2009年12月英语四级考试巅峰阅读训练(四)

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　　作者的行文态度

　　解题技巧

　　作者的行文态度是作者在描述文章那个主题任务或事物时在文字中所表现出来的一种心理倾向。如果是描述一个问题，那么从文章中列举的解决方法的效果、对未来的预期等可以判断作者的态度是悲观、谨慎或乐观。如果是介绍一个人或物，从文章中谈到的优点或缺点、进步或退步等，可以判断作者的态度是鼓吹、批判或中立。如果是纯粹的说明问(如，科学研究介绍)，行文态度一般都是客观的，不带感情色彩的。

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　　Unless we spend money to spot and prevent asteroids now,one might crash into Earth and destroy life as we know it, say some scientists Asteroids are bigger versions of the meteorites that race across the night sky. Most orbit the sun far from Earth and don’t threaten us. But there are also thousands whose orbits put them on a collision course with Earth. Buy $ 10 million a year for the next 25 years to locate most of the space rocks. By the time we spot a fatal one, the scientists say, we’ll have a way to change its course. Some scientists favor pushing asteroids off course with nuclear weapons. But the cost wouldn’t be cheap.

　　Is it worth it? Two things experts consider when judging any risk are: 1) how likely the event is:and 2) How bad the consequences if the event occurs. Experts think an asteroid big enough to destroy lots of life might strike Eart once every 500,000 years. Sounds pretty rare — but if one did fall, it would be the end of the world. “If we don’t take care of these big asteroids, they’ll take care of us,” says one scientist. “It’s that simple.”

　　The cure, though, might be worse than the disease. Do we really want fleets of unclear weapons sitting around on Earth? “The world has less to fear from doomsday rocks than from a great unclear fleet set against them,” said a New York Times article.

　　Q: Which of the following best describes the author’s tone in this passage?

　　A Optinmistic

　　B Critical

　　C Objective.

　　D Arbitrary

　　解析

　　选C。第一段第一句说我们必须投入资金来发展小行星，以防某一颗撞击地球毁灭了声明。第一段主要描述了撞击的危险性和防撞的方法。第二段介绍投入资金的必要性。第三段说人们对防撞的方法有很大的顾虑。通关全文，对于撞击的危险，人们已经想出了方法来防止，但是防止的方法却也有很大的危险性。可见作者是在客观地陈述防撞问题上存在的问题。