A desert is a beautiful land of silence and space. The sun shines, the wind blows, and time and space seem endless. Nothing is soft. The sand and rocks are hard, and many of the plants even have hard needles instead of leaves.

　　The size and location(分布) of the world’s deserts are always changing. Over millions of years, as climates change and mountains rise, new dry and wet areas develop. But within the last 100 yeas, deserts have been growing at a frightening speed. This is partly because of natural changes, but the greatest makers are humans.

　　Humans can make deserts, but humans can also prevent their growth. Algeria Mauritania is planting a similar wall around Nouakchott, the capital. Iran puts a thin covering of petroleum(石油) on sandy areas and plants trees. The oil keeps the water and small trees in the land, and men on motorcycles(摩托車) keep the sheep and goats away. The USSR and India are building long canals to bring water to desert areas.

　　1. In this passage, “needles” refers to _______.

　　A. small, thin pieces of steel.

　　B. long, thin pieces of branches.

　　C. small pointed growth on the stem(莖) of a plant.

　　D. small, thin pieces of sticks.

　　2. Which of the following is NOT true?

　　A. The greatest desert makers are humans.

　　B. There aren’t any living things in the deserts.

　　C. Deserts have been growing quickly.

　　D. The size of the deserts is always changing.

　　3. People in some countries are fighting a battle against _______.

　　A. the growth of deserts               B. the disappearance of desert plants

　　C. natural changes                        D. congenital climate

　　4. We can guess that Mauritania and Algeria belong to _______.

　　A. Asian countries 　　　　          B. American countries

　　C. European counties　　　           D. African countries

　　5. Choose the sentence which best gives the main idea of the passage.

　　A. The deserts of the world are always changing.

　　B. Man is to take measures to control the growth of the world’s deserts.

　　C. Deserts are lands of silence and space.

　　D. Deserts have grown at a fast pace in the past 10 years.
　　【答案與解析】文章主要講的是人們正采取措施控制和治理沙漠。

　　1. C。詞匯猜測(cè)題。從instead of leaves可知needles是沙漠中植物的葉子，眾所周知沙漠中植物的葉子是針狀的, 再看steel(鋼) 、branches(樹枝) 、stick(棒) 都不是與葉對(duì)應(yīng)的物體, 只有C項(xiàng)(長在植物莖上的尖的小物體)是“針狀葉”的意思，故答案選C。

　　2. B。細(xì)節(jié)題。從many of the plants even have hard needles instead of leaves可知B項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。

　　3. A。細(xì)節(jié)題。從Humans can make deserts, but humans can also prevent their growth(認(rèn)為可能造成沙漠，但人類也可以防止沙漠的增長)可知答案A正確。

　　4. D。推斷題。根據(jù)常識(shí)非洲沙漠遠(yuǎn)近聞名, 這說明那里最需要治理, 作者舉例也會(huì)舉典型的, 增加文章的可信度，故答案選D。

　　5. B。主旨題。文章第2 段講沙漠增長速度驚人，第 3 段舉例說明人類正采取措施控制沙漠增長, 可見文章談沙漠增長的目的是為了引出人類對(duì)它的治理，故答案為B。