5.19 考研英语阅读题源外刊模拟试题【难度7.5】“干燥”的降雨

Section II Reading Comprehension 

Part A 

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. 

Text 2

Climate researchers have long documented something about a warmer world that’s hard even for non-scientists to miss: It doesn’t rain, it pours.

Intense, concentrated rainstorms have been on the rise for decades. And those bigger storms turn out to have a counterintuitive effect. The more that rain comes down in deluges, the less water is available on land, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

By the time the world has warmed by 2C, 27% of the human population could live under “abnormally dry conditions” brought about by the shifting timing and intensity of rainfall. The Earth’s average temperature has already risen about 1.3C since industrialization.

“Intensification of rainfall is just a given, given global warming,” said Justin Mankin, a climate scientist at Dartmouth College and senior author of the paper. “What does it imply for the amount of water going into the land? Does the land essentially have to drink from a firehose?”

In a word, yes. The researchers’ results hold “broad implications for future water availability,” Mankin and his co-author Corey Lesk write.

Major river basins already face drying from the concentration of rainfall, including the Amazon, Nile, Mississippi, Ganges and Yangtze. The relative effect is biggest in arid and very humid regions, but the scientists’ findings hold for all climates globally.

Conceptually, what’s happening is straightforward. Hotter air can hold more water vapor, about 7% more for every rise of 1C (1.8F) in the global temperature average. Extra moisture comes down less regularly, in greater amounts. The paper looks at this trend across three precipitation datasets.

When rain comes regularly and at a lower volume, the ground is able to absorb the water, feeding plants and replenishing aquifers. But after massive storms, the water pools at the surface and evaporates back into the atmosphere before it can even run off into rivers, recharge soil and aquifers or transpire from plants.

Adding insult to injury, when rainy days are farther apart, that means there are more days of sun to evaporate more water — a secondary effect of the concentrated precipitation.

A linchpin of the new study is a version of the century-old measure of income inequality called the Gini coefficient. Mankin and lead author Lesk, a Dartmouth postdoctoral researcher, used the same approach to gauge how rainfall has been shifting.

Their scale measures the difference between a hypothetical “equality” of rain — where every day sees the same amount — and the reality of rain bunching up in fewer drizzles and bigger downpours. A score of 0 would mean every day has equal rainfall and a score of 1 would mean it all falls on one day.

They cite Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as an extreme example of what happened globally between 2002 and 2022. The city’s year of least concentrated rainfall during that period came in 2003, when its score was 0.69. Its most concentrated year was 2016, when the score jumped to 0.93.

“I think this is the first study to tease this relationship — that more concentrated precipitation can decrease terrestrial water storage — out from observations,” said Flavio Lehner, a climate scientist at Cornell University who was not involved with the research. Follow-up work, he added, might focus on better understanding why the magnitude varies for different precipitation datasets, although without affecting the headline results.

26. What is the counterintuitive finding regarding intense rainstorms mentioned in Paragraph 2?[A] They fundamentally alter the chemical composition of the accumulated ground moisture.[B] An increase in concentrated precipitation inadvertently diminishes terrestrial water availability.[C] Heavy deluges serve as the primary catalyst for the continuous rise in global temperatures.[D] The frequency of moderate rainfalls escalates proportionately with atmospheric warming.

27. According to Paragraph 8, why do massive storms fail to effectively replenish groundwater?[A] The excessive moisture rapidly runs off into surrounding rivers without penetrating the ground.[B] The intense downpours irreversibly damage the absorbent porous structure of the topsoil.[C] The bulk of the precipitation accumulates superficially and is subsequently lost to evaporation.[D] The elevated atmospheric temperature rejects moisture and redirects it to the plant leaves.

28. The researchers applied the Gini coefficient in their study to ________.[A] illustrate the widening economic disparity in regions vulnerable to severe droughts[B] project the long-term climatic shifts across various major global river basins[C] evaluate the financial consequences of abnormal dry conditions on local populations[D] quantify the discrepancy between uniform precipitation and concentrated downpours

29. What can be inferred from Flavio Lehner's remarks in the last paragraph?[A] The fundamental conclusion of the research remains valid despite some data variations.[B] The observational approach utilized by the authors proved highly controversial in academia.[C] Subsequent research is anticipated to substantially revise the study's headline results.[D] The variations across datasets significantly diminish the practical value of the entire study.

30. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?[A] The Gini Coefficient: A Novel Approach to Meteorological Measurements[B] Global Warming's Unpredictable Impact on Atmospheric Moisture[C] The Firehose Paradox: Why Heavier Rainfalls Leave the Land Drier[D] Major River Basins Under Threat from Unprecedented Deluges

附注：根据历年考研英语真题阅读题源外刊等，摘选最新文章，模拟仿真出题。

参考答案见以下。

26.【正确答案】B【解析】题型：事实细节题定位： 第二段第二、三句“And those bigger storms turn out to have a counterintuitive effect. The more that rain comes down in deluges, the less water is available on land...”分析： 原文明确指出了这个“反直觉（counterintuitive）”的现象：倾盆大雨（deluges）下得越多，陆地上可用的水反而越少（less water is available on land）。选项 B“集中降水的增加无意中减少了陆地水分的可用性（inadvertently diminishes terrestrial water availability）”是对该现象的完美学术化同义转述。干扰项：[A] 它们从根本上改变了积累的地面水分的化学成分（无中生有，文中未探讨化学成分的变化）；[C] 暴雨是全球气温持续上升的主要催化剂（因果倒置，原文指出是全球变暖导致了暴雨，而非暴雨导致变暖）；[D] 中等降雨的频率与大气变暖成正比地增加（事实相反，原文指出在变暖的情况下，降雨变得“不规律且量大”，中等规模/经常性的降雨实际上减少了）。

27.【正确答案】C【解析】题型：因果细节题定位： 第八段第二句“But after massive storms, the water pools at the surface and evaporates back into the atmosphere before it can even run off into rivers, recharge soil and aquifers or transpire from plants.”分析： 题目询问为什么大型风暴未能有效补充地下水。原文解释了暴雨的去向：水在表面积聚（pools at the surface），然后“在流入河流、补充土壤之前就蒸发回大气中（evaporates back into the atmosphere before it can even run off...）”。选项 C“大部分降水在表面积聚，随后因蒸发而流失（accumulates superficially and is subsequently lost to evaporation）”精准对应了这一物理机制。干扰项：[A] 过多的水分迅速流入周围的河流而没有渗入地下（细节陷阱/时间错位，原文明确指出水分在“流入河流之前/before it can even run off into rivers”就已经蒸发了）；[B] 强烈的倾盆大雨不可逆转地破坏了表土的多孔吸收结构（无中生有，原文并未提及土壤结构遭到物理破坏）；[D] 升高的大气温度排斥水分并将其重新导向植物叶片（张冠李戴，蒸发是回到“大气/atmosphere”，且植物蒸腾/transpire是被阻断的，而非水分导向叶片）。

28.【正确答案】D【解析】题型：事实细节/目的推断题定位： 第十段与第十一段“A linchpin of the new study is a version of the century-old measure of income inequality called the Gini coefficient... Their scale measures the difference between a hypothetical ‘equality’ of rain... and the reality of rain bunching up in fewer drizzles and bigger downpours.”分析： 作者在第十段提出研究借用了通常用来衡量收入不平等的基尼系数。第十一段解释了其具体应用目的：用来衡量假设的“均匀降雨（equality of rain）”与现实中“集中降雨（bunching up in bigger downpours）”之间的差异。选项 D“量化均匀降水与集中暴雨之间的差异（quantify the discrepancy between uniform precipitation and concentrated downpours）”是对该模型应用目的的准确概括。干扰项：[A] 说明易受严重干旱影响地区日益扩大的经济差距（常识诱捕/字面干扰，基尼系数通常用于经济，但在此研究中被跨界用于测量降雨，选项死扣“经济差距”，掉入字面陷阱）；[B] 预测各大全球河流流域的长期气候变化（偷换概念，基尼系数在此用于“回顾和测量/gauge”降水集中度，而非用于“预测/project”气候变化）；[C] 评估异常干燥条件对当地人口的财务后果（同A选项，继续用财务/经济概念做诱饵）。

29.【正确答案】A【解析】题型：推理判断题定位： 第十三段（最后一段）“...Follow-up work, he added, might focus on better understanding why the magnitude varies for different precipitation datasets, although without affecting the headline results.”分析： 气候科学家 Flavio Lehner 在评价该研究时指出，未来的后续工作可以聚焦于理解为什么不同数据集之间的幅度存在差异，但这种差异“不会影响主要研究结果（without affecting the headline results）”。这表明，尽管数据上存在一定的波动，核心结论依然是坚如磐石的。选项 A“尽管存在一些数据差异，该研究的基本结论仍然有效（remains valid despite some data variations）”是对此评论的高度逻辑还原。干扰项：[B] 作者利用的观察方法在学术界被证明极具争议性（感情色彩错误，Lehner对此研究持肯定态度，认为其“首次从观察中梳理出这一关系”）；[C] 随后的研究预计将大幅修正该研究的头条结果（正反颠倒，原文明确表示后续研究“不会影响/without affecting”主要结果）；[D] 数据集之间的差异显著削弱了整项研究的实用价值（过度贬低，与 Lehner 对该研究的积极定调相悖）。

30.【正确答案】C【解析】题型：主旨大意题定位： 全文逻辑结构。分析： 文章开篇抛出核心论点（反直觉现象）：全球变暖导致暴雨频发，但暴雨越多，陆地上可用的水反而越少（即消防水管效应/drinking from a firehose）。中间段落解释了原理（暴雨来不及吸收就蒸发了），后半部分介绍了测量这一集中度的“基尼系数”模型。全文紧紧围绕“暴雨反而导致干旱”这一悖论展开。选项 C“消防水管悖论：为什么更猛烈的降雨会让土地变得更干燥（The Firehose Paradox: Why Heavier Rainfalls Leave the Land Drier）”最生动、最精确地概括了全文的灵魂。干扰项：[A] 基尼系数：气象测量的一种新方法（以偏概全，这只是文章后半部分用到的一种研究工具）；[B] 全球变暖对大气水分的不可预测影响（过于宽泛，“不可预测/unpredictable”也不准确，文章已经清晰解释了其内在机制）；[D] 面临史无前例暴雨威胁的主要河流流域（局部细节，流域只是第六段举例说明受影响地区时提到的背景信息）。

【词汇注释】

【参考译文】

气候研究人员长期以来一直记录着关于一个变暖的世界的一些情况，即使是非科学家也很难忽视这一点：要么不下雨，一下就是倾盆大雨。

几十年来，强烈、集中的暴雨一直呈上升趋势。而事实证明，这些更大的风暴产生了一种违反直觉的效应。根据周三发表在《自然》杂志上的一项研究，暴雨下得越多，陆地上可用的水就越少。

到全球气温上升2摄氏度时，由于降水时间和强度的变化，27%的人口可能会生活在“异常干燥的条件”下。自工业化以来，地球的平均气温已经上升了约1.3摄氏度。

“考虑到全球变暖，降雨量的加剧是一个不争的事实，”达特茅斯学院的气候科学家、该论文的资深作者贾斯汀·曼金（Justin Mankin）说。“这对进入陆地的水量意味着什么？这是否意味着陆地基本上必须对着消防水管喝水？”

简而言之，是的。曼金和他的合著者科里·莱斯克（Corey Lesk）写道，研究人员的成果对“未来的水资源可用性具有广泛的意义”。

主要河流流域已经面临着降雨集中带来的干旱化，包括亚马逊河、尼罗河、密西西比河、恒河和长江。在干旱和非常潮湿的地区，相对效应最大，但科学家的这一发现在全球所有气候条件下都成立。

从概念上讲，正在发生的事情很简单。更热的空气能够容纳更多的水蒸气，全球平均气温每上升1摄氏度（1.8华氏度），水蒸气含量就增加约7%。额外的水分降落得不再那么规律，且一次性降下的量更大。该论文研究了三个降水数据集中的这一趋势。

当雨水有规律地且以较少的量降落时，地面能够吸收水分，滋养植物并补充含水层。但在大型风暴之后，水在表面积聚，甚至在它还来不及流入河流、补充土壤和含水层，或从植物中蒸腾出来之前，就已经蒸发回大气中了。

雪上加霜的是，当雨天之间的间隔拉长时，这意味着有更多的晴天来蒸发更多的水分——这是集中降水带来的次生效应。

这项新研究的一个关键，是采用了一个有着百年历史、用于衡量收入不平等的指标——基尼系数的变体。曼金和主要作者莱斯克（达特茅斯学院的博士后研究员）使用同样的方法来衡量降雨分布是如何发生偏移的。

他们的量表测量了假设的“均匀降雨”（即每天降雨量相同）与现实中降雨扎堆成更少的毛毛雨和更大的倾盆大雨之间的差异。分数为0意味着每天的降雨量相等，分数为1则意味着所有的雨都下在同一天。

他们引用柬埔寨的金边作为2002年至2022年间全球所发生情况的极端例子。该城市在此期间降雨最不集中的一年是2003年，当时它的得分为0.69。其降雨最集中的一年是2016年，得分跃升至0.93。

“我认为这是第一项从观测数据中梳理出这种关系的研究所——即更集中的降水会减少陆地储水量，”康奈尔大学的气候科学家弗拉维奥·雷纳（Flavio Lehner）说，他并未参与这项研究。他补充说，后续的工作可能会侧重于更好地理解为什么不同降水数据集之间的幅度存在差异，尽管这不会影响主要的研究结果。

附注：