Directions:

The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order for Questions 41-45, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-G to fill in each numbered box. The first and the last paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes. Mark your answers on Answer Sheet 1. (10 points)

［A］ Concerned citizens and scientists have begun to take action. A wide range of solutions is being proposed to stop the destruction of biodiversity at the regional as well as the global level. Since 1985, the effort has become more precisely charted, economically efficient, and politically sensitive.

［B］ The new biodiversity studies will lead logically to an electronic encyclopedia of life designed to organize and make immediately available everything known about each of the millions of species. The industrialized countries will lead for a time. However, the bulk of the work must eventually be done in the developing countries. The latter contains most of the world餾 species, and they are destined to benefit soonest from the research. The technology needed is relatively inexpensive, and its transfer can be accomplished quickly. The discoveries generated can be applied directly to meet the concerns of greatest importance to the geographic region in which the research is conducted, being equally relevant to agriculture, medicine, and economic growth.

［C］ In the midst of this richness of life forms, however, the rate of species extinction is rising, chiefly through habitat destruction. Most serious of all is the conversion of tropical rainforests, where most species of animals and plants live. The rate has been estimated, by two independent methods, to fall between 100 and 10,000 times the pre-human background rate, with 1,000 times being the most widely accepted figure. The price ultimately to be paid for this cataclysm is beyond measure in foregone scientific knowledge; new pharmaceutical and other products; ecosystems services such as water purification and soil renewal; and, not least, aesthetic and spiritual benefits.

［D］ Since the current hierarchical, binomial classification was introduced by Carolus Linnaeus 250 years ago, 10 percent, at a guess, of the species of organisms have been described. It is believed that most and perhaps nearly all of the remaining 90 percent can be discovered, diagnosed, and named in as little as about 25 years. That potential is the result of two developments needed to accelerate biodiversity studies.

［E］ The increasing attention given to the biodiversity crisis highlights the inadequacy of biodiversity research itself. Earth remains in this respect a relatively unexplored planet. The total number of described and formally named species of organisms has grown, but not by much, and today is generally believed to lie somewhere between 1.5 million and 1.8 million. The full number, including species yet to be discovered, has been estimated in various accounts that differ according to assumptions and methods from an improbably low 3.5 million to an improbably high 100 million. By far the greatest fraction of the unknown species will be insects and microorganisms.

［F］ The past decade has witnessed the emergence of a much clearer picture of the magnitude of the biodiversity problem. Put simply, the biosphere has proved to be more diverse than was earlier supposed, especially in the case of small microorganisms. An entire domain of life, the Archaea, has been distinguished from the bacteria, and a huge, still mostly unknown and energetically independent environment has been found to extend three kilometers or more below the surface of Earth.

［G］ The first is information technology, with which high-resolution digitized images of specimens can now be obtained. Moreover, type specimens, scattered in museums around the world can now be photographed and made instantly available everywhere as “e瞭ypes” on the Internet. The second revolution about to catapult biodiversity studies forward is genomics, which will soon enable scientists to describe bacterial and archaean species by partial DNA sequences and to subsequently identify them by genetic bar-coding.

F→41. →42. →43. →44. →45. →B

人们对生物多样性的认识在过去十年已经发生了变化。简单地说，生物圈的多样性超出了我们的想象。

精析精解

41. ［答案］ C第一段已经说明生物的多样性超出我们的想象。为了说明生物多样性的丰富与多彩，作者用了magnitude和diverse这样一些单词。注意选项C的状语“In the midst of this richness of life forms”，它实际上起到了上下文的衔接作用。另外C段第一句的however也是上下段落的衔接手段。从语意上来讲，C就更是正确的选项了。作者强调，尽管存在着丰富多彩的物种，但是物种灭绝的速度正在加快，主要的原因是物种的栖息地被毁。

42. ［答案］ A上一段讲到生物的灭绝是一场灾难。那么，对此我们是否应该采取行动呢？选项A给出了肯定的答案：热心的公民和科学家开始采取行动。人们不仅在区域范围内采取行动，而且也在全球的范围内采取行动。从1985年，保护生物多样性的行动有了以下几个特点：目标上更明确（precisely charted）、经济上更有效（economically efficient）、政治上更敏感（politically sensitive）。

43. ［答案］ E选项E和A的衔接关系体现在E段的主语（The increasing attention given to the biodiversity crisis）上，因为这正好是A段所讲的内容。人们对生物多样性的重视更加说明了生物多样性研究的不足。

44. ［答案］ D注意选项E的最后一句：By far the greatest fraction of the unknown species will be insects and microorganisms.（从目前的情况来看，最大一批未知的物种将是昆虫和微生物。）因此，我们可以从现有的选项中寻找包含相同或相近的用词，当然最好能够找到语意衔接的句子。选项D是最恰当的，这一段的内容正好是对选项［E］最后一句的解释，即为什么说最大一批未知的物种将是昆虫和微生物。

45. ［答案］ G选项D介绍余下90%的物种将在25年内被发现。之所以会在这么短的时间内发现这么多的物种，其原因是因为人类可以借助（生物学）两个突破（developments）加速生物多样性的研究。那么，选项G正好是介绍这两个突破。