时文阅读04 A Brief History of Desertification in Africa（精练）（话题阅读精练）英语高二通用版

时文阅读 A Brief History of Desertification in Africa 非洲荒漠化简史 走进语篇 话题 体裁 题型 字数 建议阅读时间 难度 非洲荒漠化简史 说明文 选择题 439 9分钟 适中 The origins of the word ‘desertification’ are most commonly attributed to French botanist André Aubréville’s 1949 work on African rainforests, though a study argues that it may even be traced back to the 19th-century French colonial North Africa. The phenomenon has existed in Africa for thousands of years and isn’t new. However, with societies developing and human activities rising, desertification has worsened considerably in recent decades. Africa is home to one of the world’s most famous deserts, the Sahara, which is growing at a rate of 48 kilometres per year. Desertification and the expansion of deserts were not initially primarily due to human-induced climate change, like they are nowadays. The world’s greatest deserts formed through natural processes interacting over many years, such as the evaporation of water, upward winds, the descent of warm air, and low humidity. However, human activity has more recently come to either grow or shrink these deserts. To put human contributions into perspective, the Sahara has been growing rapidly since the 1920s, covering 10% more land than it used to, according to a study by National Science Foundation-funded scientists at the University of Maryland. The modern study of desertification that we are familiar with today, which considers climate change, emerged from studying the 1980s drought in the Sahel region, the most vulnerable region on the continent. It is a 3,000-mile stretch of land that includes ten counties and is under constant stress due to frequent droughts, soil erosion, and population growth, which has increased logging, illegal farming, and land clearing for housing. The 1980s drought is not the first human-induced event that affected the Sahel region. The desert has historically experienced a long series of droughts, but one of the most significant is the Sahelian drought and famine of 1968. It lasted until 1985 and was directly linked to the death of approximately 100,000 people and the disruption of millions of lives. Human exploitation of natural resources was originally believed to be the sole cause behind the drought. Still, it has been suggested that large-scale climate changes also triggered the drought. Despite being the most affected area in Africa, the Sahel is not the only region dealing with desertification. Some of the most affected areas include the Karoo in South Africa, which has endured semi-arid conditions for the last 500 years, Somalia, which has suffered three major drought crises in the last decade alone, and Ethiopia, with 75% of its land affected by desertification and a major famine between 1983 and 1985. With desertification becoming a more significant problem each year, these consequences will only increase if nothing is done to curb the climate crisis. -https://earth.org/desertification-in-africa/ 牛刀小试 ( ) 1. What is the main reason for the recent worsening of desertification in Africa? A. Natural climate changes over thousands of years. B. Frequent droughts in the Sahel region. C. The expansion of the Sahara Desert. D. Human activities and societal development. ( ) 2. Which marked the modern study of desertification linked to climate change? A. The 1968 Sahelian drought. B. The famine in Ethiopia (1983–1985). C. The 1980s drought in the Sahel region. D. The colonial period in North Africa. ( ) 3. What was believed to be the only cause of the 1968 Sahelian drought? A. Large-scale climate changes. B. Human overuse of natural resources. C. Soil erosion and population growth. D. The descent of warm air. ( ) 4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as affected by desertification? A. The Karoo (South Africa). B. Somalia. C. The Congo Basin. D. Ethiopia. 词汇聚焦 1. attribute [ əˈtrɪbjuːt] v. 把……归因于 2. initially [ ɪˈnɪʃəli] adv. 开始，最初 3. interact [ ˌɪntərˈækt] v. 相互交流，互动 4. humidity [ hjuːˈmɪdəti] n. 潮湿，湿气；湿度 5. shrink [ ʃrɪŋk] v.（使）缩小，减少 6. emerge [ ɪˈmɜːdʒ] v. 浮现，出现 7. continent [ˈkɒntɪnənt] n. 洲，大陆 8. trigger [ˈtrɪɡə(r)] v. 引发，激发 词汇练习 1、 选词填空 attribute, initially, interact, humidity, shrink, emerge, continent, trigger 1. The________________ is relatively low. 2. The chick _____________ has no fear of man. 3. They learn how to _______________ with their peers. 4. They tasted of a ripe sweetness I found hard to ______________ to that landscape. 5. This could ______________ a tsunami. 6. What happens when new players _______________? 7. This cloth will not ________________in the wash. 8. She loved the African _________________. 长难句分析 1. Africa is home to one of the world’s most famous deserts, the Sahara, which is growing at a rate of 48 kilometres per year. 【分析】本句中主干句是_____________________________________________________________________；同位语是________________________________________________________________；非限制性定语从句是____________________________________________________________________________________________ 【译文】____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 写作训练 你校将举办一场征文活动，作文标题是：How to Reduce Desertification? 内容要求如下： 1.土地荒漠化的危害； 2.采取相应措施； 3.总结个人观点。 注意：1. 词数100左右；2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。 How to Reduce Desertification? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ 背景拓展 What Are We Doing to Stop African Desertification? Desertification is becoming an increasingly important problem for much of Africa, so initiatives have been implemented to curb its spread. “One of the best, most comprehensive solutions [to fixing desertification] is land restoration, which addresses many of the underlying factors of degraded water cycles and the loss of soil fertility,” the UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw told the United Nations. With the Sahel region being the most vulnerable and heavily affected by desertification, an initiative known as ‘The Green Wall’ was put in place for the Sahara and Sahel in 2007. Its ambitious aim is to grow an 8,000-kilometre natural wonder across the entire width of Africa in order to increase the amount of arable land bordering the Sahara desert. The idea is that planting more trees will combat desertification, create jobs, increase food security and bring migrated populations back home to Africa. The initiative is showing signs of significant progress. 18 million trees have been planted in Senegal since its launch in 200, and the growth of this figure will hopefully prevent the Sahara from advancing on the land most affected by desertification and reduce soil erosion in the process. 37 million acres of degraded land in Ethiopia have also been restored due to this initiative. The Great Green Wall’s goal for 2030 is to restore 247 million acres of destroyed land and create 10 million jobs in affected rural areas. Due to the scale of disruption caused by climate change in Africa, The ‘Wall’ is only one of many initiatives in place. For instance, to recover lost rainforests and save the remaining forests left in Africa, the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) was launched in 2015 to restore 100 million hectares by 2030. The roadmap for development Agenda 2063 was also implemented to commit to several issues. These include ecosystem restoration, protecting, restoring and promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managing forests and combating desertification. Lastly, a similar initiative to AFR100, the Pan-African Agenda on Ecosystem Restoration for building resilience, led to commitments to restore 200 million hectares of forest in Africa – a much more ambitious commitment than the AFR100 initiative. -https://earth.org/desertification-in-africa/ 参考译文 我们正在做些什么来阻止非洲荒漠化？ 荒漠化正在成为非洲大部分地区日益严重的问题，因此已经实施了一些措施来遏制其蔓延。 《联合国防治荒漠化公约》执行秘书易卜拉欣·蒂奥对联合国说：“（解决荒漠化问题的）最好、最全面的解决方案之一是土地恢复，它解决了水循环退化和土壤肥力丧失的许多潜在因素。” 由于萨赫勒地区是最脆弱和受荒漠化影响最严重的地区，2007年为撒哈拉和萨赫勒地区实施了一项名为“绿色墙”的倡议。其雄心勃勃的目标是在整个非洲宽度上建造一个8000公里的自然奇观，以增加撒哈拉沙漠附近的可耕地数量。他们的想法是，种植更多的树木将对抗荒漠化，创造就业机会，增加粮食安全，并将移民人口带回非洲的家园。 该倡议正显示出取得重大进展的迹象。自2000年启动以来，塞内加尔已经种植了1800万棵树，这一数字的增长有望阻止撒哈拉沙漠向受荒漠化影响最严重的土地推进，并在此过程中减少土壤侵蚀。由于这一倡议，埃塞俄比亚3700万英亩退化的土地也得到了恢复。绿色长城2030年的目标是恢复2.47亿英亩被破坏的土地，并在受影响的农村地区创造1000万个就业机会。 由于气候变化在非洲造成的破坏规模，“隔离墙”只是众多举措之一。例如，为了恢复失去的热带雨林，拯救非洲剩余的森林，2015年启动了非洲森林景观恢复倡议（AFR100），到2030年恢复1亿公顷。落实《2063年发展路线图》，致力于解决若干问题。其中包括生态系统恢复、保护、恢复和促进陆地生态系统的可持续利用、可持续地管理森林和防治荒漠化。最后，一个与AFR100类似的倡议，即泛非生态系统恢复议程，旨在建立复原力，导致了在非洲恢复2亿公顷森林的承诺，这是一个比AFR100倡议更雄心勃勃的承诺。 答案与解析 牛刀小试 1. D 【解析】 细节理解题。根据第一段第三句However, with societies developing and human activities rising, desertification has worsened considerably in recent decades，然而，随着社会的发展和人类活动的增加，近几十年来荒漠化已经严重恶化。 2. C【解析】推理判断题。由题干定位到第三段第三句， The modern study of desertification that we are familiar with today, which considers climate change, emerged from studying the 1980s drought in the Sahel region, the most vulnerable region on the continent，我们今天所熟悉的关于沙漠化的现代研究，考虑到气候变化，起源于对1980年代非洲大陆最脆弱地区萨赫勒地区干旱的研究。 3. B 【解析】 推理判断题。由题干1968，定位到第四段第三句…1968. It lasted until 1985 and was directly linked to the death of approximately 100,000 people and the disruption of millions of lives. Human exploitation of natural resources was originally believed to be the sole cause behind the drought，……1968年的萨赫勒干旱和饥荒。它一直持续到1985年，与大约10万人的死亡和数百万人的生活受到破坏直接相关。人类对自然资源的开采最初被认为是造成干旱的唯一原因。 4. C 【解析】 细节理解题。由题干定位到第五段， Some of the most affected areas include the Karoo in South Africa, which has endured semi-arid conditions for the last 500 years, Somalia, which has suffered three major drought crises in the last decade alone, and Ethiopia，一些受影响的区域包括南非的卡鲁，在过去500年里一直处于半干旱状态；索马里，仅在过去十年中就遭受了三次重大干旱危机；埃塞俄比亚。 词汇练习 一、1. humidity 2. initially 3. interact 4. attribute 5. trigger 6. emerge 7. shrink 8. continent 长难句分析 1. 【分析】Africa is home to one of the world’s most famous deserts, the Sahara; the Sahara; which is growing at a rate of 48 kilometres per year. 【译文】非洲是世界上最著名的沙漠之一撒哈拉沙漠的所在地，它以每年48公里的速度增长。 写作训练 How to Reduce Desertification? Desertification poses a serious threat to our environment and life. It leads to soil erosion, loss of farmland, and even climate change, making survival difficult for both humans and animals. To combat desertification, effective measures must be taken. First, planting trees and grasses can help hold the soil together and prevent wind erosion. Second, sustainable farming practices, such as crop rotation, should be promoted to maintain soil fertility. Additionally, governments should enforce laws to limit overgrazing and deforestation. In my opinion, everyone has a role in fighting desertification. By working together and taking small actions, we can protect our land and ensure a greener future. 参考译文 非洲荒漠化简史 “沙漠化”一词的起源通常被认为是法国植物学家安德里奥·奥布雷姆维尔1949年关于非洲热带雨林的研究，尽管一项研究认为它甚至可以追溯到19世纪法国殖民的北非。这种现象在非洲已经存在了数千年，并不是什么新鲜事。然而，随着社会的发展和人类活动的增加，近几十年来荒漠化已经严重恶化。 非洲是世界上最著名的沙漠之一撒哈拉沙漠的所在地，它以每年48公里的速度增长。荒漠化和沙漠的扩张最初并不像现在这样主要是由于人类引起的气候变化。世界上最大的沙漠是由多年来相互作用的自然过程形成的，比如水的蒸发、向上的风、暖空气的下降和低湿度。 然而，最近人类的活动不是扩大就是缩小了这些沙漠。根据美国国家科学基金会（NSF）资助的马里兰大学（UMD）科学家的一项研究，从人类的贡献来看，撒哈拉沙漠自20世纪20年代以来一直在迅速增长，覆盖的土地比过去多了10%。我们今天所熟悉的关于沙漠化的现代研究，考虑到气候变化，起源于对1980年代非洲大陆最脆弱地区萨赫勒地区干旱的研究。这片绵延3000英里的土地包括10个县，由于频繁的干旱、土壤侵蚀和人口增长，导致伐木、非法农业和房屋清理土地的现象不断增加，它一直处于压力之下。 上世纪80年代的干旱并不是第一次影响萨赫勒地区的人为事件。这片沙漠在历史上经历了一系列的干旱，但其中最严重的一次是1968年的萨赫勒干旱和饥荒。它一直持续到1985年，与大约10万人的死亡和数百万人的生活受到破坏直接相关。人类对自然资源的开采最初被认为是造成干旱的唯一原因。尽管如此，有人认为大规模的气候变化也引发了干旱。 尽管萨赫勒地区是非洲受影响最严重的地区，但它并不是唯一面临沙漠化问题的地区。一些受影响最严重的地区包括南非的卡鲁，在过去500年里一直处于半干旱状态；索马里，仅在过去十年中就遭受了三次重大干旱危机；埃塞俄比亚，其75%的土地受到荒漠化的影响，并在1983年至1985年期间发生了严重饥荒。随着沙漠化日益成为一个日益严重的问题，如果不采取任何措施遏制气候危机，这些后果只会加剧。 1 / 1 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $$