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Scientists generally credit（把什么归因于，表示因果关系）violent collisions between tectonic plates, the mobile fragments of Earth’s rocky outer shell（插入语解释说明，略读）,with sculpting the planet’s surface,as,for example, when what is nowthe Indian subcontinent collided with Asia, producing the Himalayan Mountains.（举例喜马拉雅山形成具体解释了板块构造学说）However, plate tectonics cannot fully explain certain massive surface features,such as the “superswell” of southern Africa, a vast plateau over 1,000 miles across and nearly a mile high（同位语，解释superswell，略读）.Geologic evidence shows that southern African has been slowly rising for the past 100 million years, yet it has not experienced a tectonic collision for nearly 400 million years.//科学家用板块构造学说来解释地表的形成，但有些大规模的地表特征，如南非的超级海隆却无法用板块学说来充分地解释。The explanation may be in Earth’s mantle, the layer of rock underlying the tectonic plates and extending downover 1,800 miles to the outer edge of Earth’s iron core（一般自然科学题材中的重点专业词汇文中会给出解释，比如此处用同位语解释说明Earth’s mantle）.Since the early twentieth century, geophysicists have understood that the mantle churns and roils like a thick soup. The relative low density of the hottest rock makes that material buoyant, so it slowly ascends,while cooler, denser rock sinks until heat escaping the molten core warms it enough to make it rise again. While this process of convection was known to enable the horizontal movement of tectonic plates, until recently geophysicists were skeptical of its ability to lift or lower the planet’s surface vertically.//解释了地幔，并说明对流主要作用于水平运用，最近地球物理学家怀疑其是否可以作用于垂直方向。However,recent technological advances have allowed geophysicists to make three-dimensional “snapshots” of the mantle by measuring vibrations, or seismic waves, set in motion by earthquakes originating in the planet’s outer shell and recording the time it takes for them to travel from an earthquake’s epicenter to a particu lar recording station at the surface. Because geophysicists know that seismic waves become sluggish in hot, low-density rock, and speed up in colder, denser regions, they can now infer the temperatures and densities in a given segment ofthe interior. By compiling a map of seismic velocities from thousands of earthquakes across the globe, they can also begin to map temperatures and densities throughout the mantle.//现在科技发达可以探测震波、时间、速度等因素，以此可以推测出各个部分内部的温度和密度。Thesemethods have revealed some unexpectedly immense formations in the deepest parts of the mantle; the largest of these is a buoyant mass of hot rock directly below Africa’s southern tip. Dispelling researchers’ initial doubts, computer models have confirmed that this formation is buoyant enough to rise slowly within the mantle and strong enough to push Africa upward as it rises. //现在科技探测到南非的板块下有大量活跃的热岩石，活跃的程度可以使非洲陆地上升。

逻辑简图：现象解释的写作结构

自然科学题材的一段式文章

第一层：科学家用板块构造学说来解释地表的形成，但有些大规模的地表特征，如南非的超级海隆却无法用板块学说来充分地解释。

第二层：解释了地幔，岩石热、密度小时会上升，岩石冷、密度小时会下降，说明对流主要作用于水平方向，最近地球物理学家怀疑其是否可以作用于垂直方向。第三层：现在科技发达可以探测震波、时间、速度等因素，以此可以推测出各个部分内部的温度和密度。

第四层：现在科技探测到南非的板块下有大量活跃的热岩石，活跃的程度可以使非洲陆地上升。

1.The passage is primarily concerned with（主旨题，文章的主要内容是提出一个

自然现象，然后通过现代进步的科技手段来分析解释这个现象。）

A.describing a traditional explanation for the vertical movement of Earth’s surface

错误表述

B．discussing recent geophysical research that may explain certain features of Earth’s surface that were previously difficult to account for正确

C．c ombining elements of several theories in order to develop a plausible explanation for a poorly understood feature of Earth’s surface结合不同的理论基础，不符合原文

D．p roviding new evidence in support of a long-standing belief about how certain of Earth’s massive surface features were created解释现象，而非支持观点E．questioning the implications of geophysicists’ recent findings regarding the composition and density of Earth’s mantle文章没有提到质疑

2.The passage suggests that geophysicists can now infer the characteristics in a

given segment of the mantle by doing which of the following?（细节题，回文定位，定位到Because geophysicists know that seismic waves become sluggish in hot, low-density rock, and speed up in colder, denser regions, they can now infer the temperatures and densities in a given segment of the interior.）

A．O bserving how long it takes for seismic waves to travel from an earthquake’s epicenter to a particular surface location and applying knowledge of how rock

temperature and density affect the velocity of those waves 符合定位句意思，正确

B.Analyzing the results of studies linking the formation of some of Earth’s surface

features with the violent collisions of tectonic plates and inferring the causes of

the information of other features from those results

C.Recording data about earthquakes throughout the world and correlating the

relative force and duration of those earthquakes with information about their

geological environment

https://www.sodocs.net/doc/e013545314.html,paring data about earthquakes that occur in southern Africa’s superswell

with data about other types of seismic events that occur there

https://www.sodocs.net/doc/e013545314.html,ing computer models to estimate the length of time it would take for a

hypothetical landmass 1,000 miles across to rise one mile vertically

3.In line 10, the author mentions the Himalayan Mountains most likely in order to

（细节题中的目的题，定位到第一段的第一层）

A.highlight certain similarities between the southern African superswell and other

massive features on Earth’s surface原文信息不符

B.identify a feature of Earth’s surface that predates the origins of the southern

African superswell确定一个地表的特征，与原文不符

C.provide an example of a feature of Earth’s surface that can explained by plate

tectonics正确，文中提到喜马拉雅山就是用来证明板块学说的

D.suggest that geophysicists are correct in attributing the sculpting of Earth’s surface

to violent collisions between tectonic plates文中没有提到纠正的意思

E.give an example of a feature of Earth’s surface that scientists are unable to explain

fully错误表述

4.According to the passage, the computer models referred to in line 86 have had

which of the following effects?（细节题，定位到第四层, computer models带来的影响，即可以测量出南非的板块下有大量活跃的热岩石，活跃的程度可以使非洲陆地上升。）

A．T hey have confirmed researchers’ doubts regarding the theory that convection within the mantle can lift or lower Earth’s surface vertically

B．T hey have cast doubt on the validity of plate-tectonics theory as an explanation for the sculpting of Earth’s mountain ranges

C．T hey have proved geophysicists’ theory that the behavior of seismic waves in Earth’s mantle is related to the temperature of the rock through which they are traveling

D．T hey have convinced formerly skeptical researchers that rock formations deep in Earth’s mantle below southern Africa could have created the superswell正确，符合原文信息

E．T hey have confirmed researchers’ speculation that masses of hot rock are buoyant enough to rise to the upper part of Earth’s mantl e