Question

Most forest fires are caused by human carelessness, negligence, or ignorance. Forest fire prevention, therefore, is mainly a problem of creating a better understanding of the importance of forests, an awareness of the danger of fire in the woods, and a sense of personal responsibility to safeguard the forests from danger. This is not an easy job. A city dweller, used to paved street, does not easily change his smoking habits when he goes into the woods.

Careless smokers are responsible for thousands of forest fires each year. Many of these are started when cigarette butts and matches are tossed from automobiles. Others are caused by hunters, hikers, fishermen, or woods workers who are careless in disposing of their smoking material. The Forest Service has posted rules in many of the National Forests that prohibit smoking except in certain designated areas. Many of the states have laws against throwing lighted materials from automobiles. The prevention of smoker-caused fires, however, depends upon changing the attitudes and behavior of millions of people who smoke in hazardous area.

The most important natural cause of fire is lightning. This accounts for 11 percent of forest fires on protected land for the entire nation. In the western states, lightning causes a much higher percentage of fire than it does in the east.

Advances in knowledge of fire weather are helping forest protection forces to know when to be alert for lightning-caused fires. Adequate and well-equipped forces can control them quickly and hold the damage to a minimum. Experiments in “seeding” thunder clouds to prevent or control the lightning itself have been in process for many years, but new breakthroughs are needed for any significant reduction in the lightning starts.

　　 1. The passage is chiefly about

　　　　 A. smoking in forests

　　　　 B. the chief cause of forest fire and their prevention

　　　　 C. changing the attitudes and behavior of millions of people

　　　　 D. advances in knowledge of fire weather

　　 2. Preventing smoker-caused forest fires is mainly a problem of——.

　　　　 A. building the proper knowledge and habits in human beings

　　　　 B. safeguarding the forest from fire

　　　　 C. posting rules in forests

　　　　 D. holding the damage to minimum　　　　　　　　  　　

　　 3. Lightning-caused fires can be controlled quickly by——.

　　　　 A. hunters and woods workers　　　　　　  B. responsible smokers

　　　　 C. adequate and well-equipped forces　　　　 D changing people's habits

　　 4. Which of the following statements is not true?

　　　　 A. The chief causes of forest fires are human carelessness, negligence, or ignorance.

　　　　 B. Lightning, the important natural cause of forest fire, can be prevented or controlled by men.

　　　　 C.  Quite a few states in America have laws against throwing lighted materials from automobiles.

　　　　 D. “Seeding” thunder clouds are a good way to prevent forest fire.

 

Answer 1

解析：

1.B。文章一開始作者就指出大多數(shù)森林火災(zāi)都是由人類的“carelessness，negligence，or ignorance”造成  的。接著作者分別詳細(xì)描述了兩類火災(zāi)——人為引起和自然現(xiàn)象引起——的原因及具體預(yù)防措施，故選B。     2.A。見文章第二段最后一句，大意為：“但是，對于由吸煙者引起的森林火災(zāi)的預(yù)防問題，關(guān)鍵在于改變數(shù)百萬在危險地區(qū)吸煙的人的態(tài)度及行為。”故選A。     3.C。見文章最后一段第二句，大意為：“足夠的裝備良好的設(shè)施能迅速控制住由閃電引起的森林火災(zāi)。并把損失減小到最低限度。”故選C。     4.D。見文章最后一段最后一句，大意為：“為了預(yù)防和控制由閃電引發(fā)的森林大火，人們進(jìn)行了一種“播種”雷雨云的試驗，這種試驗多年來一直在進(jìn)行，但是，人們?nèi)匀恍枰�有新的突破以大大減少由閃電引發(fā)的森林火災(zāi)。”從這句話可知，“播種”雷雨云到目前為止尚不能被認(rèn)為是一種好的防止閃電引發(fā)火災(zāi)的方法。故選D。

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