans but also keep the asphalt underneath from warming up and radiating heat. But urban India needs to build more flyovers and high-rises, too. Some 40% of the country’s 1.45 billion people live in its dysfunctional cities. One way to improve their lives—and their productivity—is by making it easier to get around. Poor road networks need scaling up, and public transport has to be rolled out.

The state is keen to get all of this done. But often it does not help its own cause. In their rush to build a train depot in 2019, for instance, the bureaucrats in Mumbai cleared some 2,000 trees in the dead of night, hours after a court ruling and before activists had a chance to appeal. Official attempts to transplant trees have a mixed record. And it is hard to know whether promises to plant extra trees to make up for lost ones have been kept, since comprehensive data are rarely published.

Without data to argue with, environmental types resort to appeals to emotion and circular logic. When cities widen roads or plan new ones, well-meaning citizens argue that this will only encourage car ownership, and that investing in public transport would be wiser. True. But many metro lines, including in Kolkata and Bangalore, have been held up by litigation over protecting trees. Buses, comes the answer, would be cheaper, more flexible and less ecologically burdensome. Fine. But buses need roads to ply on. And so it goes, round and round, with infrastructure roll-outs taking longer and costing more than they should while greenery is lost anyway.

Some trees need to go. There is a better way to balance the trade-offs between nature and urbanisation than to do both badly. But that would require courage on the part of the state to release data, publish plans and persuade the people. The odd thing is that everybody knows the current dynamic is counterproductive. Ask environmentalists about why they fight over single trees, and they will admit they do it to keep up the pressure. It forces bureaucrats to think twice about chopping down thousands. Officials paint critics as impediments to progress. But privately they, too, admit that tree-huggers play a useful role. Without them, engineers would cheerfully fell entire forests if it meant roads could be built faster and cheaper. Everyone is acting rationally, yet no one is behaving sensibly. The result is right there in the middle of Hill Road.

附注：根据历年英语六级|考研英语真题阅读题源外刊等，摘选最新文章，模拟仿真出题。

参考答案见以下。

Quick look: ABCDB

46.【正确答案】B【解析】题型：事实细节题定位： 第一段“But they left in place a large-canopied rain tree that stood in front of the vanished structure... Across Mumbai, traffic is obstructed by trees that remained rooted as lanes were added.”分析： 原文指出，尽管当局为了拓宽道路拆除了一栋建筑，但却把一棵大树留在了原地，导致“交通被这些树木阻碍（traffic is obstructed by trees）”。选项 B“为了保留一棵大树而牺牲了交通的顺畅（preserved at the expense of traffic flow）”精准概括了这一荒诞现象。干扰项：[A] 一座新建的建筑被非法改造成了停车场（张冠李戴，原文是被拆除建筑留下的空地成了非正式停车场）；[C] 当局拆除了一座历史建筑以种植更多的树木（事实错误，拆除是为了“拓宽道路”，不是为了种树）；[D] 驾车者成功抗议了道路扩建项目（偷换主体，政府害怕的是“环保人士”，而不是驾车者）。

47.【正确答案】C【解析】题型：例证推断题定位： 第二段“A recent heatwave that pushed temperatures well past 40°C reminded everyone... why urban trees matter. They not only provide shade to humans but also keep the asphalt underneath from warming up and radiating heat.”分析： 作者提到近期超过40度的热浪，目的是为了提醒人们“为什么城市树木很重要（why urban trees matter）”，因为它们能提供阴凉并防止柏油路面散发热量。选项 C“强调绿化覆盖在印度城市中的不可或缺性（highlight the indispensability of green cover）”是对此例证目的的准确同义替换。干扰项：[A] 证明气候变化正使印度城市变得不宜居住（过度推断，热浪仅用于说明树木降温的作用）；[B] 批评政府未能提供空调（修饰错位，90%家庭无空调是背景事实，重点在于呼唤树木，而非批评政府不发空调）；[D] 反对建设更多的立交桥和高层建筑（正反颠倒，紧接着的一句“But urban India needs to build more flyovers...”明确表示作者认为同样需要建设高楼和立交桥）。

48.【正确答案】B【解析】题型：因果细节题定位： 第三段“In their rush to build a train depot in 2019, for instance, the bureaucrats in Mumbai cleared some 2,000 trees in the dead of night... And it is hard to know whether promises... have been kept, since comprehensive data are rarely published.”分析： 原文列举了政府的过失：为了建列车库在“深夜偷偷砍伐（cleared... in the dead of night）”了2000棵树，并且由于“很少公布全面数据（comprehensive data are rarely published）”，外界很难知道他们是否履行了补种承诺。选项 B“政府不愿分享数据及其偷偷摸摸移除树木的行为（reluctance to share data and its sneaky removal of trees）”是对这两点劣迹的完美概括。干扰项：[A] 当局未能履行建设列车库的承诺（事实倒置，当局是“急于建设/rush to build”列车库，而不是没有建）；[C] 印度主要城市完全没有公共交通系统（常识陷阱/夸大其词，原文只说公共交通“需要铺开/has to be rolled out”，且后文提到了地铁线，并非完全没有）；[D] 法院偏袒激进的房地产开发商的裁决（无中生有，原文提到的是政府在活动人士上诉前就动手了，并未指责法院偏袒开发商）。

49.【正确答案】C【解析】题型：事实细节题定位： 第四段“And so it goes, round and round, with infrastructure roll-outs taking longer and costing more than they should while greenery is lost anyway.”分析： 原文详细描述了环保人士的循环逻辑（建路不行要建公共交通 →建地铁不行要保护树 →建公交车不行因为没路），最终导致的结果是“基础设施建设耗时更长、成本更高，而绿化无论如何还是丧失了”。选项 C“拖延了重要的交通项目，同时未能防止生态损失（stalls essential transit projects while failing to prevent ecological loss）”是对原句的严密逻辑转述。干扰项：[A] 它成功阻止了不必要的新道路的建设（态度相反，作者认为基建是必须的，环保者的阻挠导致了低效）；[B] 它促进了从私家车向公共汽车的大规模过渡（事实相反，环保者的逻辑最终陷入死循环，并没有成功促进这种过渡）；[D] 它迫使城市采用更便宜、更灵活的交通替代方案（偏离结果，虽然环保者主张公交车便宜灵活，但因为没有路，这个方案也无法落实）。

50.【正确答案】B【解析】题型：细节推断题定位： 第五段“But privately they [officials], too, admit that tree-huggers play a useful role. Without them, engineers would cheerfully fell entire forests if it meant roads could be built faster and cheaper.”分析： 尽管官员们在公开场合将批评者描绘为进步的绊脚石，但原文明确指出，官员们私下承认“环保人士发挥着有用的作用（play a useful role）”。因为如果没有他们，工程师为了追求速度和低成本，会“兴高采烈地砍伐整片森林（cheerfully fell entire forests）”。选项 B“他们充当了防止鲁莽砍伐森林的有用制衡力量（useful counterbalance to prevent reckless deforestation）”极其精准地提炼了这一潜台词。干扰项：[A] 他们是蓄意破坏经济进步的主要障碍（这是官员们“公开抹黑/paint critics as impediments”的说法，并非他们“私下的看法/privately view”）；[C] 他们因每一棵树而激烈争吵，表现得毫无理智（事实相反，环保者承认他们争吵是为了“保持压力/keep up the pressure”，作者也评价“每个人都在理性行事/Everyone is acting rationally”）；[D] 他们是将自然置于人类生存之上的非理性活动家（带有负面情绪的过度批判，不符合政府官员私下对其“有价值”的定性）。

【词汇注释】

【长难句】

And so it goes, round and round, with infrastructure roll-outs taking longer and costing more than they should while greenery is lost anyway.

拆解：句子主干为 And so it goes, round and round（事情就这样周而复始地循环）。

【文章结构】

【参考译文】

两年前，当局拆除了孟买物价高昂地区一条繁华街道（希尔路）上的一栋建筑，以拓宽道路并缓解交通。但他们却把一棵曾矗立在消失建筑前、树冠巨大的雨树留在了原地。理论上，道路已经被拓宽了。然而在实际中，那栋建筑原有的占地现在成了一个非正式的停车场。希尔路上的这棵树并非特例。在整个孟买，交通都被那些在增加车道时依然扎根原地的树木所阻碍。这种荒诞局面的原因是，存在着一个比驾车者（驾车者本身也不是好惹的）更让当局感到害怕的喧闹群体。那就是“抱树者（环保人士）”。

在过去的25年里，印度一直在城市内部和城市之间疯狂地建设基础设施。然而，一种二元对立的观念已经根深蒂固，即树木与发展是水火不容的。印度城市极度需要更多的绿化覆盖。最近一场使气温远超40°C的热浪提醒了所有人——尤其是那90%没有空调的印度家庭——为什么城市树木很重要。它们不仅为人类提供阴凉，还能防止下面的沥青路面升温和散发热量。但同时，城市化的印度也需要建设更多的立交桥和高楼大厦。该国14.5亿人口中约有40%居住在运转失灵的城市里。改善他们生活（以及生产力）的一种方法就是让出行变得更容易。糟糕的公路网需要扩建，公共交通必须全面铺开。

政府很渴望完成所有这些工作。但它往往在搬起石头砸自己的脚。例如，在2019年急于建设列车库时，孟买的官僚们在深夜清除了约2000棵树，这距离法院裁决仅过去几个小时，环保活动人士根本没有机会上诉。官方移植树木的尝试也褒贬不一。而且，很难知道他们是否履行了种植额外树木以弥补损失的承诺，因为全面的数据很少公布。

在没有数据可辩驳的情况下，环保人士就会诉诸情感和循环逻辑。当城市拓宽道路或规划新道路时，出于好意的市民会争辩说，这只会鼓励人们购买汽车，而投资公共交通才更明智。确实如此。但是，包括加尔各答和班加罗尔在内的许多地铁线路，都因保护树木的诉讼而被搁置。于是有人回答说，公共汽车会更便宜、更灵活，而且生态负担更小。好极了。但公共汽车也需要在道路上行驶。事情就这样周而复始地循环，导致基础设施建设花费的时间更长、成本更高，而绿色植被终究还是失去了。

有些树必须得砍。要平衡自然与城市化之间的权衡，有比把两件事都搞砸更好的方法。但这需要政府拿出勇气来发布数据、公布计划并说服民众。奇怪的是，每个人都知道当前的动态是适得其反的。问问环保主义者为什么要为单单一棵树而战，他们会承认这样做是为了保持压力。这迫使官僚们在砍伐成千上万棵树之前三思而后行。官员们将批评者描绘成进步的绊脚石。但在私下里，他们也承认“抱树者”发挥了有用的作用。如果没有他们，工程师们为了更快更便宜地修路，会兴高采烈地砍伐整片森林。每个人都在理性行事，却没有人在明智地作为。其结果，就摆在希尔路的正中央。

附注：

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