Question

Plants are flowering faster than scientists predicted（預測）in reaction to climate change, which could have long damaging effects on food chains and ecosystems.
Global warming is having a great effect on hundreds of plant and animal species around the world, changing some living patterns, scientists say.
Increased carbon dioxide（CO2）in the air from burning coal and oil can have an effect on how plants produce oxygen, while higher temperatures and changeable rainfall patterns can change their patterns of growth.
“Predicting species’ reaction to climate change is a major challenge in ecology,” said the researches of several U.S. universities. They said plants had been the key object of study because their reaction to climate change could have an effect on food chains and ecosystem services.
The study, published on the Nature website, uses the findings from plant life cycle studies and experiments across four continents and 1,634 species. It found that some experiments had underestimated（低估）the speed of flowering by 8.5 times and leafing by 4 times.
“Across all species, the experiments under-predicted the speed of the advance — for both leafing and flowering — that results from temperature increases,” the study said.
The design of future experiments may need to be improved to better predict how plants will react to climate change, it said.
Plants are necessary for life on the Earth. They are the base of the food chain, using photosynthesis（光合作用）to produce sugar from carbon dioxide and water. They let out oxygen which is needed by nearly every organism on the planet.
Scientists believe the world’s average temperature has risen by about 0.8℃since 1900, and nearly 0.2℃ every ten years since 1979.
So far, efforts to cut emissions（排放）of planet-warming greenhouse gases are not seen as enough to prevent the Earth heating up beyond 2℃ this century — a point scientists say will bring the danger of a changeable climate in which weather extremes are common, leading to drought, floods, crop failures and rising sea levels.
小題1:What is the key information the author wants to give in Paragraph 1?

A．Plants’ reaction to weather could have damaging effects on ecosystem.

B．The increasing speed of flowering is beyond scientists’ expectation.

C．Climate change leads to the change of food production patterns.

D．Food chains have been seriously damaged because of weather.

小題2:We can learn from the study published on the Nature website that ______.

A．plants’ flowering is 8.5 times faster than leafing

B．there are 1,634 plant species on the four continents

C．scientists should improve the design of the experiments

D．the experiments failed to predict how plants react to climate change

小題3:Scientists pay special attention to the study of plants because _______.

A．they can prove the climate change clearly

B．they are very important in the food chains

C．they play a leading role in reducing global warming

D．they are growing and flowering much faster than before

小題4:What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs about the world’s temperature?

A．It has risen nearly 0.2℃ since 1979.

B．Its change will lead to weather extremes.

C．It is 0.8℃ higher in 1979 than that of 1990.

D．It needs to be controlled within 2℃ in this century.

Answer 1

小題1:B
小題2:C
小題3:B
小題4:D

【本文要點】本文為科普類文章。文章論述了全球變暖的氣候環境會讓植物提前生長開花，進而影響整個食物鏈及生態系統。
小題1:第一段話給讀者傳達的主要信息存在于主句，而不是which所引導的定語從句上。根據“Plants are flowering faster than scientists predicted”可知，作者是要告知讀者植物開花的增速超出了科學家的預期。故選B。A為次要信息。
小題2:第五段話“It found that some experiments had underestimated（低估）the speed of flowering by 8.5 times and leafing by 4 times”暗示讀者：對于植物所設計的實驗應該有所改進，故答案選C。
小題3:根據第四段“They said plants had been the key object of study because their reaction to climate change could have an effect on food chains and ecosystem services”可知植物對氣候變化的反應對整個食物鏈和生態系統都至關重要。故答案選B。
小題4:從倒數第二段“…has risen by about 0.8℃ since 1900, and nearly 0.2℃ every ten years since 1979”可知A、C項錯誤；從最后一段敘述可知，如果本世紀地球變暖超過2℃，便會出現weather extremes。暗示我們這個世紀地球溫度的上升需要控制在2℃的范圍之內。故答案選D。