在备战英语四级考试的征途中，填空练习的重要性不容忽视。它不仅是检验考生词汇与语法掌握程度的试金石，更是提升阅读理解和语言应用能力的重要途径。以下，我们以“环境问题的现状”为英语四级选词填空真题示例，深入探讨这种练习在备考过程中的独特价值。
英文原文
For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-list of our main fears: natural resources are ______ out, the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat. Species are becoming ______ in vast numbers, and the planet's air and water are becoming ever more polluted. But a quick look at the facts shows a different picture. First, energy and other natural resources have become more ______ not less so, since the book 'The Limits to Growth' was published in 1972 by a group of scientists. Second, more food is now produced per ______ of the world's population than at any time in history. Fewer people are ______. Third, although species are indeed becoming extinct, only about 0.7% of them are expected to disappear in the next 50 years, not 25~50%, as has so often been ______. And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either appear to have been ______, or are transient - associated with the early stages of industrialization and therefore best cured not by restricting economic growth, but by ______ it.
选词选项
A) pose
B) exaggerated
C) accelerating
D) extinct
E) exist
F) perception
G) wealthy
H) magnified
I) starving
J) head
K) running
L) predicted
M) abundant
N) conception
O) reducing
文章概要
本文讨论了环境问题的现状及其与公众认知之间的差异。文章指出，尽管许多环保主义者对环境持悲观态度，但事实却展现了一幅不同的画面。文章从资源、食品生产、物种灭绝和环境污染等方面进行了阐述，并强调了公众认知与现实之间的脱节。
答案解析
1.K) running out：原文中提到“自然资源正在耗尽”，根据常识和语境，“running out”表示“耗尽”，符合句意。
2.D) extinct：句子说“大量物种正在灭绝”，“extinct”意为“灭绝的”，是正确答案。
3.M) abundant：自1972年《增长的极限》一书出版以来，能源和其他自然资源变得更加“丰富”而非减少，所以选择“abundant”。
4.J) head：“每_____世界人口所生产的食物”中，应填入表示“人头”或“单位人口”的词，“head”符合语境。
5.I) starving：原文指出“更少的人在挨饿”，“starving”意为“挨饿的”，是正确答案。
6.L) predicted：尽管物种确实在灭绝，但只有约0.7%的物种预计在未来50年内消失，这与经常被“预测”的25~50%相去甚远，所以选择“predicted”。
7.B) exaggerated：大多数形式的环境污染要么看起来已经被“夸大”，要么只是暂时的，因此选择“exaggerated”。
8.C) accelerating：治理环境污染的最佳方式不是限制经济增长，而是“加速”它，这里的“accelerating”表示通过经济增长来更好地解决环境问题。
通过以上解析，可以看出英语四级选词填空不仅考察词汇知识，还涉及对文章整体内容的理解和逻辑推理能力。希望这个示例能够帮助你更好地准备英语四级考试。
