In the debates about how a particular piece of land is to be used, the priorities often conflict. What should you do, for example, if you find out that under the fertile fields of a farming community there is a thick bed of coal which can be strip mined? Strip mining rips up top soil and vegetation. But mining may create jobs, bring money to the towns businesses. Those who approve of strip mining say that the coal is needed, and they point out that it is quicker and cheaper to get coal from the surface than to go deep into the earth to get it by standard mining techniques. On the other hand, it takes nature 500 years to create an inch of top soil. As the countryside fills up, people are becoming more aware of the need for open space. Nearly every proposal for a new power plant, highway, or airport draws fierce opposition. Everyone wants the big, land-eating “ uglies ” to be in someone else’s backyard. Minneapolis and St.Paul, Minnesota, for example, have been debating about the site of a future airport for years. Yet if a new airport is needed, it will have to go somewhere.
How do we find our way out of the land-used problem? One way might be to reexamine our values, to think in new directions. Does everyone have to have a car with its need for highways and parking lots? What about developing mass transit systems that use less land? Do suburbs have to sprawl? Can they be designed so they use less space? Do we have to have more energy? If we do, do we really have to strip-mine coal to provide it?
However difficult they may be to arrive at, choices will have to be made if we want to preserve the beauty and usefulness of the land. For there is at least one point on which all of us can agree: The land does have its limits.
The word “priorities” in the sentence means ____.
A) the various needs
B) the most important goal
C) the number one necessity
D) the first thing to be considered
“… , people are becoming more aware of the need for open space. ” tells us that ____.
A) people are thinking to develop their living space into the sky
B) people noticed the need for unoccupied land
C) people are struggling to get more land from the space
D) people are becoming more active on the space issue
How do we find our way out of the land use problems?
A) One way might be to reexamine our values, to think in new directions.
B) Everyone has to have a car with its need for highways and parking lots.
C) We have to have more energy. We need strip mine coal to provide it.
D) We may develop mass transit systems which use less land.
“ Everyone wants the big, land-eating ‘ uglies to be in someone else s backyard. ” shows that ____.
A) people don t want more big projects
B) people don t want to live in the neighborhood of the big projects
C) people regard the large construction projects are “ uglies ”
D) people don t like the undesirable building projects
The main idea of this article is ____.
A) The Limits of Land
B) Land
C) Land and Our Life Styles
D) Land and Space
关于如何利用某块土地的问题，首先应考虑什么经常成为辨论的要点。例如，如果在肥沃 的农田下面发现有厚厚的一层可开采的煤的话，该如何做呢 ? 开矿得掀开上面的土壤和蔬菜 ，但开矿可以提供就业机会，给城市商业带来经济利益。赞成开采的认为需要煤且这样挖煤 更容易，但另一方面，表层的土壤也十分珍贵，人们越来越需要开阔的空间。所以修建新的机场、发电厂、公路等计划几乎都遭到强烈的反对，那么如何解决土地利用问题呢 ? 更换价 值观念可能是一种解决办法。如果我们想保持土地的美，又使土地可以利用，无论多难也得作出选择，毕竟土地有限这一点是大家公认的。
答案 D 。
【试题分析】 此题考查根据上下文推测单词意思的能力。
【详细解答】 应是首先要考虑的事情，而不是 A “多种需要”， B “最重要的目的”，或 C “第一需要”。
答案 B 。
【试题分析】 此题考查句意理解。
【详细解答】 应该注意到未被占用的土地的重要性，而不是向天空发展或向空间要地等。
答案 A 。
【参考译文】 我们该如何解决土地利用的问题呢 ?
【试题分析】 此题考查对文章倒数第二段的理解，见该段第二句话。
【详细解答】 应是更新价值观念，换一种新的思维方式。 B 、 C 、 D 都不符合题意。
答案 B 。
【参考译文】 “每个人都希望别人的后园有大片的“难看的东西”表明……
【试题分析】 此题考查难句的意思。
【详细解答】 人们都不愿意与大型建筑物为邻。
答案 A 。
【试题分析】 此题考查文章主旨。
【详细解答】 本文主要讲述的是土地的极限，而不是泛泛谈论土地、生活方式或空间等。
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