Part B

　　Directions:

　　In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the lish A-G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices that do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

　　Rain forest structure is distinct from most other forest types because of its many layers of vegetation, referred to as strata. The lowest stratum is the understory, composed of palms, herbaceous plants (such as wild ginger), and tree seedlings and saplings. (41) _____________. Many have deep red coloring on the underside of their leaves to capture some of the scarce light that does manage to reach the forest understory. This red coloring enables understory plants to absorb light of different wavelengths than do the plants with rich, green-foliaged canopy, the umbrella-shaped upper structure of trees. Above the forest floor but below the canopy are one or more midstory strata, made up of woody plants, such as large shrubs and midsized trees.

　　The overstory is the canopy, in which the tree crowns form a continuous layer that captures the major part of the rainwater and sunlight hitting the forest. The height of the canopy varies from region to region and forest to forest, ranging from 20 to 50 m (65 to 165 ft). (42) ____________. Researchers use hot air balloons, cables, catwalks, towers, sophisticated tree-climbing gear, and even robots to study the millions of plants and animals that make their home high up in the forest canopy. Canopy researchers also use huge cranes that are dropped into the heart of the forest by helicopters. Suspended from the crane’s long, movable arm is a large cabin that functions as a mobile treetop laboratory. Moving from tree to tree, forest researchers collect specimens, conduct experiments, and observe life in the canopy frontier.

　　The highest stratum of the rain forest is made up of the emergent trees, those individuals that stick up above the forest canopy. Emergents, which do not form a continuous layer, are usually the giants of the forest, reaching heights of 35 to 70 m (115 to 230 ft) or more, and trunk sizes of over 2 m (6.6 ft) in diameter. (43) _____________. However, these trees tend to be so large that they collectively account for the vast majority of the woody mass, or biomass, of the forest.

　　The nicely ordered strata of the rain forest, including the continuous layer of the canopy, are regularly disturbed by naturally occurring events, such as falling trees. Trees in a rain forest canopy are often interconnected by vines, and a falling tree may pull as well as push other trees down with it, producing a domino effect of falling trees. The resulting opening in the forest canopy enables light to pour onto the forest floor. (44) _________________.

　　Other natural disturbances create even larger openings in the forest canopies. For example, along the hurricane belt in the Caribbean and the typhoon belt along the western Pacific, some forests are substantially altered when high winds and storms blow down hundreds of trees every few decades. (45) _________________. Scientists have found that these natural disturbances and the subsequent forest regeneration are a vital process that leads to healthy and diverse forests.

　　[A] New plants and animals then move into the area and begin to grow.

　　[B] Just 2 percent of the sunlight goes through the many layers of leaves and branches above, so understory plant species have developed special traits to cope with low light levels.

　　[C] On a smaller scale, large mammals, such as elephants, regularly destroy rain forest vegetation in the Congo River Basin in Africa.

　　[D] An understory of shorter trees and a lacework of woody vines, or lianas, produce a forest of such complex internal architecture that many animals, including some sizable ones, rarely or never descend to the ground.

　　[E] Less than one percent of the trees in the forest reside in the canopy and emergent layers.

　　[F] Because more light penetrates the canopy, however, the vegetation of the understory and forest floor is better developed than in the tropics.

　　[G] The rich, green canopy is teeming with life, and forest researchers have developed ingenious methods for accessing this mysterious ecosystem.

　　答案

　　41.B 42.G 43.E 44.A 45.C

　　總體分析

　　本文是一篇介紹熱帶雨林植被的科普性文章。

　　第一段：介紹下層植被的構(gòu)成與特點(diǎn)以及中層植被的構(gòu)成。

　　第二段：介紹最上層的新生樹(shù)木層的特點(diǎn)。

　　第三、四段：分析指出自然干擾因素對(duì)森林的影響。

　　[A] 新的動(dòng)植物會(huì)搬到這些地方并開(kāi)始生長(zhǎng)。

　　[B] 下層植被形成了適應(yīng)低光強(qiáng)的特性。

　　[C] 有些大的哺乳動(dòng)物通常會(huì)破壞非洲剛果河盆地的熱帶雨林植被。

　　[D] 下層植被和藤蔓植物形成了具有相當(dāng)復(fù)雜的內(nèi)部體系的森林。

　　[E] 生長(zhǎng)在冠層和新生樹(shù)木層的樹(shù)較少。

　　[F] 由于陽(yáng)光穿透冠層使下層植被和森林地表植被生長(zhǎng)得更好。

　　[G] 研究者已經(jīng)找到了評(píng)估森林冠層的獨(dú)創(chuàng)的方法。